Lethal Weapon 3 Pinball
Manufactured by Data East (c)1992
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Condition When Purchased:
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B+
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Current Condition:
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A-
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Lethal Weapon 3 is a DMD pinball machine by Data East. It has a "cops and robbers" type of theme and would work as such for the most part even if it didn't have the Lethal Weapon license. While many consider it a "B" title, it's actually a very entertaining pinball machine with lots to shoot at, decent sound, and a good light show.
I managed to acquire my Lethal Weapon 3 pinball machine in a trade. A local pinball collector put Lethal Weapon 3 up on craigslist. I emailed him asking if he had any interest in trading Lethal Weapon 3 for my High Speed. Some may think this wasn't the best of trades as High Speed is an "A" title Williams machine, however I'd grown bored with High Speed to be honest, and while High Speed is a great game for it's era, the fact of the matter is that it's a mid-80's solid state pinball machine. There simply wasn't a bunch of stuff "to do". Lethal Weapon 3, on the other hand, while a "B" title, is a DMD title with a bunch more "to do" than High Speed. Add the fact that this Lethal Weapon 3 was easily in better overall shape than the High Speed and it becomes a no-brainer for someone like me who typically has only one or two pinball machines in the mix.
As I mentioned above, the game was in much better than average condition when I picked it up. The drop targets weren't original and one was broken. The drops take a beating in this game. Some of the plastics were in questionable condition. The rubber was in OK condition, but certainly could stand to be replaced. There were a few lamps out, but an unusually high number. And it was missing the police light topper. I immediately set out to correct these deficiencies. I ordered a plastics set. I picked up some drop targets and I read about a cool hack for a police lamp topper using two lamps (red and blue) versus the single blue lamp that came stock. I ordered those lamps from Amazon. I also ordered new rubber as well, and when I went to remove the current rubber from the bats, I learned that the bats were in pretty bad shape. Basically the rubber was holding them together. I also ordered two new bats. Once everything arrived I set out to clean, wax, and install all my new goodies.
The game played pretty decently when I first got the machine, however after cleaning, waxing, and replacing the rubbers the game really played well. The dual topper lamps really add to the experience (and were even cheaper than a stock single lamp replacement!). I also took the time to download the latest ROM revision and program a new set of ROM's. I also downloaded the new sound ROM hack but didn't much care for some of the changes so I stuck with the original sound ROMs even with the Leo Getz callout that gets a little annoying at times. Overall the game played great now and looked great… but it still lacked a little in the lighting department. Sure, the light show was quite nice, but the overall "look just didn't do it for me, plus it was a little dark in the middle. I decided to swap out many of the lamps for LEDs. The result is now a game that looks MUCH nicer in my opinion.
While some games don't really look that great decked out in LED, I don't think that is the case with Lethal Weapon 3. Some of the complaints I've heard is that LED's make things look more 'blue', well, in the case of LW3, there is already plenty of blue so the LED complement it, much like they do with space themed games. I also think the LEDs make the backglass, which was pretty mediocre looking backlit before, pop now. While the middle area is still somewhat dark, it's no longer "too dark"… and there isn't any issues with losing the ball anymore. I also think that the LED's really make the colors in the inserts pop as well. I still have a few incandescent lamps in the cabinet as well… and all the flashers are still incandescent lamps, though I've been considering replacing those too. Overall, I am extremely pleased with the LED lighting … making it well worth the cost.
Lethal Weapon 3 may be a "B" title game, but it's a damn fun one. I think it's under rated possibly because of the theme, though likely simply because it's a Data East title. Many pinball enthusiasts turn their noses at Data East and early Sega titles. They consider them "junk" compared to Bally or Williams titles. From my perspective, that's an unfair automatic assessment. There are a number of really fun Data East games that I, a non-pinhead, can name off the top of my head. Guns n Roses comes to mind. So does Star Wars. And, IMHO, Lethal Weapon 3. I don't see this pin leaving my collection anytime soon.
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