You'll get a variety of answers. Mine are Metallica and Guardians of the Galaxy... but there are many others, I'm sure. There are some games I honestly prefer the pro over premium, but the premium is the intended way to play.

Oh, and we have discussed this to death.

guardians of the galaxy, tmnt, deadpool

Stern Star Trek.

99.9% similar in gameplay (LH saucer. Pro = kick-out down or Prem/LE = VUK up being the ONLY difference). Everything else is jumping Vengeance or lightshow/bling.

Later,
EV

Stranger Things

Typically, I have found most John Borg games don't matter which model you get, you get a lot in both models.
Games like Turtles, Rush, Guardians, you don't miss much from the pro models.

Its all opinion. However, I think these titles are good as pros:

GB
BKSOR
Guardians
Kiss

I would disagree on metallica. You're missing spinners, the hammer & hammer lock, the rising cross behind the drop targets, the opening/closing snake jaw, and better lighting effects. I vastly prefer the premium for this title.

I would agree GOTG is functionally pretty much the same. The big differences in the premium were mostly RGB lighting and the opening/closing orb. Plus the silly arms.

Good question...

Pro:
GOTG
DP
TWD

Prem:
AIQ
JP
Stranger Things

This is a good video to watch. Listen to their sides and come up with your own opinion. I believe they have a few other videos like this.

Iron Maiden

IMDN is the one premium I've had at my place I would take the Pro model for a spin before bringing back the Premium and of the Pro's I've owned and would bring the Pro back again before the Premium, TWD, MET and JP. That would leave me with wanting premium on AIQ, GOT, Deadpool, AC/DC and Rush for the games I'd rather have the Premium on than the pro if I were to have them back.

EHOH it definitely doesn’t matter

TMNT, DP and GotG are the obvious ones for recent games ... pro is totally fine.

I 100% prefer the BK3 pro over the premium (especially with the left sword ramp mod) and I dislike the upper playfield .... and I prefer the JP Pro over the prem because that t-rex head is a pain in the arse. The Mando moving upper playfield stinks so I prefer pro on that (and I like having only one flipper there)

I 100% prefer Godzilla prem over the pro and Led Zep prem over the pro (that electric magic spinner is awesome to rip)

pro on walking dead, gotg, star trek, kiss, aerosmith, metallica, jp. the beatles

when you only have $6,999.

Spinners alone on Metallica are worth it. So empty without them.

Very close on getting a JP and GZ.

JP the consensus seems to be Pro, and GZ Premium
..?

You will get mixed answers. It seems often the premium just adds janky mechs that you can live without. I enjoy tournaments and it makes sense to have the less complicated and more reliable version in the tourney.

TWD, Metallica, AIQ, and Iron Maiden I have found the pro is adequate for my collection.

I hear owners get sick of waiting for the building to fall in slow-mo again and again. I enjoy playing my buddies pro.

I certainly did.

Hmm. Can that also an issue, mech wise? I skimmed over the owner's thread and saw some talk about that.

Thanks for the input!

I'd like to know as well

Not at all for me. But everyone tells themselves what they need to hear to justify their purchase. It is one of the single greatest toys ever. I can't imagine not having it.

IMO, When does buying a Pro vs. a Premium matter?

- When the gameplay experience and code differ enough between them that it feels like something is missing (Pro), or something gets in the way (Prem).

'Differ enough' is subjective ... everyone will feel those differences their own way.

Something is missing game (for me): Godzilla (building)
Something gets in the way: TMNT (glider button)

These are good examples. I like the Premium on TWD, but I'd be hard pressed to say it was worth the extra money.

Bond Pro and Premium are also both very close. I played both and bought the Pro.

I would say if money were no object, both Premium versions are worth it. If you're being more conscious with your budget, both Pros are amazing. You can't really go wrong with either title.

I think Godzilla premium is the only must have

+1

You can easily add spinners, and the rising cross mod for MET, lighting effects can also be added, the clunky hammer is in the way, I prefer the Pro

Still trademark pending, the "3 mech advantage" is commonly the discussion between Prem. vs. Pro. Usually a major mech, a mid mech, and a minor mech are the GAMEPLAY differences. Examples...

