(Topic ID: 87787)

My Mustang Pro Mini Review

By jeffspinballpalace

9 years ago


Topic Heartbeat

Topic Stats

You

Linked Games

#1 9 years ago

Disclaimer ** If you are expecting an in depth review of the rules, you'll have to wait until Pinball News provides one, this one is strictly a flyby.

First, let me congratulate Ford TODAY, on the 50th anniversary of the release of the Mustang. Their car has made an impact on the American way of life. Don’t know what impact it may have had overseas but it has been felt stateside.

Second, I confess to being a little intoxicated and freely admit the details are hazy.

Thirdly, I had a chance to speak with Gary Stern and John Borg last night about Mustang, as they came by Modern Pinball for about an hour. Enjoyed meeting John and speaking with Gary, and he was a good listener.

Layout - This may be one of Stern’s best and is quickly becoming one of my favorites. Playfield feels wide open but has a lot of interesting features. Even without considering the rules, the playfield is fun to shoot. Particularly enjoyed the top rollovers having two rows of lights, similar to Transformers. But these are angled into the playfield in the heat of the moment and are quite challenging to remember which flipper button controls which row of inserts. The skill shot at the top of the playfield is kind of tucked away but fun to hit. The bowl above the right flipper is a good way to delay balls entering play during multiball. I prefer a smoother bowl like in CFTBL and without raised plastic parts used to endure the ball drains. Maybe someone can design something better as it kind of looks like Gary has a five year old designed it - drain hole in the bowl looked like it was hand cut and asymmetrical. The standups in center of playfield feel very solid and I liked the fact that they were not developed into a scoop, as I dislike shooting the center scoop in Nascar because it feels kind of cheesy. The mechanical action felt smooth as in ST, while the slings and bumpers were stronger than a B/W game. There seems to be a bit of everything included. A captive ball, a magnet accelerator and even a double ramp (one stacked on top the other on the left side). For these reasons I felt that the pro model was full featured and I mistook it for a LE, until I asked about it.

Artwork - was above average. Still a collage of photos but it looks clean, while the least memorable part of the design was the lower playfield. This title should have been one that gave more attention to the artwork, but at least it was not offensive. While the translite was fine, there should be plenty of opportunities for some alternate designs to be created. The colors on the playfield are pretty bland. This game could become a modder’s paradise as there are many off the shelf things that could be added and I am sure some pretty cool unique ones made. Under cabinet lighting would be one of the first things that this game could benefit from. I wish that a gear shift ball launch had been deployed but maybe someone can come up with one.

Rules - this is where I wish I could remember more but the modes were very fun and felt satisfying. They did not require one to rinse, lather and repeat, but rather each was different and required you to target different areas of the playfield. It felt more like you were on a quest to complete many small tasks rather than signing up on a quest of laborious tasks that go on forever. The rules felt complete although I didn’t get anywhere near wizard mode. The rules also really meshed great with the design, as if they had been developed concurrently. They were executed in a way that felt very consistent with the design (don’t know how to describe the fact that they felt tightly connected). Way to go Ronnie Lopp, I really like what you have done so far with version 1.2.

Sounds - Well the volume was turned way down but adjusted high enough you could tell the sounds were decent enough. Car sounds - great, but many of the music selections were weak, especially after recent music theme pins where the songs were a central focus. For a brief moment I assumed that was a standard part of Stern’s design process going forward but was shocked back into reality on this pin.

Animations - some were interesting but none ground breaking.

Lighting - This is one element that really bugs me. The color of the lights do not match the color of the artwork. I really wish Stern would spend some time to at least get them into the same palette. The mismatch between the leds and the artwork really killed the idea of buying a Transformers LE for me, since the leds were soldered to boards and not easily replaced. The same mismatch of leds to artwork occurs on Mustang and this is what I primarily chose to convey to Gary. If I had a MustangLE, I would want to find someone to remove the leds and replace them with better matches. The pro has the advantage over the LE in this regard, because you can easily replace the lighting in those.

Coming off the high of the two recent classic hits - AC/DC and Metallica and to some extent ST, most people didn’t expect Stern to show much in this game. Quite the contrary this game feels unique, and is well rounded and very fun to play. I am considering buying one, but will need to spend some additional time before making up my mind. All I can recommend is that you seek one out and give it a fair shake. Mustang has all the makings of being a sleeper. Anybody else given this pin a chance?

#2 9 years ago
Quoted from jeffspinballpalace:

But these are angled into the playfield and it is quite challenging to remember which flipper button controls which row of inserts in the heat of the moment. . Mustang has all the makings of being a sleeper. Anybody else given this pin a chance?

I own it and really enjoy it!! The latest update was great.. My findings is since the update only the top inserts move now not the lower..

I agree it is a sleeper and love the shots also!

#3 9 years ago
Quoted from PunishersLEMC:

I own it and really enjoy it!! The latest update was great.. My findings is since the update only the top inserts move now not the lower..
I agree it is a sleeper and love the shots also!

They both should move - right flipper controls one row and left the other. Take another look at yours.

#4 9 years ago
Quoted from jeffspinballpalace:

They both should move - right flipper controls one row and left the other. Take another look at yours.

Update done yesterday and swore after only moved top, flippers controlled which way they moved - LOL - Was I intoxicated??? Will check tonight

code 1.20

#5 9 years ago

Great review, so many poo-poo this game just on it's theme but I knew that this pin was Fords baby and we would not be let down, to much was at stake for Ford and that's why the code updates will come fast for this game. I want a Pro.

