Where are the latest machines?

[Newsboy]

I don't mean for this to be controversial, and it's probably based in ignorance, so apologies if this comes off the wrong way. 

When I first got into this hobby (as a user not a creator) it felt like new machines were being created and uploaded fairly regularly. There was this rule that anything newer than 5 years would simply have to wait to see a conversion. Am I wrong in the fact that Iron Maiden was the last modern machine converted into a digital format?

 

My question is: have the creators that focused on converting newer machines moved on? Have the rules from Stern become stricter? Was it just a covid lockdown hobby?

 

For what it's worth, I totally understand the effort and time that goes into making even a single machine, and that it's done out of love. I'm just ready to donate more to those amazing creators out there.

[TerryRed]

Most of what you play on VPX is rom based, meaning they are using emulated roms from the real machines to do 90% of the work for recreating the game.... so they can be made much quicker.

 

Newer pins can't be emulated, so you need to recreate everything yourself, which is a massive amount of work, as is creating any new game of quality, be it a recreating of a real pin, or making a completely new game. No different than making any other video game which can take years for one game.

[Newsboy]

Okay, that's a perfect description. So I guess I should be even more wowed by the Iron Maiden table. Thanks for that prompt and concise answer Terry.

[Dazz]

17 hours ago, Newsboy said:

Okay, that's a perfect description. So I guess I should be even more wowed by the Iron Maiden table. Thanks for that prompt and concise answer Terry.

Stern Iron Maiden & Batman 66 were both MAJOR undertakings. Each consisting of over 50,000 lines of code. Both are extremely close to the real machines in terms of rules and gameplay. Both took a couple YEARS for the team, as in multiple people made of graphic artists, coders, 3d modelers, etc. to complete. The team went as far as renting/borrowing a Batman 66 and combed through every aspect of the rules and gameplay just to make sure they were getting things right.

Anything newer than The Walking Dead (2014) has not been emulated as of right now. Work is being done for the next systems, but we are still a way off from seeing those being emulated.

[Thalamus]

You forgot Game of Thrones. It is a very well done recreation of a spike1 rom/machine.

[Dazz]

13 hours ago, Thalamus said:

You forgot Game of Thrones. It is a very well done recreation of a spike1 rom/machine.

Yes! Game of Thrones as well! Did not mean to leave it out!

[Thurman8tr]

So with the imminent release of Spike 3, does anyone anticipate some kind of authentic emulation/cracking of Spike 1 and Spike 2? (without the need for custom coding) 

 

Just keeping fingers crossed for Infinity Quest, House of Horrors, Godzilla, Foo Fighters, etc.

 

 

[Dazz]

13 hours ago, Thurman8tr said:

So with the imminent release of Spike 3, does anyone anticipate some kind of authentic emulation/cracking of Spike 1 and Spike 2? (without the need for custom coding) 

 

Just keeping fingers crossed for Infinity Quest, House of Horrors, Godzilla, Foo Fighters, etc.

 

 

We are still not there yet... While there is work going on and partially working, it's not that simple. There are several hurdles still in the way.

The 2 major hurdles are:
1. Spike systems use a *nix operating system. We will either need to convert over to using *nix or have to call *nix from Windows to run. (There are workarounds, but not very elegant and hacked in)
2. Spike 1 & 2 still need to be hacked, and the encryption/decryption keys need to be discovered somehow. - Much easier said than done. There are people working on it, but not too much progress recently.

[OMGpuffin]

I believe creators have to wait until machines are out of production as well. 

[Newsboy]

On 8/17/2025 at 5:04 AM, Dazz said:

Stern Iron Maiden & Batman 66 were both MAJOR undertakings. Each consisting of over 50,000 lines of code. Both are extremely close to the real machines in terms of rules and gameplay. Both took a couple YEARS for the team, as in multiple people made of graphic artists, coders, 3d modelers, etc. to complete. The team went as far as renting/borrowing a Batman 66 and combed through every aspect of the rules and gameplay just to make sure they were getting things right.

Anything newer than The Walking Dead (2014) has not been emulated as of right now. Work is being done for the next systems, but we are still a way off from seeing those being emulated.

See this is what I mean when I talk about myignorance. Far out. We really are lucky to have any machines available to us. A huge group of absolute heroes.