This game can absolutely be made much easier.

You can’t activate ball save for the Episodes. But you can set the ball save time really high in general. And you can even set the number of times it can save. Also set all awards to be extra ball and your kids could be playing for quite a while!

I have made it to cowabunga, its not easy and I don't think it should be.
Final battle is not super easy but is not that hard to get to and thats fine for a sub wizard mode, I think its just right.

Team up is cool but just kind of an annoying roadblock in its present state if you haven't completed mousers or the second Krang.
At least give me a single ball timer after I'm down to one.

I avoid training like the plague.
It just doesn't seem to be worth the payoff and it just slows down the progression of all the other stuff I need to do.
Maybe make leveling up (or Neutrino PP) a requirement instead of triple Krang or Mondo.
Though it would be a lot tougher with a fully level up requirement.

The glider cash-in on prem/le is usually pretty worthless.

Donatello should at the very least require 2 shots for MB or just come up with a different perk like Neutrino PP lit at the targets (would be a nice perk if NPP was a qualifier), neither MB is hard to start as is.
Also starting and finishing on the same sketchy middle ramp shot for weapon hurry up is annoying.

The weapon hurry ups shouldn't be tied to the "skill shot" if you can call it that.

The triple krang and triple mondo requirement is redundant although they can be completed at the same time.

Shooting a ball in the lair when nothing is active in there should at least award a letter.

The scoring needs a lot if balancing, its super multiball heavy, should pump up episodes, glider, and hurry ups.

I think if you have more than 3 gummy bears going into MB it starts with the left flipper shots (and one other?) lit for jackpots, and they are near impossible with 6 or more balls in play.

I would LOVE to see more high score opportunities.

Every mode finishing off of the right flipper (exception for the one middle ramp shot) is lame but its a victim of the layout because every mode end has a cut scene and needs a ball trap. (maybe 60% success rate on the diverter trap for me). It is what it is

All that said, there is a LOT to like about this game and the code, I love the episodes, it just falls a little flat for me.
The theme and art are fantastic and well integrated.
Some changes and tweaks could make it really good though. A good update could save this layout for me.
Its been a long time since an update and we've been left with no voice audio on final battle so hoping for a big one.

Scoring and the game freezing bug associated with Turtle Power definitely need addressing.

Still love the game, but it’s the next game on the chopping block if Godzilla turns out to be amazing.

It’d be a shame to get rid of a game I love just because of code, but I’m not waiting years for an update that may or may not ever come out.

Fixing that freezing bug is #1 on my list. It's so annoying and has destroyed some pretty stellar games I was in the middle of.

And that's just it right. With Dwight,you never know if/when you'll get updates.

I played one game of TMNT last night, then jumped over to JP. What a difference. So much to do, so much to shoot for. I just feel like the phone it in with TMNT.

I don't know that they phoned it in on code with TMNT, it was ambitious that they had so many different things going on at once - leveling up your Turtle, mode completions adding perks to MB and mini wizard modes, multiple minor modes and hurry ups that can be stacked on top of regular modes and multiballs, but the scoring doesn't take into account any of those things.

I get 500,000 for completing a mode with 4-5 shots, but one April hurry up (with no added perks) is 1.5M or more??

I also hate with a passion random awards from the pops, I hope no new game going forward has this feature.

As a newbie (few months), I find a lot of fun with TMNT. It is challenging, though. The speed of the game and trying to make shots on the fly make me realize that the years are past when I was really good on Call of Duty (i.e., reaction speed is not there like it used to be), and sometimes it makes me sad. Being a newbie, I'm glad the MBs are 'easy' to obtain, but I agree without the MBs, scoring stays low with episodes. 123 foot seems to happen way too much and I don't notice it having a good score payoff. The left outlane has twice as many drains as the right. And if I don't sink a shot, high chance it will drain stdm.
I like the theme, and so do my kids. The co-op modes, and the variety of modes, is a welcomed addition for our family (we have 4 kids).
I plan on increasing the ball plays per game, and probably narrow up the left outlane entrance. I have way more games on DP, and find myself enjoying shooting it more due to less frustration (DP games are longer, TMNT games are shorter, sometimes embarrassingly so).
Just a newbie comment to see how it compares to the vets.

