I have never played Johnny Mnemonic. It is very high on my list.
William's Fire 1987 (bought it twice)
Gottlieb Volcano 1981
Gottlieb Wipe Out 1993
Bally Truck Stop 1989
Data East Time Machine 1988
Bally Judge Dredd 1993
William's Flinstones 1994
Stern Elvis 2004
Quoted from mbaumle:Everyone seems to only focus on DMD (and to a lesser extent, alphanumeric) games these days, which is fine; but the real games that are awesome, but still get little respect are EMs. For the cost of 1 BSD, you can fill your whole house to the brim with a TON of classics. Back then, those designers weren't afraid to experiment, so you'll also get some of the most creative playfield layouts and art packages you'll ever find in pinball.
Truer words have never been spoken. Some fantastic and wildly different games from yesteryear that are way more fun than most people will ever give them credit for being.
Johnny mNemonic-ramps and rules are fantastic. Final wizard mode is killer. Everybody complains about the glove but I love it.
Stern POTC- it's just a fun game. Sinking ship is great. Underrated.
Bally. Atlantis-great game, simple rules. Addictive.
T2- great game to play for money.
Barracora-amazing money. Shorter ball times. Plays fast. Always comes down to the last ball.
Besides the games I mentioned on page one, Shaq Attak.
There are numerous reasons but four multiballs, four wizard modes, separate end of game scoreboard pts. bonus, 5 hidden features bonus, supermode, and a basketball shot that adds randomness to skill is key to why it separates itself from other machines. The sound sucks but it’s just fun. I owned Stargate for 5 years and can say for certain that I enjoy Shaq more.
It was at Louisville Aracde Expo tournament finals a couple years ago and it was very entertaining to see how A players tackled the game.
One that gets some respect for its ingenious rules.. but Jack*Bot is a killer game all the way around. Fun ways to attack it. If tuned up and set up right, brutally fast... Love it
So much in this thread. Love it! For me:
WPT is a quirky design with a tip of the hat to Volley and has one of the best rulesets EVER. RGP singlehandedly killed this one off with a review (Korn?) with descriptions of the ramp posts (which now can be disabled in code) as "Stabby" and "Stoppy." Funny review, but dead-nuts wrong, IMO. With WPT and WOF, you would have two of Keefer's best and deepest pins, one of Steve Ritchie's best designs, and a super-cool nudgefest, all for $7500 +/-
TF sucks donkey balls. The LE's drop target is a fkn rookie mistake by GG, who was a veteran.
Only have $2k? Find an EBD--the ugly LE, even. Best bang/buck in pinball. The golden ratio of skill/luck.
Elvis is also a good buy right now, as is SM red, PoTC, and T3.
I am selling a gottlieb bone busters, but it is harder to let go of than I thought. It is massively underrated. Great artwork, awesome theme, cool ramps, 4 ball multiball, and probably the best pinball topper ever!
Quoted from Daditude:I am selling a gottlieb bone busters, but it is harder to let go of than I thought. It is massively underrated. Great artwork, awesome theme, cool ramps, 4 ball multiball, and probably the best pinball topper ever!
That topper is killer
Laser Cue. A sharpshooter's dream with the 5 drop target bank the punishes you when you hit it out of order. Largely never talked about. The artwork weighs more on the machine than the gameplay, which is too bad because beyond the artwork, you've got a game that requires good ball control skills. Gotta remove the guide behind the second right flipper though.
I am going to say transporter. Pricewise its probably around 3k give or take. High compared to some system 11's, but a lot of the more common ones go for more and rarity is partly to blame for inflating its price.
Thing is, the game is fun. Shooting the upper ramp/bridge during multiball is great. There is a decent amount of risk reward to it. The artwork is killer. It just doesn't seem to pull much relative to how few are out there.
Indianapolis 500 - awesome game with great sound, toys, rules. IMO it is the forgotten gem of the 90's. Being a Bally game and fairly low production numbers this game is very undervalued in today's market.
Surf N Safari comes to mind for me. Really fun game that experienced players and newbies can both enjoy.
Oh, and Gilligan! It was my first DMD game and owned it for 3 years. Such an underrated game due to the simplicity of it, but sometimes simple can be great
I played Elvis recently and was more than pleasantly surprised. It is cheesy as hell, but the layout is actually quite good. There are a lot more shots than you think! Also, an Elvis toy with rotating hips almost had me on the floor laughing and that "score as much as you can in 35 seconds" multiball you can get at the end is fun
elvis is a very fun game. awesome layout with tons of shots. sure beats many they put out today.
Quoted from ktownhero:I played Elvis recently and was more than pleasantly surprised. It is cheesy as hell, but the layout is actually quite good. There are a lot more shots than you think! Also, an Elvis toy with rotating hips almost had me on the floor laughing and that "score as much as you can in 35 seconds" multiball you can get at the end is fun
Quoted from OldSchoolBlood:Indianapolis 500 - awesome game with great sound, toys, rules. IMO it is the forgotten gem of the 90's. Being a Bally game and fairly low production numbers this game is very undervalued in today's market.
Yep, really fun game. I sold mine a couple of years ago and I do miss it from time to time. The colors wore on me... just so many warm tones.
Quoted from Lethal_Inc:Avatar and Johnny Mnemonic. Awesome games that get a lot of shit for whatever reasons.
JM is a favorite of mine.. I've been watching for one for quite a while.
I owned an Avatar for about 4 years. It's a really good game that gets overlooked often. The ampsuit shot is still one of my favorites.
Quoted from FatPanda:Laser Cue. A sharpshooter's dream with the 5 drop target bank the punishes you when you hit it out of order. Largely never talked about. The artwork weighs more on the machine than the gameplay, which is too bad because beyond the artwork, you've got a game that requires good ball control skills. Gotta remove the guide behind the second right flipper though.
