Did you end up picking anything up? It sounds like you're looking for a combination of original theme and gameplay (Even though you're crazy to dismiss High Speed for theme or Paragon for being a widebody). I agree BOP's billion point shot makes it a crappy game, I'm not even too mad that it's a single-shot game. Centaur is probably the best combination of original "non-boring" theme, amazing art, and gameplay out of the ones you've listed. Pin-Bot is pretty cool but I always think it's hard to recommend since Jack-Bot is an entirely better game IMO.

Well, I had to pass on a Xenon unfortunately but i found the perfect machine for my dad... A Bally/Midway "Special Force"! My dad is a Marine and did a tour in Vietnam... Since I was primarily getting a pin for him, after seeing this, I was like YEAHHHHHH!!! It's actually a really fun game and has some great features... I'm doing a lot of work to it, and the parts should be here in a week or so... Here's a link to a vid:

http://youtu.be/kWaOmfbu_xQ?list=PLg35dZwhHDh2hNO89709wGC-lsicjF-FS

I think he'll really get a lot of enjoyment out of it.... We'll have hours of fun playing it and I'm sure he'll play while im playing DK or Pac!

this year my goal is to sell my Starship Troopers and pick up a Last Action Hero, Tales from the Crypt or... one I really want, RBION! I want an RBION so bad.

TALES FROM THE CRYPT! I was just thinking about that one while coming up with my lit in the other thread... My only concern is the laughing getting really obnoxious... But I do love TFTC!

RBION was one I was considering as well for my list as I use to go to the RBION in the Wisconsin Dells growing up almost every summer with my parents; so that was another one I thought I remembered being a good game and I also thought would be good for nostalgic reasons... Pretty sure my dad would enjoy it too...

if you think BOP is going to be boring and repetative, welcome to the pins pre dmd. everything on your list is going to be boring and repetative.

And BOP I listed as one of my picks actually but just commented that it really has 1 main shot concept that could get old but the overall design and sounds are great so it's easy to over look...

i didnteven know about the 1,000,000,000 oint shot youre referring to that i guess probably completes the game... sounds interesting...

I think you have some VERY unrealistic expectations about sound in early 80s pins.

if you think BOP is going to be boring and repetative, welcome to the pins pre dmd. everything on your list is going to be boring and repetative.

so.. to you

paragon is boring, space shuttle is boring, high speed is boring? holy shit dude.

good luck in your search, because what you want does not exist. 

I've already named machines I like, so they do exist... But yes, I think most aren't really spectacular...

[Fathom]

for me I'd be looking at

fathom, centaur, high speed, sorceror, space shuttle, paragon, etc

Centaur looked ok, Ill check it out again... High Speed I'll look a again too but I was kind of Meh on both of those... The others I need o check out...

Right now Im really digging Elektra... but I dont know about that bg electrical noise constantly...

Fathom looks like a great game, may add that to my list...

Centaur looks like a good alternative/back up to my current list...

High Speed is ok... but even though Im a speed ticket king and have a fun car and love driving... its a boring theme when so many cool creative games are available...

Sorceror - AGAIN, sounds like Im playing Defender + every shooter combined... Dont get it... But it LOOKS beautiful...

Space Shuttle - its ok... same sounds in every machine... kinda boring art and playfied..

Paragon - Beautiful machine... but even my dad will think its slow and boring...

I was also looking at F-14 Tomcat... Not sure if I'd really want to OWN one but it seems like a fun game... I know of one I can get too, but I like the others in my list more...

for me I'd be looking at

fathom, centaur, high speed, sorceror, space shuttle, paragon, etc

Centaur looked ok, Ill check it out again... High Speed I'll look a again too but I was kind of Meh on both of those... The others I need o check out...

Right now Im really digging Elektra... but I dont know about that bg electrical noise constantly...

xenon sound drives me insane.

I could see that... The constant moaning is a little obnoxious... And I also end uo having a lot of explaining to do to my gf's 12 yr old daughter.... LOL! But thats life...

for me, bride of pinbot would be out because of the shitty scoring (the billion point shot) just makes it no-fun.

xenon sound drives me insane.

tx sector is fun.

for me I'd be looking at

fathom, centaur, high speed, sorceror, space shuttle, paragon, etc

gorgar + firepower are fantastic pins. great playing. gorgar's sound is phenomenal. its a product of its era. gorgar was ground breaking. it was 1979!

it sounds like your expecting far more than these machines ever had.

Great! thanks for adding some for me to look at... In all fairness youre probably right, Im probably expecting better in certain instances... but I feel like some things are obvious flaws and bad decision making... Gorgar is beautiful and I get the date it was released, but now I dont know if I would want one as my primary machine... I plan on only having 1 Pin for a few years...

Ok I think Im gonna add Elektra to my list...

sounds like youd be fine with any 80s made solid state machine. just depends on how much you want to spend and what kind of condition machine you are looking for.

