Due to licensing, Gene Simon's head will now only turn side to side and talk to you while you play. He will be getting teeth though.

Sincerely? I miss Jpop's artwork.
His mockup was superb. These ones look OK.

Double waste (for JPOP customers and Kiss lovers)

Wow the feature matrix looks pretty cool for the Pre/LE

I'm more disturbed by the mane growing on his chest.........

The LE looks the best IMO, but I can't understand the artwork for the premium, no powder coat and the cab looks a lot like the pro...?

Yup. thats how they knock off the $1200-1400 off the price of the LE. Basically the same machine without the cab bells and whistles.

chris

You should see "The Rock's" chest when he does not shave it...

Ok, I know this is being picky, but if they are going with red armor on the LE why didn't they try and recreate the white and red of the original game? They would have looked bad ass. Instead it just clashes with the art and cheesy gradients are used. It is obvious the art is inspired by the old cab art. Missed opportunity IMO.

KissRed.jpg

Playfield shot from FB:

Screen Shot 2015-05-06 at 11.28.32 AM.png

Wow...the pf colors are fantastic.

They probably did not want a C&D letter from PPS

The art is absolutely phenomenal. The Gumby Stanley looks pretty weak, though. Thank God for aftermarket MacFarlane figures.

Very possible.

It never hurts to have a real artist do your artwork.....

LE 8795

Dave.jpg

I did not expect to be interested in this but I actually am. Have to wait and see what happens with the Canadian dollar over the next year and how much this thing goes for.

Not a KISS fan at all, but this pin looks great.

LE doesn't seem to have that much over the prem...but I love they keep making mirrored backglasses!

To me, the art looks a bit like the Predator art....

Don't like Kiss, but I WANT

11218597_10153259859589244_1384977523369658179_o.jpg11218589_10153259860919244_5570667776213535139_o.jpg11206797_10153259858469244_1743616239371593412_o.jpg11206694_10153259861799244_5443610952356537598_o.jpg11206522_10153259861884244_6584272124391374150_o.jpg11203531_10153259860684244_173198477471697616_o.jpg11200978_10153259862214244_4204646414701849477_o.jpg11200907_10153259858134244_3119551476733090778_o.jpg11182769_10153259860994244_1003580342783760944_o.jpg11181235_10153259861364244_7604412493601747177_o.jpg11174451_10153259862239244_3707773581576994282_o.jpg11170291_10153259861459244_6384131990408120325_o.jpg11169783_10153259862099244_279012989573430795_o.jpg11164762_10153259861694244_4343212868816330296_o.jpg11163356_10153259862529244_2425496247732791584_o.jpg11163356_10153259861539244_5534485835859487170_o.jpg11157550_10153259860559244_229653509982038308_o.jpg11112964_10153259859214244_3261073025102118259_o.jpg11090901_10153259860594244_6966372254738071798_o.jpg11059669_10153259860324244_3392002599606399498_o.jpg11048736_10153259828164244_5773577707176665903_o.png10955496_10153259859669244_4852553473896493700_o.jpg10945140_10153259860874244_1919218567882149199_o.jpg10339514_10153259861074244_1281192160246961671_o.jpg1800138_10153259862009244_1805555159293469794_o.jpg905765_10153259862329244_7496250005906026585_o.jpg887488_10153259861159244_8242800582599216578_o.jpg

My initial thoughts.

-It's a little bit IJ4 with the 4 bumpers, but there's only 1 scoop there so you won't have that "annoying" area that IJ4 has. Also the "map room" isn't closed off...I like that your actual ball goes in there & it has a drop target on the Prem/LE.

-It's a little bit Tron....I have a feeling the spinning disc under the Gene head is gonna whip the ball back Tron-style

-It's a little bit Transformers....Gene spitting out multiple balls seems to be lifted from Megatron.

-It's a little bit Metallica...2 ramps, 2 flippers.

-It's a little bit Elvis...."animated" molded figure and sling flashers!

-So glad they went with hand drawn art...but for me it lacks dynamic poses. Gene's stance on the backglass looks a bit odd - reminds me of the American NES Megaman cover. The characters on the playfield almost remind me of Skit-B Predator....better drawings, but the foreshortening of Starchild's pointing arm looks odd. Catman's extended arm looks stumpy. So - it's a little bit cheesy...but I think that's intentional - they're going for retro art, and retro art isn't always the best. In any case, better than photoshopped live action stills & the Kiss fans will eat it up. Metallica's art is superior IMO.

