Wow...no, mines fine. Definitely don't like the scoop light above it though, sandwiched between the plastics...I've tried everything, and keep knocking the bulb out.

Left the plastics in place, but pulled the socket and lit scoop from underneath...way better. This game is amazing!!!!

Great idea. I love the game too. Its interesting that (at least for the past 4 months) of all the games in my collection, I'm playing this one the most.
Huge variety of shots and gameplay.

BTW, one thing I do for bulbs that won't stay put is to put a dab of E6000 on it before popping it back in
Works like a charm and is not permanent- just use a little bit
It says permanent but if you've ever used it you'll know that it's like a clear, stretchy rubber and can be teased apart if small amount used

https://www.amazon.com/E6000-231020-Adhesive-Precision-Tips/dp/B00JP3X9WE/ref=pd_sim_b2b_1/144-8663962-8429759
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Having owned the pin the original wolverine figure would also crack after being bashed a lot. It used to be expensive and that’s if you can still find it? Just another reason to consider the Newton ball mod. Most people I know are happy with it

Glad you are enjoying it! X-Men truly is the most under rated modern Stern by the general pin community. It is a fantastic game packed with features that games of today just can’t compare to.

I’ve had my pins in storage for the last couple of years an set them up over the weekend, I forgot how good this game is, there’s so much going on to keep you interested, really happy I kept on it after all this time. Was wondering what setting should I have my Magnito locks set to? I’m not sure what it’s set to know, but it seems a little on the easier side to lock them up an start Magnito multiball.

Glad to see the positive reviews still coming in. I still have this earmarked as my desert island pin because there is so much to it, the wizard modes are challenging to get to, and the Magneto LE is without a doubt one the best looking pinball machines ever made.

I still use the original Wolverine, as I've never found it over challenging to hit Beast or Xavier shots to bother. If that dies and I can't find another I'll try the newton mod... just because.

I've never changed it from factory default. Consider that optimal game play is to complete as many heroes as possible before you start Magneto multiball. If you use that approach your opinion may change because now your challenge becomes one of avoiding Magneto multiball while gathering as many heroes as possible and then starting it when you are ready.

Can't believe this game missed my radar for so long..., so many shots, modes, characters, multiballs, and gizmos. Serious honeymoon phase on this one now....really, really like it!!!!

Thanks for helping me identify this gem!!!

The newton ball mod is less about the Beast shot and more about being able to start Wolvie MB too easily. A lot of times, you could start Wolvie MB by accident, instead of intentionally. With the newton ball mod, there has to be aim and intent in order to start Wolvie MB. It's probably the single best mod in any modern Stern.

Agreed. I noticed very little difference in the Beast or Xavier shots...maybe like 2% more success. It was more about Wolverine cracking and the newton ball being a WAY more satisfying shot for me. I love me a good newton/captive ball though. Just a super satisfying THUNK.

So if I went this way, I'm believing I'd need a new (smaller) Wolverine? To keep scale right, I'd need a new Magneto too (how does the original come off, btw...haven't figured it out yet).

Sorry for "old" questions...just getting up to speed...

Nope. Many people use a different figure, but you can easily modify the stock Wolverine to fit.

You're right, but you can use the originals. You'd have to cut the belt off of the original wolverine, but some people change out the figure altogether. I did both Magneto and Wolverine due to the scale being different as you suggested.

Excellent...thanks...

Link to the scaled down versions?

There are a lot of choices. Pick what you like best.

In Post #11539 below, I showed how I used 2 posts and cut down the original Wolverine to fit. It stays in position rather well but I will eventually get around to adding a bracket to actually attach it to the figure.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/x-men/page/231#post-4905090

Just installed FatPanda soundmix....awesome!!! I'm a kid in a candy store at the moment w this game.....

Nothing truer has been said.

Newton ball balances the game properly.

PLUS the original figure is crap and it breaks on the back and flops around left to right, blocking the other shots.

PLUS the original figure is like $200 USD from Stern to replace ... which ranks up with the $750 Star Wars topper as a super sweet deal.
Cough cough.

The X-Men captive ball is the only play mod on any of my machines. I think that says something.

rd

After reading the above posts, I felt like playing X-Men. I turned on the game and got no video (using Color DMD) and no topper. Both using the front 12 volt connection.

I checked the fuses and F12 and F13 for the audio were not lit. I checked the fuses. Both good.

Lifted the playfield to look at the transformer and wires. Looked good. Turned on the game. Didn't work. Pressed in a connector at the bottom leading to the transformer (either the large one coming out of the back or the one from the back with blue wires). I heard a click. Topper (from Tilttopper) lit then the color dmd came on and showed the message below. Never seen this before.

