I have had no frustration with the left outlane since I installed the double post.

For the lair superbands make it much easier. It taught me the rolling backflip which once I got the hang of it found it quite easy. Also quite achievable with the right flipper whilst holding the left.

It is a rewarding shot. I really enjoy the training challenge. I like how time can be extended. I also like how it is used for super jackpots.

If you have not adjusted the outlane or put superbands on I suggest you give it a go. No point owning a pin that gives you the shits. The game is still hard but when I have a good game I feel pretty good about it.

One of the things you are missing with the pro is the lair lock. The mushroom(?) pizza topping enables that and it's definitely worth hitting during PPMB.

I think there's still room for improvement. For example, Mike's pizza eating perk. It's a perk that applies to only a very small part of the game as opposed to something that generally helps you along as you play the game (like increasing April Hurry Up points).

Rob

I have the Mezel Mods Glider as well. What Raph did you get exactly? Trying to find one. Thanks.

There are a few different ones that were made in the early 90s. Its a about a size of a quarter.

Screenshot_20201022-011444_eBay (resized).jpg

I've seen the Pinstadium Neo and they don't seem like they are for me - too much reflection from the plastics and playfield, am I off base?

I got one of the second run of TMNT Pro games and have ZERO playfield issues. I don't know who got the bad one(s) - and certainly was worried when I saw the pictures - but mine was excellent. Received mine late August/early September.

Wrong, it looks very good. I'm happy with my buy.

I had one of the first pros. Art under star post. But I must say besides the silly chipping under the pizza parlour ball guide on the right no probs except for the shooter lane chipping on first day Grrrrr. The actual art is pristine and I have no dimples on playfield which I thought never happened. Except for the drop under the right ramp exit in the left orbit. Guess everyone will get dimples there. Wonder if a cliffy with printed art on top would solve this area?

i searched the internet long time to find a glider toy, but i was not successful. I think there is none. And a smart move of Stern to use a toy that is not avaiable on the market

yes 70$ is much, but i don't think there is much of an alternative, if you can't 3D-Print and design yourself.

Tight shots? Where in this game is one tight shot? JP has tight shots, i still play the game every day and i love how challanging it is.
The shots in TMNT are just punishing AF with this left outlane and tons of high risk targets next to nearly every important shot, now add an unsatisfying code and you have TMNT.
Last code update was one month ago with nearly no change, final battle was a really unsatisfying experience for me. I drained with ball two on the second stage and wasn't able to continue with ball three, the game just starts over again and scoring was weak.
IMO It could have been a good machine with some layout and code adjustments- not happening.

I have a TMNT Pro running 1.22 code and my ramp lock is not working. Coil test does nothing. My distro sent me a new coil as the original one had burn marks on the wrapper but after installing the new coil it still does not work. Interesting thing as in the coil test mode it also lists the wrong color wire. it says YELLOW when it is actually GREY/BLACK for power.

I also noticed the readme file on stern code download is only 1.21.

Anyone have the same issue or any ideas? Everything else on the game works fine so didnt think it could be the node board?

https://mezelmods.com/collections/teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-pinball-stern/products/teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-pinball-pro-glider

I have the neo (not the new fusions). This was my first set of lights and I was on the fence about buying them since they are a pretty big investment. After having them for a few months now I'm super glad I got them. I can play this machine in a dark room with no issues. It does have some reflection off of some things on the sides but I really dont notice. This is something I wish I had on every machine. Would buy again in a second.

Regarding the software 1.22 issue some (LE owners?) of us face with the machine loading 4 balls into the van during turtle power multiball (and then forgetting about the 4th ball): I think my distributor here found the solution. The receiver board on my ball trough (the one closer to the player) apparently was a new type of this board and the sensors did not align with the respective holes against which it is mounted, thus blocking one of the sensors. My distributor just replaced the board with a different version (don't know whether "older" or "newer") and since then, I have been able to play 10+ TP MBs properly with no issues anymore - on software 1.22!

@xaqery: Might this make sense? Again, I use the LE #62/500.

pinballaddicted Thunderbird Mr_G_Hosting

I swear on mine it doesn't happen during the TP MB it happens when I get the pizza multiball with the extra balls (gummy bears) that dump out of the van. I usually play Michelangelo and get this first and find I have to drop the glass and get the ball from the van after its done.

Eh screw it I just ordered one too.

