lol

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I'm used to seeing this a little more pixelated, very often

We have those acknowledging there are challenges to it becoming a reality given the differences of the modern hardware platform versus the legacy design (even while endlessly repeating that it isn't impossible, just more expensive than building what you already have designed on Spike 2) combined with convincing an IP holder to relicense a marginally successful movie from 12 years ago, after the sequel was recently cancelled, that has other IP they would much rather cross promote

~versus~

An echo chamber who say it is a slam dunk and there is nothing stopping it from rolling off the line tomorrow based on nothing more than wishes only to be outraged and accuse others of trolling when someone makes a reasoned point to the contrary because they want a hype thread.

The 'Disney doesn't care about Tron pinball' was more of a remark on the condition of the games they have at their resorts now (They are awful, but used to be well maintained). Disney cares about Tron as a franchise, but not specifically about the 2010 iteration. I know they have a ride opening next year (I'm a passholder, I live close by, and I've watched it being built for some time), but if you watch any of the ride footage from the other iteration, it is devoid of anything specifically tying it to the 2010 film. This is in stark contrast to the new Guardians ride which features most of the cast of the movie both in preshow and during the ride itself. Take a look at the on board footage for Tron. It's a cool ride, but you won't see Jeff Bridges likeness anywhere on it. It's just generic Tron.

Maybe that's what the next Tron pinball machine will be. A ground up redesign that may or may not share a layout with the previous SAM game, and with generic Tron theming elements, like Jurassic park that only featured Dennis Nedry.

Picking up a Tron Pro this weekend and making my own Vault with the 86Pixels lcd screen, moving recognizer, color dmd, and some chrome. I still hope Stern chooses to Vault Tron and some other games but they seem to have their hands full.

Patience... they are not hard to come by, just harder to shake free these days at a reasonable price. Unlike games from 40 years ago where there was only so many decent survivors... TRON was made close to the HUO era.. so the stock of nice games is very high.

I 'had' to buy one for 6k back in Feb 2020 (I already had another) because no one would buy the listed game that was near us. Game wasn't moving. Obviously 2022 is harder than 2020.. but wasn't that long ago. Other local bought one later in 2020 from rai as I recall as well.

It's just not a title people are buying new and dumping in 1-3 years like every current title floods the market. You either have to pursue known copies or keep your feelers out.

The only game in the pinside market right now is 11k? *puke*

Don’t worry Stern is working on getting that corrected

Full screen on a Tron VE would look awesome, like on those dual virtual games..!

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Tron with the Pup-Packs (video assets for virtual pinball) is pretty cool. I built my own virtual cab 3/4 size before I got into physical pinball machines. I don't have any of the DOFLINX added lighting or solenoids for force feedback set up, but it's still pretty fun. Helps ease the pain of machines that have left the collection.

this is how all machines should be!
I find current Sterns, often times minimize the scoring too much, not to mention JJP! lol they have so much crap on their screens I do not even know what I am supposed to look at.

I like the idea of 2 different screens, one for the fun stuff and one for just the scores. I know I am dreaming! but hey!!!!!

Pup-packs sound awesome. Best of both worlds! I may seriously look into this - but I'd rather have a full size cabinet if it's available? Would look great in a regular lineup!

I would rather a new tron. But, in all cash grab fairness; both would be absolutely fine.

Just checking in. I asked my distributor about Tron Vault when IM Vault was announced. At the fime Tron was crazy expensive and NIB was almost the same price. 8 years and counting. Fight the good fight.

I'm hopefully close to announcing a new mod for Tron, and it's something I could probably convert without too much difficulty (in theory!) to a vault version. Would expand the market, I'm all for it! Make the vault Stern! And I own the game myself and I still love it, it's a special title for me for various reasons that are more personal and emotional than practical. That said ...

I just don't see it selling hugely well. Obviously there's enough pent up demand here for a few hundred, but beyond that? I just don't know that it holds up to what people expect now. The code is fine, but basic. Definitely not deep. The art is fine, but the playfield especially is a bit dated and Photoshoppy compared to what most modern titles are up to now. The movie is old, and has fans, but isn't really beloved in a cult way like the original.

The ride isn't exactly something people talk about in normal conversation, there's no media campaign or public awareness of the brand really.

