Steve Ritchie (pinball designer) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Steve Ritchie
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Steve Ritchie speaks during the Atari panel at California Extreme 2009
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| Born | February 13, 1950 |
| Occupation | Pinball designer, video game designer, voice actor |
| Years active | 1974–present |
| Employer | Jersey Jack Pinball, Inc., Steve Ritchie Productions |
| Known for | Black Knight, Black Knight 2000, Flash, Firepower, High Speed |
| Relatives | Mark Ritchie (brother) |
Steven Scott Ritchie (born February 13, 1950) is a famous American pinball and video game designer. He started his career in the 1970s. Steve Ritchie holds the record for being the best-selling pinball designer ever. People call him "The Master of Flow." This is because his pinball games are known for fast ball speeds, cool loops, and smooth shots. Ritchie also provided the original voice for Shao Kahn in the Mortal Kombat fighting game series. He was the announcer for Mortal Kombat II (1993), Mortal Kombat 3 (1995), and its updated versions. He is the older brother of another pinball designer, Mark Ritchie.
Steve Ritchie's Early Life
Steve Ritchie was born in San Francisco, California. When he was five, his family moved to Pacifica. He first played pinball at a local bowling alley. He went there when his parents had their bowling league night. Ritchie finished high school early. He joined the Coast Guard just before his eighteenth birthday. He trained to be an electronics technician. He served in Vietnam, California, and Alaska. After leaving the Coast Guard, he worked different jobs. He also played in a band.
Starting His Design Career
Ritchie joined Atari Inc. in 1974. He was the 50th employee there. He first worked on the assembly line. He was an electro-mechanical technician. Two years later, he moved to their new pinball division. There, he worked on his first game, Airborne Avenger. Ritchie then started designing a pinball machine based on the Superman comic book. This game was called Superman pinball. However, before it was fully finished, Ritchie left Atari. He joined Williams Electronics, a big pinball company.
Designing Games at Williams
In 1978, Ritchie moved to Chicago, Illinois. This was where Williams' main office was located. His first game for Williams was Flash, released in 1979. It was special because of its unique figure-8 design. It was also the first pinball game with bright Flash Lamps. It had a background sound that got louder as you played. Flash became his best-selling pinball game. Over 19,000 units were sold.
In 1980, he designed Firepower. This was the first electronic pinball game with multi-ball play. It also had a "Lane Change" feature. Eight months later, he designed Black Knight. This game was famous for having the first two-level playfield. It also had a special "Magna-Save" feature. This used magnets to help stop the ball from draining.
After 1981's Hyperball, Ritchie took a break from pinball. He designed video games at his new company, King Video Design. Devastator was a 3D flying-shooting game. It had amazing graphics. Ritchie found a way to turn video-taped color images into game objects.
Return to Pinball Design
Ritchie returned to pinball in 1986 with High Speed. This game was based on a real story. He was chased by police in his Porsche car. Ritchie said he drove very fast on a highway in California. He was pulled over by nine police cars. High Speed was the first pinball machine with music. The game sold 17,080 units. It helped make the pinball market popular again.
After High Speed, he released F-14 Tomcat in 1987. In 1989, he released Black Knight 2000. This was a sequel to his 1980 game. Many people think it has one of the best pinball soundtracks ever. Ritchie, Brian L. Schmidt, and Dan Forden composed the music. It was also one of the first games with a "Wizard Mode." This special mode was called "The King's Ransom."
Next, he designed Rollergames (1990). This game was based on a TV show. It had a loud soundtrack. It was also one of the first games to feature mainstream advertising. Ritchie then designed Terminator 2: Judgment Day. This game featured the voice and look of Arnold Schwarzenegger. T2 was the first Williams game to use a dot-matrix display.
After T2, he designed The Getaway: High Speed II in 1992. This was a sequel to High Speed. In 1993, Ritchie released Star Trek: The Next Generation. Many pinball fans think this is Ritchie's best game. For this game, Ritchie got the entire cast of TNG to record voices. This included Patrick Stewart, Michael Dorn, and Jonathan Frakes. The game sold 11,728 units. It was the last pinball machine to sell over 10,000 units. After finishing No Fear: Dangerous Sports in 1995, Ritchie left Williams. He felt he could do more by making video games at Atari Games. The mid-1990s saw a decline in pinball sales. Eventually, most pinball makers closed down, except for Stern Pinball.
Video Games and Voice Acting
Steve Ritchie went back to Atari Games in 1996. He became a senior staff producer. There, he designed and produced the racing game California Speed. This game sold well. Ritchie also enjoys PC games and motocross racing. He is a dedicated motorcyclist. He was also part of the design team for Williams' Defender.
