Factory settings, 3 ball. The shots are very easy on TAF. Never got to valinor or even taba, but have destroyed the ring many times. Xmen and TAV are just plain hard, no comparison.

Lovin' this machine and thanks again for the input/advice!

Interesting about the taf reference to xmen. It's one of the reasons I sold my taf. There's no question taf is the overall better game, but I prefer the speed, depth, and difficulty of xmen in my small lineup. Completed danger room today

Crazy. I don't even know how you and Rcade even make it there? SUPER hard to do.

I have my outlanes pulled in. Everything else is factory.

I have my outlanes pulled in and it's on 5 ball and I just can't do it. I'm thinking of turning hero stacking on just so I can see DR. I hear it is easier to make it there with hero stacking turned on? Props to you guys though, you've got skills.

I had to sell my Hardbody (and a few others)to get my XMLE. Do I regret it? Sometimes, but the storm ramp to ice man ramp combo is almost as satisfying as women body builders. The ability to pick your villain keeps the player in control with interest (I still think the earlier code w/ Hell Fire Club had an interaction with night crawler "pop ups" and the Sebastian Shaw punch out round, but maybe I was heavily sedated or it was just a glitch).
The Shadow King is underrated w/ a ton of points.
After buying X-Men LE I don't need to buy another NIB stern again...(this is both a +/-)

With Stacking off, I have done Danger Room a few times (on factory settings, factory outlanes etc)

With it on, I was doing it almost every game. Thats how much easier it makes it.

If you want to see DR, then switch stacking on. Start a few Heros then start a multiball. You'll be in DR in about 5 minutes.

rd

Thanks. Maybe now I can see what DR is all about.

Only if you beat it the in one go. Both Shadow King and Omega Red have crazy bonus millions if you beat them in your first try. If you drain out of them and restart them, the earning potential drastically goes down. As it stands, Sentinals IS the "safest" way to earn around 10 mil, But a first attempt finished Shadow King will land approx 15 mil, and I believe Omega Red is around 14 mil if done on first attempt (If I remember correctly, haha!). Juggerz can get up there, but you really have to be at world class, RD or SKB-like skill to be able to build hit Beast/Pheonix (but mostly Beast, as it wastes less time) shots fast enough to build the JPs to 1mil each and still have time left to beat him. If you can do that, then Juggerz can be very worth your while, but usually you have to pocket a BB "more time" award that you can activate once you build the JPs up so you have a little more breathing room to beat him.

Shit, I've made it there a couple times legitimately, but I'm nowhere near the player level that SKB and RD are. IMO, for a mini-wizard DR is a tad too difficult to reach for the "normal" player. I'd love to see the DR qualifier be to just at least START (don't HAVE to complete) each Hero mode, but make it like KM in ST; the shots associated with COMPLETED hero modes are a much higher value than for non completed hero shots. That way sure, you can bitch out and start DR without completing any heroes, but it won't be worth the points in the long run. Will make even more sense if completed hero modes bring in scoring/damage bonuses into villain modes as well, that makes the incentive of completing heroes even more rewarding.

If they are working on an update, I'd love to see the above implemented (with the appropriate difficulty modifiers in the menus, of course), but I'm still not getting my hopes up. No matter what we get from an update, it's still better than the alternative, which was XM becoming abandonware :/.

I'd go with Rcades above suggestion, as long as you can turn it off.

I think it'd be a bit easy to be honest. It's not hard to start the Heros. All you'd need to do is keep playing for 5 minutes and it'd happen automatically.

Maybe if there was a Tron SOS type mode where you could finish the Heros off ... That'd be cool. Then DR would become like Portal in Tron.

Can't see it happening though.

It's pretty cool like it is. If it's too hard, turning on Stacking makes it 80% easier. And I think you can adjust the Heros to Easy? I don't know, I never adjust anything so I don't know what the options are.

rd.

I would say RD is right on this, I got to DangerRoom twice with everything stacked, I have since switched to no hero stacking and havent gotten back. I think because I have all the heroes lit usually when I start Magneto multi to access D.R. with all stacking.

With no hero stacking I usually only have 4-5 hero completed/flashing (EDIT-when I start Magneto multi). I must say I think I dislike it this way, it doesnt seem as much fun for me. Either way though, Im sooooo happy they let you adjust it to your personal preference with the current code.

Well said. It is just too easy and confusing for me with stacking on but would be great if there was a mode that acted like SOS to help us complete unfinished Heros.

That is how mine is set up as well but I did add time to Nightcrawler since shots to Xavier do not count as a hit on Pro model YET. Hopefully the code update will fix that for the Pro because all shots to Xavier would easily hit NC on the LE version.

Yes, plenty of options for sure. I just looked in the menus, you can adjust everything. Crazy amount of adjustments!

rd.

I thinks it's good for DR to be "easy". XM is NOT an easy game by any means, and should be approachable by casual players. Even if DR is "easy" to get to, by integrating direct shot multipliers in DR according to which Hero modes you've completed along the way will make still make an "easy" mode valuable to higher level play. It would be the same principal as KM in ST, and everyone seems to like that. And DR is WAYYYY more interesting an experience than KM. If a casual player gets to DR every now and then, it would really reel them in and give them that "one more game" feeling. DR is pretty intense and a long road to battle for a casual/novice player, so the chances of them making it all the way through the mode first try is pretty infinitesimal. So they'd want to put more money in the machine to play again. As long as the scoring rewards are pretty weak on non-completed Hero shots, I think it would still work.

