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MMr thoughts so far.

Adrian Hufton

Registered
Joined
Apr 10, 2012
Messages
617
Location
Ellesmere Port,Cheshire
Well I have had MMr set up a week now so I thought I would give my conclusions so far as to my experience of the game, would be interested to hear other peoples experiences.
First of all game looks great and build quality seems good....so far.
Negatives are the insert text is almost transparent on some of the inserts and is difficult to read, this seems to be a problem with games after 500 (reading on the MMr forum).
Speaker panel is not so great, was hard to fit and does bow out at the bottom.
I have been getting a repeated catapult target switch error but put that down to being a shot which is not often made.
Left troll does need more of a hit to trigger so need to adjust.
Screen tearing is apparent but waiting for colour DMD so should fix it.
Callouts are hard to hear and drowned out and really needs a fix.
Gameplay.....
Now I messed with the flipper angle and the pitch so maybe just the way I set it up but wow is mine a drain monster. If the ball goes anywhere near those outlanes it is worse than a TZ, it drains.
Balls firing off the slings will hit something and just plop STDM.
Random flipper hits and you are asking for a drain.
You also have to be exact with your shots or it will rattle a ramp entrance or hit a post and goodbye ball.
Again, like TZ, one game in 10 you will hit the spot and everything will go right, you make the shots and hit the scores and then you are loving it, then you foul a shot and game over. I don't know whether to hit it with a hammer or just push the start button again, so far I have only done the latter!
Troll madness multiball is glass smashing time as so many balls just hit the glass as the trolls alternate it makes you want to lose the balls so it will stop!

Now I know I'm not great at pinball but if you put enough hours in a game you usually get to know it but this thing is so addictive but so unforgiving it is frustrating the hell out of me.

Don't get me wrong I love this machine but if I cradle the ball on the left flipper and shoot for the dragon ramp if I hit it 2 in 10 I am lucky, yes its probably just me being not so good but it looks an easy shot from a flipper cradle and I keep asking myself how do I get it so wrong.

Let me know how you other MMr owners are getting on and if it's just me I will look to set it up again or just get better!
 
Got mine on Wednesday. Pretty similar issues. The inserts are blurred. I'm wondering if this is something to do with the clearcoat. It's not helped by how bright the LEDs are, took me a while to get used to it.
Build quality seems good. It's lovely to play a MM with snappy flippers, most of my previous experience has mainly been with games that have been played a lot and the feel is different.
Similarly it's been great to hear the call outs clearly. I'd never seen / heard what happened when you got to the 3rd princess before. So things like that have come as a nice surprise
Screen tearing can be clearly seen so I hope this is solved in the code update. I also sometimes get speaker crackle which I also gather has now been sold
Shaker motor is well integrated
Catapult .doesn't always make it all the way round. Occasional hang up on one of the roll overs near the pops, so I need to adjust that switch.
Troll multiball does lead to airballs. Dragon ramp is steep but normally makeable.
Wall shot/lock and moat respond well. Slightly annoying that the drawbridge doesn't always fully go back. I'd always thought this was an issue that occurred over time but it was like that from game one.

I'm really glad I bought one. Several times I considered pulling out of the deal and buying a original and I'm glad I didn't. Still not convinced it's the best game out there though. AC/DC and TWD are both better for me but is it fair to compare a game from 20 years ago with a more recent (complete) rulleset? AFM also has the edge on it in my eyes.

Overall pleased enough with it to consider another remake despite the appalling customer service from PPS/CG. No chance I'd pre-pay though;)
 
Sounds like the insert issue to me is trying to stretch the ink they had loaded on the screens at the time further than they should especially if it started after game 500
 
I really hope the guys that bought these are happy. The cost is huge.

But to me Stern build quality can just be shocking. I really hope that the potential competition from JJP, Heighway etc will lead to subsequent improvements. But I fear a race to the bottom in a cost led environment
 
I know a big problem the original game had was during multiball if you got 2 or 3 balls stuck in the Catapult that was basically it, game over as the coil and catapult mech doesn't have the strength the clear the balls out (can be sort of fixed by removing the catapult gate and then if this happens, give the game a good shake). Has anyone seen this happen on the remake yet? The balls just go up the ramp a bit then come back down as demonstrated here by @Matt Adams (Fast forward to around 8:02):

 
I know a big problem the original game had was during multiball if you got 2 or 3 balls stuck in the Catapult that was basically it, game over as the coil and catapult mech doesn't have the strength the clear the balls out. Has anyone seen this happen on the remake yet? The balls just go up the ramp a bit then come back down as demonstrated here by @Matt Adams (Fast forward to around 8:02):

That would be anoying!
 
