Got to play the following games all for the first time this weekend:
- AC/DC
- Mustang
- Metallica
- Iron Man
- Walking Dead
- Tron

Mustang and Iron Man were my wife's favorites. I would maybe add Walking Dead to make a top 3. I believe the Mustang was a Pro version, us newbies were impressed.

I have to say I was one of those guys that really trashed this machine because of the theme. Well I now own an LE and I bought it strictly because of the gameplay and code. Quite the little gem I would have to say, very underrated IMO...

Code is really pretty good. I just wish they would give us another update to clean up some of the bugs in the programming.

Have to move this post to the "confessional" thread

I will have to play the LE someday - never could. The Pro is cool.
I will always choose a good game with a theme I do not like over the opposite.

In particular, the top row of modes gives you Good Stuff, and the bottom row Less Good Stuff.

surelly not for all pins, but i agree for mustang, i'm ready to give him a real chance (if i found one)...

I've gotten over terrible themes for me in the past if there was a good game there (ACDC, MET). Mustang is basically a car game, and in general people like racing games.

Yep.

I'm someone who definitely thinks that theme matters a lot, and I always will. But theme is *not* more important than how the game plays. You can have a theme that isn't so great, but if it plays good with good rules, and implements the theme (poor as it is) well, I'll take it over a great themed pin that doesn't play good.

Examples of really good games with poor themes: JM, FT, DM, RS, and....Mustang. Even though to me personally, Mustang isn't really a bad theme at all. I kind of like the modes on Mustang. Police Pursuit, Drag Racing, Stunt Driving, Cruising are all pretty cool. Just wish the songs and call outs were better. Thank God for Pinball Browser!

I could easily name pins with great themes that don't play well, but it would just upset owners of those pins.

REALLY enjoying my Mustang so far

Art: A very red game but looks great accented with white & blue LEDs; backglass is tasteful; playfield is clear and well designed; cars are well represented

Music: Not good out of the factory, but fixable with Pinball Browser... still experimenting with different tunes. I added 'La Grange' during Police Pursuit to remind me of HSII, 'The Metal' during Road Course, 'Detroit Rock City' during Stunt Driver, etc

Sounds: Great! I really dig the sounds, callouts are so-so, but not as bad as TWD

Gameplay: Fast! The layout is fantastic... the 180 degree captive ball is cool, the left ramp adjusts based on the mode, drop targets are a great example of risk/reward

Code: Extremely polished. Modes are varied and well thought out. I enjoy the 'go anywhere' shots of 'Cruisin' and the turn based shots of 'Road Course' and 'Rally Race.'

Theme: Polarizing, but the more you play, the more it seems to be a generic race theme. I am a Jeep guy and I am not bothered by the theme.

Overall: A fantastic game. It's been compared to IM with regard to the early hate, but I disagree. IM has a great theme with well implemented code, while Mustang's theme is more polarizing. The layout, code, dots, and sounds make this game a real winner and I'm glad to own one.

To me, this can be easily said about TAF. Let's face it, TAF became as huge as it is because a theme was executed really well into a game that was a ton of fun to play. If the game wasn't any fun, B/W wouldn't have sold 22k of the damn things.

How many of us that own TAF actually own the movie as well? I don't.

I am glad to see those that spoke out so strongly about Mustang now changing their tune about it. What's funny is, I LOVE the theme, of course, but when I finally got to play one, I thought it was a drain monster! Granted, I only played it a couple times, I'll require more research...

La Grange is a good choice and it's easy to loop. I'll have to consider that.

My favorite is the Hotel California dual guitar solo when you get a high score and get to enter your initials. It's kind of like, "F... Yeah!"

My pimped out Pro is for sale if anyone is thinking about one.
Lower than retail price and has all the goodies...FF sound - new trim gloss black- signed translite- tach mod - car upgrades - custome LE style apron with lit art work - mirror grade balls only $5k and I can ship .
I want a prem or LE...seems to be a keeper at my house.

I'm glad to see "some" of them changing their tune also but hey it's just pinball. When I read Stern was coming out with Mustang without playing or even seeing it I knew it was for me. Whats a Mustang/pinball guy without his Mustang AND Mustang pinball.

My pimped out Mustang Pro is better then your pimped out Mustang Pro.

Lets line them up side by side and run for pink slips

I prefer ROAD COURSE.

Well played Sir ..Road course best time wins...HP is nothing if its not Hooked to the pavement.

My name came from my 87 mustang GT. Hooked1987 now thats my roots.

Yup I remembered. Me, from my avatar picture, road racing.

