LE #411 in the club! This game is beauuuuutiful!

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Now that the game is here, I looked at my various color options and decided red is the way to go with the LE for my start button & coin buttons -- ties in with the red 007 accent in the art and the red in the lower playfield area. Obviously you pick whatever you like best -- in fact I'm printing some dark blue to match the sharks to see how that looks -- but in my opinion the red works best.

While I have six different designs for the start button, I went with the 2015 SPECTRE logo version since that's all over the game.

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The t-molding is definitely orange on mine, as well as the rings around the speakers. Meant to match Bond's orange scuba suit, and complement the teal armor.

Kids are trying to get me to change the start button to blue. Matches the sharks pretty well. When lit, it's a deeper blue color than it appears in the pic below -- just hard to capture colors accurately with the camera.

With all the talk about orange t-molding, I'm running a set of orange buttons right now just to see how that looks too. I still like the red personally, based on tying in with the red 007 and the red lights on the lower pf. (Ref post #315 for red)

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My LE was doing this too, and also sometimes not coming all the way out -- the roof panel was just catching the edge of the habitrail. Like you, I adjusted its position so the door fully clears, and one piece of the habitrail blocks the direction of the outlane. Been 100% ever since.

Don't worry folks, it's that easy. Just two nuts to loosen. If you take out a ball, you can repeatedly test it while in attract mode, as the game ejects the ball immediately to get set up for a new game. Get it adjusted, retighten, you're done.

Any score that has 007 in a grouping should earn a secret extra replay!

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We gotta know!!! I can't tell from the pics

I was initially disappointed with the Scuba Bond, could barely see it, didn't move much ..... turned out it there was a block of foam under the pf that it was zip tied to, for shipping lol.... facepalm! Now he's much more visible and moves around as intended. Just thought I'd admit my dumbassery to help anyone else who didn't know about the foam either.

Finally caught the flow of the game and more than doubled my best score so far!

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Hence the dumbassery comment -- didn't look at that!

Between having to adjust the habitrail above the Aston Martin out of the box, and then having to readjust it tonight after working on a mod (replacing the orange/pink plastic under the car, soon to be expanded into a road scene, reference https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/stern-james-bond-007-mod-thread/page/2#post-7298690 for the initial baseline / pics), I decided to look a little more closely at the ejection process and how it interacts with this rail.

I took several super-slo-mo videos after various adjustments, and they show just how different the ejection process is despite very minor position changes. You'll also see it's much more violent than I realized -- the habitrail shakes a lot!

It's important to be sure you have good clearance for the roof to open and not contact the rails, yet still have a smooth feed. This is nearly impossible to see in real-time so I recommend you use this video method to check yours. I expect this will be unique to everyone's individual machines based on slope, ejector strength, etc. As you'll see, all three of these videos end up with the ball in the habitrail headed for the inlane, so you'd think it's all good ... but watch closely, there is more happening than meets the eye.

Here in the first vid, I discovered the ejection was messy -- the ball bounces slightly back toward the car, so the roof panel tries to slam shut on the ball, and then the ball actually bonks off the roof of the car before tumbling down to the main habitrail:

Adjustments made... this time it's redirected a little better but still barely clears the roof/car and kinda floats over to the main channel.

More adjustments made, this was the best I got it for now... it catches a little more of the curved section and floats over the car with a little more clearance. I left it in this setup as "good enough" for now, since I'll be messing with this hardware more as I continue work on the mod.

When you check & adjust yours (by loosening the two nuts at the base of the curved section), you'll want a flat tool to manually lift the roof to ensure you have clearance past the ends of the individual rails. Flex it a little too -- since now you see how much it moves during the event! Test it and shoot your videos by having a loose ball while in attract mode. Any ball dropped into the scoop will eject automatically since the game wants to get reset and ready for a new player.

Forget Saturday morning cartoons ... came downstairs to find this:

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No problems with jetpack multiball here, have had it several times with no issue.

