Season 7 Reflection and Rankings

[Gorgias32]

Well, Season 7 is in the books, the final annual season of TPA. I think there is general consensus that this was a really good season, especially compared to the last few.

I thought I'd start a thread with my personal rankings and comments on the tables; I always like hearing other peoples' opinions on things like this, sometimes it makes me re-examine a table that I had previously not liked as much.

1. Paragon - instantly in my top overall tables. It has the same "one more game" factor as Eight Ball Deluxe, which is my favorite TPA table, and an even higher level of challenge. I have not gotten any wizard goals yet, but I still keep coming back. Just a perfect layout, a good TPA conversion, and it rewards good nudging and knowledge of the bounces.
2. Sorcerer - great rules, beautiful on Android, feels fair but hard, also has "one more game" feeling.
3. Banzai Run - a very good implementation. Hard but fair, and there is a decent amount of depth, trying to beat the other racers and activate the different goals.
4. World Champion Soccer - great to get another 90s classic, this table would fit in really well with the best of Season 1. Great rules, modes and layout, and the FarSight adaption is good. My only criticism is, like a lot of the Season 1 tables, it's tuned too easy, leading to really long ball times on occasion.
5. Wild Card - exactly what I look for in an EM. Fun layout, quick play, and it feels really good to nail the spinner.
6. Fathom - I struggle a bit with this one - I love the layout, and the physics are fine, but for some reason it just doesn't "feel" as good as the tables above. Still, it's from my favorite era of tables and it's enjoyable to play.
7. Firepower II - great implementation of a fun table. But we already have Firepower and F14. Still, I will play it from time to time, it's a really fun table.
8. Ghostbusters - I only drop it this low because my phone (a Pixel XL, which is pretty good specs) struggles a bit with it. And it's tuned too easy, very long ball times and lots of extra balls, etc. I have this on my iPad in SPA and I enjoy that version more, even though it's also tuned too easy; the shots just feel a bit better.
9. Pistol Poker - not bad, but the physics feel a bit off, some standard shots feel (to me) to be harder to make than they should be. Also, I still can't quite get the feel of what is going on in the upper playfield, there's so much stuff up there. Maybe I need to see one in real life or study some photos online. I do like the deck-building backbox game and it is fun to play. I put it on the same level as Cactus Jack's.
10. Spanish Eyes - Great physics, and fun to flip around on, it's just that the table design itself is kind of frustrating. I'm glad to have it in TPA though.
11. Wipe Out - it says something about this season that my last-place table is one of the better Gottliebs in TPA. This is pretty close to being as fun as Gladiators, which is probably my favorite Gottlieb Premier.

Overall, having done this exercise, it is a really great season, I have no regrets for the season pass and there are no tables in there that are stinkers.

 

[wolfson]

1. Fathom 2.World Soccer 3.Wildcard 4.Paragon 5.Sorcerer 6.Ghostbusters 7.Banzai Run 8.Pistol Poker 9.Spanish Eyes 10.Firepower 2 11.Wipeout

 

[Striker]

1. World Soccer, of course. One of my all-time favorites.
2. Sorcerer - Hard table but a lot of fun. Easy to follow the rules. One day I'll get that extra ball!
3. Fathom - Gorgeous artwork and I'm surprisingly good at this one. My only criticism is that I can never get the ball back to the left flipper in time to hit the extra ball shot. And then that "extra ball music" plays until your ball drains.
4. Ghostbusters - Fun table, lots of stuff to do. Appeals to the Ghostbuster fan in me.
5. Banzai Run - I have plateaued on this one at 2M. Very fun table, but not sure if the ball speed on the lower half is supposed to be that fast.
6. Paragon - I hate it, yet I cannot stop playing it. Paragon laughs at me. Paragon taunts me. Paragon haunts me in my nightmares. But I keep coming back to it.
7. Wild Card - fun EM, easy to follow.
8. Pistol Poker - I agree with [MENTION=5914]Gorgias32[/MENTION] comments. Everything feels off. But still has its moments.
9. Firepower II - Nothing wrong with it, but I prefer the original Firepower.
10. Wipeout - nothing necessarily wrong with it, I just hardly ever play it.
11. Spanish Eyes - just eeeeee-vil

