Best Table with Worst License and Worst Table with Best License?

[Richard B]

We'll keep this focused on real world tables, not virtual recreations, except for examples or illustrations.

Great Table, Bad License:
Congo - Trudeau took on this one because no one else would, and it's become one of the best underrated tables in the modern era.

Great License, Bad Table:
Star Wars - Five releases: Empire Strikes Back (1980) Star Wars (1987 by some Italian company never released here) Star Wars (1992 Data East) Star Wars Trilogy (1997 Sega) and Star Wars Episode I (1999 Williams) and they've ranged from bad (SWEI) to merely okay (the two other 1990's releases), none even beginning to tap the potential of this license (at least the Empire Strikes Back has the excuse of being an early SS game, having been released in 1980). The Zen tables have shown some of the awesome potential of this license, and it's a travesty that we don't have a Star Wars table at least as good as STTNG.

 

[DanBradford]

great license, bad table: X Files, Avatar

other way around: The Shadow, Johnny Mnemonic

 

[Espy]

As for which category it fits into, I'll let you decide

 

[Richard B]

Another Great License Bad Table - Harley Davidson! You can tell they got a lot of inspiration from High Speed and its sequel, but somehow they left out the coolest parts (i.e. having an awesome car with a really loud engine that goes really fast, and the thrill of "driving" it, as well as the awesome soundtrack [they licensed a quintessential road song with Steppenwolf's Born to Be Wild, yet made it sound lame] ). What they did keep in (the antics with the cops, the traffic lights) they did real lame.

 

[netizen]

Good License, Bad Machine: Avengers, Transformers

Bad License, Good Machine: Godzilla

 

[Shaneus]

Wouldn't the ultimate be The Shadow for bad license, great table? Not far behind would be Baywatch.

 

[Espy]

Good License, Bad Machine: Avengers, Transformers

Bad License, Good Machine: Godzilla

Agree with Avengers. Liked Transformers, though.

 

[kinggo]

I'm one of those who don't care about licence. Table is either good or not (personal perception) and the fact that people think that there are good licence/bad table and bad licence/good table just somehow proves my personal opinion. I mean, if The Shadow is a good table (and it is) why do you think that the licence is bad? What other licence would be better for the same table?

 

[netizen]

I'm one of those who don't care about licence. Table is either good or not (personal perception) and the fact that people think that there are good licence/bad table and bad licence/good table just somehow proves my personal opinion. I mean, if The Shadow is a good table (and it is) why do you think that the licence is bad? What other licence would be better for the same table?

It was a bad license in that the movie was a flop, and using the license didn't really draw people to the machine any more than if the machine had been unlicensed; seeing as the current view on pinball is that unlicensed games can not draw players the way licensed games can.

 

[Espy]

It was a bad license in that the movie was a flop, and using the license didn't really draw people to the machine any more than if the machine had been unlicensed; seeing as the current view on pinball is that unlicensed games can not draw players the way licensed games can.

Non-pinball players will gravitate toward the pin with the license they like the most. I see it all the time with Family Guy at my arcade.

P.S. I never realised Congo was licensed. A shame, because the playfield looks interesting and I would have liked to see it in TPA.

 

[kinggo]

I get that, but........ pinball is quite simple game, hit that to light that, hit those to open this, shoot ramp to.......... Reading a book before watching a movie or watching a movie before reading a book will pretty much discover everything about the plot, characters and what not. One can in a way substitue the other. Playing licenced pinball before watching a movie won't tell much, maybe it will have some characthers and a toy or two, but that's it. Playing one after a movie won't make one better at it.
I was never drawn to a pin because of the licence. In fact, it's quite opposite, my first reaction on licenced pinball was always meh........ Thera are great ones, there are bad ones. But replace the art and some sound on good licenced one and it will still be a good pin.
3rd HD sucks not because I don't like bikes much, especially not that type, but because it is lousy in more than one way. I like Iron Man, I've seen them more than once but pin sucks. I dont' like Tron but I do like the pin. I'm not AC/DC fan nor that type of music fan but I like the table.
I'm trying to say that I don't get why are people more drawn to licenced ones. I think that licence actually restricts design and ideas more than it can bring to a good design and idea at the first place. Pinball can't immerse me in a way a movie or book can, no matter what is the theme it will still fell just like a pinball. Good or bad, but pinball.

