Thats the beauty of IM.....Its all right infront of you and in the blink of an eye its all gone. Compared to some other deeper games that have come out recently i'd take IM over any of them without thinking twice.

Well hitting a 100 mil jackpot on Metallica crank it up with 2x scoring feels pretty close. And after making this shot, you absolutely never "awarded" with a left outlane drain.

Yeah, I think you missed my point.

I personally prefer Metallica Premium to AC/DC Premium. I don't care for either band, but I like the layout and toys on Metallica better.

Learn to nudge or slide save better. And I've had plenty of drains on my Metallica from the fuel lane shot off the wire guide to the left outlane. Most could be saved had I recognized it and made some kind of move.

Are you ever gonna stop combining about cheap drains? Maybe work on your nudging skills and you won't get as many???

I prejudged ACDC but ended up really enjoying it. I didn't grow up listening to their music but enjoy it. I could never own a Pro though, the sticker in place of the under playfield is so bad.

I prejudged Metallica too but ended up really enjoying the Premium on route - it has to be the best light show in pinball.

I agree with what's been said before, the Metallica Pro is much better than the ACDC Pro and Metallica ball times are much longer despite not feeling like a deeper pin. I prefer the look of the Metallica over the ACDC but YMMV.

That said, when I play at the local bar, I've been feeding quarters to the MET Pre and ST Pro over the ACDC Pre.

When Lyman will be finish with MetallicA it will be a Bomb !

And Yes Wilsonza the light show is amazing on the newer Stern's,i can not wait to see what will be next
from Stern and mostly what Lyman will be working on next.

As stated here and in other threads, you can easily justify the value of the pro but for the full game experience the premium is the only choice.

This. The Pro isn't "as good". It's just really good. And the hammer thing has some people getting strong feelings. Play them both first if you possibly can.

Like 3 people have done that, don't start thinking it's that big a thing.

AC/DC Premium > Metallica Pro > Metallica Premium

AC/DC Premium is probably the best Stern since LOTR or TSPP, maybe better, but I'm not sure yet (too early to know). Metallica, both Pro and Premium, are close, but not quite there for me.

Between the two Metallica versions, however, I definitely prefer the Pro. The hammer is a problem spot, even with code updates and whatever. Mechanically it's not 100% reliable, and that's a bummer, because it's freaking awesome when it works as intended. Yeah, the spinner on the Premium is really, really cool, but the Pro plays better, so I like that one more. If money was no object at all, I'd still take the Pro. The Premium isn't bad or anything, of course.

Never played a Metallica Pro but it seems like you'd be taking away one of the best parts - the lighting and light show is AMAZING on the Premium. We play in a dark bar and the blackout starting a ramp combo (I think that's it) and Sparky multiball is just crazy. I haven't played a Pro. With an LED kit, could that be duplicated in a Pro?

The hammer had pros and cons, I like it but could live without it. In my opinion, the motorized snake jaw and the motorized cross wouldn't be missed.

Metallica Premium's seem to be obtainable in the mid-$5k range:

ebay.com link: Metallica Pro Pinball Machine customized

http://pinside.com/pinball/market/ad/12099

What are Pros running? Add $100 - $200 for LEDs? For less than $1k difference, I think I'd go with the Premium.

Can't duplicate on a Pro, it's really one of the nicer parts of the Premium now with the new code.

You really can get pretty close to be honest. When I moved from pro to premium, I did not feel like the lighting got much better than my decked out pro. The only thing that improved was fade to black dimming. The rest of the light show was very well augmented with some custom flasher mods on the pro. The insert colors were way better on the pro also. I managed to fix this on the premium but it was really a lot of work since in some cases it required soldering surface mounted LEDs on circuit boards.

The lighting on the Pro can be LED'd out to look perfectly nice, but it will never have the interactive GI. There's more to it than just the Fade to Black dimming, Lyman programmed in other color changes and fades.

I haven't played the new code much or recently, so I'm just going by memory here, but examples I can think of are the red GI during For Whom the Bell Tolls, the way the lights dim when Sparky charges up or when you dig down into the mystery levels. Someone correct me if I'm remembering wrong or if there are more examples, I just remember thinking it was very cool, and that I wouldn't want to give it up.

Is that worth the extra money? Only you can decide, but it's just simply a fact that the Pro cannot do what the Premium does, no matter how many LEDs you add.

I understand. But the led GI show on Metallica is not nearly as significant as say xmen or acdc. And with some unique flasher mods, you can simulate a lot of the impact pretty well. Light strip mounted flashers on the apron hooked into the ramp flashers, sparky flasher, etc give off a lot of similar light show. Keep in mind I actually own both machines: premium in my house, pro in my shop and have a good basis for comparison. We will have the pro with this all on it at the nw pinball show (probably too far for you).

Yeah, not likely I'll make it, though my mom does live in Eugene and I'm up there sometimes.

Anyways, I'm kind of a hammer hater, and thought I'd just get the Pro, but when I saw the GI light show I started changing my mind, so for me at least the extra control there is a feature that matters.

Next time you're in Eugene and want to drive up, let me know. I can assemble a few pinsiders here for the event

Sounds like a plan!

AC/DC had a HUGE advantage over Tallica & pretty much all other Stern's because S. Ritchie did all the speech. Metallica members just recorded some phrases,went home,& Lyman had to piece them together. Steve was there for the whole ride,& could add anything at any moment. Thats a big reason why its so good. There's still sound clips in the game that aren't even used!

