Are you splitting the screen for streaming or anything ?

The best cooking always takes time..
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CE#92 checking in.

I’m loving the new code! Still in the process of tuning the cabinet, though.

Right trough (drop down from 2nd playfield) ball hangs didn’t show up until I actually balanced the table to flat left/right and 6.5 degrees incline. I adjusted the subway divider as far as I could and added 1/8” of washers between the playfield and the far right corner (bottom right-most screw) subway screw bracket (also swapped the 3/8” screw for a 1/2” screw) and the ball flows perfectly from the 2nd playfield through the subway now.

I got tied of all of the rejected shots from the beta capsule so I did the scoop swap someone suggested earlier in this thread. Cutting wheel on a dremel was just the ticket to carve away the excess metal on the scoop bracket and now direct shots to the beta capsule sink perfectly now (and the ball is no longer rebounding into the bottom of the capsule lamp).

My last fix (outside of waiting patiently for some sick mods) is the middle baltan opto. The optos are not aligned as they are and I get quite a few excess “there are no more clones” callouts . . . And an occasional free ball lock (and baltan jackpot). Is there any way to adjust the targeting of that opto pair short of filling the screw holes and re-drilling their mounting points? Not super stoked about drilling into such a gorgeous playfield.

Oh. That's not cool. Bah whatever. We're family here.

Tons of preorders for sale, what is the risk when just forfeiting the deposit and not buying? Seems like people are losing more than the deposit when they get the machine.

I really enjoy it and think people are missing out but seeing lots of money lost here.

Sad Flipper has Sadz.

These low prices won’t last for ever. A few code updates will correct the negativity and fear in the market. I paid my full tab to Spooky for Halloween and I definitely see the value in the game, and many other owners do too. It’s the best bang for the buck pin in the history of pinball at these prices and people are straight up foolish for not jumping in now imo.

Noticed some jumpy footage in the new code, thought I would mention it. Like the larger screen in the middle with the original footage. Keep up the good work!

Yeah, I have seen that too, and some jumpiness in some of the video clips was there in 1.07 too.

RM

I am sometimes getting periods of gameplay where the ball isn't recognized sitting on the ball lifter (on the right side, could happen either side I guess) and gameplay stops until the ball search gets it going again.

The switch above the lifter (Right Lifter) tests fine every time.

I am guessing - could the lifter height be just a smidge too low and so when the ball is sitting on the lifter sometimes it doesnt block that opto entirely.

Anyone else see this?

RM

Yes, as somone pointed out...it may be the subway needing a washer to allow it to get there(lifter) easier...havent done it yet...but on my to do list

In my case, I don't think it's the ball getting hung up in the subway on the way to the lifter, I think the ball may be getting to the lifter OK but when sitting on the lifter it's slightly too low to keep the opto switch closed.

RM

I thought this was a bug with the old code. It happened to me frequently. I haven’t seen it on the new code yet.

Well, there are people willing to pay a premium for NIB, that premium in this game’s case is what people are paying for the preorder spot since they could buy a used but existing game for less. Some buyers appear to just be letting their order spots lapse, not sure if Spooky will do the entire run of 500 games. Maybe they will do as they did with ACNC and save 100 of them for a later run when demand increases, that would not be a bad plan for Spooky.

I was one of the original somewhat unsatisfied owners that questioned the wisdom of my order. I was pretty close to dumping the game during the first three months and just didn’t play it much. I’m glad I stuck with the game though as the code has improved and the experience has improved considerably (dare I say dramatically). I have a big collection, but Ultraman is still getting played a good deal.

Ultraman is a unique game. It’ll be fairly rare when it’s run is complete and hard to come by after it settles in collections and doesn’t have people trying to transfer their spots in line any longer. Those spot transfer sale ads are really giving the game a continued poor image that will cease immediately when the game is out of production.

It’ll take awhile to recover from the original bad press the game had upon shipping with the poor code combined with the people needing to jump out of line for whatever reason, but Spooky games all hold their value incredibly well long term and it will recover eventually. Can anyone name a single Spooky game other than the current in production game that has not held its value? When Spooky announces a number limitation, they honor it, there is no chance of rerun once the announced numbers have been made. This helps the Spooky titles hold their values.

Ultraman is a good looking machine, I’m proud to have it in my collection. I just wish Spooky would have tapped in to Scott Danesi on the music package a bit. This game was prefect for the master of pin music to opine on and they have easy access to Scott’s genius…it’s just a phone call away for them. I sure hope they dial in to him for Army of Darkness.

I am not sure what I am going to do with my Blood sucker Edition preorder. I traded my TMNT for Ultraman 73 back in November because I didn’t want to wait. Now I am afraid my impatience cost me $1500. I thought for sure I would have been able to get my money back, but live and learn I guess.

This has happened to me with the new code only. Had to turn the game off then it worked fine.

