Tables you were completely wrong about.

[David T. Melnick]

Interesting thread, Rich. There are various games I've gone back to which I originally didn't care for but wanted to try them again to try to improve my HoF or high scores ranking. Some of the simpler old games are like that, like Big Shot and Genie. I thought I'd enjoy the old game from my youth, Fireball, but there's not enough to it to hold my interest. Indianapolis 500 is great. I first thought "Not another in the series. That makes three. But that game has it all. Great play. Never played it in the arcades.

___
Yeah..."Indy 500" is awesome eh.

 

[vikingerik]

Getting the plunger shot IRL is so much easier than TPA.

This depends on the platform and control scheme. On a PC with a mouse, doing a click-drag down pulls back the plunger, which you can adjust to pixel perfect precision before you release. I get the skill shots on most games, particularly TZ and Jack*Bot, very nearly 100%.

 

[shutyertrap]

This depends on the platform and control scheme. On a PC with a mouse, doing a click-drag down pulls back the plunger, which you can adjust to pixel perfect precision before you release. I get the skill shots on most games, particularly TZ and Jack*Bot, very nearly 100%.

Kinda takes the fun out of though, no? I get why you do it that way, but I want to get closer to the actual experience, not farther. Same goes for how some have programmed nudging parameters. I want a controller setup like I've seen some build, with plunger, Mercury switches for nudge strength, etc.

 

[CycOd3liC]

Bigges positive surprise for me has been Fish Tales. Played it many times in real life and was always disappointed in it, other than the video mode. But I'm in love with the TPA version of it. Can't really explain it.

That's crazy, i feel the exact opposite! hahahaha

 

[Tabe]

What's 'Mars Attacks'?

LOL. I knew I'd mess that up. Good grief.

 

[DanBradford]

Don't worry, I was just being a dick

 

[HotHamBoy]

Here's one I'm almost embarassed to admit: Funhouse

When I first started playing pinball I really didn't like that table. I like most of the Lawlor's quite a bit, and I knew that was a popular favorite, but the table seemed very frustrating to me.

Turns out I just sucked.

Recently, my skill level has gone up and so has my appreciation for the table. I now count it among my personal favorites, too. The IRL version is perfect. The TPA version is fun but a bit too easy and too generous with the extra balls. But it's an excellent game that lives up to the hype.

[MENTION=134]shutyertrap[/MENTION]

I've learned to adjust when going between TPA and IRL, but it's always a wake-up call. Some tricks do carry over, though, and that has been useful.

As far as pixel-perfect plunging, I'm okay with that. IRL it's never going to be pixel-perfect, but you still have very precise control on a clean-working plunger. I use an iPad as my primary platform because of the precision plunging and the super-responsive touch screen flipping.

 

[satandouche]

Cirqus Voltaire. The theme and neon turned me off IRL back in the day. I had know idea what a great game it was till I played it on TPA. The audio does get annoying though.

 

[Slam23]

Here's one I'm almost embarassed to admit: Funhouse

When I first started playing pinball I really didn't like that table. I like most of the Lawlor's quite a bit, and I knew that was a popular favorite, but the table seemed very frustrating to me.

Turns out I just sucked.

Recently, my skill level has gone up and so has my appreciation for the table. I now count it among my personal favorites, too. The IRL version is perfect. The TPA version is fun but a bit too easy and too generous with the extra balls. But it's an excellent game that lives up to the hype.

[MENTION=134]shutyertrap[/MENTION]

I've learned to adjust when going between TPA and IRL, but it's always a wake-up call. Some tricks do carry over, though, and that has been useful.

As far as pixel-perfect plunging, I'm okay with that. IRL it's never going to be pixel-perfect, but you still have very precise control on a clean-working plunger. I use an iPad as my primary platform because of the precision plunging and the super-responsive touch screen flipping.

This. I found that me being succesful on the table (and that equates to having some control over it and scoring at least decently) is also a big factor in liking it.