Who is running the 1987 version and is it fun, better, different, must-have etc? Keen to hear everyone's thoughts before making this change. Thanks!

of course the shots are same, but else it's a total different experience. It's no big trouble going back and forth if you have two 2 sd cards.
I personally would not change it that often, it will flash the node boards on each change and i am not sure how often they are writable or if it matters at all.

I playing the machine for some time now, i like both versions.
At first i disliked the Stern version, i would say i got used to and get along with it now, but some animations will just suck forever
1987 is more teleporting you back to the end of 80s its so much near that feeling. So if you can still remember late 80s and know the original series
it's a must to try out.

I put the 1987 code on yesterday. Only played one game so far, but both me and my wife are very very impressed! I’m loving it,can’t wait too see all the other animations for modes etc. I only saw mousers and beebop n rocksteady, and multiballs, soooo much better imo . Very well done indeed. And the “game over” credits totally rule !!

The right orbit is a tight shot, the Krang loop is tight, the Pizza Parlour shot is pretty tight, Lair Lane/under flipper shot is tight. The ramps are pretty steep, so even if they aren't exactly tight, you do need to hit them pretty clean to make them.

But yeah, I think we can agree TMNT isn't Houdini or anything.

I watched a Twitch streamer get very far in the final battle on a Pro in Competition Play (no extra balls?) and I think my ultimate takeaway from that was git gud.

In case anyone is interested, here's the stream starting from his ball two where he goes from two completed modes all the way to Final Battle after completing all episodes successfully:
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/767598589?t=1h45m20s

Clearly he's a skilled player. That said, I think this proves that the game is fair. His final score was around 140 Million, which I've never seen before on this game. Not sure what code version, but even on old code, that score seems pretty high.

Our distro informed us that Stern are aware of the Van loading issue and will address in the next code update.

I've gotten to Final Battle with 7 of 8 modes completed, with 2X PF running and was awarded like 43 million just for starting Final Battle. Definitely alot of points to be had if you make it that far. I think you're awarded 2.5 million as a base plus up to 25 million depending on episodes completed which can then be doubled to 55 million.

I find all the episodes have heaps of variety. Mousers is over so quick so you better get control of the ball quick or be in mb.

How did you find the final battle? Has it got spark?

For some reason I still find the right ramp tough.

right ramp rattles around a lot. it is tough for sure.

I'm finally at the point of buying this pin. Leaning towards Premium/LE.

Really want a LE. But would I lose out on warranty fixes and such if I go secondary route?

I believe officially, yes. Actually, no. I have never had Stern deny a legit claim (up to and including playfield replacements) because of not being the original owner.

Yeah, I agree, the episodes are all unique enough and the call outs and video do the job well, in my opinion.

Final Battle is pretty good, but I think the fact that you can do Final Battle Challenge maybe takes away a bit of the specialness of it. Though ultimately, it is a fun mode. Though it's a little weird how phase 1 is MB, phase 2 is single ball and phase 3 is MB again.

Thanks! Yeah I won’t do the challenge on its own unless I have to sell it and I’ve never made it to final battle. That won’t happen unless I’m desperate for cash. Great game.

Can you please provide a list of the Colored titan rubbers you had to order, i was planning on just all green, but matching them with the playfield will look much better

Also do low bounce make games a bit easier ?
whats peoples opinion on low bounce flipper rubbers

Anyone had this issue before looks like I might need a new board 9? Seems like it’s just off the lights on board 9 and the pizza spinner, lairshot and who knows what else..

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Says you have a short in a GI (general illumination) bulb on topside of the playfield around the mid-playfleld area. Remove the GI bulbs and re-insert them one at a time to isolate which one (or ones) went bad.

Thanks bud I’ll check it out tomorrow and see if I can pinpoint the problem. I didn’t get that far I was trying to fix another pin of mine.. to many pins and to many problems not enough time lol

I've seen a lot of comments as to the rules of the game and how code could fix some of the brutality or fairness. I have a few ideas I think would not be terribly difficult to implement. Maybe Xaqery will take some of these into consideration <fingers crossed>

1) I have played this game a TON. I really do enjoy it a lot. I can't tell you how many hours I've put in (but it's a lot), and I think I know the rules as well as anybody who didn't write the code. Yet... I STILL cannot figure out how to re-qualify L-A-I-R and A-P-R-I-L after you collect so many that they stop allowing collects. Does anyone know? I feel like it might just be a "next ball" sort of thing... possibly only after Team-Up is completed? Regardless, the reason I bring this up is because it really halts the game, and there are several other areas of the code like this. I'd like a flat out way to re-qualify them during a single ball.

