Pinball FX2 MARS Table

[Womble]

I really enjoy this table but the length of time it takes kickbacks to happen is really frustrating.

When you start a game, you get a 30 second (I think) Ball Saver. With a bit of practice you can usually get at least one full kickback happening within this time, and should be well on your way to the second kickback.

At the start, I ignore everything -- including the Sampling mission -- until I've shot the left and right ramps enough times to light kickbacks. Unless it's an easy shot on the mission, in which case I'll take that because I know the mission will return the ball to one of my inlanes, awarding me a lane light.

FWIW, as the guide says, your aim should be to always have 2 kickbacks lit, and 2 lights lit on each side. Once you have a Kickback in place, don't let the ball light the third light! (It will only award you 20K points, and you'll have to go and re-light those lanes.)

[the1rishway]

I think you misunderstood me. What I mean is the time it takes once you have a kickback activated for it to send the ball back into play.

[Cloda]

I think you misunderstood me. What I mean is the time it takes once you have a kickback activated for it to send the ball back into play.

It can be frustrating but you should rather see it as 'n unique quirk of the table that you have to work with. E.g. Excalibur's "kickback's" have to be re-activated every 20's - hate it in principle but accept it as unique to the table. Forces you to adapt your strategy which is really good, else all the tables will just play the same. Having to come up with alternative strategies also makes you a better player I believe as it allows you to explore other options and shots. For me the pyramid multi-ball forced me to become a better multi-ball player - before this I just always tried to "survive" multi-ball, but now I can actually "play" it which gives me lots of hope to making a big improvement on tables such as SotD.

[the1rishway]

It can be frustrating but you should rather see it as 'n unique quirk of the table that you have to work with. E.g. Excalibur's "kickback's" have to be re-activated every 20's - hate it in principle but accept it as unique to the table. Forces you to adapt your strategy which is really good, else all the tables will just play the same. Having to come up with alternative strategies also makes you a better player I believe as it allows you to explore other options and shots. For me the pyramid multi-ball forced me to become a better multi-ball player - before this I just always tried to "survive" multi-ball, but now I can actually "play" it which gives me lots of hope to making a big improvement on tables such as SotD.

Oh, I agree absolutely. It was just a minor complaint. I'm lucky to have kickbacks that are that frequent/easy to activate. I suppose it was my cynical way of saying, "if that's the biggest flaw the table has, I'm thrilled with it"

[rapierdwit]

Oh, I agree absolutely. It was just a minor complaint. I'm lucky to have kickbacks that are that frequent/easy to activate. I suppose it was my cynical way of saying, "if that's the biggest flaw the table has, I'm thrilled with it"

I agree on both counts. Frustrating to be in the middle of a hurry-up (Sunstorm *cough*) and wait for the little spider to kick the ball back into play...you know its end of mission if you hit an outlane on Sunstorm.

[KnoxSe7eN]

Yeah I have had that happen to me as well. Time 9,8,7,6 hurry up space spider, 5,4, panic shot and miss..... >_<

Still good stuff, my highest score is on this table 89 million I think. Sadly I have not hit 100 million but I plan to do my best. I know it may be sad to be so happy for hitting 89 mil. Still feels like a personal achievement no matter how small.

[the1rishway]

Pinball is a game of personal victories.

[KnoxSe7eN]

Pinball is a game of personal victories.

Well said I couldn't agree more.

[Womble]

I think you misunderstood me. What I mean is the time it takes once you have a kickback activated for it to send the ball back into play.

My apologies. I did misread you.

At first I thought Space Spider's little antics were distracting and overlong, but now I tend to appreciate the break.

Certainly, it's annoying in a timed mission, but then I figure that if Space Spider had to do his job, then I did something wrong anyway.

[green_shadow]

Hey guys! Greetings to all... I got pinball fx2 about 2-3 weeks ago starting with one table just to see what it offered... I instantly fell in love with it cause it offers me a type of gaming that modern videogames do not offer... pure, unconditioned, genuine FUN...Well, one week after i purchased the first table, i had all of them cause i couldn't get enough! I am a very mediocre player... I read the forum very often but hadn't register until some minutes ago. The reason i did, is because i wanted to leave a VERY POSITIVE feedback on the mars table. I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!! Many opinions already posted cover me and i will add that the kickback activation is pretty easy on this table making it easy to get high scores... If not the TOP table, almost certainly one of the 3 best tables i've ever played...I like it cause it's simple, missions are pretty fun and not excessively difficult, great animations, great, great, great, great and great!!!! keep 'em coming!! GREAT WORK ON MARS ZEN!

