Plenty of topics on this you can search for and join the conversation.
But you are incorrect, a couple games have them

Venom has one, and it's fn terrible. There are also 57 threads about this topic. Fishtales has one as well, and it's still great

Dwight’s games tend to have them. GOT, GB, Star Wars, TMNT, Venom. Not one has been worth the time it takes away from the pinball experience.

That's not true. The video mode in Star Wars can be worth a lot if you take a big multiplier into it. Don't get me wrong, it still sucks to be pulled out of your game to play that, but you can come out with 500+ mil if you set it up right and have a good run.

I meant in terms of entertainment. I’ll never comprehend scoring on Dwight’s games lol

Lol, then I whole heartily agree. That mode once per game is bad enough, but it's easily possible to get into it 2 or 3 times. And if I have a low multiplier I often don't care and will just ram my way though.

American Pinball has done a few video modes. Houdini and Oktoberfest have them.

JJP did a video mode on Toy Story 4 and POTC. Not sure if JJP has done any others.

Rob Zombie has a video mode. Not sure if Spooky has done any others

Not sure if Multimorphic has done one...

I'm just gonna say it: Video modes stink and there should be even less games with them!

That's most people views. They never bothered me much, other than Toast guns, but I always find it funny that people are mad it "takes them away form the pinball man!!!" Short attention spans I tell yeah! The astroid belt in SW is FAR less annoying than the mystery animations.

LOVE the good video modes. Bring them back!

Don't see why you wouldn't want more out of a game you're paying so much money for. I say add em, add more of them and make an option to turn them off if you don't like them or if it's routed and you want the quarters flowing faster.

Clarification. TMNT doesn’t have a video mode.

I actually like Star Wars video mode; but playing it more than once a game is annoying (spoiler: avoid playing as Han Solo if you don’t want to do it too often). Also, you can reduce the time in settings (highly recommend).

EDIT: Game of thrones video mode is horrible. Thankfully, you’re not forced to play it…ever.

Isn’t there a video mode where you slam the button to eat pizza? Am I crazy? Did I Mandela Effect that? Lol

There is but it is like the Tie Fighter mode in SW where the ball is still in play and you gotta hit that action button as many times as possible before the timer runs out.

Not common now and we're not missing much. The only video mode I actually enjoy is torpedoing waterskiers on fishtales. The rest range from just ok to annoying.

Video modes rock!

Fish tales has the only video mode which I actually enjoy.

Doesn't Ghostbusters have two video modes?
Don't cross the streams and the E.S.P. Test?

For awhile there, don't cross the streams seemed the *only* strategy for competitive play.

Video games/modes on a pinball machine are like the Swiss Army knife of the tech-bro world. A novel concept in theory, but the actual components are for the most part useless. When I am downrange, give me a ka-bar knife, a proper screwdriver, and a real can opener not a combined toy that is f'n useless. The video modes that I have seen thus far are executed poorly and don't seem to have much of a point other than making some man child giggle.

The video black jack game modes on Maverick are excellent. I miss that game.

It's a lowkey great video mode. It's just a single hand of blackjack, so it's very quick and simple to understand. Plus it relights the kickback so valuable to win.

ESP test has to be the worst video mode ever besides the one in starship troopers. Thanks for reminding me of yet another reason GB is a crappy game

Honestly I don't mind (but don't love) video modes in the B/W DMD era. It kinda made sense for them there. We've moved past that these days.

Yeah you were actually playing the pnsn next to 100 video games & the they were being programmed by video game makers. Boon etc

Yep, plus it was like showing off that cutting edge screen. Wow! Look at what we can do with this latest pinball technology!

I think the real reason is video modes help extend gametime for people not good at pinball

Junk Yard was actually fun for video game modes and had a time machine thing where you can play TAF, AFM, and I'm sure another games video modes.

I don't have much time on the DMD games of that era, but I did get to play Getaway and was able to experience firsthand that awesome driving minigame which I would call a sad attempt at recreating Sega Turbo. I loved Sega Turbo back in '81. Experiencing it again on a pin that is decade newer via a small, monochromatic DMD with flippers - not so much.

As long as they can be disabled, who cares. For those that like them, enjoy them to the fullest - no harm, no foul. If the designer forces me to play the same, stupid minigame every time it gets old quickly. Sometimes less is more.

Best answer yet.

Getaway video mode is good, its just worth a lot of points for zero risk and you can't turn it off. Lots of decent video modes tbh. I like the Dr. Who one a lot too. I just feel like they aren't needed on todays games

Just let people turn them off if they want.

People like video modes when they're "good". The problem is most aren't very good because they try to be too complex (and/or were too limited in DMD resolution).

A good video mode should be like a micro game from the WarioWare franchise. Quick and you instantly know what is being asked of you.

Pinballs is about Steel Balls, mechanisms, and play.

It's not about screen Pinball. You might as well play on your phone.

It's not about Video... that was the dying gasps of pinball companies who headed down the wrong path. Video Modes. There are a thousand games on your phone that are more fun to play than a video mode on a pinball.

So we don't do much of that anymore, because pinball is something unique, and watching stuff on a screen (I'm looking at you, Virtual Pinball...) is nothing like pinball.

Virtual pinballs make your fingertips get cancer.

Virtual pinballs make you lose your eyesight, and your hearing.

Virtual pinballs give you explosive diarrhea.

Basically, when you play Virtual Pinball, your life is over.

(Grins)

I'm starting to form the impression that some people really like them and some really don't

Glad we could all come to a consensus that different people like different things.

Great work everyone. High fives all around.

Maverick for the win.

I love video modes! Keep em' coming Stern (only good ones).

Can they be only 3 seconds like like Warioware?

God Warioware is so good

Actually, a Warioaware pinball with 100 5-second mini video modes would be really fun & funny.

GOT's video mode sucks, but for some reason, I always choose it.
Feels like I mash the buttons and it doesn't respond.

I think Dwight Sullivan told a story where Steve Ritchie told him he was envisioning a Mortal Kombat like video mode. Dwight said something like, no that's impossible, Steve argued, yadda yadda, a "fighting game" where you can just mash the button to win the video mode is the result. Yay for compromise.

(as an aside, Divekick is an excellent fighting game that only uses two buttons)

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Personally, I like well executed video game modes on DMD era pins (e.g. Getaway & Attack from Mars). They offer a pause in the hectic gameplay and inject and lighten things up a little. However, if in modern pins there should be an option to enable/disable video game mode for those who don't wish to have it, and it should certainly be automatically disabled in tournament play mode.

WMS IJ great video modes, I like them if done right.

You still only have a few buttons, no joystick - so design options are limited. Also, it’s a pinball machine. Any video game that’s too “good” and takes too long will keep you away from playing pinball, and that’s not what you sign up for when you walk up to a pinball machine. Also, it would lengthen playtime which results in lower earnings for operators. It would also be a strain on programming teams & tight schedules to have to create a modern video game on top of the pinball game they don’t have time to complete.