Don't listen to us, play the games and pick one that you enjoy the best. That said, AC/DC would be my pick

1 Metallica
2 AC/DC



99 Guns N' Roses

It’s a matter of personal taste . For me it would be AC/DC but i haven’t played all 3 extensively. For my wife it would be Metallica ( which we have ) .

met

Tough call.
Personally I'd go Iron Maiden.
Since that's not a choice, MET.

Guns N' Roses is a great game and by far the best to look at, but I think play wise Metallica and AC/DC are better.

If you like one band over the other, go that way.

If you want to base it off of gameplay, look at the designer. AC/DC was made by Steve Ritchie and Metallica by John Borg.

Which is better, the games in Group A by Steve Ritchie or Group B by John Borg?

Steve Ritchie:
Star Trek, The Next Generation
Stern Star Trek
Star Wars
High Speed
Led Zeppelin
Black Knight (all versions)
Spiderman

John Borg:
Rush
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Munsters
Guardians
Stern Kiss
Walking Dead
Tron
X-Men
DE Jurassic Park

I would of course recommend you get your hands on an AC/DC and Metallica to compare, but if you can't and can try out these other pins you will get a feel.

Steve Ritchie is the king of flow. Borg is more of a stop and go with some quirky designs.

Talking through this, although I personally like Metallica more than AC/DC from a band perspective, I think AC/DC would likely be the better game for me.

1. Metallica

2. AC / DC

3. GNR

Ac/dc is my favorite non-Elwin stern.

Had a met pro. Sold it to a diehard fan.

GnR is the best rock show in a box that I have ever seen.

For me:
Ac/dc
Met
GnR

Play all 3 and buy the one you want. Even better... get them all!

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Yea, G&R shouldn't be on this list for long term playability.

AC/DC and MET are both great, you can't go wrong with either.

Availability/affordability is probably your limiting factor here, so look for both and 'settle' for the first deal you can strike.

MET Prem

Either AC/DC or Metallica over GNR as others have already said. I’d maybe give Metallica an edge over AC/DC and I say that liking AC/DC music more than Metallica music.

Met, second vote for maiden though

I agree with everyone where they say play them. A lot of it comes down to the music, if you love it you will play it. For me for that reason it’s Metallica. GNR being Jersey Jack plays odd, I like the feel of Stern games.

Both, but AC/DC first.

Most of the guys on this site (myself) are huge pinball nerds with a lineup of pinball machines in their basement. Iron Maiden, from a gameplay perspective is extremely different from other pins out there. Iron Maiden is Keith Elwin, everyone's current favorite new designers first pin. It was an Archer Pinball machine he built in his basement, a home brew that Stern bought and licensed with Iron Maiden. Since then Keith Elwin has made Jurassic Park (loved), Avengers Infinity Quest (liked... hurt by programming/overly complicated), and Godzilla... what is currently at the top of the Pinside top 100 and arguable the best pinball machine ever made from a perspective of being super fun for noobs and super fun for pinball machine wizards.

I don't have alot of time on one and they are hard to come by, but I can see why it is like. It has a very different layout from other pins.

Had/have all 3 AC/DC simply refuses to leave the house. I can’t do it. Just arranged to sell my GNR after 8 months.

Better Pro - MET
Better Prem - Tie

The music preference is one thing to consider, but I think the code is also important to consider. MET is a lot of collecting items, but combos can help. Get into CIU, get some playfield multipliers going, and light it up.

With ACDC it's a bit more simplistic. No mortal being will complete all the songs and get to Encore, and there's no mini-wizard mode. Therefore the only obvious thing to do in the game is stack the MB's. The less obvious thing is to have one good ball w/o draining, build up song jackpot, get the Bell at 3X PF, and then cash in the song jackpot. Doing it during a MB will obviously help. But really, the entire game is about a 3X song jackpot. Once you get that once, you're practically entering your initials at that point, and the rest of your ownership of the game is trying to outscore that one accomplishment. Therefore, what I consider the "end" of the game for me can happen very early in a game and feels like there's too little to do for intermediate players as no other goals mean anything or are achievable. It's still fun, but wasn't a long term keeper for me once I came to this realization.

I would not consider myself a pinball expert or wizard by any means - just have fun playing them. I currently own all three. GNR is an amazing light and overall sensory show with the music videos and such, but the gameplay is kind of wonky and my least favorite out of the total 6 games that I own. Lots of multiballs and you never really feel like you can get going with it.

