Los Angeles, CA
Looks pretty solid so far! Very cool that they got Kevin O'Connor to do the art again. Nice song list too. I'm neutral on Kiss - but these are all songs you hear by accident and enjoy. I'd play pinball to them!
(Topic ID: 126591)
Linked Games
KISS (LE)
Stern, 2015-
KISS (Premium)
Stern, 2015
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KISS (Pro)
Stern, 2015
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Quoted from Allibaster:Who's the designer?
Borgy
Quoted from sd_tom:But gene never shoots balls out of his mouth.. Surprised this was allowed
Usually Gene's shooting his balls into someone's mouth. 
Quoted from Jean-Luc-Picard:I always thought Stern did not have an Art Department. Must be outsourced?
LOL...what's Greg Freres....the janitor?
Quoted from bjsilverballs:I'm going to go on record and say that they should have bought the rights to JPOP's KISS prototype. That looks 1000% better than this one.
No one should ever give Jpop money for anything ever. 
Quoted from cleland:I just turned 42 in Feb and I can't tell you one Kiss song ever....somehow I've managed to avoid them my whole life.
I'm sure you've heard Kiss songs and didn't realize it. It's impossible to have NOT heard "I Wanna Rock 'n Roll All Night, and Party Every Day!" at the very least. I'm sure you've heard Detroit Rock City and/or Shout It Out Loud.
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.
Quoted from RobT:NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!
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.
Quoted from JoeJet:Overall looks nice. Dude cant draw hands though... hands always the measure of an artist
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.
Quoted from Trekkie1978:All Stern LEs should come with a shaker motor.
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.
Quoted from Minneapolispin:Does the $2000 price difference between the Pro and the LE seem worth it? The ability to see the ball hover across the back is cool as hell, but I'm not sure it's $2000 cool as hell. I'm going to place an order, but wanted some feedback from you all.
You want the full featured game or you don't. That will make your decision, not the extra money. If money's an issue, just get a Premium. Same game, you just lose the mirrored backglass, colored trim, and the firey cabinet art.
Quoted from Captain_Kirk:Except that argument kinda falls apart when you consider the Star Trek LE came with a shaker motor. The Star Trek LE was the most blinged out pin Stern has ever done, so I don't see where Steve had to cut corners on it.
IMO, all LE's and Premiums should come with a shaker.
Well, I'm not there looking at their budget spreadsheets - but that's the reason Borg's games don't come with shakers. Perhaps Borg's extra mechs cost more than things like the laser pointer, color changing LEDs, metal ramps, plastic enterprise & VUK did on ST. Maybe Steve gets high budgets based on projected sales....or maybe Steve just says "F*CK YOU, PUT A SHAKER IN IT!".
Quoted from bayoubilly70:Be aware Kevin's art is a great and tight as always. If you have any gripe, its with the process when the original art is then inked and colored with a computer versus having a real artist do it.
TDK77 is absolutely right. This has nothing to do with using the computer. The computer's just a tool - the computer doesn't make you forget how to draw limbs in perspective or dynamic poses.
Look at the hand holding the drumstick 'toward camera'....this is just a poor drawing. The arm should look like it's coming at you, the hand and stick should be bigger. He looks like he doesn't have a forearm...as if the hand is connected to the elbow. Bad_arm.jpg
Same with Starchild on the playfield. Look at that hand and arm. The hand in the "foreground" is the same size as the one holding the guitar. The arm itself makes ZERO sense. Aagain it looks like he just has an upper arm with a hand on the elbow like some kind of deformity. Catman's arm holding the drumstick is way too short. Look at the proportions of the arm on the Spaceman in front of him...then look at Catman's arm.PF_art.jpg
This is just a stiff weird pose of Gene....again, this is just a drawing - a computer doesn't make stiff drawings.
Quoted from paulywalnuts23:Really, this is what you have to gripe about. This is some of the best art on a pin in recent history period.
It's great art for the theme...fit its it perfectly. That doesn't mean it's drawn well by normal artistic standards. I'm very happy Stern went this route...I just think the artist could have drawn better arms and hands. He's totally capable of it. It's not going to deter any Kiss fans from enjoying it....but I can't NOT see it.
I'm no comic book style artist...but this is the type of note I would have given to help improve this pose:
arm_note.jpg
Bad_arm.jpgQuoted from TigerLaw:You had an xmen with 4 bumpers? I am missing something with that comment.
