Yea........I know.......and agree with you. As nice as they are, I don't like bothering them if I can help it.

They are legit paying someone to be bothered by us haha. Make AJ earn that green!! lol

Ultraman new code is being streamed tonight guys

Woot!

Hi folks,

Just posting this for those owners who have acquired their machines recently and may have broken or cracked ball deflector shields.

Replace that flimsy, cracked, or broken ball deflector shield with this redesigned, heavy-duty version. For all Spooky Halloween and Ultraman machines, these new deflector shields are machine cut from 3/16-inch thick polycarbonate. They will not vibrate, bounce, or break due to ball impacts. Included are detailed instructions and new posts to replace the existing posts under the left side of the shield.

I have 23 of these shield kits left and that will be it.

Here is a link to my ad: https://pinside.com/pinball/market/classifieds/ad/164797

Contact me via PM for further details. Thanks!

Pinside_market_164797_0 (resized).jpg

https://www.twitch.tv/bugs_scream_n_stream

Bug is playing UM tonight and he said they will be showing beta code of the wizard mode

help me fix my screen size so I can be excited too

We talked about it today. AJ will be in touch. It's a bit of a strange one since the computer should auto detect the screen.

Did Bug say in the stream when we'll get the new UM update? I only made it to the drawing and he hadn't gotten anywhere near the wizard mode. I hope it's awesome, even though I may never get there myself. If I heard Bug right he said you have to COMPLETE all nine other modes to get the wizard.

He didn't say, just said this was a beta version of the update. It looked great though!

Before Valentine's Day. Yes, or you can cheat and force enter via the menu system for us less skilled folks....

Did they throw the Twitch Stream up on Youtube yet?

Not yet, but apparently when they do it'll be on Bug's stream channel, which is separate from Spooky.

https://youtube.com/@BugsScreamNStream?si=5PqsrtW9XP6OK3_s

Watched Bug's twitch stream post-live - luvin' the Ultra Bros wizard mode! Doubt I will ever make it there on a regular game and will need to use the menu change. LOL

There is a menu option for what’s required to reach Ultra Brothers: start 6 modes, start 9 modes, complete 6 modes or complete 9 modes.

lpeters82 has done a stellar job designing this mode, you guys are going to love it. Especially the feature where it saves the times of your best run and when you play it again you can see your +/- time, so you know how you’re tracking - kind of like Mario Kart’s ghost driver lap times.

We’re just working through a few small things, then we’ll get the code out to beta testers, and the update will be shortly after that

Being able to access the wizards outside of having to open the machine would be nice, kind of like other games where you can hold down the two flipper buttons while in free play, that opens a menu to select to play the wizard modes direct as a challenge mode. And being able to record those separate wizard play scores as well as their own high score section on both UM/HWN would be an awesome addition.

Agreed on those. They are both high priorities

how are ya'll finding this game after the new code updates? 6k for a new CE seems like a steal

The game is awesome, love it! I got mine last October NIB for $6k from Nitro, totally a steal. But also bad because it undervalues Spooky games....As I've posted before, as someone that has never watched Ultraman, or owned a Spooky game, I have zero regrets. The chances of it leaving my collection is slim to none.

They are a steal, really. Gets every bit as much play as any other machine I have. Art is fantastic. Theme integration is also really good. I don't stare at the screen much, but when I do there are all sorts of clips. Multiballs are varied and challenging to collect all of the Supers through each to unlock the Mini Wizard mode. Which itself is fantastic.

Very excited for the coming update. No plans on letting mine go anytime soon.

Getting the quiet Fuji callouts audible is the highest priority, yes?

& getting the footage in the UI monitor back to 4:3 instead of 1x1 squished.

I love my Ultraman, but I would love it a lot more if I got it for $6000 and not the original $9000. Thought about selling it a couple times, but I just can’t.

I need to move something to make room for my new EHOH & something else for my upcoming Pulp Fiction. I kinda don’t wanna sell any more B/W 90s games…so UM seems like a logical choice, but I still legit love playing it & wanna keep it thru final code.

A collaboration mode would be as equally awesome! Thanks for all the great work Matt!

RussMyers is out here providing top quality decals for empty UM drop targets! I’m in love with them.

IMG_7264 (resized).jpegIMG_7265 (resized).jpeg

As far as update code stuff goes, I’m really crossing my fingers for Vsync/screen tearing being addressed in the update. Talked to AJ and did a thorough report of the issue, and he seemed interested in getting this information to the dev team, so here’s hoping.

Also, how do you know when you’ve added too much to the top of your backbox? Asking for a friend… I’ve gone too far!

Any instructions or tips for mounting a new plastic over the drops. Mine broke and Spioky sent me a replacement. Looks like I’ll need to remove the first upper playfield to access screws.

You don't need to do that. It's kind of a PITA (I have done it) but you can get to those nylon lock nuts holding the shield on the right side by using very low-profile tools. Have a magnetic wand handy and hemostat or tweezers as well. But it can be done.

