Reno, NV
Quoted from usandthem: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.
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.
