It will make no difference, if Alice Cooper is good it will easily sell the 500, even if a great looking Iron Maiden game arrives.

People worry too much about sales, and treating these companies like sports teams. It's not a brilliant strategy. It's when the game is ready. If they honestly cared about competing with Spooky, and timed things around it, they'd have been at TPF.

If it's actually Keith Elwin's game then I sure hope he's involved deeply in the rules.

Iron Maiden is super mainstream, that's why they get ridiculous articles like this: https://www.buzzfeed.com/kelleydunlap/celebrities-wearing-iron-maiden-t-shirts

Do any of those people actually give a shit about their music? Who knows! I don't myself, I haven't listened to Iron Maiden since maybe 1990, but there's no question they're an iconic band with imagery that appeals to people.

It's silly to argue they're irrelevant.

I'm watching the final, am I the only one annoyed you can't hear the machines at all? Really deadens the experience of a game when you can't hear it.

Karl DeAngelo has the pinball camera setup mastered as far as I'm concerned. He even does a tilt bob cam!

Fucking lol, that was it? What a joke.

Nah man, you don't want none of that, come have some of this Sour D.

No one gives a shit if you think Iron Maiden is popular or not, can we please, please, just let it go? Unless you're the secret puppet account Jody you don't have to wake up worrying about how many sales this game hits. We get it, you've never heard of them. Or, you want to tell us how many albums they've sold, and how big they are world wide, the Brazil tour was huge, cool. No. One. Cares.

The game looks effing great, everything Keith Elwin is saying about code and details is hot, just let it do what it's gonna do without the top 40 radio cock waving. There is simply no way looking this good, with that layout, and what sounds like solid code, that this won't be successful at the most basic level, and beyond that ... who. cares.

It doesn't, it's a multi target, radiating out from the center, and you score differently depending on how close to the center you get. Was like this on Archer too. Was a cool idea then, it's a cool idea now, there no need for it to go through, that doesn't make any sense with the concept.

To be clear, the concept = hitting a target in multiple places, if the ball went through how would that work, physically speaking?

Not talking about theme, just the idea of a multitarget, which I think is cool and original.

Watching stream thoughts:

The LCD looks kinda bad, just gonna say it. The mobile game graphics are whatever, it's fine really, they used what they had, but I wish the text had more life and pop and flavor to it. This is a metal game, with a band that has an iconic font, why so staid and generic? If they kept the graphics but upped the font presentation I think it would go a long way.

The overall LCD layout is just okay, Stern hasn't solved what to do with these high rez screens yet IMHO. And it's a tough nut to crack, I don't think the JJP approach is the only way to do it though.

But that said, it seems like there's good info up there that's easy to see, like the stuff on the left tracking stats, that's good to be able to just glance up and see. I'm gonna say 5/10 for the LCD. Functional but doesn't live up to promise of game. Polish on the text and stuff could get it to a 7, maybe there's a chance for that still if people ask for it, I dunno.

And that's all I can complain about, because the game looks really, really good. I've shot the old Archer layout, no surprise there, it was great even in rough whitewood, but just watching the ball flow is great. Music is the music, not a Maiden fan, but I don't mind it, it's good for pinball I think. Callouts and sound effects feel solid. Art is everything I think people could ask for.

I have high hopes for the rules with everything Keith has said. He's compared it to a 90s game, and that's a good thing. Bad LCD wouldn't keep me from buying, but if there's any hope for updating it that would be nice. I'm really interested to see the Premium now.

Only part I'm not wild about

Updating to note that I saw 2X Multiplier that was done in the Maiden font with flames inside it that looked cool, and Extra Ball Is Lit was written in spattered blood letters, much cooler energy, so maybe some of this boring text is placeholder.

Edit: capped some images

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Come on, don't be like that. I'm not an Iron Maiden fan, but insulting people's taste in music is just childish. I'm sure someone hates what you listen to. I promise you lots of people on Pinside hate what I like.

In for the Charlie Hustle LE.

Pinball with custom callouts by E-40 would be the most amazing thing ever. I realize most people on Pinside won't really understand that, but if you know E-40 you know he would spit the best pinball callouts in history. He'd invent 7 new phrases to mean jackpot on the spot.

But I get it, lots of people wouldn't feel the theme, they'd complain about the music. And that's fine, that's the problem with music pins. I'd be super stoked, non fans would be like, eh ... pass?

