My vote is for Godzilla. I have both, and much prefer the mando theme, but godzilla just plays a lot more fun for me. More action, more forgiving, more cool stuff happening every game. I love my mando and will never let it go, so no hate there, but if I could choose one it would be Godzilla. You wont be disappointed either way.

Interesting, thanks for the input! It definitely helps to hear from someone with both pins.

If it’s your first pin get the one that feels best and you like the theme the most. You’re not married to the choice and can change easy enough. Everyone likes something different and only one opinion matters in pinball… yours.

Elwin rightly gets tons of hype but I sold my JP and AIQ and will likely never own them again.

If you only have one pin the theme will be a statement, make sure you like it.

That’s true, tastes are far from universal and I can imagine that with Godzilla being the new thing, it maybe getting the “new shiny” bump right now too. Thanks for the insight!

I own both, and to be honest I would go with Mando. The rules and code are way better imo. I also think the shots are more fun on Mando. Godzilla edges it out on layout but the rules hold it back for me. I think they are both great games and worth owning, but the rules in Mando are a blast. The mini wizard modes are really fun and the progression in them is immersive.

Thanks for the response! I’m leaning that way after everyone’s replies here and this is great endorsement for Mando!

Owning Mando and played Godzilla. Mando is total immersed with the series. The call outs, music, all just is very well integrated. The rules are understandable and can be made, not easy but achievable. I owned Keith Elwin games before and rules and shots are hard. Mando most shots are ok, just some are harder. Godzilla is a real good shooter, the upperloop is very good to do, better than shots on JP. The building is nice, the magna grab is real good, the ramps are awesome for the flow, the movie clips are campy. All in all a very good machine, but for me the theme is not a hit. Godzilla is not in my top 10 list of great movies/franchises. So the music and call outs are not for me. The in game music is even repetative, and the radio voice is getting boring after many games. Rules for Godzilla I do not know to well. But knowing Keith it will be a players ruleset so not getting any mode progression when draining, hence mini wizards are far away on a 3 or 4 ball game. Mando with the foundry also really helps to progress through the game. Then there are the few suprises in Mando like Ambush, Dank Farik, and just all the fantastic movie clips. Only thing to wish for is a real great topper, like blackknight for this title. Polish the code and bring Luke more to the achievable modes, or make the final wizard mode a challenge mode in the start menu. Oh the coop and impossible play is really nice with friends. That all including the price increase on Godzilla and the insder connect which I am not going to use, makes Mando the theme for me. But try to play them first for your own assessment.

Mando premium is a tough shooter. I scored 85 million on a Godzilla LE in the wild on on my first game. Do you like tough shooting, tight shot, pins with a lot of drains SDTM and often sling to outlane drains (Mando) or more flowy, longer playing time (GZ pre) pins? IMHO both will retain value if you are worried about changing your mind, assuming you pay around MSRP that is.

Theme always wins out for me so go with your gut. Especially as this is your first pin.

I posted my thoughts a few pages back after playing a Godzilla LE. Don't get me wrong, Godzilla is great and will only get better. But as an adrenaline rush and sweet code Mando LE/Premium wins out.

Godzilla is quite an open game with longer shots and plenty to do at the sides, out of both games it probably has more shots. Mando has closer shots to the player so feels faster. It also flows better and is less forgiving which I find to be a good thing. It has the video, music, sound effects from the show which is a win for theme integration.

Godzilla was missing a killer shot for me, something that feels really satisfying. Mando Prem/LE has the up/down ramp on the premium which feels super nice when you get it. Upper playfield is fun. Also some modes which give the player an instant buzz like 'hunter'.

p.s. Dwight is not finished yet

Don’t forget scope! Love it when you make one of those shots and the flashers go crazy and the shaker goes absolutely bonkers!!

Thanks everyone, this is some great info and really helps give me some context and perspective on each machine. It seems like I won’t go wrong with either though I’m still weighing my options. Will definitely be heading back to the showroom soon to get some more games in both.

Yes!

And another beauty... nailing the 3 super skill shots in succession and then getting shot in the face by IG-11!

