Help needed, on my choice of machine Please

[BCFC]

Hi all, i have just recently bought a starwars machine, and i love it, iam thinking of buying another machine to go with it, what would you recommend out of this list? if any of them?

Batman
Lord of the rings
Pink panther
Robocop
Let's go circuit

I really want your help as i can not decide, i will be buying from (www.pachinkos.co.uk)
Thanks for your time and help.

[azlew]

i will be buying from (www.pachinkos.co.uk)
.

Those all look to be a nice addition to your Star Wars pachinko. If it were me I would be leaning just a little bit towards Robocop but I certainly don't think you can go wrong with any of the others.

That webring that they are starting for pachinkos looks promising :

http://j.webring.com/hub?ring=japanesepinballp

4 sites so far but hopefully it will grow!

[doodude]

I would suggest you look at Logicprobes Thunderbirds.
He is offering a good deal, it looks like a great playing game & it would go well with Batman!
Id get it but Ive made some heavy purchases lately, although I will have one hopefully within a year.
So I suggest: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Thunderbirds are GO!!!

[logicprobe]

Thanks for the recommendation, Doodude.
That shipping to the UK might be a killer... I've never sent anything across the pond, so I'm not sure.

The only games that I've played that you have listed are the Pink Panther and the Lord of the Rings. Honestly, I don't think you could go wrong with EITHER (or both...LOL) of those.
I'd rate them in a tie for 2nd behind my StarWars... the LOTR for it's "awe", and the PP for it's joy.

Good luck on your decision.

[arbycoffee]

Let's go circuit is a great racing theme, good sound and video

[doodude]

Thanks for the recommendation, Doodude.
That shipping to the UK might be a killer... I've never sent anything across the pond, so I'm not sure.

Oops! Didnt see the ol Union Jack flying there!
Maybe if you put it on a fishing trawler & told 'em to take their time!?

[BCFC]

If lord of the rings is any thing like the films, then i would have thought you can't go wrong,as the films are fantastic! , batman gets a very good review in the museum, thats another choice, and i thought about lets go circuit, that's a good racing theme. but think lord of the rings is starting to get my vote out of all of them. thanks again chaps.

[rupan777]

I wouldn't necessarily go for LoTR; if I remember correctly it shares the same ROM as Star Wars (and Uchu Senkan Yamato II for that matter) so basically, what you'll have is the same machine with different graphics.

[azlew]

I wouldn't necessarily go for LoTR; if I remember correctly it shares the same ROM as Star Wars (and Uchu Senkan Yamato II for that matter) so basically, what you'll have is the same machine with different graphics.

That's what I was wondering. It sure looks familiar in the videos. rupan777 are there others out there that you could list for us that share roms like that? Our investments on these are quite high and the last thing I want to do is duplicate too much. Thanks for your response.

[rupan777]

Do you mean that particular ROM?

Manufacturers will usually use a rom three or four times before they move onto another, naturally to cut down on development costs and to be able to release machines faster.

[BCFC]

I wouldn't necessarily go for LoTR; if I remember correctly it shares the same ROM as Star Wars (and Uchu Senkan Yamato II for that matter) so basically, what you'll have is the same machine with different graphics.

Thanks for that rupan777, i would not want a machine, that was the same as my STARWARS, with different graphics,there would be no point to it. I have decided to go for BATMAN, it's different, and has playfields both sides, and as you would know use's 4 reels instead of a LCD screen, i did no know if i would like a machine with reels instead of an LCD, but it gets very good reviews in the museum, so i went for it.

[rupan777]

Thanks for that rupan777, i would not want a machine, that was the same as my STARWARS, with different graphics,there would be no point to it. I have decided to go for BATMAN, it's different, and has playfields both sides, and as you would know use's 4 reels instead of a LCD screen, i did no know if i would like a machine with reels instead of an LCD, but it gets very good reviews in the museum, so i went for it.

Yeah I think, game-wise, if you compare Star Wars and LoTR, the former stomps on the latter. I mean, with Star Wars you have the cool R2-D2 device that acts as the yokoku but with LoTR you just have some flashing sword hologram thing. Those kinds of things are supposed to excite you when you play but when I played LoTR, I only felt: In LoTR's defense though, it was released earlier and Star Wars can be seen as an improvement on the game field and ROM.

Batman is an interesting one; it relies a lot on colored behind-the-reel lights and sound. I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

[biigdaddy]

Rupan777 or other -

Could you please explain what types of things/events the ROM controls? (trying a search on ROM in this forum fails since it is too short of a word) Does it control the probabilities of reaches, or the sequencing of events, etc. I think a little technical description would be educational.

[rupan777]

I might not be giving the most accurate nor the most technical information but the ROM refers to the computer/digital aspects of the machines. The ROM in pachinko is what sets the parameters of the machine in terms of graphics, gameplay, game flow, etc. I'll take two examples of how ROM's can be similiar: (I think these are listed in the museum): Great Sea Story and Great Doggy Paradise (my translations)--I'm using these as examples because they're a little simpler than Star Wars and LoTR. Both of these machines were released by Sanyo Bussan and share the same ROM. ROM's, of course, are solely owned by the companies who develop them though it is not uncommon for other companies to "hijack" certain aspects of other (more successful) company's ROM's. In fact, Sanyo's Sea Paradise has been copied so many times that Japanese refer to the "copycats" as having Sea Paradise DNA.

Anyway, back to the two machines. The "gambling" aspects of these machines are the same in terms of odds of winning during normal, bonus, and chance rounds payouts are roughly the same (give or take a hundred balls or so), etc.

One example of the similiarities in gameflow:

bowwow.gif the Bow wow "yokoku" event in Doggy Paradise is the same as:

awaumi.gif the Bubble "yokoku" event in Sea Paradise

and also the

neko.gif Group of cat "yokoku" event in Doggy P. is the same as:

sakana.gif the Group of fish "yokoku" event in Sea P.

It's kind of hard to really understand the above examples without actually playing the games (I know you'd like that ) but these machines share the exact same ROM even if some small aspects of the games are different (it is possible to add or improve on a ROM). Companies will typically use the same ROM for roughly three or four games which are always released in the same year or so span. This is done mainly for production cost and consumer demand reasons.

It would be kind of interesting to see a more pachinko-obsessed tech person to get their hands on some ROMs and develop a sort of "homebrew" pachinko game but I've yet to hear that happen. Maybe one of you...?

[azlew]

There you go Rupan!

This is exactly what we were needing to know. Especially what machines share the same type of rom and thus give the same basic play (just different graphics).

I for one would not want to have machines in my home that basically play the same way on the lcd screen or otherwise. Someone somewhere said that variety is the spice of life and in this case it is true!

Thanks again for your information!!

[Tulsa]

Awesome material Rupan!

[MrGneiss]

It's fun to learn!!!

[BCFC]

After reading your article rupan777, i now know that going for BATMAN was a good choice, its different from what i have in STARWARS, as you got the reels and a bigger playfield.where starwars has the lovely LCD and R2D2, plus the ability to shoot down vader!

[rupan777]

For variety's sake, I would definitely say that was the better choice too.

[BCFC]

For variety's sake, I would definitely say that was the better choice too.

Thanks for your advice, it has been very helpful i know where you are coming from, it's a bit like buying a car, as in being based on the same model, but a bit different, but basicly the same! cheers mate