Sigma's Guide to High Speed II: The Getaway
===========================================
Version of 3/3/94
This rule compilation and tips sheet is, to the extent possible (in light of
the subject matter being the property of Williams/Bally), freeware. It can
be modified, updated, or revised, provided only that credit to the original
author(s) remains intact. It can be published or otherwise distributed,
provided only that such distribution is effectively free.
This sheet is written and maintained by Kevin Martin,
[email protected] or
[email protected] - if you have any questions or comments or additions or
corrections, send 'em along to me.
"High Speed II: The Getaway" is almost certainly a trademark of Williams.
The author(s) disclaim all interest in any trademarks or other intellectual
property referenced herein.
This version of the Guide should be considered final. It is something of a
mess, however.
There are significant differences between earlier and later High Speed II
machines. To the extent I can sort these out, I've tried to point them out
in this guide. I'm not sure, however, which differences are operator-
settable options, and which depend on the ROM revision. I suspect, in fact,
that the rules have been changed back and forth across ROM revisions,
instead of necessarily progressing through a series of improvements.
I use the abbreviations "K" for a thousand points, "M" for a million points,
and "B" for a billion points.
Objective Of The Game
=====================
Relight the Kickback.
Just kidding. Actually, you're supposed to start Multiball by running red
lights, and then collect Jackpots to escape from the pursuing police.
Important Things
================
This is a glossary of the shots and features that will be referred to during
the discussion of the game. If you haven't seen the machine, this will
probably only confuse you. Just take it on faith. But then, if you haven't
seen High Speed II by now, you truly live in Pinball Hell.
Flippers - There are three flippers, the usual two lower ones, and an upper
right flipper which is really only useful for shooting the left loop. The
right flipper button flips both right flippers at the same time - there is
not a two-stage mechanism to allow for holding one ball on the bottom
flipper while shooting a Jackpot with the upper flipper. This is a
disappointment compared to almost every other three flipper Williams game
(Whirlwind, for example). (Note: the newest revisions of the machine _do_
offer a two-stage control mechanism for these flippers, and also raise the
upper flipper automatically as part of a ball search.)
Plunger/Shifter - This is an up/down shifter in place of the usual spring
plunger. It's an autolauncher, and where the ball lands in play depends
entirely on its strength and the angle of the playfield. It _should_ go
around the Left Loop and come to the upper right flipper. All too often,
though, it doesn't make the loop and ends up screaming towards the Right
Outlane.
Left Loop - This is a loop hit from the upper right flipper. It loops around
to the same flipper. There is a Loop Champion for this shot.
Jet Bumpers - There are three Jet Bumpers at the top center of the playfield,
above which the two Orbit shots and the Left Loop pass. The Jet Bumpers
always increase the Helicopter Bonus value, cumulative across all balls of
all simultaneous players.
Stoplights - There are three rows of sensors, representing traffic lights.
Each has three targets: red, yellow, and green. Each target has a light in
front of it. One row runs vertically to the right of the jet bumpers. The
other two rows lie along the entrance to the Left Loop.
Supercharger - This is a large triangular loop mounted above the Jet Bumpers.
There is a steep ramp on the lower left portion of the playfield which
leads into the Supercharger. Whenever the Supercharger is "active",
optical sensors and electromagnets inside a faux engine part accelerate the
ball through the loop repeatedly. There is a diverter in the far upper
left corner of the Supercharger which will feed the ball to the Left
Inlane.
Left Orbit - This is the long shot up the left side of the machine and around
to the upper right flipper.
Right Orbit - This is the long shot up the right side of the machine and
around and down the left side. It is essentially the reverse of the Left
Orbit, and the same non-directional sensors are used to detect both shots.
Tunnel - This is the saucer in a short lane just to the left of the Right
Orbit shot. It has a one-way gate to the right of it which should keep the
ball from entering the Tunnel from the Right Orbit. Unfortunately, a
powerful shot may bounce out of the saucer without registering. The saucer
kicks out to the right and feeds to the upper right flipper.
1-2-3 Targets - These are two rows of sensors, one row above each outlane,
turned inward at roughly a 30 degree angle. Hitting the 1, 2, or 3 target
on either side lights that target on both sides, and targets which haven't
been hit will flash. Hitting all three before they time out (about eight
seconds?) will relight the Kickback, whether or not it is already lit (no
stacking the Kickback, though). On some machines, the 1-2-3 Targets will
also increase the Supercharger Boost value by 1M for each hit.
Left Outlane - There is no rubber on the lane divider on this side. There is
a gaping metallic scoop on this outlane, and a Kickback which should kick
the ball into the Tunnel. There is a Special light here.
Kickback - This is just an excuse to have a gaping left drain. Normal
machine settings do not relight the Kickback at the beginning of each ball.
Hit the 1-2-3 targets to do this.
Left Inlane - Going through this lane lights the Freeway on the Right Orbit.
If the 2X RPM light is lit (as it is at the beginning of each gear until
collected), the Right Orbit will award two RPM increments if hit while the
Freeway is still lit (in fact, the grace period may be even longer).
Slingshots - These are the usual two above the flippers.
