Love some Jlaw Titties.

Have to disagree here.

Not excited with ANY of these themes by Stern mentioned here.

“JJP can try and do something”. That’s funny.

Wick was a maybe.

Matrix and Harry Potter I’m in with JJP

Top Gun, Planet of the Apes, Mad Max

Screw that. D&D is going to be bangin.

Whats D&D?

Dungeons dragons

I listened to that interview last night. I definitely didn’t get that TRON is 100 percent coming from it. I think that it’s very possible and the most likely of the older Vaults. I also think that vaulting it makes a ton of business sense for Stern if demand is slow. If I had to guess, I think that we will see it eventually but I’m definitely not as certain as he is.

Heck yeah. If it was done well, I’d definitely be a buyer of a Stern D&D game. The monsters, leveling up characters worth IC. It could be amazing.

Vault Tron=instant buy for me. I love that game, but have never been able to stomach the price they go for.

Count me in for D&D too - though only if it's based on the original table game. If it's a movie license, I'll nope out.

Well, LE on crack doesn't sound like it will be any lower.

- Coming 100%

- but also there is a risk Stern shelves this

Hyperbole in the title = clickbait

I keep subconsciously trying to forget about X-MEN '97. The last Borg X-men scarred me. But yeah, that's a reasonable swap.

Gomez said Jack was "in the chute" which to me implies this year. So unless he's doing a different pin first, I think it's Pokemon late this year, maaayyybe a couple weeks into 2025 at CES.

Would like to know more about Spike 3.

But I worry that won’t bode well for the future availability of Spike 2 boards.

Since the first D&D rumor last year, I have been thinking this is one that could have some really great rules. Needs to be Dwight on software. Start with your choice of fighter, magic user, cleric, thief, etc and work your way up in levels with insider connected to track progress. I would definitely be interested if done right from the original books and not any movie.

What if stern does a dual theme with D&D and Pokemon? Both share rpg/leveling up mechanics…could be cool!

Throw is some Harry Potter for the trifecta!

This would destroy it and have no license issues and the greatest music ever in a game. Want this game made for several years and saw someone bldg a one off at one point in time.

IMG_6393 (resized).png

Konami is a licensing nightmare. So, yeah, it would not be a cakewalk. But...they seem to be "appreciating" their back catalog recently, so maybe...

This!

An operator friend of mine who is pretty chummy with some of the distributors said that he was told Spike 3 boards will be backwards compatible with both Spike 1 and 2 boards. If that's true, no worries and a genius move on Sterns behalf.

Maybe Aimtron got the bid. J/K

Disney franchise + cross promotion = high probability

I just hope Dwight gives it a rest on his coding style of all hurryup multipliers and pressure all the time. That's cool for Venom and Star Wars but D&D should be a much more relaxed experience.

Not sure where the X Men 97 came from but I think both Elwin and Gomez are hinting at Kong. Elwin has all the monsters or something like that has been said quite a few times

Love ya work!

Elwin's like 3 games ahead, so both can be right and just a matter of order we see them.

Kong is on my list of wants I posted somewhere.

Can't wait to bitch if there are no bananas in it.

Castlevania would be a great videogame series to translate to pinball.

I didn't watch the Gomez interview but he spilled the beans on three future titles?

This actually has me thinking that D&D and Pokemon could be a codename/actual game duo. Wonder which one we'll get.

I am not a fan of the pins where you choose a character and upgrade them and can save your progress. Every new game should be starting at the beginning.

Understandable sentiment, but I have seen people pretty invested in leveling up their venom account and think this style of engagement is starting to get traction.

Specifically I've seen new players (on location) invested in trying to beat Knull which they likely wouldn't have been able to see before and more experienced players play venom longer trying to get the 3 unlockable characters.

Apologies for not being aware, but is this even a thing in pinball? Sounded like an innovative idea to me, so maybe many just aren’t aware this idea already exists.

With modern Sterns, this could easily just be a mode in the settings that can be toggled on or off. Not sure what the differences between the modes would look like, but now we’re talking about saving your progress in pinball.

Can a sleep state please be added while we’re at it? I want to be able to come back to my 10 ball progress after dinner, ha

What if players had the choice between ‘free play’ and ‘story mode’? The latter being the level-up character option and the former would likely cater more to casual or tournament play.

Currently only a few games offer any saved progress type of options. I need to double check this but I think its currently just:
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: you can start with the last achieved training level of each Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, or Michaelangelo
- Venom: your current experience level determines which monsters you can battle and which monster's you've already defeated as well as additional special characters you've unlocked like Venomized Hulk, Venomized Wolverine, and Venomized Captain America

When you start Venom it will ask you if you want to use your previous progress (I forget the exact text) or if you want to start at level 0 so to speak.

Also when the game is in Competition mode these features are disabled so noone has an advantage.

Jaws and now John wick also have persistent progress. But it’s more cosmetic in nature. Just overall rank and fake currency to play mini games

I presume this may be a reason I would need to install IC on my TMNT if I were interested in this functionality?

Ya, that's how they get you

If you have another IC game, you can put the apron on the other game, put a USB dongle in the back, register and setup home team, then put the apron back in the other game. No scanner but you’re home team is accessible from the left flipper before starting.

The games so far will ask if you want to continue w/ progress or start over

You all have a wealth of knowledge and experience. Thank you for sharing it.

Having a story mode and a free play mode sounds interesting to me. I like the idea of having multiple ways to play a pin, including playing as multiple characters, as it just adds depth and longevity to the table. If a table is based off a story or movie, having a story mode included that directs you to take the path that matches the story or movie would be welcome.

Also, would be fun to have the option to not go linear in the gameplay and be able to play later parts of the game in free play. Cooperative play should also be a mode that is normally included in a game.

The trick with story and free play modes, and characters, is having a balance between what content is shared among all modes/characters and what is exclusive. Not a fan of too much exclusivity, but it does motivate you to try everything.

In video games you see different endings a lot. That seems to be an efficient way to add multiple characters and share content across them. That and having a slight variation in play.

Can’t see anything wrong with adding additional ways to play a table and keep it interesting longer.

TRON vault is an absolute 100 percent day 1 buy for me. God, I hope it happens.

If they want to sell more Trons, they really need to improve the playfield art.

If they do TRON
It will have Ares (or whatever the latest one is called) cabin and PF art

This may be the most inaccurate statement on Pinside this week.
Maiden is top tier flow. Play better.

I get the appeal of Tron and think a vault LE would sell well but the game got old really quickly for me. I don’t think I’d revisit it again. But if you’ve never owned one they are harder to get, particularly at a reasonable price - seems like a no-brainer for Stern.

Tron le if you can find one are like 19-20k. Sterns gotta see that.

Stern said they wouldn't be doing new LE editions of games since the Elvira debate. Does that mean they would be running Tron Pro, or would they do a new Tron Premium version with black trim?

Also, didn't they use off-the-shelf toys for Tron?

You can play them perfectly deactivating progress or selecting NO before the start.

It provides two different experiences in the same box. Your game your rules, enjoy it.

They do