The Uncanny X-Men PRO

The Uncanny X-Men – Playfield overview

The best way to approach this game's playfield is to go through the arrowed shots first. The leftmost shot is the X-Jet orbit, which, hit hard enough, takes the ball into the Danger Room. To the right of the orbit is the downtown ramp, an unusual combination of an orbit and a ramp that feeds backwards; you can hit it late from the right flipper and it feeds that same flipper for repeat shots. The uptown ramp is a more straightforward ramp that passes over the downtown orbit entrance and can also be hit from the right flipper.

The game's main gimmick is the huge Sentinel head, placed between the midtown and subway ramps . The midtown ramp is most reliably hit from the right flipper and feeds back to the same flipper for continuous shots. The subway ramp comes out at the same exit as the plunger ramp, but can only be hit from the left flipper. In front of the Sentinel head is a magnet, which can fling the ball around unpredictably when the giant Sentinel spawns. Its mouth can also drop to reveal a kickback, which does a lot of damage to the Sentinel, but fires the ball quickly back down to the flippers.

The last major shot on the playfield is the highway ramp. This steep ramp only makes it with strong left flipper shots and usually feeds the ball to the right flipper – unless Cerebro is active, in which case the ball is diverted to the left flipper. Cerebro itself sits directly above the tip of the left flipper and acts as a post that holds the ball in place as the player works toward starting To Me, My X-Men multiball.

Scattered around the playfield are several gray ”BAMF!” targets for Nightcrawler. Hitting them qualifies Cerebro. To the right of the uptown ramp is Beast’s Lab, which on the Pro is a leaper target (like Icarus in Led Zeppelin), and on the Prem/LE a raised captive ball. In addition, below the downtown ramp entrance there is a ”sneak-in” lane, which can't be hit reliably, but awards bonus points built up by the Kitty Pryde target and can spot shots in missions. Finally, there are two bumpers for Bishop and Gambit – Bishop's usually replaces the left slingshot, while Gambit's bumper sits below the X-Mansion target and is used to light ball save.

Danger Room

In the lower left corner of the playfield is the isolated Danger Room. It has a mini flipper, three targets (one of which, under the flipper, holds the bonus), a spinner and a small ramp that feeds Cerebro. You get there with hard X-Jet orbit shots or lucky bounces past Bishop's bumper. Mastering the Danger Room matters – completing its required shots raises scoring for the whole game, but a missed Danger Room shot can lead to a nasty drain.

About scoring

The Uncanny X-Men scores lower than usual for its era, roughly on par with John Wick. 50M is a good start, but the best players get past 300M.

Getting started – The Uncanny X-Men

Shoot the white shots to light missions at the midtown ramp (center ramp) or the highway ramp (right ramp). Choose a mission with the flippers and the action button. ”Challenging” missions are worth more but require more shots.

After each mission the player travels to the future. Destroy 6 Sentinels at the flashing shots, then shoot the center ramp to return to the past. As a reward you get a future perk, which depends on the mission you completed. Beginners should start with the Sentinel Facility Raid mission.

The game has four multiballs (three of them can be started from missions):

Sentinel Multiball

– Hit the Sentinel head enough times to spawn the giant Sentinel
– Destroy it to start multiball
– Shoot the lit jackpot shots
– Light the super jackpot by hitting the giant head
– The Danger Room exit ramp increases the jackpot value

Save the City Multiball

– Hit every ramp and orbit 3 times
– The midtown ramp lights yellow and starts multiball
– Targets, spinner, bumpers and ramps light city jackpots
– X-Jet → spinner 15 s = 1M per spin super jackpot

To Me, My X-Men Multiball

– Hit the purple standup targets
– Collect Cerebro hits from the ramp posts
– 3 Cerebro advances = multiball
– All shots are blue jackpots
– Uptown ramp = super jackpot
– Danger Room exit = 2x super

Berzerker Multiball

– Lights at the uptown ramp once you've destroyed 35 Sentinels
– All major shots and the Sentinel head are jackpots
– After 5 jackpots, the X-Jet awards the super jackpot (sum of all jackpot values)
– Combo into the Danger Room for a 2x super

Danger Room – training

Progressing in the Danger Room raises scoring for the whole game. Each full bar raises the level, but it resets, whenever a mission starts.

• Level 1: all scoring 2x in the next mission

• Level 2: one fewer Sentinel needed to escape the future

• Level 3: future scoring 2x

• Level 4: Cyclops joins the game & combo timers get longer (once per game)

Xavier's perk (Stopping the Juggernaut + future escape) makes the Danger Room safer.

Tip: If the ball looks like it's heading into the Danger Room not from the X-Jet, hold the left flipper up. If the ball comes from the X-Jet, don't do this – otherwise it drains.

Combos & Sentinel Attack

Combos are made by hitting shots that naturally flow into each other.
Once the player has 6, 8 and then every 10 combos, three ramps light for Sentinel Attack.

Sentinel Attack has two fast-dropping hurry-up values:

– The first starts at 20M
– The second at 25M
– The values go up +5M with each successful Sentinel Attack

Bishop

Hit Bishop's bumper 5 times → the action button activates.
Press the button during a mission/multiball → spots the most valuable shot automatically.
Bishop's perk lets you store up to 3 uses.

Beast’s Lab

– Starts at level 1
– A combo before the hit can raise it to level 3 at most
– A green-light hit awards a mystery prize
– Lvl 3: first one always extra ball, second one Beast future

Gambit

Hitting Gambit's bumper (3 times, or an alley pass to the right inlane) raises the next mission/jackpot value to 2x.
Gambit's perk raises the value to 3x.

Survival – how to avoid drains

The Uncanny X-Men is known for unpredictable draining feeds. Here are the critical nudges:

1. Next to the X-Jet shot is a standup that can kill the ball down the middle.
   – Hit the X-Jet late from the right flipper.

2. Midtown ramp (center): if the ball doesn't make it all the way around,
   → nudge right, otherwise it falls into the pops and maybe the right outlane.

3. The subway loop has a rubber that also bounces the ball into the pops.
   → nudge left, so the ball is guided safely to the right flipper.