[crackervizzo]

Hey guys! Greetings to all... I got pinball fx2 about 2-3 weeks ago starting with one table just to see what it offered... I instantly fell in love with it cause it offers me a type of gaming that modern videogames do not offer... pure, unconditioned, genuine FUN...Well, one week after i purchased the first table, i had all of them cause i couldn't get enough! I am a very mediocre player... I read the forum very often but hadn't register until some minutes ago. The reason i did, is because i wanted to leave a VERY POSITIVE feedback on the mars table. I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!! Many opinions already posted cover me and i will add that the kickback activation is pretty easy on this table making it easy to get high scores... If not the TOP table, almost certainly one of the 3 best tables i've ever played...I like it cause it's simple, missions are pretty fun and not excessively difficult, great animations, great, great, great, great and great!!!! keep 'em coming!! GREAT WORK ON MARS ZEN!

Welcome to the club Green Shadow. Happy to have you here, and thanks so much for the kind words.

[Numanoid]

I agree on both counts. Frustrating to be in the middle of a hurry-up (Sunstorm *cough*) and wait for the little spider to kick the ball back into play...you know its end of mission if you hit an outlane on Sunstorm.

LOL, this happens to me all the time. Actually, the mission hole, for me, becomes a magnet in sunstorm because it takes so long to deliver the ball back to the play field.

One of the biggest challenges for me on this table is getting the timing right. So many missions take a long time to start. For instance, Sunstorm, for the most part won't have the lanes lit by the time the ball gets to the flippers when it is activated. Same thing with the spider scanner. I just nudge pass the ball and capture it on the other side and wait.

[ShoryukenToTheChin]

Seems everyone loves MARS which is very good not a bad review by anyone from what I have seen. Only thing someone could moan about is the extra 40msp you need to pay but that doesn't hurt us because we are pinball nutz.

If they have made MARS look as good as this in the port to PFX2 from ZP, imagine how Paranormal will look.

I just got the new Mortal Kombat so im juggling that and MARS.

[Epsilon]

Seems everyone loves MARS which is very good not a bad review by anyone from what I have seen. Only thing someone could moan about is the extra 40msp you need to pay but that doesn't hurt us because we are pinball nutz.

If they have made MARS look as good as this in the port to PFX2 from ZP, imagine how Paranormal will look.

I just got the new Mortal Kombat so im juggling that and MARS.

Yeah, this was quite an eventful week. I'm plowing through Portal 2, have Mortal Kombat waiting on my shelf, and even those are taking a back seat to a release of a single pinball table.

Minor quibbles aside, Mars is definitely one of the most approachable and enjoyable tables in FX2 yet. It would be well worth it at twice the price, IMO.

[KGSoloman8000]

If they have made MARS look as good as this in the port to PFX2 from ZP, imagine how Paranormal will look.

I can't wait for crackervizzo to announce the Paranormal release date. I have seen videos of the table for PS3 and it looks great. It definitely doesn't look like anything that FX2 currently offers. It just looks so wacky and "out there"...

I wonder if Paranormal is next in line for release... or if Zen is gonna throw a brand new Marvel table at us next to mix things up a little bit

[Epsilon]

I can't wait for crackervizzo to announce the Paranormal release date. I have seen videos of the table for PS3 and it looks great. It definitely doesn't look like anything that FX2 currently offers. It just looks so wacky and "out there"...

I wonder if Paranormal is next in line for release... or if Zen is gonna throw a brand new Marvel table at us next to mix things up a little bit

I think the time is right for a new Marvel table. Captain America would be awesome; hell, just thinking about it makes me itch to play the old arcade game again.

But I certainly wouldn't complain about Paranormal, either. I'm just glad to see new tables at all. For a while there I was afraid what we had was all we'd get. If only Crave would take a page from Zen and start pumping out DLC for PHOF. Fish Tales, Cirqus Voltaire, Cactus Canyon, Diner, Earthshaker, there are a plethora of non-licensed possibilities. A shame they let such a promising product die on the vine.