Haven't put too many games on it yet, but so far I'm pleased overall.
Haven't had any issues yet, seems to play almost perfect straight out of the box. Just had to slightly adjust the left inlane switch. If anything I'm finding the flipper strength too strong, so I've knocked it down a notch through fear of breaking the plastics!

Hadn't noticed the insert text issue until I read about it on Pinside, doesn't bother me too much, as long as it doesn't fade away over time.

image.jpeg

As for screen tearing, I don't even know what this is, but haven't noticed anything yet. Made a vid on my phone the day I set it up:


All in all, it's a great game, one of Williams best. Is it the best game ever, no, not in my opinion (agree with John TWD is better!). Is it better than AFM, there's not much in it but need to give it more time to decide that, have slight preference to AFM I think. Both are classics though, certainly up there with the new machines.

Regarding build quality, this is definitely better made than Sterns, feels solid and is certainly heavy like a 90's Williams, nearly broke my back putting the legs on. I can't help wondering if Williams were still knocking out new machines, build quality would have slipped to Stern's standards as they would also be looking at ways to maximise profits.

Looking forward to the colour LCD update, and will be interesting to see how they price AFM remake, considering the lower 2nd hand market value.

Edit: forgot to add, colour instruction cards is a nice touch, shame about the spelling.
And the reversed on/off switch is bothering me!
 
You can see the screen tearing on your video Mark during the Catapult Bam animations, horizontal lines where you can see the picture being built up/not synced with the screen frame rate ( or something like that :) ). It's actually worse in person , think the video hides it a bit.
 
Good score btw mark, how many vids did you make before catching that game? :rofl:
That would be telling ;) although I did do it on the 2nd day, and its not easy with a tripod between your legs :D

Seen the tearing now, not too worried about that, sure it'll be sorted with the colour update.
 
That would be telling ;) although I did do it on the 2nd day, and its not easy with a tripod between your legs :D

Yup total pain and how i used to film everything, do yourself a favour and invest in something like this:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/CamKix-Sess...4340607&sr=8-7&keywords=flexible+camera+clamp

Clamp it to the top of the backbox and never worry about having a tripod in the way again. Although you will need a second camera to film the DMD with, but you can put this off to one side and not have it be in the way.
 
Well I have had MMr set up a week now so I thought I would give my conclusions so far as to my experience of the game, would be interested to hear other peoples experiences.
First of all game looks great and build quality seems good....so far.
Negatives are the insert text is almost transparent on some of the inserts and is difficult to read, this seems to be a problem with games after 500 (reading on the MMr forum).
Speaker panel is not so great, was hard to fit and does bow out at the bottom.
I have been getting a repeated catapult target switch error but put that down to being a shot which is not often made.
Left troll does need more of a hit to trigger so need to adjust.
Screen tearing is apparent but waiting for colour DMD so should fix it.
Callouts are hard to hear and drowned out and really needs a fix.
Gameplay.....
Now I messed with the flipper angle and the pitch so maybe just the way I set it up but wow is mine a drain monster. If the ball goes anywhere near those outlanes it is worse than a TZ, it drains.
Balls firing off the slings will hit something and just plop STDM.
Random flipper hits and you are asking for a drain.
You also have to be exact with your shots or it will rattle a ramp entrance or hit a post and goodbye ball.
Again, like TZ, one game in 10 you will hit the spot and everything will go right, you make the shots and hit the scores and then you are loving it, then you foul a shot and game over. I don't know whether to hit it with a hammer or just push the start button again, so far I have only done the latter!
Troll madness multiball is glass smashing time as so many balls just hit the glass as the trolls alternate it makes you want to lose the balls so it will stop!

Now I know I'm not great at pinball but if you put enough hours in a game you usually get to know it but this thing is so addictive but so unforgiving it is frustrating the hell out of me.

