Now that S5 is complete, where would you rank it compared to other Seasons?

[Xanija]

Do you think it's outstanding? Mediocre? Do you hate it? Would you recommend it to your friends? Which seasons do you consider being better?

This is the lineup:

The Getaway: High Speed II
F-14 Tomcat
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
No Fear
Judge Dredd
Fireball
El Dorado EM
Hurricance
Rescue 911
Last Action Hero
TX Sector

 

[EldarOfSuburbia]

Started with a blast and mostly fell off toward the end there. Sorry to say TX is a really limp finish.

 

[Fungi]

I liked to first 2 tables. That's all.

 

[rehtroboi40]

Mr. Elder, I agree that it started off with a blast-The Getaway and F-14 were both smashes in my book. I don't think TX was totally limp-it does seem to be growing on me a little. But you and I both know which Gottlieb machine I'd most like to see in TPA LOL. (Hint: rhymes with Turf N' Atari).

With the latest hint (a dead ringer for Indianapolis 500), it seems season 6 is off to a great start. That and Doctor Who for September possibly. I may not get the season 6 pass immediately though. I've still got WGs from seasons 2 and 5 to work on and Zaccaria on Steam (supposedly coming soon) might be taking some of my video pinball time, and Pro Pinball Ultra is really starting to take shape. Depends on how much green paper I've got in my wallet.

 

[EldarOfSuburbia]

I like it better than Season 4.

Ranking them I'd probably go 1 (best), 3, 2, 5, 4 (worst). 2 suffers from a really limp tail.

 

[Kolchak357]

I like most of them and we got a bonus 11th pin. So for me it's in the middle somewhere I guess.

 

[Xanija]

For me it's one of the best seasons we've had. I only have S1 still as best Season so far.

There's no table I really don't like in this season. Actually I even like Rescue 911 & TX Sector. There, I said it. My favourites for this season are Judge Dredd and Last Action Hero, followed by Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, No Fear.

 

[David Pannozzo]

I'm sorry but I can't do this poll, I love every game on the Pinball Arcade. I guess the only games I don't like, would have to be the EM's, they bore me very fast. I got a chance to play Paragon yesterday, and I found it terrible, way too hard and not much to do, or just not much I like about it. I played an Awesome mint version of Eight Ball Deluxe, and really found that game to be fun, the last time I played it the Pinball Machine was in bad shape and I hated that. I don't like EM's because they don't have Music, Voices, and really cool sound effects in them, remember I said I didn't get into Pinball until The Addam's Family came out, but I really love those System 11 games and want all of them. Like Mousin' Around, Police Force, Bad Cats, Radical, Rollergames, Bally's Gameshow, Bansai Run, Jokerz, Fire!, I know I'm missing some, but this is what I could think of off hand.

 

[wolfson]

Started with a blast and mostly fell off toward the end there. Sorry to say TX is a really limp finish.

Eldar,agree with you on this one.i`m starting to think TPA are better served to stick with GOTTLIEB EMs,which they are great at.

 

[wolfson]

forgot,somewhere in the middle.

 

[pm1109]

Good start
Bad finish
Pretty much sums up Season 5!

 

[invitro]

It's been a poor season IMO. I voted 3, but would change to 4 now. The only total dud is Rescue 911 (I've barely played TX-Sector). There are no transcendent tables or nothing really close, but several tables with some fun, though almost all get boring very quickly. There's a reason these were not released earlier for TPA (beyond the licenses, I think). My rankings, ratings (out of 10) and some brief comments:

1. (10) F-14 Tomcat - This is a rare TPA table where I have a huge nostalgia bonus.
2. (10) Last Action Hero - I was very surprised at the huge amount of strategy in this one, especially in tournament games.
3. (10) High Speed 2 - Too easy, but still so much fun, up to the two-hour point I guess.
4. (9) Hurricane - I used to say this was the most boring WMS table of the 1990's. I was way wrong, it's fun and even has a bit of strategy.
5. (8) Frankenstein - Would be an easy 10 except for the unfortunate 9999M score limit.
6. (7) No Fear - Fun in very small doses, but timing out half the game sucks.
7. (7) El Dorado (EM) - Kind of fun, challenging, a finger in the eye of anyone who likes rules.
8. (7) Fireball - I need to play this again... I think using the good strategy is not so much fun.
9. (6) Judge Dredd - A shame it's so easy to get infinite EB's, a shame rules are so shallow. I don't think I've played it since the first couple of days it was out. Tournaments could save it, if Farsight ever makes it happen, come on FS what's the problem here? (Fireball and El Dorado are also tournament-missing.)
10. (2) Rescue 911 - Yuck, gross, probably my least favorite TPA table.
? TX-Sector - If I don't find a way to hit those side shots, this will go in the dust heap too.

Season 6 will have Indy 500 and Dr. Who, and I think Pinball Magic and Big Bang Bar, and probably AG Soccer-Ball. I have high hopes for all of those (and thus of S6), but there's no way to tell how quickly they'll get boring.

