A friend of mine has LEDs in his along with the LED OCD board. It's so pretty it brings a tear to my eyes. If I do not decide to update to the possible VE, I will be doing the same to mine as soon as finances allow. This is one of those games I would not LED without the OCD board...the fading and dimming effects are way too important on this one, both aesthetically and usefully.

You will still lose the fading/brightness effect telling you what villain levels you are on. And the cool pulsing effect from the villain spotlights.

I just got done putting Comet's sunlight (not too cool, not too warm) frosted 2 smds in my SM. They may be the most beautiful LEDs I've ever seen and fit the game perfectly.

For what it's worth...those decals have art from the wrong movie series on them. That is from "The Amazing Spider-Man" (2012), while the pin is based on "Spider-Man" (2002). It might not bother you (and they do look nice!), but I would expect it to lower the resale value when you sell it. Then again I've seen people put original series Star Trek decals on their ST:TNG pin. LOL

The fifth one (animated art) looks really good...but the sixth one with the logo, webs, and distressed look is freaking awesome! I'd make sure to use the right logo / font to match the game no matter which one you go with though.

Novus 2. If still no good, magic eraser...but be careful not to go overboard with it.

Take a look at Comet's sunlight LEDs for the GI. I put them in my old SM and they looked amazing. Warmer without being as yellow as bulbs. Good stuff!

Found a pic of my old machine with the Sunlight 2smbs. Pretty much the perfect light in my opinion...

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Pinbits. They are subtly blue, but do not wash out the color on the plastics like most colored protectors do.

https://www.pinbits.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=13_45&products_id=384&zenid=c87a46552cc929c82b51dbba575cb949

Did you pick up CPR9999's? Saw that when I checked out his TF...amazing game. I was slightly tempted to sell my vault and pick that one up!

I've always liked the building/subway mods, but not sure how they would look or fit on a vault. Let me know how much you were thinking...maybe I would give it a try depending.

Either way, congrats on the pick-up. SM is still one of my all time favorites!

Yeah...the GI was the only thing I didn't love about that machine. Give Comet's Sunlight 2SMDs a try. Beautiful. There is a pic of my old machine where I used them in this thread...
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/club-spidey-members-and-guests-welcome/page/19#post-4507802

I like natural too for games with cooler colors. The warmer colors on SM really popped for me with the sunlights. They are half way between natural and warm...a great compromise. I would say they did not look quite as warm in person as the pic shows. Can't go wrong with either though.

The rules are exactly the same. The modes have been renamed with new audio/video assets, but the rules for each are the same as the equivalent original.

When I owned my original, a bit of drop dead foam and a small tweak got it 100%. Now with my vault, I couldn't get it for the life of me. Tried bending, foam (multiple types), checking the magnet level, etc and no matter what it was rejecting nearly 50% of shots. Almost made me light it on fire. Finally determined it was the factory "cliffy" they added to the hole for the vault. Even with how thin it is, it was just enough to get the ball to hop. I ended up taking that off, adding a thin strip of mylar in its place (probably not needed at home), and it's been about 95% good since. I will still get one to hop out once in a great while, but it's rare.

If you didn't finish Venom, you didn't qualify it. All three levels of each villain need to be finished, plus the 5 spider modes. Then it will start at an orbit like the other modes.

For me there was a HUGE gap between hitting BR regularly and finally getting to Superhero. It took owning it two different times for about 4 years total before I finally did it, and that was just a couple months ago. I've now gotten there two more times since. At first it was usually the spider modes stopping me, so I changed my strategy to basically concentrate solely on starting them, using the multiballs whenever possible to help finish them. I find that for the most part, the villains complete themselves while playing this way (which is a little unfortunate really...). The biggest exception is Venom 3 (and sometimes Goblin 3 with its fast strobing shots). Venom 3 not only requires side ramp hits, but it also keeps the orbit gate open most of the time, so you can't get the nice feed out of the pops like usual (other than a black suit locked ball, which by then is going to require a lot of light lock hits). So it's mostly orbit-ramp combos or nothing when in single ball play. I find the best way to fight that is if you can get into a multiball, just keep hitting upper flipper shots and letting the balls drain then relaunch as long as the ball save holds out. In my three times there, I have yet to finish SH, but it's a cool mode. No idea how many shots it takes, but it seems like a million.

Have you gotten Combo Multiball yet? That's a lesser known mode that would be a good new goal for you if it's getting stale. 50 combos and it will start. Not an easy task. I've done it twice (oddly once on each machine I have owned).

