Best pachinko imports?

[Aussie2B]

I'm looking to get my boyfriend a pachinko game for Valentine's Day since he recently became obsessed with the game after trying a bunch of hentai arcade pachinko games that his buddy sent him on MAME. I know next to nothing about which ones are regarded as good or bad since, like most importers, I've always looked at pachinko games as "throw away" imports along with mahjong and shogi and the like.

I imagine newer is probably better, right? Since you get more machines to choose from and they're more detailed. I'm open to just about any suggestions, though, with the exception of Saturn titles.

[RadiantSvgun]

I enjoyed Hokuto no Ken on DS. It's pricey though. Like 49.99+

[Aussie2B]

Heh, I guess I'm not the only one that generally ignores pachinko titles, eh? :P

I ended up ordering Sanyo Pachinko Paradise 4 and Fever 2: Sankyo Offical Pachinko Simulator. I didn't want to go too expensive since there's no guarantee that my boyfriend would be putting THAT much time into them, so I thought the original PlayStation would a good direction to go in. They both came out in 2000, so they're not extremely old (although I guess that's relative), but they were still dirt cheap, with one costing .50 and the other a buck (before shipping from Japan, at least). I bought them completely at random, so I have no idea how good or poor they may be, but I figure it would be no huge loss if they suck.

While I'm on the subject, what's up with "pachi-slot" games? From the looks of their packaging, they seem to just be slot machine games, but why would they include "pachi" in the genre title?

[slapdash]

While I'm on the subject, what's up with "pachi-slot" games? From the looks of their packaging, they seem to just be slot machine games, but why would they include "pachi" in the genre title?

Sounds like they're essentially slot machines, but they usually have a joystick instead of a lever, take tokens instead of coins, don't always pay out immediately but maybe pay out more often, and sometimes feature pachinko balls even though the slot mechanism is totally separate.

[devilman]

As I've now managed to get a Sankyo Pachinko Controller for the Saturn, I would appreciate any pachinko game recommendations for the Saturn. Are they all compatible with the controller?

[Aussie2B]

I can't help you out there, but this topic should answer your questions:

http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=78672

[petewhitley]

Sounds like they're essentially slot machines, but they usually have a joystick instead of a lever, take tokens instead of coins, don't always pay out immediately but maybe pay out more often, and sometimes feature pachinko balls even though the slot mechanism is totally separate.

Actually, pachi-slot basically refers to slot machines that have buttons to stop/start the spinning reels, which adds some element of skill to the procedure. For the most part they pay out tokens (I can't actually recall seeing a pachi-slot machine that uses pachinko balls rather than tokens, but that's not to say they don't exist).

As Aussie2b has already purchased, the Sanyo titles are pretty much the top-tier pachinko titles out there. You can go wrong with most of them; just choose based on which boards seem most enjoyable to you.

[oceanfr]

Think it was called Sankyo fever 4 for PSX? the one with a mini Ryu (from street fighter) on it