Exactly right.

Screened is better than decals specifically for the reasons that you mention. And it isn't just on Stern decals. You can see the same lack of depth (blacks) when looking at an original screened MM vs a restored one that has decals on it. The decals simply do not have the depth of color to match the screened print, and it is especially noticeable in the blacks. This is an easy way to spot whether an original screened pin has had decals put on it.

Of course in the case of IM (and Stern in general at the time), the advantage that the screened cab has over decals is greatly reduced because of the pixelation, which will be largely reduced with the decals.

I personally prefer the richer colors, but obviously there are plenty of people who will prefer the higher resolution.

There is no way that I can tell if the resolution is better on the decals or not based on the low quality pics in this thread.

Yes, in general, and that's why I said in my post that there are pros and cons to both.

Says the guy who loves bling! And who is having a pin restored by McCune.

Are you saying that you don't care?

I honestly don't get the attitude of not caring about the quality of the art on the cabinet, but to each their own.

I have a blue DMD from Stern in my Tron LE, and it is plenty bright.

The bass sucks with the headphones though. You just can't beat a separate powered sub on IM.

Uh, I never said the headphones suck. I own your headphones.

I said the bass sucks with headphones. And it does. Even with my Sennheiser's. You just don't get the same impact.

Headphones have their place for sure, that's why I got them, but they are not the ideal way to listen to pinball audio, especially on a pin that has great bass effects like IM. Like you said, comparing with a powered sub is a different experience.

Troll

Sounds about right!

Congrats

The clear coat on his IM hasn't even cured yet and you are asking which one he prefers?

In your other post you complained about your phone's video quality.

Now you can complain about it's autocorrect ability as well.

I'm still playing the crap out of mine.

I've owned IM twice now. This one will not leave for a long time. IM is definitely in my Top 5 favorite pins of all time. To this day, no pin that I've ever played has made a better first impression of the first time I played IM. The way it battles you back, magnets throwing the ball at you, the epic sound package, and the short ball times combined with potential huge jackpots on DoD (and Jericho) that really get the adrenaline going, and this is one hell of a pin!

Glad to see that so many more people are able to enjoy this classic now and see what the fuss is about.

I don't know if there is another pin that benefits more from adding a subwoofer than IM! Tron is up there, but I still think IM may take the cake.

What do you mean regarding Jericho carrying over to the next ball?

At first I thought you were confusing Jericho with DoD, but by your response, I can see that you are not.

You are correct, the inserts apply to DoD and don't really have anything to do with Jericho directly (although they do give you additional "Marks").

I don't think there is even an option to let the modes carry over. The only way to do that is to beat the mode and get the insert flashing as far as I know.

So the bottom line is that I am confused by this Jericho adjustment option. I will have to look at it later.

Wow.

I agree, so lame that I didn't even consider that as possibility!

This is why I titled the IM Owners thread with the tag "adrenaline junkies welcome"! It fits!

My 10th game or so, (having only played about 20 games over the years), I hit Jericho!
WTF! With a shaker motor in it, this game is the most perfectly integrated shaker I have played with!
A must must have to this game, in my opinion. The build on it from game play to lighting, pushed forward by the music...WOW!

Congrats on getting to Jericho already.

Yes, as far as the shaker goes, I really don't think that there is any pin out there that implements the shaker any better than IM. Definitely a must have for this pin.

Music and sound effects kick ass!

This game is both Flo oriented, in a classic way with the orbits, and linear driven by the music, but not always the shots. Very Cool! Great game for any Newbie, fan, just a real favorite, and a ball buster for the point, and progression players.
Tight package, and a nice change of pace in any collection.
Some lights, a subwoofer, and some magnetic glow balls to try out in it!
...and I am not exaggerating, I had to take a nitro!..

A powered sub is almost as much of a "must have" as the shaker motor. Huge difference!

Glad you had some nitro handy to keep you from popping a gasket!

Oops.

You are too quick Greg!

I deleted my post.

I'm still wondering if there isn't something else going on here?

Yes, plasma is better than LED but come on, look at the difference! The VE version shouldn't be that much worse. There is almost no detail at all compared to the original.

Maybe a combination of bad compression with a lower resolution display?

If that's true, LED display's suck worse than I thought.

Heh, you can say that again! Only time I get to look at the DMD is when Whiplash MB starts, or the ball is held by the middle up post (and briefly during the start of Monger MB).

During the start of any multiball to put the balls in play, or during the ball save period.

I'm confused by the fact that you don't know if the game had one. Have you started a multiball?

Learn the rules by playing and start paying attention to what Multiballs can stack.

A couple hints: you can stack War Machine with Whiplash, but only if you start War Machine first.

You can also stack War Machine with Monger, but only if you start War Machine first (and Monger is already in the up position).

You can't stack Whiplash and Monger ever.

Yep, I'd say my OG behaves that way as well.

Here's another theory that you can add to your list: thicker clear coat isn't always a good thing in every way possible, as I think the "new Stern playfields" that you refer to have thicker clear coats and that's when they started to show the dimples more. They are there on the other playfields as well, they just are not as noticeable.

I remember drooling over the nice, fresh, thick clear coat on my NIB X-Men. The drooling quickly turned to shock when the PF suddenly began to look like a golfball.

Compare the dimples we see on Stern pins now to pins like LOTR, TSPP, IM, BBH, WoF, and POTC. They just didn't dimple as badly, but the clear coats weren't as thick as the newer Sterns.

No. They *do* need to cure, but you can cure it for a year and you will still get dimples.

I bought a super low play HUO NGG (made in the 90's) that had a fantastic looking playfield, but after playing it a few days, I was surprised at how many more dimples were in the playfield. That playfield had been curing for over a decade.

Always good to see another data point!

You guys get single slot coin doors?

You aren't one of "those guys".

I'm curious as to how it totally transformed your Tron?

I agree with him, by far the biggest improvement appears to be with the light sweeps that you normally see during attract mode. What benefits are their during gameplay other than not flickering/strobing (which you can reduce to a large degree, but not completely, with NoFlix bulbs)?

But that's what I said: during the attract mode it *is* very obvious. The sweeps look superb.

But we don't play our pins in attract mode. So it seems to me that the other benefits aren't that great compared to something like a NoFlix Plus bulb during actual gameplay.

Isn't it awesome?!

For an even bigger rush, get 2x scoring going just before collecting the Jericho jackpot...for 100 million points!

For Jericho, that's correct. The 50 million remains available for the duration of that ball (although it can be changed to carry over to the next ball in the settings, something I would never do).

So you need to start 2x scoring before collecting the Jericho jackpot.