Data East’s Last Action Hero, released in 1993, brings the Arnold Schwarzenegger blockbuster to a gadget-packed playfield designed by a deep team including Joe Kaminkow, Ed Cebula, and John Borg. It’s one of Data East’s most mechanically ambitious machines, featuring three game-controlled electromagnets that warp the ball’s path, a motorized crane that carries the ball from one ramp to another, a fast-returning “Ripper” target, a Smart Missile button, and a pistol-grip shooter — pure early-90s action-movie spectacle.
The scoring is built around modes and a six-ball multiball. The ramp lights modes at the top-left scoop, and — much like The Addams Family — you can light the next mode while one is already running, encouraging a fast, aggressive flow. Hitting the far-right scoop during a mode collects the “Wild Card,” which triggers a reward unique to each mode, such as boosting point values. Completing the five-bank of drop targets lights a lock on the crane, and collecting two locks boosts the base jackpot in the standard multiball.
There’s a useful safety net built in: the Smart Missile starts multiball if multiball is lit, and multiball lights automatically on ball three if you haven’t managed it manually. Accurate shooting matters, since hitting the wall behind the drop bank resets it. Loud, busy, and bursting with action-movie energy, Last Action Hero is an underrated Data East machine — a effects-laden tribute that throws every toy it has at the player. Big, dumb, and a lot of fun, just like the film.