Posted in the CE Thread. Sharing here.

I just posted my review on this machine last night. I'm admittedly in the Honeymoon phase with this game, so time will tell if the love in fades!

First of all, the ratings are all subjective, but the way people try to manipulate them is just sad and stupid. A perfect 10 for ANY machine is as stupid as a rating of 2 for this particular machine. This game is BONKERS. I'm thinking it's definitely one of the best pins ever made... But it's not a perfect 10. I think my rating worked out to a 9.3 ish. Lighting and Animations got perfect 10s for me, as did layout and rules... But there is literally NOT a toy in the game. How can you give that a 10?? Point being, I DON'T CARE that it doesn't have a goofy pinball toy... The rest of the package MORE THAN makes up for that. Would it be BETTER with a toy?! I don't know. It's almost perfect as is.

I was a JJGnR Naysayer at the outset. I was saying things like, "Well, it's definitely an impressive piece of hardware... but will it be any fun to play?!", Or "Sure, it's full of assets, but all of those assets are Guns and Roses... So, if you don't like the band, who cares?!"

I've never been so happy to be wrong about a machine. Eric and team knocked this one out of the park... Actually, they knocked it out of the County that the ball park is in!! I was really looking forward to telling a bunch of my pals that the game they are so excited about BLOWS... but it is simply amazing.

Here's the main thing I want to say. This game is incredible, but NOT for the reasons that are getting a lot of people excited. I really don't care about the number of GnR songs, and video content, and LEDs... The Game SHOOTS Great, has GREAT Risk Reward Code design, and is exhilarating to play. It would be just as good with 300 Less Lights, and half the songs, and video content. I'm not saying those things don't make it better (Of course they Do!), but the bones of a great pinball experience are there. Shots, Rules, Theme Integration.

I'm a HUGE Stern fan. I think JP is one of the best pins ever made. I also love my AIQ. I've always been a fan of what JJP was TRYING to do. I think they've finally done it with GnR. A good friend locally messaged me, "Every other pin in my collection is now for sale". HA. I'm not going there yet, but this pin is blowing my mind.

Kudos to the entire JJP Team on creating a truly magnificent Pinball experience. Like Maiden and Met before it... It's even turning me in to a bit of a GnR Fan! That's something I never thought I'd say!

I’m trying to say that the game not having a toy doesn’t effect my opinion of the game. I think most toys are silly. I suppose I would define a toy as an interactive Mech.

I LOVE the proximity sensors. That’s a wicked innovation, but it’s just a new switch. I love Sterns new Opto Spinners too.

The MM Castle is a Toy. The TOM Crate.

I GET that the whole game is a next level experience, but the fact that it doesn’t NEED a Toy doesn’t mean it HAS a great Toy! Haha

Either way... LOVE THIS GAME. Can’t get enough of it.

I SUPPOSE so... My point is, I LOVE the game.

I really don't like the CE Cab Artwork though. I think the LE Cab looks best personally... But I love having the physical Coma Lock! I also don't like the Keyboard being such a focal point in the centre of the playfield... But these are all TINY and Insignificant Nitpicks. These small criticisms stop the game from being a perfect 10 for me, But it's still One of the best Pinball Packages ever produced.

Cheers. I agree, the Mini Playfield is perfectly balanced and challenging. Especially during Multiball. It’s awesome.

I don’t understand why they’re even updating the code to this game at all... it’s already a perfect 10!?!

Ok, funny story. I haven’t been able to get my wifi connection working ever since my first code update. I tried all sorts of interesting tweaks to the AP of my system. I couldn’t get the game to see the wifi, despite my phone showing a pretty good signal. I’m relatively tech savvy, so I was finding this to be quite perplexing.

I was then asked a Deeply insulting question by a member of the JJP team. “Is it possible you removed the Wifi Dongle when you did your code update?”

My response, “Why would I have removed the Wifi Dongle?!”

JJP “Where did you plug in your USB stick to preform the update?”

Me “I used the USB cable that’s right by the coin box... Wait... WAS that TINY black cap that I thought was just a plastic protector on the end of the USB cable, “The Wifi Dongle”?!?!

Luckily I’d dropped it in to the coin box for some reason instead of throwing it out, despite believing it was merely a plastic cap to protect the USB end from getting crushed... or something!

I’m an idiot.

Yes indeed!

I torqued that ball guide on the right side of the lane to lean a little more towards the pick spinner giving it less of a chance to hang up there. It worked great. Haven't had a hang up since.

It's a little tricky to get at. I came straight down from the top without removing anything, using a flat head screw driver. VERY GENTLY torque to the left. You don't want to put any undue stress on the posts. I sort of used the ball lock outside lane guide as a leverage point, I think. Good luck!

Why would anybody want to keep High Scores that were not achieved on the code the game is currently running?!

Pinside: Will I lose my Scores? I don’t want to lose my scores. How can I keep my high scores?! How can I put my scores back in?

Me: Why would you want scores from previous code versions?

LTG : It’s the SETTINGS they want to keep.

Me: I must have misunderstood!

There seems to be a fundamental misunderstanding of how this works. This is true of almost EVERY PINBALL MACHINE since the 80s.

Pressing the Right flipper, moves the lights to the right (Inlane/Outane, AND Top Lanes)

If you have 2 letters of "AMP" collected, and then you press the right flipper... those 2 lights move to the GNR Lane. If you have 2 letters of JAM Lit and then press the right flipper, those 2 move to the AMP Lane.

Or you can move them the other way with the left flipper.

You are always cycling the lights either left or right.

You should ALWAYS be moving lights to collect sets, in both the top lanes and the inlane and outlanes of almost every modern pinball machine.

If you're trying to collect patches and start AMP multiball (Whatever it's called... "Turn it Up?!"), it's imperative that you understand this process.

If you're about to roll through the GNR Lane, and notice you have 2 JAM letters collected, quickly press the left flipper once to move those 2 lights to the GNR Lane. Rolling over the lane will complete.

You're not REALLY collecting specific letters, You're collecting sets of lights.

Hopefully that's helpful to the folks who didn't understand it.

Apologies if that's not what you're trying to say here. Several posts by different people have made me think this fundamental process isn't understood.

Happy to help... If that's what I'm doing!??

Lane doesn't ever flash as far as I know?! You are awarded a single light for every lane you roll through. Even if you roll UP the lane as often happens when you trap a high speed ball.

You are correct, the 3rd light completes set, no matter where it happens. There is no "Active" Lane, other than the one the ball is rolling through to award a light.

Completing a Set on the Left starts Turn it Up Multiball.

Completing a Set on the second Left Inlane awards a Patch.

Completing a Set in the Right Inlane lights to "Jam" Target to spot a band member.

I tried updating via wifi from 1.18 to 1.19 X3.

Each time, the update downloaded but failed to verify.

I tried doing a Delta Update Via USB. Again failed to Verify.

Reformatted USB stick. Still no Joy.

Tried a different USB Stick. Update successful.

They say the definition of insanity is repeating the same actions and expecting different results, but in pinball... it’s a necessity!!