Where I DID run into code problem last night was, I was in Goldfinger mode, then started a multiball (Bird One I think) ... I figured this would stack, but I didn't see any indication that GF was still going. Then for the rest of the game, whatever villain/henchman mode I was in, wouldn't show their timer. It kept showing Goldfinger on the screen with 0:00 left.

There is some importance to the channels being snug -- don't want it to juat slide out on its own when you take the lockdown bar off, and also shaker motors can cause the glass to rattle. One of the vendors sells special soft tape to add to panes that rattle. (Needed to do this on my GoT.) FWIW, Bond glass is noticeably more snug than my previous game.

This. My first impression of this game was how unique the geometry of the shots is -- very different timing on the flippers than we're used to with recent games.

Those not familiar with DJ Mixer mode (great to have on music pins) might want to be made aware -- DJ Mixer mode can be turned on in Bond with Standard Adjustment #70.

Then, while in attract mode, hold both flippers, and when the game selection comes up, scroll with the flippers to DJ Mixer mode and hit start. Now you can leave the game music playing in your game room!

Only three tracks on there for now, and two of them are "test tracks" you hear in some modes ... hopefully they add more down the road.

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It's the music that's currently in the game.

In addition to Blofeld, Henderson, and Osato, looks like we got the knife shoe too, in the SPECTRE weapons.

My kids have really been enjoying Bond -- I'm afraid to look to see how many games are on it since my son has been playing it constantly -- and it's made them really interested to watch the movies.

After sitting them down for a preemptive talk about Bond's treatment of women, we proceeded to watch Dr. No, and to my surprise they both really enjoyed it! It doubled as an Easter egg hunt, as they excitedly pointed out every thing/scene they recognized from the game (now making more sense in context) -- which kicked off right from the opening credits (all the colored dots).

I see several more Bond movie viewings in our future over xmas break...

Wonderful story, John, thanks!

I expect they'll enjoy the subsequent movies even more, when we start getting into more of the gadgets (of which there were none in Dr. No) and more eccentric villains.

Thanks for sharing. Sorry for your loss, fingers crossed for your call!

Not sure if a bug or just freak occurrence but the game died on me about 3/4 of the way thru Prof Dent. Hit a shot and all lights went out save for a few inserts, and screen froze. Flippers were still active though til I locked it. Rebooted game, all was fine after.

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No, I downloaded the new code last night. Speaking of which, anyone else's make that obnoxious record-scratch/squeal when it reboots during the code update? Scares the hell out of everyone lol

Fair point! Ok I looked, it's currently at 258. That works out to 26 games per day so far! lol

Haha yeah my son plays A LOT, he really loves the game -- it's something new for him to dive into and learn everything. Of the 258, probably about 30 are me (when he asks me to play with him), a handful in there from other famlly/friends, and alllll the rest are him lol

You're not alone here. With the 300+ games we have on ours, my son (the majority player, lol) and I agree that spotting the SPECTRE letters is the hardest thing to do. I'd estimate we've gotten the SPECTRE weapon mode activated less than 15 times.

I feel like Gomez & Co. may have felt the ball would bounce around the rocket a lot more, almost like it were a pop bumper, but it simply doesn't work that way. So yeah, even when I actively try to shoot for the rocket to collect those letters, it generally doesn't work out.

Mine do this too occasionally but my son hasn't stopped playing it long enough for me to look into it. I have several other game hardware tweaks/installs I want to accomplish this week on my other games so I'll plan to investigate this also.

Yeah I've got this too; wondering if the hole locations were misdrilled, forcing it to be rotated slightly out of position. Considering elongating one of the holes to allow it to rotate back, but it's low priority for now.

