Both really fun, so ultimately up to the theme you enjoy. I had the same Sophie’s Choice, and I opted for Stranger Things.

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I have TMNT, neighbor has STh (and I rented it for a month prior to him buying it). Major distinctions imo:

- STh is much more approachable from a gameplay standpoint. The shots are generally easier and drains are less freqent. That said, the flow of shots in TMNT is incredible when you're on, but it's less accessible for newer/less skilled players.

- TMNT is colorful, goofy, and high energy. STh is way more dark and heavy, and at times a bit sleepy.

- TMNT has more side objectives, and co-op is extra fun. Each turtle having different perks makes for great depth.

Personally I prefer TMNT, even if it is super brutal. I just like the overall tone and layout (have MM, so fan layout is covered), but it's not for the faint of heart. STh needs the Cleland sound package and is easier for a wider crowd (although dark for kids), but still lots of fun. Tough to go wrong with either.

TMNT if you're 12 and under. STh for the big boys.

PS - You need to add a poll.

I personally like stranger things more. Grew up with Ninja Turtles and unlike most, have a distain for most nostalgic things. I like the stranger things art, AFM style gameplay, lights, music, and modes more. However, if packaged under a different theme, I would really like the turtles shots and I think the game rules and code are really neat. If maybe they made Ninja Turtles but themed it after MASH or Fraiser I would really love it.

I recently went through this same choice. I ended up going with TMNT. For me It made more sense as it's a really tough. Fast playing game which worked for tournaments.

Owned TMNT put about 800 plays on it. I enjoyed it as in if it was an arcade I'd play a few games but if I could go back I wouldn't have bought it.

Played about 50 games on ST with the intent of buying and just couldn't enjoy it.

Love and own TWD it's one of my favorite pins. The one pin that I crave to play is AIQ. I'm not a marvel fan but that pin is my go to. I can't get enough of it but dang it pisses me off at times. Then I go play TWD and all is well.

I probably didn't help but I'm glad the poll got added. Lol

You said you own MET, that’s a fan.

Tmnt - owned it and liked it but it has some design issues and it’s pretty tough.

STh - own it and it’s still tough but smoother and it feels more rewarding to me for some reason.

I really enjoy Cleland STh code.

After you’ve put a few hundred plays on either game it’s the co op on turtles that will set it apart. It’s a blast with friends.

Man that's a tough one. TMNT is a harder and more unique shooter, but very satisfying when you are on. Stranger Things has one of the single coolest shots in pinball...nothing else is quite as cool as a demogorgan mouth shot. The rest of the layout is very solid, but fairly standard.

The atmosphere is very different between them, but capture each theme well. Stranger Things captures the spooky, atmospheric side of the theme more-so than the light-hearted kids coming of age side. Some people love that, some do not. I love it...no other game captures that spooky feel in the same way. TMNT is way more light and cartoony. If you were a fan of the show and early movies back in the day like I was, it will bring a smile to your face.

As much as I love Dwight, I will be honest I like Stranger Things code better overall. It has tons and tons of modes, and the progression through the game is awesome. There is a mini-wizard mode "check point" for pretty much every skill level. It's a wonderful build as you get further and further in the game...better than any other I can think of. Even if I'm having a crap game, I can still usually get to Total Isolation 1 and feel like I accomplished something. And Final Showdown is the perfect difficulty. After owning it a year + I still haven't quite gotten there, but I've been VERY close. I know it's obtainable to me, but it will never be something I see a lot of. Every mode is interesting, thematic, and fun. Heck, there are FIVE modes based just around the Demogorgan, and every one feels unique and not repetitive. This is by far Lonnie's best code.

Like I said I love Dwight, but I think he went overboard on the hurry-ups with TMNT, and based too many of them on the upper flipper shots. The scoring is also very imbalanced versus the difficulty of pulling off some of the goals. The actual modes (episodes) are good, but need to have the scoring redone. I do not think there is any way to boost your scoring in them other than if double playfield is running when you finish it. It's always 500k or 1m pretty much. Blah. Foot 123 combo feels amazing, but comes up way too often. That upper loop is crazy hard to hit on demand, and not one but two of the major goals require hitting three of them in a row, and for max Krang combo hit a side ramp on top of it. The other you have to pull off in multiball...and not just any time but at the right time. Good luck. That's just too much. Final Battle is fairly easily obtainable, but Cowabunga...forget it for mortals. The goals are just too difficult, especially Max Krang and Triple Mondo. Just way too many hurry-ups requiring too many very difficult shots to complete. They are all good in theory, but in the real world with this unforgiving of a playfield, it takes some of the fun out of it. And the button smash mode didn't really need to show it's face again after Star Wars...

