Fairview Park, OH
Quoted from jonebone:Interesting replies so far, thanks for all of the advice. Please note I'm a collector more than a gamer and I fully understand that. The pinball will likely be bought, get a bunch of plays at first and then go weeks or months without even being powered on. As strange as it may sound to some of you, I'm buying it more as a collectible that will be a topic of conversation when people come over. Or something my kids can play as they get older (2 and 4 now). Not something that I'm going to be playing all the time and continually trying to set a new high score.
As for what games I played, I went for themes that I liked as opposed to "great games". I played wrestling ones, Goldeneye, both Marios, Street Fighter II, TMNT and probably some other miscellaneous 90s themes (Arnold, movies, etc.) Being as that was 15 months ago, I don't have any distinct memories other than the Mario Mushroom World being horrible and WWF Royal Rumble being boring. The other ones I'd play for 30-60 seconds on a coin and call it a day.
Having said all of that, does that change the recommendations? I see that TSPP is mentioned but that's a $4.5-$5k machine. I don't see the point in paying that when I can get some of these Data East ones in a theme I like for half price. You experienced players can obviously tell the difference but as of now I can't. Maybe eventually I can and will want to add a more advanced pin later, but a nice easy entry level one in a theme I like is what I desire now.
If this is the criteria, I'd echo that the DE Simpsons is probably the best choice of what you listed, but also echo that it's not a great game, but that doesn't mean you still can't have some fun with it too.
For any of the games you listed it is going to be tough (and expensive) to find a truly excellent one. I'd also set aside the notion of it "lasting a long time". While it's probably true on the whole, I've moved a 100% working game across my basement to rearrange something and had something stop working before. You're buying a huge 30 year old mechanical game with a million parts that you launch a metal ball into plastic with small wires attached to - something is gonna break. It could take the length of the ride home, of it could take 2 years, but it'll happen eventually.
You also mentioned friends playing as a main reason to get a game. A lesson I have learned after moving games in and out of my basement for 5 years is this: get games YOU like and want to play. Other people may come over and go "oh cool, pinball", but unless they're really into it, they'll move on in about 5 minutes. I used to fill my basement up with games that were great party games, only to go downstairs alone to play 95% of the time and be staring at an Area 51, Street Fighter II, etc. going "boy these are pretty boring to play alone". I eventually got to a spot where I have 2 arcades (mine and my wife's favorite games) and 6 soon to be 8 pins that I personally enjoy, not ones that I think other people will want to play.
