Both have a similar layout with six sat ups, 4 pops, but firepower II has no speech, and only two ball multiball with a ramp to lock the ball. Same sounds pretty much.

No speech

Firepower all the way. The ramp on FP2 is a bitch to hit on every one I've played. If you want a better 2 ball multiball, 1 ramp Mark Ritchie game, play Sorcerer.

Ron...

What he said

I would go for Firepower.
Upgrade it with a system-7 board and implement the new rule set.
3 ball multiball and missions!!
http://www.pinball4you.ch/okaegi/pro_softfirepowerdeluxe.html
It plays great in PinMame.

Peter
www.inkochnito.nl

very cool!

Hans H: any chance of incorporating this new firmware into your all-ROMS-in-one Firepower combo board?

Do your ROM upgrades require going to the system-7 board?

Unfortunately, it wouldn't work for a couple reasons. One is licensing, since the improved code isn't approved by WMS or PPS. The other issue is that it also needs more RAM and ROM space than a system 6 board can handle. It has to be used with a System 7 CPU board.

-Hans

I have a soft spot for 2. It was the first pinball game I really spent time on. I want one someday. Firepower 1 never did it for me. The upgrade sounds very interesting though.

Oliver does have a skill shot/multiball restart ROM version for Sys6 boards with 6 digit displays:

http://www.pinball4you.ch/okaegi/pro_soft.html

But requires the extra space in a system 7 board for the mission-based version.

viperrwk

While I certainly appreciate the time and effort that went into making the FP home ROMs, I ended up removing them from my game and going back to the original factory rules. For me, FP rules are near perfect the way they are (plus, the skill shot in the home ROM is worth way too much IMO).

No orbit shot possible with left flipper...you can bank off of O target and pass to right of ball lock up there and ball will travel as with plunger shot along wireform and thru a 1way gate into upper lanes. A 1way gate above left upper checkout halts ball from completing an orbit and only allows for the right flipper shot thru the left orbit and over the wire form at upper right, opening that gate to score the orbit. If you hit it during the 10 second countdown after completing any 3 bank it carrys bonus point progress to next ball and rings a loud bell in cabinet. If I had to find something to knock FPII down for it is that you cant make that shot clean off left flipper to the upper right and into the lanes. You can bang the left orbit and fall short into them sometimes, or thru the pops, but the only sure way is to lock a ball so you can send the next plunger shot up there.
My FP2 has the added speech card and Firepower speech roms which it does use. The left ramp is challenging but very makeable. When set up correctly this game is bad ass. Have played Firepower plenty, and love it, but as great a game as it is, the speed flow and shot choices on FPII beat it easily, no contest. 2 of FP1's ball locks on FPII fly around the table and back at the flippers. Multiball is much harder to achieve on FP1, very rewarding but drains so fast usually. Multiball on FPII is much easier, but the shot straight thru the pops is tough, it gives that upper target more purpose and when you hit it you can keep multiball going for awhile sometimes. Too fun.

Added over 8 years ago:

Owned FP have played FPII and liked both but FP better. First game with lane change future. Has speech and 3 ball multiball. Can get some real action going between the 4 pop bumps. I sort of like Sorcerer better than FPII as far as early Mark Ritchie pins. Playfield shots just seem better designed to me. I rarely see either FPII or Sorcerer. I think all of the pins are available on Pinball Aracde, interesting.

I like the bonus holdover feature on the last ball of FP2. When you think you've got all your bonuses, a sequence of lights flash and the game 'machine guns' all these extra bonuses...very cool. Is it very involved adding speech from FP1 to FP2?

Probably. I'd imagine that you'd have to somehow reprogram the ROMs to tell the sound board to send signals to the speech board to make the call outs.

The software for FPII has speech callouts in the code, if a bit limited. Maybe the original FP code was used for it and they were left in. So I just added this speech board with FP roms from here...

http://www.pinballpcb.com/SpeechBoard.html

My FPII sound board had the 40 pin IDE interconnect as it was replaced at some point, so it only cost $60 and shipping to add the speech. I think the original sound board did not have the 40 pin, so if that is the case you can purchase the sound/speech boards on same page linked above. Works great, once you get the jumpers and dip switches and volume set correctly.

One drawback is that FPII has some great sounds that occassional get cut off short by the speech. When I first put the speech in I noticed it right away, but at this point I forget specifically when it happens. But hey, it talks which is cool.

50v flipper coils make FPII more fun for me. The original Firepower flippers have always felt a bit spongy to me. Steve was ahead of his time, designing orbit shots when the hardware could barely make them.

FPII also has an awesome "bonus meltdown" when you max it out.

The 4 ABCD lanes at the top of the playfield can be cycled with the right flipper button. So if you have 'A' lit than each time you hit the right flipper it moves the lit lane to the right, A-B-C-D-A-B-C-D ect. so you are trying to move the lit lanes out of the way of the ball. Each time you lite all 4 lanes it advances the bonus multiplier.

I own firepower 1.. IL never sell it.. the speech the multi ball the everythinge makes it great ...
But IL play 2 anytime I'm near it..
To purchase?? I'd go 1 ..

I've never seen or played a FP 2. I liked the original.

I know FP1 is the canon pin here, but there was an FP2 at a coffee shop I lived next to when I was first getting into pinball that I spent hours on and playing it always makes me feel giddy. It's just a really good pin. I love that ramp shot.

I like FPII. This game is super fast with lots of multi-balls. The flippers are as strong as the newer pins. Bonus holdover is awesome and the sounds are cool. FPII just feels like a newer/faster/funner game for me. The ramp shot is difficult, but that's why I like it and you can back flipper the lock.

KIMG0227 (resized).JPG

How is it not possible? I have completed the orbit several times with the left Flipper, it comes out very rarely but it can

I have both FP and FP2. added a FP speech board to the FP2 sound board. that helps a lot in my eye. obviously doesn't change game play, but it makes the game seem less cheesy. because PF2 *is* cheesy (christ that cabinet!) it was made during a low-cost period in williams history, so they cut some corners on FP2. giving it speech makes it seem less like that. the shots aren't as nice as the original FP, but overall it's still a decent game, but not as good as the original FP, in my eye.

It is a very tight shot to make but it can be done...what I meant is that the right lane really is not an orbit as it does not roll all the way around and back down toward the flippers because of the one way gate.

oh i thought you said it was impossible, really if i have succeeded several times i will see when i make a video and upload it, can videos be uploaded here?

Original is a classic... but I still have no idea why people think the original is “better”... on the OG, multiball holds zero value... light spinner and drill it. Really no other strat. on that game. A variety of other approaches to scoring in part II. I guess it’s whatever you like, play it. Oh, and the speech, I actually think it’s the worst part of the original, I am glad they got rid of it. I don’t hate the OG but there is a lot more strategy to part II and it’s flippers are so much stronger.

It’s like comparing OG Medieval or Monster Bash to the rereleases... they are both fun but come on, we know which one is “better” without even talking about it... right? I was very skeptical but the larger color DMDs and other updates just make the game more attractive... is it better? Possibly open to debate but I do think it’s defiantly an update/upgrade at the very least.