Also, I feel sorry for people who don't enjoy this game, especially the latest update. I can't stop playing! ACDC feels boring next to it. Ick! Did I just say that?

The leds in the middle of each of the three jets. The white is so ugly. I saw someone use red lamp covers on them, but I tried it and didn't like it (so much red lights already, esp with the Magneto Hemi mod I did!). Blue covers looked good, and yellow looked the best, I think, just because of how they varied the colors and yet kept with the scheme.

I have a hard time playing more than once or twice now myself...

Before i would play over and over and over. Getting through all the modes felt like an adventure and an accomplishment and felt different every time.

Now if feels the same everytime.... hit every shot twice, go for Super Jackpot. If I miss SJ, relight lock over and over. I don't even feel like I accomplished much when I do it all right. Did it all on one ball a few times now, bleh. Nothing to do after it, try for Villains but it's still not possible imo. And I consider myself well above average on this machine I've put so much time into it.

I'm surprised people are liking this more. Did you not get to Danger Room at all before? Understandable if so as it was quite a bit to do, but if you have the shots down and stayed away from the scoop it wasn't too bad. The only hard mode was probably Iceman with the ADD ramp.

My Wolverine toy actually broke all down his left side along the mounting channel today. I think I've just bashed him so much he gave up the ghost lol.

He flops around, still barely connected on his right but its going fast. I actually like it! Awesome reaction movement from him now! Might try to turn him into a bobblehead type bash toy.

Just put 1.23 in my wolverine. The magneto lock is now only releasing one ball, never releasing two. Magnets are working much stronger. I think physically this is a better playing game. Some rules tweaks and other software bugs need to be fixed, but a step in the right direction hardware wise.

Yes, you said it. But did you mean it?

Hahhaha a bobble head wolverine bash toy would be awesome.

As for the other comments. Yes, I've gotten to danger room 4-5 times prior to 1.23. The danger room difficulty achievement feels the same to me (maybe easier?) but just a different strategy. I've gotten DR twice now on the new code. But I do agree with others that the magneto sjp should be tied to dark Phoenix, not danger room.

Yes, the magnets are awesome now! And my magneto lock only releases one ball now too. Game still needs a lot of work, and I hope more than one programmer (Lyman?) focus their effort on the game through the month of January.

I still enjoy ACDC a ton. But I keep getting drawn to xmen. I think it's the layout honestly. I love the storm ramp and all the combo possibilities.

as the only german guy here, I have to write something, too

just installed the new update... not what I expected, but a small step in the right direction - except one major thing, which is a showstopper for me:

PLEASE STERN: Make the Villain modes easier. I am not a world class player, but I am far from being a beginner, but I NEVER ever managed it to complete a single Villain mode. They have just waaaaay too much energy. Just make the number of Hits selectable in the menu. I think 3 or 4 hits are enough. You can select the timer, but NOT the hits they take. Why?? For example, you can adjust the shots the heroes need, too, why not for the Villains? And please remember the progress you made in a Villain mode, for the next time you activate it.
I like challenges, but how should anyone in the world complete all villain modes with 3 balls? That is fu** impossible and it de-motivates me to even start such a mode!

And change beasts voice, it sounds like crap and gives the whole pinball a "cheap" touch.

ah and make combo shots, but I think that have been said already a dozen times

You said it, and I agree! I've been playing my magneto heaps.

I have the mode start set to Hard, and the stacking works cool.

I'd never got to Danger Room before (Xmen is in my second house so it only gets played in the weekends) but I have got to it 4-5 times since the update. Still haven't completed it but have been one shot away twice.

Have got the score up to 168m now.

I think the Villians are fine the way they are now. Pretty easy to complete if you are a competent player. If not, you can still have a good flail about.

Missing the Magneto SJP to qualify Danger Room is painful. Having to requalify the 4 locks again is a PITA. I had to do it three times on one game yesterday. And you need two hits on the LOCK switches to light lock the second/third time around too.

rd.

Forget that - get some Pink 2-LED (dome style) 555's and put those in the bumpers...it looks so cool and goes with the whole Gambit card art.

The "bulb sticking out of a pop bumper" idea will never cease to make me wonder WTF. It smacks as very cheap, yet I can't see that any money was saved. It's not exactly an aesthetic progression from the translucent caps that have been used for decades, just looks like they forgot to install domes.

What are these lamp covers you speak of? Link?

I didn't speak of them. You've misquoted me.

Of course its an aesthetic difference...there's art on the pops instead of domes. If NOTHING was there, it would look like something's missing. Seriously, put pink CT 2-LED domed bulbs in your X-Men pops, it looks rad!