[satch]

Another awsome table from ZEN. because of doing some long hours of working nights i have only got a few games in so far. so looking forward to getting some good play time on it

[RonnyRAGE]

not a bad table but not very interesting kind of got board with it quick. I look forward to the next ones. Not knocking it but it is not my cup of tea( still bitter because I bought it twice)

Also Mortal Kombat came out

[clydebink]

It's weird, I think maybe it's because of the frozen ball messing with my perception of how the ball moves, but I can't seem to shake the idea that the ball on mars moves differently. Is it that all the other tables are waxed?

[Numanoid]

Does the frozen ball change it's weight or movement? At first I thought it did, but then I started second guessing myself.

[clydebink]

I think the frozen ball is like wolverine's fast ball special, where it loses friction so it'll fly up ramps without effort.

I think I'm imagining things with the sliding ball. After playing excalibur and pasha, I don't see any difference. I think the frozen ball just messes me up residually like mysterio's flipper situation messes me up after it's over.

[Mr. E]

Hi there. This is my first post.

I thought it was funny when I first saw the Mars table on my list and tried to buy it....it said it cost over 4 billion MS points...haha!

But as soon as the link worked correctly, I bought the table and I have to say its shaping up to be one of my favorite tables already. I like how its a pretty high-scoring table for one thing and the missions are cool. The difficulty of the shots is about right I think. The only shot I have a really hard time on is like the "R" on the MARS targets.

I'm hopeful that I'll be able to beat the wizard mode on this table.

Thanks to ZEN for a great game and a great new table!

mysterio's flipper situation messes me up after it's over.

I know what you mean about the reverse-flipper thing. It totally confused me at first. The only way I that finally got the hang of it is to hit both flippers at the same exact time. That way, I don't get confused during, or after the mode.

[ShoryukenToTheChin]

With the tourney going on loads of people will be playing this table now, gonna have some crazy scores up there now. Well Fantastic 4 is the next table coming maybe after that is Paranormal.

[Womble]

What are people doing to get the bonus multipliers on this table?

With the view angles I favour, I can't really see the bonus multiplier rollover lanes, only the lights. So when I get the ball up there, say in Pyramid mode, I'm just spamming the flippers in the hope that I'll get lucky and light a lane from a bumper hit.

Is anyone doing it smarter?

[Nekro Neko]

Look at those lights when you have a captive ball. Rotate them round with your other flipper so that when you hit the ball up to orbit that they will rotate so the middle lane is the one that is unlit.

[MAT]

The counterclockwise orbit shot is often troublesome for me. I try to avoid it as much as possible but some missions require it. The ball comes down fast in a nasty angle for a center drain and there is only a split-second chance to save it. Any tips?

[Nekro Neko]

When shooting the anti-clockwise orbit I tend to let it roll onto the left flipper and it usually bounces safely to the right flipper for an easy catch.

[Lepruk86]

Grrr @ Sunstorm...

That bloomin' mission sunk 6... YES 6!!!! balls across 2 games. On my first ball on both games I scored around 50mil and got up to Sunstorm (with refuel completed) and could I complete it? Hell No!!!

Could I stop draining balls after a couple of attempts? Hell No!!!

*grumble grumble*...

(Love the table Zen )

[Nekro Neko]

Sunstorm is designed to make you panic, though the key is to take your time and make sure of your aiming. Trapping the ball is a must. I've said it before but make sure you can hit both left and right sides with either flipper.

Pyramid, now that is the annoying mode on the table.

[FIREBALL]

The counterclockwise orbit shot is often troublesome for me. I try to avoid it as much as possible but some missions require it. The ball comes down fast in a nasty angle for a center drain and there is only a split-second chance to save it. Any tips?

Give the table a slight nudge when the ball is just above the top of the left slingshot.
The nudge has solved this occasional drain for me. GL

edit: An easier option is to just hold the left flipper up and let the ball bounce off it.

[FIREBALL]

What are people doing to get the bonus multipliers on this table?

With the view angles I favour, I can't really see the bonus multiplier rollover lanes, only the lights. So when I get the ball up there, say in Pyramid mode, I'm just spamming the flippers in the hope that I'll get lucky and light a lane from a bumper hit.

Is anyone doing it smarter?

My opinion is that the ball is most likely to bounce up one of the side rollovers. I prefer the left side, and always leave this side unlit when two lights are lit. This is done when the ball is already within the bumper area.