I'm sure this has been mentioned but I haven't see it yet: you gotta love the tribute to Steve Ritchie on the DMD dots in one of the modes (Police Pursuit?)!

I would like to play more but I played one full game and it was very fun. This game I scored 57,000,000 and had a very poor first ball.
I had two extra balls (one was hitting the EB shot on the left) and I think I got all 6 gears targets knocked down. Several multi balls.

I'm not sure on what races modes I selected or cars but think I had two. Does this seem about right? Good score etc?

_{Post edited by indybru: left eb shot}

Ha, I noticed that the other day. Funny stuff.

I sold HS2, but when 'La Grange' comes on during Police Pursuit, my 4 year old comes running and ready to race the cops.

Mustang is a long term keeper for me. Great modes, great code, and just a fun game.

Now that's funny. Mustang is a keeper for me too.

I'm still loving my Mustang LE.

Would you love it any less if it were a Pro?

I'm just still trying to get a bead on if/what makes the LE/Premium "that" much of a better overall experience than the Pro.... on this specific pin. I know that that "difference" varies from pin to pin, and also varies based on individual tastes... theme vs gameplay vs aesthetics vs collectability, etc.

^^^^^^^^^^^^
I'm also curious to the answer of this question Please

Personally for me, I think the LE upgrade is a waste for Mustang. We have an LE and a Pro on route here so I have played them both enough times. I like the game, always have, but the upgrades for the LE really don't do much for me. The extra crossover ramp adds nothing and you can tell it was a total afterthought. I like the bowl, it helps to park it in there and you can trap it coming out of it for a controlled shot. The drops are okay as is the button, but it isn't important enough like a VIP pass in AC/DC to really matter that much overall. The metallized side art is almost unnoticeable unless it is pointed out to you and the spinning turntable is way too big and blocks all the pops and most of the rollovers. I think the Pro is a fine game. IMHO, there isn't much of a reason to pay a big premium to upgrade in this case.

You can only use the flipper buttons to change which of the upper rollovers light up, and the turntable doesn't block viewing those. Reduced sight (even though the turntable is mostly clear plastic) of the lower rollovers and the pop bumpers doesn't affect gameplay at all. The turntable is cool as it rotates at times during the game to change which MUSTANG letter can be scored. There are 8 playfield arrow inserts and one button on the lockdown bar which are lit by RGB LEDs on the LE and premium, that change colors depending on the game mode you are in and whether you have any powershifts available. The two additional drop targets are well integrated into gameplay (after completing modes and especially during drift mode) and the crossover ramp diverts the ball to feed the right flipper at times during gameplay. And for those who choose the Boss premium game because they like Mustang performance cars, it is nice that Stern took the added programming time to picture Boss models on the DMD during the various modes (instead of using the dots from the pro). I really like my Boss premium.

It does for me and several other players here. It's a very common complaint. The outer part of the turntable is not clear, it has the Mustang letters on it and a solid border color. Not to mention the car, which is also solid and blocks the rollovers. The turntable is actually a negative LE feature to me, much like the Ice Man ramp on XMLE, Bicycle Girl ramp on TWDLE and the Iron Hide playfield on TFLE. I like the idea behind it, like these other LE features I am not a fan of, but the execution was poor. RGBs are nice, but nothing I would pay a $2,000-$3,000 premium for.

First of all lets be honest here I own an LE and yes the turntable and car does block the view of the rollovers, there is no questions about that. However, I still would rather have the turntable feature as it is pretty cool, does it affect gameplay maybe a little but it also adds more skill that these rollovers aren't an automatic as I have to lean to get line of sight which makes it dangerous if the ball come out hot from the bumpers for my to get back into playing position. Kind of how I have to line up the cannon in ACDC and get back into position. Completely different strokes for different folks here, I like the turntable and not seeing the full rollovers all the time does not affect the gameplay for me anyway. I can still put up my 300M games when I want to...

The Premium/LE models are solid entries and would never decide not to get one because of the turntable design.

I like my LE a lot, but I think Stern does a fine job giving most of the game with ANY of their Pros. The whole game is available to you in every title, Star Trek, MET, TWD and Mustang. The premium and LEs all add something, and I'd choose those every time over the Pro, but that is me personally.

I own a pro and I'm very happy with it. A friend has the boss premium which is very beautifull, but it's still not clear to me when the car starts to turn and when it stops?

I would too if the prices were equal, why not? But we are talking about a $2,000-$3,000 markup for the Premium/LE version. The question was asked if I would love Mustang any less if it was a Pro and for me, the answer is a resounding no. I personally just don't think there is enough bang for the buck that actually matters in the Premium and LE versions of Mustang to justify the price increase.

