Anyone have any "guilty pleasures" tables you'd like to see?

[Richard B]

Does anyone else have favorite tables that are terribly designed, but you love them anyway? For me, one that comes to mind is Phantom of the Opera. It's got some of the worst design choices imaginable:
-Flippers that are farther apart than normal, with no post.
-Two kicker holes that have a strong tendency to toss the balls into the outlanes or between the flippers.
-The organ ramp, which is integral to activating multiball, is positioned so that balls rolling down it often go between the flippers.
-There aren't a whole lot of features.
These would be fatal flaws, if the presentation elements weren't so fantastic. In addition to the awesome theme, the back glass features the phantom with a mask that can become transparent or removed during play (revealing the best depiction of Erik unmasked I've ever seen), as well as a beautiful, scantily-clad-yet-not-trashy woman. The playfield also had some nice, interesting graphics. The sound effects, however, are what really make this table. Between the phantom's eerie voice, Christine's terrified heroine (with a scream whenever you drain a ball that would make Jamie Lee Curtis proud), and an stellar score, with plenty of Beethoven, and some opera (of course).
Anyone else have "guilty pleasures?"

 

[Brian Clark]

TMNT is probably mine. Not the best table, but lots to love for TMNT fans.

 

[Rudy Yagov]

I'd say Big Guns. It's really not that badly designed, but a lot of people seem to dislike it for not having pop bumpers, as well as the humongous backbox.

 

[Brian Clark]

I'd say Big Guns. It's really not that badly designed, but a lot of people seem to dislike it for not having pop bumpers, as well as the humongous backbox.

I like it as well. It's a unique design, but I didn't find it to be badly designed at all.

 

[Shaneus]

Probably Baywatch, I think. Camp theme but a great table. Doubt it would sell many, so damn unlikely!
Apollo 13 - 13 ball multiball? That'll do.
Ben Heck's Bill Paxton Pinball. Because why not? Ben Heck working with Farsight would be a laugh!
Also, some perfect guilty pleasure ones would be those from the Hankin stable, a little-known Australian company from the 80s. Empire Strikes Back was the first licensed Star Wars pinball and put in the hands of some Aussie guy! My friend actually has this table, but at some stage in the life of the machine two of the pop bumpers needed to be replaced. As there are so few tables by this company, parts are hard to come by they had to be replaced with ones from a Dennis Lillee's Howzat!, themed after an Australian cricketer

 

[bavelb]

I always thought TAXI was a guilty pleasure of mine, as it's theme is a bit wonky, but over the last few weeks I found out it's actually really loved and appreciated all-around, including the folks at Farsight.

Other then that I guess it's Space Shuttle for me. When I analyse the table it's rather boring, but then you hit multiball within 10 seconds after hitting the plunger

 

[Brian Clark]

Stern Indiana Jones, though I'm not sure if it counts. It's not as good as the Williams pin, but it's still quite a bit of fun with 8 ball multiball and other nice features.

 

[superballs]

Data East's Monday Night Football:

One of the first machines i got to spend any serious time on and had a blast gaining yardage and shooting the extra point.

 

[Mega]

South Park Pinball.

Nothing stellar, not terrible, but it made me laugh, so I kept playing it.

http://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?gid=4444

 

[Brian Clark]

Part of me wants to see the Bally Eight Ball SS becuase of how mean it is.

 

[Snotrot]

It would have to be the Rescue 911 table for me. Though not because of its design, I rather think the table is well laid out with lots of cool visual and audio effects. It's more because of the odd and random choice to make a pinball game of the TV show Rescue 911 that makes it my guilty pleasure.

Along similar lines they totally should have made an Unsolved Mysteries table. Man that would’ve been cool.

 

[dtown8532]

Cactus Canyon because, though certainly playable, its unfinished. Incomplete music and software. Nonetheless, it's rare, expensive and many people have never played it. CC is a lot of fun and I'd love to see it in The Pinball Arcade. Shouldn't be too difficult to get I think. No annoying licenses. I hope to see it someday.

Along those same lines but to a lesser extent I'd like to see The Champion Pub too. Another unfinished pin that's a guilty pleasure for me.

These two represent the end of traditional pinball at Bally/Williams in 1998 and were victims of the shifting of resources to develop Pinball 2000. Hope to see them.

 

[Bowflex]

Cactus Canyon because, though certainly playable, its unfinished. Incomplete music and software. Nonetheless, it's rare, expensive and many people have never played it. CC is a lot of fun and I'd love to see it in The Pinball Arcade. Shouldn't be too difficult to get I think. No annoying licenses. I hope to see it someday.

Along those same lines but to a lesser extent I'd like to see The Champion Pub too. Another unfinished pin that's a guilty pleasure for me.

These two represent the end of traditional pinball at Bally/Williams in 1998 and were victims of the shifting of resources to develop Pinball 2000. Hope to see them.

I love both of those tables, especially Cactus Canyon. I've read that the software released was pretty close to complete for both tables. Obviously it had to be or it wouldn't have been put into production with it. I've never seen much detail about the Champion Pub's ROMs but my understanding is that the software for Cactus Canyon was finished but never released and I recall reading somewhere that the individual that ended up in possession of it was willing to release it for the small sum of $30,000. I'm not sure if there is a legal way of pressuring the release of any completed software that exists since the software should belong to the company, not an individual and for a person to attempt to sell it sounds like a case of theft unless they purchased it from the company (Bally/Midway) they worked for.

