Table Pack #31/Halloween/Start of Season 4 Speculation Thread

[Kolchak357]

I think the 1981 "MEDUSA" pinball table by (Bally) would make a nice opening for Season 4.
Nice Halloween themed.

How about (Gottlieb's) 1982 "DEVILS DARE" pinball table for Halloween?

I'm with you. Both are a lot of fun. Do you think they are popular enough though? They don't seem to get much buzz.

 

[Dedpop]

I won't bet on those two.
Even if they look interesting to play.

 

[DokkenRokken]

Most EM games that I like have a series of targets to be completed. Or multiple shots to light a spinner shot. But there are many many EMs that I find extremely boring. Phantom seems to be just keep shooting the one target for it to open, then shooting it again. I'm not trying to be a turd in the punch bowl here. I was honestly asking about the shots and attraction to the gameplay. As I said, I don't have much experience with it and want to understand the popularity.

I wasn't trying to be a dick, I just thought it was funny that you mentioned "boring" and "not much going on with the gameplay", because that's exactly how I feel about 99.9% of EMs. I don't need to play them to see if I'll enjoy it or not.

For me, and this is hardly ever the case, it's the music and art that attract me to "Phantom of the Opera". I add that up, and everything else is just a bonus. (Plus it doesn't help that I LOVE Halloween) Again, I'm burned out on all the DMD/silly toys/goofy themed tables. (In my case, Pat Lawlor tables) I'm going to assume, and most likely correctly, that we'll be seeing "Red & Ted's Roadshow" and "Earthshaker" this season. (Obviously as well as TAF)

For me, we have enough of those tables for now, but I understand that most everyone seems to love his stuff and they're always heavily requested. Like I've said before, all "Earthshaker" looks like is a carbon copy of "Whirlwind", and "Red & Ted's Roadshow" just looks like another goofy toy table. I guess I'll have to play them to understand, but I don't care for "Whirlwhind", "Twilight Zone", "Ripley's Believe It Or Not" and I especially hate "Funhouse", so I highly doubt I'll feel any different about those two tables. I'm hoping TAF is as good as everyone says it is, because besides "No Good Gophers", I'm not a Lawlor fan at all.

I'd rather have more simple tables, like "Xenon", "Phantom of the Opera", "F-14 Tomcat", etc etc. I've always enjoyed those kinds of tables like the most, and it's what I grew up on. However, again, I understand why we've been getting bombarded with DMD/Toy themed tables lately. They're heavily requested, very popular, and esp non licensed. The only exception this season that won't burn me out is BSD, and that's because it's one of the best tables of all time.

 

[lettuce]

Unless the skeletons from BB are involved LOL!

Seriously, barring any new info on DX11 or anything else PC related, that's all I'm interested in for the newsletters anymore. For the sake of Playstation and Xbox users, I hope they get something other than "we've submitted....." or my new favorite, the "pre-submission" line.

Hmmm, didnt they say they submitted the game for XB1 like 6 weeks ago now, i was under the impression that this new ID@Xbox program MS are running speeds up the submission time massively like down to a week or so

Lets be realistic here though, its more than likely going to be Bone Busters that will me the 2nd Halloween table

 

[rehtroboi40]

Hmmm, didnt they say they submitted the game for XB1 like 6 weeks ago now, i was under the impression that this new ID@Xbox program MS are running speeds up the submission time massively like down to a week or so

Lets be realistic here though, its more than likely going to be Bone Busters that will me the 2nd Halloween table

I was just needling pm because he's not a Gottlieb fan. What a kick to the pants that would be if BB was the first table for season 4.

It's obvious that neither Sony nor Microsoft are willing to help FarSight. Microsoft even had the gumption to stiff-arm FarSight into a one-month lead on DLC, after their previous (and continuing) two-year-long gumption to keep DLC off of the 360. That's why I will again never support TPA on either Sony's or M$'s consoles.

 

[DokkenRokken]

Lets be realistic here though, its more than likely going to be Bone Busters that will me the 2nd Halloween table

I'll bet ya $100.00 that it's not.

