My two cent...I'd pick the theme you like the most. Theme keeps me more interested than ease of play.

Get yourself the ACDC premium. It's a tough but satisfying pin and since you grew up on ACDC it seems like a no brainer.

AC/DC is a harder, slightly faster pin than Metallica. There's both at my local arcade. Both have a good shot variety, but Metallica has more to shoot at. AC/DC's rules are locked in 100%, while Metallica will probably see a few changes in the next few months. Both have great flow with the alternating ramps. Metallica doesn't really have backhand ramp shots, but it's center shot is less challenging and more 'fun'.

You can't go wrong with ACDC. The music you loved and a pin that's been out long enough and prooved itself as one of the best pin out there. You have not tryied it yet ? Play it and you will be convinced. I'm not a great pin player, in fact quite average but the shots ACDC offers are my style. It is a fast game but with experience you will figure out which shots are more dangerous. Avoid them or push your luck for the big pay. Dmd animation is also really cool, even more if you are a fan. I prefer, like someone else said, a game I love with an amazing soundtrack with a challenge to a walk in the park. Lastability is an important factor when buying a pin.

Metallica is far moer user friendly in terms of understanding the rules and making shots...

Metallica is my all time favorite band & got me hooked on playing guitar,but AC/DC is the funnest game I've ever played. If I had to sell all my pins but 1,AC/DC would be the keeper.

Metallica is shaping up to be a great game and I have one on order . I can tell you this,Metallica will not out perform AC/DC but it will be damn good !

It will on location.. Maybe not in sales..

You have a point. ACDC has a unique deep ruleset. Not obvious for beginers.

Pro is amazing so far from an art and toy point of view. Premium as more of both

I would not let ease of rule set be a factor in buying a game. In time you will understand the deeper games.

Metallica's rules are not complete yet, so a rule set comparison is pointless right now anyway.

Master of Puppets
One
Fade to black
Enter sandman
Fuel
Creeping death
For whom the bell tolls
Unforgiven
Sad but true
End of the line
Seek and destroy
Battery

AC/DC all day!!!!

ACDC has been a great location machine....The nature of the gameplay makes it a great earner. I have a hard time believing Metallica will out perform it on location. Doesnt seem nearly drainy enough.

I don't really know the ruleset on AC/DC, but I played it quite a bit last month. It might have pushed STTNG aside as my favorite pin. I had a blast playing it. I am going to buy a GnR first, since it seems harder to find, then AC/DC is a sure buy later this year. I played a couple games of Metallica, and didn't care much for it. I love the music, but the callouts were bad enough to keep me out of that part of the building at PAGG on the second and third day. I am going to try to play Metallica again on Friday when I am in California so I can get more of the feel for the gameplay.

I played AC/DC Pro (with great looking LEDs by the Nifty LED counter), Premium, and BIB. All 3 were more fun to me than any of the other pins there. I think the premium is worth the extra cost over the pro, but the pro is a lot of fun on its own. The BIB is incredible. Not $4000 over the premium incredible, but I am definitely glad I got a chance to play it. I hope Metallica improves the callouts. I like every track on that pin, and I really hope I end up liking the pin enough to buy one.

I also didn't notice more drains than I would expect on AC/DC...on any of the versions. Maybe I am just not a good enough player to make the dangerous shots. I don't think there is a more satisfying shot in pinball than hitting that bell for the first time.

Yes GNR is fun

Where's RobT, it isn't an AC/DC thread without him.

I played both games side-by-side for the first time last weekend. ACDC wins hands down! It's not even close. Buy the ACDC Premium and get on with the rest of your life.

have you played either in person? Can't make a decision on either until you have played both extensively first hand. Then think about buying one , or none.

So you have never heard much Metallica, grew up on ACDC, and trying to decide which one to buy. Interesting.

I understand your concern for the 'drain issue'. I got frustrated with my ACDC a lot because of cheap drains. Then I brought the outlanes all the way in. It's like night and day; completely different game. Then as you learn the pins personalities, and its rules/structure; cheap drains become less and less.

As for Metallica; I love their first 5 albums and think its great they went with a majority of songs off these first 5 albums. And I really want to like this pin; but most those song choices are horrible for a pinball. The integration of the songs as well seems unfit which could get fixed in software. The pins song list are great to listen to on disk, but there isn't much pin personality in most the songs they chose.

Metallica will be a good pin in the long run. To me ACDC is in a class of it's own. Here's a game with a pretty basic playfield layout. But the integration of those songs feels right with the shots. The bell, TNT, and canon are soooo fun. It's like a concert in a box with the lighting. Dots are great too. The only thing I don't like about Metallica right now are some of the callouts. I probably will grab this title later on.

Totally agree. Not even close. IMO, AC/DC is probably a top 10-20 machine. Metallica is more like top 50-75ish.

do you even have one? this is utter bullshit. I have 50 games in on Metallica and the shots are all narrow and fucking cramped. Make one fucking mistake and you have a center or side drain. MAKE A GOOD SHOT - still fucking drain down the middle. IDK, I dont like Metallica, the ball flows more on AC/DC and any complaints at it being "hard" are the wizardmode trolls nerding out that they cant "Beat" it. Being a 10x diehard Metallica fan and a decent AC/DC fan, I STILL would choose an ACDC Prem over the Metallica. The art is classier on the ACDC as well unless you like comic book shit.

edit: ps. fuck you if you disagree ;D

quoted for truth. this is the best I have seen acdc prem described.

