Well Congo is a fun game, I've not played X-Men, but I'm sure you could buy 2 or more Congo's for the price of 1 X-men.

Xmen by a mile.

I've had Congo for almost three months now, and I also have WOZ and LOTR. I won't say those two machines are getting lonely because others play them. But I'm all about the gorillas. One of the most addictive, just-one-more feeling games I've ever played.

Congo for me is the better pin. Have you played Xmen? it really is a game that you either love or hate. I liked my Magneto LE but something missing for me, not a Xmen fan for one and the callouts are brutal.

Xmen of course...

Xmen, no question.

Owned Xmen Pro for a bit. I thought it was good, but not great. The Storm and Beast call outs were pretty bad. Fairly deep. Tight shots. Challenging. Excellent artwork.

IMO in the same league as TF, POTC, and Shrek/FG. Not in the same league as Tron, ACDC, LOTR.

Can't comment on Congo.

Congo all the way. Do you want a WMS game that has been on the rise now that people know how great it is or a disposable Stern that was the biggest hype of all time and turned out to be a giant flop?

I would rather have the better game. XMEN.

My collection is around 30 games most the time and always in flux. Congo has survived the cut since 2007 with me. A friend of mine with a much smaller collection enjoyed mine and finally found one for himself. It lasted 6 months or so with him.

I've played Xmen and enjoyed it but not enough to bring one home.

You don't mention prices on either game. That's a big consideration. Lacking information I'll make a few assumptions and say Congo is more bang for the buck.

Congo, for sure. Congo is probably my single favorite DMD pin, and has been for the past year. It's got one of the best playfield layouts, gameplay isn't linear (which I see as a nice change of pace,) and great music. Few other games come close, in my mind.

I've played Xmen several times, and it just feels like 275lbs of SOME pinball. It's decent, but I've never been wowed by it, even for a moment.

Congo wins here. Xmen does nothing for me.

Own(ed) them both..and I considered myself a B\W snob. You possibly picked my Worst VS Best game..or pretty darn close

Collecting diamonds got old real fast with Congo. Shoot Grey 4 times..bash flippers to play the lower playfield..repeat x5 gets you to super MB. Once I released super MB was 100 diamonds..I got there 4 of the next 5 games..then put it up for sale. The fact that it was a CQ (Private.. one owner since 97) Congo with perfect PF and non-fade cab couldn't convince me to keep it even with owning 30+ pins

Recruiting Heroes to battle the Villains never gets old. Stern brought back the mechanical ball lock, custom dots, hand draw PF with XM. It's a super deep game with a mini wizard mode to keep your attention during the long haul. The mini wizard mode Danger Room is so well done it revivals TV Wizard mode for my favorite mini. Shots are tight but rewarding...combos everywhere. MB start (LE) is probably my favorite next to maybe Mist MB. There are more custom dots in this game than any game I've attempted to colorized...and I've looked at almost all the Sterns

Xmen is the only pin I have setup right now at my house as the basement gets finished. I have a bunch of pins on loan...the rest folded up being stored. The game gets a real bad rap from the rookie coder Waison attempting his first game..and the pin basically not even keeping score when it was released\shipped. Of course you also had the horrible Iceman ramp issue that would just stop and dump a ball SDTM...all of which are fixed

Xmen wins in a battle of men VS boys

Congo is fun to play!

But X-Men has so much more to offer. The rulesheet is pretty impressive at this time. Several multiballs, wizard modes, stacking options, combos,... and a nearly perfect layout with some tight and rewarding shots...

But! - Wolverine was not designed perfectly...
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/target-wolverine-my-solution-to-a-crappy-part

Still, X-Men is the better player - especially in an home environment... so much more to do and explore!

both are fun, but for my budget Congo wins every time.

Congo is a fantastic game and so completely different than so many others. I would say it is John T's best game and that is saying a lot as he has lots of really good games.

Congo without question. One of the best games available from the classic Williams era.

CONGO...if you can find one.

Phoebe

you said it.

Took me a LONG time to warm up to XM, but now I think it's one of the better games around. Also, I don't mind the call outs, I actually like Beast and I think Storm is fantastic (go figure).

Congo no contest. I simply have no love for Xmen as many of my pinball buds will attest to.

X-Men for me. Like Congo a lot have had one 3 times but X-Men is bolted to the floor. So much more to do on X-Men makes it a keeper for me.