Don't get me wrong I love this machine but if I cradle the ball on the left flipper and shoot for the dragon ramp if I hit it 2 in 10 I am lucky, yes its probably just me being not so good but it looks an easy shot from a flipper cradle and I keep asking myself how do I get it so wrong.

Let me know how you other MMr owners are getting on and if it's just me I will look to set it up again or just get better!

Have you played around with the table angle Ady? I had issues with a LOTR once just after I bought it, but by tweaking the angle with the feet, all the problems were fixed.
 
Yup total pain and how i used to film everything, do yourself a favour and invest in something like this:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/CamKix-Sess...4340607&sr=8-7&keywords=flexible+camera+clamp

Clamp it to the top of the backbox and never worry about having a tripod in the way again. Although you will need a second camera to film the DMD with, but you can put this off to one side and not have it be in the way.
Ah, cheers, good idea, probably won't hold a phone though, that's the closest thing I've got to a video camera nowadays...although my kids have Gopro's I could just borrow them.
 
Callouts are hard to hear and drowned out and really needs a fix.

The Walking Dead has separate game adjustments for Speech vs Music and Sound Effects. It's called attenuation (which actually reduces the volume) so you can reduce one against the other. I'd be surprised if this newer machine doesn't have the same user adjustments. On TWD they're nearly the last of the game specific adjustments..

For TWD I actually reduced the speech volume slightly which is a fantastic improvement - the call outs aren't so in-your-face and merge into the music and sound effects.

Sounds like you'd want to do the opposite.
 
Well I think I was a bit mean on the drains, yes it does drain but mostly because I played a bad shot, had a few games tonight and knocked up some pretty good scores, there is so much to do you just want more of it and I get lashed when i get a few masters and think i'm getting somewhere then its game over because of a reckless shot but that is pinball.
How long you need to play to get anywhere through the game is beyond me!
It really does play well and other than the few niggles, which are all fixable, I can't see me ever getting tired of this one.
If they did separate volumes for speech and music it would be great but it is not all the speech that is drowned out, the most part is good, just the ugly riot quotes and some of the Duke call outs are a little drowned, everything else is fine so I am being picky.
I just wish I had the will to turn on my other games as at the moment they don't get a look in!
 
I've got the slightly faded Castle inserts too, but to be honest I only noticed when I read about it on PPS/Pinside, so I'm really not too bothered about it. Haven't noticed any screen tearing so guess I'm lucky with that. And the catapult seems to have plenty of strength out of the box. The speaker panel sits perfectly flush on mine (as far as I can tell), so not sure what's going on with that Adrian.

The game does drain down the sides a fair amount, but I'm withholding judgement as to whether that's just my bad play (99% probability!) or something that needs changing.

The biggest issue I'm finding with it is hitting the Dragon ramp with enough strength to get the ball all the way around. I can't obviously see a way of lowering the angle of the ramp (surely far too many things to adjust?). I could up the flipper strength I guess?
 
The biggest issue I'm finding with it is hitting the Dragon ramp with enough strength to get the ball all the way around. I can't obviously see a way of lowering the angle of the ramp (surely far too many things to adjust?). I could up the flipper strength I guess?

Try polishing the playfield and ramp first... :thumbs:
 
Well I have been playing mine to death, can't get off the damn thing and I love it, yes the inserts are hard to read and I have opened a ticket but I don't hold much hope for a fix but you only need the lights to see where you are.
I can not really give many complaints, lock shot has failed to register about 3 times, maybe just needs adjustment, I have had 2 balls in the catapult and it cleared them after about 3 goes, did have one castle shot not register once but it was only once, also just lately been getting a bit of air ball on the peasant ramp.
Hope the update fixes the call outs as merlin, trolls and damsels are all fine but the peasant shouts and the duke's can be a little drowned out sometimes which is a shame.
Highest score is around 88million and only about half way to getting near completion, you really have to control your ball which has made me up my game but wow is it hard not to press that start button over and over.
Playfield is getting quite dimpled though which sort of lashes me a bit but the way the ball gets thrown around especially on troll multiball, I guess it is what it is.
Really pleased with it, got all the madnesses the other night and lost all my balls before I could shoot Merlins hole, was I lashed. The rule set is simple but there is so much strategy to playing the game.
Great!
 
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