152 replies to this topic

[Greywolf]

It's all been said but I'll point it out again: This is a top-heavy poll. In order for it to be meaningful, you really should specify "FLIPPERED" and then let it run the gamut from 1947-2011.

I can't restrict my own personal top to 5, not even to 10. Might be able to do 20:

[In no particular order]
Time 2000 - SS - Atari 1977
Twilight Zone - DMD - Williams ("Bally/Midway") 1991
Power Play - SS - Bally 1978
Eight Ball - SS - Bally 1977
Spirit of '76 - EM - Gottlieb 1975
Firepower - SS - Williams 1980
Wizard! - EM - Bally 1975
Capt. Fantastic - EM - Bally 1976
Old Chicago - EM - Bally 1976
Hokus Pokus - EM - Bally 1976
Bow and Arrow - EM - Bally 1975
Hi Deal - EM - Bally 1975
Atlantis - EM - Gottlieb 1974
Tron - DMD - Stern 2011
OXO - EM - Williams 1973
Grand Prix - EM - Williams 1976
Pat Hand - EM - Williams 1974

Screw it. I love pinball.

[chas]

too bad triple action has been a forgotten table with little or no attention.
i played real TAction.
great table.
there are a few very similar recreations in the forum.
irpinball.org has a 1971 version and another very similar called Star Pool.
the only thing i have not been able to simulate on StarPool is the spinner.
too much friction.
im looked for friction.
with a hard hit it only spins 1x or maybe 1 1/2x.
with a good hit it should spin.

Edited by chas, 18 December 2011 - 08:22 AM.

[BamBam]

You can't beat this list.

http://www.ipdb.org/...amp;list=top300

You got that right. Nice list.

Medieval's at 1st?

honesty shocked!!!

It is a great game though

[blur]

You can't beat this list.
http://www.ipdb.org/...amp;list=top300

You got that right. Nice list.

great list, it would be great to have them all on vp cab
somehow i can't escape the feeling that all top games have great vp tables - looks like lot's of virtual players is voting
only tron has no vp table - but then again - tron has only 13 votes and twighlight zone for example has 478 votes

Edited by blur, 20 January 2012 - 01:12 AM.

[Bob Creepy]

Even the top 300's are flawed, the top EM on the list rates 7.9 and would bring it to #33 on a blended list. All EM's have a lower rating due to the sounds.

Hot Line is ranked #4 on the EM list, I happen to own that machine and as much as I like it, it is in no way shape or form the 4th greatest EM ever made...

As for the top SS machines, I personally have never even seen most of them to make a judgement as Arcades died here before most of them ever saw release. I have only seen 1 modern Stern machine BBH which was crap (IMHO).

It is all personal taste really...

[oggologgo]

Medieval Madness!

- It's fun and filled with action, and lots of multiball.
- It's fun whether you are a noob, shooting at whatever, or you are skilled, going for points and goals.
- Sound effects, voices and music is awesome, and no matter where you shoot the ball, there is some kind of reaction, with sound effects.
- The ball doesn't stay out of your control for too long, like on some tables, where it's bouncing around, or too easily going out on the sides or the middle, so you feel you don't have control.

My view is probably nostalgically biased though, because they had this table at my college, back in the 90s, where I played it all the time, and it brings great memories!

Medieval Madness and Attack From Mars are by the way incredibly similar.

Edited by oggologgo, 26 February 2012 - 06:16 PM.

[jib]

Why do people say TAF is overrated? This was the machine that ushered in the 90s era of flowy pins. The 60s, 70s and 80s each had their own innovations, and certainly TAF was preceded by some great machines, and there were many greater machines to come, but in my mind it's a landmark.

Think about a good opening to a TAF opening:

Skill Shot => Million+ => 5x Swamp => Kickout to Electric Chair => Kickout to Bearkick => 2x loop to Million+ for star => etc.

All these shots chain together, and the playfield is layed out so you can maintain control at all times with mitigation for the biggest risks. It has some difficult shots, but none of them are too risky to learn.

I understand if the game is not to your taste, but I think it's definitely deserving of its reputation.

But for my actual favorite I have to go with TZ. The wide body, the power field, the huge number of door panels, the sound effects, the huge bonuses, the powerball! Horribly inaccessible to the beginner, but with a bit of skill and knowledge you can light it up like no other. I just never get sick of it.