I think the other thing that would work is making the DR qualifier to at least start all Hero modes AND beat MagsMB, much like the requirement is now with stacking ON. But IMO, this will ONLY work is MagsMB damage progression is integrated. Mags getting his health back every time kills it for me. He takes quite a few hits, even with completed modes, and if you don't beat him in the first 2 tries, you're pretty much SOL. Remember Keith's awesome gameplay vid of 1.24; he competed all heroes and all villains, but STILL couldn't beat Mags. Failed twice and that was pretty much it, then the amount of shots and risk it takes to restart MagsMB becomes inhibitive.

But yeah, adjustments in the menu can keep everyone happy . I'm just talking in terms of "default" settings, which should (IMO) reflect operators/casual players.

You guys are making me want an XM

Mods, lock thread plz

I agree with this 100%. Keep Mag MB completion as a requirement for getting to DR (with hero stacking on), but save the progression from last time. Increase the reward for doing it in one shot, and give less points for the second / third try. Then have victory laps after beating him.

Its a winner mate. Listen to the guys that know

Join our exlusive club.

rd

Just find some video of Beast's mode and listen to that voice...it will cure your desire lol

I have had hero stacking on for months and was getting to DR pretty often.
Changed back to hero stacking off for a change of pace yesterday. I am enjoying the game as much as ever.
Still can't manage DR without the stacking on but it is a much better challenge this way, hopefully I will get there........

I like the beast voice callouts, they don't bother me at all.

Just slow it down, and focus on the shots. Control the ball ... aim for the shot.

As per Rcades rules, some shots award more damage (and points) than others.

For example, Phoenix ... hitting Phoenix (right orbit) a couple of times ends the mode. Whereas you need to hit Wolvie 8 times (from memory??) to end the mode. Most modes are the same as this.

rd

Storm is the one that bothers me. Ugh, I hate her call outs. Good thing the rest of the game makes up for it!

haha that's what I was thinking. That one and one of the other ones (Magneto?) are pretty over-the-top hammy to me. The Beast is so deadpan and disinterested that I find it amusing. Perhaps if I had preconceived notions of what he should sound like it would bother me? If that's the case I'm blissfully ignorant!

Rarehero is in the "voicing trade" so to speak ... I understand why he doesn't like them. Or Transformers. Or Avengers

I'm a car guy ... I don't like how it says "turbo boost" on my Corvette machine. No Corvettes have turbos!! Wtf!!

The voices on Xmen are ok by me. Same as Avengers and Transformers. Ok for a pinball machine.

rd.

Greg, it's time to start pulling some strings at work and get a "power pack" update for Beast's callouts . Hmmmm....maybe Rob Paulsen or Billy would fit the bill . Mayhaps even the boss man, he's got a deep, Beastish voice!

I keed, I keed.

I offered to help get new voices....no response. I've wiped my hands clean of X-Men....well except occasionally talking about it lol

I'll add on that if your having troubles with a particular hero mode; stack it with a mb. For example, Phoenix - get BH or HFC ready for villain then start Phoenix, shoot the scoop, ??? Profit! OR....get Phoenix down to one shot to start her, lock balls in rogue. Shoot Phoenix for final lock and stack her with magneto. No pun intended

Lastly, adjust magneto mb difficulty from medium (default) to hard. This makes it harder to start magneto mb which gives you more time collecting heroes and battling villains. Plus, I hate magneto mb and there's no need to play him more than once or twice in a game.

I don't think the problem with The Addams Family being easy is with the layout as much as the rules and the modes themselves. This was a time when modes were evolving from being instant awards and playfield bonuses (pops at max, million shots) like on Whirlwind and Funhouse to mini-games. 3 of the 12 modes on TAF are just instant points awards, no work required. One is a playfield bonus, which would probably just be a random award at the swamp or something similar. Then there's Thing MB, Quick MB and EBL, which are all one shot each. That's over half the game in just three shots. The rest of the modes have the same problem that many (most?) mode-based games of the time have: you just have to start them to get credit for them for the wizard mode. You can time them out, or bring them into a multiball and ignore them for the most part. I was able to Tour the Mansion when I played it last, even though I hadn't seen one in almost 10 years, just going mode-ramp-mode-ramp over and over. That's why I like objective-based games like Scared Stiff and Attack from Mars. You aren't hitting the same few shots over and over. You have to hit the standups (Martian Multiball), lanes (Deadheads), pop bumpers (Lab, Super Jets) and everything else to get to the wizard mode.

Modern mode games are much better (IMO) because they make you win all the modes to get to the final wizard, but they also give you something decent if you just start them all. TRON is my favorite modern game, and I have gotten to Sea of Simulation a handful of times. Getting Portal is something else, however. GEM is the sticking point in both cases.

I want to come to one of your sexy parties

rd.