Oh yeah. It had 3, but off to the side. Sowwy
Quoted from paulywalnuts23:Sorry but your corrections, although the may be correct perspective make image the look worse. His hand would not be that much bigger even if his arm was sticking out in front of him. His arm is only 3-4 feet long, not 40 feet long. There shouldn't be that big of a difference in size...
LOL, alrighty...enjoy your gimp arm. Your eyes don't see perspective properly, though. What I sketched isn't even remotely 40 feet long.
Quoted from Jojo1111:Just an observation (not as an artist) based on the "fix" you show. If he did it your way, wouldn't the drumstick block one of the letters in the KISS logo? Or worse, they'd draw that drumstick behind the S and then you wouldn't see it? Maybe he did it his way on purpose.
he already drew one arm and stick in the logo...what's another 
Quoted from paulywalnuts23:The problem is that all the Kiss haters have to have something to complain about and since they know this is a great looking pin they have to try and nit pick it apart.
Relax, mang.... I'm not a Kiss hater. Overall I think it looks like a cool game, I'd definitely play it and maybe even own it one day (I like music games). I'm pretty neutral on Kiss, but I like a bunch of their songs....I own Detroit Rock City on DVD lol. I'm merely making a casual observation about an aspect of the art that instantly struck my eye as weird. Just having conversation. 
Quoted from foureyedcharlie:Maybe you guys should start a separate "bitch about Kiss art" thread.....? I love it, Its art, and your in the minority
Why can't we discuss these things without people getting ultra sensitive about it? We're not attacking you personally, we're having a discussion about the art. Settle down!
Lets keep it on topic, shall we
KISS_GUY.jpg
family-guy-kiss-ornament-1.gif.jpegQuoted from AlexSMendes:Said once, I'll say it again: Guys, can't you see they wanted to kinda recreate the Bally/Comic Books vibe here?
Yes. That's the only theory that makes sense as to why an artist who knows how to draw arms/hands/perspective would chose not to. Or - someone else could have revised his work after he was done.
Quoted from wayout440:It's a shame because they could do so much better if they would listen to the MAJORITY.
What is "The Majority" asking for, exactly? I heard plenty of people crying "ZOMBIES ZOMBIES ZOMBIES!" for years. Boom, Walking Dead. HUGE seller.
There is NO theme that is universal. There will always be someone who dislikes something.
Quoted from flynnibus:Then it looks like he has gargantuan gauntlet hands. I know you're an artist so you have some passion about this.. but when I looked at your original post I was like 'really, that's the complaint??' - Didn't see it before, don't really agree with your critique once pointed out, and your stab at redrawing it makes it worse IMO.
It was a 5 second sketch to prove a point about perspective. Is mine perfect? No....but it shows how the original practically depicts an hand stuck to a shoulder with almost no arm in between. If I wanted to spend more time on it, I could find a middle ground that has decent perspective that isn't quite as pushed...but still an improvement on the original.
Quoted from flynnibus:Why the complaint over the character being drawn as pointing at you vs your sketch which tries to make it more point at 45deg between you?
woman-pointing-camera-27664416.jpg
OMG.. where is her right arm! It's like she has a hand on the shoulder... </scarcasm>
You can see her forearms.
Also it's a photo.
Quoted from KingNine:I'm not sure the perspective is right on this hand. What do you guys think?
image.jpg
What do you think is wrong with it?
Quoted from PanzerFreak:The game looks pretty cool the more I look at it, especially the pro. I'm surprised by a couple things on the LE though.
1. Why isn't the side artwork more unique compared to the pro and premium versions? Having side artwork that goes with the design of the back glass would look much better in my opinion.
It's foil decals - so I think it'll match pretty well with the mirrored backglass.
Quoted from Kiwipinhead:thanks Rarehero.. prem it is then (maybe) have to see a game play vid first
Yeah if you're leaning toward Premium - no need to rush. Check out some vids first or play it if you can.
Quoted from tatman9999:Paul image.jpg
The chest hair is f*cking amazing!
Quoted from CrazyLevi:It's no accident that I Can't Drive 55 on Nascar is a cover version and not the original Hagar tune.
The Smash Mouth song on Shrek is a cover, too. Covers are WAAAAAY cheaper and most people don't notice or care. There's an obscure Nintendo DS game called Elite Beat Agents - game is filled with old/new music- Bowie, Queen, Rolling Stones, Avril Levine, Cher, Destiny's Child, etc...all covers. I like some better than the originals, IMO. Anyway - to get all that original music would have been WAY to expensive.
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