AC/DC and Metallica are both awesome games - I LOVE both bands and the music. AC/DC is cooler to look and interact with but Metallica has an awesome flow to it. I would say AC/DC is the more challenging of the two games as I seem to drain SDTM quite a bit. You cannot go wrong with either.

One side note is that you could probably pick up a GNR LE for a good deal at this point and play for a little bit while you look for the Metallica or AC/DC that you really want. I have the Metallica from the original 2013 release and then AC/DC Luci from the 2018 Vault and my personal POV is that I would look for a vault edition of either.

Metallica, ac/dc, Iron Maiden. Can’t go wrong with any of those. GnR gameplay is a sloppy mess in my humble opinion that no one has to agree with or bother responding about

I don't even like the band but the pin is pretty awesome. MET is still the best or at least best non Elwin game. It has relatively simple rules where you are basically working towards one goal - getting to crank it up modes. Reminds me of classic B/W pins where rules are simple but very addictive. I still own mine and play it often. Love how you can get to a crank it up mode fairly easily, blow it up, and walk away satisfied.

I could never get into ACDC. It just seems difficult to get anywhere but that's probably because I don't know the rules well. Still enjoy playing it now and then, though.

I only played GnR once and thought it was terrible. Looks cool but didn't even want to finish the 3 balls. Flippers spongey and couldn't even get the ball up the ramps. Nothing to shoot for and no shots felt rewarding. Like most JJP games, it's very unclear what to do. It's probably a decent game if you study the rules, figure out the strategies, and play it a ton. I don't think it should be a challenge to figure out if a game is fun, imo.

I own Metallica Pro (5 years) and an Iron Maiden pro (1 year) and have owned an AC/DC Premium. AC/DC never clicked with me and I sold it within a couple of months. As far as Met vs Maiden, I would give the edge to Metallica as it is a more traditional game and the rules are not overly complicated with the final wizard mode attainable but very difficult to get to for the average player. I have made it to End of the Line once in the time I have owned Met. I also love the 2 main multi balls that Metallica have with the 2 magnets (3 with the premium). I will never see the final wizard mode on Iron Maiden, but I will continue to try. I don't think you can go wrong with either one of the 2, but I give the edge to Metallica.

Summary:
Metallica
Iron Maiden
AC/DC Premium
GnR

Maiden, ac/dc, gnr, Metallica, in that order…I like the trend of recommending games that aren’t on the OP’s list

Met.........

Rush, Maiden.... Wait what are we doing again?

You have to play the games to decide in my opinion. Travel and find some. I thought LZ looked amazing and would be my first LE. Then I played it and left credits on the machine. GnR looked awesome too and didn't disappoint, but the play and code aren't there for my play and tastes. I personally liked it, but didn't love it.

MET is a good game but not for my collection. I have young kids and the electric chair and theme doesn't say kids to me.

I haven't played AC/DC.

Play the games, find a nice example of your choosing at a fair price, don't look back.

I guess it depends on your skill level of pinball and what type of pinball you’re looking to get….bash style play or precision shot style play or a combo of both. I owned a Metallica pro and at first really enjoyed it but it started to feel like a bash first type of gameplay and I was outgrowing that style…so I sold it. I had the opportunity to play AC/DC prem at my local league (16 weeks plus practice) and really liked it. The shots were smooth and fast and the code was a plus ( lots to do but not crazy deep) and the cannon toy was pretty cool also. I probably wouldn’t want to own AC/DC since I played it enough to satisfy my needs. I ended up buying a GnR le and gave to say it’s definitely a keeper for me. The shots are good and you can get it to flow once you get it dialed in properly. The light show is the best (as of today) and the callouts are great! The upper playfield is probably one of the coolest and you actually have to use it during gameplay if you want to master this game…which is a plus! The code is great and with over 20 songs to play and all being a different verity of shots it keeps it feeling fresh. The mini wizard modes are fun and the graphics are some of the best I’ve seen. A lot of people probably played GnR at a location and probably left with a bad taste because of poor setup…but that’s not the games fault just the operator. So if you’re looking for a challenge and awesome show/experience GnR le is the way to go but that’s just my opinion. If you’re looking for a old school feeling game then you can’t go wrong with Metallica or AC/DC but Metallica being the more friendly bash toy style gameplay which a lot of new people to the hobby like. 1.GnRLe…2.AC/DC…3.Metallica

AC-DC

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If Maiden has formally entered consideration, for me it'd be:

Maiden
AC/DC
Metallica
GNR

I struggle with #2 and 3. I ultimately went with the order I did because I have much more experience with Metallica so there'd be more for me to explore in AC/DC (I've never gotten to the wizard mode Encore, for example). My *guess* would be that after getting equal time on both, I'd probably favor Metallica.