I turned off the game and turned it back on. It seems to work. I played at game. At the end, I heard a click and the color dmd and topper went off. Heard a hum. Then it came back on. This is disconcerting.

I just unplugged the topper to put less stress on the 12 volt and will try. But want to post to see if anyone has seen this.

I unplugged the topper and the game ended normally the next time. (The only other difference was I got a high score and added my initials and the knocker coil fired. so will need to test this condition as well.)

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Says alot, RD....I shall pursue.....loving this game...

Early on most of the complaints about Wolvie, aside from it breaking, revolved around those two shots being difficult... so I assumed the excuses persisted. Glad to see otherwise

Could be said the other way as well, you have to intentionally not try to hit wolverine.... but yeah its near impossible sometimes.
I left the wolverine in there, maybe if I played another with the mod but I worked to hard to get that switch to register at the right times.

Got this game just because the guy gave me a pretty good deal on it, had no intentions otherwise. It definitely surpassed my expectations, not a game you'd get bored of easily.

It seems the fuse would blow before overloading anything. Are you sure it is the right size fuse in it and someone didn't put a bigger one in so it wouldn't blow as easily?

Also, I see you have a LED backboard in the backbox. That is probably hooking into the +12v somewhere also and I would suspect it is drawing more +12v than the topper. Did it go off when the ColorDMD and topper went out? You might want to trace it connection back to see where it is powered from.

I've never heard many issues with using +12v mods overloading or being an issue with SAM games. The hardware / software mismatch is a common error and I don't think I have ever heard it it actually being caused by a hardware / software mismatch. It seems like it's a catch all "something is screwed up" error that they used in SAM games.

I bought the game HUO over two years ago. The transformer hummed all the time and I replaced it with a new stern one about a year ago.

I did not explicitly look at the fuses but would assume the prior owner would not have touched them. But I’ll check tonight.

The game came with the backbox LEDs when I bought it. I added the color display and topper. They are all powered from the 12 volt connector at the front right.

It just seems like the 12 volts are not getting to the CPU when the game is turned on. Then after 10 or 15 seconds there is a click and the topper, leds, and display turn on. The display has the above message. Turn off and on and it appears to work.

My kids loved the stock Wolvie as they could start MB whenever they wanted. For me on the other hand, it wasn't fun accidentally starting MB, because as you said, it's near impossible not to. As my kids are getting older and playing with the newton ball, they can start Wolvie MB occasionally, and it's due to better timed shots and intentionally going for it. My 4yr old is getting pretty good at it

I think it depended on whether you had an LE or pro. Wolverine’s placement was better on the LE than the pro IMO.

I called stern. Their suggestion is to remove the color display, led backbox lights and topper from the 12 volt circuit.

I’ll test the 12 volts at the test point on the board with all 3 on and try it with one or two off. If this happens again I’ll try to test when they are not working and the test leds are very dim.

It will be a pain but could easily remove the color led.

But game has been fine for last 2 years with these attached.

Here is my proof of concept to create a bracket to place the original Wolverine on the newton ball mod. I used stuff I had around the house. I assume this will be MVP 1 (Minimal Viable Product). I used a thinner metal than I probably should have. The 2 1/4" posts are 1 1/8" apart center of bolt to center of bolt. I cut the metal 2 1/4" tall by 1 1/2" on one bend and 1/2" x 1 1/2" on the 90 degree. In hindsight with a stronger metal I should make the top another 1/4" to 1/2" deep to push back the Wolverine figure. I used a #8 x 3/4" bolt with 3 nuts attached to give me the depth I needed to push back Wolverine. I then attached him to the hole I left in him. Next time I will put in another hole about an 1" up for better stability. I may use a glue gun to stabilize him. I will try this out. I played a few games. It was much more stable than with just glue gun. (I have not tried to glue gun with the new bracket.) It will definitely need a more rigid metal but quite happy with the experiment.
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Here is another small change I made. When I owned this game years ago (a different one), the ball would come out of the pop bumpers and usually fall into the scoop.

When I got this game, I immediately added red superbands. They are thinner and most of the time the ball dribbled between the rubber and the Cliffy protector and just came down. This has been driving me crazy. I added a small post rubber and pushed the existing Superbad down. The ball now appears to go into the scoop 50-70% of the time. I like this better. Very occasionally (with a very light shot), it will get caught on this post rubber and need to gently shake it off but willing to live with this.

The first photo shows the small post rubber added to the right of the right Hellfire Club target. The second photo tries to show that this post stick out just enough to direct the ball into the scoop.

