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The Ultimate Battle Free Pinball Thread

Old 02-17-13, 05:51 PM
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Re: The Ultimate Battle Free Pinball Thread

BTW : Who thought it would be a good idea to make a Waterworld table? They probably spent a lot of money designing and licensing the table, anticipating it being very in-demand when the movie was released. Little did they know the movie would be a historic-level dud. The table felt very generic anyway. In any case, it was there. Can't imagine it draws too many quarters, but I gave it a try.

Old 02-18-13, 05:18 AM
  #1327  
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Re: The Ultimate Battle Free Pinball Thread

I wouldn't mind owning Waterworld for a little bit. I've heard it's pretty fun and has some cool features. There are MANY great games with horrible themes/licenses.
Old 02-18-13, 07:33 AM
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Re: The Ultimate Battle Free Pinball Thread

Originally Posted by Decker
It's in essentially the same part of town, but maybe a mile or two closer to the strip. Basically college town.

If you (or any other regular in this thread) come out to Vegas, please let me know and I'll meet you there. It's only a 35 minute drive for me (which makes it even more amazing that I've never been there before). It was not crowded, but fairly busy. I guess they must do okay business there.
Cool. Will do, though I only get out to Vegas maybe once every 5 years or so.

My wife was a drag when I visited the Pinball HOF for the first time (and only time so far) a few years ago. I was like a kid in a candy store and she was in total hell. It was our last day in Vegas so we were at the HOF most of the day until I flight left early that afternoon. It couldn't have been more than 3 or 4 hours but it was the longest 4 hours of her life it seemed. Needless to say she didn't appreciate the place like I did.
Old 02-18-13, 07:50 AM
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Re: The Ultimate Battle Free Pinball Thread

Originally Posted by Decker
Well, my patient with the 23 machines is out of town, so I took my son and finally hit the Pinball Hall of Fame today. I guess they moved it from that strip mall location. It's now just a half-mile down from the Thomas & Mack center at UNLV. It's very, very cool. In a stand-alone building that looks like it might have been a bank when it was built. There are maybe 300 or so pinball machines there. Lots of EM machines that are only 25 cents each, classic SS machines are 50 cents/play and the newest machines are 75 cents for a 5 ball play -- very fair in my book. I guess it's not-for-profit apparently. $20 will go a long way there.

I know there's zero nostalgia or respect for the new Stern machines, but a lot of them are really good. I liked the Avatar one a lot, Tron Legacy had a sleek cool look that matched the feel of the movie, and my son had a blast with Iron Man (I know this is damning with faint praise, but the real machine is miles better than the Zen-created one). I didn't see any of those Pinball 2000 machines I've heard about, but I forgot to ask so maybe they had one anyway. I had no idea that Sega made so many pins; some were really very good -- I liked The X-Files one. I tried several of the Pinball Arcade ones for comparison. Scared Stiff is a pretty good recreation, but they really botched the Skill Shot which is pretty hard to hit on the real machine and nearly impossible to miss on the video game. Others like Ripley's Believe It Or Not look way different than their video game counterpart. As a preview I played some Dr Dude and actually liked it a lot. Looking forward to that DLC. Unfortunately their TNG wasn't working so I didn't get to try that out, but did play the legendary T2 and Addams Family tables. While they're probably over-rated, I did like them both.
As far as tables I'd never seen before, I think my favorite was the Indianapolis 500 table by Bally (1995). That one was a total blast. Hope they can get the licensing for it because it was really fun. In honor of MJ's 50th birthday today, I played Space Jam and really liked it (especially the basket Skill Shot). It's another Sega table, so no chance of TPA tackling that one (even if they could secure licensing).

Anyway, it was a fun way to spend a couple of hours and I'll probably visit a lot more often now that I know where it is (and since it's so close to Vegas' only Yoshinoya Beef Bowl).
I read another review recently and they said the condition of many of the games was horrible, and even many newer games were unplayable.

Not sure what you mean by "zero respect for new Stern machines"? Tron, AC/DC, and The Avengers are all considered to be good/great games. I personally love my AC/DC pin, probably the best pin I've ever played. Not to mention older Stern's like LOTR, The Simpsons Pinball Party, Spider-man, Iron Man, etc.

Why are Sega titles a no-go for TPA?

Oh, and speaking of Pinball 2000:
Spoiler:



I got it a few weeks ago, it has the Revenge From Mars playfield in it, and the Star Wars Episode 1 playfield was underneath LOTR at the time. I've since swapped them out. SWEP1 is pretty decent, but lots of Jar Jar ruined the game from a business standpoint. It's also quite a bit more repetitive than RFM and not as much fun.
Old 02-18-13, 09:56 AM
  #1330  
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Re: The Ultimate Battle Free Pinball Thread

Very nice collection you're putting together there I'm very impressed. I don't think I saw any tables that looked like your Ep 1 table there. Didn't realize you could swap the playfield with a Pinball 2000 unit. Very cool.