 

[WhiteChocolate]

This. I found that me being succesful on the table (and that equates to having some control over it and scoring at least decently) is also a big factor in liking it.

wweeeelll.... wouldn't that be kind of the way it is?!? ;0 being -able- to play a pb table is intrinsic to being able to -enjoy- that table, isn't it?

unlike, say, watching basketball... one doesn't really get enjoyment out of watching basketball by being good -at- basketball themselves; only by one's own ability to -watch- basketball... ;0

("whu'?" "nah man, i think he just insulted us!" "tackle 'im!" bah, SOCK BIFF POW!) aigh, i'm sorry! ;0 bit too much of a deconstructionalist when it comes to our recreational media... ;0 (and if using six-syllable words turns you off, i guess i'm just gonna be really, really irritating to ya anyways - live with it! ;0)

-----------------------

a lil' time to myself tonight... crazy-busy lately; car/things/life transpiring from all angles to keep me from the things i love... like pb!

looking forward to the future of tpa and stern pa - although it looks like i have nearly NIL to look forward to, with the current platforms i have (ps3, iOS6 - both dead-ends)! most advanced is my mac powerbook; running 10.9 - might run 10.10, but resisting that so far; i've legacy software to still try to still keep up with. finding i'm just on the trailing edge of the current - if it were up to me, the tech co's would -only- -MAYBE- qualify for tax-breaks if they made tech that stayed "current" for at least ten years! we're getting far beyond the age of "oh just upgrade" if you're only three-to-four years behind... that's just -not- economically sensible for average consumers. "your car's two years old, and suddenly won't drive anymore? ohhh, too bad... yah gotta buy the NEW car!" BAH!

ahh-k well... off that one soapbox, and onto another... going by my 2010 ipod (said ios6-bound; won't upgrade any further, so i'm stuck prior indy-500, but had the last update with the new GUI+ratings) - ps3 doesn't have the latest greatest yet, and last i checked, osX doesn't have the new GUI, so just rattling off my top twelve 5-stars from my iPod... this is just kinda feeling out "what i can play up about anytime" when i want without putting too much thinking into it. ;0 24 tables total, four-and-five star (i see six display across in widescreen, so going 4x6)... most i love; some i "love to hate" and wish to conquor!

diner
junkyard
medieval madness
monster bash
ripley's
red & ted
next generation
arabian nights
taxi
terminator 2
theatre of magic
twilight zone

"diner" and "taxi" both being late-eighties/early ninties hardballs (taxi was at my university union when i first got there; i remember that one) - really stiff tough plays, when you're not staying on top of them! i bet lawlor likes these tables, just for playing "hardball" on the player.

"junkyard"?? well i just sometimes love bashing the ball around, and that's a great one to do so with... not too hard, but some quick exits if you don't pay attention. (and, yeah, i hate the video mode - i don't like any video mode on any table, but since it's in so many anyways, ya kinda hafta put up with it!) collecting all the junkyard parts really kinda fits in the same vibe as red & ted's city-travelling (though with so many more cities and items to collect, r&t tops it. speaking of which...)

r&t: gd -someday-, -SOMEDAY- i'm gonna get thru that one!! but it's damned insidious; the slightly just-a-bit-more-level table makes the ball "float" just so, but when it's arcing so subtly towards aiming STDM, or out the gutters... DAMN i -just- missed it again!! ;0 soooo frustrating... it -just- rides outside of my limits of being able to nudge-to-keep-in-play, even more insidiously so than addam's family!

next twelve at 4-star:

addams family
attack from mars
black rose
dracula
champion pub
black lagoon
dr. dude
fish tales
funhouse
no good gophers
who dunnit
whirlwind

addams family: as i mentioned above, just a bit easier it seems than r&t to me... but when those magnets kick in, i just lose so much track with this one. lawlor really must be a total b*tch about whiteboard builds!!! and -then-, adds magnets on top of it to just make it even that much more difficult!

champion pub: i agree, its cramped playfield and too-often jump-rope mode (very much like a video-mode!) make it a bit of an unpleasant pain, but i do so much more enjoy this one for the creative theme, and for being a bit of a "better" cactus canyon-style table. someday i'm gonna beat all those punk-nosed pugilists to a pulp! ;0

mixed bag there on: dr. dude's grown on me too (in a "small" and not a "big" way - just a goofy, messy bit of fun); so has "fish tales" (as a co-worker of mine said, "you can be a country boy and still not be a redneck!" ;0) - and, well, a number of lawlors and lawlor-inspired builds to follow... although i find it's easier for me to play ritchie-style tables. dunno why!