Right Inlane - Going through this lane lights the Freeway on the Left Orbit.
If the 2X Freeway light is lit (same as 2X RPM), the Left Orbit will award
two Freeway increments if hit in time (except on Lock Shots, when it will
award only one).
Right Outlane - There is a thin metal lane divider on this side. There is a
Special light in the Outlane.
Back Ramp - This is in the far back right corner of the game, and it comes
down only when a Lock or Jackpot is lit. A firm and dead-on shot around
the Left Orbit or Left Loop will go up this ramp and down to the Hideout on
the right side of the machine.
Hideout - This is the small house on the right side of the game, above the
playfield, where locked balls are stored. When Multiball begins, any balls
here are fed into the Right Inlane, and others are fired from the
auto-plunger.
Free Ride - There isn't really a playfield feature for this, except the large
flashing light at the center drain. If it's lit or has just gone out, you
should get the ball back, autolaunched from the plunger lane. The length
of time this is lit varies widely according to machine configuration.
Balls which are launched after making a Lock are NOT subject to Free Ride!
(Except for a bug on some machines...)
Gears
=====
There are five gears your car can be in in High Speed II, and your current
RPM value in your current gear determines your speed (displayed on the score
display most of the time). You begin the game in 1st Gear, and advance to
higher gears by collecting RPMs or through random awards from Burn Rubber
(see section on the Tunnel). The RPM shots are the Right and Left Orbits,
which are always lit except when you have finished a Gear and not yet shifted
to the next Gear (this includes during Supercharger Mode). On most machines,
the Speed Millions shot (which can be lit on the Left Loop) will also award
an RPM increment, along with Million Plus.
Completing 1st Gear requires one RPM shot. Completing 2nd requires two.
Completing 3rd requires three, 4th requires four, 5th requires five. On some
machines (this is almost certainly operator-settable), going through the
gears on subsequent attempts requires significantly more RPM shots for each
Gear, making it much more difficult to collect Gear Awards a second time
through.
The Gear Awards are awarded as soon as you make enough RPM shots to finish a
Gear (or when the Gear is spotted by Burn Rubber). They are:
1st Gear - 3 Million
2nd Gear - Hold Bonus
3rd Gear - Light Video Mode
4th Gear - Supercharger Mode
5th Gear - Light Redline Mania
Before you can collect any RPMs for the next higher gear, you must shift up
(moving the shifter either direction works, and the game doesn't mind if you
shift with your knee). Shifting up (when lit) relights Burn Rubber. Note
that if Burn Rubber is already lit, relighting it will essentially waste a
Burn Rubber. See "Tunnel" for details on Burn Rubber.
Shifting up increases your Bonus Multiplier, to 2X, 4X, 6X, and 8X. The
Multiplier resets if you do not have "Bonus Held" on the current ball.
You cannot shift up from 4th Gear until a couple of seconds after
Supercharger Mode is over. If you drain during Supercharger Mode, you
cannot shift up (to increase your Bonus Multiplier) until the next ball.
You don't have to shift up from 5th Gear. After Redline Mania is collected
and over, the game will (should) shift back into 1st Gear for you.
Left Loop
=========
The Left Loop is normally not lit for anything. If you light a Lock, you can
shoot this Loop to make the Back Ramp for the Lock. If you go around this
Loop once, the Speed Millions will be lit. It will also be lit after any
Tunnel Shot. Speed Millions starts at 1M, and remains lit for about six
seconds (not counting grace period?) for 2M, and so on. The Loop Champion is
the person who has obtained the highest value on this award. Note that the
game does NOT suspend Speed Millions when it autolaunches a ball into play,
although it does momentarily lift the ramp and suspend the Lock, if lit.
This means that with a liberal Free Ride setting, you can get a couple of
free Speed Millions if you dare let the ball drain quickly.
On most machines, Speed Millions also count as RPM shots, unless RPMs aren't
currently available (we're at the top of a Gear). If they don't, they become
considerably less appealing to me. This is a very difficult shot on most
machines, especially for repeated shots - the sweet spot is very narrow.
High Speed II machines can develop a strange neurosis. During Multiball,
they may award an indefinite Free Ride, usually three or four minutes worth.
It seems like you would want to shoot for Jackpots and Super Jackpots during
this time, but the better choice (on a machine which properly launches balls
around the Left Loop) is to let all balls drain as quickly as possible. Free
Ride will autolaunch them, and they will count as Speed Millions and towards
the Loop Champion. You can probably get about thirty consecutive Loops this
way before the game tires of it, which will almost certainly get you Loop
Champion (I'm certain that this how someone got 32, by far the highest I've
seen - I've only done seven), and it's worth about 450M.
Freeway
=======
Going through either inlane at any time lights the Freeway on the appropriate
Orbit (Right for Left Inlane, and vice versa). The Freeway Value starts at
some value from 1M to 4M, depending on the game's settings and the percentage
of Extra Balls recently awarded. If you complete the Freeway values (the
fifth value is 5M+light Extra Ball), the Freeway will restart at 1M on
subsequent balls; otherwise, it restarts at the original value. In order to
collect the 5M+light Extra Ball award, you must increase the Freeway value
during a single ball. You can do this on every ball and collect an Extra
Ball on every ball (theoretically).