I've toyed with the idea of letting mine go after finally hitting SH a couple times. I'm not a huge fan of the ruleset...I find it solid but nothing super exciting. I do not love hitting a bunch of shots to start modes, or how the villains for the most part finish themselves. I also do not love BR...not sure why. I can rarely pull off more than a couple jackpots and just do not find it as satisfying as most mini-wizard modes. But that said, I LOVE how the game shoots, and the rules do compliment the playfield well. Plus the theme, art, and A/V assets (in both forms) are fantastic, making it a total package game for me. I can play it many other places in my league and local circle, but I just do not think I would want to have it missing from my collection again. It's still one of my top games, after all these years and seeing everything it has to offer.

I have not finished it. I think I was close once...I got to the "bash Sandman a billion times" stage, but not sure how far I had to go. Very long mode...felt like I was playing SH for at least 10 minutes that time. I love the game, but there definitely some wood chopping needed to get far.

6000 plays is a ton for that new of a machine. No way that was a "demo unit" unless it was "demoed" for years in a very busy location. I would steer clear from that vendor as there is no way that's true. $7300 is also crazy. Maybe if it was NIB, but not for a used machine. $6k-$6.5 would be fair for a low play HUO machine. If the demo unit was well cared for, I would put that in the same boat. I would try to be patient and watch for a realistic seller to come along, or consider a regular/original version.

Ahh...yeah I would definitely steer clear of that one unless it was well maintained and they come down quite a bit in price. I'd start considering it at $5800 or so depending on how much wear it has. At 6k plays, it likely has at least some wear...up to you how much you can be happy with for the price.

I totally understand it's tough to wait. But you do not want to overpay for a game you ultimately are not happy with. The right one will come along! The VE is a sweet machine. I have owned both, and I prefer bits and pieces of each of them over the other. Ultimately though, if (when, LOL) I get another one, it will be an original. I like the original call-outs much better, and find the modes more intense overall. It helps being a fan of the movies. Great machine in either form though. Best of luck in the search!

I had them in my VE before I sold it. You have to get creative, and all of the buildings will not fit well (at least not without more major surgery and looking weird). The train worked pretty well, but was very finicky about positioning. It will not mount as intended, but you can use velcro, bend wire mounts, etc to make it work. It's tight though. A hair down and the ball gets stuck...a hair up and it hits the glass.

The buildings are a different story. The one that goes behind Goblin doesn't fit because he's fatter and sits further back. Without that one in place, the ones on either side look really weird. The best I could do was pick and choose a couple of them that fit decent towards the back. They looked good, but not perfect. The biggest bummer was I ended up destroying the one meant to go behind Goblin while trying to modify it to work. I thought maybe making it thinner or even just using the front face only stuck right to the wall might work, but it looked stupid.

When I sold my VE I decided to keep the mods as I want an original someday, but now I have a messed up building that I probably do not have the skill to make look decent again. Oh well. In all honesty, as much as I like the buildings, they make the game feel a bit crowded. The train seems like a better fit overall, and didn't really feel crowded to me. All cool stuff though, and Matt does amazing work.

Here are a few pics from that machine before I sold it. Maybe someone more skilled than I am could have made them work better though.

I wish I would have held on to that game (man I end up saying that about a lot of them!). Had it in my head I really wanted an original instead, and I still do, but that VE is a very cool machine too. I really like them both...each have advantages and disadvantages. Gotta get myself back in the SM club sometime!

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Very happy to be back in the club. My first three-pete game, lol. Just finished installing Tilt Graphics art blades. I really love how they look. I still have my Back Alley buildings and subway from my previous game, but I never did get the buildings to fit quite right on the vault. And without the buildings to balance it, I fear the subway makes the right side feel too unbalanced. I think I will just leave it like this. These blades really finish off the vault well I think.

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Haha...nothing to be beaten on. I really can't sell the buildings as I have done some...er....modifications trying to get them to fit right on my previous vault. The long building that goes behind Goblin is basically destroyed. When nothing else worked, I thought maybe using the front facade only would work, but it looked really silly. So...yeah...I do not have the kind of skill it would take to make it look right again.

The subway I still may or may not use. It might end up as a topper even. I like that damn thing quite a bit.

I would just run a ball along it manually to see if the gate is causing the hang-up or not. I would be very surprised if it's just a slightly raised insert stopping the ball if you are really at the proper pitch. I know you mentioned the bubble is at the top line, but know that the bubble can often not be trusted. I would use a digital level, angle finder, or even a phone app to check, and make sure you are checking directly on the playfield (not the glass, cabinet, etc). Sorry if that is information you already know, but just covering the basics since you mentioned it's your first machine. At either rate, it seems to me the playfield would have to be super shallow and floaty to allow a ball to stop there.

Always LOVED that topper. If memory serves that had to be one of, if not the first aftermarket topper ever sold. If I had the ceiling room I would love to have one. I'm assuming I don't, but just in case...how tall is it?

Nope. That said there is a stage in the Superhero wizard mode where you just bash Sandman a billion times. Maybe that’s what you are remembering?