Okay, no readme yet for v1.5, but here's what I've found so far with my glass off testing. These are the changes noted from v1.3 to the current code v1.5

----------DEADPOOL---------
-Deadpool is in. He starts first at 10 combos, and then you can re-hire him at every 10 combos after.

-You can "hire" Deadpool while in non-villain mode play, he will activate immediately on the next villain mode you choose. If you hire him while in a villain mode, he will start immediately, so it's best to keep track of how close you are to hiring him and put off hiring him Until you're not in a villain mode to make sure you get full value out of him.

- While hired, the playfield flashers will pulse to signify he's available

-he seems to be switch based. Every switch on the playfield, from what I can tell, goes towards some total, and when you hit that total, he does extra damage to the villain, even if you're not hitting the villain shots. Usually you will see a DMD animation that says "Deadpool has helped you!", or something like that, and Deadpool will say some smart ass remark. This seems to make Clops' spinner MELT through villain modes because each spinner switch hits adds up quick.

-he is active until you either beat a villain or drain the ball. So if you time out of a villain mode, but don't beat the villain, he will still be available for your next villain fight, assuming that you don't drain the ball. After you beat the villain or lose your ball, Deadpool is gone and you must "re-hire" him.

Pretty good addition, IMO. With Deadpool now you can absolutely DEMOLISH the villain multiball modes. Really helps a lot on Shadow King

Here is how Deadpool affects the different villain modes:
-Sabertooth: Does bonus damage even when hitting unlit shots, except SJP; you still gotta hit Wolvie for that.
-Shadow King: Does bonus Damage/progression even when hitting unlit shots, except for the SJP; you still gotta hit Xavier for that.
-HFC and BH multiballs: Bonus damage while hitting lit or unlit shots
-Juggernaut: adds JP score increases to every shot when activated, not just the orbits.
-Sentinels: each lit shot, Except for Wolvie, Damage BOTH Sentinels at once, not just one at a time!
-Omega Red: does bonus damage/progression even when hitting unlit shots, except for SJP; you still gotta hit Wolvie for that.

-------GENERAL STUFFS-------
- hitting the Magneto shot during MagsMB now has text saying that he has recharged all hero shots.

- attract sounds

- instant info now displays total combos, unique combo count and how much combos until Deadpool.

- MagsMB has it's scoring scaled more now. Rather than 1mil a shot at full value (all heroes collected) he awards 1.6 mil a shot at full value. The SJP and the victory laps have been increased as well

- Wolvie WXMB is still the same it seems, but now he has scaling scoring dependent upon how many times you've beaten his mode.

- end of game light show has changed. I don't remember there being a flasher show with GI out at the end of v1.3

- Gambit pops animation has had it's priority VS other animations reduced, seemingly.

- Gambit hurry up is now worth BIG points! Hurry up now starts at 15mil rather than 3mil as it was in 1.3. This, I think, is awesome. Gambit hurry up is a super satisfying shot to hit, and should be given a great reward for getting it quick!

- Previously complete hero modes now have scaling scoring. Re-completing hero modes are worth more point each subsequent completion.

- "Wizard multiball" mode is still in the game and qualified still by playing DP and DR and beating Mags. Nothing has changed here no animations and the "Lonnie Special" special for rules, except for the music being different. This mode seems awkward now considering how points rich DP and DR are and how low comparatively the scoring is for Wizard Multiball. But I'm fine with this, because the chances of reaching this in legit play is pretty slim.

- Black Bird scoop awards have been changed around. "Lock is Lit" and "Award Lock" are now a lot less likely. Ironically, I now get a lot of the dreaded MET "500,000" awards now. I find that funny . It seems as if Super Spinner is gone completely as an award; I'm fine with that, super spinner was worthless in XM anyways.

- there seems to be a new Mystery award when you have a certain amount of incomplete Hero modes. The Mystery award will automatically start an unfinished, but previously attempted, Hero mode for you. Or it will advance Wolvie mode if attempted but not finished previously. This is awesome for late in the game when you have a bitch of a mode to start, like Xavier or Rogue. Very nice touch.

-Sabertooth Villain mode is now easier to complete (less shots needed to beat) and is worth slightly more points.

-conversely, Shadow King has been scaled back in the points department to be more on par to the scoring from the other non-multiball villain modes.

-Juggernaut villain mode now takes less shots to complete.