Shhhhh!
How about Police Force?! Cheesy theme but fun music and gameplay...definitely an easier game with unbalanced scoring (some may say) but hitting the center ramp 10+ times in a row with the music ramping up is no joke!!
Quoted from PokerJake:World Poker Tour. Terrible backglass, amazing game play.[quoted image]
WPT is a great game. The art has actually grown on me
I’m surprised The Hobbit isn’t mentioned more. I haven’t played it a ton but it seems like it gets more hate than it deserves
Quoted from Deaconblooze:It was probably the worst release I can remember. It was right when people started to speculatively buy LEs as an investment. The code was bad for a good long time, like 2 years? It was a disaster. I get why people stayed away. Anyone that bought the LE lost their ass (if they sold).
I owned the game after all of that. I got a decent deal on a Pro, and it fit what I was looking for in my collection at the time. It has 3 flippers, 2 magnets, some good modes (Hero modes can be stacked or not, your preference in the settings), and 4(+?) multiballs.
I feel bad for those that got burned as early adopters. It's probably the best bang/buck in my collection. The game is game is just packed with shots.
X-MEN is a perfect example. I just acquired an LE and it’s the world underglass everyone says they want at a cheap price. Best pin buy (trade actually) I’ve made in a long time.
Transformers is a nice game, that took a beating too. As well as Avengers. These are all solid, relatively deep games with cool shots and toys (on the LEs) that are very affordable because of all the early hate.
XM is one of my favorites. I get why some dudes really hate it - they got burned on early code, and many lost their ass on LEs just after all of the previous LEs sold for BIG money.
My basement flooded over the summer and I had to put all of my pins up on end and loan some out. Of all of my games, I'm looking forward to playing XM the most.
Also, shout out to FatPanda for improving the sounds in that game. The originals were fun in a hokey way, but I really like the updated sound pack.
Quoted from Vabeachrunner4:How about Police Force?! Cheesy theme but fun music and gameplay...definitely an easier game with unbalanced scoring (some may say) but hitting the center ramp 10+ times in a row with the music ramping up is no joke!!
Unbalanced scoring for sure. But TBH if anyone can hit the ramp 10x in a row good for them! I personally enjoy playing this one for highest scores with some friends.
Quoted from CanadianPinball:Special Force....no joke.
This. I really don't understand why it is rated as it is. For the price I can't imagine selling it, it's worth so much more to me than what it goes for.
Quoted from Spagano314:I like Popeye, but no one else seems to.
Oh - there are plenty of Popeye fans out here.
I enjoyed it so much I wrote a book on it - that's some hours I'll never get back
Special Force .... extra buttons to fire virtual missiles to knock down real drop targets. F*ck yeah ! Love that game
Baywatch - seems to have gained respect the last few years
The Rolling Stones (Stern)- fast, furious, solid Ironman/Avatar-esque rules. But everyone hates Mick.
Starship Troopers - nails the theme
Baywatch has been mentioned a couple times and I would tend to agree.
Recently picked up a Maverick and I was very pleasantly surprised. 17 drop targets, captive ball, ramps, wireforms, big dmd, and a functional paddle wheel with phsical ball lock. Theme isn't great and the paddle wheel tends to slow things down but overall a very nice machine. Brown cabinet also isn't my favorite.
Gottlieb's Volcano.
It seems to get out shadowed by its older brother Mars God of War, and it's younger brothers Black Hole and Haunted House.
Quoted from Redfive05:It seems to get out shadowed by its older brother Mars God of War.. .
Don't know if I've ever met anyone that's like Mars God of War
I like Laserball but the artwork is god awful. You can actually rip the spinners unlike Future Spa (always lumped those together because they came out similar timeframe and they have the side kicker things). I would agree with almost anyone that says Future Spa is the better game though, but LB isn't as bad as the ranking makes it out to be.
Quoted from TheLaw:Don't know if I've ever met anyone that's like Mars God of War
I actually did like Mars back in the day.
There was one at an arcade I used to go to in college, and it was one of my favorite machines there.
Of course, that was a long time ago, and pinball has evolved quite a bit since then.
Quoted from TheFamilyArcade:X-MEN is a perfect example. I just acquired an LE and it’s the world underglass everyone says they want at a cheap price. Best pin buy (trade actually) I’ve made in a long time.
Transformers is a nice game, that took a beating too. As well as Avengers. These are all solid, relatively deep games with cool shots and toys (on the LEs) that are very affordable because of all the early hate.
Absolutely...all of this! I would also add Mustang to this list. Unique layout with interesting code that has a lot more depth than first glance.
Big Buck Hunter. It was made at the same time as Iron Man, Tron, and Avatar and has similar rulesheets to them. Very difficult but also very fun. Low production numbers as well. It's rated way lower than it should be relative to how high those other 3 are. I think people play it with a non working deer and then rail it. Hard to have a long game on it.
My vote is for WWF Royal Rumble. Code is rough in some areas, but there is a ton to shoot for and it's a blast to play.
Quoted from taylor34:Very difficult but also very fun. Low production numbers as well.
I thin that might be it's main problem. I think I saw one once, but still haven't even played it!
Quoted from TheLaw:I thin that might be it's main problem. I think I saw one once, but still haven't even played it!
I think it suffers from the same problem that WPT did. Mainly that people saw the theme and hated on it, bashed it as the worst game ever, and then it never recovered. People forget that Iron Man was hated as well on release, it wasn't until a few years later that people actually figured out it was a great game. Big Buck Hunter never recovered though as the production numbers were just too low.
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