MET was about a year when it got its biggest, polished update when Blackened and RTL were added, as well as CIU animations. Before that, there was a frenzy of unhappy MET owners. John Borg even shared my "Hitler Reacts" video to his FB page.

XM was 18 months before the biggest update, and it made a HUGE difference in the game.

I swear I had SM for 2 1/2 years (Oct of '07 to May of '10), and Super Hero wizard mode was still bare bones when I sold it. It got a huge update right after I sold it, and prices jumped significantly for that title because Stern had already stopped selling that title. SM continued to get updates through 2014.

How long has it been since KISS started to ship? About 18 months + or - ?

I also disagree. I believe the info in "John's Arcade" Stern factory tour video is accurate.

People were giving up on MET after a year, and then they were creaming all over themselves when the added songs and CIU's were added.

SM was worse because it was no longer in production, so there wasn't any hope. Steve Ritchie even mentioned in an interview that Gary didn't want them to work on SM code because they were not going to sell any more units because of it.

I think it's fun, and I don't think there's anything wrong with the layout. Completing songs and completing the grid seem to be the majority of the game right now, but I see potential for a lot more with code updates. I disagree with it not being challenging. If you are attempting to complete songs to reach 2x, 3x, 5x, and Colossal (10x), that is extremely challenging. The left orbit between the pops is challenging, at least on my game. I've owned many other games with the pops surrounding the left orbit, and this shot on KISS seems to be the most difficult for me. I had no problems with XM, TSPP, SWDE, JP and a few others, but maybe because those were all a little closer?

Another thing that has helped make this game more fun for me is the song changes I've made. I added "God of Thunder" for Demon MB and moved Dr. Love to the song list. I added "New York Groove" in place of "Heaven's on Fire," and I replaced a few songs in the song list with "Strutter" and "I Was Made for Loving You."

http://tiltforums.com/t/kiss-wiki-rulesheet/732

Isn't TOTAN's code unfinished?

I'm a KISS owner, too, so I want a code update as much as everyone else. I just thought it was ironic that you listed TOTAN, which has the reputation of code issues Rum-Z listed. TZ actually took a long time to get to its current 9.4 and 9.4H versions, too. I've owned many Bally/Williams games that have code bugs or missing features (CFTBL and the left inlane inserts, for example).

With a few setting adjustments, I like the way KISS plays. The problem for me is comparing it to other Stern games that offer so much more within the code. I think it will happen, it's just frustrating waiting so long.

The John's Arcade tour of Stern video was more than "Stay tuned."

"The team's working on a big code update for KISS. I know the community's been wanting that." - Jody

Week of Nov 20th, '16.

I disagree. SM and XM got updates long after they had gone into the Stern archive.

I have read these same conversations with just about every title since SM. MET and XM had the community in a bigger uproar than KISS. I don't like that it takes so long, but I have faith.

I even think MET will get another update, with band member modes and another song.

Yet this doesn't hold true with SM or XM, which got their best updates after already in the archive.

Like these:

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I got it on ebay! But I only paid $17 + shipping. This was the only one I could find currently.

ebay.com link: itm

I agree with everything except the claim that MET is like chopping wood. The coffin is the only thing you have to bash multiple times to get to a CIU (7 or 8 times if you use the inlane double hits). The other items you only need to hit 2 or 3 times to get a few inserts lit on the spider lanes. I wouldn't call hitting Sparky or the snake 3 times each bashing or chopping wood.

I never "go for" multiballs. I think that's more of a tournament strategy? I love the rules for reaching CIU's, so that's whatI always go for. Graveyard MB happens for me because I'm hitting the crosses to collect inserts.

My focus on KISS is always finishing songs to get the playfield multipliers. If I have a playfield multiplier going, I see what's left of the grid to complete.

Thinking about the cities...if there were a separate objective to acheive during a song mode in order to complete a city, how could the playfield inform that a city is complete? Call-outs would be easy to inform, but without city inserts, there would be nothing visual other than the display.

It would be cool to have objectives like x-number of switch hits for NY, for example, x-number of pop hits for Portland, x-number of spinner hits for Chicago, etc, but only advance to the next city when one is finished. Completing the "World Tour" could be another wizard mode.

Except George didn't say that. He said they "have to find a way to make it happen..." Everyone interpreted that as, "It's not being worked on currently."

George also said at Texas, "It's coming."

And in the John's Arcade" video blah blah blah.

Soon.

Not today.

I don't have instruments carry over, but I do have all instruments lit on the first ramp shot. If I don't get them all on one ball, I have to hit a ramp shot again to light again.

