PAF Top Ten Most Wanted Table Poll Series : #4 - Premium Licensed (Closed)

[PS Garek]

Having played most of the games on this list both DE and Williams/Bally, I can tell you that I voted for a bunch of DE/Sega games because I think they're fun. Sure, there's not the depth of many of the Williams games, but plenty of them are inventive and have interesting rules or just throw you every single trick they can think of (Last Action Hero, for example). It ain't Twilight Zone, but I love Starship Troopers.

If Pinball Arcade is going to try to have a good sense of the breadth of pinball they need to have DE/Sega/Stern games and Gottlieb games, even though they aren't up to the higher standards of Williams.

For the record I voted for:
Congo
Doctor Who
Guns N Roses
Indiana Jones
Jurassic Park
Lord of the Rings
Simpsons Pinball Party
Stargate
Starship Troopers
Tommy

I would have had Star Wars but that was edged out. Since the rom that fixed all the bugs and scoring imbalances was an official Stern release, if they do put it out that'd be the version we'd get, which is great.

 

[Mark W**a]

No Capcom tables? I could of sworn they were under the Data East/Sega/Stern license.

 

[Mark W**a]

Dr. Who, Lord of the Rings, Simpsons, Indiana Jones will be the top 4. I have a strange feeling WWF is going to do insanely well (and I have to admit I too have some nostalgia for that one).

Man did Wiliams/Bally have the best games but the weirdest licenses. Seems like Data East/Sega was gobbling up all the good ones lol. They are left with Johnny Mneumonic, Shadow, and Demolition Man. 3 great machines based on movie bombs (well minus Demolition Man, I loved the movie and I think it was a hit). Stallone alone makes that one expensive, and I doubt would pass a kickstarter.

I'm still of the mindset that you do these machines and stip the licenses off them.

I'm kinda weird about strange licenses making it into the arcade. It's great for pinball fans who are familiar with how good the machines are. But for everyone else, I'm talking your mainstream audience, it's going to come off a bit weird, and dated. Indiana Jones, or Lord of the Rings, or Simpsons, or even Dr. Who are perfect because everyone knows about these shows. You'll get both pinball fans and a mainstream audience into them. Dr. Who is the only one that would have that audience going "huh" since it has nothing to do with the most recent show.

Dracula is an exception too, because even though it's based on a 90's movie, it's Dracula. Dracula is timeless so most people won't even know it was a movie to begin with.

I'm just thinking out loud. I have not voted yet.

Someone just flat out say which Data East/Sega boards are the best. I'm still researching but I would like to know what the popular consensus is, since I don't know.

 

[jbejarano]

This was harder than I thought it would be. I'm much more into the older SS games rather than the license vehicles, but there were a lot of pretty good choices here. Part of what makes this poll harder is that how much you like the license can influence you just as much as the gameplay. I chose:

Back To The Future - One of my favorite pop-culture items of all time. Gameplay seems so-so, but how can I not vote for this?
Demolition Man - Good franchise, and it's by Williams, my favorite manufacturer
Dirty Harry - Seems like surprisingly good gameplay, and set in San Francisco, one of my favorite cities
Doctor Who - Looks solid, love the music of course
Elvis - Surprise pick for me, like his music but don't love it, but Steve Ritchie design is always a plus, and who can't like a dancing Elvis toy?
Indiana Jones - Yes, the consensus is right on this one
Lord Of The Rings - The consensus is right on this one, too
Simpsons Pinball Party - Another that the consensus has right
Starship Troopers - The target countdowns in the playfield intrigue me
Terminator 3 - Just backed T2 big, and this looks like a nice follow-up

Tough to eliminate, wouldn't mind if any of these were made, too:

GoldenEye - Love the franchise, artwork, and music, almost put this one back in
Independence Day - Good movie, borderline play
Johnny Mnemonic - Looks like a good table, but missed that flick and would miss some of the references
Phantom Of The Opera - Looks good in a Theatre Of Magic kind of way, plus good music, just missing something
Star Wars - Love the franchise, table seems fun, but connection to franchise seems disjointed

Definitely a better collection than I was thinking. Thought they'd be meh, but not bad. Still want my 80's and early 90's not-necessarily-heavily-licensed Williams tables, though.