I was under the playfield this evening and this wiring caught my eye, it was pulled super taut, to the point that it was flexing the lug on the switch:

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In the bundle right above it, the wires in question had an extra loop wrapped & cinched in this zip tie. I carefully cut the zip and freed the loop, to relax the tension on the wires. Next time you're inside yours, you might want to evaluate and see if you have the same. It's not attached to anything that moves but still not ideal to have it stressed like that.

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After getting an order for an orange start button, I remembered that I'd never posted the picture when I was experimenting with different colors earlier in the thread. Here's a a fluorescent orange with a warm white bulb, makes a pretty good match for the orange t-molding/speaker rings in the LE.

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Thanks! Yeah, the SPECTRE design(s) were my personal preference, but several people had asked about the gun barrel design also -- so I'm happy to accommodate. I don't think I printed an orange set with START yet (I'll check), and if I haven't, I'll run a set tomorrow and will report back. If you like it better, you can exchange the one you have.

Also, on your coin buttons -- if you have some warm white frosted bulbs, put those behind your orange coin buttons instead of the cheap bulbs they included in there. Reference my updated installation video below -- it shows the difference a better bulb makes.

Hot off the printer, here ya go!

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Sorry I was offline for a bit (working on a different mod lol) ... the other folks are correct, that's a volume switch from PR Mods. Bought a couple on Black Friday, as I really liked the idea of not having to open the door to make volume adjustments. Installation was very easy, so I had my kids do one each (with supervision) for good tinkering practice. Definitely recommend! Great communication from @Skeets, simple instructions, and excellent price for a useful product.

As mentioned previously, the one pictured on my machine came from PR Mods:
https://pinside.com/pinball/market/shops/1430-pr-mods/07205-stern-pinball-cabinet-volume-switch-for-spike2-games

Crazy that was allowed to be installed -- it looks terrible and what good is a safety warning if you can't read it??

Don't sweat it though, get yourself one of these from Space Coast Pinball and just cover it up:

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I actually LIKE the unpredictability here -- plus the variability in ball behavior based on which drop targets are up or down. Adds more challenge, and keeps up one of the best things about pinball -- that no two games are ever the same!

That said, I do occasionally get a SDTM off the dragon tank target when ejected from that scoop. I'd like to so something in the code similar to the scoop on Rush, where if the ejects from the scoop, hits the target, and goes SDTM, you get a ball save. It should be based on a very short timer and contingent on no other switches being hit.

Ok holllllllld on a second here. I need some help from Bond fans.

Admittedly I haven't seen ALL of the Bond films. I'd seen a varied selection of the early ones and then all of them from Brosnan and on. Since we have the pin, my family and I just finished watching the six Connery films included in the game. And we're super confused.

YOLT and DAF were two of the ones I hadn't seen.

The character of Henderson appears in You Only Live Twice, as a retired agent. He's also later killed in the film.

Then, in Diamonds Are Forever, the same actor is now playing the role of Blofeld. ...but he's Blofeld, and never referred to as Henderson.

Based on his inclusion in the game -- even being identified as Henderson on the insert & mode -- I was expecting some sort of plot twist revealing he wasn't actually Blofeld, but Henderson taking up Blofeld's mantle, or something like that. But that never happened.

Did I miss something? Is there some reveal later? Is this technically an error, listing him as Henderson on the game? Help me out, hardcore Bond peeps. We're confused over here.

My LE is the same. I stole one of my protectors out of Rush (in a lane that didn't need it but I'd put there to match) and put it in Bond until I get another to replace it. A Cliffy or a NinjaCamp should get the job done, but at least some mylar would be better then nothing in the interim for folks.

Much appreciated. My Rocket City Pinball version is still in work -- tomorrow I'm finally receiving some parts I needed -- and will be configured and presented differently than the other lit version already available.

Nice job on the mount design!

Jetpack multiball folks -- he drops the ball when you hit the gate left of the tank (same shot where you lock balls). Its insert should be blinking orange (the color for jetpack multiball) to indicate that's your next shot.
Once you release the ball, then you have two ball multiball, hit all the orange shots. Once you've hit them all, then hit the left orbit shot one more time for super jackpot.

