why does this pin warrant a re-make?

Not really a "remake" as such - like Big Bang Bar, this game was finished prototyping when Capcom Pinball USA was closed by the Japanese parent company. There were 13 BBB's and 9 KP then made as prototypes, of which 12 and 8 survive. Then of course the 183 BBB's which are now the stuff of legend were made by Gene Cunningham a few years ago.

Gene owns the rights to Kingpin (as he did BBB) the plan is to manufacture them - as the original lot were prototypes these aren't therefore "remakes" but a first run so to speak.

I haven't played it (aside from fooling with it on pinmame just as I did for the couple of years with BBB waiting for the real thing! :) and it seems fun - in my opinion games are more than just shot maps, they are the sum of the shots, art, theme, music, rules etc - so it's hard to say what this will be like, but it seems fun from what pinmame can convey. I've seen lots of posts on RGP over the years where people who have played both suggest KP over BBB - I've always taken those comments with a grain of salt though as there always seems to be a bit of "I didn't sign up for BBB when they were cheap" sour grapes.