Are you sure it has significantly less features. It really depends of what you mean by a feature. Take GOTG for example. It has 16 coils (+ jaw motor). 6 for the stand Italian bottom (flippers, slings, trough, autoplunge). The other 10 are:
3 pop bumpers
control gate
right scoop
2 for drop target
Groot eject
magnet
Rocket
Jaw motor
TNA has the same 6 starting plus
2 scoops
pop bumper
6 for drops (I think)
2 control gates
3 slings in core
Buy controlled driver count, there is more going on in TNA. Switches and lights I suspect GOTG is ahead. But GOTG has 11 RGB colrolled lights. TNA has a lot. There is also segmented displays for core and ballsave and score displays. Please don’t underestimate how much is going on in TNA. You can dislike the game, but it does not have less features than a typical stern pro.
I see you’re in the Seattle area. Currently the pinball map is showing 3 TNA’s on location there and 10 IMDN’s. Which title do you think is bringing more new people into the hobby?
Regardless of the bomb, TNA is perceived as 80’s SS game (see above). I like the game and I’m impressed with the improving quality of their games, just wish they would build more and get the price down.
That’s got to be the most absurd thing I’ve ever heard anyone say about Spooky. Sounds like you’re mad you can’t buy one, so you’re taking it out on them, but that doesn’t change the realities of basic business models.
There is nothing finer than having a great game on TNA where you get to hear the music pumping and changing to what’s going on in the game plus the amazing light show. It’s experiential. It’s not about how many ramps or coils or plastic Groot hands it has, it’s about how it makes you feel when you play it.
TNA makes me feel alive!
Something like GOTG makes we wish I was playing TNA (or IMDN).
Like others have said, TNA’s ruleset is simple but hard to master. If you want rules, play any JJP game or recent Stern game. More rules doesn’t equal better. Do you play board games (or have you)? Playing an overly deep board game can be daunting vs a simple one where you can just get the group going. The only difference is that in pinball, you can randomly hit the ball around even if you have no idea what you’re doing. Not knowing a ruleset is randomly hitting lit shots until something happens. i’m sure that’s part of a reason why bash toys were introduced. Not sure what you need to do? Just hit this oversized object a bunch of times until something happens!
My best on TNA is reactor 5. Throw a powerball in there and it changes the strategy as well. Deciding when to go for MB is a HUGE factor since getting the ball in the reactor core is much more difficult, especially if you have balls draining since the gates open up and you end up hitting orbits instead. i tend to only go for MB after the reactor is critical, meaning 1 ball play for completing the keypad (dangerous), going for the scoop (dangerous), then overloading the reactor (somewhat dangerous). Once critical, then I go for MB. This DOES NOT guarantee a reactor blow up! Crazy I know! You just gotta play it to understand why blowing it up is not a sure thing. Don’t let Bowen’s videos make you think TNA is super easy with not much to do. He’s on a different level than a lot of us peasants. Anyways, there’s no point in looking for more than what’s already there. I love TNA and it was worth the wait and the price tag.
Playing co-op mode or team versus team mode on TNA is one of my favorite things in pinball right now. Simply great fun that promotes interacting with the people playing pinball with you.
I would love to see more games implement the co-op feature. Being able to aim for an ultimate goal together is a great way to immerse players of all skills.
As folks are saying, the rule and design austerity are the appeal of the game to me. It does a few things and does them extremely well instead of trying to be a deep experience. Sometimes I want to play a game with Keefer rules, and sometimes I just want a simple difficult task.