But even though I was already getting a little tired of some songs after the stream, I think Iron Maiden is pretty fitting pinball music, I can roll with it. If you're not a fan, just look at that playfield, and would it really bug you that much? This game's layout is special imo.

https---images.genius.com-841113c618ea11b5cbd44a43565e925e.788x768x1 (resized).jpg

Looks like you can't watch a past stream until it's specifically uploaded? Bet it's up soon.

https://www.twitch.tv/dead_flip

I'm pretty curious to see the Prem, and if I think it plays better I'd consider it, but honestly the Pro looks amazing from a playfield perspective.

I'm already anticipating the "Pro is faster" arguments

Nah, I was responding RandomGuyOffCL's post, sick-wid-it is E-40's label, all his albums are on it, as well other members of The Click, he was asking for an E-40 pin, and I was agreeing. So two of us!

But I freely admit Iron Maiden will sell much better. I bet you could sell a Beastie Boys pin to this crowd though. People would be calling for Sabotage Multiball.

I'm just saying, upgrading the sound on your pin is dead f—king easy, you don't need to order an LE to get good sound if you care about that. I mean, good for Stern, it's a value add as the prices keep going up, just wouldn't make a big deal out of some JBL label on the box is all. Frankly once you stick an external sub on the game, and you damn well should, the stock sound is probably good enough for most anyways. But easy to fix if not.

If the Premium is Powerslave themed that's a thumbs up from me. It's funny, once Bruce became the singer I stopped listening to the band, but I still know all those old classic album covers. Riggs did some kick ass work for them, as a teen that shit couldn't be beat. My metal tastes just ran heavier than what Maiden turned into, they lost their muddy punk edge and went more ballad technical rock, and it wasn't what I was looking for.

The price increase has kind of bummed me out, I've lost my buzz from seeing the great layout. I've played Archer, I don't think I want the game without the full features it's meant to have, so Premium is kind of the game, but $7300 for a pin is just getting redonkulous. It's just a game, I dunno that I care enough to spend $1300 more than I paid for TNA.

We'll see, on pause for sure, prices are out of control. But if it looks like Powerslave I'll admit it would tempt me to think about it. I'm hoping the Prem and LE art is more singularly focused, and not so much a parade of Eddies like the Pro. Rather have at least one bigger, bad ass one take center stage at the least.

1000x1000.jpg

Just so there's no confusion, ACDC has a bigger speaker sitting in the bottom of the cab, and it sounds fine, but it's nothing special.

TNA has a proper sub woofer, with a tuned ported bass chamber. There's no comparing them. ACDC is incapable out of the box of putting out the bass TNA has.

I can attest to this personally having owned both games now.

Details for the curious: http://www.scottdanesi.com/?p=757

I mean, who the hell knows, speculating is kinda pointless, but I promise you Stern is definitely paying attention. They've made moves to cockblock other manufacturers behind the scenes, and if they see something is popular they're not dumb, they're gonna try and beat it.

I personally doubt this is a response, it's a band pin and the LE is more expensive than ever, and they're throwing a few bucks at better speakers. Okay, not conspiracy theory fodder really. Lemme know when they add a ported sub to the cabinet and we can talk.

Also, remember it's not just TNA, Alice Cooper uses the sound system too, and no one can't think it's not competition.

As for short names, I think they all suck, I'm not using any of them. Don't be lazy, ffs. If I'm in a hurry I'll just say Maiden.

I'm really good at spelling Annihilation right the first time, couldn't say that before!

New programmer is doing the actual code, but the concept for it all is Keith Elwin's.

The new higher prices have me in wait mode, and my problem with the band is different than some in this thread, they're not heavy enough for my tastes.

But Keith's layout + Keith's code ideas are gonna make this a winner is my guess. I may end up with one still, just not gonna rush.

Yes, and it's a non issue.

The prices suck. The LCD is pretty bland especially the text. That’s all I got.

The only reason I would get this game is because of Keith's layout and rules. The art looks great, but I couldn't care less about Iron Maiden. I don't dig the music formula at all, it's boring honestly, but a good game is a good game, so whatever.

Yeah, it’s the high pitched part for me. I don’t really dig on the vocals. I’m pretty picky about that. I can listen to a band like say Ghost, but in general I prefer my vocals a bit more gutteral in my metal.

