Heavy Metal

Heavy Metal, designed by George Gomez, was released by Stern Pinball in December 2020 as a private-label game — commissioned by a specific company rather than sold through Stern's usual retail channel — to commemorate the 300th issue of Heavy Metal magazine. Every machine shipped with an exclusive variant cover edition of that milestone issue.

The playfield layout, which first appeared on Stern's 2019 'Star Wars (Original Home Edition),' supports two flippers, three pop bumpers (with the top two operating simultaneously), two slingshots (which also operate simultaneously), four standup targets, a 3-bank drop target, a spinning target, a bar target, a horseshoe lane, and three ramps, one of which is a wireform. Playfield art blades round out the physical design.

The fantasy theme draws on Heavy Metal magazine's fictional characters, and the soundtrack reinforces that identity with original recordings from Sebastian Bach and Brendon Small alongside tracks from the Heavy Metal movie soundtrack, including Blue Oyster Cult and Cheap Trick. Between its magazine tie-in, reused Star Wars playfield geometry, and curated soundtrack, Heavy Metal stands out as one of Stern's more distinctive licensed collaborations of 2020.