I got a bunch of games in on a Godzilla pro over the last week. It’s been a long time since I instantly fell in love with a pinball machine. Usually its a slow burn to become a favorite, but there is something about this game that made me feel like a kid again and being so excited to keep putting my money in.
I like it so much, it will be my first NIB game - put the order in the day after playing it for the first time.
Yep, this layout is really really cool. Maiden is my favorite Stern ever but this could be better already. I can’t wait to play one that works right. Of the two I checked out this week one has a playfield that’s visibly domed like the top of Tele Savalas’s head. The kinetics were amazing until the balls roll down from the center of the playfield and curve into either sling. The other had a plunge that rattled making the skill shots nearly impossible, a loop that didn’t feed the upper flipper reliably and the magnet did the magnet things it was supposed to about half the time.
mine has that issue, not quite sure what to adjust there since there is a metal guide into the PF right of the mechazilla spinner?
I can only guess as I don’t own one but maybe the alignment of the shooter rod?
With you there. It’s also going to be my first NIB. I actually ordered one before playing it last weekend at D82 and I’m very excited to be getting one now. It felt great to play.
The one on location here - same. When you adjust your plunge to make the skill shot it 50/50 gets caught in the lane and roll back.
I also - think - it was having trouble registring shots to the magnet. But I am uncertain, if the game was lacking a proper feedback. Or I did not recognise it (gotta learn the game). And as always with captive ball targets, the dynamics is, that you can sometimes hear the ball bump-click without it actually registring. On a weak or too wide angled hit.
Had a great time. Gotta swing by soon again.
I got about 3 games in on a pro yesterday. It shoots great! I can tell it’s early code because a lot of shots just don’t do much yet. My only gripe is a shot backwards through the inner spinner loop went SDTM every time, and the game felt level to me. Overall first impressions are this is going to be Keith’s best game so far.
yeah looking at it i am not sure how to adjust it, it felt like it just rattle once it comes out of the shooter lane.
Try to take a slo-mo video with your phone, that will usually make it pretty clear what’s causing the rattle.
I believe that’s caused by the motor overheating. I’ve heard the same thing across different locations. I did notice that when playing for a longer period of time sometimes the magnet just wouldn’t grab it when it was supposed too.
Does the game compensate?
There are two functions of the magnet in Godzilla. Registring hits and grabbing the ball. The temperature of the unit should not affact the prior. Its abillity to register hits. Residual magnetism will affect, yes. But not the temperature alone. To the best of my knowledge.
But as I wrote before. A captive ball/newton ball device on a pinball machine has a special dynamic to it. Where only shots of a certain strength will register. And this even dependent on angle of impact. There will be a deadzone, where you can hear ball impact, but not get credit. Of course this should be reasonable in order for the game to be perceived as working and playing fair.
It is a tough call for designer vs. player and players debate. Because perceptions of how a device like this should perform can be different. So is the entire nature of a pinball machine, I suppose.
Ah yes you’re probably correct there. I wasn’t using my brain. In theory it should still register the hits to collect things like tank, bridge etc. The magnet not grabbing the ball shouldn’t effect that.
Having finally played Godzilla, I can safely say that it’s an easy shoe-in for GOTY (unless JJP unveils something last-minute). The Pro version plays smooth like butter, with shots that connect with each other in ways I don’t think I’ve really ever seen in pinball before. That, plus the amount of mechs (even in the cheapest version!) and Keith’s ability to make a layout that’s full of things to shoot for yet not cluttered and confusing, is the primary reason why I think it’s great.
I’ve already sent an email to Stern bug report.
Just wondering if anybody else has had an issue with the game resetting midgame? It did so here at about 2:20
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1206429169
I saw it on location about a week ago and didn’t know what conditions caused it to occur…
Had a reset last night on a Premium during a league match. Ball 3, player 2. Upon reboot, the scores from the last completed game were displayed, the game in progress was completely lost. Definitely makes me wary of including it again until there’s an update addressing it.
0.81 was released today and has a stability/game reset fix “when hitting a Skill Shot or returning to the Mainplay background”. Fingers crossed this fixes the issues described in this thread.
I had the skill shot not registering on a fair few games, completely separate to the reset, which happened midway through a good ball. (It was actually just after I chose Paris, and said “Who likes the French anyway?” - maybe it heard me)
I ‘think’ it was when I plunged too soon before the animations had started/finished - just too eager for my own good.
New Destruction jackpot rules look great, gotta say I will miss the current rules though. The tension of collecting a high value jackpot was superb. Nothing like waiting for the ball to drop for a 300M loop shot.