IMVE.

LTG : )™

Iron man or xmen

Met Pro

Met Pro, Met Premium or IMVE
You don't have to be a Metallica fan - you can even change the music if you want.

Both of these games have great fun rulesets - IMO XMen isn't as fun (it is deep though).

Met pro!

I have XMLE, Tron and IMVE

IMO Tron is best and it's a tie between XM and IM but just by a small margin, I could easily say they are a 3 way tie for my favorite Borg games (note have not played much Met or TWD myself).

I like IM mainly because it's so short/quick and I like XMLE mainly because there is a ton of things of do.

I don't have enough time on Met to say one way or the other, but basically I believe you could not possibly go wrong with any of those 3-4 pins you are contemplating.

I prefer the comic super hero pins myself. I have AcDc premium and while at first I was not thinking I'd like it because it's a music pin, now I really love it so maybe Met would be fine as a theme.

I was going to ask a similar question myself if someone would say is Met better or TWD?

Metpro>XMLE>IMVE>METPremium

Met premium is still a good game, I just rank it low because met pro is pretty much the same game for way less.

Jurassic Park and Tales from the Crypt!

I'll also be the only one to answer the Met Pro vs. Premium question - I like the Pro more than the Premium because the hammer does slow the game down a decent amount. The snake's movements do nothing for me. So, the price difference it makes no sense for me to get a machine with a feature I like less than the Pro and another that doesn't interest me one way or another.

Based on what you've said, I'm guessing Met something is for you. IM is brutal. Fun, but also a game that I do not expect to hold it's value much because it's so polarizing - it's my favorite game, but I know a number of people who claim it as one of their least favorites. Metallica seems to be in a high spot for just about everyone.

I find the difficult level just right on Tron and I love all the shots on it. Iron Man is very difficult and very fun, but expect short ball times and it is a one ball game. If you get it all lined up on one ball there is no other pinball machine that match the excitement, but it does not happen often if set up right.

I loved Metallica right after the crank it up update but I got bored again pretty soon. Not sure why, because it has great rules and a lot to shoot for. Maybe it is the ramps. They look great but I found myself only aiming for them when I had to, and a newer game with no ramp fun can get old pretty fast for me. I loved it at first but sold it after a year. I also found it very hard to get to the third crank it up mode, still only halfway to the wizard mode.

Getting to the wizard mode is supposed to be hard but I like to feel that I have a chance to get there one day. That was not gonna happen with Metallica. Even the really hard ones like ac/dc, Lord of the rings, etc. I have a feeling that I could get there on a really good day (even if it will never happen)

X-men is ok. Deep rules but just not fun enough for me. Sold it after 3 months. The callouts got on my nerves after a while.

My vote goes to Tron!

Big Borg fan here. Definitely get Met Pro or IMVE. Met Pro is a little more fun. IM is a little more challenging and addictive. Both are fantastic.

^^^^this exactly...I own both

I have all 3 of these... probably my top 3 favorites. IM is different than the other two because the games are short and I really like having that in a collection. While XM and MET both have deeper rulesets, all 3 seem to be equally tough to master. For you it may boil down to theme, or a need for short vs long ball time, but I don't think you can go wrong with any of them.

MSF is a gem that I kept over IM. For less than half the price the game is fun and challenging. IM got old in a few months not enough there . If you got to go Stern- Met Pro.

Iron man VE. But if you dont like the shorter ball times on IM and like the music of Metallica, Met pro is super fun as well.

I had a xmenle. The only reason I sold it was because of the super long games. 15-20 Min average.
It was not fun anymore. Everything was obtainable. I could reach or beat danger room pretty much every game. After only owning it for 3 months.
And Dark Pheonix about 1/10 games.

It is still good, ramps, dots etc. but it became a chore to play. The challenge was gone.

1. Move to columbia
2. We buy a warehouse and convert it to a barcade
3. We buy all the games mentioned above
4. We drink beer and play pinball

Met Prem !

Met Premium/LE is UNBELIEVABLE. The hammer is awesome, it's earlier issues have been taken care of with the recent updates. The light show is INSANE, with crazy moody colorful GI color change and fade FX that the Pro does not have. Snake jaw is great, rising grave market is cool. Since you've already got Tron, Met Prem/LE is the next best Borg. If you didn't like ST, I don't think you'd like X-Men. Similar 'billion modes to get thru' progression...but I think ST is coded better, physically designed better, and has better voices/sound/music, too. IM is awesome but since you have Tron already, it might feel a little too similar if you want variety....however, if you just can't stand Metallica (not sure what "not a fan" entails) - go IM.

Metallica is one of the best games ever created. It feels like an original theme the way it's done. The artwork is great. The pro is a decent machine also. I couldn't recommend getting metallica more. If I thin my collection down to two games, metallica is staying. This is some of the best pinball software I've ever seen. The strategy is so huge as there's always multiple things you are working for. The premium is great with captive ball mod. The pro is great with proper led mods.