Only negative comment I hear is the music. Hard to judge on the few videos out there.

What is the mustang installed soundtrack?

I have a pro, so not an issue for me. This was not my deciding factor, it was simply price. The pro price is all that I can justify spending. If I could swallow the cost, I think I would have purchased a Premium or LE, for the additional features. But I am very happy with my pro.

I also remember back when I purchased my 2003 Mach 1, some idiot reviewed the car for a magazine and claimed that the shaker hood scoop blocked the driver's view of the road. The shaker is about 4" above the hood and would only block the view of a driver who is 4 feet tall or shorter. That claim was just silly and certainly should not have been a factor with 99.9% of drivers.

When I ordered my Mustang car in Dec of '69 it cost $2700 but for another $600 I could have bought a Boss 302 but I couldn't afford another $600. Same case with my Mustang Pro, as much as I wanted the Premium I just couldn't afford it. So as with the car I'm happy with my base model pin and as with the car I'm modding the crap out of the pin a little at a time as money allows. Life is weird.

I don't like the music that comes with the pin. Thank God for Pinball Browser!

I think what makes this “difference” extra hard to answer with this specific game is that there is an added factor not necessarily present in other recent pin themes. There are passionate car enthusiasts... for Mustangs, Corvettes, whatever American muscle car. Probably even more so than being a “passionate” AC/DC fan, Metallica, etc. So… if I love iconic Detroit muscle cars than I have to have maximum LE/ Premium in my favorite car pin, regardless of gameplay (if I can come up with the extra loot.) I don’t pretend this is deep insight, just human nature, and what Stern expects, and it’s fine. Take away the Mustang and put Fiats all over this pin, and I wonder if it would change the Premium or not decision tree. I think it might for some people.

Anyways, I’m not a motorhead, but I really love that spinning Mustang and rotating letters, so I’m emotionally leaning towards a Premium, knowing it may not make common sense. Ha!

I called inquiring about when WWELE should arrive and asked about Mustang LE as I own the pro.
The LE is almost sold out and another run of pros is coming. I still question myself about upgrading ,
just not sure it's worth the difference .

Worth is always in the eye of the beholder, you either want a more blinged up version or settle for the standard build plain and simple... I don't think any pins are worth the price you pay for them but they are what they are and if you want them then you pay...

You called Stern directly and they gave you that information?

The pin is supposed to be in honor of 50 Years of Mustang. The LE artwork stresses that and the pro does somewhat (the premium ignores the 50 years business and shows only the Boss 302 and Bos 351 and Boss 429 cars from '69 and '70 and '71 and 2012 + 2013). Stern had access to the entire Sony music catalog to select songs from various eras that would match with the cars they chose to picture on the playfield. They could have included Mustangs from all six decades ('60s thru 2010s) and covered all Mustang generations, but they ignored some eras (including Mustang II). They just didn't do a very good job of choosing which songs to include (some are good songs and some are not). Each mode is linked to one of their selected songs, but once the ball is trapped in the pocket you get to use the right flipper button to select which mode you want to start - and then you can use the left flipper to select one of the other songs to play during that mode. So if you don't want to listen to Drag City by Jan and Dean during the Drag Race mode, you can choose Free Ride by Edgar Winter Group or What I Like About You by The Romantics or one of the other songs in the game and then start the mode (on LE or premium you lock in your mode and song choices by pressing the button on the lockdown bar). Some day I'm going to figure out how to swap songs using pinball browser (yeah, haven't learned how to do that yet) and I'll keep some of the songs and replace some others so I like all the music in the game.

and there would be NO WAY IN HELL I'd buy the game.....but the Fiat guys might.

The turntable does not block my view of the upper rollovers, but that may be because I am 6'4" tall.

Always like reading your posts, Paul.

Ok guys you convinced me, I just ordered a mustang pro and I'm excited. I'm just hoping the music isn't as bad as you all are saying because I'm worth less when it comes to pinball browser. Anyone want to sell me there code with there music on a memory chip so I can install? That would be sweet.

Welcome to our world....
But I'm here to tell you
There's something else
The after world

A world of never ending happiness
You can always see the sun, day or night

So when you call up that shrink in Beverly Hills
You know the one, (Gio) Dr. Everything'll Be Alright

Sorry my random Prince quotes jumped in -Welcome to the Mustang club.

Thanks yours too

I think you'll like it.

Tooooo funny.

I'd rather spend the money on a classic vintage mustang car, not this pin.

But Stern is kicking ass right now.