Has anyone had any of these achievements work for them? I havent had a qr reader hooked up in a while and I wanna try and get any achievements I actually can.

tmnt achievements (resized).png

Shredder stopper and well done are achievable, I have those. Last time I did it ‘a team of heroes’ was still broken. Not sure on the other ones, I either haven’t done them or they are still broken

Team April must have been fixed as I have that too

Well, yeah, that's the simplified strategy but this ain't no system 11 game. What would they do in-between attempting the super jackpots? How would they spend there ball save (if not turned off) time? What turtle would they go for? Would they risk focusing on battle again? Would they bother playing eppisodes or try to time them out? Would they try for some eppisodes and not others and why; because they are easier than others or for tumb perks? If they saw ice cream, chillies or octopus would they change it? And which and how many ahead? One, three spots? If they didn't have a gummy bear locked it would they try to lock one it at the last or just take anchovies? At what point, if ever would they go for cowabunga? In tpmb would they focus on add a ball shots for emergencies or just jackpots, and which JP's? Just crazy loops for mondos? Maybe play the hell out of tpmb to try to crash it if others had crazy scores? Or avoid it if you're way ahead? ...hmm
My God, I could keep going. The fact is I'm not close to the Elwins, Davidson's or Stone's of the world. Or even Becker, Gagnon or Birnbaum's. Imagine if Esher had a tmnt at home and played it in a big tournament. I bet it would change everyone's strategy on it, whatever he would find to exploit the game. Of course they are going to go for the super jackpots, that's a no brainer, but how?
...
Makes me wonder too about the settings. I was just at a tournament where everything was on hard setting and no ball saves. I wonder if there's a hard setting for npmb and how much it would change someone's strategy. I had Rush in a semi-finals and the setting were so had barely anyone got a MB. So players focused on modes. ...of course you can't quite do that on tmnt. ...but anyways, my point is that strategies evolve in big tournaments and change how people see the games.

Man, I must be lucky because in the hundreds of games I've put on my TMNT I have not run into this "reset bug" one time. I did have my screen turn solid black once, is this what people are talking about?

I have a love/hate relationship with TMNT. Had mine since day 1 and prob wont get rid of it since the LE is such a beautiful piece of artwork. I grew up with the theme as well. When I first got the game I loved it. I then went thru a few months period where I hated its guts. I then got back on the train of loving it. Lately though I am indifferent to it. I think TMNT is one of Dwights most unique interesting codes. There is really no other code like it. It's got the fun unique modes but then has all of the hurry up objectives to collect as well as the Super Jackpots to get to Cowabunga. It's a go go go type of game. You have no time to relax. Those hurry ups make you change everything and youre constantly on high stress alert because of it. Although it is a brutal layout it is a very well done playfield. Especially the up post in the left orbit area that kicks the ball back to the upper flipper when those side shots are activated. I love that there are 4 ways to get your ball to that upper flipper.

The issue to me though is even though it is an amazing layout and amazing code, combining both of them just doesnt work for me. The objectives in the code and the brutal fast layout create way more frustrating games then enjoyable ones. I love walking up to a machine and thinking to myself that I have a chance to get to the final wizard mode. Although that is extremely rare, there are a lot of pins out there where it is possible and I am motivated when I hit that start button. That doesnt exist for me on this one. Cowabunga has to be the hardest wizard mode to get to. Its just way too difficult to achieve. I do love the Coop mode and understand that the game is meant to be played coop to get to Cowabunga. This is the least played machine in my collection because of this. I love explaining the rules to friends and what not that do not get this pin. It is a great one but its really the combination of the code and layout that grinds my gears.

Out of those listed I've got "Well Done" and "Dude".

I think you are over-estimating the number of relevant decisions that really need to be made. Toppings-wise, having Octopus, Chili Peppers, and Fudge are probably your best options but not worth draining over. The key question is probably whether you stack Episodes with your MBs or just go straight for MB. The points in MB, NPMB specifically, are just so much safer and valuable than other point scoring opportunities.

