Not sure but, the Pro left ramp looks to be
shallower and allows for a fast return to the right flipper. The new code may favor one model over the other, we’ll see. I’ll then make my choice.

Amazing to me how many people in this thread are wrong! .

It's a weird thing those slings. It's a cool idea, and it's pretty fun, but they also screw you over which isn't fun (eXpecially on a game that's cheap as shit to begin with).
But GB pro is shit for the right half ramp anyway; awfull.

I appreciate what they were trying to do but if you put enough time in on that game... they WILL screw you over in ways you never though possible. Its already a chaotic and cheap game (that damn flipper gap is another head scratcher) so it almost feels like a little salt in the wound when the end up causing a drain that would have otherwise not happened with traditional slings.

Its one of those things where you just can't 'get good' and learn how to overcome it.

Shouldn't be too hard to pick up a copy of both on the secondary market at a reasonable price.

I believe in an interview, John Borg said he starts his vision as a pro model and then adds features to make a more expensive model worth the cost to the consumer. But I still prefer the premium/LE. If it’s a theme I love, I’m going to go for the LE. But let’s take JP for instance; not a dream theme for me, but I’d definitely want a premium because of how great the gameplay looks.

I think it might be "every", but I was leaving myself an out if I thought of something. Lord of the Rings is close, I'd want a hybrid between the two. I still think I'd take the LE though, just to have the superior coating on the playfield and shaker motor. I'd look to swap for the standard backglass.

While all versions of Mustang are a lot of fun and seem to be greatly underrated, I have to respectfully disagree with you regarding the best one. With all the extra features (including more songs which you didn't mention) provided in the Premium/LE models, they offer substantially more gameplay depth, variety, risk/reward, strategy options, and consequently ... more fun than the Pro. Accordingly, they are also well worth the additional cost IMHO.

Very cool. I honestly haven't played enough on the prem/LE, so I really should have noted that. I personally didn't see the value, but good to hear that it's there. I spent a ton of time modding the music on mine, and those extra song spots would have come in handy. I hate that drag race multi shares the same song with gear shift on the pro.

I still couldn't bring myself to trade away that beautiful Mach 1 cabinet though...

Me too! A high end game for me now is a No Fear. I'm a going to go get one! Pro model, premium, or LE, I don't care as long as it's not super faded.

SM.
Seriously. Was there a bigger waste of money than SMB?

And I remember a few SMB fetching up to 12k on here when it was hot.
WHOOPSIE.

Some people investing in the first AC/DC Luci in the secondary market kinda got burned.

That shit was HILARIOUS.
"I have $13,000. What should I buy?" LOL

I've got a $7000 Iron Man you can have if you cough up 9 grand. It's even got nimblepin's seal of approval on it.

You shoulda just married rich.

I’m a Pro guy. Partly because I’m cheap, but mostly because I like the games more. Sure, I’ve done my LE phase, but my heart is with the Pro games.

And here is my big differentiator: I grew to hate upper playfields. They block the view of the ball, and always feel like a gimmick to me. Stewie Pinball was the first one I played a lot, and thought it was awesome... for about 10 plays. Then just ugh. After a couple shots I felt like I was wasting time there.

As for MET, Pro. I just don’t like the hammer blocking my view. I LOVE the action and concept of it, but hate that it is in my way.

I agree so we replaced the hammer with something less obstructive.

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Magneto LE is amazing.

Magna slings are fun. I have played over 1,000 games on Ghostbusters LE and can say that it isn't common for the slings to send the ball STDM. It happens rarely. Plus, during multiball, the slings do some amazing stuff. Perfect for the theme.

They can be cheap, but I really like them. I think the people dissing them for being massively unfair are protesting too much. It's not much more cheap than TWD Prison magnet - actually, I think it's LESS cheap.

Gotg-pro
Kiss- pro
Twd- pro
Acdc-Le Bib or Ltbr
Tron-Le
St- Le
X-men-LE
Transformers-Le combo
Met-any Model, Sterns best!
Sw-Premium

If there's one thing that ive learned from the Pro vs premium debate its that you really have to go play them and see for yourself because you just can't get a straight answer on Pinside about it and many just say that the model that they have is the best model even if they dont really know. My opinion is though that the premium is almost always the better game, not always of course but 99% of the time it is.

One thing for sure though is, you cant take anyone serious that says GB, MET, or Munsters pro is better than the premium models. I mean come on give me a break! These three models here are no brainers. Thats not to say that their pro counterparts aren't good because they are, but they aren't as good as the premiums no way.