Think about 123 Foot as a mode in the current code. The scoring is tied to the spinner which is cool because it actually makes use of an under-used spinner but really, the value of 123 Foot mostly just goes up in the later game unless you really focus on ripping the spinner. This means that if it happens to start on ball 1, you should probably AVOID completing it or it won't be worth anything. With that being said, I should try and see what that absolute largest 123 Foot score I can get is, I suspect the points really aren't worth the effort that goes into it. This is especially true when it accidentally starts (which is most of the time) and you haven't had a chance to build it up yet.

123 Foot clearly needs some work to make it a worthwhile mode, but damn does it feel good to complete as 3-way combo. Here's one of my ideas for it: Qualify 123 Foot with spinner spins, cycle the 1-2-3 Foot lane on/off with flipper buttons, and 123 Foot value still increases based on total spins. After X spins (say 30): light 123 Foot inlane, if you start 123 Foot now, the "1 shot"(Right Ramp) would be lit for 1X Foot Value and that is all. If you get another X spins before starting it, the "1 shot" then the "2 shot" would be lit for 1X and 2X, respectively. And then the same for lighting the "3 shots" to have the 1, then 2, then 3 shots lit for 1x, 2x, and 3x. And then reset progress/foot value after starting. For good measure you could even throw in an additional layer where if you shoot the 1, 2 shots as a combo, both shots are worth 2X foot value, if you have the 1, 2, 3 shots all qualified and hit it as a 3-way combo, then each shot could count as 3X foot value. Other things: you could have the foot value reset each ball to make it a risk/reward feature to build it up and/or lighting the 1, 2 and 3 shots progress could reset each ball and as well (probably as operator adjustments).

To get a sense of the scoring, if you build up the foot value to 1 million, with 1, 2 and 3 all lit it could be worth 6 to 9 million points. I think getting the foot value that high takes a lot of spins currently so with a resetting foot value it would be tough to build it that high. Add in the fact that you need to hit it as a 3-way combo to maximize the value. In order to score balance this feature, you just need to adjust how much the a spinner hit adds to the foot value. I think the way I described it makes it seem much more complicated than it actually is. Basically, shoot spinner to build Foot value and light 123 Foot Combo. More spins before starting adds up to 3 shots for the combo.

I know it's likely far too late for a change this drastic to be made, but a man can dream.

Idea for Weapon Hurry-Ups: Light inlane through skill shot OR by ending a mode at your specific Turtle's shot, start by rolling over lit inlane.
1st WHU: Shoot either orbit to light center ramp, shoot center ramp to collect. If you complete the 1st WHU, the next WHU will be the 2nd WHU.
2nd WHU: Shoot either orbit, then the other orbit to light center ramp, shoot center ramp to collect.
3rd WHU: Shoot either orbit, then the other orbit, then the other orbit to light center ramp, shoot center ramp to collect.
4th+ WHU: etc.

Basically, the mode would be alternating orbit shots and finishing off at the center ramp. The value of the later WHU would keep going up and then have a High score for most WHU collected.

If you don’t like the game code as is, it’s probably not changing much. Game intent is as designed. Short and sweet with good flowing shots. If you roll over 123 foot, it should be right ramp, center ramp, left ramp, ski pass to turtle van. This completes your 123 foot combo then qualifies and starts the episode.

If you can complete an episode with each multiball, that’s 4 episodes done and you can fail the other 4. 2-3 extra balls and you are at final battle.

I certainly dont disagree with you there. For me, I do like the main game, I just wish the side features mattered for game progress or even just points. I have no delusions that my rules ideas will be implemented. I just like discussing game rules both as they are or as they could be.

Personally, I bought TMNT because the layout, art and theme and I was cautiously optimistic that the code would develop in a direction that suits my style and interests. I like the core of the game (Episodes and MBs), I've played 1000s of games on it and I dont regret my purchase. But after that many plays, Im going to inevitably think about the finer points of the game.

I hope my suggestions aren't interpreted as complaints or empty criticism, they're ideas that would make the overall package more complete for ME. I do have ideas that I think would also make the game better for casual players and location play, that might help it appeal to a wider audience as well but I don't generally post those suggestions because they are less important to me specifically.