Since there's been a lot of Dragon talk over here, and I just made more progress on my version yesterday, here's a couple pics. I like vehicles to be on a scene (see my Red Barchetta mod) so I'm making my lit tank with some low-lying marshy brush to look similar to its terrain in the movie. Mouth lights up when the standup target is hit (when tank shoots flames on screen), and eyes are lit with GI.

I suppose I could probably make the scenery & tank available without the lights for those of you who don't want the tank lit.

More info and video over in the mod thread: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/stern-james-bond-007-mod-thread/page/4#post-7339831

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Hey coders at Stern -- my 8-year-old who's currently obsessed with James Bond (pinball & movies) pointed out an error...

When you start Bird One multiball, it activates the blue Diamonds Are Forever insert. .... except, as my son pointed out, the Bird One plotline was in You Only Live Twice, not in DAF.

You may need to make adjustments to the habitrail above the car, simply by loosening the two nuts where it connects to the main habitrail. This may require some trial & error/ fine tuning though; check out my post / videos about this at https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/james-bond-official-owners-club/page/9#post-7298758

Ok so what's up with the pop bumpers? As someone noted previously, on the LEs, the pop bumpers fire simultaneously, regardless which one is hit. Yet today I was on a location with both a Pro and a Premium ... the Premium played the same, naturally, with simultaneous pops -- but the Pro pops worked independently?

What's up with this? I didn't see a bracket joining them in the LE so is this something in the code? This has got to be fixed please, the independent Pro pops were so much lively...

Yes, the fluorescent orange is one of the options in the listing for SPECTRE start buttons here: https://pinside.com/pinball/market/shops/1282-rocket-city-pinball/07252-3d-start-button-james-bond-007-spectre-versions

Teaser post: my Dragon Tank scene mod is finally fit-checked and field tested. I have one simple minor change I plan to make for cosmetic improvement on the mount, but it's ready to go up for pre-order. I'll try to have it up in the shop later on tonight, along with the installation instruction video.

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If you don't like the color, you can exchange it (as long as it's not broken), just gotta cover the shipping.

But they set it up differently on the Pro? Weird, from a manufacturing standpoint.

Yeahhhhh... the "simulpops" (cool name) have irked me since day one; they're so slow and clunky. If it was the only game i had or ever got to play, maybe then it wouldn’t be noticeable ... but when I have other Sterns in my collection whose pops individually rapid fire (because the ball can actually hit their skirts), it's definitely a detriment IMO.

Count one in the 'plus' column for the Pro.

That's why I made both designs available! I thought I'd be a stickler for the wrong-era-logo usage and put the older era version on my game ... but the more I thought about it, the less I liked the idea of the logos not matching. So even though it's the wrong era SPECTRE logo in the game, since it's all over the place, I used the same one for the start button on my personal machine, so they'd all match. To each their own! It's been a pretty interesting divide between those who have purchased it thus far.

Finally! Rocket City Pinball's interactive Dragon Tank scene is up for pre-order. (Pre-order is to manage demand and accommodate my day job & everyday-life schedules, so I appreciate everyone's patience. Those with Red Barchetta mods know it took a while to get all the orders filled, but they were worth the wait and so is this!)

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Video of it in action:

Couple more pics:

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All the details are in the listing but here are the highlights:
- Since the dragon tank scene in the movie takes place in a marshy area, my tank mount includes ground covering & vegetation to better represent the film -- instead of just being a toy sitting atop a piece of artwork/plastic. It's amazing how much more realistic it looks in an actual scene!
- Installation kit includes replacement hardware to better blend into the scene (gold screws/washers in lieu of the OEM silver ones)
- The tank has tiny LEDs for the 'eyes' which are powered off the GI
- The tank's mouth has a light strip to represent the fire belched forth by its flamesthrowers. (Sorry I couldn't put real flamethrowers on it -- didn't want to ruin your machine!) The mouth lights up when the stand-up target is hit (which is also when it appears on the screen to shoot flames)!
- Installation kit includes two connector/splitter sets to access these power sources, and requires no electrical work aside from separating and snapping connectors together. No soldering is required, and it's 100% removable with no permanent modification to the game.

