Xmen blows. Those saying it has deep code don't understand deep code. It has lots of content, but no depth. Just lots of stuff to slog through, but no real point to any of it - none of it connects.

Spider-Man is Lyman shooting on all cylinders & a great Ritchie design. I prefer the orig Spidey, but it's the same game more or less.

I think this is important. X-Men may have started the trend of "just about finished but not quite there"....and then abandoned. This trend continues today. Spidey is DONE. Done done done. It's a game. A real game. You'll never have to wish for one last update.

Well, also Spidey has a center post between the flippers. You can remove it if you want more challenge.

...until Beast or Storm say something lol ...then you want to cease to exist.

It's never getting another update, and everything else is too much work. At the end of the day, if you want a Borg game, there are already other great alternatives.

See, you know what's up.

Also Lyman, Lyman, Lyman, and Lyman.

Both. The design has to be good (or good enough) to start with, and the programmer has to have a feel for how the code will make those shots fun, satisfying, strategic, work well with the theme, choreograph the light and sound FX, etc.

Oh yeah, that reminds me of another reason I hate X-Men...the giant, close to the flippers Wolverine toy is the easiest Multiball of all time ever to start. All you have to do is keep bashing it and eventually you get Multiball. I kept asking Lonnie to change it so that the Wolvie hits light a shot or series of shots that must be completed to start Weapon X Multiball...so it isn't SUCH a gimme. I'm pretty sure the instruction cards actually say those are the rules.

Cue someone saying "then don't hit it" ...lol...sorry, it's a poorly conceived toy and bad rules associated with it.

I like mods, but I'd rather Stern make a good toy to begin with...just turns a bad toy into a captive ball. Doesn't change the "Hit 5 times for Multiball" rules.

Doing it right or wrong isn't the issue. It's conceptually a horrible toy with horrible multiball start rules attached to it. Most Multiball features on pinball machines have locks. If not, they have virtual locks. Wolverine is just "bash bash start". It sucks. X-Men was the first game programmed by a newb (Waison) ...and it really showed that he had no idea what makes pinball programming PINBALL. Sure, they scrapped most of his ideas and tweaked it - but the game will always have a footprint of how it started. They've never been able to completely erase that. Sure, it's better than how it started...but it will never be a tight cohesive game like Spider-Man or anything programmed by Lyman or Keith.

You're stretching.

Almost every single of one those is a farther/harder shot, an actual COOL toy, or has rules associated with it that make it connect with other aspects of the game. Wolverine does nothing except start Weapon X over and over.

Wellverine & prison are horrible toys too, but have Lyman rules wrapped around them.

Also you don't "bash" ramps, drops or loops.

Wrong, all the excellent nuance that makes IM IM is due to Lyman.

Compared to Wolverine -

Iron Monger:
-You have to hit the spinner shots first to battle him
-Monger rises from the playfield, which is cool...Wolverine is always there
-Fighting Monger makes sense thematically...why am I hitting Wolverine, the hero?
-Monger Multiball has that super satisfying Super Jackpot ...the tight shot right up the middle

Whiplash:
-Farther shot, not as much as a gimme
-Has a nice stack strategy by starting War Machine first, then Whiplash.

Overall, IM is a simple game where the code/playfield work perfectly together. X-Men has WAAAAY too much stuff to slog thru which amounts to nothing.

If I remember correctly, it's hit all the lit shots and then the final one is Super Jackpot. Each shot results in him killing someone on the DMD...final shot, he escapes. I remember it being fairly easy to just keep it going for quite some time, and ending it on purpose quite often...but then a few more "accidental" hits to Wolvie, you're back in it again. Iron Monger is so much more satisfying...you battle him, he lowers into the playfield, revealing the tight Super Jackpot shot.

ROTFL.

Too funny. Look, glad you enjoy it - but its reputation was fairly earned and baked in the cake. It's not gonna swing upward at this point.

Oh hai troll.

It's a false equivalency in an attempt to insult me. Sorry, didn't work. The show is watched by millions. Pinball machines are played by a micro percentage of the population and ratings/resale are determined by an even smaller percentage.

FG always did well - but when it first aired it was up against Survivor and Friends and no one could beat those in the ratings. DVD sales proved the fanbase was always there and passionate - the rest is history.

There are a faction of people here who, for some reason, think it's clever and cute to take personal jabs at me...like I need to justify my career or be ashamed of it or something. They usually end up on my ignore list.

Why? Awesome call outs by real actors got replaced by horribly written and voiced callouts that almost ruin an amazing game.

JK Simmons is an incredible actor and did a fantastic job on Spider-Man.

"Here's the headline!: TERRIBLE PINBALL PLAYER TERRORIZES ARCADE!"

Even the clips worked great. Willem Dafoe's laughs and taunts are perfect.

SMv voices aren't as bad as X-Men, that's for sure...they just present a really random and poorly written narrative, and Spider-Man sounds super derpy. "I'll never look at a Sand Castle the same way again derp derp derp!"

The reason JK & Gimli work so well...those are gruff & aggressive characters...you know who they are just by their voice...you don't have to see the character, but you know who they are, and their voice can sell excitement. Ernie, while a great actor and a real Ghostbuster...was the "every day joe" of the Ghostbusters. While he had some great lines in the movie (I have seen shit that'll turn you white!), his voice isn't one you hear and think "Excitement/comedy". It's unfortunate they couldn't get Dan Akroyd, as his very unique and manic voice *IS* Ghostbusters, and would have been a far better fit. I cringe when I hear Ernie saying "Tex" in GB pin.

It's also usually the case that a good voice for your adversary makes for better pinball callouts . JK is taunting you. Stephen Lang in Avatar is also taunting you. Karl Urban in ST and Ernie in GB...they're your buddies...and it doesn't work as well. The Klingon in ST, though...while not a celeb (it's one of Stern's programmers), is actually a damn good pinball voice.

Hahahah...oh yeah, I forgot about that lol. The custom Megatron and Starscream in TF were pretty good, tho...but Optimus and the Super callouts were bad.

David Thiel & his wife did the custom stuff in Tron and it came out really good!

My favorite thing is the use of "Baywatch will be right back" lol ....