We’ve had our fun taking jabs at Turner, but is Yukon Yeti actually… good?
Turner Pinball is a cool story. A young guy, Chris Turner, starts a fledgling pinball company in Texas, emerging from the wreckage of the DeepRoot pinball scandal (Google it). They’ve released two small run (like maybe a hundred total) of two original IP games in the last few years. Ninja Eclipse, which I liked a lot for its Samurai Jack-inspired art direction and novel layout. And 2024’s Merlin’s Arcade, which… I liked a lot less.
So it was pretty surprising to hear that not only was Turner doing a new game so quickly, but that it would be the unofficial sequel to the Williams classic, Whitewater. Bringing back Dennis Nordman, who designed the original Whitewater, for a new take on the classic layout. That’s a big deal.
Whitewater means a lot of things to a lot of people. I found that out the hard way when Matt Keil (RIP) wrote a music review that eviscerated the soundtrack. We had so many fucking people in my inbox defending it. And I just had to sit there, like the game’s big foot, getting ball after ball launched into my face. Yes, I know that’s not how Whitewater actually works. Please don’t email me about that. I’m just freshly over the original PTSD.
So was Turner able to get it done and make something very very cool? The initial reception has been surprisingly good. It’s absolutely a companion to Whitewater, but how does it stack up to some impressive competition? After all, Williams was THE powerhouse for decades in the pinball industry, and Whitewater represented some of their best work of the era.
I was lucky enough to head to Litt, where they have both games set up next to each other, to compare, contrast, and then write the high school essay that we all call Nudge Articles. At least it ain’t chatGPT. Did Turner nail it?
Flow is there
So let’s get it out of the way: this is absolutely a Dennis Nordman game. It has some pretty great flow, and the Matterhorn mech, which is basically a staircase used for holding up to 5 balls, traversing them up to an upper playfield that leads to wireforms that can return balls to either flipper, is absolutely on par fun-wise with anything I can think of in recent memory. It’s cool.
I’ll talk more about the code later, but just in relation to the matterhorn, it works. The multiball is fun and using the staircase as both a way to transport balls, but also as a way to store them (both for multiballs and for upper playfield jackpots) is done really, really well. This game is coded well and there are a ton of shots that feel very intuitive. The upper playfield, essentially a mirror image of the one in Whitewater, is just as satisfying and has those insane returns to either flipper.
The Bottom third is… fine
The flippers in this game are good. They’re not great. They’re good! That’s totally fine, but when you compare it to a Williams, it’s usually not going to come out on top. Those comparisons are inevitable (in fact, we’re about to do it two sections from now), but it doesn’t mean that they’re fair. I’ll say this: the flippers ARE very responsive, they can hit every shot easily, and it seemed like they were aligned with no flipper hops or anything. So maybe, I’m just being a diva when I say all that. It wouldn’t be the first time my brain has betrayed me for no reason.
I will say it’s pretty chaotic to have a ball autolaunch into pops that have the potential to give you a house ball if you’re not paying attention. It’s not exactly Stars-level fuckery, but god damn is it getting close. I don’t love that, DENNIS. But hey, small quibble.
Ruleset is there
The code is good! There are a ton of modes, and they all seem to interact very intuitively with the layout. They make sense thematically and they’re just hard enough to be challenging without making you want to say fuck it. They also give you the option to choose between many of the modes (I think something like 8 are available at plunge with several more available to be unlocked throughout your game), which is a good way to keep games fresh.
I have to say, while I’m not the biggest fan of the art (I’ve talked at nauseum about this, but I don’t like the idea of a hot yeti. The topper is especially disturbing), the Disney aesthetic is obviously not the nudge aesthetic, but the animations all work pretty well and I didn’t find the music or callouts overly offensive. Alas, if only Matt was around to review the music on this one. Life isn’t fair.
Having it next to Whitewater is… unfair
The biggest problem with this game is simply that it will almost inevitably be placed next to Whitewater, both on location and in people’s collections. It’s the obvious move. You keep all the Star Wars next to each other on the VHS shelf (yeah, we know you have one, you disgusting hoarder), ipso facto, you should have Whitewater and Yukon Yeti flanking each other. The problem is that Williams obviously felt like they had unlimited budget.
That doesn’t mean that Yukon Yeti feels cheap. On the contrary, it feels amazing. It’s honestly one of the best Non-Stern, Non-JJP releases I can ever remember. It flows well, has cool code, and at least initially was standing up to location play. Those are all amazing feats. It’s not its fault that its not Whitewater. No game is Whitewater. What it is is a fun-ass romp thru a realm where you may or may not want to have sex with a Yeti out in the Alaskan wilderness. Nice!