On the other hand there are some absolutely amazing things about the code. Great moments and light shows...definitely Dwight specialties. The wide variety of modes is awesome. Co-op, 3 v 1, Final Battle Challenge, Half Shell Challenge (!!!), etc...so many fun ways to play. Good variety in the episodes...very cool that a couple of them need to be "unlocked" by playing a prequel mode. The training is an awesome concept, but the later levels fall into the insane difficulty level trap, making them almost impossible for most to benefit from. I like the many paths you can take in the game, and the choices throughout (which turtle, what toppings for pizza multiball, which episodes to bring into team-up, etc). Good mini-wizard in Team-Up (though I am terrible at it), and Final Battle with the multiple stages is also great (but fix the damn voices already...been an embarrassingly long lived bug). Lots of other stuff to love in the game too, do not get me wrong.

So yeah...TMNT is more of a mixed bag to me. I LOVE parts of it, but strongly dislike others. I am hoping Dwight revisits it with a code clean-up along the lines of what he did with GoT. There is a great game hiding in there, but it's bogged down a bit right now with some odd code choices. So far the good still outweighs the bad for me and keeps it in the collection, but that might not last forever. Stranger Things doesn't have quite the highs for me that TMNT does, but it also doesn't have anything near the lows. If absolutely forced to pick, Stranger Things would win my vote.

Great write up. I didn't want to break it all down but I feel exactly the same. The dependance on the upper flipper and scoring imbalances lessen a lot of the code as leveling lots of turtles doesn't make sense from a risk reward perspective.

I own both and if i was a private collector id pick ST pro all the way. TMNT is a clunky game. The shots dont feel good, the start episode shot is mostly hit by rattling the ball up the middle. Yes it looks like an amazing packed playfield and the art, modes, lighting and sounds are amazing but it plays like an over engineered mess.

I also agree.

Scoring and Turtle Perks are in desperate need of balancing/reworking. The Turtle Perks, in my opinion, should be THE thing that sets this game apart from other games but the Perks frankly don't make sense in a lot of cases. Pretty much everyone's Level 4 perk is very difficult to even utilize, especially with how difficult it is to get to Level 4.

Good, you won't regret it.

I know too many people both private and routers that picked TMNT up thinking it was going to be huge just to try desperately to get rid of it soon after.

Stranger things does very well everywhere and I enjoy playing it, sure it can be fast and tough but it feels rewarding.

TMNT on the other hand, I think the code is complete garbage and I'm surprised it got out of the factory with this code and that it still has this code. As nearly every other poster on this thread has agreed that there's some serious imbalances. I love playing turtles, I love the theme and music, I enjoy hard, tight games like Houdini but I finish playing turtles frustrated with it every time. Either frustrated that it kicked my butt or very frustrated that I kicked it's butt and was so sure the entire time that I did really well, long ball times, many multiballs and wailing on the toughest shots, pick-up all the lit shots just to finish the game and the tiny score mock me. Like what the heck, what do I have to do to score on this pin???

Hopefully one day the code will be good and why stern hasn't fixed it yet boggles me, I just hope they fix it before too many people give up on it.

Both are fun games and easy to resell at minimal loss.

I have St Prem and like it.
I had TMNT Pro and liked it.

I would recommend neither. Find another, better game. Owned Stranger Things Premium and is my greatest pinball purchase regret. Requires constant adjustment and many shots are just not satisfying. Played Turtles pro on location and walked away with credits left on machine.

Of these titles, playing TMNT leaves me cold while playing STh is something I enjoy immensely.

Good overview, but you missed some of the distinctions:

- TMNT has very good art. STh has very bad art.

- TMNT has poor callouts and video assets. However, that is fixable by loading the custom ROM. STh uses boring custom callouts and assets and that won’t be changing.

- TMNT lacks a good mechanical toy. Spinning pizza and ball lock into van does not create much excitement. However, having a third flipper adds a lot of shots and interest. STh has a ramp that lowers and Demogorgon to shoot the ball into. Proper setup is required and crucial to being able to enjoy the game. Projection mapping technology is moderately successful and the uv lit, upside down mode is effective.

Wow so you prepaid more than one game on Turtles and then just left it without finishing the game? Never understood this...especially if you are playing for the first time. I mean, did you really give it a chance? This is coming from someone who hasn't played TMNT yet.

Yes, this opinion/review is completely void if you walked away after playing only a ball or two on a machine...loI I'd love to read this this guy's yelp reviews!