Iron Maiden just gets grating after a while. When I’ve watched the Dead Flip videos I’ve always turned them off after an hour even if I’m not fully paying attention because I don’t really want to hear it anymore.

I don’t think it’s an issue enough to not buy the pin, but the price might be. Still curious to see the Premium though. I want to see Keith’s vision fully realized.

Because we're talking about it? FFS, this is about the pin, not the slob on Iron Maiden thread. Get over yourselves.

I've been excited about this title since I played the Archer whitewood, I'm 100% convinced there's a great game there already, I need to get out to Ayce to play it.

If some people are stuck in high school and can't stand hearing someone admit they don't like their band I'm not gonna lose any sleep over it.

Metallica is a great game too. People who don't like the music even enjoy it!

I never cared about the LE, so the art and colors not being my cup of tea don't matter to me. Looking forward to gameplay so we can see how the playfield upgrades work in practice, that's what matters.

If they're using the same red armor as Star Trek Premium it was pretty stunning in person, whatever you think of the color with the cab art. Photographs never did it justice since it was a candy color with some real depth.

lol now I want to know which parts were histrionics! I won't be mad, I know I've written some long ass essays, link me up!

My take on the LE is simple: ZY is super talented, he's done a great job on lots of stuff with this game, and the final package doesn't really appeal to me. The colors and the composition and feel just aren't what I think of when I think Iron Maiden. The band clearly wanted something else from the evil shit I'd rather see. I want some rising from your grave with lightning shit. Such is life. Given how long it took to reveal I assume there was a lot of back and forth, Keith said they asked for a ton of things changed on the podcast, it's probably out of ZY's hands.

Hopefully the Premium is awesome, but my guess is people will complain about it too, simply because this is the 'new' Maiden stuff, and everyone wants the classic album covers. The band has moved on, I get it. The game itself looks amazing, and if the art package isn't pitch perfect oh well. LEs are dumb, I own a Metallica LE, so I'm part of the problem.

You want to hear me go histrionics on something no one cares about let's talk about fonts on the LCD screen!

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It's all I know. No one wants to hear what I think of the band anymore, but I grew up with those album covers, they were hugely influential even if I wasn't really into the music itself. I couldn't hum a bar from an album post Killers, but I could probably describe most of the album covers. Powerslave's sphinx, Piece of Mind was the one with the straight jacket right? Obviously I just put up Live After Death, that's a fav. Killers was the only album I owned, that image with the axe is definitely seared into my brain.

Just classic stuff.

They're well represented on the playfield I think. The Pro translite too, maybe too excess, that's a lot of Eddies heh.

Hopefully the Premium is at least close to Powerslave.

I get that the logistics are what they are, and LEs are what they are, and nothing I type will change anything, boo hoo.

But I like it a lot better when all three games are revealed at once, and you can look at them and make a decision. It sucks that you gotta just throw your money on faith, and when the Premium is finally revealed hope you're not mad at yourself.

What happens when your ball drains to the song playing? Where does it start over? In other words is it like ACDC or Metallica?

Swapping songs can suck if there's a bunch of carefully set up cue points that don't work with the new tracks.

It's not just RGB, it 'rotates' like a beacon. This is another feature from Archer.

Do we? The word is Egypt themed, but we don't know it's going to look anything like the actual Powerslave album cover.

Yeah, I'm just thinking don't get too attached to it feeling like the old albums, it's probably going to be more like the new comic stuff. We'll see!

I just watched the LE Dead Flip stream, and it looked great. The extra features are slick and nice, I dig it all. But $7300 for a Premium hurts, I'm not really sure any of it is worth that much extra. Since I have this weird thing that's rare around here called patience (I kid with love) I'm going to wait to play a Prem or LE and a Pro so I can actually compare how the difference feel before forming any real opinions.

So the stream showed the playfield, but they didn't show any of the cab artwork, so basically skirted around all that stuff. But LEs are shipping now they said.

Nowhere, I don't think there's a subway at all. The ramp lifts, the ball goes up, then it spits it back out. A saucer in the back probably?

lol I was just f—ing with you man, I didn't take any offense back, you know we're good

You are leaving a lot out of this story

Pro tip: if you go somewhere with Gryszzz make sure he turns his lights off when he parks!