Current score: Congo 11, X-Men 8...with one abstention (NorCalRealtor). This isn't turning out to be much help for you at all! Is there a place you can play both and see which one you like? Also, why don't you YouTube some gameplay vids and see if those help you out a bit.

XM

Well, if there is only a $300 difference then you're probably making the right choice because the Congo is too high (or the X-Men is so low that you'd be dumb not to scoop it up). Do I think that it should cost more than X-Men? Yes. But the reality is that it doesn't and current market dictates that Congo should be $800-$1000 less than X-Men, so I don't think you're making the wrong call at all despite the fact that I think Congo is the superior game.

Good point. I would argue that since Congo is the tougher one to get right now, he should jump on that, play the s**t out of it until he's tired of it, and swap it out for an X-Men. Can't argue with your pricing analysis, though!

X-Men is a really challenging game that I have had 40 minute games on.
Congo is not nearly as challenging but way more fun to play. Balls get shot out of a volcano...

they are both good games, that could not be more different.

It's even better when you throw a shaker in there so the whole machine shakes when the volcano erupts.

+1

Congo for the easy win!

I just got a Junk Yard recently and love it in much the same way that I love Congo. It just has this intangible, endearing charm to it. Junk Yard, in particular, is just goofy fun. It has a spirit to it that the Stern games, although fun, lack. Think about the unlicensed later WPC-95 games (SS, AFM, JY, Totan, MM, NGG, CP, CV, CC, MB)- they are all very endearing games with a lot of charm and character to them. Even though Congo is technically a licensed theme, it's a license that nobody gave two craps about. So, what's left is just the game. And what a game it is. Again, the newer Sterns are fun, but they lack the charm, humor, and the intangibles of the WPC games. And this isn't even to mention the early 90's WPC. We all know about them. I'm just speaking of Congo's immediate contemporaries.

XM is super deep and challenging, Congo is not, but it's a lot of fun to play. I had a Congo and I would get one again even though I have seen everything there is to see. I wouldn't pay what people are trying to get for them now though. I would really like an XM at some point. It's a great home use pin. It has a really good theme, dots, shots, deep ruleset. It's on my wishlist.

So much entirely agreed. There are some call outs that still crack me up from the WPC games, despite having heard them hundreds of times (for decades now).

Contrasted with...

TSPP is a good fun pinball game with plenty of depth. I'd gladly welcome one into my home. But as a fan of The Simpsons franchise (characters, stories, jokes, etc), TSPP is just a disappointment. Which is strange when you consider I can watch episodes of the show, know the joke coming, and still get a genuine belly laugh when it is delivered.

And to to take it even further, even though all the WPC games have flaws and warts (everything does), there is an additional fluidity, some kind of inherent timing, some kind of *artistry* with their DMD animations, call outs, light show, and music changes that just aren't found in Stern machines (I am no hater of Sterns, I love them too, I just don't love them as much or in the same way). It's that kind of stuff which will make difference to many people in *how long* they would enjoy playing a game, or if they would consider it a "keeper".

It's been a long long time since I plugged some quarters into Congo, so I don't remember much of the experience of playing it. But I've been playing a lot of X-men the past few weeks. It's fine. It's pinball. And I like playing pinball. I keep going back and sticking quarters in it to try to get a better score. That's about as much as I can say about it.

Congo and the B/W machines are to Super Mario World (and many 80s video games) as new machines are to Call of Duty. I think you hit the nail right on the head. The older games are wicked fun to play, not too deep, and ridiculously addictive. The newer games have more bling and deeper rules, but get tiresome faster.

Yeah but who wants to play SuperMario World in 2014, STLE for me is way better than MM and Metallica kicks AFM and MB ass, sorry but thats how I feel. Those B/W games get just as boring as any Stern game or other modern pins. I would much rather play COD than guide a little Italian plumber through a cartoon maze.

Respect your opinion, of course (because there is clearly no right answer), but disagree wholeheartedly. It's funny that you use STLE as your example. If anything, that game is nothing if not bland. It's fast and flowy, but it is about the most charmless pin with the most drab personality out there, in my opinion. There's way more to do on just about any of the WPC-95 games.