Sure takes a lot less time to install than it does to build it, that's for sure! Installation only takes six minutes -- DIY installation video:

Link to shop listing: https://pinside.com/pinball/market/shops/1282-rocket-city-pinball/07752-interactive-dragon-tank-scene-for-james-bond-pro

Final notes: Now that I've put one in a game (and I'm my own worst critic), I've decided there's a small section on the mount that I'm going to remove from the design. I've included a photo in the listing to show what I mean, but it's a small section in the back behind the tank. Not really visible from the player's perspective anyway, but just for cleanliness I'm going to fix that for production units.

Also, big thanks and shout-out to The Pinball Lounge in Oviedo, Florida (inside the Oviedo Bowling Center). The owners, Kurt and Ed, are amazing humans and I'm glad to call them my friends. Kurt has a Premium and a Pro (the latter of which he's about to put on location elsewhere) and was kind enough to allow me to shoot my DIY video with it. Check them out if you're ever in the area -- they have TONS of games from different eras, always in top working condition, they host tournaments and events (just hosted the state championships this weekend, and my favorite event is always Flip-Out Friday), and they have great food and drink too!

Was nearby and my machine squelch-farted! New code baby!!!!

Grant henchman is Orient Express. Didn't get too far into it on my first try though because multiball canceled it...

Largo villain is the Disco Volante mode. Gotta say that might be my favorite so far, because it has the best "scene progression" experience. In hitting each shot and advancing the scene, Bond gets closer to sneaking aboard. This is a progression that "makes sense" -- each shot makes Bond "do something". In other words it doesn't feel like it's just showing the next part of a clip, you're actually part of the action!

Oooooh when you light SPECTRE weapon, now the insert light starts rotating through the weapons until you activate one, neato, I like that

You know, I think this helped it finally dawn on me what's missing here. The modes in most games -- dating back quite some time -- are usually about you "accomplishing" something. Each shot in a mode is a punch in a fight, or an item to collect, or something advancement toward a goal. In Bond, most of the modes feel like it's just "hit a shot to advance through this clip". Exceptions are Grant / Disco Volante, maybe Odd Job if you consider that a "fight", maybe Radioactive Reconnaissance or Q's ring by "scanning" things or trying the next slot machine. But most of them are just "advance the scene". Hit the next shot to hear the next thing Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd have to say...why? Hit the next shot to watch Rosa Klebb inspect her henchman...why?

Given all the licensor troubles, I have little hope these modes might ever change, but that would be my constructive feedback to the programmers -- make modes feel like you're accomplishing things.

Maybe there could've been a Thunderball underwater battle mode -- remember how many diver fights there were? You could have a mode where each shot is a successful kill/incapacitating of a villainous diver.

Ooh oooh that could be a future multiball mode. Starts by getting it in the Scuba scoop, then all shots turn turquoise and each time you hit one, there's another diver fight on the screen (there were certainly enough in the movie). Defeat them all for thunderball super jackpot.

There ya go Stern, that one's a freebie, on the house!

That may be because Bird One multiball incorrectly lights the Diamonds are Forever insert, but should light You Only Live Twice. This should also be corrected.

I still haven't figured out how they work (or how they're supposed to work), but I do know my 8-year-old now-James-Bond-crazy son noticed the Bird One DAF/YOLT discrepancy, since we just watched the six movies. I posted about it (and the Mr Henderson confusion) several pages back, knowing Stern often watches these threads. Didn't get corrected in the latest release, maybe next time.

