Modern Pinballs from 1991-2012 prefered pls

[Rudy Yagov]

My preferred era is the alphanumeric age, 1986-1990. So many progressive designs with easy to understand, difficult to master gameplay. Best of all (as far as TPA goes), there weren't many licensed themed games in that era, so there's plenty of great ones that could make it into TPA without licensing issues.

 

[JoshuaKadmon]

That's what I think, too!
Shorter games = more fun.
I love Gorgar for that!
Jive Time was also the favorite of a friends daughter in the 360 version of PHOF!.

I'm not sure I would agree with that, at least not for the same reasons. While I do like Gorgar more than, say, Cirqus Voltaire, the seemingly inevitable short game time is more of a statement on challenge/difficulty than anything else. Anytime I start playing a round on Medieval Madness, Cirqus Voltaire, Ripley's Believe It or Not, and other DMDs, I know that my average skill level will keep me going for several minutes, maybe even fifteen or so. That kind of length is good for arcades, where you want to get more for your money, but when you can freely choose between numerous tables, it just feels too easy. Easy often equals boring to a dedicated gamer. On the other hand, if you can pull out a fifteen minute run on Gorgar, you feel like a freakin' champ. See what I'm saying'?

 

[Gorgar]

I must say that the game I keep coming back to the most is Black Hole. Gorgar is great too.

It was actually the Gottlieb Collection for the PS2 that got me into pinball in the first place. It educated me about early pinball and was a hell of a lot of fun too. I really wish they would take a break from the Williams Collection re-releases and re-release some Gottlieb Collection games as well. The improvements they made to the Black Hole physics make the game amazing and I can't wait to see this applied to the rest of the Gottlieb Collection.

 

[Jeff Strong]

I don't limit myself to one era. Whether or not a pinball machine has a DMD doesn't make that much difference to me as long as it's fun. I'd say about 50% of my favorites are pre-DMD and 50% are DMD, so I'm pretty balanced in my pinball tastes.

 

[BlindSpider11]

I enjoy newer games as well to. But I love the variety with multiple era's.

 

[sotie]

I guess I'm a pinball whore because I like 'em all!

 

[Bowflex]

I prefer the era of about 1980-1999. There was a stream of advances and superior layout during that era. At the end of the century, pinball ceased to exist briefly. The Pinball 2k games were not really satisfying. The concept was fantastic and it definitely had potential but it did get cut early on before tables were created that had challenging and well-thought out designs. Plus there were lots of themes that could have happened. Then Stern reentered the fold. I appreciate Stern creating tables and they definitely have put out a few good ones. I just feel like they haven't really done much to advance the pastime. WMS was making higher quality product 20 years ago in general. All of the tables are licensed, the build often feels cheap and the layouts are hit or miss. I just think there is so much more they could do. Jersey Jack will hopefully raise the stakes.

 

[JoshuaKadmon]

Jersey Jack will hopefully raise the stakes.

I'm still concerned about the 26-inch LCD on Oz. It could either revolutionize pinball the way DMDs did in 1991, or it could be poorly received like Pinball 2000. At least it's not an integrated part of the playfield, and Oz's playfield does look awesome. According to my conversation with Drew Maniscalco at JJ, Stern is already planning to use smaller, 13-inch color displays in response to the new competition. But part of me wants pinball to remain a more classic format, and I actually like the fact that we've stuck with DMDs for 21 years. It took me a while to accept DMDs too, however, so maybe it'll just take some time for it to grow on me.

 

[Sean DonCarlos]

But part of me wants pinball to remain a more classic format, and I actually like the fact that we've stuck with DMDs for 21 years.

Nothing says pinball like a DMD. Nothing else really uses them.

 

[gooche77]

DMD FTW IMHO LOL. Seriously though, some of the best pins are DMD. Although the video pinball in Theatre of Magic is awful.

 

[RhodyDave]

Variety is the spice of life.

 

[Mark W**a]

Funhouse, Taxi, Bride of Pinbot and the first Elvira, that era is amazing. That's the transition era from simple electronic tables to the DMD games. I dig a game of Black Hole or Gorgar every once in a while and it's cool to see , you know, that evolution of pinball , but going back pre- electronic to the wood and steel rail era... Not appropriate for pinball arcade IMO.

 

[Mark W**a]

Sorry let me clarify. There's the simple electronic games (Gorgar, Black Hole Etc) and then the Taxi, Funhouse,whirlwind etc etc era, which was when BIG innovations were made then finally you got the DMD era which is the peak basically. Early electronic games have their place on the service, no question, but Anything older than that... It just wouldn't fit the aesthetic of what they are going for with pba.. I've been saying in other threads I'd like to see Xenon, an early 80s Bally, but I more or less feel that should be the LAST early 80s machine done. Just so u got an early 80s Gotlieb, Williams and then this would rep Bally. Plus Xenon is ****ing awesome lol

 

[Mark W**a]

I'm still concerned about the 26-inch LCD on Oz. It could either revolutionize pinball the way DMDs did in 1991, or it could be poorly received like Pinball 2000. At least it's not an integrated part of the playfield, and Oz's playfield does look awesome. According to my conversation with Drew Maniscalco at JJ, Stern is already planning to use smaller, 13-inch color displays in response to the new competition. But part of me wants pinball to remain a more classic format, and I actually like the fact that we've stuck with DMDs for 21 years. It took me a while to accept DMDs too, however, so maybe it'll just take some time for it to grow on me.