Without the fiberoptic ramps it's imo just nearly as good a game. They bring it to life. I'm glad I have them, and if you couldn't get them and want them now I feel for you. But if they added them again on a vault it would potentially create some bad feelings over redoing a limited game feature, something they've never done before. Not a precedent they probably want to set.

It just doesn't feel like a slam dunk idea to me. I could be utterly wrong, just spitballing. If it was an Iron Man deal sure. But that was easy, they were still doing SAM titles and had all the parts and only needed to update a few decals. A bunch of investment to redo it just doesn't feel like it has the return, at least from my uninformed purely guessing perspective.

I don't really like sharing things before they're done, but I'm having trouble not showing my in progress on this one because I'm having a good time with it, and I think it's coming out great.

See if I can hold out, in the meantime I'll be a horrible tease.

No need to show me anything but just say the words ramps and lights, and maybe we can have an idea where you are going with it.

Is it lit ramps?

Like…you know, Eli ramps but not, just made by you.

If you tell us by pm we can keep it a secret.

There is no reason to not make a tron remake. Imo. I would make it a tron 82 retheme of the original. I anticipate it would sell 3k units initially.

I think the 82 movie theme is strongly liked. Not to mention the game itself

If they were to do a retheme 82 it could be less of a remake, and probably keep the original tron pin values strong.

Then throw in a new one. Trifecta for the owners and players.

I can talk about this all day, lol.

Also, aurichs mods are nice. Very nice! (Shameless plug.)

Dunno about low demand.

I have 25 or more machines here. Including Deadpool, Indiana Jones, TZ, AFM, TWD, Alice Cooper etc and i play Tron more often than all my other games put together.

It's the total pinball package and i'm not really into the theme except it's pretty cool.

Which mods from Aurich?

No ramps, but maybe someone else will work on that. Never know.

I have Eli's kit installed already, love it. The game isn't the same to me without the fiber optics. But I first played an LE, and I just couldn't go back after that.

We're all speculating and BSing. And I've made it clear I'm a fan and think it's a special game, but I just don't see broad public demand personally. Just the usual Pinside suspects. I might be wrong. But I also don't actually believe a remake is coming.

I think he was just kindly talking about things I've done in the past, I've never done anything for Tron before tinkering on this project now.

I’d like a backup set. I worry mine will stop working one day and, as you say, they really add to the game. They need to do another run of this mod. They’d easily sell out of a few hundred of them.

Back to the main topic, I just see no way Stern is going to VE this game. They are not going to convert it to the new platform either, only LOTRs is being considered for that treatment. LOTRs has code that is deep enough to satisfy today’s market, Tron has truly superb code and is a fabulous tourney game (as so many SAM games are), but it’s not like they would sell a 1,000 of these at $9,000…maybe 500 tops. They would sell 3,000-5,000 LOTRs.

If I was in charge of Stern, which I am most certainly not , I would only look forward.

I don't know how much work a Vault game was in the past, but clearly lower effort compared to a new game. They had the plans, the setup, the tech, just needed to do a run of already designed parts and make new playfields and printing based on existing designs. Not trivial, but certainly not the hugest lift.

They could sell x hundred of those to keep the line running during gaps and it made sense. And if they were to do a re-run now of say Iron Maiden in that same way I could see it. Low(er) effort lifts.

But old games? I can't see any DMD era game being worth the effort. Nobody wants a DMD now. Even the Chicago Gaming remakes have new high rez dots. You gotta port the old game to new hardware, redesign all this stuff, and then make new LCD graphics for it all. Or, you could just make a new game, and sell more of them because you're not competing against your own old customers.

Anyone who wants a LOTR badly enough can get one now. Just offer to pay what a new Stern would go for and someone will be tired of it and sell to you.

come on aurich... stop the obvious trolling

You're supposed to be pumping not poking!

Now I'm intrigued. Will you announce in the all modding thread when your ready or somewhere else?

Yup, you two sound too logical and are trying to be an expert in a field you have no business being in... since you are not an engineer nor work for Stern

Stop trolling the trolls you troll!

All of the current Tron owners, unless we sell our beloved machines, will mostly not be customers of A new Tron ve. We owners and the current machine have built hype, but all those current machines being out there will keep the purchase of a new ve at bay for most current owners. Most of us Tron owners and enthusiasts have spent north of 2k in parts to bling and finish out these existing games.