then a row or so of three-stars:

class of 1812
elvira
harley davidson
scared stiff
space shuttle
white water

1812: well what can i say? i gotta have a fave gottleib in there, and i just love the "puked-up" table art/design. it's up there with dr. dude, lol!

gotta love on the elviras, and the harley is an underground fave just for being a t2 ripoff. and while whitewater is so many's very fave - i find it almost impossible to play, just because the table art is -sooo- damn white-bright, it's difficult as hell to find a good color ball to play on it!

i haven't bought everything for iOS, so the rest tend to be rated one-two stars just to get them out of the way... "not unworthy" tables; just ones i don't ever hardly care to play at all.

heh... sorry if that then isn't really quite the thread theme... just my best interpretation at the moment! what, i ain't one of those fugs coming in and acting so down, they're like, "don't even bother playing pinball..." ;0 lol! PLAY IT! PLAY IT, DAAMMM IIITTT!!

 

[yespage]

Here's one I'm almost embarassed to admit: Funhouse

When I first started playing pinball I really didn't like that table. I like most of the Lawlor's quite a bit, and I knew that was a popular favorite, but the table seemed very frustrating to me.

Turns out I just sucked.

Recently, my skill level has gone up and so has my appreciation for the table. I now count it among my personal favorites, too. The IRL version is perfect. The TPA version is fun but a bit too easy and too generous with the extra balls. But it's an excellent game that lives up to the hype.

[MENTION=134]shutyertrap[/MENTION]

I've learned to adjust when going between TPA and IRL, but it's always a wake-up call. Some tricks do carry over, though, and that has been useful.

As far as pixel-perfect plunging, I'm okay with that. IRL it's never going to be pixel-perfect, but you still have very precise control on a clean-working plunger. I use an iPad as my primary platform because of the precision plunging and the super-responsive touch screen flipping.

Similar experience. I recently have been aiming at getting goals on the tables I haven't played as much. This led to me becoming more understanding of Funhouse... and better. And the better you get, you experience a bit more of what the table has to offer.

 

[HotHamBoy]

[MENTION=4374]WhiteChocolate[/MENTION]

Not necessarily. A table that lacks depth and flow is even more apparently flawed to a player of higher skill.

Here's a new one!

Tee'd Off: This is a case of TPA making a poor representation of a game I'd never seen IRL until yesterday. I finally got to play it for real and it's actually pretty fun, one of the better Gottlieb Premiere games. I still say the sound package and art are awful, just garbage, but the game has an interesting layout and some fun ideas.

 

[EccentricFlower]

wweeeelll.... wouldn't that be kind of the way it is?!? ;0 being -able- to play a pb table is intrinsic to being able to -enjoy- that table, isn't it?

Not sure I agree. From the opposite end of the skill spectrum (that is, I suck, unlike all these uberpros cluttering up the forums ), some tables are just more FUN to thump around with than others even if I'm equally bad at all of them. It's not always a question of whether a table is easy/punishing either. I persevere on a couple of ones I have trouble with, and there are some easy ones I don't care for. My first few games of Xenon were so bad that I rageposted here about it somewhere, but I kept at it because I enjoyed the table (and eventually got fairly good, though I'm still short one wizard goal). In contrast, my first games of Phantom of the Opera were equally bad, but I rarely ever play it unless I'm playing tables in "shuffle mode." The only thing I really like about the table is the nice clear sounds.

I admit it's a mystery to me, and I wonder a lot what makes some tables appealing to some people and not others. There are a lot of people who like ST:TNG around here. It's never connected with me. Funhouse has been one of my favorites for years now - it's what got me to buy the Williams Collection Farsight put out way back in the day, before TPA existed - so it amuses me to find it listed here as a game others had to learn to love.

