I would recommend you do a search on here. There are plenty of threads that go over this exact topic.

Here are a couple links that may help in your information gathering:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/what-are-the-differences-between-mm-and-mmr

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/nib-mmr-vs-average-original-mm

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/mm-vs-mmr-on-which-side-do-the-pinside-faithful-line-up

Remake - 19 years newer. Stereo. Shaker motor integrated into the castle explosion. Different color DMD if you add the update than the Colordmd.com one for the original. LCD instead of DMD, you can set the dots to eight different colors.

Same company made the cabinets and playfields for both. Same mechanical assemblies. Different board sets.

Original - you can have the swear ROM, one F**k in there instead of bleeped out.

Better is in the eyes of the beholder. Some people like one or the other. Some people like both.

LTG : )
Disclaimer : I do tech support for the remake, just to let you know.

Teekee recommends sending money now. That's all I really remember

All joking aside I have a remake. It's nice, I like it. If I had to do it over again I would have waited for the remakes to ship and bought a original at current market prices. You just can't beat the build quality of originals in my opinion.

I prefer originals but all my best games have been on a remake

I know that doesn't help

Same game just crash the org. price. Boards are different, They plays the same. Just made allot of people mad because they had the game and could price call it. SO, they will say the org. still. Remake guys are glad to own it for less that 17K and enjoy it. It's pretty much just a pissing war. Or better yet the old ladies on here giving their two cents like me. Tomato tomamoto. Of course if you bought the limited edition Wizard of Oz. You feel the same way. You bought into the hype of the limited edition. Then red one came out. Then the 75th anniversary one. I think blue purple, yellow, and Orange probably due out next. Another words it really wasn't an LE. It was a big fat lie. All the great pinball manufacturers are doing it. Milk that cow for all it's worth. And then strip it of its worth and shoot it. Welcome to pinball. Still doesn't beat my favorite thing in pinball. "I would never own a Wheel of Fortune the code was never done". But the same buyer keeps buying Kiss and all the other stern pins that lacks code. They'll never learn... And there's no shot for the disease. At least when Apple puts out code it does suck most of the time (friendly reminder I'm an Apple phone user). But hey at least you get the code.

From an outsider's perspective, I think if I just wanted the game to play, I'd go with the remake. LTG hit the spot on that one. 20 years later, electronics are going to be a hell of a lot better, I'd think. Less fussing about getting the thing working, and it's going to look immaculate: Diamond Plating in the 90s always kinda had a milky look through it. These new clear coats are are like glass.

Two coats of clear on the remake. One on the original.

LTG : )

You'll never find the "right answer" to this one. It's like Coke vs Pepsi, AMD vs Intel, Ford vs GM, etc. Lots of opinions, and the answer depends on what your opinion is/what you want.

My opinion is biased because I've worked on hundreds upon hundreds of Bally/Williams games including about 15 original MMs and have never had one that I could not keep it get going 100%. WPC95 especially is reliable and always repairable in the right hands. And yes the remake now has a higher resolution colorized display but an original has the Pinsound option for better audio and customization. I've been working on adding a lot of extra sounds to my MM (so I am super biased), replacing all of Earl of Ego's quotes and adding a lot more colorful speech.

Original for me. Mostly because I can fix the electronics.

I think the remakes are really nice. They play fast and I love the shaker integration.

Original for me just because I'm not a big fan of the look of the LEDs that mimic incandescents. They did a good job doing that, but I prefer brighter non ghosting LEDs that I can customize.

Mike Chesnut used to say the remakes play like a Stern. That always made me laugh, but they do feel different for some reason to me.

they play the same.

the remake has better clearcoat on the playfield and better DMD graphics (if you spring for the color upgrade).

the original has the benefit of 20 years of service, so any and all issues are already well-known and there are solutions available.

the remake is run by a Beaglebone Black, which is a very cheap and easy part to replace. it's not a part that's exclusive to our niche hobby. there are literally millions of them out there, don't let anyone tell you they'll be hard to find down the road. However, it also has a bunch of custom boards that are more of a question mark simply due to the fact that we don't have 20 years of history on them yet. i haven't heard of many technical issues with them so far, though. if for whatever reason the company making them fails, the custom boards could be hard to find years from now.

the remake also comes with a warranty.

in my opinion, there's really only two reasons to go original over the remake:
1) you care about authenticity, or
2) you are worried about the boards on the newer game failing and not being able to replace them years down the road.

edit: 3) you don't like LEDs, or you really want to be able to customize your own LED choices.

As a side note the original isn't without difficulties in getting parts. More and more of the chips that drive the game are no longer in production. They will dry up over time. The AV board is very tough and getting very expensive when you do find it. These issues will only get worse. The one advantadge that the original has here is that it shares its boards with thousands of other b/w machines. There is a greater chance that someone would take the time to make substitute parts/boards, but that is only an *IF*.

Remake. Who wouldn't want a brand new, out of the box Medieval Madness? Mine plays amazing, and much better than most originals I have played- because it's fresh and hasn't had 10's of thousands of games played on it already.

