I've been thinking about machines with one fatal flaw lately. The very first pinball machine I ever played was a Stern Flight 2000. My uncle had one in his guest bedroom, which I thought was the coolest thing ever (On a side note, I told my uncle and aunt that if they ever wanted to get rid of it, I would buy it; my aunt ended up just giving it to a neighbor, and even though that happened about 16 years ago, I'm still bitter about it). I loved that machine when I was a kid, but at the same time, I blame it for scaring me away from pinball for much of my life. I thought it was incredibly difficult, and I just assumed that pinball was for older people and I was too young to be any good at it.
I haven't played a physical Flight 2000 since back in the day, but I've played digital versions many times since, and I now know why I thought it was too hard. Flight 2000 is largely built around multiball and a full quarter of the playfield is devoted to a needlessly convoluted multiball lock system. The problem is, activating multiball doesn't just require you to lock three balls; it requires you to complete seven rollovers to spell "BLAST OFF," lock two balls, knock down five drop targets in order, and THEN lock a third ball. All of this would be manageable if you could just hit a flipper button to move the lit rollovers, but of course you cannot. To make matters worse, some of the rollovers are damn near impossible to aim at; you just have to hope for a lucky bounce off a pop bumper. I love this game, but the lack of an option to move the lit rollover is, to me, its one fatal flaw, the issue that prevents it from being one of the greats.
What game do you think has a fatal flaw, and how would you change it?
Crown Point, IN
