I did a quick search and couldn't find this topic... I'm sure it's been mentioned before though... anyway, bearing in mind the game differences between the pro and LE versions of the recent Sterns (which are greater than the differences between other actually different games in some cases!!) I think it would make sense to have a different page for the pro and LEs... The playfield layout is different, the games rules, the achievable scores, making the ratings and high-scores applicable to the specific game... I notice in the ratings that most people mention which game they're rating, so it might not be to hard to do it retrospectively to a degree... I'm not sure of the full list of games that are different enough to warrent this, but as a start, Tron, Transformers and AC/DC would definitely be applicable... I see the IPDB split them up...

I wouldn't go silly and have a page for each of the 4 Transformers versions or the various AC/DCs though, just where there's a different playfield and rule set...

Thoughts?

Hell, why not add a poll...

Tron has Daft Punk multiball and apparently another 'mode' over the pro... although I don't know what this extra mode adds to the game having only played the LE...

But there are also, for the ratings, things like 'game lighting' that would certainly be massively different for the Tron LE... This would, I imagine, split the LE from the Pro quite significantly on its own...!! And the pretty silver linings around the inserts would give the LE a boost over the pro on playfield artwork...

I certainly can't dispute this, having only played the LE, but don't forget that the rating system is not just on game-play, it's on things like lighting, playfield art, toys too... and the LE wins on these... especially on the lighting of course! And when you add in 'fun' etc, then you could also argue that the LE is more fun to play with it's DTs and light show... so that would boost it's rating too... I think the LE would get much higher in the charts than the pro due to it's looks as opposed to its gameplay...

_{Post edited by pinballslave : Afterthought}

78% say aye at the moment... Robin, is this a realisticly doable thing, or am I stirring trouble?

There's also Fire! and Fire! Champagne, Eight Ball Deluxe and EBD Ltd edition, Centaur and Centaur II and probably many others where the difference is purely cosmetic, but which have their own archive pages and hence ratings and high-score charts... yet games with different rules and playfield layouts are lumped together...

That would be a fibre-optic cable lit day I assume

Bump... Robin?

I think as a first 'obvious' list, the following should be split:

Tron (mainly because of the looks of the LE effecting the various appearance based ratings, but also the slight gameplay changes).
TF (pf toys and gameplay).
AC/DC Additional p/f effecting gameplay...
Any future Stern games probably...

Option 2 is certainly my prefered choice also... I'd even go as far as to say let them battle it out with each other in the charts also... personally I think it would be interesting to see how, for example, TF pro compared to TF LE in the charts... As someone said already, this is how it is for TAF and TAF Gold, so why not... there are way more differences between the current Stern releases, so to me it would make sense to make the charts transparent in showing how the different models compare with each other...

Re what games to split out, I'd say a split is only worthy if there are significant differences... maybe to make this easy to define, I'd say that this should be when the playfields are not interchangable between the Pro and the LE... i.e. not just eye candy... I'm not sure what is the full scope of games this would include, but I think it would exclude TAF and TAF Gold ... But would include Tron, TF and AC/DC. I'd say just have one page for the Pro and one page for the various LE editions... WOZ would therefore have just one page...

Well done Robin... U R da man!!

So I guess this means you're going for the 'just one version in charts' option rather than let them battle it out

And Centaur II and Fire! Champagne

I think it will be interesting and 'fun' to see how the different versions of the games will fair against each other in the charts...

I think not sir... I'm almost 100% certain that Centaur II is basically the same as Centaur but with that silly squashed backbox with the scores in the connecting bit between the head and the cab... in exactly the same way EBD and EBD LE are... The playfield and game is identical... The head is basically the same head as Mr and Mrs Pac Man... A silly idea in my opinion, the art on the normal versions is therefore much better...

By the way Robin, if you're adding some linking wording to the various versions of games to link them together, there's a whole can of worms in the EM area... things like 1,2 and 4 player versions of the same game... and add-a-ball versions... Versions where there was an EM and an SS version... it's certainly not my intention to create more work for you, but while we're on the topic, I thought I'd highlight this...

Just some examples that spring to mind:

Target Alpha (4 player), Solar City (2 player) and Canada Dry (alternate art).

Jungle Queen (4 player) and Jungle Princess (2 player)

Buckaroo and Cow Poke (add-a-ball).

Central Park and Hurdy Gurdy (add-a-ball)

Mata Hari and Charlie’s Angels (you have SS and EM in the database)

Sinbad and Cleopatra you only have the SS versions listed, they were also released as EMs...

There’s also Sega’s Harley Davidson and HD 2nd Edition... You have both in the database here with different values and ratings, but it’s not stated which one is which...

It’s a mine-field out there