 

[Richard B]

South Park Pinball.

Nothing stellar, not terrible, but it made me laugh, so I kept playing it.

http://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?gid=4444

I like South Park Pinball. Excellent use of a great license, plus they got Parker, Stone, Hayes, and other cast members to record original dialogue. Even Simpson's Pinball Party, a personal favorite, could only manage to get three cast members to participate (that is why characters like Marge, Lisa, and Otto are seen on the display, but never heard). The South Park layout is pretty solid, too, even though it's pretty much a mishmash of things that worked well in other games. Still, while there's nothing in the layout we haven't seen before, there aren't any major issues, either.

 

[Silverball]

- METALLICA -

I had a great time playing it and think it would be a fun variation of the classic "Earthshaker".
Loud music, bright flashing lights, and blazing ball speed - might need to have a setting to censor down the language for the kiddies..

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/...ehind-the-scenes-on-a-custom-pinball-game.ars

 

[dtown8532]

I love both of those tables, especially Cactus Canyon. I've read that the software released was pretty close to complete for both tables. Obviously it had to be or it wouldn't have been put into production with it. I've never seen much detail about the Champion Pub's ROMs but my understanding is that the software for Cactus Canyon was finished but never released and I recall reading somewhere that the individual that ended up in possession of it was willing to release it for the small sum of $30,000. I'm not sure if there is a legal way of pressuring the release of any completed software that exists since the software should belong to the company, not an individual and for a person to attempt to sell it sounds like a case of theft unless they purchased it from the company (Bally/Midway) they worked for.

Interesting info Bowflex. I did not know that about CC. Even if Farsight had to release it with the original software I'd still buy it. I was lucky enough to play one about seven years ago at Hersheypark, PA and loved it nonetheless. Honesty, I was very surprised to even see one on location. Of course, its long since gone. Come to think of it I played a Champion Pub at a family type fun center near the park as well. They had that and Addams Family. Pumped lots of quarters in when I was there. More in Champion Pub though because I'd never seen one in real life before. Doubt that they're on location anymore. All location pins around my area (Reading, PA) seem to be gone or poorly kept up (Cough, cough Arnold's Fun Center and The Pinball Parlour). The York or Allentown shows are about the only places in my area anymore. Thank God for The Pinball Arcade.

 

[Brian Clark]

Interesting info Bowflex. I did not know that about CC. Even if Farsight had to release it with the original software I'd still buy it. I was lucky enough to play one about seven years ago at Hersheypark, PA and loved it nonetheless. Honesty, I was very surprised to even see one on location. Of course, its long since gone. Come to think of it I played a Champion Pub at a family type fun center near the park as well. They had that and Addams Family. Pumped lots of quarters in when I was there. More in Champion Pub though because I'd never seen one in real life before. Doubt that they're on location anymore. All location pins around my area (Reading, PA) seem to be gone or poorly kept up (Cough, cough Arnold's Fun Center and The Pinball Parlour). The York or Allentown shows are about the only places in my area anymore. Thank God for The Pinball Arcade.

Not sure how far out of the way, but I was near that area a few months ago and, of all places, a mini arcade in Zern's market had a couple pins, Mr. and Mrs. Pac-Man and Gottlieb Jumping Jack.

 

[dtown8532]

Not sure how far out of the way, but I was near that area a few months ago and, of all places, a mini arcade in Zern's market had a couple pins, Mr. and Mrs. Pac-Man and Gottlieb Jumping Jack.

Thanks for the info Brian. I haven't been to Zern's in years. There is a Rollergames in a local Italian restaurant near me. I play it now and then. Condition is OK. Theme is absolute crap! =) However, the playfield design is good enough that I'd guess it could be called a guilty pleasure. It's too bad I'm not really into EM's because there's a place called the Village Arcade in St. Peter's Village on the outskirts of Coventry, PA that had an incredible collection of them for 5 ball 25 cent play.

 

[Bowflex]

I went back and checked the history and all. The discussion started about CC being a candidate for having home roms made like what had been done for several other games (Twilight Zone, Cirqus Voltaire, White Water, etc). It was then argued as to what would be the point with a more complete version of CC in existence. This romset (not necessarily final version) had the main differences being a more complete Wizard mode. Not to say CC doesn't have one but it is too easy to get compared to the intent of the designers and it is also more easy to complete than what was produced. The Match sequence was also filled out. Some speculation exists that various other minor things such as some animations are missing but no confirmation on specifics I could find. There have been various dollar amounts thrown around as rumor. The $30,000 had to do with a statement made by the guy who bought the WMS license from Australia and never did any of the major projects he set out to do. He stated that the programmer had a final version but was demanding that amount of money. No telling if that's the truth or not but certainly interesting.

 

[jaredmorgs]

The shameful amounts of money I angrily shoved into Bally's Safe Cracker to get those damn SC tokens would make this one of my absolute *must play* guilty pleasure titles. I went through a phase of only playing this game on Visual Pinball, and in that implementation I loved the fact you could see how many tokens of which type you got.

The technical limitations for this would be the fact that the "board game" element happens in the backbox, so there would need to be a new camera angle introduced to zoom in on the backglass while this mode was active.

And I'm proud to say I still have the elusive Silver Token in my possession, plus a number of other standard gold tokens I could scan for the conversion (if it ever happened)!