Saint Augustine, FL
Quoted from kevmad:Resurrecting this thread. It is sad that backbox animations are extinct. I'd rather have old school animations instead of a huge video screen with CGI computer animations. Does anyone else miss old school backbox animations?
The best for sure are Cyclone and SS. These are integral to the game.
I do like Hurricane's spinning roller coaster as well.
Do light animations count - Jackpot value in BOP displayed on bride's leg, weird but cool! Picking your prize on Junkyard.
We've started a small arcade museum recently, and Gottlieb's Dancing Lady is played as much if not more than any other pinball and that includes MM and MB. Morning, noon and night someone is playing DL, females 3/4 of the time maybe. We have Volley and Abra ca Dabra on either side, Surf Champ, etc... all considered the best EM's, and the general public is more often drawn to Dancing Lady. Other than the roto target, you'd have to credit the backbox animation. Like others have mentioned, SS, RnB, NBAFB, CV, LCA!, etc etc - even in the 80s/90's, they recognized the backbox animation appeal to the general public.
LCD animations steal the show now, but I still believe mechanical animation's are a feature which could make a machine stand out and have an extra layer of personality and depth, if done correctly. It doesn't have to be Bad Cats or T3, look at something as simple as Ice Fever, a miniature puck flying across the corner of the back-glass. That tiny little mech: so simple and yet adds so much!!
Long live the backglass animations! Hope to see more soon, LCD's be darned! 