2) Why can't there be a way to get Bonus Hold outside of the pop-bumpers? It could be very strategic and fun to allow for this in some way.

3) I'd love to see the level-up abilities re-worked. A lot of the level 3 and 4 bonuses aren't relevant by the time you'd get them. I go into detail on this in the following post:

4) More interesting pizza slice benchmarks.... maybe pizza eating contest + Bonus Hold on one of them.... I don't know I feel like there's a lot more that could be done with it.

5) I am not sure how jackpots are set and how they climb in Turtle Power Multiball, but maybe you could combine something like if you collect a weapon during the ball that you're on when you get Turtle Power Multiball, the jackpots double... or something... I don't know, I'd just like to see some more meshing of the objectives.

6) Utilize the action button more!!! You pioneered action button play with GoT and Star Wars... why did you completely forget it in this game? I know there's a glider mech to worry about, but there's gotta be a way.

7) I HATE the "Battle Again" mechanic... we all hate the darn left outlane. It's not a secret. However, I should be able to set Battle Again on it to counter this. I swear... every time I get "Battle Again" lit, it moves to the opposite outlane. I really want this to be less random. I think EVERYONE would be extremely happy if there was a way to pick the left outlane or even just give us both lit and once one of them is used they both go out. Just... something is gotta be possible here.

A lot of people mention that they don't like 1-2-3 foot because it sort of blocks them from other objectives. I feel like I might be in the minority on this, but I actually like it for that exact reason. It's nice to have it block Turtle Power Multiball so I can collect the episode light without going forward with the multiball (I like to bring a multiball into an episode). This topic of objectives blocking other objectives is extremely relevant in this game though, I think it might be overused a bit. The flow of the game just seems halted more frequently than you'd expect.

Sometimes I wonder if this game was meant more for co-op than for single player because it certainly plays friendlier when you have multiple people. It's just a ton more fun because there's never a 4-player game where everyone doesn't get Team-Up, and that's really cool.... however.... I play pinball solo these day much more frequently than with people (thanks a lot COVID-19 ... ) and I think the solo game suffers quite a bit.

I love the feeling of the low bounce flipper rubbers from Titan. I put them on all my machines now. They make the flippers more controllable and easier to catch the ball. They also slow down the ball if you are hitting one that is coming at you since it sort of cushions it. So overall more controllable and I love the feel a lot better.

thats the same error (minus gi-wht) that I got when i updated my premium to 1.21 on day one that nuked my glider from working again.

There is no warranty.

Have you checked out the rule sheet? There’s a link to it in this forum. Starting the next episode qualifies the next lair and April. So do an episode then hit the mono targets to start next training.

Go to game specific settings and change the battle again option to flipper buttons. Then you can quickly change the position with a flipper press. No more randomness. And adds a bit of fun to the outlanes.

If you hate the left outlane, use drawer bumper or Siamese post.

Here‘s the most detailed rulesheet I know: http://tiltforums.com/t/stern-tmnt-rulesheet-early-wip/6599

Crater

I respectfully disagree. Both orbits are tight. Inner ramp and loop are tricky. Right ramp is sort of tight and closer to the flippers than a lot of ramps. Lair is hard for a lot of people until they sharpen their skills.

I’ve played a bit of JP2 and I don’t find the shots that hard.

As to frustrating and cheap, once the left outlane is fixed the game does not have cheap drains. Try TWD.

As to drains when missing shots, WCS, NGG, AFM will all bounce SDTM if you hit a ramp post. These are easy games. They drain. Why is turtles so unfair.

No orbits drain if I rattle them, left ramp fail does not drain, right ramp fail sometimes. Pizza parlour reject always kicks to the right and goes safely to right flipper. Stand ups don’t drain for me. The only shot that I miss that can piss me off besides hitting a ramp post is if I miss with the upper left flipper and go straight down right outlane.

I love the code. And the shots. I get a buzz and sometimes I’m frustrated. But isn’t that why we play for the challenge? I get it that it’s not the hobbit and I can’t have a 1 hour game. But that’s not what I want. I want the fast frenzy of turtles and I don’t mind short games.

You’ve sold your game. Stop coming into the owners club and shitting on our game. All the best dude!

