Stern Pinball Arcade first impressions

Well it's up. The main game is free and comes with MSF. They're charging ten bucks a piece for Mustang and Star Trek. TWENTY bucks for AC/DC. All these tables are the premium versions. All the previous DE and Sega and Stern tables are on here too minus F2K.

They've designed this pricing plan so you might as well just buy the packs. 20 bucks for the pack including Star Trek, Starship Troopers, AC/DC and Ripley's. 20 bucks for the other pack including Mustang, LAH, HD, HRC and POTO. The descriptions say these are the premium versions as well. I don't see any LE or PRO versions anywhere.

I wonder if the older games play different on here.

I at least picked up pack 1 (AC/DC, Star Trek, and 2 redos). Weird that AC/DC is $20 whether you buy it alone or in a pack with Star Trek. I won't be able to play until I get home later today, but I'm also curious how the repeat tables look.

dtown8532 said:

Well it's up. The main game is free and comes with MSF. They're charging ten bucks a piece for Mustang and Star Trek. TWENTY bucks for AC/DC. All these tables are the premium versions. All the previous DE and Sega and Stern tables are on here too minus F2K.

They've designed this pricing plan so you might as well just buy the packs. 20 bucks for the pack including Star Trek, Starship Troopers, AC/DC and Ripley's. 20 bucks for the other pack including Mustang, LAH, HD, HRC and POTO. The descriptions say these are the premium versions as well. I don't see any LE or PRO versions anywhere.

I wonder if the older games play different on here.

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Does it come with all the bugs TPA on PS4 has?

So you can buy a pack including ACDC for twenty, or ACDC only for twenty? Strange scheme.

Just a couple initial thoughts before going to the garage to work on my Centaur (ugh! It's taking forever!). There's no lighting adjustment and while Star Trek and AC/DC should look like they're LED'd, they don't. The lighting effects are very bland and flat looking with little to no pop. That said, they play well with very active slings like Sterns usually are. One minor note. I don't like how the camera just goes back to the default static menu shot after the game is over and in its attract mode. Would look much nicer with a panning camera over the playfield.

No day/night lighting slider? Bummer.

I played Ripleys for a bit. Looks like the night mode in TPA. I would not rebuy the older tables unless financially logical. I'll pick up Mustang by itself.

Can you demo the tables with the free version (play in trial mode)?

dtown8532 said:

There's no lighting adjustment and while Star Trek and AC/DC should look like they're LED'd, they don't. The lighting effects are very bland and flat looking with little to no pop.

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same thing bother me when i saw SPA promo video - lighting show on new tables looks like simple "on/off" - LED lights o real tables are more colorful and "juicy" even looks like "neon" lighting, and when they are flashing they have more "middle" stages of intensity.

dtown8532 said:

I played Ripleys for a bit. Looks like the night mode in TPA. I would not rebuy the older tables unless financially logical. I'll pick up Mustang by itself.

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Physics wise is there anything different on Ripley's from TPA? Is the DMD on the machine animated? Did they do anything to give even the slightest reason to buy the re-releases if not financially logical?

Any gameplay videos anywhere? Youtube/Twitch etc would be appreciated

Just watching, sounds great!!! Gameplay looks solid - lighting looks a bit off, very Dark on Star Trek & ACDC, same as what others have said above - no way to adjust which sucks. Might wait for the Steam version, hopefully that'll have more lighting options. Menu/Arcade setting looks much better done then the current interface, very seamless

Well, Frankenstein seems like the exact same thing as the TPA version, except the ball is very dark on SPA. Maybe a few cosmetic differences, but not enough to truly warrant a whole new Pinball Arcade program. Seems kind of shady to include tables that are already in TPA, if you ask me. They should have just included the dupes in the free version.

Had a chance for a quick run before heading out. Lighting issues are a big problem from what I'm used to in TPA, especially on Star Trek, I'll probably have to boost the brightness on the TV while playing. Don't regret picking up the one pack as my son is going to flip when he sees Star Trek available at home, but I can't imagine picking up anything else until the Steam release comes out and the lighting is improved.

Has there been any official list of which tables will be included on the physical release? The cover art mentions 'exclusive' LE versions... are they really 'exclusive' to the disc or is there an option/additional purchase for alternate versions on the PSN download tables of AC/DC and Star Trek?

No additional purchase options for different versions of tables on PSN that I've seen unless they're buried in the descriptions somewhere. No options in-game either. Even the Facebook post from SPA doesn't mention the LE editions for either disc or digital.

https://store.playstation.com/#!/en...=UP2058-CUSA06839_00-HDDBOOTPBS000001:ADD-ONS

On amazon, the physical disc's cover art says "Exclusive! Star Trek and AC/DC 'Back in Black' & 'Let There Be Rock' Limited Editions included". If there's no upgrade option in the PSN tables then maybe they are exclusive to the disc version?


Also, can anyone check whether there are any trophies for the DLC tables or is it just the 8 base game trophies for MSF?

First off, this is like XMAS for me - went to sleep last night dreaming of Kobayashi Maru, Enterprise Amok, and 5 year mission (wizard modes). Star Trek was the pinball machine that got me into all this. Thank you stern and farsight.

Buying guide for PSN digital (little weird)

Free - Stern Pinball Game with Frankenstein
ADD ONS
$9.99 Star Trek Vengeance Premium
$4.99 Phantom of the Opera
$4.99 Last Action Hero
$4.99 Starship Troopers
$4.99 Ripley's Believe it or Not
$9.99 Mustang Premium 'Boss"
$4.99 High Roller Casino
$19.99 AC/DC (premium?)
$19.99 Bundle Pack 1 (Star Trek, AC/DC, Starship Troopers, Ripleys)
$19.99 Bundle Pack 2 (Mustang, LAH, HRC, PotO, Harley Davidson)

So I went with bundle pack 1 because it included star trek and ac/dc for $20. ac/dc standalone in $20? -that must be a mistake - both the standalone and the bundle are both described as the premium version.

I also got the bundle pack 2 because that is the only way to get mustang (not sold as standalone).
EDIT: mustang is available as standalone (my bad).

Got to play only one game before work (star trek of course) - also surprised that there was no lighting options OR operator menu - hopefully these will be added as an update.

Last thing - on the PSN leaderboards it shows about 100 people posted scores from (mobile). Can one of you mobile testers let me know if that version has lighting options and icade support for iOS? (definitely my preferred platform)

Last last thing - ghostbusters is in the interface with a coming soon! (no whoa nellie)

DA5ID said:

$9.99 Mustang Premium 'Boss"


I also got the bundle pack 2 because that is the only way to get mustang (not sold as standalone).

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It's okay. The DLC options were confusing to me as well rushing to get ready for work.