I prefer original game over emulated game.

Are the boards interchangeable between the two versions?

No, completely different

Emulated is a stretch. Sure the software is emulated, but the majority of pinball is physical. If someone took two original mm, put them side by side and ran one off new boards and one off original you wouldn't be able to tell them apart. This isn't like arcades which require precise timings. At least then expert level players could tell something was amiss.

Just look at the color display...nuff said....

the now difficult to come by transistors were made in the billions. The fact there are millions of BB's means nothing.

Huh? Where's the separation?

Some people tend to notice these things.

Good instincts. People pay insane amounts of money to have their 90s pins restored to "like new" condition. No need on this title since you can buy it new for the same price as an unrestored original. Plus, only the remake has the option for the much, much better 16 bit animations. Plus, the double clear coat and stereo sound Lloyd mentioned. Plus, you get a factory warranty. It's a total no-brainer to me. There's a percentage of guys on here who will say "It's a fake. A knock off." Or "It plays different." Or "I'm more familiar with fixing the original version." They are welcome to feel that way, but I sure don't. It's a fully-licensed remake, not a knock off. It plays different (better) because it's brand new. It will need a lot less fixing than a 20 year-old one, if any, in a home-use setting. I've played several examples of both and will buy the remake when the time is right.

I have had both the original (shopped by Mike Chestnut with board upgrades by his Dad) and now a remake. I understand the remake uses essentially the same style Williams parts. I have never played them side by side....but I do not feel a difference. In my opinion the remake does not feel like a stern (and I own several Sterns) - probably because of different parts. The remake is gorgeous with a nice gloss to the playfield and I have the color upgrade installed. Electronics are simpler in design and mine has not given me one hint of trouble since I have had it.

Several NIB remakes available and I have seen a few HUO remakes for sale at a pretty good bargain as well.

Dive in, the water is fine! Enjoy the game,
Bob

I've had a remake for a year now and love it. No issues. Why buy an old model for more money when you can buy a brand new one for less?

Whats street price for a remake new and used.?

New ones are 8k. Add aprox. $600 for shaker and colorized display.

A used one sold at auction for about $5500 plus fees last week.

that "plus fees" was probably another $1100, though, right? (20%?)

This is what's really important.

Gentlemen, the OP is asking so that he can inform the Make-a-wish foundation what his wish is going to be--which is to own a pinball machine. All of the "well, the original is better because it's original" conversation here (while certainly has it's place normally) doesn't matter to the OP. He just wants a game that'll play out of the box with the least amount of hassle, I'd imagine.

Here is the original thread: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/what-pinball-machine-should-i-get

I haven't really seen owners discounting much on used ones. Most still want $7500-$8000+. I'm waiting until there's enough floating around to drive the used prices down some more.

So it's 7500 used or 8000 new I think I would buy new.... WOW

Something like that. However I can't tell you if it had any issues like the factory defective playfields or anything else because I did not attend that auction.

Edit- At that auction fees are 10% up to $100 plus tax, so this used MMR probably went out the door for between $6k and $6.5k.

Well I held out as long as I could before I bought my MMR last week. I was in on the original LE with gold that in the flyer appeared to be brass plating. Then when PPS revealed the mustard gold color, and stated they could not plate I bowed out. Then there was all of the coin mech bs, etc, etc. Well after all the dust settled and the defects with the LE's were in the past I felt comfortable pulling the trigger on a NIB standard with the stainless trim, I heard the standards were all good. I opened it and it is a thing of beauty, not one defect. It plays flawless and it truly is a classic machine. It turns out to be a really fun family friendly game and it has now become my sons favorite game. Very satisfying to see a four year old destroying the castle.

Does anyone know what the warranty covers? I've heard of the company shipping replacement parts(like a playfield) for a cost though. But after playing so many routed originals. I'm leaning towards a remake as well. Original prices are insane.

I have an mmrle, plays great, as good or better than original and everything is new,.plus I have color.

http://www.chicago-gaming.com/Brochures/CGC_Warranty_Card_Pinball.pdf

LTG : )

About 3,000 more MM originals were made.

LTG : )

The MMr LE has shaker, numbered badging on the apron, and 3 choices of trim color options. The LE only was supposed to have a solid wood cabinet bottom but it seems like all MMr have. Lastly I had heard the LE would get an extra coat of clear on the playfield, but like the solid cab bottom I believe they all have the same clear coat.

LE was supposed to only have 2 coats of clear coat- but the standard also has the double clear coat. Overall, the standard is a better value all around IMO!

One is a collectible (albeit a little less so since the other was released) and the other one thinks it is.

Agreed, I can live without the shaker and if I would of ordered MMR LE I would of opted for the stainless trim... now if the LE would of included colorization that would of made the LE a no brainer! The other plus for the standard is that all the early issues that plagued the LE and early builds has been corrected from what I understand.

The castle has bluetooth...