Here is my list of Titans I ordered, with colors to match PF areas. (See earlier post with photos)

I haven’t tried the low bounce flipper rings, so can’t give an opinion, but would think low bounce might have more control.
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Would agree and like to add my take after really looking this design over and thinking about it. Some people just don’t seem to get the brilliance of this design, as if John Borg a designer for 30+ years, doesn’t know what he’s doing. Lol

TMNT is an asymmetrical PF. It’s not meant to have evenly balanced left and right out-lanes, with evenly balanced drain numbers, like typical fan layouts. It’s not a fan layout, rather its layout is meant to be a game of flow from one shot to another. Example, flow from right ramp to upper right flipper to center ramp, diverted back to right flipper, flowing to the left ramp, to begin an episode.

Think TMNT is being incorrectly maligned as to the left outlane drain, since it was opened up on purpose to create some challenge, without which, challenge would be greatly reduced. It is not a left outlane drain monster as some think, after really studying the layout design. The design is quite unusual and not symmetrical like many fan layout PFs. Study the flow of the table and see that it is not a layout meant to frustrate players, rather a new style layout, that is more appreciated, the more its played. I think in years to come, TMNT will be highly sought after by pinball players as they begin to understand the brilliance in game play design. TMNT has been created by one of the most savvy experienced designers in the world of pinball, John Borg. Think TMNT and Tron are a couple of his best ball flow designs. Tron was not well appreciated at first either, until players began to recognize some of the things I’m mentioning here.

TMNT, even has 2 of its flippers on the left with most shots shooting from left to right. Without being diverted, most balls are returned to the left hand flippers. The diverter helps get the ball to the right flipper or shoot right ramp or right orbit to get it around to the right flipper. The geometry is quite unusual and after studying it out, quite a brilliant design and unlike most any other layout in pinball. You cannot flail the ball around without draining frustration and therefore shots need to be setup by cradling. Speed is a feature of this game, so you’re not just chopping wood, with hitting the ball on the same shot over and over again. The ball actually keeps gaining speed to reach climax and then returns to the flippers.

What do you guys think of the design after thinking about it, not as the typical symmetrical centric design like most PFs, rather being an asymmetrical left hand design?

I really thought I'd tried this... feel a bit sheepish on that one

The pinball scene in Seattle is pretty hoppin' and I play tournaments and leagues a lot. I like to keep the settings default so I don't get too used to something way off. If there are custom settings for this, I think the flipper choice would be a better default than the sling change.

I don't disagree with the aim of your thesis, but there's an undeniable and uncontrollable "swish-factor" on that left outlane. That's a fact. I don't disparage pins for trying something new, I absolutely love unique designs. That's why I'm a big fan of mid-80s Bally games. They tried a bunch out there and took some BIG swings and sometimes missed. The problem is the swish-factor on that outlane is accentuated by the randomness of the disc and slings. That along with the Battle Again default being too randomized make it unusually brutal. That was really my original point. With a sure-fire default-rules way to "Battle Again" that outlane, I think it would negate the negativity around the left outlane.

My original post was meant to help cultivate ideas on things I've noticed during play. I hope we don't get too focused on the left outlane. It was late when I wrote it and I meant to be a bit sarcastic but maybe it came out differently in my head. It's just been a topic of discussion a lot lately and so I brought it up meaning to connect it with the Battle Again portion.

thats fair.

My ramp lock hasn’t worked on my pro since updating to 1.21. Can you tell me more about your glider issue? Did a node board die after updating?

The layout feels like a faster version of Star Trek to me except center ramp and upper flipper flipped to opposite sides. The right ramp is just closer but same layout feel when played side by side. I knew they looked similar layout when i got TMNT but after playing them together Star Trek has to go cause TMNT is just more fun and challenging to me.

I used this kit, all green. Was actually a much easier install then I thought. Once you get remove the two wireforms you can access just about everything. I didn't worry about PF color matching. Green everywhere looks great.

https://www.titanpinball.com/kits/index.php/view/id/1463

Could you post a picture?

What kit?

Kinda the same, it worked for a bit, then started to stop working. Started locking the ball then it would release right after in one game, now in the very next game it doesn’t lock at all. Saw someone replaced their coil already and that didn’t fix it. Doesn’t trigger in the coil test either.

Edit: every once in awhile it will trigger during the slash episode, it’s weird.