I can't think of any viable alternate strategy. If someone collects a couple of 2X SJPs in NPMB, they are gonna be sitting at like 16M+. If you don't do the same, you're climbing a pretty big hill to catch up. April Hurry-Ups can provide good value but not in a repeatable, efficient way.

Hmm strange, I've recently done it twice and no luck. weird.

Ok, I just played a 2 player game and it awarded it. This is also how I got the Levelling Up achievements to work.

Yeah, I hear ya on the love/hate. I've gone through that phase and once in a while I'll just give the game the finger and shut it off.
As for the gogogo, I'd say try to trap up and take a breath. Especially on the right flipper, the right ramp is safer to backhand than forehand. The left ramp it backhandable too, harder but maybe the most satisfying backhand in pinball, imo.
Forget about the hurry ups. They are a trick. Listen to your inner master splinter : 'Patience and focus my student'. I'd only go for a hurry up if it's also lit for another shot. Like eppisode light and April HU. It is fun to get the hurry ups, but hardly worth it on their own.

I hear you about Cowabunga too but I don't really think it's intended for a single player game (unless your top 500 maybe). I think it's more there for co-op mode. I've played with 3 friend, 2 who are quite good and we haven't gotten to the wizard mode yet. It can be a challenge to have more than one person have a really good game even. Once they get the feel for the game I'm sure we can do WM easy(ish) but cowabunga would be the big challenge. I absolutely LOVE that about the co-op. You can coach and strategizing with each other. ...even strategize based on your strength and weaknesses. Every time I contemplate trading tmnt (there's so many great games out there right now), I think about the co-op mode and how great it is when I have friends who know pinball over. ...even if it's rare.

I change toppings from the left flipper to the middle sometimes. But your right, in tournament I might not even try. ...but maybe for a chilli.
I'm going to take your challenge on the 16m. I'm going to try a mb jp strategy and try to how many shots it is--then try a eppisode/hurry ups strategy (use the mbs only for eppisode completion (then just flail or go for multipliers and hurry up if I didn't drain after the epp is over). I bet it'll be closer than you think for a similar amount of shots (non-mb shots (I don't think I could keep track of that)). You opened my eyes to how lucrative the np grande jps are, and I could definitely be wrong, but I bet there's some pretty big points in the bonuses from eppisodes and bonus multipliers. I'm not trying to be facetious, I'm genuinely interested in the ballance of this game. I'll get back to you after I get a chance to play a bit more and try separate strategies.

Yeah, lucky you! Do you by any chance keep your tmnt in a very cool room? Just curious because I haven't had mine reset in quite a while and I have a window AC unit right beside it. I'm wondering if overheating plays a part. I'm probably just making random stabs in the dark here through.

I feel the same way except cowabunga is definitely achievable as a single player, its hard for sure but do able.

Just remember to disable the persistent Levels before testing. I was playing yesterday and was scoring 13M point NPMB SJPs as either Raph or Mikey. And in Episodes I scored a 13M completion bonus as Raph after completing a few episodes. Im not quite sure how Mikeys 3X NPMB scoring works, like if you can ALSO get the 2X going and have 6X scoring for the MB or not. A long time ago, I tested Raphs 3X episode scoring perk and believe that it maxed at 3X, essentially disregarding the PF X, which for Raph would have been an additional 3X.

That actually makes me wonder about how ALL of the multiplier-type perks work.
Leonardo: 2X Weapon Hurry-Up Scores, 2X Team Up Multiball Scores
Raphael: 2X Krang Kombo Scores, Increase Playfield Multiplier, 3X Episode Scores
Michelangelo: 2X April Hurry-Up Scores, 2X Pizza Eating Contest, 3X Ninja Pizza Multiball Scores
Donatello:2X Foot Combo Scores, 3X Turtle Power Scores

All 3 of my pins are in my dining room/kitchen. It CAN get warm in there but I'd say the temp is usually cool/moderate. Those Stern fans can sure get loud as hell in a quiet room.

