It goes both ways. Sometimes people want to share an honest opinion on why they don't like a game and they get dogpiled by the same 3-4 fans either telling them that they're wrong or calling them out for not having played it.

In one specific instance, I talked about the game and how I wasn't impressed. One of these zealous owners called me out and it turns out that the guy hadn't even played his own game on the newest code yet, and I had. I had hours of time on the game, and experience on newer code, yet he's out there calling me out for not having enough experience on the game. That's lame at best.

The whole blind white knight attitude around the things people own is just as crazy as it is for people to hate on things they have limited experience on. None of it is productive or helpful in any way. There's no honesty in any of it. It's to the point where I have to keep mental notes on certain people and know not to ever trust their stated opinions on certain things, because they come with mountains of bias.

4-5 guys on either side of the hype or hate aisle won't be making or breaking the value of this or any machine. What it will do is ruin discourse on Pinside and make everybody distrustful and overly sensitive, however.

It's less of a remake than The Getaway is or Star Trek is. Those games are, layout wise, more similar to their inspirations than B66 is to TDK. I would say it's a recycled design that has been tweaked, but the code is totally different.

Let's not go crazy here.

B66 is clunky, even when you're making shots. That doesn't mean that people can't enjoy shooting on it, but it has a lot of dead shots and some made shots that rattle or rebound a bit ugly.

This whole "you're jealous" or "it's just envy" narrative is pretty gross, guys. Let's drop that right now, because that's a bad road to keep going down.

Look, the game, as of now, is a disappointment according to many. That can change, but it also might not. People bagged on Iron Man for a long time and very few of us liked it. It's pretty much thought of as a great pin today, but it doesn't mean that people were wrong to dislike it when it was in a bad state of code. From what I see though, Iron Man has a much better layout to build from than Batman '66 does, so Lyman really has his work cut out for him. It's going to take some time to see how it shakes out. But as of today, it's totally valid to feel like the game is a flop based on the hype and price.

Buffalo Pinball? They're a reliable authority. They play more in a week than you guys all play in a year, I'm sure of that. And they're extremely fair. This is the first game they've really scored low, and they left the door open for an improved score down the line, but they are right that there's no valid excuse for the game being released as it is.

k.

And no, nobody knows when you're "joking" anymore because 90% of your posts are fanboyish hyperbole and really, really dodgy "honest" or "fair" opinions. We get it. You're ridiculously stubborn and childish.

Yeah, man. I'm JJP's number 1 cheerleader. Look at how much I adore The Hobbit. You got me!

The problem with people like you on Pinside is you don't allow for anything but total polar opposite opinions. It makes discussion around here really poor. I like some things, I don't like others. There are yet other things that I'm lukewarm to. I don't care what manufacturer put out a game, I'll play the game (imagine that, playing the game!), and judge what's in front of me at that time. If I don't like it, I'll say that I don't like it. If I do like it, I'll say so. If I really like it, I'll buy it. I don't really put much more thought and effort into it.

Batman '66, as it stands right now is a dud. It's shallow and feels cheap. I hold out hope that it gets better, and I am open to revising my thoughts on the game. I feel the same way about The Hobbit (aside from it feeling cheap). It's just a dud.

Here are a few more of my opinions, since you seem to care so much!

Ghostbusters - Great game! Needs a code revision desperately though.
Game of Thrones - Fantastic game, as long as it's the pro. Killer code work from Dwight.
KISS - Really a chore to play. Not fun.
Rob Zombie - Not a fan of the layout or the current code. We'll see what the update brings.
America's Most Haunted - Great fun! I like the code and the layout.
Aerosmith - It's just ok. Feels overly familiar, but it's a pretty good layout. The code is fine.
Full Throttle - Not much of a fan. Don't care for the code and the theme integration is a bit lame.
Alien - Fun game! I need more time to really get dialed into the shots, but I like what I've seen.
Dialed In - Amazing layout and I dig the code. I'm all in on this one. I don't love the art, but it's fitting. Great LCD work.
Jurassic Park - Underrated pin that is a great bang for your buck experience. Great starter pin.

Need some more?

I would love nothing more than for Batman '66 to become a modern masterpiece. I find that unlikely due to the layout, but some dodgy layouts have been elevated by code, so I'm still holding out hope.

Whether you were informed that the game was in a beta release state at launch or not is unimportant. You can really only opine on what is in front of you, but you have to allow that opinion to evolve. We can very much dislike B66 today and love it in a year. Iron Man went through that cycle, but I would argue that IM has a vastly superior layout.

We'll see. But since this thread is about being honest, it seems only appropriate to admit that the game is deeply flawed in its current state. CURRENT STATE. So chill when people drop in and don't seem to like it right now. You might! That's ok.

Shameless and lazy. They recycled the same images AGAIN for the topper and art blades. Most phoned in game Stern has ever done? Yeah, probably.

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I'll never buy one. That layout is terrible. The entire left half of that machine is a big design mistake.

Dialed In doesn't have much to do with Batman '66 in any way, but, um, ok...

Iron Man always had a good layout though. Batman's layout is pretty weak in the areas it works, and really bad in the areas where it doesn't. No code will fix that turntable. It's a bad mech. An orbit shouldn't have to be hit with pinpoint precision and speed to go through smoothly, but that's how that left orbit works. It's just a half-baked design.

It doesn't mean that it won't eventually be a fun game. It could even become a very good game. I would just never pay the insane premium for a game that will always have flaws that are a result of rushing things out the door. It's not justifiable to me.