-damage per Hero shot during MagsMB now scales dynamically depending on how many Heroes you have started/completed, rather than scaling just for the particular shot of a hero you've started/collected as it was in 1.30. This means the more heroes you have started/collected at the beginning of MagsMB, the easier he will be; which is how it should be. An excellent adjustment. Also, it seems as if hitting the Mags shot itself, although still giving 50k points, does more damage than it used to do. JP scores during MagsMB also increase per completion(s) of MagsMB.

---------DARK PHOENIX--------

Dark Phoenix is awesome now, but there's a big drawback, IMO. Read on for details....

The DP rules are most similar to Power Down in JM. The idea being that DP is going to destroy the city, and the X-Men have to stave her off for a certain amount of time until her rage ends.

-DP is a 3 ball mode, but you play it one ball at a time. This will make sense, read on....

-the "city" is split into 3 "sections", and each section has a timer attached to it. The timers all count down independently and start at 118 secs each.

- each switch on the playfield is "attached" to a certain section of the city, and each switch will add a certain amount of time each hit to the section of the city it's attached to.

- each time you drain a ball, one section of the city gets destroyed and the next ball is ejected. Thus this is why it's a three ball mode. After you drain the third ball, you fail and the mode ends.

- the Hero shots in DP are worth an OBSCENE amount of points. We're talking 6-9mil a shot.

- okay, ready for the "bad" news? The "point" of the mode is to keep at least one section alive for a certain amount of time. In Power Down on JM, the timer is 45 secs to go nuts. In DP, the overall mode timer that you have to keep the sections "alive" through is TEN FREAKING MINUTES!!!! Yup, move over LOTR, there's a new longest mode,lol.

- if you keep at least one section of the city alive through the ten minutes (assuming your attention span is that long) the SJP shot(s) will light. Hit it and collect a SJP proportional to how many sections of the city you still have in-tact. When I collected it with one section left, my SJP was 50mil.

- combos do not get counted while in DP, so no Deadpool for you!

DP is BAR-NONE the biggest scoring opportunity now. Just from my testing (including me just sitting and waiting not hitting any switches while waiting the time out) I finished DP with a MODE total of over 400 million points. Cray-zee.

Xavier silhouette is there, but only briefly :/. At least it was for me during Sentinels

EDIT-- upon further testing, it seems like the Xavier mode display hasn't changed priorities at all. Sorry for the misinformation. I could have sworn that I saw a couple seconds of a silhouette during Sentinels, but getting Xavier during other villains still didn't how the silhouette screen :/ sorry guys

Updated " general stuffs" section.

Some of Deadpool's callouts are actually pretty damn good.

"OMEGA RED WETS THE BED!! .....it's pretty embarrassing, actually."

Good stuff.

This update doesn't have everything "we" wanted, but of you liked v1.3, v1.5 made the game nothing but better!!
DEFINETLY a step forward and makes the game better overall.asidefrom DP's lopsidedness, scoring seems to be more well rounded for what you achieve during play. Very pleased.

Correct, no adjustment for DP mode time. It is what it is. At least you can score a metric f@$k-ton of points during the 10mins. It turns DP into a feat of human endurance and concentration. Hell, if anyone can make it through DP all 10 mins and still have all 3 sections in tact; you win life and have accomplished all that man can do, lol.

NOTE: edits have been made to the DEADPOOL section---

He starts at 10 combos, not 15.

He does NOT go away if you don't beat a villain while he is hired. I.E. - If he's helping you during a villain mode and that mode times out before you can beat it, he will still be available to you until you either beat a villain or drain your ball.

By request here is the suggestions/request thread from the past for v1.3. I will notate whether or not these got addressed in v1.5 in ALL CAPS. Pease keep in mind that this is info is accrued from my testing today, and may turn out to be different, plus some of these I cannot test because I have an LE and no pro, so pro features are non-testable for me. Well, here it goes.

Requests:
Allow Xavier as a qualifying left shot during Weapon X mode. -------- NOPE.

Add combo wizard mode (Both) -------- KIND OF IMPLEMENTED (DEADPOOL)

Add combo count to instant info (Both) - -------- IMPLEMENTED

Stop timers for other modes when Nightcrawler is out or have a hit count towards that shot. (LE) -------- NOT THAT I CAN TELL

Allow option of disabling collected heroes (Both) -------- NOPE. WHY WAS THIS SUGGESTED?!?!