I don't have an IC for my turtles. I like raw dogin' it. (Plus in a tournament there's no way you could use your IC account.)

Feel the same way - have an LE as well. Want to love it so bad, but I just can't get into it. I think I'm a decent player, but can't break 44M on this one. Some games I'm hitting shots only to look up and see that I haven't broken 3-4M yet. Maybe I just don't know the rules well enough to score well, but it's been the most frustrating pinball ownership experience for me and I like tough games.

Just got JP prem and it's gotten me back into loving playing again. It has that "one more game" vibe and I know if I hit my shots I can have a decent scoring game.

Any chance we will get a code update on TMNT, or is it viewed as done?

It sure feels like its viewed as done. I was hoping that a handful of the bugs would have been addressed in the last update that enabled Home Team but no.

TMNT is my only pin, but I've played tons of others for many years (I'm an old) so take this with a grain of salt:
I totally understand this sentiment around scoring. If you're playing for points instead of progress, then this game can be an odd one.

When I drain my last ball, I know exactly how many episodes I finished. It's rare that I look at or care how many points I've scored.

I've always looked at score correlating with progression, but it's an interesting point. Maybe I need to change my perspective for this one.

I usually just play for progression too

I do not consider it done, but I dont have any plans for an update. That said, I would love to fix any bugs I can.

Thank you!

Well, I certainly stand corrected.

That’s great it’s not done but sure would be nice to up the scoreing n I would be happy.

This is good news, if you can find the time to fix the bugs and even if you’re able to put the Nutrino pizza party back at level 4 training, that’d also be nice. I haven’t seen it since. Very difficult to get to. Even if we had to complete training level 4 to get to it, would still be challenging. It is such a fun mode to have ready after completing level 4, with IC being utilized in the memory.

i love TMNT so much. But when i have my best games the Turtle Power Reset bug kicks in and this is very disappointing.
If you ever need some guinea pigs to play maybe with a special prepared code that will send log files back to you i would be open to that.
It's hard to find bugs that will only occure so seldom, maybe something like this can help.

Recieved my TMNT about two weeks ago. I wanted to put about 100 games on it before I made my descision but I absolutely love this game. I think I am starting to figure out my pinball style (I am one year into the hobby) I really like quick shooters with hard shots. Don't get me wrong, I also love my AIQ, DP, and Mando.

Turtles requires the pinpoint accuracy of Mando but much much faster. I think people just enjoy different aspects. I do this for therapy. The faster the more I am focused on the silver shiney ball. lol.

~ Chase

Have you played stern Star Wars? That might be up your alley as well

I have it ordered. lol. I played it at Souther Fried Gaming Expo. Ordered it same day. Should get it in the next few weeks.

Both the best news I've heard all day and the most illusive. I hope this mean you'll be given some time to work on it. I know you probably either can't say or don't know when or if they'll give you time. If you can eventually get rid of the bugs and do some polishing on it I could see it eventually be considered one of your best. I'll say too, with the risk of sounding like a fanboy, it's quite the balancing act you did with this game. Especially considering the 4 characters, co-op mode and single player are all the same game. Well done (so far ).
Since Stern has allowed programmers to work on games years after the game was retired, I'll hold out hope.

Thank you for acknowledging bug fixes. The code is loaded on this game, just would like to see some balancing and making tougher shots more meaningful. Keeping your turtles at level 4 has helped me overlook the low scoring in the game.

That should be the way, but honestly the scoring on this when I have a number of other recent sterns is demoralizing. Guests definitely focus on scoring and gravitate to this one initially then usually walk away because they score so low even though I explain the imbalance between this and the other stern machines (besides the Beatles). Just multiplying everything by ten would get it closer to scoring on other sterns I think…

Yeah, it would be an easy fix. Like on EM's when they started adding a fake real with a "0" sticker on it.
....but ever since I realized LOTR is actually similar scoring value it doesn't bother me anymore. I was out of the loop when lotr came out but I bet there was a similar frustration then. But look at it now, a top 15game, fanatic (although long) tournament game and a favorite of people who like to play for progress.

