Comparable to MM, maybe a little less deep. But MUCH more fun.

In terms of depth, AFM doesn't come close to any of the modern Sterns you listed. They just weren't making games like that back in the 90's.

That's exactly what I'm saying. Of course, it all depends on how you define depth. You can make it to the wizard mode faster on Tron, but there are so many more nuances to the rules. To me, a deep ruleset is about the overall journey, side goals, mini-wizard modes, etc ... This is where pretty much any modern game will shine compared to the 90's games.

I realize that I'm not answering your question, but I'll throw this thought out there. Deep ruled games are fantastic for sure and do make for long term keepers, however, if all you have are deep games, your collection could become a grind to play. IMO you need some just pure fun games that you (and your guests) can step up to for a short time and bang out some pure classic pinball, without any real commitment to reaching some deep goals. AFM and MM are perfect games for that role.

AFM's fundamental rules aren't that far removed from early SS pins. If you ignore the Martian ship toy, it's laid out like one too.

What's harder for newbies to get about the game is, for example, why you shouldn't focus on the ship or the forcefield gate until you have a multiball, and to get good at that lock shot because you'll never have that good of a score without it.

IMHO, Tron isn't deeper than AFM. About equal, actually.

I'd agree with this. Any differences in depth are pretty minimal really. That's part of Tron's appeal, that it's a straightforward game.

I see mention of how shallow AFM is on here quite often, but I always considered it to be one of the deeper B/W pins. It is a Lyman game. In addition to an awesome wizard mode, there are 3 multiballs to progress towards and a ton of stacking strategies. I had IM for a while and that didn't really seem to have more depth to me. Stern has some games with incredibly deep rulesets, but most of them are just a basic '2 multiballs and some modes' level code.

Mainly because MM makes it seem a bit shallow in comparison.

Both are masterpieces of simple complexity, if that could exist. Both games are so easy for a complete pinball newbie to pick up, yet deep enough for hardcore players. Not sure of anyone other than Lyman and Brian Eddy who pulled this off so well, let alone twice. They're atop the PS ratings for a reason.