Spiderman NEO questions...

[Rackman]

Hello All,

I'm new to the forum as well as to modern, video Pachinko games (my father had a mechanical pachinko game I played as a child some 30 years ago).

I just purchased the Spiderman NEO machine by Takao a few months ago and I'm having a tough time finding out any detailed information about the game play. I've contacted the vendor where I bought the machine but they don't seem to know too much about it's functions.

Well here goes my list of questions. Even you if know just one of the answers, please reply and hopefully I can piece the information together...

1) The 'Action' button. I've found a post in this forum that the action button lights up during the bonus mode. On my machine, the action button is lit right from the start of the game and stays lit until a ball goes into the start pocket, then it turns off. When it is lit, each press either makes a type of beep or says a villains name, "spiderman" or on very rare occasions, it says "congratulations". Does anyone know what all this means, especially when it says "congratulations"?

2) There are 4 round red led lights and blue 'O' & 'X" on the right side of the playfield right at 3 o'clock. During play the O & X flash back and forth continually and the 4 red lights will turn on and off in sequence. Any idea what these lights mean?

3) When a ball does go into the start pocket and the numbers start scrolling on the video screen, there are 4 red rectangular light above the video screen that light up one by one as another ball enters the start pocket. They only seem to stay lit for a few seconds and then will turn off in sequence if another ball doesn't enter the start pocket quick enough. I have had all 4 lit but didn't notice anything different in play. Any ideas on this one?

4) Do the Japanese makers of these machines, Takao in my case, ever publish manuals in english that I could get a hold off? I went to Takao's website in hopes of finding an english version but I did not see one.

I did see there was a posting in the manuals section of this site but there wasn't too much info there either.

Thanks in advance for any insight as to these game functions.

Joe

[MrGneiss]

First..WELCOME!!

Ok, I don't have a Spiderman Neo, but I'll try to answer the best I can!!


1. Hopefully someone with a NEO can tell you more about the chance button on this one, but on some games pushing the chance button on a game right after start up can either test the frame lights or change the game mode (like a classic mode with say, different graphics or something) or the music..I'm not sure if thats the case here though..


2. The 4 lights light up one at a time when a ball goes through a pass through gate usually on the left side of the playfield (on some games there might also be an identical gate on the right side thats just there for symmetry/decoration, but does nothing) it remembers or stocks up to 4..and once a ball goes through the gate (or a light goes out) the X and O will start flashing..and when they stop, depending on if they stop on the X or O (can't remember which one) but if it stops on the right one it will cause the flippers/tulip around the Start pocket to open for less than a second, (On many it always wins/opens every time and on some like Star Wars, not that often) sometimes this can help get an extra ball in, but I think this feature is mostly there for tradition these days since 1, its not that useful on modern machines and 2, it seems to have been a part of this type of pachinko for many years now!!


3. Those 4 lights, sometimes leds or sometimes characters on the screen, represent stocked spins, when a ball goes in the start pocket its starts the numbers on the screen...now if you get another ball in the start pocket before the numbers are done, one of the lights will go on (meaning you have a spin stocked or waiting) when the spin ends the light will go out and the next (stocked) spin will start!! You can stock up to 4 spins (8 on a few new games) after you have 4 stocked if you get another ball in the start pocket you will get the normal payout, but not another spin..also on many games when you have 4 stocked, each spin will go faster, this can help empty out the stocked spins so you don't miss too many spins by getting balls in the start pocket while all 4 lights are lit!!


4. These games were never intended to be played outside of Japan, almost all of them spending a short time in a parlor, then sent off to be recycled.. So there's no reason for manufacturers to make play guides in English or any other language..You may find small pamphlets like they might hand out when a game is new that might give you some clues, but again it will only be in Japanese...Sometimes if you're lucky a hobbyist or retailer may write a play guide in English and post it, but thats rare..most of us just have to play too learn, and a lot of times thats part of the fun!!



I hope some of that was helpful and made some sense And I hope I didn't make anything sound too complicated, because it really isn't..just hard to explain sometimes!!

Hopefully someone will be along soon to help answer your chance button question..

If you have anymore questions, feel free to ask!!

[Rackman]

Thanks for the detailed info...that helps a lot!

Hopefully I can get some info on the Action button from someone who is familiar with the Spiderman NEO game but your info definitely answered all my other questions.

Joe