 

[rehtroboi40]

It's been a poor season IMO. I voted 3, but would change to 4 now. The only total dud is Rescue 911 (I've barely played TX-Sector). There are no transcendent tables or nothing really close, but several tables with some fun, though almost all get boring very quickly. There's a reason these were not released earlier for TPA (beyond the licenses, I think). My rankings, ratings (out of 10) and some brief comments:

1. (10) F-14 Tomcat - This is a rare TPA table where I have a huge nostalgia bonus.
2. (10) Last Action Hero - I was very surprised at the huge amount of strategy in this one, especially in tournament games.
3. (10) High Speed 2 - Too easy, but still so much fun, up to the two-hour point I guess.
4. (9) Hurricane - I used to say this was the most boring WMS table of the 1990's. I was way wrong, it's fun and even has a bit of strategy.
5. (8) Frankenstein - Would be an easy 10 except for the unfortunate 9999M score limit.
6. (7) No Fear - Fun in very small doses, but timing out half the game sucks.
7. (7) El Dorado (EM) - Kind of fun, challenging, a finger in the eye of anyone who likes rules.
8. (7) Fireball - I need to play this again... I think using the good strategy is not so much fun.
9. (6) Judge Dredd - A shame it's so easy to get infinite EB's, a shame rules are so shallow. I don't think I've played it since the first couple of days it was out. Tournaments could save it, if Farsight ever makes it happen, come on FS what's the problem here? (Fireball and El Dorado are also tournament-missing.)
10. (2) Rescue 911 - Yuck, gross, probably my least favorite TPA table.
? TX-Sector - If I don't find a way to hit those side shots, this will go in the dust heap too.

Season 6 will have Indy 500 and Dr. Who, and I think Pinball Magic and Big Bang Bar, and probably AG Soccer-Ball. I have high hopes for all of those (and thus of S6), but there's no way to tell how quickly they'll get boring.

The addition of Capcom to the TPA lineup could be a great "shot in the arm" for TPA. I just hope they don't water down BBB with censorship-it's one of my most anticipated machines.

Going back to season 5, El Dorado EM was the biggest surprise since tenderfoot IMO. I had a lot of fun with that table, especially when compared to City of Gold. I disliked MSF with a passion due to the hardest WGs since BSD. The Edgar Winter Group saved it from being a total disaster.

My biggest beef with season 5 was how uneven the WGs were. The F-14 250k flight goal was bugged for some time, doubtlessly still is. (Even without the bug, it's still a serious a55 of a goal to attain). Got all the WGs for every table from NF to Hurricane (plus TG:HS2), but FarSight really started going crazy with the last three tables, putting in unattainable WGs.

 

[EldarOfSuburbia]

Going in order, my take on the tables:
1. HS2 (7/10) - Like its predecessor, HS2 suffers from a lack of depth in rules and gets very repetitive very quickly. That's not to say it isn't fun in short bursts.
2. F-14 (10/10) - It has all the same problems as HS2, but looks and sounds better. The extra 3/10 is for the music, callouts, and above all the light show. F-14 is probably #1 on the list of tables I want to physically own.
3. MSF (8/10) - So there's the ROM-induced score limit, which is a pain, but overall this is a very challenging table, and can be fun at times.
4. No Fear (7/10) - ... forgive me for giving the same review for yet another Ritchie table, but NF gets repetitive after a while, and it's not rescued by the art/sound package.
5. Judge Dredd (7/10) - way too easy, its only saving graces are the DMD and the music, which net a couple of extra points.
6. Fireball (7/10) - fun, but I've not played it enough to really form a true opinion.
7. El Dorado EM (9/10) - this table rocks! Genuinely tough, but very satisfying when things go well. Now if only we could get Target Alpha as well - yes, it's the same layout, but the scoring is totally different and it feels like a different game because of it.
8. Hurricane (10/10) - 100% pure nostalgia factor for starters, that gets a huge bump, but it plays well anyway even if the callouts and music can drive you nuts.
9. R911 (4/10) - an inconsistent mess of a game that takes itself way too seriously and has nothing to do after the second Life Force.
10. LAH (8/10) - better than I remember, a serious challenge, but some of the incomprehensible soundbites, nerfed music, and attempts at video capture in the DMDs drag it down a notch or two.
11. TX-Sector (4/10) - if this table had been from 1981 or 1982, I might have been a bit more impressed - sadly it's from 1988 and by that point pinball had evolved to do thing like remembering the state of your game from ball to ball. It gets a bonus point for the pretty lights, I guess.

 

[Rich Lehmann]

I would rank the seasons 1,2,3,4,5. This is by far the weakest season in my opinion.

 

[Anubis]

For me, the only must have was F-14. Hurricane is surprisingly good and El Dorado is a fun challenge. Some of the remaining tables I want will probably need a Kickstarter (G'n'R). Would also love Swords of Fury for nostalgia, but some will complain that it is too easy (understandable).

 

[Kratos3]

Nothing is going to beat season 1.....probably ever.

 

[Cyberleader63]

Except season 6