The Tin Pin Slammer Poster.
Tin Pin Slammer (Tin Pin for short) is a minigame favored among Shibuya's youth in The World Ends with You. Tin Pin can be played against NPC opponents in-game or real-life friends; Local Wireless Multiplayer is enabled with the sticker (S) Tin Pin Versus, which can be bought at the Shibu Dept Store. In Solo Remix, playing Tin Pin Slammer, even offline, gives the player mingle PP. In Final Remix, the player is given battle PP instead due to the removal of mingle PP. The post-game chapter This Day Ends with You! (Another Day) is centered on the game of Tin Pin.
In NEO: The World Ends with You, Tin Pin has become considerably less popular. However, it still does have a dedicated fanbase, with Miharu Nakano mentioned as being the regional champ.
Tin Pin Slammer was created by Ken Doi and Yodai Higashizawa in the Another Day universe; it is unclear who created it in the main universe, but there is evidence that Ken Doi created it there as well.
Rules[]
Tin Pin Slammer is played by up to four people who each control up to six pins, one per person at a time. The game is won by a player who has the only pins left on the battlefield or who has the most PP when time runs out. PP, or points, are gained in either of the following ways: 1 PP is gained from stunning an opponent's pin with a whammy, and 2 PP are gained from being the last one to touch an opponent's pin that has been knocked off the field. If all a player's pins are knocked off the field, that player's PP are reduced to zero, that player is given a grave instead of a pin, and the player who knocked that player's last pin off the field is given all the pinless player's PP.
When a player's pin is knocked off the field, it is replaced by the next pin in the player's deck. When a new pin comes into play, it respawns in the middle of the field, flickers, and is unable to act for a short period of time. While in this state, opponents' pins and whammies will pass through it; if another pin is on top of the spawning pin when it loses its invincibility, one of the pins will be pushed to the side, and if an opponent's whammy is on top of the spawning pin when it loses its invincibility, the spawning pin will be stunned.
Tin Pin Stats[]
Basic Stats[]
Each pin in the game has a set of Tin Pin specific stats that determine it's performance:
- Class: - This is irrelevant for Tin Pin except limiting the combinations of pins available since the pins used must also follow the rules for pins equipped for battle. This restriction is only applies to human players, as NPCs in game occasionally violate Class restrictions (e.g. Mina using two of the Angel class Sparkle Charge).
- Weight: Pins with higher Weight are slower and don't move as easily when slashed. Charge slams will also run out of speed sooner. In exchange though, heavier pins are harder to be moved by lighter pins and can more easily knock lighter pins away. Pins of the same brand (except for Brandless) always weigh the same.
- Spin: Pins with higher Spin are more sensitive to off-center slashes that spin the pin when moved. Higher Spin allows for a pin's path to be curved, which can be used with finesse to strike an opposing pin from a different angle, but also makes the pins path harder to predict and control. Within a specific brand (but not Brandless), Spin generally increases with the Id value of the pin, with the lowest Ids having typically 0 or 1 Spin, while the highest Id values (i.e. the Resonance pins) always having the highest (consecutive pins can have the same Spin). Gatito mostly follows this pattern but has a few pins that stand out as exceptions.
- KO Length: Pins with higher KO Length are stunned for longer after being hit by opponents' whammies.
Whammies[]
There are a total of four whammies or special moves, each activated by a different button. Each pin has a set number of times each whammy can be used. In the Remix games, whammies were activated by tapping their icons, with the exception that Helping Hand now activates automatically.
- Stinger (Right/A): When the player uses the Stinger, the player's pin enlarges and grows spikes, becoming immobile and stopping if it was in movement. If another pin or whammy touches a pin using Stinger, that pin will be stunned, but if that whammy is the Sledgehammer, the Stinging pin will instead be stunned.
- Dive Bomber (Up/X): When the player uses the Dive Bomber, the player's pin leaps off the screen and a crosshair takes its place. The player can direct the cross hair with the stylus. After a set amount of time has passed, the player's pin crashes back onto the field like a meteor. If another pin is under the crosshair when the player's pin drops, that pin will be stunned if it is not currently using the Stinger whammy.
- Sledgehammer (Left/Y): When the player uses the Sledgehammer, a hammer will extend from the player's pin and rotate around it. If the hammerhead strikes an opponent's pin, that pin will be stunned, but the hammer's handle is useless.
- Helping Hand (Down/B): This whammy can only be used when the player's pin has been knocked off of the field. When the player uses the Helping Hand, a hand will form and knock the player's pin back onto the field, given the player's pin has not fallen far enough.