Or you could get fancy and go with this one:

https://pinside.com/pinball/market/shops/1282-rocket-city-pinball/07752-interactive-dragon-tank-scene-for-james-bond-pro

Took us until we watched YOLT to be clear too, don't feel bad.

Targets, plural? There's only one target to drop it on, what am I not seeing?

I wondered if he'd reach that far, that'd be a cool shortcut for a lock!

My absolute favorite flow combo I've managed to hit several times is:
1) center lane looping around behind the rocket (lock gate not open on prem/LE)
2) upper left flipper to woman loop
3) upper left flipper again to henchman ramp, which has its own mini loop around and down to right flipper.

(Green/pink/blue):

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...my god it's a such thing of beauty when it happens, and it happens so fast and smooth!

Yeah not implying it happens on the regular, especially with how fast is goes screaming through those loops, but I sometimes get lucky. Beautiful!

#combogoals

It's not necessarily just eject power -- the position of the habitrail above the car may need to be adjusted. See my post here for more details: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/james-bond-official-owners-club/page/9#post-7298758

Squelch-fart!

Welp, found bug in new code already. Was in Prof Dent mode, activated Bird 1 multiball (successfully stacked), when Bird 1 was over, stayed in Dent mode.... but the Dent timer was stuck. Then I got the ball into the Scuba scoop and it never ejected, and ball search never activated. Couldn't even cancel out the game via flipper/start -- had to shut the machine down and reboot.

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Sadly, Trouble in Jamaica (Dr. No mode) is just another boring talky scene mode. My reward for hitting the next shot is to listen to Bond and Dr. No have a chat. While it's good dialogue, this isn't exciting in the context of the game. Ref my earlier post about why Largo, Odd Job, and Red Grant are better modes -- you're helping Bond "do" the next thing or advance through a fight.
(ICYMI https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/james-bond-official-owners-club/page/46#post-7369678)

A better option here for Dr. No could have been helping Bond sneak into the reactor room, turn the dial, fight off the guys, fight off Dr. No, and eventually get him down into the water. Would've been much more rewarding. <sigh>

I submitted bug report, fyi. Also mentioned the Bird 1 = YOLT (not DAF) since that's still not corrected and my son would like to see that fixed, lol

A compliment to the film: this is actually very clever dialogue ... he dodges her question about luck -- since he knows it's irrelevant -- and comments on the testing of his new device while still SOUNDING like he's answering her question.

Anyway, the suggestion above is great -- cut it after the 'successful' line, and drop in the 'unbelievable' later.

Same with Rush. Even sets you up for another stab at the skill shot.

As with anything pinball, you'll probably find debate here too. Personally, I hate virtual locks -- pinball is a physical game, and when you lock a ball, you've altered the physical configuration of the game -- especially im games where locking a ball changes where the next one(s) can go!
You get that little dopamine hit from accomplishing a minor goal, because the ball stops and the game pauses. Then you get a momentary break in the action to take a breather, and sometimes even get a choice of where/how you launch the next ball! And the most rewarding -- seeing all those balls you locked get released, especially when it's done in creative fashion, or when they get released from various spots on the pf where they were locked. You get none of these things from virtual locks, save for a few modern examples where it "sets up" a multiball start (e.g. TMNT, GZ).

For Bond, I do find the little curly ramp and physical lock satisfying -- I get to watch it do something cool and I get to see it stored there. Then I get the fun of it dumping each one out when I start multiball!

Yes sir, physical locks all the way, for me.

Just a heads up, owners: I was under the playfield today and noticed a bunch of wire bundle/connector labels near the right side of the pf... the adhesive is failing on almost all of the stickers, so they're likely to fall off if you bump them (or maybe vibrate off on their own). I'd imagine most folks wouldn't have a need to disconnect any of these, but just in case, you've been warned....

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Love that bowling lane cornhole board!!

That's a really great design, pulling in the themes from the nearby areas of the PF.

