Pure pinball love (Bally is taking over)

Half my collection are those 80/81 Ballys. At some point I might sell them, but I think Flash Gordon is staying even if I lose the bug for Ballys in general.

#53 7 years ago

ABB

Aurich

Quoted from Luppin:
I never had to chance to see and play such old machines.
I think I understand your tasted for DMD and I am similar.
How do you explain the experience with those Ballys compared to the best (TS, Tron..) DMDs?

Here's one major difference between my early Ballys and my modern DMD games: they're just way lower effort to step up and play. I love Metallica, top 5 Stern game of all time, one of my favorites. But it's a bit of a grind to play it if you're not really in the mood. Gotta keep hitting shots, collecting stuff, building up to these big modes. If you're trying for a good game it's going to take a little while, and if you don't have what it takes you're not going to get much satisfaction out of your play.

With the early Ballys you just start flipping. Your ball isn't going to last long, I keep Flash Gordon on 5 ball and we can finish a 4 player game while someone is still on ball 1 of Metallica. The addiction is more in the "one more game" aspect, than the really long epic journey single game.

Easy to play, hard to master.

I like to keep my collection balanced that way, different games for different moods.

#76 7 years ago

ABB

Aurich

Quoted from Luppin:
1) Yes, I know about the short ball times. Surely it's a totally different experience compared to modern machines with deep rules. But how do those Ballys compare to other modern short ball time games like BSD or TS? I am asking about the gameplay. I know art is different, and definitely gorgeous.
2) Also: a very important aspect for me is music. Almost all my machines have great soundtracks (Space Station, Swords of Fury the best of all time, but also BSD and TS have excellent soundtracks), and for me bad music/sounds is a total killer, especially relative to lastability. What about this for those Ballys? Are those sounds old but somehow fascinating and hypnotizing, or get boring after a while? Maybe you like those sounds because you played those machines during your youth and there is a strong nostalgic effect?

1) I don't consider Shadow a short ball time game. It's not an easy game, but you can have pretty decent balls on it. Flash Gordon is the kind of game that punishes you for making the shot you intended to make. The old brutal stuff is just more brutal.

I dunno, DMD games just play different. Shadow for instance has multiballs and modes and Vengeance and all the stuff that makes it a great game. Old Ballys are much simpler, knock down some drop target banks, get the bonus up, shoot the spinner kind of stuff. Simple is kind of the point.

2) I love the old school sounds, and it's not a nostalgia thing. I didn't play pinball as a kid, my arcade time was on video games. But I think that's really a personal preference thing. Nothing makes me happier than lighting the spinners on Flash Gordon and ripping them, I'm addicted to that rising tone.

#107 7 years ago

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Aurich

Quoted from barakandl:
The only early bally game I can think of that i don't like is Lost World, that game is a snooze fest.

Ugh, no kidding. Zzzzzzz. Just waiting for your bonus to count up is enough to send you to sleep.

#124 7 years ago

ABB

Aurich