Having got to know Kingpin pretty intimately, and having had BBB since it was released, I have come to think of KP as a little better than BBB, mostly due to its "flow".

Art - BBB > KP
Theme - BBB > KP
Playfield layout/shotmap - KP > BBB
Audio - BBB > KP (just)
Toys - KP > BBB (mostly due to the gun mech shooting the ball out from under the playfield)

The ramps are a work of art in their placement and the way they add to the classic fan layout.

It has that classic nineties set up where smart rules mattered, and shortcomings not attempted to be compensated by lots of toys and gimmicks. In that respect, and with its flow, it reminds me of AFM (not gameplay wise, but as a package). The modes are great (albeit needing some work to polish unless there are better ROMs out there that I have) and a couple of clever wizard modes at the end. I am just typing an email to James with a few rules to take a look at (although they probably already have). With the rules polished a little, this will be a classic.

It is the software more than the hardware that creates the Capcom feel, and of course allows the adjustment. I suspect it is the way the coils are pulsed. I am using the worst (Stern early 2000 mechs!!) in my Kingpin and the game feels all but identical to my other Capcoms, certainly near enough that I can't really tell the difference.

No mate, not on there.

I built one, I do not have one of the 8, that's how I got to know it so well.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/welcome-to-the-big-city-kid

The original rules need some polish, but as CM is proposing to have two sets - original and updated - available, this is ideal.

"Most people haven't played the game" applies to just about every game before production, and Stern seems to still sell their stuff.

Fair point. Hopefully you and all those others get a chance to play one locally. For me (and I won't presume to suggest plenty of others) a game as iconic as this, with such a rich history, has more going for it than just code and lighting (although wait until you see the lighting on this beauty!)

Really wish I could have made it over to see this unveiled, wonderful job. James shared some pics as this came together, and I was amazed how quickly they achieved a fully fledged game after the months of work it took me to get mine going. I have bought my translite and will enjoy the time waiting to see the game.

While I love my BBB, the experience with KP has shown me that it is every bit as good a game. Very different. I consider it the best shot map layout I have played for flow, and the ramps are amazingly well placed.

Great update, really nice seeing the effort going into this.

I enjoyed the seminar on line... As for the pokie reel, I did take a moment to think about it, and I am leaning towards agreeing that an LCD would be worthwhile. It is a lot of space for what I think is a single mode. In fact, in my Kingpin build ( https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/welcome-to-the-big-city-kid ), I don't even have it in place at all, and the mode it is used in still completes!

Much as I would like some new flipper bits for Capcoms, I found that they perform just as well with crappy Stern mechs. Seems its the Capcom system running them rather than the mechanisms that give them that Capcom feel.

Stern.

Good to hear!

Love the translite, even if the game doesn't get made. Found a handy spot for mine in the meantime.

Count - not sure.

Crazy - most likely.

Pretty sure there was a post a while back, that the due to the pandemic, travel to vendors etc was not possible. So time was being spent on the software. Building the games, while challenging, will be far from impossible, and there are contract manufacturers around. Getting the software up to production ready was always, to my mind, going to take a lot of time for a one-man effort. If 2020 has given some time for the software that might otherwise have been updates after delivery, then I'm kinda glad. The existing software is very good, but needs polish.

I am as big a fan of Capcom you can get, but WMS slings work better than Capcoms, late model drops just as well, and flipper mechanisms make very little difference to the famed Capcom flipper "feel", it's in the software. Even Stern mechs with Stern coils work and feel like Capcom when running off Capcom code. IPB built BBB from leftovers (and I love my BBB). Those leftovers are gone now. Time to move on.

Question for anyone who has played an original - if you lose a ball, does the mode in play continue on with the next ball? My game does this, so it seems like the modes are designed to be played to completion, whether or not you lose a ball during a mode. Be interested to know if that is as the originals play, of it the ROM I used in not the only version out there.

Compy - is this what you have found?

Oh, and my wife asked you to correct the above - should read "Vegemite Nick is an insane individual. " Thanks in advance.

Thanks for that, although the rom being used would be the same 1.5 release, so it would perform the same I expect.

Been getting back into my "tribute" game, really hoping the guys bring this to fruition. The more I play, the more I appreciate the fantastic layout. Excuse the poor excuse of a game posted here, just wanted to remind people what we hope to get at some point (a little more professionally executed than my version though!) While the software is pretty complete and a full game is absolutely playable (including two wizard modes that seem very much complete), some tweaks like modes stopping between balls rather than continuing, and probably some limit to the mode stacking would help. it's all there, just needs polish to be a top game. The game manages to make the theme entertaining without being dark. No doubt a little politically incorrect in the 2020's, but nice to escape that for a few minutes sometimes (much like BBB).

It is well behind BBB in completion, however, all of the modes are there, they all work, the light effects work, the animation is fantastic. The Sudden Death does not work that well, it needs to last longer in the weakening stage to give the player some real opportunity to keep it going. Maybe for the coin op environment removing it would have been a better option, but I think it can be made to work if the experts get their way. If the programming environment is there, I can't see the required changes as massive. I may be wrong, but staying positive anyway!

I must admit that even I have become a little less than positive about this moving forward, so much so that I have gone back to my build to finish it off. About to swap in the new playfield in the next couple of weeks.

Love a loaded question, always the best way to start a controversy!

My understanding, and I am no self-proclaimed expert on Kingpin or any other pinball topic, was that you *actually got a translite signed by the artist and the game designer* for a whopping $150.00. And as a bonus, a spot in the queue *if* the game got made.

I don't even need to rely on my memory:

"Kingpin translite signed by game designer Mark Ritchie and artist Stan Fukuoka. These are hand signed and numbered in a limited run of 250 translites.

By purchasing a translite you also will be one of the first to be offered any production games! The lower the translite number, the earlier you’ll be able to purchase any production games."

The word "any" was clearly adopted (twice) for the very reason there was no promise made of anything, you got what you paid for (and it's bloody awesome, and fortunately I do have a rather good spot to display mine).

I made mine from "stitched together scans", now I feel like such a fool! I clearly have no idea. But I suppose a scan expert would be able to scan a complete machine into a 3D printer and make it overnight given that expertise! Maybe a guy who knows coils might want to chime in too (very intentional pun), to also further prove they have no idea how to make a pinball machine because they were using off the shelf coils?

I am no less disappointed than anyone else - possibly more so given how intimately I know the game. I am sure CM gave it their best, but its funny how two years of covid and lockdowns, the damage it did to supply sources and that these guys needed to survive like the rest of us can be so easily forgotten.

Sure, more communication would have been great, but they owe that, if they owe anything at all, directly to the guys that bought a translite. Frankly, they don't even owe anything there IMO because the translite was a bargain and likely adorns the pinball rooms of collectors, making a great talking piece as well.