 

[Kolchak357]

Despite that Data East wanted to capitalize on the Broadway production's success, what's the reason that The Phantom of the Opera is on this list, as it is not based on the eponymous Andrew Lloyd Webber musical (although the game is based on the novel of the same name)?

Interesting question. Does it have licensed music? I'm not too familiar with this. I've only flayed it once at a pin show. Pretty looking table and seemed fun to play based on my one go.

 

[warh0g]

I don't know if I dare post my votes hehe. In the order they appear in the list:
Apollo 13 - I am a sucker for space
Demolition Man - After watching the PAPA live stream for 13 hours straight this machine looked like great fun!
Freddy A nightmare on Elm Street - Well, not sure here really hehe
Hook - Pirates? Yarr!
Indiana Jones - Another of those that I remember from the video rental store when I was young
Johnny Mnemonic - I like the theme
Shadow - Looks nice and punishing
Simpsons Pinball Party - great theme and excellent table IMO
Star Wars - Video rental store again, plus I am a Star Wars geek
WWF Royal Rumble - Yeah I was a wrestling geek when I was young and I still watch it haha Oooooh yeaaaaah

So, there, I realized I missed Doctor Who but I figure that everyone will be voting for it anyways. Will be fun to see how tje votes pan out

 

[dtown8532]

No Capcom tables? I could of sworn they were under the Data East/Sega/Stern license.

I think Gene Cunningham of Illinois Pinball owns the Capcom rights. It was his company that remade Big Bang Bar.

 

[bagheera369]

Gene's a nice guy too. I hope to hell that he would let us do a BigBangBar, if Farsight would ask him about it.

My list
TSPP
Star Wars
Johnny mnemonic
Hook
Dr Who
Indiana Jones
Jurrasic park
LOTR
Phantom of the Opera
Demolition Man


PinWiz, I too would love a vote setup for the second tier premium tables! There are too many good/fun ones that did not make this list.

 

[brakel]

Very true. I miss most of what happens on typical animations. It's actually easier when the ball is paused in a scoop and the DMD updates on progress towards a goal or something than to follow something happening on an in-game event. However I think most of the DE/Sega/Stern are above-average at best with most falling into mediocre territory so I was just throwing a couple compliments where they are due.

I see what you mean. Having grown up with late EM machines and early SS machines I always thought that DMD were added just as a lame attempt to compete directly with video games. Especially the ones that added mini games to the DMD. When they first came out I had trouble just giving those tables a chance because I thought "If I want to play a video game then I'll play a video game!"
But it still makes me shudder when I hear people who say that they aren't interested in any tables that don't have a DMD. I came to accept the DMD machines and found the fun tables that also happened to have DMDs. The converse should be possible as well!

 

[FatCat1276]

Here were my votes--

Demolition Man
Guns 'n Roses
Indiana Jones
Jurassic Park
Lord of the Rings
The Shadow
The Simpsons Pinball Party
Star Wars
Stargate
Starship Troopers

 

[Ark Malmeida]

Here's what I ended up going with:

Doctor Who
Goldeneye
Indiana Jones : The Pinball Adventure
Johnny Mnemonic
The Lord of the Rings
Phantom of the Opera
The Shadow
The Simpsons Pinball Party
Star Wars
The Who's Tommy Pinball Wizard

 

[Kolchak357]

I feel kind of bad that I didn't include Stargate in my 10. I'm a big Gottlieb fan and it is one of their very best DMD pins. But I just couldn't find a way to cram it into my top 10.

 

[ER777]

After going through what all of you have voted I am a bit surprised that more than a few of you have not voted for The Shadow...

I'm surprised to see the Data East Star Wars table left off of so many lists...

I didn't mention these specifically before but I did vote for them both. Star Wars mainly got a vote just because of the theme and The Shadow based on its reputation for being an excellent table.