Effectiveness Note: If a Dive Bomber lands on a Stinger, the Dive Bombing pin will be stunned; if Stinger is hit by Sledgehammer, the Stinging pin will be stunned; and if any part of Sledgehammer is hit by Dive Bomber, the Sledgehammering pin will be stunned. This system works similarly to the rules of the common game Rock-Paper-Scissors.
Choice of pins[]
While one might be tempted to select a pin based on the number of whammies it possesses alone, with weight and spin being considered, how effective each pin is often hard to predict from the stats alone. The whammies in particular behave differently depending on the pin in question, and only experimentation will determine how effective a specific pin is.
- The Stinger whammy features two distinct variables in performance. The first is activation time, which is how long it takes for the Stinger to form. Longer activations make for less responsiveness. The second is duration, which determines how long the whammy persists. Short durations make it hard for the whammy to connect, while longer ones suffer from long periods of immobility.
- The Dive Bomber whammy also features two distinct variables: launch speed, and targeting delay. The former is the speed at which pin will rise and drop, with faster drops offering less opportunity to escape (it's unclear if drop speed and launch speed are linked). The delay meanwhile allows for increased time aiming at the cost of increased forewarning.
- The Sledgehammer whammy has perhaps the greatest degree of variability. A Sledgehammer can vary in duration/number of rotations (how many circles the hammer makes while active if it doesn't hit a pin), range (the distance from the pin the hammer appears at), spin speed (how fast the hammer moves), and even starting hammer position (the angle it appears at when activated). For some pins, the range can even change as the hammer spins.
Panels and Obstacles[]
Different panels affect how pins move and look differently. Each panel has unique features which should be taken advantage of.
- Red L-Block: Pins fully or partially on top of Red L-Blocks are invisible but not invincible. Whammies, dust clouds made when moving, and stars indicating stunning are still visible.
- Red Fan: Red Fans send pins into the air for brief periods of time. Pins can soar over all obstacles and other pins while airborne, avoiding all whammies but the Dive Bomber.
- Blue Warping Circle: Blue Warping Circles teleport pins to other Blue Warping Circles.
- Bricks: Bricks are taller panels that prevent pins from falling off the field. Pins which hit Bricks rebound at a speed proportional to the speed they hit the Bricks with.
- Metal Panels: Metal Panels are slick. Pins move faster than normal when on Metal Panels.
- Glass Panels: These translucent panels offer less resistance than Metal ones.
- Ice Panels: Ice panels offer little resistance to pin movement. Pins won't slow down as quickly on Ice Panels without additional slashes to stop them.
- Conveyor Panels: These panels will accelerate the pin in the indicated direction.
Fields[]
Different fields are shaped differently and contain different types of panels and obstacles. Each field has unique features which should be taken advantage of.
- The Ring: A round field with no special panels or obstacles.
- Last Resort: A strangely shaped field with multiple bouncy Brick-like obstacles, including trees, rocks, and grass. Instead of normal tan panels, the panels on this field are grass-like and green in appearance.
- The Peanut: A long oval-like field containing Bricks at intervals along the perimeter, adding difficulty to knocking pins off.
- Hide 'n' Slam: A round field containing Red L-Blocks that offer numerous hiding places.
- Ice Scream: A wider version of the Basic field containing mostly Ice Panels together with some Glass and Metal ones over a spacelike background.
The World Ends with You -Solo Remix- and the The World Ends with You Final Remix introduce some new fields:
- Teleporter: A field with an island motif similar to Last Resort, but with different colors, and numerous teleporters around its edge. Entering one warps the pin to a separate island with only narrow paths that have to be navigated to reach a return teleporter.
- Pin Gym: An irregularly shaped island motif field with blocks, sliders, and fans to add complexity.
- Slider: The center is made of glass primarily with a square of ice panels in the center, sliders placed at the corners to send pins in a circle. The perimeter meanwhile is covered mostly with sliders that send pins towards the edge, sometimes with a fan block in the middle to launch pins off the table. The edge itself is ice blocks that offer little safety, though there are sliders in the corner that go back in towards the center.
- The Aerie: Contains many fields of varying sizes, with fan blocks and sliders to get from one to another. Most of the field is glass or metal, and some sliders are traps that send pins off the edge instead of into a fan. Others might send a pin to a platform of ice with no way to get back other than to use a well-timed divebomb.
Pins[]
This is a list of all pins with Tin Pin-related information. This table is sortable using the arrows on top of each column. Note that only the values listed by the game are given; pins' Dive Bomber speeds, Sledgehammer lengths, and other similar values are not listed.