Iron Man

Stern

Iron Man

Pinside Rating

This game received 508 approved Pinsider ratings and currently rates 8.084 /10

8.084

Top 100 ranking

This game ranks 2nd in the game group "Iron Man". The group itself ranks #54 in the Pinside Pinball Top 100.



Score breakdown

Score breakdown in the 4 main categories:

Game Design: 8.153

Artwork: 7.639

Sounds/Music: 7.838

Other Aspects: 8.3


Pinside staff rating

This is how we, the very knowledgeable (wink wink) Pinside.com staff & moderators rate this game. 8 of us have rated this game.

8.446

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This title is part of group: "Iron Man"


Found 313 ratings (with comment) on this game

There are 313 ratings (that include a comment) on this game.
Currently showing results page 1 of 13.

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9.260/10
40 days ago
Iron Man is one of my favorite games of all time. It was one of the first machines I’ve ever played and it is a game that has elevated my pinball playing abilities massively.

The layout is among John Borg’s best ones. All of the shots feel very satisfying, the Iron Monger is one of the best bash toys out there and the thematic implementation of the shots is very well done. The game sometimes tries to hand out some of the most brutal drains but that’s where your nudging skills will be put to the test.

Sometimes the Monger can be a bit annoying but when you enable the option to only raise him through the center spinner, I find that the issue is resolved pretty well. Speaking of the center spinner, it is my favorite shot in the game.

The artwork and animations aren’t great but overall, the game looks quite well.

The ruleset is one of my favorites. It is so very challenging to get to the “Do or Die Multiball” and yet the basic rules aren’t complex. It reminds me a lot of games like Attack from Mars, Monster Bash or Black Knight: Sword of Rage.

The points are balanced very fittingly within the gamecode. I consider any score over 75 million to be an awesome game.

Overall, Iron Man is one of the best modern pinball machines to improve your skills, with an easily understandable yet difficult to complete ruleset and a very good thematic execution of the Iron Man movies.
7.655/10
4 months ago
Fun ass kicker
8.184/10
5 months ago
Iron Man is not as deep as some other modern DMD Sterns, but that makes it more fun for the casual player. Do or Die and Jericho are both reachable without having to work so hard. Overall it has decent flow. Outlanes are on the hungrier side.
Sounds and animations do a great job integrating the movie into gameplay. Iron Monger is a great bash toy, especially with the magnet randomizing the ball. Love how War Machine fires it right back at you. Right ramp can be difficult to make. Good value game for the money.
8.976/10
7 months ago
Iron Man is in my opinion an underrated game.

It has a great layout with interesting shots, it has flow, it has a great game code that is deep enough to keep the expert player interested (e.g. Do-or-Die Multi Ball), it has a great bash toy (Monger) and it has good sound. Only the playfield is sub par as it is from the photoshop area of Stern. It still is not awful like other games of that time period.

What I especially like about this game are the short ball times. You always have to focus on your game and always try to keep the ball under control as otherwise it will drain you relentlessly. This game will make you a better pinball player.

I recommend to change the game rules so that the Monger only raises when you do the middle shot. This feels so much better and I think this was the original idea. Usually I never change any game rules.

I pretty much enjoy playing this game every time as it is very challenging. For me this is the best game of John Borg and is one of the best games of the SAM area.
9.119/10
8 months ago
Fun, brutal game.

Biggest Pitfall is that iron monger is so easy to pop up that It feels like ignoring the spinners until the right moment is the name of the game.

Animations are muddy.
Call outs are great, speed and flow of the game is amazing.

I hear Jarvis too much because I tilt too hard, but it's a nice touch.

Replay and one more game value on this is extremely high. Not the best for novices
4.873/10
10 months ago
Did not enjoy this pin at all, boring gameplay that gets old quick
7.520/10
10 months ago
Difficult game to learn
4.496/10
10 months ago
Really boring pin, does not do anything novel or interesting with the theme and art package.

Moves pretty fast, seems to be clear on how to progress, but I can’t stand playing it for long enough to find more.
7.798/10
1 year ago
Brutally fast and fun machine. Great on location, but I'm not sure it would last in my basement. Not a huge fan of the rules.
8.332/10
2 years ago
Game has a limited ruleset and after several games can become very repetitive quickly. I also found the game to be very dark and could benefit from aftermarket lighting.
6.575/10
2 years ago
It is a good redition of iron man the pinball game but it just a bit repetitive. You can make great shots and everything works wel but it is no fun achter a few plays any more. Love the theme but the ruleset is just not for me.
9.540/10
2 years ago
This game plays like a true Iron Man battle. Fast, powerful, and with style! I just rebuilt the flippers, and it shoots like a dream. Ramps are really fun to combo, and the rules require you to shoot nearly everything on the playfield (something I really like). Sound and music are also worthy of praise, with great theme integration and tunes that immerse you into the game. Add a shaker and subwoofer to this game, and it's next level fun.
5.101/10
2 years ago
I've given this one quite a few opportunities to change my first impression, but I find this game to be pretty vanilla and not deserving of the top 100. The only gimmick that I enjoyed was Obadiah Stane rising out of the playing field. This game honestly feels like a faster ol' golden age pin with a couple $5 action figures on it. Stern has some good machines; however, sometimes they just spit something out with almost zero creativity like this one.
7.783/10
2 years ago
Played at Pinball Republic and the newly-opened Medway Pinball Club.

