Yes and no.

I would argue that some games can be brilliant with simpler rulesets and still have amazing strategy. The perfect example of this is Total Nuclear Annihilation. Complete the grid by shooting list standups, start the reactor by hitting the scoop, bring it up to 100% on the mini playfield, blow the reactor at the lit standups. Repeat 9 times to beat the game. 3 ball multiball at drop targets. 3 balls in play triples score, 2 doubles score. Lane rollovers light ball save and multiplier.

There. You have an incredibly fun and difficult game that is as deep as you could want that I just explained in a paragraph.

Avengers was too much. Jurassic Park is borderline, but fun.

Had a chance to get in on a pre-order for Ultraman. My kids and I are huge fans of the show. After playing it in a home environment, we all agreed that it just wasn't for us. None of the shots felt very satisfying, the upper playfields were just alright. We did get used to the ball lifts so that wasn't a huge issue to us. I, myself, thought the "LED string" of lights looked like something my daughter put up in her bedroom.

Its a competitive landscape out there for pinball dollars....at 8-9k, Ultraman just didn't do it.

I wish it was only 8-9k!

It's interesting because I am not a fan of TNA unless I am playing with others. I really don't like playing it by myself. But brutally fast games with some competitive features like stealing locks etc are great for playing against someone else.

It all comes down to personal preference. But I do wish some people would just lay off the reviews until they've had some considerable time played on a game. I mean what is the point of a review if you don't have any sort of experience playing the game? Just seems stupid to me.

Yes we all know you think the game is perfect and it’s our fault if we disagree

I absolutely love my Ultraman CE fantastic fun game with a great theme! Rules are fun and easy to understand, the lifters take some getting use to. In a large collection I think this is a unique and special game. in a small line-up not sure it has the pull. But I have 16+ games and rotate what I play so this game is a nice option.

I wonder how many ended up in Japan? I don't see anything on the maps. If it were up to me I would have set aside six or seven Ultramen for Japan. Not for any practical purpose, but just because I think it would be cool. Charlie did say something about communicating with a Japanese importer of Spooky games, but I don't know how many units that importer ended up with. Hopefully as many as he wanted!

Why not keep a game you enjoy? Sounds like your wife has plenty she likes, but you are contemplating getting rid of a game you want for one you don't care for. Doesn't seem right.

I don't think he means that. It's just pinball is a bit nuanced and complicated by nature. To give a review after playing a handful of times is doing a disservice to everyone. Too many people play a couple of games and run to pinside to talk about how bad it is.

Honestly, I’m loving Halloween way more than I expected too.

It seems like your hands probably hurt from typing so much on Pinside more than from playing the game. You are way too heavy handed on the gatekeeping with this title in every related thread. Let the quality of the game speak for itself and it will all work out like it should. You don't need to attack every single person's critiques, valid or otherwise. You have given poor reviews to plenty of games that many would consider to be some of the greatest of all time, all while talking this thing up like it's the second coming. The game may very well be awesome, but I've long since started glossing right over everything you say because you just come off as someone with an agenda. Not interested in another debate, so that's all I'll say on the matter.

It's good to hear more and more are liking the code. Do you know what else they are still going to do with the code?

Aren't there two more wiz modes in the pipeline?

One for finishing all the pumpkin modes, and another for finishing everything?

I’d be curious about this as well - but Japan is not known to be very big on pinball. They have pachinko, and I think that semi-fills the need. Would be cool to see though, and if any title would get people interested, it’s Ultraman

I'm hoping it's more progressing through the story as well.

Nah, you're just from Rhode Island . Not annoying, just like us Jersey guys with a different accent .

Anyway.I am starting to get interested on either of these titles. Question I have on Spooky games, how hard is it to update code? I am not very computer tech savvy and it seems more than other manufacturers.

Also, I have a Stern Stranger Things pro in the trade market would consider a trade for HW CE

Download code onto properly formatted USB drive ensuring filename is not altered. Stick in USB slot. Wait. Once complete remove and power cycle game.