I haven't had the game very long and am still feeling it out. After a few weeks I had only put up a top score of around 150,000,000. After reading this I changed my approach and put up a score of about 425,000,000 after only about 5 tries. I beat my prior top score on 3 out of the 5 games. Thanks for posting this. It's input like this that's helping me become a better player.

Just a bit of an update for anyone that might be interested… I got the chance to hit up the Stern pinball room at SD Comic Con “Special Edition” this weekend and sunk a bunch of time into both machines plus several others. The con itself was very meh but thanks to the low attendance I was able to get 7-8 hours of pinball in!

After all the plays I’m definitely going with Mando, it honestly wasn’t even close for me. The cohesion of theme with what’s going on the field really stood out and was way more enjoyable. Also the fact that the Razorcrest multiballs are easy to trigger really helps get something interesting going quickly which will be nice when novice folks come over to play. I know Godzilla has some interesting things to get to but honestly even after several hours of general play across all the machines I still couldn’t really get anything interesting going, though I did still somehow get a ~55 million score on one play. All just kind of baffling… Anyway, I’m sure I could get there with Godzilla but can definitely see it being a turn off when friends come over, particularly after playing a round with a friend who stopped by the room for a bit yesterday.

A few other machines stood out to me including Deadpool, AIQ and a JP premium with a shaker. By the time I left, AIQ was probably second place for me overall, though JP with a shaker was just badass—the general game play wasn’t pulling me in much.

Speaking of shakers, how do folks feel about it for Mando? Does it add enough to justify the added maintenance? Do the impacts even make sense with the game play? I know the install is pretty easy but after talking with the dealer it sounds like there will be extra time spent tightening/replacing screws and what not if I do install one.

The shaker is too much for me in Mando. Maybe if they turned down the intensity or made it adjustable in the menu so then we could tune intensity and frequency. I disabled it after the first day of unboxing my LE. Other stern games with shakers are great to me. But yea t was just obnoxious on Mando.

Just set it to minimal in the settings

Alright, good to know. That’s a bummer that you can’t adjust it in the system settings. I know it seemed pretty intense in the couple streams I’ve watch on YouTube but wasn’t sure if it just because of the mic placement.

Minimal just adjusts the frequency of its triggering. Not the intensity when it does.

Ah, so there is a setting!

To adjust intensity you can adjust the actual position of the weights in the shaker.

So far the shaker doesn’t really contribute much on Mando. I may take it out of my Mando pro and install it in Godzilla premium

I’ve noticed a difference with the intensity of the shaker when hitting a scope target between maximal and minimal.

Generally I see the frequency change but that is one case I’ve seen intensity drop as well. Can’t think of any other moments I’ve noticed yet.

For sure. I need to get a new hex wrench. The one I used to try to adjust it rounded off the edges of my hex wrench. Need to find a stouter wrench. Then I will offset it 90 degrees from the other.

Yeah, that was my first thought and outside of JP it seems like it would be sort of superfluous in most machines, though Godzilla does seem like a pretty good theme fit.

I like the shaker in Mando but don’t forget the code isn’t finished yet and full shaker is normally one of the last things they worry about as not everyone has one.
Elvira HOH was the same and the final code makes great use of the shaker from gentle rumbles with the lightning to full on.

Great point, I’ll keep that in mind and since it’s an aftermarket change I can wait and see how things shake out(pun intended, ha)

Its really good in Godzilla.

Im finding for big scores this game, like most dwight codes, is very multiplier heavy. Ambush isn't worth a lot nor are most of the child awards.

The important thing to note here is that Dwight has coded it in such a way that you really have to earn your pf x and use most of the playfield to do it. Quite genius coding really.

For progression its very easy to simply ignore whats happening with pf x and get through the game with a modest score... BUT doing both takes extra skill, again brilliant coding. This all keeps the player interested and making constant choices.

I would like the child to be more lucrative though amd ambush. Plus that magnet not sending the ball down the middle shot and missing all the lanes which is frustrating. Aside from that... its a pretty awesome game.