A very quick and observant player might nudge when the ball is on top of the left or right bumper in order to 'encourage' the ball to light these rollovers. You need the correct view for this type of micro management.

I wonder if the vibration generated by flipper spamming increases ball and bumper interaction?

[ShoryukenToTheChin]

Did anyone check out my mission guide over on the PINBALLFX website homepage?

[Womble]

Did anyone check out my mission guide over on the PINBALLFX website homepage?

I did, but initially thought it was related to the Zen Pinball version because of a few points:

The [shuttle ramp] is by far the easiest ramp to hit and its worth noting that is its one of the only ramps that the ball comes down nicely on the left flipper to be able to hold onto it.

This isn't really possible in most cases in the PFX2 version; the ball travels too fast and you can't trap it without a nudge when it's in the upper in-lane. You can tap-pass it over the jump, though. Or nudge it over.

The first nudge will display the word DANGER all in CAPS and the second nudge will display the word danger in bigger font, but all in lowercase.

This is fixed in the PFX2 version.


Some other stuff:

Tip would be to hit a ramp you have ease with then hold the ball till the next alternate from left to right happens.

You can also hit the same sequence again within the phase time limit, and it will count to your total. (Note that the number of phases display will not adjust.) So it's possible to finish this sequence quite quickly if you can make some ramp-loop combos.

[Satellite main mission] is a 4-ball multiball challenge, this table loves its multiball.

And so do I! Boy, that pyramid mode has made me a much better multiball player!

It turns out that Satellite main mission can be a big score booster. With a bit of lane-lights hand-holding, it's not unreasonable to grab over 100 million from this round. Much more if you have the patience to manage your shots. (I don't.) But, as you say, getting to this round is the real trick. That up-kicker is a bitch of a shot.

Thanks for the guide! It all helps.

[sosage]

Just reg'd on the boards. Nice table! My only criticism is that almost every mode takes FOOOOOOREEEEEEVEEEER to start once activated. Usually because of all of the otherwise great extra animations going on. More than once I have kept the ball's flow going by activating a mode then combo'ing into the first shot required in said mode...just to have that shot not count because the dot matrix and space shuttle/robot/satellite animations need to kick in and finish their thing.

I'd recommend trying to find a way to have the gameplay portion of the mode actually activate once the appropriate switch is hit, let the mode play out behind the scenes while the intro animation does its thing.

Sometimes this phenomenon can happen IRL pinball, but when I've seen it it is because the timing between making the shot for mode activation and the first required shot of said mode is made in a split second. On this table I can sometimes combo the two main ramps once each before a mode starts counting shots made.

Everything else is great. The layout is fun, the flippers are fed but quick enough to make ball control tricky, the theme is done very well and I like the balance between difficult to activate multiball modes and multipliers with a very forgiving kick back/ball save activation. Fun!

BTW...anyone actually finish Pyramid Multiball? It's the one mode I haven't been able to finish (aside from the Wizard mode). The normal shots and saving the balls isn't the difficult part (especially if you manage your left and right ball saves)...it's the damn targets. It isn't totally clear either what is needed. BLARG! >:P

[Lepruk86]

BTW...anyone actually finish Pyramid Multiball? It's the one mode I haven't been able to finish (aside from the Wizard mode). The normal shots and saving the balls isn't the difficult part (especially if you manage your left and right ball saves)...it's the damn targets. It isn't totally clear either what is needed. BLARG! >:P

Mars is really frustrating in a different kind of way. Most pinball tables just try to drain you asap but a game on Mars can last ages. The problem as you said is that modes take ages to get too and are actually quite hard to complete xD.

Pyramid multiball is just something I think I will get by accident eventually; those targets are so frustrating; and from what I can make out you have to hit them twice quickly in order for them to count (once to make them flash then again to make them solid).

[rapierdwit]

BTW...anyone actually finish Pyramid Multiball? It's the one mode I haven't been able to finish (aside from the Wizard mode). The normal shots and saving the balls isn't the difficult part (especially if you manage your left and right ball saves)...it's the damn targets. It isn't totally clear either what is needed. BLARG! >:P

I have beaten it a few times, twice in one game actually when I posted my high score (700+ Million). I personally love the mode since the chance of draining is almost nil. Like I said in a previous post, it should be called "Mutiplier x10 and free ball" mode. I do not even try to beat it until I have achieved that and I try to activate it first before any of the other missions. Of course, the targets are always what is left to hit at the end, so just adjust your shots to hit those. Getting all the targets and NOT locking the balls is prolly the most annoying aspect but at least you earn ~4 million for a failed attempt LOL.