If your wallet allows, I say pay for it and take delivery, and then sell it as a NIB on the back end. You will likely get most or all of your money back. Especially once the production run is over and the game settles into collections a bit. Demand will increase and prices will go up. It is a bit of an investment doing it this way that you wont be able to recoup immediately, but if you can afford it (and have room to store it), that would be how I would do it.

I purchased both Halloween and Ultraman because I was not sure which I would want to keep more. It ends up that Halloween will be the one I will be keeping long term. I really like Ultraman too, but Halloween just grabs me more. I don't have room for more than 4 pins in my house at the moment, so I have my UM on loan to a buddy at his house where he can play it and so can I when I visit. Eventually when Spooky announces Evil Dead/Army of Darkness (do it Spooky!!), the time will come that I sell UM to make room for AoD and then my buddy will get one of my other pins on loan... lol

Someday when my daughter moves out and takes her piano with her, I will have room for 2 more pins... Someday... lol

Not quite the story ….

They had a few left from a distributor order - from memory only 12 to 20 games.

I went back and double checked to see if my memory was good.

rd
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Not many Ultraman mods yet, thanks to Mr_Tantrum for these custom apron cards! You can order from him if interested. Thanks.

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What an improvement! Well done Mr_Tantrum

On Ultraman Day, we unboxed my buddy's CE #113. It had been in the box a while. He has a ton of games and rotates them into the bar. We were not able to get the brand new code on because it was not out by the time we were in the middle of everything. We did get 1.07 loaded and played a bunch that day. Everyone that played remarked that the hate these games are receiving is unjustified. Playing just made me more excited for my BSE coming up later. The only tweak we had to make was where the ball exits the top playfield. It was getting stuck and we had to put a skinnier post in there for reliability. I guess 2 tweaks. One connector had some not so great crimps where the wire and insulation were not being held very well. New crimp pins took care of that. Next week, we'll put 1.08 on there and play test a bunch more. Even made some sweet Ultraman Day shirts for the occasion.

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Yea, I couldn’t recall how many it was exactly. Those falling out of the sky were the deal of the year last year for people as ACNC is awesome.

Yes, right side only and inconsistent enough to indicate that it was not code, but frequent enough to drive me crazy!
I pulled the lifter (easy), then used a ball on a magnet to try to interrupt the opto during switch test mode
In my case, the right side opto (with PF upright) needed to be moved about 1/8”
I drilled two new holes, moved it and it’s been rock solid since

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Yes. Yes it is.

It has some of the best mode rules in pinball - all different.

Rather than cookie-cutter “shoot lit shots”. Snore.

rd

Picked up an ACNC after falling in love with my Halloween. I can honestly say at this point that I believe it’s one of the best pins of all time. It is without a doubt in my top 5 and one of the only games I’ve ever rated a 10. Gorgeous and challenging world under glass. Sucks you right in. Excellent code rules animations and sounds. Just such an absolute BANGER.

One issue with low production games is most people never get to play them.

So it’s hard for the “awesomeness” to be experienced by the average dude.

Personally - I think with a couple of little playfield tweaks (orbits a little wider, ramps a little wider, maybe mystery hole combined with the secret passage) to make the game more accessible to the average player, it would definitely be up there on the top 10 lists. I watch people play mine at my tournaments, and I see some struggle to start anything.

The upper playfield is very good … I’m not an upper playfield (or lower playfield) guy, but ACNC is very good, with a number of shots.

And as discussed, the rules are up there with the best of them. Simple enough to understand … difficult to master. That’s the sweet spot for me.

rd

I personally love the challenge of the tight shots and the orbits shoot way better if you lower the position of the flippers just slightly. I have mine on location and I’ve noticed certain more advanced players absolutely glued to it. Also…kids play it alot. Which I did not expect at all.

Oh, me too … but not everyone is us.

Thats one of the issues with RZ too - left orbit is pretty tight … if you can’t hit it, nothing happens.

“That game is crap! Nothing happens!”

Did you start a mode? Up the left side …

“No…”

With ACNC, Bruce on Slam Tilt was saying making the skill shots are the key to winning the game. Which shows me they ain’t starting any modes, because a 2m or 4m skillshot is absolute peanuts compared to a 60m point completed mode. Even an unfinished mode is worth good points.

rd.

Maybe it’s just me but i really don’t see a change in the photos.

Was the ball sitting to low on the lifter and that’s why it wasnt always reading? Im having the same issue with mine. If the optos need to be moved further away from the play field maybe a washer under each?

Where does the Jirahs battle music come from? It doesn’t feel proper and I watched the battle scene on YT. It’s mostly spurts of marching band drums. The full orchestra score seems odd to me.

Was that a spoiler alert, or...?

Inside information, or...?

If you look at the third photo with the little arrows, he moved the position of the black opto on the right vertically by about 1/8", so the optos were more directly across from each other. This required new mounting pilot holes drilled.

If you compare that to the first pic, the optos are not directly across from each other.

The final position of the black opto means it's not really lined up with the hole in the subway very well, but if the material is transparent to infrared I guess that doesnt matter.

