Disclaimer: All of my reviews are for machines I've owned in the home, or routed machines that I played a lot. My home machines may have different ROMs and mods than routed machines.
I initially played White Water in a local pizza parlor in the 90s and it was blast. I had not set foot in arcades for some time. The pizza parlor also had a Medieval Madness, Twilight Zone, and Attack from Mars. Maybe it's coincidence, but these 4 games are the gold standard by which I measure every other machine I've played.
White Water is my favorite game. The other 3 come close, very close, but White Water tops them for me. Why is this the case?
I read in another review that White Water is like a tiny world captured under the glass. That is an amazing and accurate way to describe it. I've been whitewater rafting, and this game looks like what I experienced in my adventure, minus the water of course. I wish Dennis Nordman could have figured out a way to get incorporate the same technology in the topper and embedded it in the playfield. Still, all the mountains and artwork provide an amazing "tiny world" feel. One real negative is the fragility of those mountains - they sure love to break.
And those ramps! The best ramps in pinball by far. The Insanity Falls ramp is amazing, there's nothing like it, as the ball flies up and down it and smacks the glass. If you've ever had to shop White Water, the sheer number of ramps to take apart and clean is ridiculous! But I love ramps, so it's worth it. The ramps cover a lot of real estate, and it turns some people off that the ball can't be seen under those upper playfields. It is annoying but not a deal breaker for me, although I get the complaint by others.
The Bigfoot toy is funny and well designed. Since it is the only toy in the game, you could argue that it doesn't completely sell the game and that there should be at least one other toy and you wouldn't be wrong. I think a small rubber raft toy in the game that you bash would have been perfect.
The topper is the best in pinball. The fact that no one really knows how this was made (including Nordman) and no one has successfully reproduced one speaks volumes about the design.
Music is 90s midi cheese, but the tunes are catchy and I never get tired of them. a real credit to Chris Granner's skill. The callouts can be annoying. The artwork could be better too, but it's not terrible.
The game play is what you make of it. People complaining about SDTM drains - c'mon people, pinball is supposed to be hard! They are designed to separate people from their quarters. When pinball games are too easy, not only do they not make money on route but they also get boring fast. The challenge of beating the machine is what keeps most of us coming back. The home rom helps a lot by adding a ball save, and home users can modify the lost mine kickout so that it drops to the inlane/flipper instead of the outlane. The boulder garden can also be adjusted. There is so much to do in this game - Spirit of the River, Man Overboard, Vacation Jackpot, No Way Out, the Secret Passage, Bigfoot Hotfoot. And multiball is a such a rush, with the "WHITE WATER!" yell and sending 3 balls down Insanity Falls - so cool! I always seem to drain on Man Overboard for some reason. I got to the Vacation Jackpot once, and thought WTF? What followed was an amazing experience and everyone should strive to reach it at least once.
This machine isn't for everyone - no machine can please everyone - but it's the best for me, my desert island pin if you will. It was the first machine I bought and it will be the last one I sell. For others who are thinking about owning it, it works best in a larger collection with more variety of games. Owners should change out the lost mine solenoid, make sure the flipper solenoids are correct to avoid weak shots and SDTM, and put some mylar in front of the lost mine, that part of the playfield takes a real beating. At my house, the game never lacks in its ability to attract players thanks to Bigfoot and his tiny world that we get to be a part of for a little while.