 

[ragingpoodle]

There's a bunch of great tables there and I want ALL of them, but for pure simple fun and flow you can't beat Demolition Man. I had a lot of great machines but the one machine I always wanted to play every night was Demolition Man, the flow, the sounds, the wide body and fun sci-fi theme, it's just a great sleeper table with pretty simple rules. I want this machine so bad on TPA, so if you can throw it a few votes for me I would appreciate it!

 

[Pinballfan69]

Lord of the Rings and Indiana Jones pinball Adventure is a must. I wouldn't be surprised if they were the top 2 when we are able to view the polls.

That said I'm surprised that Iron Man, Spiderman, Batman and others aren't even mentioned considering I would think that these are premium licensed tables. I don't know what SAM or whitestar is etc and why they are so different. I think they may still be in in the Stern/Sega/Data East polls butt many of the Sega and Data East tables are in this poll. All I know is that they would be easily the ones I vote for other than what I mentioned in my first sentence.


Like I said, Lord of the Rings is a must. My favorite pin probably the top 10 on most of the Pinball lists. Great modes. Mutiball modes galore. Captures the movies theme brilliantly. Had a chance to play it a while back tons but now it's gone from Castles and Coasters here in AZ and can't find one anywhere in Phoenix area.

Indiana Jones- Another must. Love the modes and the voice overs from the movie- Great playfield layout and design depicted all 3 movies. Love it.


Other tables I voted for.
The Shadow - Looks cool and this vid summed up the intricacies if this table with varying strats. http://vimeo.com/26732989
Demolition Man - played a real table pretty good/
Congo - Great Book- Horrible movie and the table looks very cool
Dr who - Saw the history behind making this table and it looks really interesting. Haven't played the real table but I think it's among the top in most wanted
Elvis - Played a real one lately and it's fun and you can't not enjoy the classic tunes
Goldeneye - Just love the look of the table. Why not have a 007 pinball table?
Hook - Pirates!!! We have to have a pirate themed table. Though I will take Pirates of the Caribbean over this in a heartbeat. Always loved the scores by Jon Williams and Hook is one his greatest I think next to Jurassic Park.
Stargate - A skill shot that can start a multi-ball? Yes please. This looks fun.

 

[DarthVonDoom]

You guys could all spare a vote for Freddy. Do it for me. Pleeeaaaassse. I've always been nice to you. If you don't I hope Freddy comes and slash you in your dreams you cheap bastard!

 

[crazyflipperfingers]

You guys could all spare a vote for Freddy. Do it for me. Pleeeaaaassse. I've always been nice to you. If you don't I hope Freddy comes and slash you in your dreams you cheap bastard!

I've got your back. I would love to see Freddy. Now return the favor and put in a vote for WWF please!

 

[Neil]

Decided to only vote for tables I would actually support on KS (would like to support them all, but I'm not a terribly wealthy man)-
Freddy, JP and BttF. Gonna thow the rest of my votes away with write ins for Tales From the Crypt (unless it wouldn't need a KS), World Series of Poker and Bugs Bunny Birthday Ball. In the interest of full disclosure, I own Bugs. It's fun, but not amazing by any stretch, but I do think the lisense would sell.

 

[Groni]

There are just two tables that I really need from Stern!

Lord of the Rings and The Simpsons Pinball Party! Both are so much fun to play. Even if these both would need Xtra Large Kickstarters!

 

[PS Garek]

There's a bunch of great tables there and I want ALL of them, but for pure simple fun and flow you can't beat Demolition Man. I had a lot of great machines but the one machine I always wanted to play every night was Demolition Man, the flow, the sounds, the wide body and fun sci-fi theme, it's just a great sleeper table with pretty simple rules. I want this machine so bad on TPA, so if you can throw it a few votes for me I would appreciate it!

I didn't vote for it, but I was close. Demo Man is a great table, and one that doesn't get as much love as it should. It's the fastest widebody there is. There's one nearby me that I play pretty regularly.