Regarding Sega tables : Far Sight has contracts with Williams, Gottleib, Bally and Stern, but not Data East or Sega. Since Sega is still very much in the business of publishing video game classics like Aliens : Colonial Marines, I very much doubt that they'd give their licensing rights to an independent developer like Far Sight. Besides those four companies provide a huge library of tables to pursue so I wouldn't think there would be any desire to go to another company for material.
I'd actually forgotten that Far Sight had the rights to use Stern tables. The only ones they have available are Ripley's and that Harley Davidson table (which used to be a Sega table originally, not sure of the details there). I wonder if they could do an AC/DC table -- all the licenses are just one band there.
Old 02-18-13, 10:59 AM
  #1331  
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Re: The Ultimate Battle Free Pinball Thread

Originally Posted by Decker
Very nice collection you're putting together there I'm very impressed. I don't think I saw any tables that looked like your Ep 1 table there. Didn't realize you could swap the playfield with a Pinball 2000 unit. Very cool.

Regarding Sega tables : Far Sight has contracts with Williams, Gottleib, Bally and Stern, but not Data East or Sega. Since Sega is still very much in the business of publishing video game classics like Aliens : Colonial Marines, I very much doubt that they'd give their licensing rights to an independent developer like Far Sight. Besides those four companies provide a huge library of tables to pursue so I wouldn't think there would be any desire to go to another company for material.
I'd actually forgotten that Far Sight had the rights to use Stern tables. The only ones they have available are Ripley's and that Harley Davidson table (which used to be a Sega table originally, not sure of the details there). I wonder if they could do an AC/DC table -- all the licenses are just one band there.
That's true, and I think the majority of the interesting Data East/Sega tables would be licensing hell.

Every time I play one of my Pin2k games I get a little sad thinking about what the platform could of done if it wasn't for George Lucas killing pinball (check out Tilt: The Battle To Save Pinball, if you want to get depressed). I just think how cool it would of been to own 1 or 2 Pin2K cabinets and having like 5-10 playfields you can swap out whenever you want. Mine also has this setup called a "Nucore" computer, which basically emulates the original computer that needs something called a Prism card which are becoming super scarce. It allows you to simply swap out the playfield (5 harness connectors, and the shooter, since for some reason they went with a manual shooter). Normally you'd also have to swap out roms and prism cards as well. Just swapping out the playfield and shooter takes only about 5 minutes, and can be done easily by a single person.

The funny thing is, SWEP1 seems way less polished compared to RFM even though it came out after it. It uses very, very low resolution highly compressed videos, and just overall doesn't feel as well done as RFM. I do like the playfield though. RFM is just great though, good layout, tons of humor, fun modes.
Old 02-18-13, 11:05 AM
  #1332  
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Re: The Ultimate Battle Free Pinball Thread

Some artwork of the left inlane from the licensed Predator pin SkitB is working on for release later this year:
Old 02-19-13, 08:42 AM
  #1333  
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Re: The Ultimate Battle Free Pinball Thread

Star Wars Pinball will release as DLC for the following platforms and dates:
  • Pinball FX2™ on Xbox LIVE Arcade – February 27th for 800 MSP
  • Zen Pinball 2™ on PlayStation Network for PlayStation 3 & PlayStation Vita with Cross Buy entitlement! Purchase once and play on both systems – February 26th in North America for $9.99, February 27th in Europe for €9.99
  • Zen Pinball 2 on the Mac App Store – February 27th for $2.99/table
  • Zen Pinball on the Apple App Store – February 27th for $1.99/table
  • Zen Pinball HD Google Play™ – February 27th for $1.99/table

Star Wars Pinball will release as a standalone application on the following platforms:
  • Star Wars Pinball for the Apple App Store
  • Star Wars Pinball for Google Play

Additional platforms will be announced at a later date.
Old 02-22-13, 11:53 AM
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Re: The Ultimate Battle Free Pinball Thread

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/UwHfdDo2Bt8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Old 02-22-13, 04:00 PM
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Re: The Ultimate Battle Free Pinball Thread

First time I've been looking forward to Pinball FX tables since Epic Quest.
Old 02-23-13, 10:02 AM
  #1336  
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Re: The Ultimate Battle Free Pinball Thread

Originally Posted by flashburn
First time I've been looking forward to Pinball FX tables since Epic Quest.
As much as I love the tables in the Pinball Arcade all the bugs and glitches can be frustrating. It will be nice to go back to Zen for a bit and play some smooth tables from a competent developer.
Old 02-23-13, 07:10 PM
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Re: The Ultimate Battle Free Pinball Thread

Does it still have glitches? It seems to be running far better than before to me.

