Blast from the past here... I do recall after MMR released participating in lengthy threads concerning spongy flippers, raised front levelers as compensation, etc.

After playing CGC remakes, along with AP games, owning a WOZ for 6 years, playing all the other JJPs, and currently owning two Spooky games, I'm firmly convinced the only good way to drive WMS flipper assemblies is with proper dual-wound coils and WMS fliptronics boards with their big fat TIP36C transistors. All this modern substitute shit just doesn't cut it.

https://www.flippers.be/images/wpc/fliptronics1.jpg

That is how you drive flippers.

Still have my OG AFM and frankly, Levi, you'd be nuts to swap for the remake.

The bending-of-the-rest-plate trick is also how you get perfectly even flippers at both rest and extension positions. You want to FIRST adjust them to be perfectly even at extension (when up) at whatever angle you prefer, then you can slightly bend the bracket to make the at-rest positions exactly even as well. Bending the bracket compensates for slight differences in plunger/coil stop/link sizes.

When adjusting the flippers "up" position, you want to use your finger to push the flipper plunger into the coil, mimicking the way the coil pulls it in. If you simply raise and hold the flipper itself, slop in the link/pawl causes it to raise further than it does if the coil pulls it in and that will mess up your positioning.

I rebuilt the flippers on every WMS game I got back in the day; they all played like new. Replaced the plunger, link, pawl, spring and coil stop. They all played better than current remake flippers.

The small gap is offset somewhat by the repeated center shots required to progress. AFM isn't hard but it'll eventually drain off that saucer.

No, those aren't the same parts, nor the same circuit. Not even close to Fliptronics.

Yep, I owned a HUO MB for a few years and the flippers on it were incredible. Actually made the game difficult due to how fast the ball came off the flipper... rebounds off posts and the phantom flip targets were SDTM before you could blink. Sad that it's been over 20 years since we've had new Fliptronics games. At least Stern flippers are pretty decent these days.

Yeah, that was mine in the corner. Glad you enjoyed it!

A ton of the "heat up and get weak" issues over the years are simply due to badly rebuilt flippers. If the pawl is clamped on the flipper shaft too high or too low, the plunger will be pulled into the coil at an angle, significantly increasing friction between the plunger and coil sleeve and causing the flipper to weaken as the sleeve heats up. This is a guaranteed result of bad clamp placement and can happen on any game, regardless of flipper system.

I owned a HUO MB for 3 years. First owner never played it, 2nd was too afraid of putting wear on it, so it was essentially new (and looked it) when I got it. The flippers were untouched.

Comparing the flipping on that game to the new MMRs I played at Expo - they were nothing alike. The OG MB flippers never got tired, all shots were rockets, the game was quite difficult due to the speed of the shots, and everything flowed just perfectly. Balls whipped around the ramps and orbits.

OTOH the MM remake at Expo: flippers felt noodly, delayed and laggy, like a crappy 6803 game. They worked, you could make shots, but no solidness like the originals. Someone said they feel like Spooky flippers and I agree with that. Same mechs but completely different drive. Dunno what else to say but I've compared new to new and they're nothing alike.

Why? They were both brand new games. There was talk of could it be due to low mains power at the show, but other game played fine, and IIRC don't the remakes use solid-state power supplies?

I took my OG AFM to the same show in prior years and it played just as fast and mean there as it did in my house.

Yep, of all the games to die on a hill for...

He's just waiting for WCS94R

Well let's see here...

Owned MM from '99 to 2018. Owned AFM since 2000 and still have it. Owned a HUO MB for ~2014-2017. Got plenty of experience on good-playing originals.

Yes the remakes look really new and shiny and pretty with the bright LEDs and all.

Nope, I cite the differences because every remake I've ever tried played like ass compared to the originals. My AFM isn't for sale and the others were sold quite cheaply, so your theory is bunk in this case.

Not really, you can summarize in that the remake flipper power drops off faster towards the tip than the originals did. Late shots feel wimpy. Even sweet-spot shots don't have the oomph that OG games had. When they heat up, the remake flippers struggle to flip with the same snap and strength, shot trajectories change more than normal, etc.

There's a thread here where someone got an original AFM and kept having the balls fly off the habitrails due to the speed. I had the same issue and added a catcher at the end of the right habitrail to stop balls flying into the outlane. OG games were engineered to be overpowered when clean and new, and normal when dirty and neglected (because most ops back then didn't give a shit). The new games play OK when clean and new but lack that extra oomph that made the originals so fun.

So question for robin

Does nuking your own post like this also nuke the downvotes from your accrued total? Inquiring minds want to know...

BTW FFH, you tellingly left "gameplay" out of your list