Starship Troopers is an arcade pinball game based on Paul Verhoeven's film adaptation of Robert A. Heinlein's sci-fi novel. It was designed by Joe Kaminkow and Joe Balcer, illustrated by Morgan Weistling, and released by Sega Pinball in 1997.
The pinball table casts the player as a member of the Mobile Infantry, who must visit six planets and kill all of the Arachnids in the Federation's Bug War. Blast the Warriors, Plasma Bugs, Hoppers and Tankers to secure a planet, then try to capture the Brain Bug before it escapes. Secure the planet and then advance to the next, or Arm the Nukes and Nuke 'em instead. Practice your gunnery skills on the Live Fire Assault Range, perform Recons for various awards, then use the right Mini-Flipper to score Double Kills and Advance In Rank. Survive long enough to make your way to Klendathu, then kill all the Bugs and Double Nuke them all to extinction.
Starship Troopers is often overlooked by players both due to its license and Sega Pinball's small marketshare. Most of those who've played the game consider it one of Sega's best tables, with fast flow, nonstop action, and lots of bombastic bug-blasting fun. The biggest drawback is the weak sound system, as Sega equipped the table with only one speaker to cut costs. Not surprisingly, adding a second speaker is an easy and popular modification for owners.
A digital version of Starship Troopers is available in Farsight's The Pinball Arcade and Stern Pinball Arcade. This is also the first SEGA Pinball table, as well as the second Pre-Stern Pinball table in the library.
Additionally, downloading the Pinball Arcade version will upgrade the entire collection's rating to a "T" (13 and up) rating.
Starship Troopers demonstrates the following tropes:
- Anti-Frustration Features:
- If you start the third ball with a score less than 30 million, the Extra Ball will be enabled.
- Similarly on ball 3 you may get a Recon Boost to level 5 to start a Multiball if you haven't played one yet.
- Big Bad: The Brain Bug, who only appears after all the Bugs on a planet are killed.
- Big Creepy-Crawlies: The Bugs, naturally.
- Bug War: The whole plot of the game (and its license, natch).
- Company Cross References: During the Match Sequence at the end of the game, a tiny Sonic the Hedgehog icon appears in the Brain Bug's thought-cloud. Interestingly, this cameo is kept on its Pinball Arcade version, unlike Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: The different types of Bugs and their associated targets are associated with a color — yellow for Warriors, blue for Plasma Bugs, green for Hoppers, and red for Tankers.
- Cool Ship: The playfield includes a Viking Drop Ship and a TAC Fighter.
- Difficult, but Awesome: The Mini Flipper, which is controlled by a separate flipper button and is often ignored by new players. However, using it to hit a Bug counts as two hits, allowing you to clear out a planet much faster. It's also helpful for slowing down and controlling the ball. In addition, the digital Pinball Arcade version's Mini Flipper also allows for easy shots into the left scoop, which is often out of reach from the normal flippers otherwise: Trap the ball on the right flipper, then press the Mini Flipper to guarantee it goes in there.
- Do Well, But Not Perfect: The Recon Level 5 awards (usually a free multiball) are arguably better to a skilled player than the highest level Recon Level 6 awards (usually 25M points) since the multiballs can be worth far more than 25M.
- Drill Sergeant Nasty:Sergeant Zim: GET UP YOU MAGGOT! NO ONE QUITS!
- Ludicrous Gibs: When the Mission Officer briefs you before attacking a planet, press both flipper buttons to make a bug impale him.
- Match Sequence: The Brain Bug thinks of several items before he is shot. The number appears in his carcass.
- Nuke 'em: The game embraces this trope with a full-contact bear hug. Not only are you awarded points for nuking planets, the game even has lanes labeled "Nuke", "Double Nuke", and "Super Nuke".
- Off-the-Shelf FX: The playfield Bugs and spaceships are from Galoob's movie toy line.
- Rated M for Manly: It doesn't get more manly than a never-ending Bug War against Big Creepy-Crawlies, where the only option is to Nuke 'em.
- Shoot Everything That Moves: Clearing out a planet requires killing all of the Bugs there. The number and type varies according to the planet.
- Skill Shot: When you launch the ball, a magnet will catch it above the BUG rollovers. Move the flashing rollover light with the flipper buttons so the ball drops in.
- A Secret Skill Shot is available by holding the left flipper button to disable the magnet and send the ball to the left flipper. Hitting the right ramp will award a 5 million Ramp Skillshot.
- Another use for the Ramp Skillshot is to plunge so that the ball lands in the hole to the left of the B-U-G lanes to get a letter in O-N-E or T-W-O for Orbit Multiball and light the Orbit shots for the rest of the ball.
- A Secret Skill Shot is available by holding the left flipper button to disable the magnet and send the ball to the left flipper. Hitting the right ramp will award a 5 million Ramp Skillshot.
- Spelling Bonus: B-U-G raises the bonus multiplier, while shooting the ramps spells STARSHIP and TROOPERS to raise the Recon level. Orbit Multiball is started by spelling O-N-E and T-W-O from shooting orbits that are lit from the opposite inlane switch.
- Stock Sound Effects: The Warrior target sound is pulled straight from Doom.
- Timed Mission: After killing all the Bugs on a planet, you have a limited amount of time to capture the Brain Bug before it escapes.
- Video Mode: "Psychic Test", which is available as a random Recon award. Use the flipper buttons to select a card, then see if it matches the one held by the examiner. Getting the correct card awards a Special (free game), with lesser awards for matching other attributes like the suit or number.
- Wizard Mode: Once all five planets have been cleared of Bugs and Nuked, shoot the Recon scoop to start the attack on the Bugs' homeworld of Klendathu. This is a Multiball mode with a 30-second ball saver and all targets lit; you must kill nine Bugs of each species and make all five Nuke shots. Successfully doing so awards a 50 million completion bonus.
- Writing Around Trademarks: While the Pinball Arcade adaptation retains all references to Sega in the ROM and included flyers, the playfield and backglass don't, with the advertised "Sega Super Value" now becoming the "Super Super Value".
- You Nuke 'Em: After a planet is secured and the Brain Bug is gone, the player will have a choice to either advance to the next planet or nuke the planet first. There's a tactical benefit to deferring the nuke, as waiting until later to Nuke 'em yields bigger bonuses.
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