I know I've mentioned this before, but man I love my Vita as a portable pinball machine. I have many games for it, but rarely play anything but Zen 2 and Pinball Arcade. The Cross-Buy feature gave me a huge library of tables and I'll keep buying for as long as they keep churning out tables. Both games are perfect for quick on-the-go gaming without any of the shallowness or shoddy graphics of tablet or phone gaming. There are plenty of reasons to buy a Vita, but if you like pinball and already have these games and tables on the PS3, there's no better reason than this.
Old 02-24-13, 07:12 PM
  #1338  
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Re: The Ultimate Battle Free Pinball Thread

My Vita is also my pinball machine. I moved all my pinball buying to PS3 for cross buy. As far as glitches I have run into major bugs in Twilight Zone and Elvira SS, especially with the camera getting stuck, on both Playstation versions and the artwork for the past few Vita releases has been very low res. They did finally fix several bugs I had on older tables, but Farsight does very sloppy work and seems slow to fix bugs. The Vita versions of the Zen tables on the other hand are just as smooth and sharp looking as the PS3.
Old 02-26-13, 04:43 PM
  #1339  
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Re: The Ultimate Battle Free Pinball Thread

I picked this up over the weekend:
Spoiler:


So, so good. Someone recently reverse engineered the software for it, rebalanced everything, fixed bugs, and added some new features (ball save!). So awesome. Previously it was a one shot game (ramp, ramp, ramp), now it's completely rebalanced. Ball save is pretty awesome, because even though the original didn't have it, it did have an animation and audio cue for it that was never used, so it's as if it should of been there all along.
Old 02-27-13, 12:21 AM
  #1340  
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Re: The Ultimate Battle Free Pinball Thread

That is both awesome and absolutely fascinating. I wasn't totally impressed with the table at the HoF, but if you can reprogram it, that's incredible. Out of curiosity, how did you update the software on a pinball table? I'm sure there's not a USB slot in it.

Speaking of Star Wars, I bought those tables tonight and got to play each table a few times. Boba Fett is a masterpiece; their most brilliant table since Epic Quest and one of their very best. So many cool additions and features you haven't seen on other tables. And not as distracting as I was afraid of (hello Mars table). Still not sure what the see-saw in the center is for, but that clack sound it makes always startles me. Really cool table and awesome two-step skill shot that you really want to hit with every ball launch.
Empire is a cool table as well. Acting scenes from the film is cool -- you have to sort of bank a shot around cover to shoot it out with Storm Troopers. It's fun and the sound-alikes are okay. Great use of film dialogue -- having Vader tell you that perhaps the Emperor overestimates you when you fail a mission hurts, I won't lie. The music is great as well. As are the digitized movie scenes for the "LCD" display. They get so much right on that table.
Wasn't digging Clone Wars at all, and not just due to my limited knowledge of the subject matter. Lots of flippers and ramps, but not much else going on. Weird, unsatisfying ball launch and skill shot. I need to play it more, but it's certainly my least favorite of the three. At least it bleeds points. And, if nothing else, it's way better than Civil War.
Old 02-27-13, 09:01 AM
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Re: The Ultimate Battle Free Pinball Thread

Originally Posted by Decker
That is both awesome and absolutely fascinating. I wasn't totally impressed with the table at the HoF, but if you can reprogram it, that's incredible. Out of curiosity, how did you update the software on a pinball table? I'm sure there's not a USB slot in it.

Speaking of Star Wars, I bought those tables tonight and got to play each table a few times. Boba Fett is a masterpiece; their most brilliant table since Epic Quest and one of their very best. So many cool additions and features you haven't seen on other tables. And not as distracting as I was afraid of (hello Mars table). Still not sure what the see-saw in the center is for, but that clack sound it makes always startles me. Really cool table and awesome two-step skill shot that you really want to hit with every ball launch.
Empire is a cool table as well. Acting scenes from the film is cool -- you have to sort of bank a shot around cover to shoot it out with Storm Troopers. It's fun and the sound-alikes are okay. Great use of film dialogue -- having Vader tell you that perhaps the Emperor overestimates you when you fail a mission hurts, I won't lie. The music is great as well. As are the digitized movie scenes for the "LCD" display. They get so much right on that table.
Wasn't digging Clone Wars at all, and not just due to my limited knowledge of the subject matter. Lots of flippers and ramps, but not much else going on. Weird, unsatisfying ball launch and skill shot. I need to play it more, but it's certainly my least favorite of the three. At least it bleeds points. And, if nothing else, it's way better than Civil War.
There are ROM chips, the same kind that are found on older arcade games. They are in sockets on the CPU board to allow you to swap roms easily. You just need a programming device to program a chip (or find someone that has one). SWDE was really a turd before if you cared at all about scoring points, since literally hitting the ramp over and over was the best way to score, and extremely easy. Now, it's incredible. I bought it with the immediate notion that I'd be selling/trading it in the next 6 months or so, but playing it for a few days, I'm not so sure about that.