#6 9 years ago
Quoted from MustangPaul:

Great review, so many poo-poo this game just on it's theme but I knew that this pin was Fords baby and we would not be let down, to much was at stake for Ford and that's why the code updates will come fast for this game. I want a Pro.

It is a very fun game!! Agree on Ford having a stake will make code come quickly.. The latest update was huge!

#7 9 years ago
Quoted from PunishersLEMC:

It is a very fun game!! Agree on Ford having a stake will make code come quickly.. The latest update was huge!

I am genuinely confused why people keep stating that Ford being involved somehow influences the code more than any of the other Stern releases?

Why would Ford somehow have this sway over code not being crap that other licenses do not have?

#8 9 years ago

I love the game.

I think those not getting it our missing out big time!!!

#9 9 years ago

Nothing like an unbiased review from a merchant ; )

#10 9 years ago

Don't know if you meant me but I am a collector.

#11 9 years ago
Quoted from jeffspinballpalace:

Lighting - This is one element that really bugs me. The color of the lights do not match the color of the artwork. I really wish Stern would spend some time to at least get them into the same palette. The mismatch between the leds and the artwork really killed the idea of buying a Transformers LE for me, since the leds were soldered to boards and not easily replaced. The same mismatch of leds to artwork occurs on Mustang and this is what I primarily chose to convey to Gary. If I had a MustangLE, I would want to find someone to remove the leds and replace them with better matches. The pro has the advantage over the LE in this regard, because you can easily replace the lighting in those.

This drives me mad with Stern's factory LED schemes too. It seems their favourite colour scheme is red, white and blue. While obviously patriotic (with chinese-made LED's lol), it doesn't always fit the rest of the game.

#12 9 years ago
Quoted from jeffspinballpalace:

They both should move - right flipper controls one row and left the other. Take another look at yours.

Just played again with newest code 1.2 and both flippers ONLY move the top lanes - called Stern to verify this was correct and was told it was ?

#13 9 years ago
Quoted from jeffspinballpalace:

Second, I confess to being a little intoxicated and freely admit the details are hazy.

Love it. By my estimates that was typed around 10AM. Hey, it's 5PM somewhere, right?!

#14 9 years ago

I didn't want to like it. But I like it. I played about 10 games at TPF. I really want an LE. However, I made an oath. I will wait until I can verify that the LE rules are (nearly) complete before I place my order. Go Lonny Go!

#15 9 years ago

I played it once and had some fun and it kept my interest more than some other new games over the years. I like the left ramp popping open. Middle targets seemed a tad cheapish to me though.

#16 9 years ago

MN-Flipper, you sir, are correct and I admit to the incorrect characterization of the rollover feature....lol

I played some more Mustang tonight and only the top row of inserts moved. Who's messin with my game was what I was really thinking.

Maybe you gave Stern an idea to add into the code.

#17 9 years ago
Quoted from leaffan67:

I didn't want to like it. But I like it. I played about 10 games at TPF. I really want an LE. However, I made an oath. I will wait until I can verify that the LE rules are (nearly) complete before I place my order. Go Lonny Go!

Go lonny go? you should shout Go Tanio Go as he is the lead programmer on this.. (but lonnie probably works on this too thou)

Tanio showed us with startrek that he can cook some damn good code

#18 9 years ago

Is this like the North Korean WOZ fan club thread where you can only say nice things about WOZ or you will be banned?

I played Mustang and thought it was okay. I was not over the moon about it in any way. I will always give a game a second chance as that sometimes the first impression is the wrong impression. That's what happened with WOZ for me. I hated it. Now I like it (don't love it).

#19 9 years ago

im intrested to see 1.20 code gameplay video of mustang.. anyone?

1 week later
#20 9 years ago

Nice review Jeff...just needs more polish with rule detail

I agree very solid game, just short of inspired and has a lot of fun modes with character and great side to side AND top to bottom action. I've played through Drift mini-wizard, Upgrade Scoring, Upgrade Multi-ball, and just a few shots away from Stampeded (Wizard). B/W fan boys will be very happy.

THANKS Dr. Flash for making something different!...now get that Bowl to do something....ANYTHING that really puts the game on it's head. Looking forward to what seems like a final update.

Promoted items from the Pinside Marketplace
$ 44.99
Cabinet - Shooter Rods
Pinball Shark
Shooter rods
From: $ 20.00
Cabinet - Other
Filament Printing
Other
$ 6.00
Playfield - Protection
Apron Envy
Protection
$ 29.99
Cabinet - Sound/Speakers
PR Mods
Sound/Speakers
From: $ 209.00
Displays
Retrocity
Displays

Reply

Wanna join the discussion? Please sign in to reply to this topic.

Hey there! Welcome to Pinside!

Donate to Pinside

Great to see you're enjoying Pinside! Did you know Pinside is able to run without any 3rd-party banners or ads, thanks to the support from our visitors? Please consider a donation to Pinside and get anext to your username to show for it! Or better yet, subscribe to Pinside+!


This page was printed from https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/my-mustang-pro-mini-review and we tried optimising it for printing. Some page elements may have been deliberately hidden.

Scan the QR code on the left to jump to the URL this document was printed from.