-Interesting that the 3 versions essentially have the same art package but with some different coloring on the cab. Once again, no shaker in the Borg LE...not much "added value" in the LE unless you love the red powdercoat & mirrored backglass. If I ever ended up getting the game, I'd be happy going Premium - I actually like the red/white color scheme of that cab best.

Anyway - looks like a solid player that's true to its license. I think fans of Kiss will be super happy with the direction this game took.

They've really paid homage to the Bally version in a lot of areas. Even the Gene spinner with the red tongue on the back is there

Reminds me of X-Men (which I LOVE).

NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!

Who's gonna do the first Gene LED-eye mod!? Glowing red demon eyes!

Beat me to it lol. This looks nothing like X-Men, and that's a good thing. Same 4-bumper style, that's about it...but Borg does that on a lot of games.

Wow.

The artwork is really great. I would have never thought they would have gone this direction with this machine. I think it looks fantastic.

Damn you Stern!!!!!!!!!!!

Overall looks nice. Dude cant draw hands though... hands always the measure of an artist

Truth.

Again as it has been said a hundred times, hand drawn artwork looks just plain awesome! Kudos for using the younger comic book style versions of the band. Sold!

i could not be less of a kiss fan, but this is a fantastic way to update an old machine, what a homerun.

Based on his other artwork, he's clearly capable...I have to wonder if he did it on purpose to look "retro-bad" ...like he was channeling his Jr. High self or something.

Wow!
I'm glad that they stuck with most of the tracks from the 70's
This is like a greatest hits soundtrack from when I was a kid.

Got to dig out my old Double Platinum 8-track
I think most of these songs are on that release, what was that, back in 79?

I initially had my reservations on a KISS theme, but after seeing it, the art is absolutely fantastic on this!!

This Band's theme was done right!!

Now I want to play one.
Hope the code situation doesn't suck.

Not a Kiss fan, but I'm really impressed with the look of this game. The references to the Bally machine are cool and the colors look great. I hope it's a good player!

I was skeptical about this theme, sure I like some older KISS (Black Diamond is a fav), but wasn't excited for this and was "hoping" for GoT or LOTR VE (although I just bought an LOTR).

HOWEVER, after seeing the playfield - it looks impressive. I'm not in the market to buy but will definitely look to play on location.

Art looks pretty sweet to me. I'm sure they're working overtime on the animations of Gene's tongue slithering around.

EDIT: Gene's head is a little much, but kinda figured it was going to be like that that anyway.

I'll let you know in 2017

I chuckled to myself hearing about a KISS pin. Not laughing anymore, looks pretty cool.

I hope they can make those old tracks sound good.

At first I thought Gene's head was way too big, but it really blends in well with the blackness of the playfield.

Did they say how many LE's?....working, and haven't read the entire thread....

look at this one...

kiss9zo6.jpg

Couple quick thoughts:

- All Stern LEs should come with a shaker motor.

- LE should've went with white armor, but more red on the cabinet would be needed.

- Art packages should've been different for all 3 models (i.e. - Star Trek).

Why are the Kiss DMD dots not in the "lightning bolts"? Also, will they have to have 2 versions as the Bally Kiss? "SS" vs "lightning bolt"?

The Germans are not going to allow the Nazi SS lightning bolts.

German Kiss.jpg

Just heard from a reliable source:

600 LEs are being made (300 going overseas, 100 to Kiss fanclub, 200 remaining for North America).

LEs ship late June.

Premiums ship late July.

Given the price difference, I'm leaning toward Premium on this one.

Agreed, but often Borg's don't. His rationale is that he's given a BOM budget to work with, and he'd rather spend that money on more expensive playfield features. If he's forced to take those out due to the cost of the shaker, the buyer can't put those features in. The buyer can put a shaker in themselves if they choose - so he'd rather the money go toward the playfield features.

Really like the look of the game, but not a fan of the band. Cool that the PS figure has the most iconic Ibanez guitar he ever played, but the amp looks lame and takes up too much room. Don't know (or care) what amps Stanley used--probably like his guitars--whoever paid him the most. Not much could be done to realistically mod the amp, unlike the very cool Tron cabinet mod.

You could tie the channels together and drown in all the gain.

Not a fan of the theme.
That said, LOVE the hand drawn art and interesting mechanical theater with levitating ball (should have been on all models!).
Curious to see if sound upgraded.
Time for the dmd to go... but if it is going to stick around, you can do worse than keeping it on KISS2.

Hope Stern continues in this direction with clever mechanical toys/effects that we haven't seen before and hand drawn art.

I wouldn't buy one, but I'd play the heck out of an LE/Pro on location!

Smells like a win to me...