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Here is a video of the game not initially turning on the 12 volt circuit.

Note that the LEDs below F12 and F13 are dim compared to the other LEDs. These are at the right side of the 4 that are in the middle of the board. After a few seconds, the 12 volt kicks in and the display turns on and the LEDs in the backbone turn on (the topper is currently disconnected).

I disconnected the back box LEDs and this happened again twice.

I ensured all the connectors leading out of the transformer were well connected. I unconnected them and reconnected. I ensured J16 where the power comes in to the IO board and J17 where the power goes out were also connected snuggly.

So far the issue has not repeated so hopefully this was the problem. I reconnected the Flipper Fidelity back-box LEDs and the Tilt Topper topper and the game continues to boot correctly.

Yes, I remember this! IIRC the LE Wolvie had to have a little skew to it due to the moving Iceman ramp, while the Pro is better aligned with the playfield art. Ironically that skew on the LE must improve the playability. Are the playfield holes different on the Pro, making it difficult for Pro owners to mimic the LE positioning?

I like this mod! I'm not a fan of having a wolvie and a magneto that don't match.

Thanks. Just in case you didn't see it, I posted a link to my post 9 months ago when I did this. I just corrected the original post. I used 2 1/4" posts, not 3" posts.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/x-men/page/231#post-4905090

As I say in the above post, I probably should have used a more rigid metal. But I used what I had. It is actually holding pretty well. He does move a little if hit with a ball during multiball. I will try to glue gun him to the front of the newton mod and to the top of the pop bumper. If this holds decently, I will not redo with a thicker metal.... yet.

The positioning is to the left slightly instead of straight on to the magnet (standard). No permanent changes are made to the pinball table for the mod.

When the mod was designed, we made sure it would work for both the standard and LE. Thanks for all the positive posts on the mod today. Made me smile that this thing is still considered by many (not all) to be one of the best Stern mods.

Not sure if you are aware of my service, but you can have all of YOUR favorite music mixed into YOUR X-Men by Pinball MIX. With all the Heros, Villains, and Multi-Balls that is a pile of custom cut music.

You choose 25-30 songs. I pump out a cohesive tight-looped mix.

I can do almost all SAM and Spike machines. Even select Bally/Williams 90's if you have a Pinsound board. I've been custom mixing for Pinheads non-stop for a whole year now ... and personally for 6+ years.

Here is a Demo. Fun treat at the end.

I got my XMen LE last summer, and I suspected it would be gone by now. Or that I’d be planning to move it in Spring. Not a chance. In this day and age, with “toys on a spring” and too often little else on the playfield, XMen LE is a revelation. I’m loving it, especially as a compliment to MMr. Great game to change up with. Fun and challenging.

My wife and daughter even like it. And that’s highly unusual.

Wtb: xmen pro/le....preferably near madison wi. Any tips are appreciated!

Hopefully joining the club at TPF this year! Can't wait. My wife actually wants this one even more than I do.

What are the Wolverine options for toy replacement?

Meh. "Play better" is the best wolverine option. https://mezelmods.com/collections/x-men-pinball-mods/products/x-men-pinball-wolverine-bracket?variant=977900532

Not really. Original toy is way oversized and more then that it breaks easy. Also it's expensive to replace. The newton ball with a wolvie of your choice attached to the top seems to be a better option.

If you decide to go the newton ball route, I would be interested in purchasing your discarded (LE) Wolvie.

I tried both the belt and Newton mod.
The Newton is the best option.
Wolverine no longer gets in the way of shots and doesn’t ruin the cool Magneto multiball start.
Btw mine is for sale and does have the Newton and altered original Wolverine installed.

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Modify the original Wolverine to fit is the best option. Durable and matches Magneto. There are a number of other options that are great looking, but do not be surprised when an airball knocks off an arm as they are no where near as durable.

I need to clarify on my post. It already has a newton and an alternative Wolverine. My wife doesn't like the alternative and I don't care for the huge original one, so was wondering what some other options are.

Durability is indeed a big consideration. Thanks.

I posted earlier in this thread that I used fully posable Wolvie and Magneto when I added the newton ball mod. They are Revoltech knockoffs, and after a quick search through ebay, doesn't seem that you can get them domestically anymore. I made plexi bases for them. Haven't had any issues with airballs or breaking anything. I've since changed the poses from what was pictured earlier in this thread

You can also see them in the vid that I posted in my sound package thread.

Found it. I haven't seen a Magneto swap before. Man that thing is nice!

I think they look pretty cool. I had to hot glue some of the articulating parts on the Magneto cape because it was heavy and didn't want to stay put, but not noticeable in the players position.

Joined today.

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