I don't think anyone has played Metallica premium yet, so it may still be too early for a fair comparison. With that said, I have played MET pro, yet still prefer AC/DC. Owner's bias? ...perhaps.

Wow, this is going to be a tough decision for me. I was dead set on a Tron Pro as I love the movie and grew up playing the video game, etc., but I'm seriously considering jumping on an AC/DC premium next. I love both themes and grew up listening to AC/DC, saw them in concert and know almost every word to every song, but I'm having a really difficult time deciding which pin to choose next. I like deep, challenging pins that keep me coming back for more. Which game has deeper rules and is more difficult, gameplay wise - AC/DC or Tron? I've played both pins , but it was when they first came out and need to go back and play them more to form a better impression. I'm a huge Metallica fan also, but the comic book art they chose just isn't my cup-of-tea.

-Jeremy
MM, AFM, MB, SS, TS, BSD

AC/DC Premium has so many games within the game depending on which of the 12 songs you choose.And of course if you like the music it's a plus.My favorite pin.

I really like both games...

But own ACDC. I'm considering adding a MeT though- its a fun game for sure!

For a home user, I think you will appreciate the ACDC rules.... More so than a casual arcade player. It's NOT intuitive (IMO), but great for home use when you can immerse yourself.

As far as being a drain monster.... It is a little. But if you tweak the pitch- it's better. I also closed down the lanes and added a bumper coming off the center lane- SDTM drains almost gone now.

Btw- F¥ck the purists- this game is MINE

I've been playing nothing but Tallica LE since I got it last month. Wow,what a great game! I finally put a game on AC/DC LE last night & found myself running around the game room again after a ball drain cussing. There's just something about that game that gets my pumped up unlike any other.

I do this after almost every ball drain on mine! But dammit if I don't just hit start again, and again. The only time I stop is if I put up a huge game because I know I'll get <10 M on the next one.

I decided I had to sell mine when I about broke a finger punching things. AC/DC that is.

Man, you're lucky Gambit hasn't seen this thread yet. Because, when he does....

AC/DC all the way. Just finished playing a game, scored a big Song Jackpot of 212 million (had 3x scoring running). There is no pin that has this type of risk/reward strategy that gets the adrenaline flowing the way AC/DC does!

acdc_song_jackpot.jpg

Wow. You must have been nervous as hell on that one shot.
Congrats, that one button push is higher than most of my entire games. lol.

Metallica
(This time I spelt it correctly from the Trudeau beatles thread I made a mistake with a s**t load of band names )

I played acdc prem and met pro side by side, both for the first time, so I didn't get too much into the rules.

Metallica is the better looking pin, but that acdc premium was more fun to play.

I really don't care especially for either pin as I don't think the art is my cup of tea and I don't love music pins.

I would really 1000% want to see Star Trek pin to see what that has to offer.

I have no idea what ST will or will not be, but I can tell already that I prefer a movie sci-fi theme.

I love how AcDc has such a high review, if not for the art/theme I would love one. I just hope ST could be AcDc-like but with a better theme for me.

I really really like Tron, it's one of my top games, fun good looking, good play, good theme etc...

I don't really mind if its not a real deep game, for me I am not really good player, the 'easy' rules don't bother me one bit.

I just don't get music pins, and while I like the lower PF on AcDc a lot and the bell shot and the cannon etc.. I just don't think I like the art or the music or the juvenile humor etc.. As much as I prefer the sci-fi theme and art of Tron.

Neither, get Spiderman!

Got a met pro and even that is better than my ac dc premium

ACDC all the way. I own the pro and it is fast, fun, and challenging. IMO Metallica needs a lot of code work, which will happen if course, but the song integration isn't even close to that of ACDC. They could have picked a much better song list.

They could have picked a MUCH worse song list, is how I look at it..

Plus you can use that app to change the songs to whatever you want now as well...

Both are done by great designers, both code is done by the same person. In that light I can't see that Lyman is going to make Metallica less fun than ACDC. Art on Metallica > ACDC, and if you love ACDC and don't know Metallica then you'll probably want to lean toward the theme you like more. IMO play them both in person before desiding.

So true. I was worried they would spam it with new crap, but they leaned heavily on MOP and RTL (could have just picked those two albums and forgot everything else IMHO).

i would have like more from Death Magnetic...All nightmare long would have been Crazy!

I like hearing good things about the Pro

Spent some time on a Premium this weekend.

Too early to make a decision but I like the art!

IMHO they overstepped trying to make the Metallica Premium "more" than the Pro with the hammer. It's visually distracting, and just doesn't work well (hopefully it's a software fix, but it may not be). As opposed to AC/DC where the Premium bell is actually a lot cooler for instance. With AC/DC I'd feel like I was missing out buying a Pro, with Metallica I'd feel like I was making a smart decision getting a Pro.

My two cents, from someone who's played all of them, but owns none and has no dog in the fight.

ACDC gameplay + MET artwork + WoZ Sound System = top 2/3 pinball machine.

But as is, great games.