Quoted from 5280wzrd:I Appreciate all the responses. I'm going to have to do some research in ipdb and you tube. Believe it or not, I've never played TZ or IJ always wanted to, the games have somehow eluded me. I am still partial to the early as due to art. So those of you familiar with Paragon and Embryon what do you think between those two? And then put space invaders in the mix. Something about the infinity back last that I love.
The bally widebodies all look great. But...
Embryon kinda sucks. The rules make absolutely no sense (I played this game about 20 times at a tournament and still can't make heads or tails of it), there's a pointless and almost impossible to get 2-ball multiball, and it has more of everybody's least favorite feature - the captive ball - than almost any other game I can think of. Slow, ponderous machine and its best asset is the bizarre theme and artwork.
Paragon kinda sucks. It's huge for the sake of being huge, and like all Bally widebodies has a bunch of crap that you don't need. Why is there a twistee ball path on the right side? Why is there the "beast's lair?" Why are there two kickout holes? None of these things make the game any fun. They are there Cause you needed that stuff to make the game a widebody.
Space Invaders kinda sucks. It's a huge, slow machine with almost nothing to shoot at. Swing and a miss Bally. Cool artwork - they were sued (or at least bothered by) Alien artist Geiger so they gave him a machine or two. I think that was the settlement! Times were different back then for sure.
Future Spa kinda sucks. It's another widebody where the best thing about it - tap passing and the stand up drops - are part of a much better, non-widebody game Harlem Globetrotters. There are a like 5 outlanes (if you get the skill shot there are only 4!), and the game is way too wide to create a fun, fast controllable flow. The width of the game takes the power and flow out of the spinner shots and it's tough to get the ball back up top into the lanes. Again, great, weird artwork that will simply blow you mind. It's a total Logan's Run health club orgy.