RM

No, just wishful thinking on my part. Though there has been some significant alluding to that Spooky may have something in the Evil Dead universe in the wings at some point. Ben Heck stated that Spooky recognized the demand for the theme…other statements have been made here and there. It’s coming from Spooky…eventually anyway.

What do you think of this?

With the removal of the Fight Jirahs timer, would Spooky consider adding:

Adjustable rate of Ultraman's Health Decline:

Easy (slow)

Moderate (medium)

Hard (fast)

Extra Hard/Hardcore - 3 minute health decline (exactly like Ultraman's Color Timer in the show) AND no adding health bars back using the light blue targets, 3 minutes is what you get.

I am a HUGE Ultraman nerd. This would be a fun way to go.

RussMyers

PS - I would also REALLY like a Mephilas Kaiju Mode - my favorite Ultraman villain

Hardcore mode should have all drops and standups REMOVE health. And only spinners do damage. That would be a challenge.

It seems like the modes get easier and easier with each release.

I think they said UM’s health lowers by 3% per second. If they did an easy setting that was 2% per second and a hard setting that was 4% per second that would seem like a pretty good spread of options.

3% per second may be accurate, but that's pretty fast - only 33 seconds from 100% to zero.

Haven't actually timed it. Also not sure when the timer is or isnt running.

RM

No, extreme wishful thinking and I plant the seed (or water it) every chance I can in hopes that Spooky delivers my (and many other's) dream theme. Bruce Campbell one-liners were written to be in a pinball machine!

I still keep getting scoop rejects on the beta capsule scoop. Is it the scoop being a simple 45 degree chunk of metal instead of the typical W/B rounded scoop. I saw a mod up earlier in the thread, but haven't heard whether it's any good.

Any modders out there?

sounds like something Mantis might be interested in...although what exactly is the issue...rejects from the scoop?...can't say I've had an issue with it myself..

If you look in the Halloween thread, some have replaced the stock deflector with a more traditional one readily available from Marcos (part number is in the Halloween thread) and everyone reports back successful results. I personally have not done it because mine works well enough. I suppose the new part would be an improvement, so maybe someday. But I'm fine with how mine plays.

EDIT:

Here is one of the posts in the thread with the new scoop deflector and photo: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/halloween-owners-threadhes-coming-home/page/92#post-6855730

And here is a link to the part which currently shows out of stock: https://www.marcospecialties.com/control/keywordsearch?SEARCH_STRING=01-8806

Its been out of stock off an on, so I'm sure they will get more.

And another option that some have bought and said works as well: https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/535-8250-04

And lastly, a DIY option using the 2nd deflector listed directly above: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/halloween-owners-threadhes-coming-home/page/94#post-6863535

Recently fit and installed part# 535-8250-04 from Marco to replace the stock scoop backstop and it has made a considerable positive difference. Direct shots to the beta capsule from either flipper now enter the subway instead of rejecting and the beta capsule lamp no longer needs re-adjustment every 20 games or so (from ball strikes).

I’m generally ambivalent about changing game parts but before the change the only way to purposely enter the beta capsule scoop on my table was to shoot the middle playfield and let it drain from there. I have no regrets.

You will have to drill a third hole and shave some of the metal off of the marco to get it to fit correctly, but I was able to do so very easily with a dremel and a cutting disk. You can use the stock scoop as a template for the most part. You’ll have to cut up the sides into the vertical part of the Marco scoop about 4mm or so to get it to fit between the rubber posts.

Responding because I want to make sure I have this info when I get my game. Thanks for compiling it together.

Recently my machine developed an issue where the ball was hanging up against the guide and the post/o-ring on the upper upper playfield. If the ball dribbled down around the guide, it would get stuck every time. I tweaked the o-ring a bit and poof, the stuck balls went away BUT the ball would still lose a significant amount of momentum going around. Practically impossible to keep ball up there for more than one trip around the bend.

I messed around with the ball guide and the post a bit , loosening and tightening again with the little bit of play that is there. Now when I make a clean butt pretzel, I usually can just barely catch the ball with the tip of the flipper as it comes around the final loop to keep it in play and save it for a second pretzel. Is this how other owners' machines play, or should I do some more tweaking? Maybe try to reduce contact with the o-ring a touch more?

Loading 1.08 tonight on this bad boy.

Streamed the new code last night. Love the Jirahs mode and multiball now. The UI is sooooo much better (the labels, however, are difficult to read)!

Ran into one small bug. If a ball falls into the Beta Capsule scoop during a tilt, ball search has to clear the ball. Other than that, I haven't run into anything unusual.

Will be streaming it again Friday in hopes of getting further in the game. (I may lower the pitch. 7 degrees may be a little too fast.)

Shoot a top down image for us. I re-drilled a moved my ball guide. Made all the diff. If I can see yours I might make a suggestion

Yeah for real...I couldn't even get Jirahs MB started previously. On the current code I agree it's a bit too easy, though. It was fantastic getting double Supers in one multiball though.