I played a real BOP yesterday for the first time in almost 2 decades. One thing I noticed right away is that clearing the shuttle ramp is much harder than it is on TPA. While simply hitting the ramp is pretty much on par with the TPA version, your shot has to be really accurate to have enough momentum to clear it. Somebody else mentioned this on a blog on Pinside. Those of you who have played some real BOP recently, is this the way it is supposed to be, or were the flippers on the machine I played (and possibly the one the blogger played) too weak?
I also noticed the left loop spam doesn't work as well. You can backhand it into the loop from the left flipper, but the ball does not always go back to the flipper.
One thing worth mentioning was how much of the presentation failed to translate. Every sound and playfield detail is present and in the right place on TPA, but it lacks the epic feel of the real machine. I always felt the Bride to human transition was too long on TPA, and always wished there was a fast-forward/skip option, but after playing it IRL, I see why they did it that way. I know, every table is better in reality, but some TPA recreations, such as TOM, Taxi, and HD, don't suffer from this as much as BOP is. There's not much FS can do about that, it's just the way some tables are.
I also noticed the left loop spam doesn't work as well. You can backhand it into the loop from the left flipper, but the ball does not always go back to the flipper.
One thing worth mentioning was how much of the presentation failed to translate. Every sound and playfield detail is present and in the right place on TPA, but it lacks the epic feel of the real machine. I always felt the Bride to human transition was too long on TPA, and always wished there was a fast-forward/skip option, but after playing it IRL, I see why they did it that way. I know, every table is better in reality, but some TPA recreations, such as TOM, Taxi, and HD, don't suffer from this as much as BOP is. There's not much FS can do about that, it's just the way some tables are.