That's awesome, I love this idea... though taking a hand away from the flipper for risk/reward is part of the fun!

Armada of RCP Dragon Tanks shipping out tomorrow!

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I'm overdue to ping my friend at the machine shop, will hit him up today.

That slick red Start button helps keep the color scheme going too

Ugh, I certainly hope not. (Mine goes off the tank target too most of the time.)

The pops are my absolute LEAST favorite part of the (Prem/LE) game, with their clunky simultaneous/dual-pop function. I cringe (and/or yawn) every time the ball goes in there--
clunk ...clunk...clunk clunk... clunk ...clunk

...instead of pop-poppop-pop-poppoppop that you get on the Pro (and practically every other game since 1960something) with independent bumpers.

If mine shot into the pops -- intentional or not -- I would absolutely readjust so they DIDN'T. The ball ends up in the scuba scoop a lot, and if it went into the pop every time it would slow the game down sooooo much, especially on the frustratingly clunky dual-firing Prem/LE pops.

Just keep in mind you WILL need to. These pics are from 1200 plays on my Rush, which apparently is longer than most typically survive. One of my flippers started sticking so there was no waiting any longer. And yes, the ones you noted at Pinball Life are the replacements I used.

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This has been one of my beefs with this game for a while (ref https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/james-bond-official-owners-club/page/46#post-7369678 when I finally realized it and https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/james-bond-official-owners-club/page/62#post-7397857 for some additional thoughts)

... hitting a shot in a mode traditionally helps you progress through something, or collect something, or work toward something. In most modes here, hitting the next shot reveals the next bit of dialogue in a talky movie scene, whoopdeedoo. Disco Volante is my favorite mode right now because I at least feel like I'm "helping" Bond through the actions to blow it up. Red Grant and Odd Job sorta work, since you could consider each shot like delivering a blow in the fight (many games have fight modes). Most everything else is just stepping through a movie scene and not really "doing" anything. I hope these modes get overhauled eventually, though if the licensor issues are to be believed, I'm skeptical we'd be so lucky. Hope I'm proven wrong here.

Just saw the new Foo code email, knew there'd be pitchforks out over here...

Oooh ooh this could be fun.

Dr. No Code
From Stern Without Code
Middlefinger
(Th)undercoded
You Never Code Twice
Diamonds Forever, Code Never

.....I'll see myself out

FWIW, I'm trying to stay optimistic here but I'm getting frustrated along with everyone else. I think code needs to be more polished before games leave the factory. We wouldn't stand for purchasing a car where some of the features were missing -- "no A/C for you until the next code release" ... "You can open your windows but that makes the radio turn off" ... etc.

My last NIB was Rush, and IIRC the modes were all there from day one, except for the three wizard modes -- no big deal, we all suck at a new game so we're not reaching the wizard modes yet, that's fine. The modes needed a little polishing and tweaking, but they were all there and we could (and did) provide constructive feedback to help improve it or correct errors noticed by fans. Participating in that process was actually really fun -- especially since some of my suggestions & corrections were heard and incorporated into the game -- very cool! I got to watch the game mature with each update. But the point is, from day one -- particularly for those early adopters buying the most expensive version -- it was still very much COMPLETE enough to be an enjoyable game right off the factory floor.

That's not the same experience we have here in the Bond club.

Whatever the reason for the delay, be it coders, be it licensor -- this game should not have been released so prematurely. I suppose it'd be ironic, if it's true the licensor wanted it out on time for the anniversary, yet was also too slow / nitpicky on content approval. Perhaps the appropriate approach would've been to release Elwin's for the anniversary, and hold the Gomez one back until the code was more mature, even if that meant leapfrogging Foo Fighters ahead of it. In that case you'd have legions of folks buying the newest game (FF), who then might step up and grab the next new game (Bond) -- you'd have happy FF customers who then could become happy Bond customers, and you'd have happy secondary market customers picking up FF from those selling their FF to get Bond. Instead, we have angry, spurned Bond customers watching joyous FF customers, with reduced secondary market capability for those wanting to unload Bond to get a more functional game.

