Help a Newb pick a machine

[fronzdan]

Hi all....great board here!

I'm a first time buyer. Can anyone give some advice on which one of the following machines you'd recommend?

Azteca Legend Returns
Hanabi Hyakkei
Neo Magic Pulsar
Time Park
Thunderbirds

Thanks!

[dalto]

Out of that list I would pick Neo Magic Pulsar. It's good fun and easy to get into.

I did not find Time Park or Azteca Legend Returns quite as fun as the others. I have never played Thunderbirds.

[Tulsa]

Thunderbirds I love, but I love the theme. The Neo Magic is a good choice but the reels are too loud for me and it sucks as an eye-shooter.

[dishpan]

I found Azteca Legend Returns fun at first but then turned to be too repetative and dull. The built-in digital volume control worked well for me.

The Hanabi Hyakkei is a family favorite. The gameplay is simple yet cute. Along with the sounds that it makes, it is an entertaining machine. The video though not very complex is eye catching and the fireworks theme works well. This machine is very loud and requires volume controls to be added. The reels work well for eye-shooting.

The other machines I can't comment on.

[alstonj1]

Hanabi Hyakkei is an excellent machine if you can have only one ..... have had mine for a while and still play it almost everyday . its attract mode is a definate plus also .the fireworks theme is an eye catcher .

[vgc]

I would suggest Neo Magic Pulsar and then HH. I have not played Thunderbirds yet however. Mike : )

[pfurman]

Hi all....great board here!

I'm a first time buyer. Can anyone give some advice on which one of the following machines you'd recommend?

Azteca Legend Returns
Hanabi Hyakkei
Neo Magic Pulsar
Time Park
Thunderbirds

Thanks!

We have ALR, HH, & T-birds (Along with Neo Planet-T, which is made by Yamasa and has a monochrom holographic display as well). We weren't particularly impressed with ALR. We like T-birds, although any video machine tends to get boring after a while (except for Super Blackjack, although after hitting a 777 Stock Time (meaning it ran for 777 games!!) that did tend to get a bit old after a while.) T-birds is very loud, though, and definitely needs volume controls installed to be practical outside of a pachinko parlor/casino setting. Neo Magic, because it's made by Yamasa, tends to have very noisy reels, as Tulsa pointed out. Some people don't seem to mind; I personally hate loud, screechy/vibrating-resonant reels. We have HH, and it's very popular, but I found it to be so basic compared to other video-related machines that I found myself thinking: "Is this IT? Is this all there is, video-wise, to this machine?" And unfortunately, the answer was: "Yes, that's about it." There's just not much beyond cute and simple, although the graphics that it does offer are nice. Compared to a machine like Tekken, however, which has many many more levels of video display, HH is just too simple for me. (Note: Tekken, while made by Yamasa, doesn't seem to be plagued by the typical noisy Yamasa reels.) No experience with Time Park, although from what I've read here, it doesn't seem to have been all that well received.

One machine that I'd toss into the mix that is in the "Thunderbirds" category is Speed Racer. It's made by Aristocrat/Sammy and definitely benefits from volume controls. That's one of my favorite machines, and I'd say I prefer it even to T-birds, and definitely to the other machines on your list.

A final recommendation for a reasonably priced machine that's not on your list: Mephisto. It's made by Yamasa but doesn't have noisy reels; at least not the one we have. It's got a fourth reel that is one of the wildest things we've ever seen. It is very loud, and we will eventually install volume controls on it; but it's almost a shame to have to do that, because part of its appeal is how wild/loud it gets as it works its gothic theme.

To round it out and up, we dig I'm Angel and Tomcat, both by Olympia, and both with borderline loud/noisy reels. And of course, King Camel is a perennial favorite with most players, although it's a Sammy machine with typical Sammy Whine (not so much the reels, but just this mechanical whine that comes out of the speakers unless there are volume controls installed, at least on the bigger bottom speaker, which some people get around by simply unplugging it).

Don't know if this helps; they are, after all, just my opinions.