GZ - Building, Mecha, Bridge
TWD - Crossbow, Bicycle Girl Ramp, 2nd Magnet
STH - Projector, TK Lock, More animated DG
SW - Hyperspace, Death Star, Escape
Venom - 3-way ramp shot, Doppleganger, jump ramp

Here you weigh price adder vs. how much those 3 things mean to you. Since the mechs are usually spread out, the Prem usually feels more "alive" as well. But this is where the debate is usually 50-50% Pro vs. Prem.

Then you have games where the Prem doesn't really hit the "3 mech advantage".

DP - right orbit ramp is neat but not "wow", drops instead of standups is not worth a Prem upgrade.
IMDN - The SC Door/Mummy lock is cool but not necessary, same with the Underworld ramp.
AIQ - Rising disc is cool but kills flow, Captain Marvel Ramp was neat but rejects. Pro was a rock solid flow beast.
TMNT - Glider (meh), van lock (double meh)
GOTG - Game sucks anyways, so why spend extra on obtrusive arms and 2 unnecessary magnets?

In this case you often have the "Pro is more than fine" crowd vs the "I buy all Prem's so I'm going to defend it" crowd. This is more of a 70-30% split for Pro's. The Prem is still a more feature-rich game, and is still a lot of fun, but the Pro has a stronger leg to stand on since more people don't see the value in the upgrade.

Each release gets this sort of analysis, more or less. All comes down to those 3 mechs and how good they are.

Yeah, to some degree sure. I'd prefer not to have to do that, though.

It hasn't bothered me. To me, a pro seems empty without it.

A few of the games you can make a fair arguement that the pro plays better.

Deadpool: The pro has standups instead of drops... this makes the game MUCH harder as the drops don't slow down the ball.
Star Wars: The Premium is MUCH harder as the Death Star shot is now a moveable steep ramp that can be very difficult to hit.
BKSOR: The upper playfield slows down the game alot.
Game of thrones: See BKSOR

Sometimes there is not much gampley difference at all, but its just neat. See JP. with the exception of the moving raptor gate there is no physical difference between the games. In general I prefer premiums... but I trade alot and will probably go for a pro next time to do more pro temp trades.

I legit hate the hammer. Neat idea, execution is cool, but it is an eyesore.

Lies. That moment never gets old for me.

Well, I do admit I'm not crazy about the original style with the faces--I do like some of the modded ones, though.

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Among current games you can buy NIB, then Deadpool

I guess it's really relevant to when you purchased. I bought my TWD Premium back in the day for 6 NIB.

Pros are more than that now. And I really love this game so I wanted the full featured one.

I like when there was one model and one LE.... PERIOD

I prefer Pros on almost everything. Even Godzilla and AIQ. The premium mechs on both make the game harder and clunkier. Same goes for several others: Star Wars hyper loop, JP T-rex head, Rush time machine ramp, Mando tilting playfield, Stranger Things TK lock, all of those are just a pain to deal with in gameplay.

There are a few where at least the premium doesn't make it worse so it's slightly preferable, but not really worth the money: Deadpool, Iron Maiden, Turtles, Bond.

The only cases I'd want a premium is where the mechanicals significantly help the player. Foo Fighters is the only one I know firsthand where I'd actually get the premium over the pro. (I haven't played a premium BKSOR, Munsters, or Venom.) Maybe Led Zep, that's right on the borderline for whether it's worth it for a premium.

For me, twd premium is definitely worth it over the pro…woodbury drop target, well walker magnet, crossbow, walker bombs, rgb lighting, lifting bicycle girl ramp…all add to one of the best codes/themes to make it more interesting..add a sub out, color dmd..magic

Premium is worth it for one reason for me: Bombs. Financially it doesn't add up, but makes the gameplay far more satisfying. The lighting, too, but mostly that button in the kockdown bar makes all the difference.