I will most likely hold on to my LE for life. A VE will need to be so amazing, It will need to make me sell a great machine from my collection to make room.

I don’t see current owners dumping their games to jump in on VE, even though they are the most die hard Tron enthusiasts alive

Well, picked up my Vault Pro today and I love it! It looks new. The previous owner hadn’t even turned on the shaker, 150 games, mods coming up. I wonder if we could talk Compy into a full LCD screen mod someday. I decided after watching this thread for years that vault or not, time to get one!

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Nice pick up! I see the ramps are let, are those colors locked in or do they change with the shots like Eli’s kit?

They are fixed in color but I am hoping to fix that soon!

Hey, I figure I'm good either way. No Vault, my Tron is worth more. Vault? I'm selling mods to new owners. I can be a good capitalist either way.

I dunno where "somewhere else" would even be to be honest. I'm not on Facebook. I've not kept up with who's doing cool pinball shows on YouTube. Like, if I wanted to announce something not on Pinside I wouldn't know where to go.

I was told all the cool kids make neat video trailers for their mods now, so I'm playing with that idea. Video editing isn't my strong suit, but I figure I can fake it, I'm a fast learner.

I just like doing cool creative stuff, and selling it all to make a little side cash for things and to support the time I put into it. Mods are so much more of a business now than when I got into it. I just never really got beyond that "announce it in a forum thread" thing.

What do people who don't obsessively read Pinside do to find out about this stuff? Partner up with weekly pinball shows on YouTube?

Nice find!

Build the mod and they will follow!

Haggis Mermaid.

Just saying.

Fathoms in pinside collections - 360 of 3500

How many haggis sales do you wager were to existing fathom owners?

I'm only talking about mine.
Can't speak for anyone else and the whole expert/extrapolation/fact thing is your gig.

I sold my Fathom as soon as i put the deposit on mermaid and would do the same for a VE Tron. And i know at least three of my good mates who'd fight over my old one if they didn't all buy their own VE's.

Ahhhhhh yeah! Bring on the vault! Let’s goooooooooooo!

Same here, I know quite a few people that would love to either get my modded Tron Pro or a Tron VE when it comes out. Myself, I would keep mine and also get a VE as I really dig both gameplay and theme. And I would definitely be interested in Aurich's new Tron mod!

i have tried to get into this game when playing on location, and i just dont see the hype. i honestly want to, i love the original tron movie. so what am I missing, i will be honest, i do not know the rules, or really what to shoot for. is it one of those games that you need to play at home where you can hear everything you need to and really get the imersion?

i need to find one close to me, and try and play some more and maybe learn the ruleset... i think i have only had light cycle multiball once when playing, and not much else...

Tron is a game that on-location doesn't do it justice

1 - A stock TRON pro is ugly. It must be mod'd up to show it's true beauty. Minimum light ramps, arcade mod, better lighting
2 - Soundtrack - you can't really hear the game on location well. Get a TRON at home cranked or with a sub and you'll flip out over the difference

The rules are not complex, but it has objectives that keep you coming back trying to get the goal.

A Stock TRON is a diamond in the rough - it really needs polishing to see it for what it really can be.

Here is a good read on the rules that may help: https://www.pinballnews.com/games/tron/index6b.html

thanks guys, i will check out the rulesheet and give it another go when i find one.

Man this PUP Package VP games are pretty damn cool. The cut scenes for each thing that happens during Tron;, multiball, zuse, drains, pretty good editing and sound effects
Loving it.

Tron has the best toy in pinball.

Concentrate on hitting the center gate three times till it drops.

There you have the spinning disc.

Mine (clear disc) will throw the ball at high speed, backwards up on top of the center plastics, cause it to spin so much that it will walk back up a ramp after doing a U turn, slowly slide down the playfield till it kisses the flipper ect.

And on top of all that, you get a three ball multi after you whack it in there 7 times or so.

And as said, the daft punk cranked up, along with some great call outs (dunno if mines stock sound) and you have an ace experience.

Then there's Quora multi, a great reward for hitting that satisfying spinner.

Yes. As a shooter the game is fine, but it's nothing truly special. But as a full experience, with the sound pumping (hopefully with a sub) and the fiber optic colors going etc it really elevates into something more.

If it's stock, or not an LE, and you can't hear it I really don't think it's particularly impressive. Fun, but just another pin.