Maiden may be my favorite overall game made in the past 25 years (and I own Godzilla).

Note: Art and music don't much matter to me with pins. I only care about gameplay. Anything else is at best a nice to have.

1. Ac DC premium, 2. Metallica, 3. Aerosmith 4. Kiss

Have owned them.all and still have met and g@r. All different and unique in their own way and I like them all but met is just a amazing pin in every category of gameplay and my favorite band pin overall. G@r le is a great playing experience especially after adjusting some of the rules so there isn't as much multiball and add a balls . The atmosphere it has is the best ever created imo and I just get lost in the music and lightshows. Acdc is a fun player but didn't grab me like the others but all have something special to offer so go try them all out if u can

In my opinion, Metallica. Not even close for me.

As others have said GnR last.

Hard to decide between the two Stern pins but maybe slight edge to Met.

I owned AcDc and Met, still own Met (pro) great flow, rules, art, gameplay. It’s a great pin.

AcDc (I had the premium) also great rules by Lyman, fast and exciting. I would buy one if I had more room.

Met. Lots O cussing!

Have all 3. Metallica is my least favorite of the 3 bands. Metallica Premium or LE all the way. Not even close in my opinion.

Edit: I mean...the Metallica pin has a hammer that crushes the balls in to tiny dust and they magically come back together and spit out of the scoop during multiball. No other pin does this.

I own them all in Pro and Premium/LE configurations.
If I could only have one, it would be Metallica Premium/LE and I’m not a big fan of their music.
It’s so much fun to play and it looks awesome in all its variations.

Couldn’t get rid of GnR fast enough .I thought it was ok but my family hated from day 1 .Can’t go wrong with any of the others and Rush is right up with them imo .You can pick up a Rush prem used 8ish new 9ish .Your 10-13 on those others as they don’t come up offer especially IMDN /MET

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Never selling any of these 3 .My kids will inherit them .

I played all 3 of these and owned a Maiden , RUSH is by far my favorite out of those. I miss my Maiden though.

I’m not a pinball historian but to me Maiden was one of the first pins that actually utilized the display with tabulations of spinners (spins), ramps made, pop bumper hits etc. it’s kind of a side to the main rule but I’m a numbers nerd and like the way the bonus counts up such things as switch hits etc.

I like the way Maiden gives you the soul shards and death blow that’s kind of a bonus score as well as a collection goal. I like how the modes are kind of story driven and utilize the display well with animations. Whereas the older games like AcDc or Met are more limited in what they can display.

I own all 3 and all 3 are my favorite 3 bands. Metallica is probably my favorite but after getting gnr I rarely play it as much. Acdc would be the first to go based off the rules and lack of wizard modes. Acdc is good for tournament players that care about score, gnr is good for mode progression and a rock show, and Metallica is somewhere in between. Everybody(guests) loves Metallica more than the others typically

The hammer is a bit large and some people say it blocks your vision of play. I think over all it is a really cool toy and most really like it.

IMDN is the layout Elwin worked years on then modified a bit for Stern .It’s pure pinball at its best .Metallica is Awesome but all North/South .IMDN is a NSEW pin .If you don’t think you like the music I’m sure you will after playing 100s of games .I was a IMDN fan as a youngster but even more so now because of this pin .Some say pro is fine with this pin but I love what the premium brings .The lower ,left spinner (revive) might be my favorite shots in pinball .There’s no such thing as 1 pin but if you choose to believe that IMDN would be the one .When asked from people just getting into this hobby I always say get a IMDN then MET and you’ll stay busy for years n years .

The hammer f'n rocks. Never get tired of seeing it.

I have Met pro, no hammer and it’s great, simple and lots of flow. I haven’t played a lot on the premium the hammer lock is cool feature but would slow the game somewhat. It’s one pin where both versions are great.

The hammer is friggin’ awesome.