The only tools that have been in my arsenal (since 1995) has been a Weller WTCPT soldering iron and an old school hand pump desoldering tool (which one well known tech still scoffs at me for using!).

With just those two things, I can pretty much assemble and rework 98% of thru-hole and probably 90% of SMT.

Sure, there are SMT parts that require specialized equipment, such as parts with thermal pads (high powered LEDs usually have these), BGA, QFN and DFN packaged parts, and other such things. But those types of parts will likely not be the ones you are trying to fix in a pinball machine.

Tony