Xmen is really good now also. The LE is the way to go on that one. Night crawlers are too well integrated to get a pro. The artwork is fantastic. There are tons of shots and modes. The software is really good now. You can get a cheap HUO deal on an LE.

Ironman is fun but can be frustrating. The ramps are nowhere near as smooth as say metallica or walking dead. It's a very short ball time game like walking dead with average to good software. I loved it for a while but bored of it quickly (a year). Of three you mention, this is the last Id recommend.

Odd, your outlane posts were set as easy as possible when I bought it from you, you must've changed 'em right before I bought it eh?

Just joshing you, I'm glad you got sick of XMLE - I am loving it. Almost made DP for the first time yesterday, your score is still number 1 though.

Totally understand what you are saying, once a game becomes that easy to complete frequently, it's time to move on.

Borg game?

header8735rf345tgf3465t567.jpg

I'm glad you wrote this. The depth of this game has raised my head a few times, but I had heard the wizard modes were not as hard to reach all in all as other deep sterns. I was sort of thinking of this machine at some point, but I think I will pass now.

Met Pre for sure. I did end up selling mine as the game times became very long and the gameplay became boring but that can happen with any pin. You have the best two out of three now so Met Pre is the one, don't get the pro the lighting show in Met Pre is worth it by itself, plus the extra toy's are great. IM is a good game but in my opinion can't hold up against STLE, TWDLE and Met Pre. Good Luck

Iron Man is Borg's best game.

If we're just talking about layout, I disagree. I think MET is just as good. What's cool is that what makes the layouts different makes them play very differently. MET is more stop-and-go with the dead-end, scoop and snake. IM is relentless because the IRONMAN targets keep the ball moving nonstop. I like both styles of play, so I own both games.

Avatar

but from your list, go with IM

Same opinion as before - toss-up between Met and IM

FYI - if you look at the playfield layouts for Met and IM, they are almost exactly the same - like 90%. They play differently because of the rules, and Monger popping up in the middle, but I put them in the "very similar" playing category.

IMVE

The ramps, pops and orbits are pretty much identical, but everything else is different. So maybe 50%? I like having both.

But I'm *not* just talking layout. There's a lot more to a pin than just it's layout.

MET has too much bashing for my tastes.

This....or maybe this and Tron roughly tied. Met isn't bad either. I was a pre-order X-Men LE guy and it financially devastated me, (even after the final code update) so I'm probably not a fair voice of reason when it comes to X-Men.

I guess you're talking about the captive ball and Sparky, and the # of times you have to hit these to get their multiballs. I never get tired of hitting the captive ball. The inlane timer for doubling the # of hits is nice, and bouncing off the captive ball into the Snake scoop is awesome. Sparky can get a little old, but if you only shoot him to complete a "lane" you can build up Sparky MB and Seek & Destroy at the same time.

And needless to say, the rules on MET are far deeper than on IM. That makes it play very differently. Whereas, Avatar did feel too much like IM, and led me to sell it.

Twister!

Every MB on MET involves "bashing". Bash Sparky, bash the hammer, bash the snake, bash the inline targets.

I never once used the word "hate". You know why? Because I don't hate MET by a long shot. It's a good pin that I thoroughly enjoyed when I owned it for a year. But the bashing did get a bit old for me.

Doesn't mean I "hate" it.

IM

bash - verb
1.strike hard and violently.
"bash a mosquito with a newspaper"

I would not say that aiming a ball at a small target and hitting it is "bashing". If you think it is, then everything in IM involves bashing: bash the stationary targets, bash the Monger, bash the War Machine kicker...

But I would. Especially the snake.

Doesn't matter to me at all whether you agree or not.

It looks like you dropped Iron Man from the choices this time around. If that was intentional, definitely just get a Metallica. None of the responses recommended XMen over Metallica. So it seems you have a consensus.

Likewise. Enjoy bashing your ramps.

Funny, talking aboot this in response to the bashing in another thread

I reserve the word "bash" for something wider than a standard target, like Iron Monger, Wolverine, Balrog, etc. I thought that was the accepted use.

I see Rob's point, but it just doesn't bother me. Whether I have to shoot a ramp to light lock or a captive ball is cool. I just can;t get behind calling a drop a "bash target."

Yep, and like I said above, I have no problem with that disagreement on the drop target.

And of course it doesn't really technically matter anyway, it's merely an issue of whether it "bothers you" as you state above.

Remove the word "bash" and you still have a lot of repetitive/monotonous shots to start every MB on MET *in my opinion*.

Again, I am not bashing the pin! I like it quite a bit. Just not a keeper for me, mostly because of repetitive nature of starting those MB's.

Rob, did you sell your MET before the new code came out? I don't go for multiballs anymore unless I'm competing; there's just so much other cool stuff to do now. For recreational play it's all about Crank It Up for me.