+100

I did put pink cointaker premiums in (nicer look) and better but since they come out all crooked and my attempts to straighten the sockets just made the pop apron bind, lame. Very envious of the acdc pop bumper tops those are sweet

I got to play an XM Pro last night in a tournament with the new code. All I can say is, what a train wreck. 20 seconds in you have 4 heroes going. Villains are still timeout bait as you can't stack them when started and they take *way* too long. I had Sentinels up to 95 seconds left in the mode...after playing it for 30 seconds. I wanted to time it out, but it would have taken too long, so I just completed it. If you don't at least start all the heroes, you are having a horrible game. As said before, animations and voice clips step all over each other or fire 20 seconds after the fact. Of course, the op that put the XM on route didn't change the mode start settings, but why should he have to on a brand new code revision? It is hard enough to get an op to update code, this guy actually does it, and now everyone is complaining say the code sucks and he has to revert it or change settings. Sad state...and I am sure it will be even harder now getting him to do this in the future. XM could be such a fantastic game if they ever get the code figured out.

Yeah. I hate the stacking, but it is made even worse by the "out of the box" settings. Should've at the very least set hero mode starts like:
Easy - 2
Normal - 3
Hard - 4
Very Hard - 5

or even better:
Hero mode start - enter 1 thru 9, and have it set at 3 by default.

Aren't tournament games always set to the hardest most impossible settings? Usually that makes games un-fun but in X-Men's case it makes it more fun lol

Why not have the modes carry over ball to ball like Avengers....

This was just a game on route that was used in the monthly tournament. Op doesn't change any settings for this event, just leaves them on factory. But yes, it would have been nice in this case.

I just don't see the QA that *should* have been done on this code. How anyone at Stern could have played this, or the original code, and said, "Yep...looks good to me" is beyond me. It is so basic, 2 minutes of playing this code revision and you could see that what they did doesn't work. Just like when they released it originally with the major features scoring not adding into your total score. How do they miss stuff like this? This isn't some intricate nuance or small feature, we are talking absolute game foundation here.

I needed to order a few leds for some other games, so I ordered the pink ones too. I'll try them out.

To the guys asking about lamp covers, seriously? How have you gotten by in pinball without ordering some before?

http://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/PFLD-LCOVER

I always thought these looked best covering white leds, nice look.

I'm going to try Greg's pink led suggestion when they arrive and see how they look!

Yeah, you're right...a regular Joe operator isn't going to tweak the settings for nuance. That being said, the game is pretty fun if you change the mode settings to hard....all the bugs at this point are still lame as hell...instead of releasing this code, they should have just COMMUNICATED with their customer base and said "sorry, we need more time...hang in there!" That's all we want. I mean, if you look at the Facebook page for the company that makes the Pinball Arcade app, they're CONSTANTLY posting updates about bugs, updates, etc. That's the proper way to use social media in relation to gaming products, IMO.

Yeah I copied and pasted incorrectly. Sorry

Ahhhh. I thought someone had an interesting add on type cover, like the ones pinbits has for Tron. Nevermind.

This game frustrates the crap out of me...that being said...I just got the Beast away from all heroes!! I love the fact that on my first Magneto multi-ball I completed Cyclops.

Makes up for the last 25 crappy games.

Are one of the bugs is the call outs overlap each other? Cause I am having that issue...

I haven't had that one...like you mean call outs merged and not consecutive? If so, never had that.

well overlapping was a bad choice of words...kinda like no break in between - one right after the other with about one second break in between

I have tryed to like the new code but after a week of playing I went back to 1.22 with the ball lock fix and am much happier,even if it never gets changed for the better I still love this game.

Did you adjust the heroes to hard or extra hard. Makes a world of a difference.

The code is kind of a stinker the further you get into the game. Villain mb's are too hard compared to all the other modes in the game. Having all the heroes lit solid does not feel as rewarding as it used to. Even though a ton of points can be awarded with bonus multipliers, there really is no reward for completing modes anymore. And heroes feel very repetitive once their all solid lit and/or played.

Still hope Lyman gets involved.

I don't know, I kind of like the heroes and think they are still hard enough to get all lit solid. But, I want to kill myself sometimes because I just can't beat a villain. It's just too damn hard and they take forever to beat. I probably just haven't played enough though in the past couple of months so maybe I'll get better

Here is one thing they definitely need to do. When you DON'T beat a hero, you should be able to start back off at the initial number of hits to kill them the first time. Then, when you kill them I would like to see them called a different name like "Super Sabertooth" or something not as lame. You get the point.

I finally got a chance to play it, put about a dozen games on the new code. It's not terrible, in fact, I like the new direction. It definitely makes it more frantic but it does give you different options on what you are shooting for... Do you stack the modes, do you try to finish each one? Do you rush to Magneto multiball or do you try to complete the modes. Or do you forget all that and go for villains? I was SOOO afraid after reading these complaints to play it but I actually really like the update. It still has issues to be sure, but it's WAY better than I expected after reading the trash on this thread. I just hope they clean up the issues and harden/deepen the ruleset and finish this code off soon.

-Wes

I think what I notice the most is that you just need to slow down and let the game come to you. If you try and force shots you will get wild drains and outlane drains. If you just let the ball bounce around and do a little nudging you'll have a better chance.