I replaced the balls with carbon. It still cycles and will congratulate me on having ball one locked then ball 2 locked. This occurs any time after I press start with out having any balls in the the locked position. Any Ideas?

Have you checked the switch diagnostics? Maybe something is physically holding the switch shut. I'm new to new sterns, but I know there's a diagnostics for the node boards too. Maybe worth a try.

Maybe Stern et el, should rethink the high scores system as the only determiner of success for pinball. Heck, maybe they already are! Back in the EM and early solid state days, the only purpose a “display” had was to show the score. In the days of LCD displays and animations and “episodes”, it seems like pinball has become more of a hybrid video game than a traditional “high score only” game. The sense of accomplishment during a game is just as high for me when I’m progressing and making it through the game as it is if I have one really good multi to put up the new high score. Pinball has been evolving and moving past the high score system in many ways and it is only the hangers on from the old days (some of us old-school ballers) who are still concerned with scoring points. The newbies don’t seem to care as much. Look at any stream from Jack Danger. Score is a factor, but not the major one at all. This is even more evident in the games rooms of modern pinball. Have you noticed how many photos of game rooms from 10 years ago were a mix of old and new machines? Score was more important then. Photos of game rooms these days are more and more filled with only Stern games from the past 3-5 years. These games bear little resemblance to the beloved games of the golden age of pinball and all have much more depth of game play and interaction. There is a new generation brewing who look at pinball completely differently from those of us who grew up with 90’s Bally/Williams pins (or the older guys who grew up with EM machines). High scores are becoming a thing of the past. When was the last time any of you played a modern single player video game with a score? That simply isn’t the way it is anymore. It is all about the journey now. Twenty years in the future, TMNT may be be looked at as one of the pioneering games that marked a course change in the way pinball is enjoyed and consumed. Just my two cents.

Lots of people already play pinball machines for mode progress, to get to wizard modes, to set up specific scenarios, to do interesting "exploits," or even to set up great scoring opportunities. All of these things may relate to score, that's just the nature of the game, but they can be viewed simply as objective-based. However, TMNT's terrible score balancing does nothing to make it's objective-based gameplay any better. And it certainly doesn't make TMNT unique in regards to objectives. The biggest thing about lots of cool objectives that exist in games is that they aren't necessarily official or recognized. Though Stern's achievement system is making steps towards it and I hope they lean into this idea even more so with daily/weekly/monthly challenges/objectives that either make you play the game differently, or (hopefully) add in additional objectives.

As for TMNT and objectives, the key ones I see are getting to Team Up MB, Final Battle and Cowabunga. I feel like the side-mode type stuff: April HU, WHU, 123 Foot, Krang, don't really have a progression to them and, therefore, don't really make up an objective on their own. Their only "purpose" is points or qualifying Cowabunga.

Damn. Finally made it to final battle and I drained before I could hit the left ramp to get it started.

I did exactly that 3 days ago. At least you have company.

I finally got a chance to try out my mb vs episodes experiment. I tried it first just playing and counting my shots but was pretty messy. For instance I played Don (for the MB strategy (using TPMB mostly to start 2x)) and had a horrible game where in 42 shots I got only a bit over 1mil. Then trying again in 100ish shots I got around 7mil. Not great, but also way too sloppy to think of it as anything close to scientific.
So, I took the glass off and tried again. Using Don again in 35 shots I was able to get a whopping 47.5mil! (Holy crap the mondo jackpots after getting a grande and getting I lit again are HUGE! (Like 3, 6for double, and 9 for triple! (With 2x)) ...and the Grande increased to 10mil the second time around. I did not complete one episode so after this I considered myself in MB jail.
Then using Raph I used 35 shots to cleanly go through the episodes. I only got 12.8mil but this lit TUMB. I also got the 2 multiballs but only used them to complete the episodes and then drain back to one ball. I think i also used 9 shots to lite 2x in tpmb.
So:
35 shots MB : 47.5mil (then stuck in MB jail)
35 shots Ep's: 12.8mil (then open to Tumb and re-lite MB's)
Even though these numbers are so different you also have to take the difficulty of the shots into account. The 47mil in 35 would mean you can hit the krang orbit and lair shot at will.
Also, I have recently had a crappy MB Game but a great episodes game. In this game I got a 35mil bonus for getting to Final Battle!! I had a horrible FB so my FB total wasn't much more than the 35mil. I believe my end score was around 80-90mil. So 70mil of those points were from the episodes.