No but see thats my point... I WOULDN'T because after doing all my research and playing, a lot of the machines aren't really good or have sci-fi sound design in a fantasy cabinet, like Black Knight or Gorgar for example... Even Firepower is like that cuz it just sounds like Defender... The sound in the Williams games ruins a lot of their designs IMO because of this...

There's a reason my list has only 4 Pins...

Embryon has an annoying repetitive looping hum sound or I would probably like it...

Anyway... I'm still looking...

Sup Peeps? I'm looking for a fun and affordable Pin for myself and my Dad.. Here is my current list of interest... Let me know what you think (I am not at all interested in The Addams Family or other cheesy film related themed machines, regardless of how good you may feel the game is or its popularity within the Pin community):

1. Gottlieb TX-Sector (family friend of mine had one growing up, i enjoyed it, my Dad enjoyed it, sounds are fabulous, visuals and audio match theme, watched some YouTube reviews lately to refresh my memory and it seems like a great machine compared to a lot of Williams or Bally machines that re-use game sounds in Pins that dont even have similar themes (Black Knight, Gorgar) OR use NEW sounds in Pins where they should have reused game sounds (Pac-Man)... IMO I shouldnt be experiencing Defender or Robotron while playing Black Knight or Firepower...)

http://youtu.be/Nic1q-IgHR0


2. Pinbot (seems like a great game, never played, love design, theme and audio, audio seems not to suffer from Defender overload)

http://youtu.be/L_In6OalrTc


3. Bride of Pinbot (sideart is awesome, sounds are good, kind of reminds me of the villain in Species; which obviously reminds me of Geiger; which is never a bad thing... i could see the objectives getting repetitive but, that also makes it enjoyable in a way)

http://youtu.be/Z_sgIkMkgyQ


4. Xenon (looks and sounds pretty awesome, maybe a little lacking?)

http://youtu.be/bkH8QFjVqnk


5. Elektra (love the art, 3 levels is cool, ambient sound is about the same annoyance level as Embryon but I feel like the playfield and game design is way better - Embryon seems a little bare for a wide body)

http://youtu.be/7eWuAteETzQ


Thats all I can think of right now... I'll let you guys know if I remember or find another one... Thanks for any feedback... LATE!

Honestly, I think the game is a bit lame. But, that's just me.

I'm with you on this, I played a bit on a Wolverine LE when it first cam out and it was ok. I've been told by friends that I should play it again as it's got better as the software has improved. I know someone selling a Magneto LE at the moment but they're after £6000 for it ($10K) which is just too much to spend on a pin for me.

It looks terrible... So underwelming... I mean... How many times can we see the SAME FUCKING SHIT on a STERN Pinball machine and reused shit and nothing new... There is NO attention to detail with ANY of their machines besides maybe the fucking pirate ship in PotC...

Nothing in this machine makes sense or is exciting and Ive seen dot matrix display animations since I was 12.... STERN SUCKS! Iceman's ramp...... You mean a long straight metal ramp thats faintly painted??? Jesus.... And those arent Nightcrawler toys/figures, they are painted targets.. GMAFB!

Mainly for me, its just the simple stupid damn display and speakers and backglass and boring playfield issues.. I would rather they do NO display and just let me play pinball... Put more attention on the playfield, overall design, and toys... Make the game fun... No one likes the fucking dot matrix mini-games or useless animations.... Its lame! Either pull a JJ and throw up a big flat panel, or nothing... Stern actually removing the dot matrix and speakers and mounting the speakers somewhere else with a full backglass would be doing more for them AND pinball than to keep pumping out the same game with different graphics...

But I guess they are just copying every other media industries model... Uggghhhhhhh

LOLOLOLOLOLOL!!!!! !!

SO TRUE! I dont have a Stern Pin or ANY Pin but from all the info Ive gathered and comparisons, and playing some personally... This seems SO spot on... I'm really not THAT impressed with ANY of their pins... They just all seem to be very similar and boring... Charging customers ALOT of money for cookie cutter pins that havent improved much or done anything NEW or revolutionary... Thank god for Jersey Jack, but unfortunately we are all gonna get FKED if people dont stop paying these ridiculous prices and/or stop complaining about shit like in this video...

I hope to get a Pin by November but I'm being picky and patient... I'm not impressed with most and the ones I do like end up having flaws that ruin the game or theme for me...

The one machine I DO love is Gottlieb's TX-Sector... I would love a fully modded Tron, mainly because of the theme and it looks how it should be MADE from factory but, it DOES look a little boring after a while... I just love Tron. TX doesnt have a lot of features but it playss great and the sounds and visuals match..

Anyway, I'll save some of this for other posts.. Great post/vids/share though!

Hello everyone.. What's up John?!?

I've been watching John's channel a lot lately and been enjoying it....

I just got my first machine last week and it's my holy grail... It's a 1981 Nintendo Radar Scope converted RED ... It has an early TKG3 four board stack "c1981 Nintendo" a/ Ladder bug...

Anyway, that's it.. See you guys around... I'll be making a post in the Nintendo discussion possibly...

You can follow me on Twitter @ShaneBolda as well...

PEACE!