So I joined the club this week (no pics yet, as we are waiting on remaining ice around our doorways to melt, so that we can get it down to the basement). I really wanted the VE for the artwork, updated electronics and whatnot. But I just couldn’t get past the bad music, sub-par voice work and the ridiculously awful Goblin. I am a collector of the Spidey comics since just before the Todd McFarlane era. That generation of Goblin in the VE cabinet is just...the worst. Coupled with the bad voice work/callouts and it was a deal breaker. It’s unfortunate because I loved everything else about the VE. In my opinion the VE could’ve reused at least some of the voice work and been much better. But maybe licensing of the original movie property came into play or expired? I understand that Marvel was likely trying to promote the Ultimate series with this cabinet to some degree, as they were trying to appeal to a new young generation. Again, unfortunately...that generation of Spidey is very lukewarm. Looking forward to playing my OG tonight (hopefully) and getting a color dmd for it very soon!

Finally got Spidey set up! I have to say, the Sterns of this era feel pretty solid and well-built. They almost remind me of a Williams sys11 or WPC in that respect (I said almost) It had been many moons since I actually played this game and I forgot how tight the ramp shots are. So much stuff packed into that back area, you’d expect the underside of the playfield to be a mess...but it’s not at all. Seeing as how this is my first SAM game, is there any preventative maintenance I should be considering before I buy frivolous things like a color dmd? The game has a little over 1500 games on the clicker.

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Thanks for the info! I had read about the sandman ramp but really wasn’t sure what/where to look. Also thanks for the clarification on the dmd...there are two versions on their website and I really wasn’t sure which one was better or even what the difference is between them. I was a bit shocked at how solid the flippers felt on Spidey versus Deadpool. A little unsettling considering I bought DP new in box and Spidey has 1500 plays! Don’t get me wrong, DP still feels like a quality machine but Spidey feels like it’s built like a tank in comparison. Speaking of tanks, my brother said “man, that Gottlieb looks like a monster sitting next to a modern Stern!” Ha! Thanks again and I’m glad to be in the club...this machine has been on my want list for quite some time.

Place the buildings so there is no gap between them, find some Spidey and villain micro figures that are the same scale, have Spidey fighting Doc on top of the subway, add strip lighting from comet to tie into your GI. It will look awesome. Or put everything back under the glass and it will also look awesome. I had mine out for a while and while I agree that it made everything feel cramped I liked how you couldn’t see the ball coming down the wire forms

Haven’t been in here for awhile so thought I’d include some pics. Added Comet strip lights under the subway and in one of the buildings.
Green Comet bulb in the spotlight on Gobby.
Still searching for Doc and Gobby Funkos for my topper, which is also lit with Comet strip.

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So I added Color DMD LED yesterday, and I have to say I’m a little underwhelmed. I also added LED to my T2 and DE Batman yesterday, and the results were game-changing.
I’m wondering if I should’ve gone with the LCD instead?
Mainly I’m disappointed in how muddy the animations are. The still images are fine and certainly what I expected, but with some of the animations…if I hadn’t seen them on the original DMD beforehand, I would never even know what I’m looking at. I understand that there is only so much that can be done with the original dot animations, but I think because they move so fast they don’t seem to translate very well to colorization. I’ve tinkered with the contrast and brightness but that’s really not the issue.
With T2 and Batman, I said “Wow!”, and with Spidey I was like “Ehh…”
If anyone in the Spider-verse has the LCD version I’d greatly appreciate your input. Thanks!

Very cool! Nice work.

Totally unrelated, but my wife got me this signed print for Xmas.
Artist is Jamie Tyndall if you are interested in checking out her work. She does all sorts of pinup art in various themes.

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That looks pretty great. I don’t have a VE but I think it could still work on the standard model.

Thanks for the pic, it’s much better than the one on their website. So is it worth the $? Looks like it does a pretty good job of lighting the translite.

Looks like I have one more mod for the wishlist!

I bought mine from someone who already had the buildings and train in it. I took them out at first and it looked barren. They are a pain in the keester if you have to lift the playfield, as they have to be removed every time. But I’ll be damned if they don’t look awesome af. They’re back in there now, and I can’t play without them in…they’re just too cool for school. The neat part about the buildings is that it hides the ball coming down from the venom ramp, so it makes things interesting. Really keeps you on your toes, if you like that sort of thing. All that being said, I’m not sure all of that is $400 worth of awesomeness. $200? Yes. $400? Ehhh…

100% agree on that. Art blades have a laminated top layer that is designed to be easily cleaned. The adhesive-backed velcro will not take kindly to it and might not even stick at all.