Quoted from PinRetail:I explain this to my customers like this:
When Stern contracts with a pinball designer, they ask for a PREMIUM pinball experience.
Then they slap different side art, a different backglass, put better speakers and glass and a few other things on a machine, and most importantly, they put a little plaque that says 'Number 957 of 1000 ever made'. That's the 'Limited Edition', the LE model.
Then the operators who run pinballs for money say "Great, I want that for about $1500.00 less".
And they start yanking things out of the game to meet a price point.
That's the PRO.
Sometimes the things they take out aren't all that important. For the Munsters pinball and Metallica I actually think that the pro version is the better machine.
But other machines when they start yanking things out they cut too deep. Jurassic Park has a moving dinosaur head that looks left and right, it spits out a ball and flings it across the playfield. In the Pro version it's a lifeless hunk of plastic. The Premium is worth the money.
Other games, like Godzilla, the Premium is everything you want... but the Pro has some interesting play also. Without all the extra stuff on the playfield there is an interesting combo shot where you make the left ramp with the right flipper, the ball is delivered to the left flipper where you make a right ramp that delivers the ball to the right flipper where you can start over. It's very much like the boat ramp on Fish Tales, and the way the Pro plays is different, but still quite good. Now, you'd want the Godzilla Premium... but the Pro is not at all bad.
So it entirely depends on the machine.

Quoted from Aurich:

Huh, why do you say that? The only feature I can imagine giving up on Met for a Pro would be the rising cross. It's cool, but whatever, doesn't change gameplay. The dual snake mouth, the hammer lock, the RGB arrows, all make the game better.

Quoted from Aurich:

Just get a slimmer hammer, solved.
[quoted image]

I don't care if people love it or hate it, so over-rated doesn't mean anything to me, but I think it's fucking cool, I love creative ball locks and magnets. No way I'd want to give it up.
Dumb prices aside I want more toys and interactive features. It depends on the the game design though admittedly. I love drop targets, but I'm not sure I'd prefer my Tron Pro had them. But they're not really in a satisfying place to shoot drops, and banking the ball off the targets feels good.
Metallica's hammer feels great to me though. People love seeing it go. I admittedly thought it was too big and clunky, which is why my mod exists, it was just a personal project before people started asking me to make more. But not I have zero issues, it blocks nothing. When it slams down and the shaker goes off I feel very satisfied.

Quoted from Aurich:

Which is why I was puzzled by people saying they don't like the extra mechanical interaction on Metallica. Anyways, not trying to beat the horse with you, if you don't like it you don't like it.
Beyond the RGB arrows giving you good game feedback, beyond the cross being a satisfying multiball start, beyond the hammer being an awesome physical ball lock, I really like how the snake is a two way switch/scoop and you don't just go into its mouth every time. Shots that change are one of my favorite things in pinball.