Quoted from pinballjah:Was thinking of picking up a Walking Dead. What are your thoughts on a Pro versus the Premium? Is it worth the extra $$? Thanks for the help!
I had the LE at one point and I just recently bought a Pro because I really missed the fun shots, the dmd animations and the rules of the pin. Here are my thoughts, but I may be in the minority.
The bicycle girl ramp on my LE never worked right. Granted, I was one of the very early buyers and they may have fixed the issue, but initially I had a real difficult time hitting that left ramp. On mine, the ramp would slam down and it caused (2) small scratches on the playfield. I know Borg fixed the issue when he made The Munsters and the Spot shot, because now it's designed better and is buttery smooth and fun as hell to hit that shot. I bought a flap fix for the ramp later on and it did seem to help with the problem though.
The fish tank in the back right corner of the pin is really cool, but you can get a mod to make it look just as good. As one pinsider said, there's TWD season 3 or 4 collectors edition that has the heads in the fish tank and I just put it back there and it looks really good.
The crossbow and the drop target in front of the Woodbury shot wasn't really missed (at least not for me) and in both versions I dare say the Woodbury shot is my favorite shot in the game. Again, my crossbow sometimes wouldn't load the ball right, so maybe my decision would have changed if the crossbow and the Bicycle girl ramp was worked out. On the pro, you can still play the crossbow shot without the moving crossbow on the Premium/LE version. Now, you have to hit the shots using the flippers and not the crossbow mechanism. I don't even miss the magnet in front of the well walker to be honest with you.
With all that being said, the one thing I really missed from the premium/LE version is the GI lighting and I'm not much on lighting effects. When you get the "Beware the Horde" mini-wizard mode, the GI lights start pulsating red and the sound of a heavy heart beat helps intensify the effect. I haven't hit that mode yet on my pro, but I know I going to really miss the lighting effects on that shot and the last thing I thought before I sold my LE was how much I'm going to miss the feeling of getting that mode. I'm no pinball wizard so I haven't hit very many of these modes, but I can't think of any other one that beats this one. The walker bomb on the Premium/LE is really cool, but it's not a game changer.
That being said, I really like my Pro and was worth the purchase for me. I'm in the middle of putting some cool mods on it as well, so good luck on your decision. IF you're able to play the premium before purchasing and those (2) shots I was telling you about seem to work fine, then go with the premium if money is no object. But you won't miss out much on getting the pro version.