Factor current combo count into total bonus each ball (Both) -------- NOPE

Combo bonus if completed heroes are part of combo (both) -------- NOPE

Combo jackpot (collected at scoop) after certain number of jackpots (adjustable) (Both) -------- NOPE

Deadpool mode should be a fast scoring mode after a certain number of combos are reached (Both) ------- NOT FAST SCORING, BUT HE IS REACHED VIA COMBO. I LIKE HIS CURRENT IMPLEMENTATION BETTER THAN HIM JUST BEING A FAST SCORING MODE.

DMD callout and animation for Iceman combo mode initiation (LE) -------- NOPE

Battle for Humanity wizard mode after completing Magneto SJP, Danger Room, and Dark Phoenix. (Both) -------- NOPE

Get rid of the "Complete Targets to Qualify Multiball" text screen. Show it only once, if at all, when you hit the targets the first time. (Both) --------- NOPE

Add a Hellfire screen that shows how many targets have been hit (i.e. same type of screen as BH, but with flames). (Both) -------- NOPE

Add short type of "super pops" after collecting Gambit hurry-up. (Both) -------- NOPE, BUT GAMBIT HURRY UP IS WORTH WAY MORE POINTS NOW, SO GAMBIT IS LEGIT ON HIS OWN, WITHOUT ANY ADDITIONAL REWARD

Use the Iceman ramp flasher when the Iceman ramp is about to move. (LE) -------- NOPE.

Keep lock lights lit during villain selection (helps in decision making) (Both) ------- NOPE.

Add attract sounds to the flipper buttons (Both) -------- IMPLEMENTED

Sound effect when a combo is made (Both) ------- NOPE.

Change mutants in Xavier mode from the ones on the playfield to other mutants like Shadowcat (Kitty Pryde), Polaris, Cannonball, Wolfsbane, etc. (Both) -------- NOPE

Super spinner is Lit has two different screens appear that state basically the same thing when super spinner started from scoop. Are both needed? (Both) -------- I HAVE YET TO EVEN SEE SUPER SPINNER ANYMORE. IT MAY HAVE BEEN TAKEN OUT ALTOGETHER, WHICH IS FINE BY ME, SUPER SPINNER WAS USELESS PRETTY MUCH.

Disable combos during multiball. No way to accurately track them. (Both) ------ NOPE. ACTUALLY A GOOD THING THIS WASNT DISABLED, MULTIBALLS ARE A GREAT TIME NOW TO ATTAIN COMBOS TOWARDS HIRING DEADPOOL.

Gambit pop bumper animation overrides other animations on the DMD that are more important. (Both) -------- IMPLEMENTED, FROM WHAT I CAN TELL.

Bugs:
Combo extra ball does not light after reaching setting as listed in adjustments ------- ADDRESSED. EXTRA BALL IS NOW GIVEN AFTER 10 UNIQUE COMBOS, AND CAN BE ADJUSTED IN THE MENU.

Nightcrawler appears repeatedly when three or six heroes are complete and one is completed again. (Both) --------- NC NOW ONLY APPEARS AFTER 3 AND 6 HERO COMPLETIONS. HAVENT PAYED ATTENTION TO SEE IF HE STILL APPEARS AFTER THE FORST BEATEN VILLAIN AFTER 3 HEROES HAVE BEEN COLLECTED.

Professor X screen showing mutant silhouette should display when a Villian is running. (Both) ------- ADDRESSED! IF YOU START PROF. X MODE DURING A VILLAIN NOW, THE MYSTERY MUTANT SHOT WILL AUTOMATICALLY FLASH, NO NEED TO SEE THE SILHOUETTE. THIS BASICALLY SPOTS YOU THE FIRST XAVIER SHOT WHICH REVEALS WHERE THE MUTANT SHOT IS. I ASSUME THIS WAS DONE DUE TO DOT ANIMATION CLUTTERING UP AND TRADING OFF DURING THE TWO MODES AT THE SAME TIME.

Lower the priority of Gambit pop bumper hits to only show when nothing else is active. (both) ------- IMPLEMENTED

Don't light orbit shots (including right orbit Lock) when the shots don't count (ie. after ball launch). (Both) -------- HAVENT TAKEN THE TIME TO TEST, YET.