All of these scores are with no leveling up (and I don't have an IC). I do have EBs liberal with a special counting as one.

So, I still don't know. The NPMB does seem a bit overpowered WHEN you hit the shots, but I'm not convinced it's the only Tournament strategy. If for instance you have crappy MB's, you could definitely still catch someone by playing the episodes. And of course you would get to more MB's this way where you'd get more chances at them. Someone getting 20-30mil in the first 2 MB's but not getting through episodes (and draining before tumb) is definitely catchable even if you crap out on the mbs and grind through. Obviously you can do both, and ideally you would, but I dont think it's MB or nothing in this game). But a good npmb is pretty ideal. If you can cradle and hit the orbits you're golden in this game. I'd agree it's overpowered but I don't think it's as unbalanced as it seems. Unfortunately for everyone who wants the scores to go higher it might be way easier just to lower the npmb jp's all by 20-40%.
...
Since I had the glass off I decided to mess around with the pizza toppings seeing how things work a bit better. So, I've had this idea that pepperoni and marshmallows could work together somehow and be an alternative strategy to mondo/grandes. First off, it seems that pepperoni doesn't add the advertised +250k to each jackpot. It's more like +25k. Very different! And I don't know if this was a Nerfing that the didn't update the info for. The marshmallows I have no idea what they do. I was hoping it had something to do with the pizza slice JPs. For instance, it doesn't always say 'jackpot' when you hit a slice. So I want sure every pizza slice counted as one. But it looks like it does give you a 'jackpot' (only 70k(+pepperoni)(I dont think i had the 2x going) each hit. So I still am stumped by the marshmallows. If there is a limit to any of the jackpots, I have no idea where it is.
I was also curious about the peanut butter since it could potentially be stacked with the pepperoni (if it had actually been lucrative). So it just gives you extra slices but you only get immediate score for 1 hit (but you then get extra bonus since pizza slices are part of your bonus). But this is a good way to get closer to an EB for sure. Especially with multiple PB's.
Anyways, this all could've been an interesting alternative way to stack ingredients, but alas it's just a disappointment. If the pepperoni was actually +250k, stack 3 of those and your making 750k+ (or 1.5mil per hit pizza slice hit with 2X!) Imagine this plus some kind of bonus the marshmallows could give you stacked. Then throw a PB in there to round off your order. Pizza targets all day (still pretty risky too). ...Anyways, I'm glad I tried it out. I know now that the Pepperoni isn't worth much more than the anchovies.

Edit: looking into pinwiki rules I realized that the Pepperoni is meant to add to the mondo jackpot value. "Pepperoni: Jackpots + 250K
(Mondo Jackpot is worth an additional 250K points)"
I have no idea why or how the pizza slice jackpots have different scores.

Nice work on your scoring analysis, it's always nice to have some practical info rather than just theory. However, I think the qualifier "WHEN you hit the shots" is unnecessarily applied only to MBs when really that is the case with any strategy and scoring opportunity. It obviously depends on which Episode you're playing but I don't think the shots required for SJPs are necessarily more difficult than the shots required for Episodes.

