The GSX was an amazing machine.
http://www.tappedin.com/hop/html/sd_gsx.htm
It carried two people comfortably and got up to close to 100kmh, close to 55mph. It was very, very fast and powerful. Unfortunately it was stolen and then about a month later Sydney Harbour was closed to jet skis. So, even though it was sad, it worked out because there'd be no more flying past the Opera House under the Harbour Bridge. Still, there are plenty of other spots up the coast.
But, I have the T2 machine now and am more than pleased with it.
Strangely enough, I played AC/DC, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Indiana Jones: The Pinball Adventure, Avengers and X-Men tonight. I thought the newer games would be better than T2 but I actually thought they weren't as good. The play fields were more complicated/gimmicky, there was more looking at the DMD (which means the game slows as you stop and read) and the worst thing was that with all of the toys and moving ramps it was hard to see where the ball actually was. I felt like I was shooting under the toys at ramps/targets that were covered. I didn't really like the moving ramps that came across the play field and blocked the view of the ball either. AC/DC has an 'Escape Loop' like T2 but the ball gets hidden at the top and just pops out on the left without warning. It also has hard-to-see roll-overs at the top of the play field which light the letters.
Coming home to play T2 was refreshing. The play field was clean, the rules were still good, the ramps and rails are great, the artwork is very, very good and not too overdone, and the choice of the blue, silver, red and black was spot on. I wonder if the new designers made things too complicated over the years. I still think the guys that make these games are amazing but maybe it's time to take another look at design philosophy. Perhaps it's also the fact that I'm not a fan of Stern parts. I think Williams, and Gottlieb in the earlier 1970's EM machine, got it right with the look and feel of the pinball machine as a whole. I find the Stern parts a bit clunky. I'm sure they're top quality but they just don't feel quite right to me. Perhaps I'm not used to them but they feel more industrial than an 'engineering work of art'. I do praise Stern though for continuing to make new machines. Good on them. Don't stop.
I don't think I'm biased because I like T2, but perhaps the newer games should be 'cleaner'.
To me T2 works so well because I see it starting life as 'Flash', then grew into 'Fire Power' and finally as a refined and enhanced version of both in the form of 'T2'. Maybe it's because of those iterations that it's as good as it is. It's a 'Version 3' pinball where Flash and Fire Power are the previous 2 versions.
Just some thoughts.