Ok still learning this pin but a question for the more experienced Owner/Players. Got into hedge multi ball and it went on forever like the pin program locked up. Got to the point after 15 minutes or so I stopped playing & recycled the power. Is this normal, a glitch in the computer maybe?

Update your code to the latest version, that's a known bug from older versions.

Jeff

Wilco & thanks !

Owning a Halloween, I feel that it's both amazing, as well as lacking at times. There is an odd sense of not being cohesive in spots. Amazing production design, art, then you get a bunch of bland looking clear plastic pieces, bridges, the house upper ramp and dump thingie with nothing to decorate it. Some of the art that wasn't done by the amazing Jason Edminston looks poor in comparison to the rest of the art so theres another dump on cohesion. The design looks great then you have the exposed LED strips that again kind of bring it down. To be fair when on and lit up the led strips and lot of the ugly parts are basically hidden because of the light, so lot of the warts are more when its off and you are observing the detail.

The game code feels kind of sloppy and confusing, there is a lot jammed into the game which might be good for some, but I find it a bit overwhelming as it's hard to keep track of what im supposed to do and the on board indications/instruction is often hard to figure out.

The clips from the movie, the audio bits from the movie, all fantastic and the amazing Carpenter soundtrack really are huge gets for a game and just always are amazing to hear in play. But then the new audio bits recorded by fake Loomis and PJ Soles just sound really out of place and used too often. I would have rather they attempted to use more clips or only clips from the film audio rather than the new recorded audio cause it just doesn't gel. You got sound bytes of the real loomis going then you got fake loomis yelling at you over it. The art/animation is also pretty rough, but I'm waiting to see what the new update with the updated animations brings to the game as Ultraman got a big update to it's animations that really made it look far more cohesive. Halloween feels like it needs more polish overall.

Now overall I enjoy it, but as mentioned it just feels like it falls short in various spots, many of which I think can be fixed with code and updates still as the game has been getting better with each update.

I agree with the overall sloppiness, but for me it's all in how the modes interact with each other and the player.
I DO agree PJ soles is way over the top; but FFS the goddam Loomis call outs are so bad they won me over; a la Dirty Harry.

I feel like many of you. Some of it is so amazing and well done. For me once code is cleaned up and maybe better animations I'll be much happier. Love the game and love spooky as a company. It's not leaving but part of that is a friggin love halloween the movie so that helps a lot!

Agree to disagree.
Halloween could def be a winner with some tweaking though.

Well I do see what you're saying.
Borg is pretty much done for sure; no Lyman to bail out his copy and paste. Elwin clear obvious best in the game.
if Lawlor is done with JJP that leaves SR and that's a big unknown but I'm hopeful. Eric does nothing for me.

Halloween has great shit but they gotta put it all together. Take 10K and ask me if I want a HWNCE or a GZ prem; pretty easy choice for me.

Man, no love for Rush? It's such a great layout and it has the rules to match.

Borg really outdid himself with it. Might be my favorite Stern ever.

Lol.. idk, I think Rush is fine, but not outstanding or anything really new. As for UM and HWN.. totally different.

I'm a bit sick of it a this point.

It's kinda like Rick & Morty where we may need to do some physical tweaks here and there, but it'll get there and I believe/hope Spooky is seeing what the community is tweaking and putting those fixes into action on the line. And yes, code is getting better and better.

Rush is so good.

Couldn’t agree more. Except that I’d like both HWNCE and GZLE for the win!

Just got my high score on Halloween. Def needs more finish and I hope they do it. The pretzel shot is a bitch to dial in but fun when it is.

Well for sure. I have my AIQ & Halloween next to each other; completely diff'rent and cool in their own way.
Love the modes in Halloween.

The new blue blood droplets aren't jiving with me though

As much as I love AIQ I had to unload it. Not the best theme for me and I didn’t want to come home and study the rule set every night before playing!

GZ is tough enough

Haven’t updated code yet. So blood droplets are blue? Why the change?