Popeye Saves the Earth
Popeye Saves The Earth is a 1994 widebody pinball game designed by Python Anghelo and Barry Oursler and released by WMS Industries under the Bally label. It is based on the Popeye comic/cartoon characters licensed from King Features Syndicate. It is one of WMS' SuperPin line of widebody games; the tenth and final collaboration between Anghelo and Oursler.
Popeye Saves the Earth
- Date
- 1994
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
Popeye Saves The Earth is a 1994 widebody pinball game designed by Python Anghelo and Barry Oursler and released by WMS Industries under the Bally label. It is based on the Popeye comic/cartoon characters licensed from King Features Syndicate. It is one of WMS' SuperPin line of widebody games; the tenth and final collaboration between Anghelo and Oursler.
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wikidata · Q7229286 · wikipedia · Popeye Saves the Earth
In this article
The object
The object
The playfield artwork was by Pat McMahon and Anghelo, and the backglass was designed by John Youssi. It uses the DCS sound system. Most of the games sold outside the United States.
Key facts
Key facts
• Title — Popeye Saves The Earth • Manufacturer — WMS Industries • System — Midway WPC (DCS) • Designer — Python Anghelo, Barry Oursler • Programmer — Mike Boon • Artwork — Python Anghelo, Pat McMahon, John Youssi • Mechanics — Zofia Bil Ryan • Music — Paul Heitsch • Voices — Tim Kitzrow • Release — May 1994 • Production — 4,217 units • Blank1 Title — Animation • Blank1 — Scott Slomiany, Eugene Geer
Story
Story
The game was set in the current day, with a middle-aged Popeye living on an island from residual cheques of his time as a cartoon star. Olive Oyl collects seashells on the beach, and Swee'Pea is nearly 30 years old and has a masters degree in marine biology. Wimpy still has a hamburger addiction. Bluto has formed an oil company, Brutus Oil, which was responsible for a large oil spill on Popeye's island.
Layout
Layout
The game has an upper playfield.
Gameplay
Gameplay
The player launches the ball into a roulette style device.
Reception
Play Meter enjoyed the return to a cartoon theme, even with no movie tie-in. Cash Box International couldn't see the reason for the choice of theme, and found the game to be slow. At a seminar at Pinball Expo on October 27, 1995, it was "unanimously agreed" as being the worst game of recent memory.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Gaming History. Popeye Saves the Earth [Model 50022].
- 2.Kineticist. Popeye Saves the Earth.
- 3.IGN staff. Breaking into the Industry: Tim Kitzrow. IGN. February 16, 2000.
- 4.Shalhoub, Michael. The Pinball Compendium: 1982 to Present. Schiffer Pub. 186–187. 2012. 978-0-7643-4107-6.
- 5.Ciaravino, Joe. Part III of The Unauthorized Hagiography of Python Anghelo: Yes, The Part With The Pinball Sex. Nudge Magazine. February 15, 2024.
- 6.Popeye shoves off. Coin Cascade. 6–7. May 1994.
- 7.Anghelo, Python. Popeye Description. Nudge Magazine.
- 8.Anghelo, Python. Popeye proposed theme.
- 9.Midway Manufacturing Company. Popeye Saves The Earth operations manual. January 1994.
- 10.Roulette scoring device. 5356141.
- 11.Reeves, Greg. Player's Perspective. Play Meter. 20. 7. 115-116. June 1994.
- 12.Popeye. Cash Box International. 66. March 1994.
- 13.Bueschel, Richard M. Encyclopedia of Pinball: Whiffle to Rocket, 1930-1933. 243. 9781889933009.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 19 August 2026.
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Best supported in this field
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