Probably did. I do that a lot.

I think in the area of call-outs, neither game is all that great. But I definitely think Metallica call-outs are way more entertaining and fun than AC/DC. Sparky has some great ones. And the band members also have some decent callouts.

Wow. Not even close in my book.

I wish there were a ton more Sparky callouts. He should be taunting you the whole game, more like Rudy.

I've yet to be able to play Metallica in a location where I can actually hear the sound (frustrating!), but I like this idea.

Instead of lame, unnecessary call-outs, AC/DC has the very satisfying crowd cheering which is very effective at making you feel like a rock star and establishing the rock concert vibe that gives the game so much energy.

I love the Sparky call-outs! I hope they add more with the new band member code…

I also love the guitar fills you get on jackpots. So cool.

I'm not a big fan of the Metallica callouts. You can tell it's just Hetfield reading a script any time he speaks and his "Electric Chai-uh!" is pretty annoying. The rest are fine, I guess. More Sparky would have been a good idea.

Of course! How did I fail to mention the multiball jackpot riffs! I love those!

They are very well done. I wonder who recorded them?

Aurich are you & billybike69 having a spat?

Anyway I will prolly go Pro on MET if I get one. No way I'd pay for a janky ass inconsistant ball lock.

"That snake is meeeeean" is a shitty call out among a few others so I's say ACDC has better sound by far. MET has the dank artwork tho...

Get a Luci & Met Pro with LED's

This dude knows what's up. Two fantastic games, luckily one has a great option at a lower price point.

He's just iceman's downvote puppet, nothing worth even wasting a brain cell over.

How could they possibly be having a spat when billybike69 doesn't post? Ever.

Sorry the premium is still the way to go over the Pro. Just spend $10 more n buy one of these. I've Actually had more success locking balls since making the switch.image-869.jpgimage.jpg

More success for $10?

Actually it's $2010 for some shit that stil doesn't work right.

I just cannot live with that. I'd lose my F'n mind,.

It works pretty good as the ball tends not to kick back very hard off the captive ball. Yes shots to the sides of the ball wont lock as they shouldnt since it wasnt as good a shot as need be. But add all the rest you get with a Premium (better snake mech, Color changer inserts, code controlled GI, Spinners that work great in fade to black, and a physical ball lock that works quite well once you learn how to shoot for it)

All this adds up to a better game IMO. Had I bought the Pro i'd always feel like I was playing the dumbed down version of the game.

Well, as long as you're happy.

I see your point about playing the pro & feeling like you're missing out on something but if I had the LE/Prem I'd feel like I'm missing out on something too... $2000 & a proper ball lock

I'm not letting a fluttering snake jaw & a cross that moves up 2" slowly convince me to buy a bucked out ball lock for $2K

I'm almost mad at this nonsense (the flaw not our convo) because the Prem/LE should be better!

Yep, the wife and son was at PHoF in Vegas playing the premium Metallica, and asked how she liked it and she said it was good, but the sound was to low to enjoy or hear the call-outs. We wont have that problem at home dear!! My son told me that Metallica was easy for him, he is a good player for 16, but doubt metallica is easy. He said ramp shots were satisfying shots in the game, grave marker when it rises is a great feature. I have not played one yet or a Star Trek, but buying both premiums anyway.

straight forward install? I got my assembly for captive ball in the mail yesterday, just waiting for machine to install. I hope to get this installed right after unboxing and play first ball. So my understanding is there is 2 lock nuts and one bolt to remove the block and that's it, it will pull right off or is there anything else to know? I thought Newton ball were secured with bolt under the playfield, but with this assembly seems the captive ball gets sandwiched to be held in place.

Took me about 10 mins to install. It's tight and you may need to remover the hammer from the handle (1 nut and a screw) but it's pretty easy once it's off.

My Pops has both so I played them both for a while then I went with a nib Luci 100%. Met is nice but the speed compared to AcDc is painfully slow (especially on Met left loop). Also not a Met fan so music doesn't do it for me even when hooked up to a sub. Great great artwork on Metallica. Would still own one. If I had to have only one it would definitely be AcDc!

Wiz, you keep posting that the lock is an issue. Not sure if it's because mine was a more recent build (didn't need to upgrade the hammer board), but I don't have any problems whatsoever.

Anyone else still having issues?

As I understand it, up to ACDC the premiums basically had the LE cabinet hardware. Now the premiums have just the pro cabinet hardware? Does this include the cheesy lockdown bar clasps? Hmm but wait, ST Premium looks like it has the side rail armor on it so Stern really isn't being consistent here. Why then did they cheap out on the MET Premium cabinet?

Rob

I have one on order so I'll try to report back when I have it.

I have a question about this lock feature. If the magnet can sense the ball presence (eddy sensor?), why not just have the lock lit and whenever the ball randomly goes over the magnet it is then trapped and locked? That is if it fails the lock the first time.

Rob

Great question. My Premium does have the LE version of the lockdown bar, but I do miss the side armor.
I knew that before I bought it, but still feel as though all Premiums should get the side armor.

Hammer is awesome here and Lock is great...Smashing Balls into the playfield is such a trill,love the sound
Love the Game....Fits me perfect !