[KloggMonkey]

Why do people say TAF is overrated? This was the machine that ushered in the 90s era of flowy pins. The 60s, 70s and 80s each had their own innovations, and certainly TAF was preceded by some great machines, and there were many greater machines to come, but in my mind it's a landmark.

Think about a good opening to a TAF opening:

Skill Shot => Million+ => 5x Swamp => Kickout to Electric Chair => Kickout to Bearkick => 2x loop to Million+ for star => etc.

All these shots chain together, and the playfield is layed out so you can maintain control at all times with mitigation for the biggest risks. It has some difficult shots, but none of them are too risky to learn.

I understand if the game is not to your taste, but I think it's definitely deserving of its reputation.

But for my actual favorite I have to go with TZ. The wide body, the power field, the huge number of door panels, the sound effects, the huge bonuses, the powerball! Horribly inaccessible to the beginner, but with a bit of skill and knowledge you can light it up like no other. I just never get sick of it.

Not so sure about TAF being 'flowy'. It is a great pin though, if your favorite is TZ sounds like you like "stop and go" type play which is a Lawlor specialty.

[Zablon]

Honestly, I am not a fan of TAF at all. Never have been able to get into it. I'm not sure if it's the subject matter or what, I just don't find it fun which is why it still surprises me it was such a popular machine.

[Ike Savage]

where's jurassic park on that list?

never made it to scotland?

[TheMcD]

Why do people say TAF is overrated? This was the machine that ushered in the 90s era of flowy pins. The 60s, 70s and 80s each had their own innovations, and certainly TAF was preceded by some great machines, and there were many greater machines to come, but in my mind it's a landmark.

Think about a good opening to a TAF opening:

Skill Shot => Million+ => 5x Swamp => Kickout to Electric Chair => Kickout to Bearkick => 2x loop to Million+ for star => etc.

All these shots chain together, and the playfield is layed out so you can maintain control at all times with mitigation for the biggest risks. It has some difficult shots, but none of them are too risky to learn.

I understand if the game is not to your taste, but I think it's definitely deserving of its reputation.

But for my actual favorite I have to go with TZ. The wide body, the power field, the huge number of door panels, the sound effects, the huge bonuses, the powerball! Horribly inaccessible to the beginner, but with a bit of skill and knowledge you can light it up like no other. I just never get sick of it.

TAF is definitely overrated. Not bad, but overrated. The general consensus among the common pinballer from what I've heard seems to be that TAF is the greatest of all time, and that's just not true. You can't grab a table and call it the greatest, even one out of the big four (TAF, MM, TZ, AFM) - there's just too much personal judging involved.

And sure, you can say that all these shots chain together and all that stuff, but in the end, you're really only going to go with a certain combo like Thing -> Million Plus -> Swamp -> Thing; or Chair -> Bear Kick -> Chair. The four-way combo is just WAY too hard to pull off consistently - you're risking losing complete control over your ball in the bumpers when the shot goes slightly ary - and you can't catch the ball coming off the Bear Kick because you'll lose the combo - and also taking a very hard shot with the left loop to left ramp that takes forever to get right and can punish you hard if you miss it. And in the end, my safe combos will be much better in the long run than your opening unless you're really good, because you'll be missing a lot of shots in terms of going through the left loop to the left ramp.

So yeah, TAF is deserving of praise, but definitely not as much praise as it gets. Landmark game, but not the greatest of them all.

The McD

[Ike Savage]

at first that sounded like sacrilege, but after a little reflection i just can't disagree. but it does bring up another point- that an excellently-executed theme can absolutely make a table, and that's much of what williams did supremely well in the 90's.

after all those plays way back when i'm still willing to groove on TAF... because with all those samples and themes and modes i do feel like i'm in the middle of a vintage TV show episode. it's just a great old time, mediocre layout or not.

[KloggMonkey]

Really I would rather have 3-4 nice Whirlwinds for the price of 1 TAF. They are almost the same game anyhow.
Spinning disks = 'power magnets'
cellar door awards = electric chair modes ... even the super door bonus and "tour the mansion" are very similar.
ramp locks = bookcase locks
6 jet bumpers > 5 jet bumpers
MAYBE, big maybe... as I'm from Kansas, yet still really like the Addams family movies. TAF has WW on the theme but WW has TAF on music for sure.
Even the WW drop target extra ball is in the same spot as the TAF mini ramp to extra ball.
Upper right flipper with ramp functions the same in both games.