I think you also said you changed playfield multipliers to one song. This has made the biggest difference in how fun this game is for me.

Neither does mine. The right orbit on a clean shot, or a full plunge, however, is a different story. If it doesn't hit any of the pops, there's no saving it!

This was 8 days ago. Maybe he thought he was posting in the BM66 thread.

So does this mean Minneapolispin is no longer a credible source?

I posted this video for Randy at ColorDMD when he was first testing Sigma on SPIKE. This is yellow. The camera doesn't pick up the color well, but honestly, the red looks just as good (or bad). I'm hoping when code is finished, someone will colorize for ColorDMD like SM and IM.

For power? I don't remember. I swapped temporarily with my MET just to show Randy, and then I swapped back. I can't remember how it plugs into SPIKE for power.

I had to look at an old thread to see how I powered it. I sell my TV's and tree house through Mezelmods, and I recommend that power adapter to SPIKE customers, but I know I don't have one, so I was a little confused on how I actually powered the display for the test.

The newer Chroma displays only require 12v, so I unplugged the speaker light kits and used that power source. I was wondering why the speakers were not lit in the video. I thought maybe I did it because the light wasn't good for the camera when filming the display.

6 1/2 months or sooner! Take it to the bank!

I think there's a lot of truth to dgoett's post. There's no way they go from 1.28 to 1.30 in 16 months with mostly bug fixes. 1.30 has probably been done for a while. If there's another release, we might see it labeled 1.83, or something like that. All the inbetween versions we probably won't see.

I think this bug was reported in the bug thread, and it's still occurring on 1.30:

Let's say I choose Hotter Than Hell at the beginning of a ball. I do a soft plunge that doesn't reach the right orbit switch, but it rolls back to hit the spinner. I hit the right flipper to catch the ball, and the song changes. However, I'm still on HTH mode on the DMD and playfield shots, but it's playing a different song.

This would happen on the old code, as well.

I've never seen Run-DMD's KISS animations, but on the last two KISS updates (1.28 and 1.30), I've scrolled through all the animations in Pinball Browser, and there really isn't much I haven't already seen in the game.

Thst's not how ColorDMD makes its decisions. The displays they sell are the same for all titles. When a customer orders, the display is loaded with the proper software, and a royalty goes to the developer, which in most cases is a tech-saavy collector who wanted that title done. Doesn't matter to ColorDMD how popular it will be (Gilligan's Island is the latest release). ColorDMD is making money on the displays. When collectors are programming, there's no development cost to ColorDMD (except the royalty).

That's probably correct. I've received my last two ColorDMD's from Randy in person for using signage at a show, so it was already loaded.

When you click to buy the specific title, I think the royalty still goes to the developer, even if you end up using the display for another title (again, I think).

If Ace sold the rights, why would he get money for any use of Spaceman after that? Paul and Gene would get the money.

Lack of disrespect?

Lack of utmost respect?

Heaven's on Fire (Hard Luck Woman) plays during Grid multiball. I have New Yoork Groove in that spot.

http://www.pinballlife.com/index.php?p=product&id=4001

Pinball Life sells a yellow filter. I didn't think I would like it yellow, but it's actually so much better than the blinding white! The topper is not made to be interactive. It has a random light show running constantly during attract and game play.

ColorDMD doesn't have a line. If someone comes to them and says, "I want to do game X," and the person is qualified, it gets done. However, the chances someone approaches ColorDMD about KISS before the code is finished and because of the "real" animations are very slim, I would think.

I timed it once on my MET a few years ago. Seems to be around 2 minutes, I think.

Anyone ever have a SPIKE game reset during gameplay? My KISS reset tonight during Demon MB. I've owned lots of Stern games, and this has never happened on any of them. WPC...yes, but never a Stern.

When I had KISS, I changed Demon MB to God of Thunder with Pinball Browser, and it does fit that multiball perfectly. Sounds great with the little boy giggling at the beginning.

I have a KISS topper on ebay, if anyone is interested.

ebay.com link: Stern Pinball Machine Interactive KISS Topper

Shipping is auto generated on ebay based on location, box size, and weight. I will refund any difference for actual shipping. I plugged in NY just to see what the charges would be from one coast to the other, and it came up as $38

Just in case someone is looking for a KISS topper in the future, you might get an idea of what they're selling for based on my ebay sale. Mine sold for $330 + shipping. My buyer is a two hour drive from me, so his shipping cost was $13.65.

Someone asked me on ebay if the patterns would display without plugging into the game. I wasn't sure if the programming is self-contained in the topper or if the game provided the programming software. Do these just light up solid with the proper voltage, or are the patterns still present?