The newer Stern games do have USB ports on them, so it's just as easy as downloading the update to a flash drive, flipping a few dip switches and it will update the software.

I also played the SW tables for a few minutes this morning. It's very obvious that Empire is inspired by the Pinball 2000 layout with the center area devoted to playing back "scenes". That area is even designed the same as Revenge From Mars.
Old 02-27-13, 09:29 AM
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Re: The Ultimate Battle Free Pinball Thread

Mind if I ask the price?
Old 02-27-13, 10:19 AM
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Re: The Ultimate Battle Free Pinball Thread

Originally Posted by brianluvdvd
Mind if I ask the price?
I'll PM you. It was a pretty good deal though.
Old 02-27-13, 06:21 PM
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Re: The Ultimate Battle Free Pinball Thread

Boba Fett table is awesome, but it's equally frustrating. It plays so fast and loose and I swear the flippers on this one are shorter than all the other tables! I played probably 15-20 games and averaged 10M (maybe less) and this is after one game of ESB where I got 25M and the top of my friend's leaderboard.

Then I had a great game. It's all about homing missiles (which you fire with the "launch" button, though I just use A) which hit a shot you need hitting. You start with one and can gain more from the easy-to-start skillshot, just make sure you pull the plunger (trigger) back some to increase the speed on the bonus carousel and find better options.

Start a bounty mission from either the EMPIRE lane or the HUTTS lane (under the see-saw) and pick one. Starting from 10, 20, 30, 40, or 50M points (and reputation) the shots required increases. Hit all the shots (worth 1M each) with a combination of shots and homing missiles light the Slave I ramp (on the left side). Hit it to bring in Slave I just above the flippers. It will slightly rotate back and forth with its ramp open, waiting for the ball. Hitting this nets you the bounty points (I got 40M successfully and failed on a 50M one) and locks the ball.

I ended up locking 2 balls this way even though I lost out on the 50M bounty, so I guess you need 3 or 4 to start whatever mode it opens. I ended up with over 80M points. Also I started to notice new bounties worth 60M once one had been completed. The scoring possibilities are mind-boggling!

If you ain't doin' bounties, you ain't doin' shit.
Old 02-27-13, 06:32 PM
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Re: The Ultimate Battle Free Pinball Thread

I wish we knew when Zen Pinball 2 is coming to Wii U in North America. Europe already has it wtf. I really want to pick up those Star Wars tables.
Old 02-27-13, 06:39 PM
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Re: The Ultimate Battle Free Pinball Thread

ha ha
Old 02-27-13, 07:04 PM
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Re: The Ultimate Battle Free Pinball Thread

I don't know about Boba Fett yet, it's pretty tough, and really confusing. I'm pretty sure the incline is at a higher degree (i.e. faster) than most other tables too.

Overall I'm very happy with these tables, although they might have too much going on for me personally.
Old 02-28-13, 07:41 AM
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Re: The Ultimate Battle Free Pinball Thread

The SW tables are great fun... I just wish I knew wtf I was supposed to do to achieve the challenges! The "help & options" is about as useful as tits on a donkey. Is there a walkthough somewhere? I somehow beat Scene 2 on Empire but have no idea what I'm even supposed to do to beat Scene 1. Boba Fett? No freaking idea what to do there.
Old 02-28-13, 08:43 AM
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Re: The Ultimate Battle Free Pinball Thread

I'm probably going to pick up the SW tables this weekend, and then get to working on knocking pinata off the leaders.
Old 02-28-13, 10:49 PM
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Re: The Ultimate Battle Free Pinball Thread

Originally Posted by Rob V
The SW tables are great fun... I just wish I knew wtf I was supposed to do to achieve the challenges! The "help & options" is about as useful as tits on a donkey. Is there a walkthough somewhere? I somehow beat Scene 2 on Empire but have no idea what I'm even supposed to do to beat Scene 1.
For the most part on ESB, just hit the shots with the lit Star Wars arrows on them, if its something else the display should tell you.

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