The way I see, the big downside to the SJP Strategy, getting locked out of later MBs, is easily rectified by stacking episodes with your MBs and, more or less, ignoring them in favour of focusing on your SJPs. It really only takes a couple additional shots to light them before starting an episode and your MB. If you play as Raph, you can get that first lock/first Episode started in 1 shot, potentially starting your 2nd Episode with your 3rd lock, 2 episodes down. Episode 3 with TPMB and Episode 4 by itself to light TUMB/re-light MBs and then do that all again.

Easier said than done for sure. But if you're doing that, your winning at TMNT.

Thanks! It was a slog, but I learned a lot with the glass off.
Oh yeah, you're right about me oversimplifing the shots (and I did that personally because the post was getting out of control, like this one probably will too ). But at the same time if you followed the only youtube tournament strategy you definitely would end up in MB jail. So if you don't blow it up on npmb you're screwed. Raph is a strategy for sure, but no one if more efficient at getting some practice on mb and hopefully getting 2x going before npmb. Leo is more efficient than raph too because you get 4 shots on lair and only 4 shots away from 2x(vs Raphs 2 ramp shots to start). But then all those shots to light tpmb if you want the practice. But it might also depend on what shots you feel most comfortable with.
...so many options, that's why I love this game. It's so close to being a gem.
And I definitely hear you about stacking. I'm starting to appreciate the ability not to just stack modes and mb (and decide on what you should be focusing on (and try not to get easily distracted by shiney keys jingling)(squirrel!)), but stacking of shots. For instance if you get April HU in a mb, avoid it unless it's stacked with a shot you want, instead, it'll wait until the mb is over, it's often still lit and you can get the April AND an episode qualifying shot that you needed anyways.
I think it's nuts to only go for NPMB, it doesn't mean you wouldn't beat someone doing it (and you'd probably beat someone who doesn't know the rules), but this game has TONS of points if you know how to stack shots and be efficient.
Separately with mode selection you're totally right about some being easier. There's also some that I focus on too (the Krang eps) because I value the perks in TUMB. But if I go into mb I find some are an easy lock. The mousers and the pizza dimentional one are both perfect for going jnto a mb. You can get them without thinking about it. On the other hand I find if you start Slash, body, or Ray ep., you're unlikely to complete them unless you do focus at least a bit. When I first realized this I tried to switch eppisodes but found it a fools game. I'm sometimes suckered into it though.
...
All that said, I'm with a lot of you guys, I'm more interested in progress at home. If I don't get anything about 40mil I hardly even look at the score. ...well, unless it's under a mil, then I take notice as well.

Does anyone have a link they can send me for a replacement servo for the Glider?

Also is there a how to guide on how to do the replacement?

I have a pro so I'm not much help directly but if you go to page one of this forum there should be a shortcut to pages where people were talking about it. There's many posts too but you'd have to do a lot of digging to find them all.

Thanks I tried to use the forum, but I couldn't find a reliable answer or how to guide.

Wait, how do you stack episodes? I mean if you hit the Pizza parlor when the TV is lit, you’ve started the episode and cannot initiate starting another one till that episode is finished? Please explain how to stack episodes if I’m missing something here…

Turtle Power Crash for the first time in a while, normally Im not signed in.

Raph Level 4 (persistent)
Signed into Insider Connected using Home Team
NPMB played
2 Episodes completed: Mousers and a Shredder one
I Want a Body Episode was active
Had 1 April Hurry up Collected, I think I had one ready to collect as well. (I feel like this might be a key to the crash.)

Just stacking 1 episode with a MB. Not 2 episodes.

I had a crash when I had the glass off too. First in ages. I'm still last code (1.51?). Did you have any balls in the parlor shot? I often find one ball kicks out of there on mine after it resets. Could just be a coincidence.

Go, go , go Xaqery start planning for it! Get it up on the current code update project list in the office!
Get the bugs squashed, update the scoring system to be more in lined how other pins are - higher scoring, more rewarding shots etc Having this table for progression and scoring would make this one of the best!