For me the LE mirrored backglass and art is the deal maker. It’s incredible looking. For some reason the “parade-marshall” eddie on the Prem translight really bugs the shit out of me. Too cartoonie or something, not the Maiden I know.

Other than that the other upgrades are nice to have, but any other game I’d be a pro buyer. This one is special.

You can make the same argument about the Pro price.

None of my NiB purchases can be defended in terms of value per $. Some are better value than others, but they are all insanely expensive toys for what you actually get out of them. Of course, the notion that I will probably not lose a large percentage of my purchase $ at resale makes it palatable.

For Metallica, I went Pro and the only thing I truly missed on the Prem was the lightshow and the closing snake mouth.

Maiden for me was a dream theme and when the game came out so incredibly well, solid code and amazing rules and layout I was already mentally in for the whole package. I've only got room for 5-6 games in the house so I'm reaching the point where I'm okay with spending a bit more on a dream theme for the collection. If I had room for 20 games the "but the LE is another whole game" math would probably kick in and I'd go Pro or Prem and put the rest of the $ into another game.

Obviously, everyone has their own value judgement to make based on their situation.

In terms of gameplay differences alone, I like shooting the underworld shot under the central ramp and love the left ramp feed to the lock. Gives a nice short break to wipe your hands and gather your wits about you. But iif I had only played a Pro I wouldn't be any the wiser and still be having a blast playing the game.

You'd have to pay me $3500 to look at the ugly slanted Iron Maiden logo everytime I looked at my game...

Wait a minute!

Seriously though, I've got an LE and love it but it was more of an emotional purchase than a logical one.

Stuff that matters to me:
1. Real mirrored BG with amazing Trooper Eddie that most closely resembles the 80's version. This BG is friggin' amazing and the reason I splurged on the LE. The other translites are too "Legends of the Beast" comic booky and rub me the wrong way.
2. Opening tomb on left ramp feels good to shoot. Raised ramp is okay but the opening is really too large and makes it less satisfying to hit than it should be. Should have used a couple small targets on either side of the underworld opening to tighten it up a bit. Nitpick.
3. Upgraded speakers sound great.
4. Shaker is awesome.
5. Metal lit apron is sweet. Hate the plastic ones.
6. Cabinet art-blades are nicely done.

Stuff that doesn't really matter to me in order of not mattering-ness:
1. Eddie figures. These things are terrible quality and look crap. I'd almost rather have the flat plastics at least the art fits in with the game. Ordered the good one that should have came with it from Ebay (Piece of Mind). I'm not a fan of action figures on my games to begin with though.
2. Powder coated rails, lock down bar etc. Nice enough but not really something I care about. Black is good too.
3. Side art. All versions have their merits, the LE is nice with the detailed drawing and the foil effect, but any of them would be fine to me.
4. Being "limited". Though being a popular game and Elwin's first maybe moreso than I would normally care about it.
5. Sarcophagus lock is fun to watch but not sure if it really adds anything over the captive ball on the Pro in terms of shot satisfaction.

So there you have it. My original plan was to pick up a premium and mod the speakers and such as needed but I'm glad I got the LE since I love the BG that much. Everytime I see "parade marshall" Eddie on the Prem translite I kind of want to punch him in the face... it's probably just me.

Yes, it is a nice effect when it's only the red, but otherwise it's a shitty color wash on the slings and other plastics. They should have spent another couple of bucks and made that handful of red bulbs RGB so they could be normally white and then red or whatever color when needed.

I ended up swapping mine out and have all warm-white bulbs in the none blue sections now. Much improved. It's still dimmer when the dark modes happen, but not as good as with just red bulbs on for them.

I couldn't agree more. It's an amazing accomplishment!

One thing I would change is to make the underworld shot more satisfying. If it was a bit tighter and made that satisfying "clunk" sound like the vault on TAF...

I was originally in the same camp but I much prefer the LE artwork and had to have the mirrored BG. I guess I’m just weak...

There’s really no way to justify any of these price points rationally but I have zero regrets. Love my LE!

As an LE owner I like it when this happens. It's like a second drain that you have to sit and watch to further humiliate you.