<sigh>

I really like the shots and the game has huge potential. Folks putting up funds to get one right away just can't help but feel cheated that we have to wait so long for it to be fully functional -- especially with a zillion other games out there. We could've bought some other game(s) with that money in the meantime. The pitchforks are out because we're all feeling like a bunch of suckers.

<waves pitchfork sluggishly & unenthusiastically>

lol sorry if that got used already...my pitchfork certainly has been

at least we've got SOMETHING fresh and new around here!

I recognize this problem cannot be fixed by code, and that makes me a saaaaaad panda. I hope they listen to us and never make this mistake again. Simulpops look, sound, and play in such a primitive way. Someone mentioned a Gomez interview where he said we'd barely notice (or something to that extent). Well, we notice, and I cringe each time the ball goes in there, knowing we're stuck with this colossal cheap-out design decision forever.

Sing it with me: "Simulpops forever ...forever ...forever"

Let Pitchfork Friday begin!

Hey at least it wasn't a car analogy

Don't worry, we're not allowed to do that anymore in here. Only appliances.

Hey rickker how are you going henchman ramp > right orbit? Henchman ramp delivers to right inlane; are you ski-passing over to the left flipper?

Haha that graphic was a little hard to follow but your description made sense once I realized you meant left orbit (jetpack shot) instead of right orbit. So it's the combo I mentioned here (https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/james-bond-official-owners-club/page/59#post-7392542) but with two extra shots on the end I haven't been able to add yet. Nice!

IIRC one of the high stakes awards might advance or light jetpack multiball, maybe that happened?

Loganpinball I applaud you for the creativity, I don't really understand why anyone gets bent out of shape (pun intended) about you making custom habitrails, that's really cool. What's their beef? Changing the designer's intent? Whatever. Keep doing what you're doing man, if people want it, they can buy it. If they don't, they won't. Every mod has its haters. Some people hate my start buttons because they can see 3D print layer lines when they look at it from two inches away. But you know what? A lot of people love my buttons too.

Everyone has their preferences, and if it's something people want, they'll buy it. Give THOSE people your attention, not the haters.

Ya know, early on the game had some kind of disclaimer banner, like "content pending licensor approval" .... maybe they should just start releasing the code like that. I'd much rather have a (more) complete game with a disclaimer banner splashed on it, than have to keep waving pitchforks...

That's the plan, contingent on my buddy at the machine shop.

Flash71 Jamesays seriously

6eb9e15bc43ddc12eedf09a2f36d5d1e--affleck-batman-ben-affleck (resized).jpg

It's part of the Moby song, not an added soundbite.

Just got to B...JB, that was enjoyable, the shaker going in unison with the spinner was a fun effect. Nice to have something new, though still a long, long way to go.

We do the same, trying to sound loud and obnoxious, "well HIYA MISTER Q!!! Are you HAVING any LUCK?!"

A few more notes before I call it a night --

1) got far enough into jetpack multiball (5 shots then hit the jetpack ramp) where he moves around enough to make it a challenge to hit the tank. Missed, but that was cool.

2) got to the B...JB again, did well, then moved on with the game. Could've sworn I'd then gotten everything I needed to get it a second time around in the same game but it didn't happen. See how you guys do, maybe I was just missing one of the four elements, or maybe you only get it once?

3) Keep an eye on your ball count. I swear this last game gave me at least two extra balls I hadn't earned. I even walked away after what I thought was finally ball 3 and out came another. No idea if I can re-create it so just watch carefully just in case. Ended up being a top 5 score but not sure I want to document it on my scoreboard.

4) not related to code, but fun stuck balls I got -- coil search shook em loose right after I snapped the pic:
20230322_235956 (resized).jpg