I will be renting a premium for the next 3 months, so I will be back asking how to play this game soon. I played both versions on location but could never hear the audio, but was a fun game to flip.

You're probably right on that. For me, it was a theme that I like, so I figured I'd get one to enjoy in the home environment. I like to do this so you get a lot of time to fig into a game.

But after a week, I knew it wasn't a keeper. Not to say it's a bad game, it just doesn't resonate with me.

I guess that's why there are so many different games... Something for everyone.

But I think based on what I enjoy about a game usually isn't found in a Dwight game, which is why I'll probably skip Mandalorian, and wait for Elwin's next title.

I was playing TMNT Premium on location. When you drain out of multiball the game tries to reload the truck. Do I understand this correctly? The location game doesn't always launch the balls hard enough to make it around to the truck, so the balls fall back down the right ramp and into play. Is there a feature adjustment to disable this reloading of the balls?

I know the real solution would be to figure out why it's not launching the balls hard enough, but we have a weekly tournament at the location, so I wonder if this can be disabled as a temporary fix. Thanks.

sounds like a nightmare like a DE guns and roses I had that did the same thing,could never fix that without the upgraded ramp but I have a tmnt pro so I hope someone else can chime in on that adjustment ,I just had flash backs to that guns

The payoff for completing missions isn't entirely in the up front points.

Rob

I asked Dwight on a Flip'n out stream about a code about for TMNT. He mentioned that he wants\needs to get Mando to a 1.0 game code first and then he wants to fix a few things that has annoyed him in the current code. Which I think is the sound screwup at the start of Final Battle, where there is no dialogue audio and maybe the multiball freeze people talk about. I've had this happen to me once with about 600 plays. I mentioned what about a scoring balance etc. He said that the scoring for this game was an experiment that didn't work and changing the coding for this would be a chunk of work.

I love this game, it's not going anywhere anytime soon - but my fingers are crossed for a code update. A bunch of these tweaks everyone talks of and it would just finish this game completly.

Joined the club with a NIB Premium purchase TODAY!
Supposed to ship tomorrow - can’t wait for the Pizza delivery!!!!

Congrats man! So. Much. Fun!

Even though I doubt Dwight will ever deliver on code (which is a major bummer), the game is still very fun to shoot, when my game is on it has that “one more game” feel for me.

Saaaaame. When you combo the ramps and loops it's just butter. I gave up playing for scores a long time ago on this one and just enjoy the ride.

Yeah at a minimum fix the bugs in final battle speech and tpmb freeze.

Maybe if someone can figure out what triggers the TPMB crash... I tried to, but have never had it happen to me.

Rob

Lol he admitted it didn’t work? Isn’t that a mandate to fix it? Wtf?

I am going to copy/paste some of my code thoughts from two posts in a different thread (was a Stranger Things TMNT comparison thread):

I love Dwight, but I think he went overboard on the hurry-ups with TMNT, and based too many of them on the upper flipper shots. The scoring is also very imbalanced versus the difficulty of pulling off some of the goals. The actual modes (episodes) are good, but need to have the scoring redone. I do not think there is any way to boost your scoring in them other than if double playfield is running when you finish it. It's always 500k or 1m pretty much. Blah. Foot 123 combo feels amazing, but comes up way too often. That upper loop is crazy hard to hit on demand, and not one but two of the major goals require hitting three of them in a row, and for max Krang combo hit a side ramp on top of it. The other you have to pull off in multiball...and not just any time but at the right time. Good luck. That's just too much. Final Battle is fairly easily obtainable, but Cowabunga...forget it for mortals. The goals are just too difficult, especially Max Krang and Triple Mondo. Just way too many hurry-ups requiring too many very difficult shots to complete. They are all good in theory, but in the real world with this unforgiving of a playfield, it takes some of the fun out of it. And the button smash mode didn't really need to show it's face again after Star Wars...