[ShoryukenToTheChin]

This is fixed in the PFX2 version.

I just rechecked now, it says 'DANGER' in a smaller size and 'danger' in a larger size. Its still funny doh, It should be danger then DANGER then TILT. I hardly use Nudges because I keep forgetting they are available to me. Anyways Im happy the guide is still useable, I never said it was perfect lol so I guess that saves me.

[ShoryukenToTheChin]

I have beaten it a few times, twice in one game actually when I posted my high score (700+ Million). I personally love the mode since the chance of draining is almost nil. Like I said in a previous post, it should be called "Mutiplier x10 and free ball" mode. I do not even try to beat it until I have achieved that and I try to activate it first before any of the other missions. Of course, the targets are always what is left to hit at the end, so just adjust your shots to hit those. Getting all the targets and NOT locking the balls is prolly the most annoying aspect but at least you earn ~4 million for a failed attempt LOL.

Yeh the mission is good in a sense for point farmer since it gives nice points even if you fail.

[sosage]

I have beaten it a few times, twice in one game actually when I posted my high score (700+ Million). I personally love the mode since the chance of draining is almost nil. Like I said in a previous post, it should be called "Mutiplier x10 and free ball" mode. I do not even try to beat it until I have achieved that and I try to activate it first before any of the other missions. Of course, the targets are always what is left to hit at the end, so just adjust your shots to hit those. Getting all the targets and NOT locking the balls is prolly the most annoying aspect but at least you earn ~4 million for a failed attempt LOL.

Yeah. I've gotten to the mode multiple times, but never to the actual locking portion. :P

My other issue with modes taking forever to start after activation could be tweaked in the software one way without sacrificing animations. Especially for modes where you have to hit one of the upkicker holes to start. Let's take Sunstorm for example. Right now the order of operation seems to go:

- Hit space ship hole
- Ball releases from space ship hole and is fed to flippers
- Dot Matrix and Playfield mode animations start
- Animations finish
- Shots for mode are lit

By the time the mode is prepared, I've already juggled the ball and possibly made a shot or two that won't count.

Just tweak the order to this:

- Hit space ship hole
- Hold ball in hole
- Dot Matrix and Playfield animations start
- Animations finish
- Release ball from hole
- Shots for mode are lit

Timing won't be perfect, but the shots should be lit by the time the ball rolls to the inlane to feed the flipper.

It's pretty much what Lord of the Rings does with ring modes. That game has similarly long mode intro animations, but the ball isn't let loose into play until the mode is properly set up for play. Just a design suggestion.

[Cloda]

Yeah. I've gotten to the mode multiple times, but never to the actual locking portion. :P

My other issue with modes taking forever to start after activation could be tweaked in the software one way without sacrificing animations. Especially for modes where you have to hit one of the upkicker holes to start. Let's take Sunstorm for example. Right now the order of operation seems to go:

- Hit space ship hole
- Ball releases from space ship hole and is fed to flippers
- Dot Matrix and Playfield mode animations start
- Animations finish
- Shots for mode are lit

By the time the mode is prepared, I've already juggled the ball and possibly made a shot or two that won't count.

Just tweak the order to this:

- Hit space ship hole
- Hold ball in hole
- Dot Matrix and Playfield animations start
- Animations finish
- Release ball from hole
- Shots for mode are lit

Timing won't be perfect, but the shots should be lit by the time the ball rolls to the inlane to feed the flipper.

It's pretty much what Lord of the Rings does with ring modes. That game has similarly long mode intro animations, but the ball isn't let loose into play until the mode is properly set up for play. Just a design suggestion.

Good one!!! Haven't bothered me too much but now that you mention it... I also seem to have to juggle the ball a while before taking the shot. Once I have learned to shoot to both sides from both flippers it has made it "safer" because now I just wait it out until the shots are active.

[Captain America]

I finally caved in and bought the Mars table. I had no idea I'd be playing at least 30 minutes per game; I love it. I really just got points so I could get the F4 table.