 

[Citizen]

1. Sorcerer
2. Fathom
3. Paragon
4. Banzai Run
5. World Cup/Champion Soccer
6. Wild Card
7. Pistol Poker
8. Spanish Eyes
9. Wipe Out
10. Ghostbusters
11. Firepower II

 

[Nightwing]

1. Banzai Run
2. Fathom
3. Paragon
4. Sorcerer
5. World Cup/Champion Soccer
6. Wild Card
7. Spanish Eyes
8. Pistol Poker
9. Wipe Out
10. Firepower II
11. Ghostbusters

Of course Banzai Run would be number one on my list. 2-5 are almost even. The EMs were okay.
Ghostbusters would be fairly higher if it wasn’t already on SPA.

 

[karl]

Fantastic season

01. Fathom
02. Paragon
03. Banzai Run
04. World cup Soccer
05. Ghosbusters
06. Sorcerer
07. Wild Card/Spanish Eyes
08. Firepower 2
09. Pistol Poker
10. Wipeout

 

[Blkthorne]

Really enjoyed this season

1. Sorcerer
2. Fathom
3. Paragon
4. World Champion Soccer
5. Banzai Run
6. Firepower II
7. Wild Card/Spanish Eyes
8. Wipe Out
9. Pistol Poker
10. Ghostbusters-worked great when it was released but when the Pistol Poker patch came it has been a stuttering mess, funny enough it works fine in SPA.

 

[Rage]

Both EM's were fun and have higher replay value than most EM's. Fathom is one of the best pins ever. I hate Paragon, people wanted this? Firepower 2 was weaker than expected, could have lived without it. Ghostbusters, too advanced or something. Rules seem screwy.

 

[Silverball67]

My Top-5 of this season:

1. Fathom
2. Sorcerer
3. Ghostbusters (played this on SPA)
4. World Championship Soccer
5. Paragon

 

[Kolchak357]

My thoughts on Season 7

1. Fathom - No surprise here. One of those rare pins that nails the rules, art, and play that I love. And FS did a very nice job recreating it. My fave of a very good season.
2. Sorcerer - A classic of addictive proportions. Easy to understand rules, and a fun interesting layout. An A+ art package draws you in. The game play keep you coming back. The lighting is especially nice even on the iOS version (well done FS).
3. Wild Card - A solid simple EM design. But like Big Shot, I keep coming back to this one. FarSight does some great work on EM pins. Wish they woul have done more EMs.
4. World Cup Soccer.- The mandated art changes turned out not to bug me. An exciting and fun pin to play. Goal!!!!!
5. Ghostbusters - Probably deserves a higher ranking. But It took so long for FS to get this in a playable state on iOS that it drained some of the fun out of this one for me. Slimer still jumps around like he’s on amphetamines.
6. Paragon - Another beautiful pin with smart simple rules. But it plays a bit too fast. Doesn’t feel like the real life widebody it is. A bit of a disappointment for me. Should be better than it is on iOS.
7. Banzai Run - Not one of my favorites in real life, but FS did a good job on it. They captured the clunky, heavy ball feel (in the back box) of the real thing very well. Not a terrible pin, but the gameplay feels repetitive to me. Doesn’t make me want to keep playing.
8. Firepower II - Why? Why was this created in the first place? The original Firepower is great and this does not improve on it. Why did FS select this one to digitize? Looks and plays well, but I just don’t want to play it.
9. Spanish Eyes - FS did a great job recreating this one. Looks and feels like it should. But there’s a reason this unique layout didn’t catch on. Ok to play on a rare occasion until it reminds you that the layout just isn’t that fun to play repeatedly.
10. Wipe Out - The gameplay has that lather rinse repeat feel to it. In an arcade I would never put a quarter in it. Has some fun toys, but it just isn’t enough.
11. Pistol Poker - Played this in real life and really liked it. But this one is an FS fail for me. I don’t find the look or play does a good job of capturing the real thing. Some of the shots feel off and playfield looks sort of flat. A big disappointment for me.