I have to give it to WW. Nonetheless seems like it would be hard to swing both games in a small or even mid sized (10+ pins) collection.

Even the top 300's are flawed, the top EM on the list rates 7.9 and would bring it to #33 on a blended list. All EM's have a lower rating due to the sounds.

Hot Line is ranked #4 on the EM list, I happen to own that machine and as much as I like it, it is in no way shape or form the 4th greatest EM ever made...

As for the top SS machines, I personally have never even seen most of them to make a judgement as Arcades died here before most of them ever saw release. I have only seen 1 modern Stern machine BBH which was crap (IMHO).

It is all personal taste really...

BTW sweet that you have a Hit the Deck. I Really like that game, pretty rare too from what I understand.



Question, why does this topic say I keep posting everyday at 430?

Edited by KloggMonkey, 15 June 2012 - 09:33 PM.

[CaptainNeo]

Since you left all the good tables off i'll take the liberty of listing them in awesome order for you.

1. cirqus Voltaire
2. Twilight zone
3. Addams family
4. Lord of the rings
5. Stargate
6. Tales of the arabian nights
7. Guns N Roses
8. Batman Forever
9. Revenge from mars
10. Tommy
11. Swords of Fury
12. Jurassic park
13. Shadow
14. Starship Troopers
15. Phantom of the opera
16. Time machine (data east)
17. Time machine (zaccaria)
18. Farfalla
19. Orbitor 1
20. Gottlieb Super Soccer (em)
21. Funhouse
22. Atlantis
23. Last Action Hero
24. Dark Knight
25. Transformers


There you go. Top 25 of most kick ass pins out there.

[kristian]

I'm genuinely surprised how much people overlook the history of pinball... the EM era... and the Solid State era.

Many of those tables are remarkable and ground breaking... and besides, tables like Firepower and Flash Gordon offer an amazing, challenging gameplay without all the gimmicks of the new tables. They have "raw" gameplay... they're very much "players' games".

If I had to make a top-20 list there would be many modern tables.... like TZ, ToM and ToTAN... but also many SS era tables.

They're missing from almost everyone's list... that is weird.

[LoadedWeapon]

And StarTrek TNG my all time Fav.

[Itchigo]

I'm genuinely surprised how much people overlook the history of pinball... the EM era... and the Solid State era.

Many of those tables are remarkable and ground breaking... and besides, tables like Firepower and Flash Gordon offer an amazing, challenging gameplay without all the gimmicks of the new tables. They have "raw" gameplay... they're very much "players' games".

If I had to make a top-20 list there would be many modern tables.... like TZ, ToM and ToTAN... but also many SS era tables.

They're missing from almost everyone's list... that is weird.

Amen to that Kristian!! I haven't forgotten. It's what I make exclusively. This was when games were games in my opinion, not about the story, but about the skill of playing them right.

[faralos]

and while I like to build originals many of mine are built around skill shots rather than a filled pf
kind of like the older EMs' where skill meant something not just quick finger reflexes
as much as I love the new pins with all their geewhiz gameplay it's skill shots that to me make or break a pin
if it's too easy I get bored if I can just slam the ball and I know it'll hit something and gain points
where's the fun or challenge in that? nah give me an emptier play field and I'll be a (wait for it)
...HAPPY CAMPER!
and yet no one listed Rapid Vienna or Nova

You can't beat this list.
http://www.ipdb.org/...amp;list=top300

You got that right. Nice list.

great list, it would be great to have them all on vp cab
somehow i can't escape the feeling that all top games have great vp tables - looks like lot's of virtual players is voting
only tron has no vp table - but then again - tron has only 13 votes and twighlight zone for example has 478 votes

Tron does indeed have a vp pin now that Practice Dummy has built one!

Edited by faralos, 28 August 2012 - 12:40 PM.

[Bob5453]

and yet no one listed Rapid Vienna or Nova

Gee, I wonder why.

[FDSystems]

and yet no one listed Rapid Vienna or Nova

Gee, I wonder why.

& Bob's originals ? Forgotten too ?

Edited by FDSystems, 06 October 2012 - 11:55 PM.