I play the pro version of the game in league and I find I avoid the encounters at all cost which makes the upper right of the game useless to me. Also seems if you sneak the ball in the ball save disappears so I don't try to do that anymore either. The game ends up just combining modes with the multiball while keeping the playfield multi up using the boba Fett targets. The hunter can be big with playfield multi but that is just a target of opportunity as I don't actively go for it. Basically just keep doing the mission/multiball stack.

Maybe if I had the game at home I'd play it differently but for competition I only use those three features.

That’s interesting because I have a pro at home and always go straight for encounters. I’ve figured out the timing on my game to consistently hit the left ramp via right flipper when the ball leaves the mini playfield so I can keep progressing through encounters continuously.
Love that this game caters so many different (and personal) strategies.

So satisfying to make that shot multiple times in succession!

How's everyone going in the challenge mode?

I'm finding myself playing it quite a bit as it's a fun distraction from the main game (along with impossible mode).

Trying to break the 300 million barrier at the moment, but just can't quite get there.

mando_challenge_mode (resized).png

I'm digging the challenge mode, I try to shoot one a day as a warm-up before I get serious. Speaking of novelty play,what kind of scores have people put up on impossible mode?

IMG_20211201_221039011 (resized).jpg

IMG_20211201_221242062 (resized).jpg

I've managed to break the 500mil barrier once on impossible mode.

Usually takes me a game (or two) after playing impossible to get back into being comfortable with cradling again

mando_impossible_score (resized).png

That's impressive, I found its not having the ball saves that really kills me in impossible mode.

So... If the new games are shipping with the 1.11.0 code, when can we expect to see that available for download?

Mine shakes the hell out of my game, multiballs, jackpots, ambush, super jackpot but the shaker is most awesome on scope.

1.11 is probably the connect update, we are only on .97 or .98 so that’s quite a jump to 1.11, obviously guessing but I can’t see new mandos shipping with additional gameplay code if it’s not been released yet but they are coming out with connect so that makes sense.

BK:SOR just updated also with v1.11 code including the connect thing. Hope something is added to Mando, the last code update seemed a bit behind in terms of ideas Dwight had previously discussed

I have spoke with Dwight about Mando he certainly had the passion for this game and theme. He has likely been busy having to work on TMNT connect update which also added a number of fixes to the game too.

I have suggested a couple of ideas to add depth to what’s already there, for example expanding the Razorcrest hurry up stages with the multipliers to add more risk and reward to the hurry up stages between multiballs.

And I would like to see something added to the Beskar foundry system, so a big spender high score for the most Beskar spent in a game, just gives you another way to play and all the best games have a tonne of high score tables. And maybe something like foundry frenzy for purchasing every item in the foundry once during a single game - again just gives you another little challenge/way to play and it’s something I have been playing with friends who are far less interested in scores.

Got my fingers crossed we will see some nice additions and touches to Mando, what is there already is pretty solid and one of the best theme integrated code packages we have had in a long time, with some extra depth and special touches it could take it from great to f’in brilliant.

Still hipe for something on the encounter. That is just so hard for me. The rest you can get, but encounters, maybe a setting to set for yourself to keep in the encounter without playing the bonusround each time.

Dwight already mentioned that after round 1 it would move to round 2 without the bonus round. This was mentioned several weeks way before the last code, that's what I meant by the latest code seemed to be behind ideas already being worked on. Maybe it's just a case of fixing bugs and getting caught up then we see some new juicy stuff.

It seems badly off for this week.

You have to focus solely on that left ramp and encounters to get into them deep, I am not the best player in the world my best score is 550million ish but I have managed to get through to the encounters wizard mode a couple of times focusing on them and nothing else.

My kids are not fans of the upper playfield because it’s quite difficult, shame someone doesn’t make fatter flipper rubbers

It was rumoured that code was coming this week maybe we will see it tomorrow in time for the weekend?

Come on Santa Dwight!!

Mando Pros were on the line last week. Does anyone here have one of those coming to them this week? Maybe Premiums are on the line now??

Awesome news. Congrats and enjoy your game!

Mando is my first Stern. The shaker, as someone stated here, sounds like an old jalopy starting up. Much different than my MMR shaker. I like the presence of a shaker on Mando though, wish it was less jalopy-ish.