I don't know if I'd say it's completely void, when a game doesn't draw you in immediately, that does say something about it (for you). It's certainly not the be-all end-all opinion but definitely something worth considering. With that being said, I feel like first impressions are one of the things TMNT does really well: theme integration, music/callouts, (most) animations are solid, episodes are straight forward, great layout.

I think TMNT can be "saved" with a good code update, and Dwight has a pretty solid history of doing that after a game has been around for awhile. I remain hopeful that he will bring it up to its potential at some point. In this case most of the base structure is good, it just could use some work to really nail it. The scoring obviously needs a major redo, and the multitude of side goals required for Cowabunga need to be tempered a bit. Right now they are too repetitive (oh look, another hurry up that requires difficult upper flipper shots), too high of a risk vs reward, and not well matched to the difficulty of the playfield.

I would also like to see a bigger differentiation between the two main multiballs. I do not like that they both use Mondo Jackpots and Jackpoto Grandes. Either split them up, or better yet, eliminate the Triple Mondo requirement, leaving only the Grande as the Cowabunga requirement for Pizza. Remove both from Turtle Power and have the Add-A-Ball shot be considered the super for that mode and a requirement for Cowabunga.

Turtle Perks and training are great, but could use some revisiting, especially the difficulty and risk/reward for the later levels. Neutrino Pizza Party is a very cool mode, but doesn't really fit as a reward for leveling up. I would move that to something like a pizza collection reward (maybe 2 or 3 rounds of pizza eating contest? That would make me care about smashing that button...). Then put in something more thematic to training. Maybe a sparring battle-royale mode against your brothers?

Give me a reason (besides Cowabunga, which is unobtainable to most anyway) to care about weapons hurry-ups, Foot 123, and Krang Combos. Playfield multipliers? Mode score boosting? Big points at least? Something to make them worth the effort.

Sorry, way off topic now. Congrats OP on the STh! I think that was the right choice as they sit today. A huge code update could change my mind, but as-is STh is the better game to me.

Played 3 game’s and kept getting free games. Shot smooth, but was boring. Couldn’t stand the constant hurry ups. The animations were not on par with other games. I’ve played several games that I walked away leaving credits. But always free games from earning replay or high scores. Don’t be so swift to judge. But my opinion is that there are much better games out there. Especially with prices so high.

Oh man, I 100% agree with everything you said here and I can't count how many times I've started thinking about the changes I'd like to see to make TMNT reach its full potential. Really, it happens pretty much any time I go back to playing TMNT consistently.

I agree, TMNT from a distance looks amazing, it has so many shots and metal wireforms. None of the shots on TMNT feel good. STh isnt a ground breaking game but thats ok. It flows well and feels complete. Having both a STh and AFM in my arcade I would rather play STh.

OP do yourself a favor and track down the UV kit. Do not settle for the pinstadium version. You wont regret it.

Im gonna have to disagree with you on that. The LAIR Lane shot is especially awesome and the side ramp is super satisfying to hit. I DO think the code could accentuate and reward the layout better than it currently does but the layout is a huge plus, in my opinion. Obviously it's all a matter of personal opinion, just my two cents. One of the problems with TMNT (to me) is that the layout and the code don't really compliment one another but that's another discussion.

Right ramp > inner loop > side ramp = insanely gratifying combo. I love the shots on this game.

Congrats! This is a very good battle. I think they are 2 totally different games for different styles. Both good games but so totally different. It sounds like you got the one that fits your style better. Stranger Things didn't do it for me and Turtles does but I can totally see the argument both ways.

Enjoy your game!

I’m sorry but I own both games and couldn’t disagree more.

TNMT might be the sweetest feeling shooter I’ve ever played. The flow and combos are absurd.

I don’t think the shots on STH feel good, the game has good atmosphere and music (with cleland mod) and gas very fun wide code.

Tough choice, I have a tmnt pro which can be a great game with said adjustments from above. Mostly it’s too many hurry ups for me and watching people clank away trying to hit ramps. Took me about 80-100 games to figure out the shots and it’s pretty buttery smooth after that if you are on your game. Tmnt is not kind to the casual player. I am personally holding out to see if they come out with an update.
I didn’t like stranger things at first but it has gotten better with their updates, I definitely prefer premium/le because of the projectors but the ball lock mech doesn’t always work right on the ones I’ve played. I would say sth is better balanced code and scoring but I think tmnt has the better layout.

The right ramp in sth is like 5x harder to hit then the right ramp on tnmt

The orbits on tnmt are better as well

Hitting the center ramp is an absolute orgasm

Seriously every shot on tnmt feels like sex

Then I think you might be doing it wrong....