My beefs with GB Premium:

- Slimer flies away and you can’t hit him anymore. Why would they do this?
- Slingshots are already the main source of randomness in modern machines, and now they’ve been made more random. Yes they are a cool effect but not when they drain me by doing weird stuff, which sometimes includes not firing.
- I don’t love the right ramp on the Pro, but I hate that it’s loopable on the Premium. PKE is overpowered enough as it is - you shouldn’t be able to loop 100m point shots.

On the plus side, the subway locks are cool, though they were constantly malfunctioning on the one closest to me and the eventual fix was to replace the entire playfield for some reason.

You dont even have to use slimer to start modes so thats no big deal and if anything its a code issue what you're talking about.

The magna slings rarely cause ball drains, heck i may even argue that they cause less ball drains than traditional slings.

The right ramp you're talking about is once again a code issue.

Subway ramp is awesome.

Word

Stern should make a run of TWD pro+ meaning a pro with spinners and walker bomb.

The problem is that it's not in Stern's best interest to do this. It would steer sales away from their more profitable Premium model which they would likely vault as well. I was hoping they'd add spinners on to the newer run Metallica Pro machines to spur sales but that didn't happen either.

Looking at the premium on JP almost $2000 for moving Dino and Raptor pit just seems like a lot of cheddar.

It’s almost like a regular movie vs the 3D movie ticket price that you get the same movie or from both but the 3D is just a bit extra bling. Not sure how much do I wan the moving Dino.

My thoughts as well and I ultimately decided on the pro.

I would love for them to come out with a kit that I could add spinners and walker bombs to my pro

Why would people buy a premium if you could just add a kit for a pro?

Exactly. Fantasy land.

Never will happen but a guy can dream

Transformers Pro is much better than the LE

I'm totally fine with you liking the MET Premuim better. I prefer (and own) the Pro. I've had opportunity to upgrade to a NIB Premium, and HUO Premium. I just really like mine and the updates I've done to it. So we can agree to disagree.

This one is the toughest decision (I'm still on the fence). I really want the moving T-Rex. Is that worth $2000? Goodness no... but it is a freaking moving T-Rex... so maybe it is. No, yes, ugh. It should have been in both, because not having it might stop me from buying the Pro. In my mind it is a critical feature.

Real Playa’s Play Pros (tm)

TWD

And I may be one of the few, but I like Munsters pro a lot better
I usually like lower PF's but this one did nothing for me

I feel the same way in most cases. I value game speed over just about everything. However, I find that Ghostbusters is the one game that the Premium has sped up gameplay considerably. The right entry to the ramp on the Pro does the thing where it just sort of slows and then returns, where the right ramp on the Prem is a quick return. The ball lock subway was a surprise to me because on the pro, the ball bounces around a decent amount before registering the switch.

I haven't played enough of Black Knight Premium to know if I prefer it, but it feels weird without an upper playfield in it. Having said that, I don't like any of the Black Knight games before it thanks to the upper playfields, so I might like the Pro more ultimately too.

Uh, no. Met Pro is the superior game if you value faster gameplay over features. The hammer, other than blocking the top, slows down that ball lock. The snake, closes its jaw and can slow down gameplay.

Completely unrelated, I almost forgot about a couple of the early ones. Avatar and Rolling Stones I absolutely *hate* the LE features because they put a random powerball into play with a score bonus, but the games don't have a way to ensure that ball comes up only at certain points. Yuck.

It’s sad to me when something cheap like spinners on Met is removed or TWD Walker bombs. Even the second captive ball on Maiden or the helicopter spinner on JP. It’s not like I’m talking extra features like upper lower PF or extra moving ramp like XM.

These are $10 type savings and I’m sure people would pay an extra few dollars to get. Kind of like when I was adding PF support to Tron and IM VE I didn’t care about the extra $30.

I know it’s to push people towards the premium because of the higher profit margins.

I love bling and I think extra toys are dope but if a game like Met or TWD gives me 95% of the gameplay for 75% of the cost that’s the kind of math I like.

I don’t have any cheap pins anymore but I started out buying T2 and BoP when they cost $1800 or less. Now I’m asked to pay $1800 for a moving Dino head or a hammer ball lock. (I know there’s more to it than that there’s the GI lights and spinners and so on, but the general idea is $1800 can almost buy a full other game and LE an extra $3500 I can buy something like WPT for example).

Whatever you're happy with man. Some people actually prefer light beer too.