If early solid state games are the ones you like to play, I would suggest cherry picking titles from each manufacturer. Also, you might want to narrow your date range down from 1977-84 to just throw out 1983 and '84. Maybe a few decent games, especially Space Shuttle, in those two years but mostly remakes and forgettable titles.
Williams didn't seem to catch its stride until Flash came out in late '78 and then after that there were some great titles like Black Knight and Firepower, plus some low production titles but not too many mega hits in that time period.
Gottlieb System 1 has only a couple of titles that appeal to me, Joker Poker and Countdown but overall not a good start in Solid State. Of course, some great titles with System 80 including MGOW, Black Hole, Haunted House and others.
Bally was the king of production with many games running over 10,000 units. Have owned most of them and played them all. Lots of similar playfield layouts in the early years, though those games were still fun to play. Hard to beat 1981 for a year of greatest hits for any manufacturer: Centaur, Eight Ball Deluxe, Flash Gordon, Fathom and a couple of others.
Stern suffered from limited distribution in those early years so their numbers are not what they could have been. Not too many cookie cutter designs unlike Bally. Great titles like Quicksilver, Star Gazer, Nine Ball, Seawitch and others.
Other manufacturers not to be forgotten, Zaccaria and Gameplan. Farfalla, Magic Castle for Zaccaria and two of the better games from 1983-84, and for Gameplan Andromeda and Cyclopes-even though it is a 1985 release it resembles game of the early solid state era.
Of course, another consideration is how much do you enjoy working on games from the early solid state era. Some are easy to work on, Bally and Stern, some a bit harder--Gottlieb, and I just don't care much for Williams board set and poor diagnostics in those early years.
Duarte, CA