Orbits shots (Beast & Phoenix, and Lock) should become active as soon as another switch is hit in single ball mode. (Both) -------- HAVENT TESTED, YET

Xavier shot is lit during Nightcrawler but doesn't advance Nightcrawler. (Pro) ------- ADDRESSED FROM WHAT I HAVE HEARD. XAVIER IS NOW A VALID SHOT DURING NC ON PROS

Iceman ramp red arrow flashes during his mode. Unneeded as Iceman insert is already flashing. (Pro) -------- ADDRESSED! THE RED ARROW IS NO LONGER LIT DURING ICEMAN MODE.

In Xavier mode, the shot for Iceman is the Storm ramp and not the Iceman ramp (no mutant is found at the Iceman ramp). (Both) -------- NOPE

In the light show of available targets at the start of Xavier mode, the bottom Brotherhood target does not flash even though it is a spot that a mutant may be hiding ------- NOPE. THE LOWEST BH TARGET STILL DOES NOT LIGHT.

Storm shot is counted when Xavier mode starts. This is with hero stacking turned on or off. (Pro/LE) ------- ADDRESSED, NO LONGER COUNTS.

Even though most of this is a "NOPE", I really don't think this means that this update is shit in the least. Most of our requests were flights of fantasy and asking more than they could possibly fit into one update for a title that's no longer in production. Most of the "bugs" that were reported above really were just nit-picky. All the gameplay affecting bugs were addressed, aside from Xavier mode's animation priority.

But this update is a success, in my eyes. Anyone that looks at the above and is pissed or turns their nose up to Stern for not implementing everything we wanted is an A-hole and has entitlement issues. Deadpool is awesome and adds extra strategy and really puts the focus on completing combos, DP mode is now more attainable, thanks to Deadpool, and has really neat rules, despite its 10 minute timer. Scoring is rounded up when you re-complete modes etc. just a good update all around. Better than getting nothing or taking two steps back. Be happy XM owners, be happy. And excellent game has become more bodacious, despite its flaws. Still a solid game. And who knows, I'm sure Borg would say "never say never" as far as XM never getting another code update. Should we expect or think we're owed more updates for XM? I don't think so anymore, but just like TRON; if a year or so from now they have the extra time to come back to it and smoothing things out, all the better.

Congrats everyone and enjoy your new game!

NOTE- updated "General Stuffs" with new mystery scoop award info

Yeah, even with the text and placeholder rules. Wizard Multiball is a mode that probably 3 or 4 world class players will ever see, so given the time they had for this update, it would probably have been very low on the priority list. For them to revamp and make time to complete this is silly. Of course I'd love to have another wizard with fleshed out rules and animations, but it's a mode that hardly any of us will ever see legitimately anyways, so I'm fine with leaving it as is....and I'm sure Stern and Borg are happy with that also. And they should be happy; it's a good game

And, as I said, there's ALWAYS a chance that a year or so from now they'll revisit it for shits and giggles, like they did with TRON. But I'm done with thinking "we" are "owed" another update, I'm content with what there is now, the gameplay now feels much more connected.

If anything, my biggest critique of the things not included in this update is the fact that there are still no victory laps for WX, HFC and BH multiballs. But like I said, they only had so much time, I'm sure, so they had to prioritize.

Exactly. Well put Aurich.

And thanks, doing all this testing and stuff is my bag, I love this stuff! Especially when it's such a deep and personality filled game!

Sad thing is: now that code is out for XM and on its way soon for MET, my Stern embargo is lifting and I'm gonna get a ST premium pretty soon........so my new rule sheet project begins.....back to the drawing board

Thanks Keith, I'll have to retest, obviously. I had it right the fist time I guess,lol. But I had a game where, you're right, I must have stacked him because I failed Shadow King and then started Mags and still had Deadpool going.

They can still be restarted. However, the points scale upwards each time you complete the same hero mode again, so you'll keep getting more and more points for starting them, so at least restarting completed hero modes isn't a complete waste of time, they are actually quite lucrative now to restart.

Okay, I tested and retested this, and my revised assumption still stands:

If you do not defeat a villain while Deadpool is hired, he is STILL ACTIVE for the next time you start a villain, assuming you don't drain your ball.

I tested and confirmed this in multiple ways. For instance:

-I hired Deadpool, and the current combo count was 10.
-started Sabertooth
-made shots and got Sabertooth down until he was on the final shot
-timed out mode without beating him
-apron and playfield flashers were still pulsing, signifying Deadpool still being active
-instant info showed me with 11 total combos
-completed lane to re light villain at scoop
-shot scoop and started Omega Red
-Deadpool still active during the entirety of Omega Red.

Correct. Noted in my Deadpool section. He's also useable w/MagsMB