Стив Ричи: Мастер пинбола и голос Mortal Kombat

American pinball designer

Steven Scott Ritchie (born February 13, 1950) is an American pinball and video game designer. His career began in the 1970s, Ritchie holds the record for best selling pinball designer in history. He has been called "The Master of Flow" due to the emphasis in his designs on ball speed, loops, and long smooth shots. Ritchie was also the original voice of Shao Kahn in the Mortal Kombat fighting game series, serving as the announcer of Mortal Kombat II (1993), Mortal Kombat 3 (1995), and the updates to Mortal Kombat 3. He is the older brother of fellow pinball designer Mark Ritchie.

Steve Ritchie was born in San Francisco, California and moved to Pacifica when he was five. He first played pinball at a local bowling alley that he visited during his parents' bowling league night. Ritchie graduated high school early and joined the Coast Guard shortly before his eighteenth birthday. He trained as an electronics technician, serving in Vietnam, California, and Alaska. After leaving the coast guard, he worked odd jobs and played in a band.

Ritchie joined Atari Inc. in 1974 and was employee number fifty and first worked on the assembly line as an electro mechanical technician. Two years later, he was promoted to work at their fledgling pinball division, where he worked on his first game, Airborne Avenger. In 1980 he designed Firepower (the first electronic pinball to feature multi ball, as well as Lane Change), and eight months later, he designed Black Knight, which was noted for having the first two level playfield and the patented "Magna Save" feature (in which magnets help prevent outlane drains). Ritchie was also the voice of the Black Knight in both Black Knight and Black Knight 2000, the Skull in No Fear, the announcer in Midway's High Impact Football, the monotoned voice of Firepower, and other small parts in many Williams, Midway and Stern games.

After designing and selling a few redemption games, he formed Steve Ritchie Productions (SRP) in 2002, and returned to pinball design contracting with Stern Pinball to distribute his games. For his first game for Stern, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, he once again enlisted Arnold Schwarzenegger to lend his voice and likeness to the game, and also re assembled the same team who worked with him on the T2 pinball, including software programmer Dwight Sullivan and music composer Chris Granner. After T3, Ritchie released Elvis, which was released in time for the 50th anniversary of Elvis Presley's first song recording. Ritchie's third game for Stern was World Poker Tour. World Poker Tour was the first game to use Stern's new hardware, S. A. M., which is the successor to their older Whitestar platform. He has recently revealed in an interview that he was forced by Gary Stern to design the game. In 2009, after completing 24, a pinball machine based on the TV series of the same name, Ritchie was laid off from Stern along with most of the company's other pinball designers. Between 2011 and 2021, Ritchie designed Led Zeppelin, Black Knight Sword of Rage, Game of Thrones, and Star Trek.

In August 2021, Ritchie left Stern Pinball and joined Jersey Jack Pinball. He was the third pinball designer on staff, along with Pat Lawlor and Eric Meunier. In 2023, Jersey Jack announced the release of their Elton John pinball machine, Ritchie's first design for the company.

As of 2017, Ritchie was diagnosed with Ménière's disease and has had his hearing slowly reduced over the years.