Let the DMD era rest in its place in pinball history. It's awesome to see what Jersey Jack is doing, and it's proof that without competition there is stagnation. I've seen the WoO game in action. The LED lights are georgeous, but IMO an entire screen LCD in the backglass is overkill. I'd like to see a small LCD the size of a DMD in a Stern.

 

[Rudy]

To be perfectly honest (and I know this sounds terrible >_>) I think the future of pinball is LCD screens.

DMD screens made sense at the time because they were the only flat screens available during the late 80s (until the very late 90s, if not early 00s) right now LCD and LED screens are dirt cheap to produce and offer stunning high quality.

Yes, this would be a huge change to the pinball we all know and love, but didn't DMD screens make most non-DMD tables look ancient within a few years? Right now I think a lot of the basic components in pinball could be severely changed given the improvements in technology over the past 20 years or so since the mid 90s. Now we could probably fit the circuit board into something much smaller, now it's becoming a lot cheaper to produce solid state drives (even an 8gb one would house more than it'd ever need), now it's becoming a lot easier to make totally flat screens... if a pinball manufacturer actually tried to innovate the design process we could end up with much cheaper to produce tables which look astounding.

Of course that would kill a lot of the nostalgia of playing pinball, but unfortunately that nostalgia seems to be the thing that's stopping pinball from moving into the 21st century >_>

 

[Bowflex]

I'm surprised that there are no color DMDs that have been used by Stern. They have them in conversion kits for Attack From Mars and Medieval Madness. We'll have to see how LCD works but that has potential. The one problem with DMD or an LCD is that it distracts from the playfield. You can't watch the ball and what is happening on the display.

JJP definitely seems to be using much nicer components. Stern tables have generally cheap toys and shoddy looking construction. JJP has shown what looks to be very nicely crafted parts with solid build quality. Competition has been very much needed. At least Stern's AC/DC table is a considerable step up from what they've been done on other recent tables. Still need to play Transformers. X-Men was kind of meh, though.

 

[Mark W**a]

Exactly Bowflex couldn't agree more. Especially about the cheap toys. Transformers looks like they went to Toys R Us and slapped some off the shelf Transformers figures in there. As for X-Men I've only seen video but the Magneto and Wolverine busts looked laughable IMO. Like the tops of some X-Men childrens shampoo or something.

AC/DC is fantastic though, especially the LEs.

Transformers is still a dope table and very good looking overall though.

 

[Pinballfan69]

I tend to agree. While I do enjoy an even mix of EM, alphanumeric SS, and DMD machines, I find that most of my personal favorites are non-DMD tables between 1979 and 1988. That includes Gorgar, Xenon, Haunted House, Swords of Fury, and a bunch of other alphanumerics. I think of pinball as a high form of craftsmanship amongst entertainment media, and I will agree that most of Stern's tables from the last decade don't exactly scream "artisan". I would much prefer the art of Gorgar / Jungle Lord over those "happy meal toys" VonDoom mentioned. As far as how the tables play, newer Sterns aren't bad, but they do feel unnecessarily cluttered and nonsensical when compared to the straightforward and skill-based objectives of Centaur, Black Hole, or dozens of other classics.

But I love Zen/Marvel Pinball!!!..............wait you're talking about real tables? As far as the classics, I am tending to play Bride, TAXI, Funhouse, Black Knight more than the other tables these days. Basically all these tables I played back in the day and learned to master them for long sessions by putting minimal amounts of money. Maybe it's the fact that these table seem to have the closest Physics simulation I have experienced compared to the other tables already released. Of course that's personal opinion.

Black Hole and Gorgar certainly has it's history though. BH being the first pinball to charge .75 cent's (confirm that for me) which lead to them charging close to $2 a game. That in turn turned me away from playing Pinball for a very, very long time. Gorgar being the first to use voice I think? I still steer away from them as I think they are too simplistic for my liking. Again personal opinion.

Still though it is good that they have focused on different parts of Pinball history. In turn they had always mentioned that they wanted to focus on most of the tables in the top 100 lists or so cant' remember the quote. I still want to see tables like Indiana Jones, Lord of the Rings, Simpsons, etc but licensing is a big determent. Regardless as long as tables keep coming, I will get them.

 

[Mark W**a]

I'm still new here so forgive me, but just need clarity: so Funhouse/Bride of Pinbot those are Alpha-numerical, correct? And when you say electro-mechanical, you mean wood and steel rail, pre electronic games, right? So what would a Xenon or a Gorgar be called? Early electronic? Just trying to get my lingo down.

 

[JoshuaKadmon]

Gorgar and Xenon are just numeric solid state tables. Solid state refers to electronic circuit boards to run the machines instead of the older electromechanical components that faded away around 1976/77.

Numeric, alphanumeric, and DMD all refer to different eras of solid state, using their display type to differentiate them, as the shift to DMD came around 1991. With Jersey Jack on the rise and Stern reacting to its first competition in more than a decade, we will probably be marking 2012/13 as the start of an LCD era.

EDIT: Seren's got the accurate breakdown. See below V