Why is the original El Dorado fun and the remade El Dorado, with the same layout, very much not fun? Why do I like playing Central Park even though I admit that the difference between a good game and bad one is often a matter of sheer chance and I'm never going to get that last wizard goal on it anyway? Dunno.

 

[HotHamBoy]

Not sure how you couldn't love STTNG. Game is a masterpiece. Ever played one IRL?

 

[shutyertrap]

Not sure how you couldn't love STTNG. Game is a masterpiece. Ever played one IRL?

I think [MENTION=5393]EccentricFlower[/MENTION] explained it quite well. It just doesn't connect with them. Honestly, it's one of my least played too. And yes, I have played the real thing. I'm a freak for all things Lawlor, but TZ does nothing for me. I don't actively dislike it, I just don't get excited by it. The point being, who knows what gets our juices flowing or why?

 

[HotHamBoy]

Sure, personal taste and all. I just happen to think it's one of Ritchie's finer moments and a fantastic implementation of a license.

 

[WhiteChocolate]

hey hothamboy, sure right - i getcha! can almost feel out that same range of movies someone likes, compared to others... "the lower limit" lol.

but i was dwelling on the end of, "the better you are, the more enjoyable certain tables are" - believe me, i know that feeling! and reading back, i think maybe slam23 was in on the joke himself, so - i didn't mean to slam slam! ;0 didn't mean any ill-will just pointing that out... it's the same with any game, huh?

i am a pretty punchy player when i get on red & ted, and that table (and others) sure take a very, -very- calm approach to playing! (it sure just seems so much more fun to play that way though, just to get the adrenaline up!)

reading back over my own list, it certainly is a bit of "play" back and forth, figuring out what i "top-rate" - it does obviously easily tie into -my- ability (or sometimes just-on-the-cusp-of) to play these tables, and not be any sort of critical-sense ranking! personal ratings certainly isn't an empirical system.

dood man, "funhouse" was -the- pb that is maybe most central to my modern appreciation of the art... it's not the most complex by far in the long run, but for one of its era... well, i dunno; i don't mean to go on about it. i guess i just get too much outta tormenting that evil little guy on the table! ;0 i started into tpa just because they had that table already at the time... i don't often play it anymore, but it sure is one of the essentials!

and eccentricflower - i may be a bit of a "theme-dork" with some tables, lol so if you maybe have no affection towards st or the tng series, it may not click - is that so? (i remember you're not a fan of the table, but never expressed anything other than its difficulty as for why... that one is most decidely a "ritchie" tab, and a slightly easier one at that - and i seem to have a thing with ritchie-rhythm tabs anyways, so, it's an "easy" one for me to like. (not always necessarily to play though!) both el-do's are on my "one-star" list too, but although i also have central park and big shot downrated, i do just so love pulling them up once in awhile to play and listen to - i'm just old enough to remember those kinds of machines around when i was a little kid!

it really can take some time to really figure out your faves, whether it's your music collection, your movies, or your games. not an easy task! one goes through the whole "it's like trying to choose my favorite child" blah blah blah... but when you have 4000+ songs in just one playlist, lol, you start thinkin' about which "kids" you can do without!

 

[Zaphod77]

There are tables you need considerable skill to enjoy. Bram Stokers' Dracula is tops of that list. It chews up noobs and spits them out.

But there are a lot fewer of them then you would think.

And getting better can be fun too.

But there are also tables you enjoy less when you get good. This happens a lot on TPA.

 

[Kolchak357]

There are tables you need considerable skill to enjoy. Bram Stokers' Dracula is tops of that list. It chews up noobs and spits them out.

But there are a lot fewer of them then you would think.

And getting better can be fun too.

But there are also tables you enjoy less when you get good. This happens a lot on TPA.

Good point. To me these would be the best tables to own. They would keep you interest a lot longer.

 

[yespage]

There are tables you need considerable skill to enjoy. Bram Stokers' Dracula is tops of that list. It chews up noobs and spits them out.

But there are a lot fewer of them then you would think.

And getting better can be fun too.

But there are also tables you enjoy less when you get good. This happens a lot on TPA.

Well N00bs excluding their first game. My first game with BSD, I got 850 million. I think I have broke 100 million once since.