RM

Do yourself a favor and get that upgraded plastic shield while it's still available. The stock replacement will just break again before long.

What's the purpose of it? It's certainly not to stop my air balls because they never hit it! Ha

Without that shield the resetting drop targets can launch the ball forcefully upward into the glass.

I played my UM for a bit when my shield was broken off and it became obvious why they added it.

RM

It takes a lot of hits you don’t realize. I mounted a figure on it and that thing shook like crazy.

I would drop RFM and/or NGG in a hot minute before Ultraman.

RFM takes up less space, if I got rid of it it wouldn’t give me an extra spot. I love NGG, and it’s a mint low play HUO. I don’t want to get rid of any more B/W games at the moment. Even though I love many newer releases, nothing compares to the unique features & mechs in the 90s games.

I’m gonna list my LOTR. Great game, but I think I’ve played my fill at this point.

Was having what was shaping up to be my best game...I hit the store and then immediately exited... then nothing. The ball didn't come back up from the riser and ball search didn't trigger. So I shook the machine hard, nothing. Ended up manually tossing another ball into play and hit the scoop....nothing. tossed in a third ball into a Baltan to try the other riser, nothing. It's like the optics just stopped responding, or it didn't fully exit the store despite it not being on the screen. Interestingly enough before I hit the scoop again I was still able to add to the score but the ball didn't seem to actually be in play because my score was blinking and no additional assets played...which is why I think it didn't actually exist all the way from the store.

I went into the menu and then exited which of course restarted my game, but it still didn't trigger a ball search. After a power cycle, everything started working again, the ball search kicked on and my three balls came up from the risers. The icing on the cake...during this a Baltan also died, it just flops around now, ha. I have spare servos so I'm all good for that part.

Anyone encountered this issue/bug? V1.13

I was in the store and it wouldn't let me choose anything. Had to just exit. Game continued on though.

This has been bugging us too! I'm happy to say that we've fixed it, and the fix will be in the upcoming update.

As with all things pinball it seems, it was harder than you'd think. The layer these videos are played also gets lots of text and images placed on it too. Initial forays into changing the dimensions made everything else out of whack. We managed to get everything playing nicely now though, and the people are finally un-squished.

Keeping my UM- so much to still explore and so fun to shoot. My LOTR- never got into it- bought it because everyone raves about it. Don’t care about making it to valley whatever so it needs to go. Congrats to those who have made it- tough to do. Fortunately LOTR has held its value- trading for a LT.

It's like buying an IPO for the first time and watching it drop to the basement on day one. Anyone who bought a NIB Ultraman is a bag holder for life. I have no idea what I'll do with mine. I play a few games every second update... When the code is done, I'll probably just take the big loss and move on. Maybe I'll keep it in storage to donate for shows.

You’ll definitely get more for your LOTR than UM.

I can’t sell mine for $6k.

Absolutely true. I often wonder why I like “weird” unpopular themes like UM. But I am also into some eccentric hobbies… like pinball.

Beta-code day Going off previous release schedule I would expect the official update to drop within the week, barring any major issues in the beta. Excited to get this loaded after work today, just watched Godzilla Minus One/Minus Color last night and Shin Kamen Rider last weekend, I'm in a kaiju/tokusatsu mood.

RFM gets alot of love from me update wise these days. I would be sure to check the latest updates for both before making any decisions though. Worth remembering that not all old games are stuck on old code and new code can breath new life into most games. Possibly someone may update NGG to one day.

I will be trying out the new UM beta code shortly. Looking forward to it!

I know the non expert modes light Pigmon's face, Pigmon multiball lights Pigmon, Science Patrol multiball lights the silhouette, but what lights the foot icon? I thought it was Neronga but I just played that mode before taking this picture

IMG_20240129_210209893 (resized).jpg

I too would like to know that, and also what most of the other lights mean. When I have people over to play pinball and they ask about the meaning of some of playfield lights, most of the times I can’t answer.

Just ordered my Scooby Doo Topper.

Zoinks!!!

RussMyers

New update has been all good for me so far. I haven't played the wizard mode yet as I like earning them, but the UI updates + small tweaks make the game feel a lot more polished. I didn't catch any screen tearing (HUGE improvement, that's been a pet peeve of mine), aspect ratio issues are corrected, idk if it's just in my head but things just seem to be running smoother... no big delay/cpu "thinking" when I fall into the store now. Just some really good work on top of the additional content, nice job Matt + team.

May take a some time but if Spooky games with niche themes like Rob Zombie and Domino’s can recover a good bit of their value than a much better game like UM has hope. You never know…couldn’t sell my Metallica LE for $7k and bought a TWD LE with topper for $6.5k since Pinside decided they sucked too.

I wonder if the screen tearing was due to the incorrect ratio of the assets. I feel like this can happen with some video game emulation. Could also be screen refresh rate and fps of the video clips being mismatched previously. I hope this is fixed as it does stick out to me as well.

Never know I guess. This one seems destined to stay low for a very long time.