Tron. That’s it

Having previously owned a PRO and now having owned a Premium for a while (which I can't ever see myself moving on), whilst the PRO is still an excellent game (get one if you can't find a Prem I say), I often see people say that you can add the spinners and lighting (really?; I thought the Total Light Show ceased being made ages ago?) I think those who say that are missing somethings.

One thing which really adds to the gameplay on MET Premium/LE is the snake jaw, when the snake holds on to the ball (with the usual add-a-ball happening) - it's much more satisfyingly the way it works and adds to the gameplay when during MB the snake spits the ball back out (which also signals double scoring is over).
Yes, you can change the settings on a pro for the snake to hold the ball, but without the closing jaw I used to find I'd end up hitting a 2nd ball in there and both would get spat out in a limp, often ball draining way.

Another thing to note which is major and something which I didn't consider before I landed a Prem, are the colour changing inserts. Very cool during say Fuel (in combination with the far superior GI) and also during say Fade to black, after a while when the lights go down (IIRC the lights go out on the PRO too -very cool), the inserts turn blue on the ramps etc.

Re; the spinners, for my taste they don't add much (satisfying during Fade to black though and I'd miss them if they weren't there now) and the rising cross is nice, but not mind blowing.
I absolutely love the Hammer though - never get bored of seeing that and I like the extra challenge of hitting sparky from the right flipper on Premium. Also; come on - the Hammer relates to the AJFA album and so completes the theme for me.

Anyway, as I said above the PRO is still an amazing game and you can't go wrong with it, I just thought I'd comment, as so many seem to just focus on the spinners and additional GI and miss some key points.

As a side note, any new on if Stern will be remaking/re-releasing Metallica? If they did, would be interesting to see if they add an LCD screen and are able to not mess the game up with poor animation. The DMD on the game is already great as it is, even if some parts could've been done a bit better.

I liked the way it was written too, aligned to pretty much all he wrote with a couple of exceptions for my 2 cents.

- DP has a disco ball that adds a mode that is missing entirely from the Pro, I'd consider that the 3rd mech advantage and I'd take drops over stand-ups any day of the week, that for me is well worth the difference for me and moves it up to his other tier.
- IMDN has a captive ball rather than a target, which is kinda weird and needs to be dialled in to be working great, but when it's working, it is way more fun to shoot than a standard target, I'd consider that IMDN's 3rd mech and I'd push it up a tier (Though I'd still buy the pro over the premium if I had to do it again)
- AIQ - A dialed in CM ramp for me is the most satisfying shot in pinball, when dialled in I don't find it rejects any more frequently than a poorly shot regular ramp shot, but fully aligned to the portal lock being a grand waste of time, I guess the VUK on the pym is the 3rd mech difference and Stern's matrix would want you to believe that the rising spinner is a separate mech from the portal lock, giving it a 4 mech difference, but those two are too tightly coupled for me to give them credit for that, so I like down in the second tier.

DP for me Prem just wasn't worth the upgrade from a Pro - not enough 'different' to make me pay more

Godzilla on the other hand, Premium is the only way go go IMO. Bride/Mecha/Building - it was an easy decision. Hell, even my cost conscious wife, told me to get the Prem.

IMO any pro that has the same shot layout as the premium; pros will do just fine it will shoot exactly the same. Nowadays with all the modders out there you usually can come extremely close to replicating additional toys to get that same tingly premium feeling w/ the Pro model.

Nice reply. To each their own. I'll just say that Deadpool Pro actually does have the Disco MB. It just doesn't have the disco ball but sort of replicates this with the disco animations on the LCD and a light show which sort of adds a flicker to the darkened PF during that MB. In a dark room it's pretty cool. Here's a video although the PF game is well lit for streaming purposes.

I believe he's talking about disco loops, which is only on the premium. It's similar to Godzilla's trains mode, just keep firing the same shot over and over.

People still hating on one of Sterns most underrated game.

If you talk about what you are getting for the extra dollars, it usually never makes sense to get anything more than the Pro. Having said that, the resale market seems to respect the difference in price points, so it's technically not a big deal.