 

[Espy]

I get that, but........ pinball is quite simple game, hit that to light that, hit those to open this, shoot ramp to.......... Reading a book before watching a movie or watching a movie before reading a book will pretty much discover everything about the plot, characters and what not. One can in a way substitue the other. Playing licenced pinball before watching a movie won't tell much, maybe it will have some characthers and a toy or two, but that's it. Playing one after a movie won't make one better at it.
I was never drawn to a pin because of the licence. In fact, it's quite opposite, my first reaction on licenced pinball was always meh........ Thera are great ones, there are bad ones. But replace the art and some sound on good licenced one and it will still be a good pin.
3rd HD sucks not because I don't like bikes much, especially not that type, but because it is lousy in more than one way. I like Iron Man, I've seen them more than once but pin sucks. I dont' like Tron but I do like the pin. I'm not AC/DC fan nor that type of music fan but I like the table.
I'm trying to say that I don't get why are people more drawn to licenced ones. I think that licence actually restricts design and ideas more than it can bring to a good design and idea at the first place. Pinball can't immerse me in a way a movie or book can, no matter what is the theme it will still fell just like a pinball. Good or bad, but pinball.

I totally agree with you. I'd imagine most people that take the silver ball reasonably seriously think the same way, too. But unfortunately the masses flock to the licenses they like. That's basic marketing.

 

[Naildriver74]

I totally agree with you. I'd imagine most people that take the silver ball reasonably seriously think the same way, too. But unfortunately the masses flock to the licenses they like. That's basic marketing.

You've hit the nail on the head.

 

[Fungi]

It's just marketing. Plain and simple. I myself am ashamed to say that I made pinball choices due to my dislike or like of the license. I have never played Baywatch nor Gilligan's Island because of it. I like the film The Shadow, yet I never played the table because of the bad backglass. I know, can't get much more shallow than that. I know better now, but as a kid, with only a handful of quarters in your pocket, you gotta make decisions by some kind of criteria.

 

[Kolchak357]

When I walk in a place with two pins I've never played before, the pin with the more appealing license gets played first. I'll most likey end up playing both though.

 

[Richard B]

The movie on which the Addams Family is based wasn't that good (though it was a commercial hit at the time). It's probably better known for the pinball than the film now.

 

[Baramos]

Licenses never attracted me to pinball in the first place or anything...but man I want to play the two Batman pins mostly just because they have Batman on them, you know? (It helps that they appear to be fun, as well)

 

[ER777]

great license, bad table: X Files, Avatar

other way around: The Shadow, Johnny Mnemonic

Wouldn't the ultimate be The Shadow for bad license, great table? Not far behind would be Baywatch.

Agree with Avengers. Liked Transformers, though.

Not familiar with the X-Files table but otherwise I mostly agree with all of these. I put TF and Avatar in the ok tables category, they're not that bad but not nearly as good as they could have been with those licenses.

 

[karl]

When I walk in a place with two pins I've never played before, the pin with the more appealing license gets played first. I'll most likey end up playing both though.

Don't feel bad, most of us are a bit shallow that way.

I wonder If I would have loved Tron so much if it was called x-men and vice versa. I do love Iron Man though, and the license means nothing to me except some cool music in the pin but when the game is horrible, the license does not help it, time that the pinball companies understand this.

I would love to have more non-license new games out there. Pinball did such a good job with non-license games from the 40' up to the end of the 90'. Will be very exciting to follow the new Pat Lawler game that is not a license game. Really hoping that ones does well, good or bad so we can have more of them.

 

[Metalzoic]

Don't feel bad, most of us are a bit shallow that way.

I wonder If I would have loved Tron so much if it was called x-men and vice versa. I do love Iron Man though, and the license means nothing to me except some cool music in the pin but when the game is horrible, the license does not help it, time that the pinball companies understand this.

I would love to have more non-license new games out there. Pinball did such a good job with non-license games from the 40' up to the end of the 90'. Will be very exciting to follow the new Pat Lawler game that is not a license game. Really hoping that ones does well, good or bad so we can have more of them.

If it has a Haunted House theme then I might cancel my Hobbit and wait for Lawler's.

As far as licenses go if I don't like a tables theme/license then the odds are good that I won't even bother to look at it, let alone try it.