Man I want Congo and X-men now, and I'm not even in the market for a new pin lol

I respect your opinion as well but to call STLE bland is crazy talk. You see and don't take this the wrong way but most B/W of the 90's feel geared towards children, bad humour, bad themes, fun yeah in the 90's but now most feel very outdated and after the likes of LORT's, Met, STLE, TRON I just can't take the jokey, cartoon like childishness of those 90's pins. I tried to get into MM but beside STLE it just didn't hold up. Anyway lets agree to disagree. The new pins look and sound better, play faster and feel the way a pinball should in the 21st century.

Wow, I feel the oppositte. As a huge fan of the show, I feel tspp is the single best integrated pinball theme, among the best call outs out there. No other game does it better. Most wpc games, while fun, are generally easier to beat and very shallow. Bsd and taf lasted 6 months, hs2 less than that, for me. ive never played congo and im sure its anlot of fun, but xmen gets my vote for its depth and flow.

Nintendo built their empire on that little plumber...and you don't even have to be online to play it for more than a week. I get COD, finish it in a few days, and Ebay it to get my money back from some sucker that wants to get his head shot over and over by some little ten-year-old kid in South Korea whenever he spawns in multiplayer games. Fun, but completely mindless, and doesn't take a whole lot of finess that Mario does. If you think platformers like that are boring, get yourself a copy of one of the Rayman games and tell me it's not the hardest damn thing you've ever tried to play with a gaming console. Makes COD look like child's play...not the other way around.

But I digress...

Congo rules.

The funny thing about this thread is that the OP is out buying an XM right now, not even realizing his innocent post sparked this heated debate about old games vs. new games.

Classic Pinside!

If you are good at pinball I would say Xmen because if you consistently brick shots Xmen is ZERO fun. The artwork is great, the callouts suck but its definitely one of those games that once you get the hang of it its a blast to play.

Congo has a stupid theme but is really fun to play. Not nearly as deep as Xmen but should cost at least a $1000 less. I dont think either game is a keeper but I have owned both in the past (still have Xmen) and even if I sell Xmen I would consider buying either back again.

Debating is fun, listen I grew up with Mario and all the great stuff the 80's and early 90's had to offer. I've bought some old arcade games and built a mame machine and all I can say is that after Deus X or Darksiders, Oblivion and Mass effect its hard to play Mario or DK that's all. If you still can they Hey all the power to you, I've played all the Rayman games and I do like them too, just not in the same league as say FarCry. Its kind of like comparing Em's to modern Sterns, you can't its just too different.

FarCry! LOL!!! I have FarCry2 and FarCry3. In each one, I invariably get a hang glider somewhere, take off, land in some remote jungle, wonder "Where the fuck am I NOW???", and give up. Never got past more than about two hours into each game. Gets old shooting drug dealers, too...

Congo won't be leaving my collection for a very long time. Its just simply one of the best of the B/W 90's games period. I can't get into most of the newer Sterns, they just don't have the fun factor for me. I might even argue that many system 11 games are even better than some of the crap coming out today.

No question. 20 some odd modes, you'll never play the same game twice. Deadpool! = So badass! Villian mode+Hero mode+Nightcrawler mode+Magneto Multiball stack = So Badass! More heroes collected, more damage to Magneto = So badass! X-Men for the win. X-Men for the win on theme alone.

image.jpg

As others have said, normal selling prices for Congo and Xmen are very roughly in the neighborhood of $1k apart, assuming average condition relative to the game on each.

Xmen is the smart buy here, unless you're buying based on what you think future prices will be.

That said, if Congo is pristine, or restored, it might justify the close prices.

I would play Super Mario World on SNES over a first person shooter 90% of the time. It's why I have arcade games; they're fun to play, and you can play a shmup or fighter for 5 minutes and have fun. Hell, a large bit of my attraction to pinball is that a game doesn't have to last for hours (except LotR.)

If you're over 45, get Congo (in spite of the complete lack of Joe Don Baker callouts). If you're under 35, get XMEN. If you're 35-45, answer these 3 questions:

1. Have you always wanted your own gorilla?
2. Are you okay with shooting apes, if they're trying to kill you?
3. Do you promise not to make the Ghost Tribe men green?

If you answered "yes" to all 3 questions, Congo is your game.

I have both machines. You can't go wrong with Congo or Xmen. So get both and then sell the loser.

You realize X-Men are far older than Congo?

Congo
book 1980
movie 1995

X-men
comics 1963
Movies 2000 to present.
7 movies as of now with 2 more in development plus another 2 potential (Deadpool and X-Force) worldwide box-office over $3Billion.