1978 ATARI Superman restored (Dr. Dave's Pinball Restorations)

We restored this Atari Superman Pinball to look and play like the first day it hit the arcade.
Will be restoring another one of these for sale in the near future.
www.pinballdoctor.com

[@sseltrek1a2b]

found one of these about 100 miles from my house, so got to play it yesterday for the first time in over 30 years....so good to play this machine again...the sounds on this machine are amazing, especially for the late seventies...

[@joanmelnick1704]

Sweet looking Superman. 💯🍧

[@athosnikodomos4350]

My favorite at the local bowling alley. Spelling SUPERMAN the first time was awesome

[@MookTelevision]

My fav. Restoring one right now.

[@1silverball]

Nothing like an Atari Pinball machine. Love them or hate them, they were gorgeous pieces of art even if gameplay was on the slow side. George Opperman's artwork is pure genius. We have a Space Riders that fun also. Thank you for posting!

[@kevinhayes6142]

Used to ditch school to go play this and Donkey Kong. Got my Ass beat by my Mother when i got home though. What Memories!!

[@matthewbarry4464]

This is my favorite Atari pin. My buddies and I use to spend hours at a pizza place trying to win games on it. The lightshow and sounds when you spell Superman are mesmerizing.

[@pinballdoctor]

Agreed! Best game Atari put out. They had a Road Runner that was a blast to play as well but only made 2 of them as they ran into copyright issues with Warner Bros.

[@arthurmurfitt7698]

I don’t remember this one, but ‘78 was a great year for pinball machines.

[@mrtylerlarson]

Mulligan! *picks up ball* I love it! This game looks like a blast!

[@CreesNostalgiaHut]

I remember my local arcade purchased this machine in preparation for the movie, and it got me HYPED! There was also the game on the Atari 2600, which I loved.

[@jedsa05]

Thank you for posting this video, Dr. Dave. It really brought back memories for me--when I was growing up, my Dad worked for a community center which had one single pinball machine tucked away near the second floor stairwell. It didn't require quarters, so I spent many hours playing Superman pinball after school!

[@pinballdoctor]

Awesome! A pocket full of quarters to go to war on Atari's best pinball machine: SUPERMAN. =) Glad to walk you down memory lane! =)

[@marcovendetti3373]

That's a great game, I played this as a kid.

[@legasiguy551]

This, Superball, Hook and The Adams Family were my favorites!

[@Paulywint]

I rememebr playing this game when I was a kid. The game had no tilt so if the ball drains you can lift it up to get the ball back into play.

[@tygunn8183]

I used to play an Atari Middle Earth late 70s / early 80s. It also had no tilt. You could lite the special (I think it was the left outlane) and roll the ball over it back and forth by lifting the front legs racking up free games.

[@stezton]

That backglass is awesome looking!

[@nabilyar]

Hi. I'm very late to pinball machines. But I love this Superman one. Would love to buy it. Since 2 months I have been so into them

[@pinballdoctor]

I have another in the resto queue available.

[@ArcadeDude44]

Awesome restore, I'm loving my Space Riders!:)

[@lockemi]

That looks AMAZING!! I've been trying to find one of these. Wish you lived closer. Great job!

[@ssweeps]

Nice

[@billcook4768]

0:36 mind blown

[@gbh2882]

Been looking for a superman and Centaur for awhile now. I dropped alot of coin in SM back in the days thats for sure.

[@paulsoto4142]

Hello I have a superman pinball 1978 Atari all functioning. Plays well u interested?

[@pinballdoctor]

Where are you located?

[@sseltrek1a2b]

one of my favs of all time...do you know why you never see any of these atari pinball machines at tournaments/pinball expos?...(are there just not many of them around?...)...

[@pinballdoctor]

Probably because not many know how to fix them/restore them so if they went down mid tourney, they'd have to address

[@SwedishEmpire1700]

As i said on Pinsaide, someone should make sound/music card for these old ones with like SD and MP3 function so you could plugin the Superman Theme LOL

[@robfassi3297]

I wonder if those flippers can get rebuild

[@dr.davespinballrestoration3764]

Actually just restoring another one of these and the answer is YES! I am now using WPC mechanisms in these Atari pinball machines. They work wonderfully well and way better than the Atari mechs ever were.

[@mosesberkowitz3298]

Great sound effects on this game! And is this a "wide-body" machine? I used to love this back in the late 70s. Thanks for posting!

[@XxBishop78]

Yes,all atari pins are widebody

[@harvestkings]

Just wondering if you still have this or another one for sale? I just purchased the 79 spiderman and was hoping to add the superman. thanks

[@paulsoto4142]

harvestkings hello I have a 1978 Superman Atari pinball all functioning plays well you interested

[@pinballdoctor]

I have 2 more of these that are in the restoration queue. Will look and play just like this one once done.

[@alejandroalartiz]

Why the flippers have so little strength to hit the ball? Not as a modern pinball. Can you fix that?

[@pinballdoctor]

Actually addressed the short comings of Atari flipper assemblies with subbing in Williams WPC type and using Bally bats. The result is a strong flip that feels like what Atari originally intended but didn't have the where with all to implement back in the day when they were making this pin.

[@cesarprates8570]

the sound is different of the emulator in the visual pinball

[@pinballdoctor]

That happens all the time. The people emulating want to add some "creative" additions that would be better left as stock.

[@swampwiz]

So much is this selling for (has sold for)?

[@pinballdoctor]

I have 3 more of these and in even better this shape this as they all will have touched up and automotive clearcoated playfields installed that look and play better than new with a crystal clear clearcoat. These will sell in the $6K - $7,500 range.

[@devonboulden2496]

Hated this game when it was released. I still hate it. Atari didn't know how to build a machine. They were sturdy as hell, but the metal ramps in front of the flippers made the ball come to a stop so it can be fed to the flippers. Kind of a novice machine.

[@pinballdoctor]

Have to strongly dissagree with you there. Atari's best game and ahead of others in the 1978 pinball realm for it's time.

[@bobgomez9481]

Dumbest comment of the decade right here...

[@sirlordwhitman]

HAHA.. cheater! nice pinball machine.

[@dr.davespinballrestoration3764]

Thanks Mike. = ) More Classic Pinball restorations to come....

[@dr.davespinballrestoration3764]

The flipper links for these Atari pins are hard to find so I re-use the lesser stressed links from the drop target assembly(s) and swap them around. The flippers on Superman are notoriously under powered if you can even find one of these to play. The ones I rebuilt here are just as powerful when the game first hit the arcade and feel the same as the Bally and Stern pinball machine flipper bats of their day.

[@bobgomez9481]

Yes, when done correctly, it is no wonder the drop targets are broken all the time. The coils have the power.