[Chris V]

I had a Hanabi Hyakkei and couldnt wait to get rid of it...owned it a little over a week. Maybe I was spoiled by having a Beast Sapp first which is amazing and really want to get another. The HH didnt utilize the full screen LCD as much as the Beast and I bored with it quickly. Also, the sounds on the machine are very Japanese and the seemed to annoy more than anything, but one of my favorites is Sakura Fabuki which is also very Japanese in sound and apperance...maybe its the drum sound in the Sakura.
NMP is a crowd favorite, but I just never saw the appeal when I had one.
I had an Azteca Legend and I really liked it. It had a feature where it would play roullette on the reel lights and if it stopped on a 7 you would win a Bonus in the near future. I also really liked the Bonus music. This is also a type-B machine so it plays a little different from the standard Type-A machine. Usually translating into more Big Bonus' being given, but with slightly smaller payouts. Big Bonus' usually pay in the 300 token range rather than the 400 token range of Type-A machines...unless you hit the Super Big Bonus which is determined at the start of the Big Bonus Rounds.
If you can only get one then I recommend King Camel. You will not be dissapointed in this one...although you may be spoiled with this as your first. Those nudge reels tease so much and it keeps showing me new things.

Chris

[slot player]

I have Time Park. The family likes it a lot.
T Birds is fun but loud.,Try Speed Racer for fun.
You might want to think about Fire Drift.
For a low end machine try Automatic.
Thats my 2cents.

[dishpan]

Two thumbs up for the King Camel! Needs separate volume controls.

[pfurman]

Since Fronzdan hasn't replied yet it's hard to tell, but from the list it appears that only machines with video screens have been selected. So King Camel might not be what the doctor ordered since it doesn't have a video screen. (Neither would some of the ones I suggested like Mephisto, Tomcat, or I'm Angel, for that matter.)

[wolfsblood]

Out of the machines listed I would go with the Thunderbirds, Then the Magic Pulsar second. And I must agree that Mach Go Go Go (Speed Racer) is a very good choice also.

[fronzdan]

Thanks for the comments everyone!
My selection was limited to that specific list and I went with the HH machine. The cuteness, simple play and the cool graphics, along with the general consensus on here made me go in that direction. I'm getting this first one for kids/family play so it seems to be a good fit. Can't wait....it will be delivered on Monday!! I'm sure I'll have more questions on it once it arrives.
Now for my second machine....lol. Yes, I'm already looking. Personally I'd like Speed Racer or Thunderbirds (also watched them as a kid). Sinbad Adventure looks really good as well, but pretty steep.

[slotter]

Welcome to PachiTalk, fronzdan. Glad you're enjoying yourself!

[Chrisdice]

Sinbad Adventure is great, It was my first and still my fav. Stealthhomeamusement.com had speed racers on scratch and dent for $89.00. I think Big Bear has them also for about the same $. My friend Tony bought one from Bigbear and you would never know its scratched unless it was pointed out to you. Plays great and very entertaining.
Good luck
Chris

[fronzdan]

Thanks slotter!

And thanks for that tip, Chrisdice! I didn't even look at the scratch/dent section on Stealth because I assumed they were really banged up bad. A little flaking isn't bad at all. How about the Weekly Specials...are those considered scratch/dent or just sale items?

[luckydog]

weekly specials are usually machines that they are over stocked in or just want to move out.

[Chrisdice]

I bought my King Camel as a Stealth weekly special, It arrived in very good shape. Very clean and no big scratches ar dents, just a small scratch on the top right of the reel glass but little things like that are to be expected from a used game. Only thing is if you buy the weekly special there is no warenty. I'm hopeing that doesn't come back to bite me.

[fronzdan]

Yeah I did notice the "no warranty" part as well as the "as-is" statement....that's why I asked. The price is pretty good though.

[Lazarus]

Don't worry about the no warranty or as is from Stealth. He stands behind his machines. He will take care of anything that is from shipping and they are guaranteed to work properly. It is only if you had the machine for a while that the warranty does not apply to. Even then if something goes wrong Stealth will help you get it fixed. If he has parts he will sell them at a fair price. You will have to pay shipping. If he doesn't have something there are others to get parts from.