On the other hand there are some absolutely amazing things about the code. Great moments and light shows...definitely Dwight specialties. The wide variety of modes is awesome. Co-op, 3 v 1, Final Battle Challenge, Half Shell Challenge (!!!), etc...so many fun ways to play. Good variety in the episodes...very cool that a couple of them need to be "unlocked" by playing a prequel mode. The training is an awesome concept, but the later levels fall into the insane difficulty level trap, making them almost impossible for most to benefit from. I like the many paths you can take in the game, and the choices throughout (which turtle, what toppings for pizza multiball, which episodes to bring into team-up, etc). Good mini-wizard in Team-Up (though I am terrible at it), and Final Battle with the multiple stages is also great (but fix the damn voices already...been an embarrassingly long lived bug). Lots of other stuff to love in the game too, do not get me wrong.

So yeah...TMNT is more of a mixed bag to me. I LOVE parts of it, but strongly dislike others. I am hoping Dwight revisits it with a code clean-up along the lines of what he did with GoT. There is a great game hiding in there, but it's bogged down a bit right now with some odd code choices. So far the good still outweighs the bad for me and keeps it in the collection, but that might not last forever.

_______________________________________________________________________

I think TMNT can be "saved" with a good code update, and Dwight has a pretty solid history of doing that after a game has been around for awhile. I remain hopeful that he will bring it up to its potential at some point. In this case most of the base structure is good, it just could use some work to really nail it. The scoring obviously needs a major redo, and the multitude of side goals required for Cowabunga need to be tempered a bit. Right now they are too repetitive (oh look, another hurry up that requires difficult upper flipper shots), too high of a risk vs reward, and not well matched to the difficulty of the playfield.

I would also like to see a bigger differentiation between the two main multiballs. I do not like that they both use Mondo Jackpots and Jackpoto Grandes. Either split them up, or better yet, eliminate the Triple Mondo requirement, leaving only the Grande as the Cowabunga requirement for Pizza. Remove both from Turtle Power and have the Add-A-Ball shot be considered the super for that mode and a requirement for Cowabunga.

Turtle Perks and training are great, but could use some revisiting, especially the difficulty and risk/reward for the later levels. Neutrino Pizza Party is a very cool mode, but doesn't really fit as a reward for leveling up. I would move that to something like a pizza collection reward (maybe 2 or 3 rounds of pizza eating contest? That would make me care about smashing that button...). Then put in something more thematic to training. Maybe a sparring battle-royale mode against your brothers?

Give me a reason (besides Cowabunga, which is unobtainable to most anyway) to care about weapons hurry-ups, Foot 123, and Krang Combos. Playfield multipliers? Mode score boosting? Big points at least? Something to make them worth the effort.

I agree with everything you said. But for all of my thoughts on the code, I haven't thought too much about the multiballs. My only real thought about multiballs has been to make it more straightforward to select your pizza toppings, plus I'm pretty sure the Marshmallow topping doesn't do anything. But this idea is great! Plus it seems like a simple change which, I assume, would be relatively easy to implement.

Great ideas. We also do really need the voice lines on FINAL BATTLE fixed! You get to wizard mode and there's no audio! Real bummer...

I wonder what that means. Like was he just talking about the "low scoring" being an experiment? Or the way the scoring is balanced between modes/features? It would be a real bummer if a future update just saw an extra "0" added to the scoring and not a proper balance to make single ball play more lucrative. This morning, I had a game with a 71 million point Ninja Pizza Multiball and another one where I got to Final Battle/Portal in the Park and ended up with like 68 million points total.

Yeah, I would definitely like to see more scoring value on getting through the modes. It can be a grind at times and the payoff just isn't there.

That said, I love this game. Shots are just too fun for me to want to get rid of it because of scoring imbalances. I can ignore hurry-ups etc. if I just want to get into a rhythm and progress deeper in the game. It's made me a better shooter on the whole, and as someone newer to the hobby I appreciate that.

Hey Guys,

I'm curious as to what power setting you have your flippers at? I recently waxed my game and it was too damn fast. It dawned on me that you could turn the power down and set mine to 217. Any other sweet spots for you guys?

I leave the bottoms default upper 200. It’s fast after cleaning but mellows out.

...

Double up the mission scoring and neuter Raphael somehow.

