Quoted from NPO:TL;DR - a quick opinion on how B/W kept each release pretty different.
This is NOT a direct personal attack; this is more of an observation I've made regarding limited space and B/W games.
Now, the LONGER post:
I dunno, man. B/W did a fantastic job at keeping it pretty varied. Sure, AFM and MM are similar, but let's name off some of their games as they progressed:
TAF --> CFTBL --> BSD --> ST:TNG --> WH2O --> TZ --> JD --> RS --> Corvette --> TS --> JM --> Congo --> AFM --> SS --> MM --> CV --> Champion Pub
Looking at this wide range of titles from 92 to 98, with my limited experience with each of them, all of these titles (with the exception of AFM vs MM) feel very different to me. For some differences:
1. Orbital lanes can vary depending on game (TZ vs WH20 vs SS for example) or don't even have them (looking at you BSD)
2. Pop bumper placement has some variance (BSD vs TAF vs TZ vs RS for example)
3. Ramps are all over the place (ST:TNG vs TS [4 total here if you include the diverters] vs Corvette vs WH2O vs CFTBL)
4. Toys (TAF vs Champion Pub vs BSD vs RS vs Corvette vs JD)
5. Upper playfields were unique (TS, TZ, WH2O, and punching bag on Champion Pub were all different)
6. Interactive ball elements/toys (BSD mist magnet, TAF Thing flipper, Ramp dump cradle on TZ, jump rope on Champion Pub, engine on Corvette, "hidden" pop bumper on CV, TS's ball lock, the Castle on MM)
7. Ball scoop placements (Renfield coop on BSD, close proximity of jackpot scoop on TZ, nearly up the middle on Corvette, middle back on ST: TNG, 2 locations on TAF)
8. Video modes were very different (AFM vs Corvette's Race shifting into gears vs JM "Go Grood" mode vs CFTBL's Peeping Tom Punchout vs Wolf shootout on BSD)
9. 3+ flippers and their placement (Corvette vs JD vs TZ vs TAF vs RS)
10. Very "one of a kind" modes (Strobe MB on AFM, the Powerball and getting it back to the Power on TZ, Seance on TAF)
11. Ball entrance to the PF (SS vs TZ vs ST:TNG [dat habit trail!] vs TS vs CC)
12. The inclusion of SOME non-licensed themes (AFM, MM, CV, Champion Pub, CC) or a license with a cool twist to them (MB stands out)
To me, B/W continually did different and unique things. Yeah, there are some things that seemed to never change: always a cluster of three (or more) pop bumpers SOMEWHERE on the PF, scoops started to happen near the middle more and more (AFM, CC, ST:TNG, Corvette), and some features were lost or nearly completely lost (spinners, kickback ball savers, roll-over star switches), but the sheer level of variances I've already mentioned more than make-up for it.
Again, not meant to be a personal attack. You spoke the words I knew would be inevitably coming sooner or later, and to me, B/W had an incredible amount of variance on a limited amount of space.
I will say that I do respect you made a comparison without using cars, so in that spirit, I'll use a candy comparison. Stern is like licorice: different colors but nearly the same taffy and rubbery flavor no matter what color. More and more with DP and Iron Maiden, that is finally starting to change. B/W is like Snickers, then M&Ms, then Skittles, then Butterfinger, then 3 Musketeers, then.... they always just seemed different to me. I didn't feel like I was "eating the same candy over and over".