I'm in this club as of a few weeks ago. I'm really liking this game. There are a lot of stackable varied modes, a nice raised mini-playfield (a first in my collection), a fun set of ramps, and great overall theme with well-integrated visuals and audio.

One thing I'm having issues with is video mode, though. I've never been able to get passed Bullet Bill. What's the strategy here? I run and jump and before I even make contact with him I'm dead.

Am I jumping on the bullet or over it?

What toys are people putting in their games? I see a lot of Furuta options on eBay that seem appropriate.

Is the pipe secured with regular black zip ties? There are colored zip ties. Do you think they might look better with matching colored ones?

Not sure how long they have to be, but here's some green ones: http://www.amazon.com/Joy-Fish-Heavy-Nylon-Cable/dp/B005OK7R/ref=sr_1_2

Here's some yellow ones: http://www.amazon.com/Inch-Yellow-Intermediate-Nylon-Zip/dp/B004FUWZ5E/ref=sr_1_5

Those look awesome, by the way! I'm in for a set.

Edited post while you were replying. I don't have a problem with the black ones. I think matching colored ones might look better, though.

I'll probably order some green ones for mine.

Were the 10" ones not wide enough? Do they need to be a certain width? Here's some 14" green ones:
http://www.amazon.com/Monoprice-Cable-inch-50LBS-100pcs/dp/B003KQ3VNE/ref=sr_1_5

As the newest game in my collection, SMB is currently my go-to game. I am still really liking it! It's probably staying in my collection for the long term. I don't think anything that I've read other people complain about bothers me at all.

I generally play games to complete objectives vs. always trying to do what scores highest. Though, I've read about people saying you only have to hit the left ramp to score big and that's what they hate about this game. Under what conditions is that the case? It doesn't seem to score much for me in comparison with anything else...

I see where starting the bomb mode and hitting the bomb target activates the 25million light in the top VUK, but other than that, what about the ramp helps in scoring high? Even activating that light isn't something that's guaranteed from the beginning. You might have to activate a few modes to get to that mode, and then you have to hit the bomb target within the time limit (if you can get control of the ball from bouncing between slingshots and holes), and then the light is only active for that turn, so you have to be what I'd consider pretty skilled to keep getting the ball into that hole indefinitely. Maybe I just suck, but getting to that point doesn't exactly seem easy and not easy enough that I'd call the game a one trick pony.

I was thinking a fun mod for this game would be replacing those 3 plastic signs that just have text on them with some character artwork and maybe having the characters say the text in a word bubble.

That, too, seems like it would take a bit of skill and time to get it activated. It's definitely not a given, right? There's a chance you won't get exclamation round as a choice for a few tries, right? That means you have to queue up multiball, collect super up to SUPE, and then complete super, activate multiball and start a round all in the lower left kickout every time, right? That's not exactly easy.

I consider big points to be whatever everyone considers them to be when they say the left ramp is the only shot in this game. What are they talking about?

Again, I'm not a great player. I think my best game so far has been about 120M and I think that included at least one extra ball and activating the upper 20m and hitting it a few times.

Ha, that might be my average! A stinker for me is under 5M and it happens.