Haha, those dudes were the best. Did all that shit to help with a Street Fighter II pin strapped down in the back too!

The sculpts look better than flat plastics, but are kind of a non issue (and not hard to do yourself in some fashion if you care). The RGB flasher was neat, but not a game changer in any way, same with the red GI. Nice, but kinda minor. It really comes down to the diverter and ramp stuff, and while I dig all of it, it didn't feel like, what, $1700 more or so for the Premium? Lot of cash for a couple ramp gimmick that don't seem too essential to the gameplay.

If you have the money and it's a non issue? Sure, but I dunno. I like the idea of keeping as much of the Archer stuff as possible, but tough to justify, and I think not a lot of talk just because it wasn't flashy or wow, just neat.

Be better when we can play it ourselves or at least get more true hands on impressions of how much it matters to the gameplay.

Because I'm not rich, and able to just throw any amount of money at whatever strikes my fancy, I have to balance my decisions.

If I wanted an Iron Maiden Premium I could find a way to swing it, but it would be a significant purchase for me that would require balance. Selling something, being more thrifty with my 'toy cash' for a while, whatever.

Normally I prefer the Premium over the Pro, I don't care for getting the 'stripped down' game, I want the full thing. But $7300 for a game is getting ridiculous. No offense man, but you're not hurting for cash, we don't all own hotels or whatever. Don't belittle people who are concerned about these rising costs. Pinside can sometimes play this game that goes "if you can afford $5k you can afford $7k", like a couple grand just materializes when you need it. Sounds nice!

I think the game looks great, the full features are sweet, and if money is no issue I wish you nothing but fun with it. I want to play it!

The armor looks like it's the same red used on Star Trek Premium. If so it's basically impossible to photograph it properly, it looks amazing in person.

That's the smart play. I know people get eager, but there's really no reason to rush. See the Premium first, play one even, what a concept. The code might be good but it's not done, waiting is only going to get you a better game.

I love Pinside, but you gotta watch out for the way it can built hype and make you feel rushed to join the crowd. Game will be there and be fun to play in a few months still.

Huh, if JJP is using MDF it would sure explain why their cabs are so f—ing heavy.

MDF is often a problem on old arcade cabs because they go down to the floor, and when that stuff gets wet it's the worst, swells up like a mfer. Pins being so elevated on their legs it seems like less of a potential issue. Don't spill your pingulp drink on them though.

Wait what. I was with everything not being that weird until this part.

I was half hoping to love the Premium, half hoping I wouldn't. Wouldn't because I don't really want to spend the money.

I dunno, kinda in between. The yellow t-molding is awful, switch it to black and it's much better, and that's easy, and the art looks good. Just something not entirely grabbing me, and I think it's the whole comic book over album cover vibe in general. Just the nature of the beast, so to speak.

I like it, Zombie Yeti did great work, just nitpicky back of my head not sure feeling about it.

I'm gonna wait until I can see it in person, feeling zero rush about anything.

Nah, not only is Zombie Yeti a far better illustrator than I am, I won't touch anything Stern does that goes into license territory, that's just asking for a polite email saying stop it.

Sure they do, it's utterly normal in fact. Happened tons of times. Then they started adding different versions later, like with Metallica and Walking Dead, sort of with Luci, and now everyone is used to it being stupid to the point when you've already forgotten it's not normal.

If you're mad because you ordered an LE then stop posting on Pinside, take a breath, look in the mirror, and realize there's exactly one person to blame for it.

Nobody made you do it. Yes, it's lame they didn't reveal stuff ahead of time, but it's still on you to be a rational adult and make decisions based on the information available. Limited Edition games aren't magical, it's an art package. If you don't order one and miss out the world will keep on spinning. If you did and you regret it, sell it, make or lose some money, keep breathing.

Played Iron Maiden Pro at Golden State Pinball Festival this weekend. I've played Archer before, so I knew roughly what to expect already, so was unsurprised to find it a ton of fun to flip. I'm not convinced that the Prem/LE features are really that necessary, but I'm going to go play a local LE soon to find out for myself.

I'll say this, the Pro translite and package looked better in person than in photos, I've warmed to the parade of Eddies on the translite especially.

From what I hear they're gone, you might at best get some kind of $100 loyalty discount if that.