I still think if they would go with a smaller post on the left side of the Iceman ramp identical to the one on the right side of the ramp the game would play better. It's that left rubber that causes all of the issues for me.

For some strange reason I can't complete Iceman.
He starts fine and no matter how many shots I make (with the ramp swinging around all over the place), his insert just won't go solid. I've got mode start set to hard.

Sorry if this has been discussed but, with 250+ posts since my last visit to this thread, it was hard to read everything.

I hope this is a normal bug on the latest code?

It's not a bug. He is completed the same way as before.

Hmmm. Better check my switches.
Thanks

Can ANYONE beat this game as is? Why would you want them to make it harder when I have my doubts that ANYONE could beat it as it is?

Well, this is the most current Xmen thread so I'll post my Wolverine figure progress here I guess. The other figure thread is now a cesspool anyways lol.

My figure broke apart along the channel in back. My guess is anyone that moved the holes all the way to one side will eventually break the other side off just like I did. Although I may have had a defective figure, the channel itself was stepped in from the body, making where it meets the figure the thinnest part of the whole thing. I also have some air bubbles now that I look at the figure closer. The middle blade on his right hand has a huge one right in the middle that bulges up and also into the inside blade on that hand. I don't notice the bulge in any of the picks of remounts or painted figures that have been posted.

I've got tons of games on mine, I imagine as more games are put on others this is going to be a problem.

IMG_20121230_222234.jpg IMG_20121230_223546.jpg IMG_20121230_223557.jpg

So the gf painted up the figure, and did a hell of a job on it. I thought I would try some things out on this guy since he was dead in the water anyways. Pictures probably speak for themselves, I thinned him up maybe a half an inch or so. After the last pic I had to take a notch out of the bottom to make room for the switch.

IMG_20130101_151455.jpg IMG_20130101_151459.jpg IMG_20130101_151506.jpg

Whoops, wrong pics!

Still have some mount issues to clear up. His elbow is too low and catching balls. And I need to figure out how to get him moved over centered on the magnet a little better. Everyone that remounted him like I did ended up mounting him all the way to one side of that channel or further, with the channel cut out I'm now centered again. Need to slide him over somehow or use some sort of spacer to get him angled a bit.

IMG_20130101_151522.jpg IMG_20130101_151528.jpg

I hope this works out for you. Lacing him up thinner would probably be better anyway. From the looks of your first picture it look like went with a lot more cutting than I did on moving my Wolverine. I mainly notched out his bottom so he would slide over and made his mounting holes horizontal notches. Your original pictures looks like you cut his entire back off in the channel area (unless that is what broke off of yours).

So has anyone who sent an email to Stern heard anything back from them?????

I only slotted the holes over so the backplate was right against the edge of the channel, and then down just a bit to pick him up off the playfield some. The entire channel ripped right off during gameplay at some point, as I haven't looked at him in the thousands of plays since and he's been fine. That entire clean cut along his left side in the first pics is just ripped from play! The channel ripped out so he just had a big square hole in the back as was bouncing around.

I finished cutting the top of the channel that was untouched, and the angle higher so he would bend easier then laced him up with zip ties wrapped in heat shrink tubing.

I wish I would have noticed, that channel in his back is way off center to his left originally, we that moved him pretty much moved the mount to center of the figure. So once I laced him up the mount point went back to his left! I need to mount him where the right hand laces are now to get him back in the right spot facing the magnet, though he is much thinner and looks sweet with the "V" waist now.

No. I would guess they are just back to work today from the New Years break. I don't really expect to hear back at all, but I wanted to voice my displeasure so I at least feel like I have let my opinion be known.

From the worst player on pinside's perspective: finally have had a chance to try out the new code and given that I never played even 1 ball on the factory settings (immediately switched mode start to hard, and 5 ball of course) I actually like it, though, maybe it helps to spend a week building up such low expectations based on this thread. with 2 shots to start, I rarely get 2 heros going at once, have never gotten 3 going. in my first game i got 60 million (previous high score was 39mil), had both brother hood and hellfire multiballs, and had all heros started and failed to beat magneto.. but that's a hell of a lot closer to danger room than i have ever been before. From a plot point of view, something other than danger room should be the award (deadpool? at least that's villiany) but i do like something in that slot (hero start + magneto completed) as I could actually see myself getting there.

I still can't believe they made the single shot the default AND didn't catch that it would be a mess though.. that's definitely a head scratcher.

hey new to the forum
i cant find anywhere on the web for the 1.23 update download
on sterns site seems to be the same 1.21 code
any help would be great
email to [email protected] please
i have the wolverine edition
thanks

http://www.sternpinball.com/USB_XMEN.html

i'm thinking of going back to 1.22 myself. Anyone else?

All depends on how much more of Wolverine I can take, he's starting to drive me a little crazy:

http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/xmen-le-ive-now-played-50-games-on-123-my-complete-detailed-review

I can see doing one of two things:

1) Going back to 1.22 or
2) Leaving it on 1.23 and setting my volume to mute