Last Action Hero (pinball)

Last Action Hero was one of the first games that noted pinball programmer Lyman Sheats worked on when he joined Data East.^[2] Reports at the time alleged that Schwarzenegger requested that his image be made larger than the other characters on the backbox. Production began in August 1993.^[3] The table includes part of AC/DC's "Big Gun" (main theme), Megadeth's "Angry Again" (multiball), and Queensryche's "Real World".^[4]

Instead of a typical plunger, the game features an auto plunger shaped like a Ruger Blackhawk .45 caliber pistol that launches the ball into play.^[5] The pinball machine features a shaker motor, two captive balls and a crane toy^[6] that can pick up the ball and deliver it to another part of the playfield.^[7] The game also includes three magnets under the playfield which sends the ball in different directions; similar to The Addams Family.^[8][9]

Completing the three lanes above the bumpers doubles the bonus.^[7]

A range of Last Action Hero games were released around the same time for different consoles as part of a heavy merchandising strategy.^[10][11] However, the film's poor reception may have contributed to its poor performance.^[12] One early review of the game called it, a "stinker game... that let players act out their violent fantasies."^[13]

In a review for The Flipside the geometry of the game was found to be flawed with the autoplunger often launching the ball into the drop-targets, rebounding into the right outlane. The rest of the game was found to be fun and smooth flowing, but a 10-second delay for every mode start broke up that flow.^[7]

Last Action Hero is available as a licensed table of both The Pinball Arcade and its spin-off Stern Pinball Arcade for several platforms.^[9] Data East logos were removed because of licensing. Also, for the same reason, main play theme was edited.^{[citation needed]}