Iron Maiden: Legacy of the Beast is a 2018 pinball machine released by Stern Pinball. It is notable as the first machine created by professional player Keith Elwin (who originally designed it as a homebrew title based on Archer).
Themed after the famous metal band (and featuring several of their songsnote ), the game centers around their mascot Eddie. Taking cues from the mobile game of the same name, the player is tasked with defeating various other incarnations of Eddie in order to qualify for a shot at beating the Beast himself. This involves playing through various modes inspired by some of the band's most well-known tunes, with each giving a chance at acquiring Soul Shards upon completing them. There are also valuable Tomb Treasures to take into consideration – especially since those who persist in finding them can find themselves playing the game's ultimate Wizard Mode...
The game was released in three editions, as is standard for Stern: a basic "Pro" model, a more expensive "Premium" model that changes the center ramp to be able to flip up and reveal a scoop underneath, and an even more expensive "Limited" edition with a number of largely aesthetic upgrades. Only 500 units of the latter were made, as the name suggests.
Not to be confused with Iron Maiden, a different pinball machine released by the original Stern in 1981 that is unrelated to the band.
Tropes:
- All There in the Manual: The mobile game of the same name provides some background for a few elements of this game, including the Soul Shards (pieces of Eddie's soul) and the woman who appears during a ball save (the Clairvoyant).
- Big Red Devil: The titular Beast is an archetypical red devil.
- Cel Shading: Used for parts of the animation during "Aces High".
- Creator Cameo: During the "Fear of the Dark" mode, there's a small chance that the display will show an alternate animation of Keith Elwin walking (and eventually running) through the forest. This was originally the placeholder animation in early code, before a later revision added its usual animation, and an even later revision made it such that this original animation would occasionally take its place.
- Combos:
- The game recognizes combos made with six specific shots and increases the reward exponentially as the number of shots grows. Unusually, it doesn't penalize for waiting too long between shots – the combo only ends if it hits specific targets or an already-used shot. Alternatively, hitting a handful of special targets (like the bullseye or the captive ball) will instead award a "Deathblow", which bestows points derived from the length of the preceding combo.
- "Flight of Icarus" encourages making combos using the two ramps by scoring more and more points for each shot in the chain.
- Cyborg: Cyborg Eddie (from the album Somewhere in Time) stars in a multiball mode.
- Difficult, but Awesome:
- The loop shot can award valuable jackpots if made repeatedly (and makes for a great method of chaining attacks during "Number of the Beast"), but it can just as easily send the ball irrevocably hurtling towards the left outlane.
- It's also possible to score a Super Death Blow of up to 900 million points, but it requires completing a 6-way combo, a difficult final shot for the Super Death Blow, and aligning both 5x Super Combos and 3x Playfield scoring. All at once.
- Don't Go in the Woods: "Fear of the Dark" displays a first-person view of someone running through some foggy woods, fleeing a nebulous shadow creature with Glowing Eyes of Doom.
- Evil Overlooker: The Beast takes up a significant portion of the background of the Pro version's backglass
◊. - Great Escape: "Hallowed Be Thy Name" depicts Eddie Breaking the Bonds and escaping from prison.
- The Grim Reaper: Getting a "Deathblow" shows the reaper attacking the screen with his scythe.
- Hellgate: Lighting a Battle shows one of these on the display (alluding to the Underworld shot).
- Match Sequence: Eddie pilots a plane which is shot down by enemy forces; the bullet holes display the match number.
- Mummy: Unsurprisingly the centerpiece of Mummy Multiball (though the display tends to depict its ornate sarcophagus instead).
- Number of the Beast: The Limited Edition backglass has the number as part of Eddie's uniform.
- Score Multiplier: There is a playfield multiplier that maxes out at three times the normal value.
- Secondary Adaptation: The game ties into the mobile game of the same name, itself based on Iron Maiden's music (particularly their mascot Eddie).
- Shout-Out: Spotting a REVIVE letter displays Eddie's hand reaching out of his grave to catch a flying ball, which heavily resembles the animation for locking a ball in Scared Stiff.
- Skill Shot: A normal one (soft plunging into a specific target, awarding 1 million points, 5 seconds of ball save time, and an EDDIE letter), a Super Skill Shot (hold the left flipper, then shoot a specific shot for 5 million points, 10 seconds of ball save time, and a playfield Score Multiplier), and several Super Secret Skill Shots.
- Spelling Bonus:
- E-D-D-I-E lights a Battle.
- R-E-V-I-V-E lights an outlane ball save with the same name.
- M-U-M-M-Y progresses towards and starts Mummy Multiball.
- Timed Mission: "2 Minutes to Midnight" is notable because the on-screen timer is front and center during the mode, counting up to 12:00 (at double speed).
- Wizard Mode: Two mini-wizard modes, a primary wizard mode, and a secret "super" wizard mode.
- Completing all the Power features (ramps, orbits, spinners, targets, pops) lights Cyborg Multiball. Completing one of every power feature during the multiball lights the "power jackpot" target/ball for a jackpot, whose value and multiplier grows during the mode.
- Completing all Eddie battles lights the sixth "Battle" for Two Minutes to Midnight. This is a timed single-ball mode where all shots are worth a jackpot proportional to the points scored in each mode, and then those values also build up a Super Jackpot that grows during the mode.
- Collecting all the Eddie cards - which requires playing through both mini-wizard modes above, and getting a Super Jackpot in Mummy and Trooper multiball - lights "Number of the Beast", where Eddie must take on the Beast in combat. Repeatedly shooting shots allows the former to counter-attack, and draining the latter's health will award 100 million points (alongside the value of any Soul Shards previously collected).
- The tenth Tomb Award is "Run to the Hills", a 6-ball multiball where every shot is a jackpot, obtaining every power feature lights the super jackpot, and collecting that adds a multiplier to every regular jackpot.
