The Limited Edition of Stern’s X-Men, released in 2012 and designed by John Borg, brings Marvel’s mutant heroes to a deep, feature-rich playfield headlined by Wolverine. With twin magnets, a magnetic spinning disc, pop-up targets, a motorized pivoting ramp, and a Wolverine bash toy, it’s an ambitious machine that lets you assemble a roster of X-Men and Brotherhood villains and pit them against one another across a sprawling ruleset.
The scoring is built around character multiballs and the looming threat of Magneto. Bashing Wolverine enough earns you a multiball — and for better points, the savvy move is to have a mode running when you start it. The left standup targets qualify Hellfire Club Multiball while the right ones qualify Brotherhood, both started at the scoop. The marquee chase is Magneto Multiball, and the key strategic insight is to hold off on starting it until you’ve begun or completed a few X-Men, since the more heroes you’ve engaged, the more points Magneto Multiball pays.
There’s smart depth throughout, from the skill shot (short plunge to the Storm ramp or Rogue shot, collecting a lit lock at Rogue along the way) to the Blackbird at the scoop, which adds a ball once per multiball when lit via the lower inlanes. With its mutant roster, magnetic disc, and layered multiball strategy, the X-Men LE is an underrated Borg machine that rewards a player who learns to build their team before the big battles. For Marvel fans and deep-game enthusiasts alike, it’s a rewarding superhero showdown. To me, my X-Men.