I've been recommended this pin by several different people as it scratches a similar itch to Fish Tales. It is a fast and furious pin, which is reassuringly difficult. Shooting Whiplash is exciting and War Monger is also satisfying fun.

The problem, for me, with this pin is the terrible graphic design. The artwork looks like it was designed in MS Paint and the toys on the playfield have that cheap plastic look like they came in a kid's cracker. The whole thing is aesthetically terrible and not something I'd want in my front room (where I keep my pins). Superficial, I know, but the artwork on some early 2000 Stern pins is worse than on the much-derided 1980s Premier Gottliebs (I quite like the Premier Gottlieb art).
7.220/10
2 years ago
It’s fast it’s hard it’s a great tournament game but other than that, no thanks. I’d never consider owning this in a collection of under 15 games but I’m also not a big marvel guy. I also wish that these Marvel pins had artwork from the bronze era. Would have been so much cooler across the board. Instead we get this crummy photoshop Hollywood bore fest art package. I’ve seen candy wrappers with better graphic design.
8.900/10
2 years ago
I had an iron man with some cool mods and a shaker motor and I enjoyed it a lot, but it's too hard and too fast. It did keep you coming back for more, but was a little annoying. I was tempted to make it easier by altering settings, but I thought that would just be cheating and weaken my game so I traded it instead.
4.970/10
2 years ago
I'm not a Marvel fan.
Really easy to obtain the Multiball and to earn a free play.
8.587/10
2 years ago
My wife’s favorite. Not allowed to sell.
8.635/10
3 years ago
A solid shooter, and what I first cut my teeth into when first playing pinball on location. The rules are easy to understand. This game isn't deep, the difficulty comes in the speed and brutality of the layout - my favorite kind of pinball. It keeps me coming back again, and again.

Pros:
Speed
Easy to understand rules
Buttery smooth ramps
Leaves you wanting to play one more game

Cons:
Artwork is workman-like, but works well enough
5.698/10
3 years ago
I just don't connect with this pin and think it's overrated. I'm a fan of the movies and the MCU but the layout just doesn't fit me. The Iron Monger is a boring bash toy and the layout just doesn't have any flow to me with clunky shots. The audio and lightshow is fairly unremarkable to me. I can see why this theme would do well on location but it's not a pin I would own at home.
8.038/10
3 years ago
This game is so freaking brutal which is why I hate it on location (it beats my arse) but LOVE it at shows when I have no money to lose. As a huge fan of the MCU the theme is spot on for me and the sheer difficulty of the game is what keeps me coming back.
5.077/10
3 years ago
Pretty standard Stern superhero game. Nothing makes it stand out. Clear ramps wear to less than transparent. Back glass might be it’s only highlight.
7.872/10
4 years ago
I bought an Iron Man based on theme (big fan) and Pinside ratings. I didn’t have any chance to play it before the day I picked it up in a trade.

I am underwhelmed. I don’t really have any major complaints, but nothing really seems to stand out for me. Nothing.

Pros: iron monger is a cool bash toy...but that’s all it is, game flow and speed make gameplay intense, some cool aftermarket sound packages are readily available, the “one ball game” rule set makes this unique (At least to my collection).

Cons: Nothing specific other than no real “wow factor”, playfield seems a bit too “open”, not too much to shoot at.

I guess pinball is often a matter of personal taste. This is a good machine, but I just don’t understand the rabid following it seems to have. Maybe part of my disappointment is due to all the hype.

Review Update: After I decided to list my iron Man for sale, I decided to get in a few more plays before it left the rotation. I will say this for the game...it has one heckuva 'just one more game' draw to it. I can't put my finger on why exactly...but I often find myself playing game after game after game on this one. I updated my rating slightly in accordance.
5.624/10
4 years ago
Wow this game is hard. And that makes it not fun. Again, I was pumped to play it. But, it's so damn hard it just isn't fun to play. Wow it sucked. Maybe if you sit on it and really get into it. But in a public lineup, arcade style ... I'll NEVER go to this machine. Nope.
8.256/10
4 years ago
Fun game but tough (which I love).

Fine tune your nudging skills or you will have short ball times.
There are 313 ratings on this game. Currently showing results page 1 of 13.

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