 

[WhiteChocolate]

after the buzz going on about POTO, i watched some vids of it too - then of bsd also, when the buzz for that came along too - i'd never seen or played either of them RL, but both looked "comparable" most ways. i wouldn't have been disappointed with either this hweeny season!

 

[superballs]

At the same time, I can see where the complainers come from.

How? Is there a stain?

 

[superballs]

I wasn't trying to be a dick, I just thought it was funny that you mentioned "boring" and "not much going on with the gameplay", because that's exactly how I feel about 99.9% of EMs. I don't need to play them to see if I'll enjoy it or not.

For me, and this is hardly ever the case, it's the music and art that attract me to "Phantom of the Opera". I add that up, and everything else is just a bonus. (Plus it doesn't help that I LOVE Halloween) Again, I'm burned out on all the DMD/silly toys/goofy themed tables. (In my case, Pat Lawlor tables) I'm going to assume, and most likely correctly, that we'll be seeing "Red & Ted's Roadshow" and "Earthshaker" this season. (Obviously as well as TAF)

For me, we have enough of those tables for now, but I understand that most everyone seems to love his stuff and they're always heavily requested. Like I've said before, all "Earthshaker" looks like is a carbon copy of "Whirlwind", and "Red & Ted's Roadshow" just looks like another goofy toy table. I guess I'll have to play them to understand, but I don't care for "Whirlwhind", "Twilight Zone", "Ripley's Believe It Or Not" and I especially hate "Funhouse", so I highly doubt I'll feel any different about those two tables. I'm hoping TAF is as good as everyone says it is, because besides "No Good Gophers", I'm not a Lawlor fan at all.

I'd rather have more simple tables, like "Xenon", "Phantom of the Opera", "F-14 Tomcat", etc etc. I've always enjoyed those kinds of tables like the most, and it's what I grew up on. However, again, I understand why we've been getting bombarded with DMD/Toy themed tables lately. They're heavily requested, very popular, and esp non licensed. The only exception this season that won't burn me out is BSD, and that's because it's one of the best tables of all time.

Honestly. The Addams Family is a decent table at best. I mean it's worth having it the collection, but I'd take the Getaway over it any day of the week.

 

[DokkenRokken]

Honestly. The Addams Family is a decent table at best. I mean it's worth having it the collection, but I'd take the Getaway over it any day of the week.

I've never played it, but it doesn't look like it's as good as all the hype.

It certainly doesn't look better than something like "Dr. Who", which is one of the best tables we'll never see. It also doesn't look better than "The Simpsons Pinball Party".

 

[superballs]

I've never played it, but it doesn't look like it's as good as all the hype.

It certainly doesn't look better than something like "Dr. Who", which is one of the best tables we'll never see. It also doesn't look better than "The Simpsons Pinball Party".

Don't get me wrong man, it's a GOOD table. Just all the hype surrounding it is going to lead to a lot of disappointment if expectations aren't well managed.

It's a good theme and it's well used. The table isn't bad by any means but it is kind of shallow by dmd standards. There's more to it than T2 but it gets it's behind simply handed to it by tables like afm.

 

[DokkenRokken]

Don't get me wrong man, it's a GOOD table. Just all the hype surrounding it is going to lead to a lot of disappointment if expectations aren't well managed.

It's a good theme and it's well used. The table isn't bad by any means but it is kind of shallow by dmd standards. There's more to it than T2 but it gets it's behind simply handed to it by tables like afm.

Personally, I couldn't care less about it. I mean, I'm glad we're getting it so most everyone will be happy, but I'm honestly more excited for POTO. lol

 

[ER777]

Honestly. The Addams Family is a decent table at best. I mean it's worth having it the collection, but I'd take the Getaway over it any day of the week.