He often provided voices for his own games. He also voiced characters in Williams and Midway video games. He is most famous for being the voice of Shao Kahn in the Mortal Kombat series. He also came up with the name Mortal Kombat. Before his idea, the game was just called 'Combat'. Ritchie was also the voice of the Black Knight in both Black Knight games. He was the Skull in No Fear. He was the announcer in Midway's High Impact Football. He also voiced the monotoned voice of Firepower. He had other small voice parts in many Williams, Midway, and Stern games.
Working with Stern Pinball
After designing some redemption games, Steve Ritchie started Steve Ritchie Productions (SRP) in 2002. He returned to pinball design. He worked with Stern Pinball to sell his games. For his first game with Stern, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, he again got Arnold Schwarzenegger to lend his voice. He also brought back the same team from the T2 pinball game. This included software programmer Dwight Sullivan and music composer Chris Granner.
After T3, Ritchie released Elvis (2004). This game came out for the 50th anniversary of Elvis Presley's first song. Ritchie's third game for Stern was World Poker Tour (2006). This was the first game to use Stern's new S.A.M. hardware.
In 2009, Ritchie finished 24. This pinball machine was based on the TV series. After this, Ritchie was laid off from Stern. Most other pinball designers were also laid off. However, in March 2011, Stern announced that Steve had returned. He came back to design new pinball machines. His first game after returning was AC/DC. Between 2011 and 2021, Ritchie designed several other games. These include Led Zeppelin, Black Knight Sword of Rage, Game of Thrones, and Star Trek.
Joining Jersey Jack Pinball
In August 2021, Ritchie left Stern Pinball. He joined Jersey Jack Pinball. He was the third pinball designer on their team. The others were Pat Lawlor and Eric Meunier. In an interview in April 2022, Ritchie said he was working on a new game for Jersey Jack. He expected it to be produced in the second half of 2022. In 2023, Jersey Jack announced the release of their Elton John pinball machine. This was Ritchie's first design for the company.
Steve Ritchie's Games
Atari
- Airborne Avenger (1977)
- Superman (1979)
- MeanStreak (video game) (1997)
- California Speed (video game) (1998)
Williams
- Flash (1979)
- Stellar Wars (1979)
- Firepower (1980)
- Black Knight (1980)
- Hyperball (1981)
- High Speed (1986)
- F-14 Tomcat (1987)
- Black Knight 2000 (1989)
- Rollergames (1990)
- Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
- The Getaway: High Speed II (1992)
- Star Trek: The Next Generation (1993)
- No Fear: Dangerous Sports (1995)
Midway Atari
- Elvira and the Party Monsters (1989; co-designed with Dennis Nordman and Jim Patla)
- Ritchie helped with parts of this game. This was after the original designer, Dennis Nordman, had an accident.
Stern / Steve Ritchie Productions
- Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)
- Elvis (2004)
- World Poker Tour (2006)
- Spider-Man (2007)
- 24 (2009)
- AC/DC (2012)
- Star Trek (2013)
- Game of Thrones (2015)
- Star Wars (2017)
- Black Knight: Sword of Rage (2019)
- Led Zeppelin (2020)
Jersey Jack Pinball
- Elton John (2023)
Voice Work
- Firepower (pinball) (1980) - Mission Control
- Black Knight (pinball) (1980) - The Black Knight
- Space Shuttle (pinball) (1984) - Mission Control
- F-14 Tomcat (pinball) (1987) - Yagov
- Space Station (pinball) (1987) - Mission Control
- Big Guns (pinball) (1987) - King
- Taxi (pinball) (1988) - Gorbie
- Black Knight 2000 (1989) - The Black Knight
- Police Force (pinball) (1989)
- Rollergames (pinball) (1990) - Announcer
- Diner (pinball) (1990) - Boris
- Mortal Kombat II (1993) - Shao Kahn/announcer
- Star Trek: The Next Generation (pinball) (1993) - Admiral Biaggi
- Revolution X (1994) - Vocalisations
- Mortal Kombat 3 (1995) - Shao Kahn/announcer
- Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 (1995) - Shao Kahn/announcer
- No Fear: Dangerous Sports (1995) - Skull
- Mortal Kombat Trilogy (1996) - Shao Kahn/announcer
- Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (pinball) (2003) - weapons salesman
- Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks (2005) - Shao Kahn, additional voices
- AC/DC (pinball) (2012) - Announcer
- Black Knight: Sword of Rage (2019) - The Black Knight
Images for kids
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Steve Ritchie speaks during the Atari panel at California Extreme 2009