Rob

Also...having just gotten there for the second or third time ever (after hundreds of tries), Neutrino Pizza Party needs a nice long F'ing Ball Save! Total BS to work that hard to get somewhere only to drain out instantly. The hurry-up stand-ups and then ramp shot to start it are bad enough if you do not hit them quick enough, but then to actually hit it only to drain. Infuriating. And not in a good "makes me want to try again" way. In a I'm selling this crap kind of way.

There is so much good in this game, but so much BS like this too. The biggest thing, besides the many mostly meaningless and repetitive distraction goals, is the code difficulty just isn't balanced with the playfield difficulty. This is something Dwight nailed perfectly on SW and GoT, but really didn't hit here. Too many hurry-ups. Too many goals that are basically the same and just not worth doing. Too high of risk vs reward. I'm to the point where I WANT to love the game, but it's becoming harder and harder. If it weren't for the theme, art, and some satisfying shots, it would be down the road already. Might be time to let it go there. I could always rebuy if Dwight does a major revisit to the code like he did with GB or GoT. Because honestly, it needs it. Keep the episodes through Final Battle, but all the peripheral stuff needs to be rethought and reworked in my opinion. Some good ideas in theory, but in execution, with this playfield, not so good in actuality.

Sorry, rant over. I just REALLY want this game to be the home run is should be. I know he CAN do it...I just hope he DOES do it.

I completely agree with you.

I have said this exact same thing.

Is there a way to calm the outlanes? Pretty much everytime the ball hits a sling, straight down the outlane.

Would raising or lowering the back legs help?

Spot on rant. Have you PM’d Xaqery Dwight with your ideas here? He really needs to see this, because many of us feel the same way. There is so much to love about TMNT, it just needs the areas you mention above to be ironed out in a more compelling manner and frankly easier way as to take the frustration out of the game. Making it hard in areas that should not be hard or rather should be enjoyable, by seeking the best balance of fun gameplay. Those of us that have put tons of hours on this game, like you and Shaub, should give Dwight a list of software adjustments to be made asap.

HELP SAVE THE TURTLES! LOL

I turned down the power of the slings and has helped alot. Had to do the same with avengers iq.

Just had my best game of 65m, is that decent?

Id say thats a good score. But the scoring on the game is a bit wonky, so you could get those kind of points from a well played Ninja Pizza MB or from a good Neutrino Pizza Party. I think anything over 50M means you probably did something right.

I agree! Even though Dwight has been tagged in here, I wonder if he'd read it. Mind you a bunch of tag's maybe it'd get his attention.
I've noticed shaub has a very decent understanding of the game and what could\would be nice to have in a future update. Maybe someone could just even copy some of these posts and email Dwight?

I got to Final Battle with an almost identical score, so I'd say yes!

What is everyone’s preference for rubbers? I have Titans on right now and it is making my game hard as hell. I am thinking about going back to stock or superbands.

I've got superbands on mine and really like them.

Has anyone had their game powder coated, other then green? If so can you please share? Thanks!

I left Titans which have their place and went to stock rubber and now my game plays so well, I feel like a pro. There is a reason Stern has not gone with silicon. Yes colors look pretty, but don’t play as well, with the ball erratically spinning and bouncing like crazy on the flippers. Stock has made the game more playable for sure.

Fresh titans will be sticky, it will get closer to stock rubber pretty quickly. They wear out faster and are a little softer though. If stock doesn’t bother you, no reason to switch.

I’d probably switch back to stock once titans broke and I ran out of replacements. That might take awhile though.

I have stock on the posts though.

E8966094-E2DB-4B8D-8A23-E707B6C978EC (resized).jpeg

My sling shot rubbers broke after around 1000 plays. Is this considered normal wear or something to talk about to my distributor? My GoT LE has 1400 plays and no signs of rubber failure..

Rubbers are a normal wear item. Maybe if it would have failed in like 10 plays I'd mention it to my distributor. But 1k? Buy new rubbers.

Probably not normal, but not out of the question and cheap to replace yourself. I wouldn’t bother distributor with such a small problem, only something larger.

This is just an opportunity to make your game pop a little more! I went with orange slings and orange flippers from Titan and it looks goooood.