This is somewhat true, or at least I'd say its not quite as good as its ratings suggest. In terms of gameplay.. ramp, scoop, ramp, scoop over and over until you cash in the mansion tour.. then do that again. I think the big attraction is the theme integration, especially the showtime intro to multiball and the double clap of the flippers with the theme song. Its got a good playfield layout and decent rules but its really the theme and audio that makes it popular more than the gameplay.

 

[DokkenRokken]

I wasn't impressed the first time I played "High Speed", and that table was hyped up around here for YEARS, so I'm not expecting much with the sequel.

Don't get me wrong, "High Speed" is a decent table, but for all the hype?!? I was more impressed with "Junk Yard".

 

[ER777]

Getaway is really good in real life but I wonder how well its going to translate to TPA. The rules aren't very deep so it may get repetitive. I mean I went through 4 passes of redline mania on the real thing a few days ago, so I wonder how long a good game is going to last in TPA. They're going to need to make it play super fast like Fish Tales or probably faster to keep the ball times down.

 

[DokkenRokken]

I'm ready:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hv4Wc9Z5NhA

 

[Kolchak357]

This is somewhat true, or at least I'd say its not quite as good as its ratings suggest. In terms of gameplay.. ramp, scoop, ramp, scoop over and over until you cash in the mansion tour.. then do that again. I think the big attraction is the theme integration, especially the showtime intro to multiball and the double clap of the flippers with the theme song. Its got a good playfield layout and decent rules but its really the theme and audio that makes it popular more than the gameplay.

You can also play out the modes, which are fun. And don't forget multiball with "the power" throwing the balls around. It's a blast. But if you are going for score only, like in tournement play. Yes, it is played exactly like you said, but that does take a lot of the fun out of Addams Family.

 

[soundwave106]

How? Is there a stain?

Hmm, the context at that quote was Season 2. There really is a lot of fairly weak tables in Season 2, largely the Gottlieb Hall of Fame stuff they were releasing as add-ons. I don't mind them, but the stereotypical best selling tables are DMD Bally / Williams.

I've never played it, but it doesn't look like it's as good as all the hype.

Everyone has a different opinion. The BSD game you like was *hated* by many on rec.games.pinball as someone pointed out. But I imagine a lot of the appeal for you is the theme and integration. (I remember playing BSD but not enough to have an opinion of it, so I'm interested in how I'll like the TPA version.)

TAF is relatively simple in the gameplay department (complete the modes, tour mansion, repeat.), but I feel it's this game where Williams/Bally got their act together as far as the potential of the then-new DMD technology goes. The themes and toys are integrated very well, it's overall rather fun. Which is why it was top dog in the IPDB polls for so long.

Since you don't get along with Lawler mode oriented games, in my opinion, you won't like it. It will have nostalgia though for those playing pins in the early 1990s as it was one of the best of that time (as High Speed was for 1986 and as certain EMs and SSs are of that time). I think the middle 90s pins like ST:TNG and Attack From Mars extended the potential of that style and ended up being "better", but we don't have too many of those left that enough people are going to pine for and make Kickstarter worthy (other than never-happens like Indiana Jones).

As an example of opinions, I feel TAF was a fair bit better than Doctor Who. TAF's ruleset was simple, but clear, you got it in the first play pretty much. Doctor Who's ruleset is a confusing mishmash, a trap some other later DMD systems fall into, you can't get a flow going. Also the multiball system in Doctor Who reminded me too much of Pinbot. Doctor Who had *great* sound, and I wouldn't mind it, but if I personally had to choose...

The one potential flaw is if its tuned too easy. That's the TZ problem: it's also a go-for-modes / repeat type machine. It's too easy to do this pattern in the TPA TZ so it's a lot more boring. IRL I've only managed to do a double Tour the Mansion, if TPA is tuned so that I can do zillions of tours then yeah I will not be quite as impressed. Lately the tuning of the machines has been pretty good though.

 

[W1LDD ONE]

Twitch TV gameplay is this Thursday afternoon correct?

 

[EldarOfSuburbia]

Twitch TV gameplay is this Thursday afternoon correct?

Wednesday @ 3pm PST. Slight deviation from the norm, but whatever.