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Message: <blockquote data-quote="CC13" data-source="post: 107006" data-attributes="member: 1151">Ooh, I love these sorts of topics!  Here are a few table packs I think would make for great additions to TPA:- Gamer's Delight (Defender & Street Fighter II): Video game and pinball have a tumultuous history, but with most solid-state manufacturers having some form of video game pedigree, crossovers between the two were almost inevitable.  Though the practice is often controversial, Defender & Street Fighter II represent two of the better of this lot.  Defender is more or less a straight pinball implementation of the rules of the eponymous 1980 arcade hit, while Street Fighter II has only been denied the respect it deserves for being a Gottlieb from 1993, as it has some well-implemented modes, a fantastic selection of shots and one of the most underrated wizard modes of all time in the form of the Champion Challenge, which tasks you with defeating all 12 fighters on one ball.  We would have to do something about that piss-poor excuse for a translite, though...- Hip To Be Square (Breakshot & Whoa Nellie! Big Juicy Melons): Pinheads are often made to feel as though they live in the past, with video games marching onwards to heights of sophistication far beyond imagining during the rise of solid-state pinball in the mid-'70s, but these two machines take that feeling to a whole new level.  Both take inspiration from the EM era of pinball, with Breakshot souping up a '70s EM design with '90s speed & tech, while Whoa Nellie! is an actual EM designed by Whiz Bang Pinball and should be getting a run next year, courtesy of Stern.  This also serves as something of an "underappreciated designers" pack, as Breakshot was designed by Greg Kmiec, while Whoa Nellie! is the work of Dennis Nordman.  Overall, this would make for a fun, simple pack, as well as the perfect antidote to that 3-hour game of Scared Stiff you just completed.- Turning The Page (Checkpoint & Operation: Thunder): This pack shows pinball right at the dawn of the DMD era.  It shows a contrast of styles between Data East Pinball, whose willingness to adapt to new technology (as represented by Checkpoint, the first DMD pin) has let them survive to the modern day as Stern Pinball, and Premier Technology, whose insistence on sticking to what they knew (as demonstrated by the fact that Operation: Thunder, the last A/N by a major manufacturer, came out about a year after Checkpoint) would lead to their final downfall a few years later (although losing John Trudeau to Williams and having such short development cycles on their tables didn't help the cause, either).  This may not be the strongest deck gameplay-wise, as Checkpoint's simplistic ruleset and Operation: Thunder's somewhat rigid mission structure may prove a turnoff for some, but it still serves as a good reflection of the early DMD era.- Who Says Crime Doesn't Pay? (High Speed & Safe Cracker): If you want to see the contrasts in two pinball designers' styles, give them similar broad themes to work with.  The pairing of High Speed & Safe Cracker does this perfectly, with Steve Ritchie's flow-based style working perfectly with the theme of a blazing fast car chase, while Pat Lawlor's more stop-and-go philosophy fits the careful motions of a well-orchestrated heist like a glove.  Both tables also brought major innovations to pinball; High Speed is usually considered the first pin to have any real narrative, while Safe Cracker's combination of timed gameplay and a backglass-mounted board game makes for a very different pinball experience.  This would be a great pack, but I'm not sure that FS could swing the price of a Safe Cracker in decent condition...</blockquote>

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