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GrizZ's Ultimate Guide To Popeye - The good , the bad and the spinach

Good stuff. Glad there are some other enthusiasts. I feel so much of the critiques or bad feeling about the game are unfair hangover or bitterness where it was blamed for the start of the rot at BW.

I like the layout, the game and rules are really deep for its era, sound & DMD animations are excellent and I can't think of another title of similar age that feels like it has more staying power.

I'm not a huge fan of some of the cabinet art and stickers on plastics, but its uniqueness and the pros listed above more than outweigh that.


I'll be selling my second (first) Popeye shortly. It's the the one that's been through here a couple of times and cabinet needs a little work and has the 'interesting' hand drawn sticker on the upper playfield plastic. It's had some work done since it last came up. I'll list it once I've received new trough opto boards - should play perfectly once they're in. Reason for sale is that I tracked down a completely mint example.
 
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So, Grizz, are you bringing Popeye to NLP in October? ;-)

I have to say i've played it in Copenhagen and actually really enjoyed it. Not as intuitive to play as many but give it some time and be prepared to move around a bit and it's good fun to play. I'd certainly consider owning one.
 
Hehe - Not sure I really 'Hate' the game, but I will admit to it being right down there at the bottom of the heap ;)

So, just to put a little context around the rulesheet: When Popeye turned up it joined ST:TNG, TZ, IJ, Drac, WH20, Addams, Dr Who, and a couple of others in the arcade, so it had a LOT to live up to. It was also a prototype version with very early ROM's (PA-5 IIRC) which didn't do it any favours.

I gave it a pretty good run, but was constantly frustrated by the inability to see half the shots I was aiming for. The escalator in particular is, IMO, an important part of play and yet you cannot clearly see it without stepping about 1ft to the left of the game. Granted you can use the artwork and lights as a guide, but you cannot fine-tune your shot if you can't see where it goes. Furthermore, every time the ball is out of sight you lose the opportunity for those little nudges that can make such a difference.

Later software fixed some of the niggles (in the earliest ROM's there was no ball saver at all from the Lockjaw kickout!), but by then the game had lost me.

Oh, and before I'm accused of not giving it a chance, there was one at the Pinball Party a couple of years back and I spent a fair bit of time on it. I'm afraid my opinion didn't change an awful lot....... On the other hand, it still pinball and that's better than no pinball at all :)
 
Great write up! Can't actually remember playing a popeye. Will sure to look out for one at the next show. Looks different to the norm and bold styling.
 
cooldan said:
I'm looking forward to playing on this at Chez GrizZ tomorrow night
Click to expand...

And I trust you enjoyed your few brief games on it .....the way you skipped out of the Shack shouting .....'I'm Dan the sailor man and I have seen the light. God bless the good ship Popeye and all who sail in her ! I love it more than spinach !' suggested you did :D
 
Once this done you should post it on Pinside and give it a wider audience.

They might even make it into a front page article with the proper formatting.
 
Had no idea what I was doing up there, didn't even see the map on the right! Not that that will help one bit but hopefully I'll find the little bugger with dumn luck at some point! Good work Sarge there can't be too much more to go right?!
 
Heading to Keith's tonight to get a few games in before we head over to NLP

Popeye is top of my list as usual (especially as his Royal rumble is tombstoned in my garage at the moment)
 
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