Request Most Wanted Steve Ritchie Tables - Pick Five

[HOW]

I picked it even though I've never played it, just because I enjoyed the original so much in the arcade and the Williams collection. I'm disappointed Firepower isn't getting more love myself. One of the first pinballs I can remember (back when I was so small I had to sit on a barstool to play) was Firepower II. I hadn't played the first one until the Williams collection on Wii and I really like that table with the focus on hitting targets rather than ramps - nice for a change of pace from what we see in more recent machines.

Isn't Firepower II Mark's, not Steve's?

 

[HOW]

Oh. And lovin' that HSII appears to have ST:TNG beat! LOL

 

[Sean]

Isn't Firepower II Mark's, not Steve's?

I don't know who designed it, I was just highlighting why the name stood out for me. I definitely want to see Firepower II in a future release, but I really enjoy Firepower and not for nostalgia.

 

[dtown8532]

Isn't Firepower II Mark's, not Steve's?

Yes. Firepower II was a Mark Ritchie pin. I think the reason Firepower isn't getting as much love is that, when you got just five to pick from, Firepower is going to fall behind many of Steve's newer tables. Also, since we know that its coming no matter what at some point I think people are voting on which OTHER tables they would like to see.

 

[Bowflex]

The numbers on this poll are interesting. I counted 229 votes from 54 voters which means that 41 votes were not used in this poll thus far. I was wondering how Getaway could still be under 40 votes when you can pick 5. Probably some people just voting for their favorite 1 or 2.

 

[Sean]

Well, I didn't use all my votes simply because I don't know most of these tables.

 

[Moon Jump]

Steve's one of my favorites. Lots of fast flowing gameplay. Also great to see some Getaway love, as I've said a million times, if they can't get La Grange, don't bother.

Here's what I voted for.

The Getaway
Spider-Man
Terminator 2
Black Knight 2000
Star Trek TNG

I would love to see if the Farsight team could handle Hyperball, even though it's not like a traditional pinball machine. (Still have yet to play one)

 

[mmmagnetic]

Just checked out some videos of F-14 Tomcat, that game looks ridiculously cool! Nice pumping FM music, very interesting layout, agressive playfield graphics... would love to see this on TPA some day!

 

[Fuseball]

F-14 is a fantastic game. Pure adrenalin. I would say it's the most aggressive table I've ever played. I'm still hoping to own one someday.

 

[Jeff Strong]

Steve's one of my favorites. Lots of fast flowing gameplay. Also great to see some Getaway love, as I've said a million times, if they can't get La Grange, don't bother.

But that song is so bloody awesome.

 

[Rudy Yagov]

Just checked out some videos of F-14 Tomcat, that game looks ridiculously cool! Nice pumping FM music, very interesting layout, agressive playfield graphics... would love to see this on TPA some day!

F-14 is a fantastic game. Pure adrenalin. I would say it's the most aggressive table I've ever played. I'm still hoping to own one someday.

I own one myself, and my forum name is half taken from the "antagonist" of the game (the other half obviously being Funhouse's Rudy). It's easily one of the fastest games from the 80s, and one of the few to have 4-ball multiball. Pretty simple rule set, but that's offset by the difficulty and velocity of the game. Great sound package as well. The multiball theme is one of my favorite tunes of the era.

Steve really was the king of System 11 games. High Speed, BK2K, F-14, Rollergames, all fantastic tables.

 

[Actionball]

This poll opened up my eyes a lot. I learned that I actually like 5 Steve Ritchie games.

High Speed, Getaway, T2, BK2k and STTNG

People can hate on Pat Lawlor and I can get behind a lot of those complaints but for me if its over rated you want, SR is the man.

 

[Jeff Strong]

This poll opened up my eyes a lot. I learned that I actually like 5 Steve Ritchie games.

High Speed, Getaway, T2, BK2k and STTNG

People can hate on Pat Lawlor and I can get behind a lot of those complaints but for me if its over rated you want, SR is the man.

I dunno. Anyone who has made even just 5 amazing tables is rated pretty high in my book (and personally I think he has more than 5 greats). There aren't very many guys who could take their top 5 designs and put them next to Ritchie's work as if they were equal.

 

[Actionball]

The games of his I like are the ones that (mostly) don't scream Steve Ritchie. Heck, 2 of them could almost be Pat Lawlor games if you had thrown a scoop or 2 and some pops and other random crap in the lower left, Getaway and STTNG.

Its the dead easy up the middle left ramp, right ramp, outside loop cookie cutter thing I think of when I think SR and those are the games I just can't stand. Of course MM follows that pattern and is somehow selling for 20k on Ebay these days so I guess its a formula that some people love.

Not bad, just over rated.

 

[jkonami]

I just had a pretty good run on Firepower last night on the Williams PHOF collection. I was only going for the normal table goals but I had a really good game in the process. I have to admit, I didn't really like FP all that much at first, but I think I "get" it now. At first it seemed really frustrating (and to me one of the characteristics of a Ritchie table is starting to be a treacherously empty lower playfield) but I realized it sets you up to start multiball over and over really easily, and I must have set it off like five or six times in a row, which seemed to be part of that table's particular charm. Rolled over the score (which I'm betting is fairly common) and got somewhere around 1.2 million. Shame those wizard goals don't carry over in PHOF (do they in TPA?). Anyway, it still won't be one of my favorite tables ever, but I can see how it can be a satisfying one.

Oh yeah, and about Hyperball - I checked out a video on that and I would have jumped on something like that immediately if I saw it an arcade. For those who didn't know what it was like me, check it out on youtube. Instead of flippers, you get two rotatable triggers that aim a rapid-fire pinball machine gun kind of thing! Maybe in a way that part is a little like Pachinko but the playfield has drop targets to aim for. This would be a really novel table for Farsight to do one day and I dare say, an easy one.