Hell no

I came to play pinball. I'm here for a physical experience

If I want to play a crappy short video game with bad controls then I'll pull out my phone

Why not , best approach is a menu setting to turn on or off ...
Everyone wins

I'm sure it's an unpopular opinion, but I don't hate video modes. They give a game more variety and let the coils cool down for a few seconds.

Hell yea. I love video modes.

No video modes suck. Last game I can remember that had one was ghostbusters and one mode was meh and the other was just dumb. I will say newer players and casuals really seem to love video modes though

FT video mode, Hell yeah!
HS2 video mode, meh.
CV copy cat video mode, Hell no!

I don't think I hate them, but I do find myself skipping them when I can. On GoT I never pick video mode for a mystery award, but my wife loves it. I liked Star Wars video mode, I just hated how many points you could get on it and how many times it came up. If you brought in a high multiplier, your video mode score could be the most points scored in that game.

Toy Story 4 has a video mode with Tiki Pinball. Sure it's not on their main LCD screen but it's very playable on the mini screen.

I actually like the HS2 video mode.

At best a good video mode is "fine" but most are just ugh...

I've always found them somewhat annoying especially after the umpteenth time, and they interrupt the real game, so, no for me.

BSD is a great video mode. I wish TWD had one similar. I also enjoyed the IJ PoA video modes.

A lot of video modes are too long as well. They're better when they're very brief and let you get back to the fun part.

If it is a good one and fits the theme hell yeah! Lethal weapon 3 has the best one with the target practice. That poor bastard with the flower usually gets it every time when I'm playing after a few beers.

They are only fun for the first few times so not really. If done, they should be very quick to complete and only done once or maybe twice in a game. Nice when you can earn extra ball like in FT.

I would love to see them add a tassle twirl video mode to EHOH.

Many years ago (before LCD's appeared in real pinball machines), I came up with an idea to use live action film footage in a video mode. The idea is based on QTE (Quick Time Events) - press the correct flipper as it flashes on the screen. Reaction time would start at 300ms and decrease each time. Someone with very fast reflexes could complete the scene and win the award.

Very simple idea and very easy to code.

I like the concept of video modes....but I don't think these were ever executed very well.

I really dislike the Stern Star Wars falcon video mode
very annoying.

Just like anything it depends on the video mode. Games that have video modes just because it was a thing to do, suck. When it's a good mode and done well they are great.

LW3 target practice is sweet. so is the tie fighter skill shot in Star Wars.

I actually really like it.

han.gif

Are there video modes where after awhile you figure out the patterns and can just blow thru it every time?

Some are good, some are bad.
The funniest has always been complaining it kills the flow. haha.

FT
STNG:L,L,R,R,L,R,L

because they're often easier to understand than actual pinball rules, and they can't lose the ball during a video mode

No one on this planet is a bigger star wars fan then me... for shits sake I have a puzzle with hans finger that is actually a penis in my collection, but that mode needs to go.

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Yes including the video mode in OP's example

(I know a modern video mode would have a more proper RNG function, this was just a funny example of how you could memorize a lot of old video modes)

Not sure about nowadays with LCD screens, but I enjoyed them during the DMD era. LW3 and Sega Harley Davidson had some fun modes.

and the great thing is if you have DE GNR and Sega HD...you have the same video mode....same pattern. How great is that? Only have to remember 1. lol

I don't think it matters either way. I've always been a pinball guy way more than a video game player, but I do like the video modes on games like Creech and Fishtales. A short video mode here or there is ok, I just wouldn't it to be a major part of game play.

I think the SW video mode is one of the better ones in pinball. I will say 20 secs is too long for it (luckily this can be changed to 15 secs in settings), and playing as Han can make it video mode overload. Otherwise, it’s one of my personal favorites in pinball.

Need a poll of who thought this thread would lead to SW Penis puzzles...

I love Fish Tales video mode , lots of fun shooting the jet skis and skiers , even after you've done it 1000 times it's still tricky to get a perfect score , especially after a few beers
Fish Tales is a brutal game and when friends come over and play it keeps them interested .

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You say , no video modes suck , but then you say one is meh and another one is dumb , which is it

Some are annoying in that the video mode scores too much (doctor who, especially with 4x PF multiplier going). As others noted, you can't lose the ball during the video mode, so why not shoot for it? Chose doctor 1 for escape letters help, deal with the carom off the standup bank, shoot the shot into the pops. Video mode itself is easy.

That's a bad video mode. STTNG is bad too in that it's canned, but I'd still play it vs. Poker Night to get the artifact, which is no small change once you get final frontier.

AFM's video mode is "ok". I'm kind of happy that the other DMD games I have don't have a video mode. I used to abuse DW's and stopped when I realized why have a pinball machine if all I'm doing is shooting for a video mode? It was almost on the chopping block for that.

BSD and Shadows' were ok but those games when I had them were more about getting the 30 millions and the final battle.

If it's nicely done (and SKIPPABLE!), hell yeah!
JM is pretty fun, HS2 and Dr Who too. Harley Davidson, TOM or No Fear on the other hand are just terrible in that regard.

The only video mode I don't care for is Star Wars DE.

Favorite is BSD -

SW has a video mode asteroid field that is fun.

I think there’re ok as long as they are not too common.

AFM has one and I don’t see it too often.

Considering a third of my games have them, I say Hell Yeah!

BSD has an awesome video mode, each wave comes out faster.
Aaawooo

Sorry, I meant

No, video modes suck

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I love video modes. It gives you time to breath and do something new for a few moments.
For more frenetic game play, remember Lethal Weapon, where a bad guy would pop-up randomly and you had to take your hands off the flippers quickly to blast him to smithereens using the mounted gun handle ball launcher? This gave the game a little bit more excitement and kept you on your toes.

Some good ones:
Mr/Ms pac-man (1st one)
Jackbot Casino Run
BSD
Stern Star Wars (very cool)
Shadow
Indy 500
Fish Tales
IJTPA (these 3 are pretty good)
Dr. WHO
Johnny MN.

These are ok...
STTNG
Congo
AFM
RFM is pretty much one large interactive video mode

The rest are all kinda meh. In a small way, these modes were paying tribute to the hard working DMD artists in the industry. Look what I can do over here. More is better, well... if it's done well, why not? I personally think the Stern Star Wars one is a recent one that stands out as great.

Just stirring , amazing what a difference a comma can make

Is Casino Run a video mode though? I had a Jackbot for a few months and couldn't stand a game where I had to constantly button mash that does absolutely nothing half of the time. Like Mario Party but with less sweet sweet revenge.

Heck ya! Video Mode... However, with great power comes great responsibility... I would argue there are more crap video modes than good ones... so if game developers establish video modes as a feature of a game, then make it such and give it the right attention... not an after thought. My 2 cents

Oktoberfest has one that is inspired by the video game Tapper and Houdini has one with car scaling (throwing), something Houdini did in his acts. Neither has a set pattern you can memorize, but you can certainly develop the skill to do well on them. On Oktoberfest you can choose not to play unless you are trying to complete all tents. In Houdini takes a bit of skill and focus to avoid playing it. But to finish playing all stage modes you would need to play it.

There are some good ones, but on a whole I would vote for not having them. If they are included in the game, they should be able to be bypassed for a set number of point and/or be disabled in the menus. I loved my Stern Star Wars but that stupid video mode just got in the way.

Also, with the explosion of tournament pinball I think that video modes should not be used at all in those competitions. Maybe have it disabled in competition mode or as mentioned simply add the ability to disable in menus. STTNG gives a choice and I suppose that could be a tournament rule to choose points; similar to plunging extra balls on EMs.