Making either RPM shot lights the Freeway shot on that side, encouraging
repeated Orbit shots. This is much easier on the Right Orbit than on the
Left. Note that the 2X Freeway light on the Right Inlane will award two
increments if you hit the Left Orbit in time.
After collecting 5M+light Extra Ball, the Freeway is worth 5M whenever it is
lit through the rest of that ball.
Redline Mania lights an Extra Ball and sets the Freeway to 5M. If you do
this before lighting an Extra Ball via the Freeway on that ball, you cannot
light it afterwards.
Stoplights
==========
The Stoplights are a holdover from High Speed (so are the Freeway shots on
the Orbits, and the Tunnel, and the Kickback...) At the beginning of the
game, the green lights are flashing. You must hit or spot all three of these
before you can receive credit for hitting any yellow or red lights. Lighting
the green lights will light one Lock (on the Back Ramp via the Left Orbit or
Left Loop), as will lighting all yellow lights and all red lights. You can
light more than one Lock before collecting any of them.
For the first multiball, hitting either the Tunnel or the Supercharger (lit
or unlit) will spot one of the current unlit Stoplights (starting with the
topmost bank, I believe). This doesn't happen on any subsequent Multiballs,
although there may be an operator-settable option for it.
During Secret Mania, Supercharger Mode, and any variety of Multiball, all
nine stoplight targets will be flashing. Hitting all nine will normally
light the Extra Ball, and they will be flashing again. I believe there's
some sort of limit, here - once recently I hit all nine and there were only
vague explosion noises and the lights reset without lighting the Extra Ball.
And Keefer claims he got 50M for completing the stoplights.
The Stoplight targets can sometimes become confused after Secret Mania, and
sometimes after Redline Mania. The worst case is when all nine lights are
lit and the Lock is lit, but the Back Ramp refuses to come down so you can
shoot the Lock.
Supercharger
============
During normal play, the behavior of the Supercharger is very different for
different ROM revisions. Early machines (generally P-1 ROMs, I think) will
increase the Supercharger Boost value by 1M for every 1-2-3 target that gets
hit, and completing 1-2-3 will relight the Supercharger (as well as the
Kickback). The Supercharger Boost value in this case maxes at 10M. I
understand that the newest machines also have this rule set! I think this
makes the 1-2-3 targets far too important.
On newer machines, the 1-2-3 targets have nothing to do with the Supercharger
(they're important enough already for the Kickback). The Supercharger is lit
with a 3M Boost value initially, and nothing changes that value. Once
collected, hitting the inactive Supercharger (just the left ramp to feed to
the left inlane) twice will relight the Boost. The Boost values are 3M, 5M,
7M, 9M, 11M, 13M... indefinitely, cumulative over the course of one player's
game. The graphics sometimes do not correctly indicate the total amount
awarded, however. During Multiball or other times when the Supercharger does
not offer Boost values, hitting it counts for the ramps needed to relight the
Boost. I believe you can stack these - if you need three ramps to relight
the Boost, and you hit eight, it will remain lit after the next time you
collect it. The number of ramp hits required to relight the Boost increases
indefinitely.
There is a Supercharger Mode at the end of 4th Gear. This is 20 seconds
during which all flashing shots (loops, orbits, Tunnel, banks of targets)
score 5M, and the Supercharger scores 5M-PLUS. That is, the first time
through the Supercharger is 5M, the next 10M, and so on, to a limit (?) of
25M. These values are counted in your Supercharger Mode total, and the next
Supercharger Mode restarts the Supercharger at 5M. The Supercharger total is
notoriously inaccurate - it tends to display the points you scored plus
points that were scored in Supercharger Modes of previous players in previous
games. It wraps around at 255M (it's an 8-bit counter), and then displayed
totals are 4M, 9M, etc.
On some machines, the Supercharger does _not_ stop at 25M during Supercharger
Mode. Go figure.
Hitting an inactive Supercharger (ie, the left ramp by itself) awards the
Speed Bonus, which is your current speed x 1K points. If you've just
finished 5th Gear, you may receive 0,000 points for this, which is rather
amusing but harmless.
During Multiball, the Supercharger behaves very differently. See the section
on Multiball for details.
Strange behavior from the Supercharger... depending on the tuning of the
optical sensors and electromagnets in your game, the Supercharger may either
be a bit slow (no big deal) or a bit fast. If it's a bit fast, a ball that
loops many times may come around to the upper left before the diverter can
open the left return ramp. This will send the ball back down the ramp,
either towards the center drain or towards the top of the right slingshot.
During Multiball, you can get more than one ball into the Supercharger at a
time. This easily causes collisions which can send balls flying across the
playfield. On some (older) machines, this can send balls flying into the
back of the playfield, where there's a nice hole which lets them land in the
bottom of the cabinet with a thoroughly depressing "thud".
Tunnel
======
The Tunnel is where Burn Rubber is collected, the Helicopter Bonus is
collected, Video Mode is collected, the Extra Ball is collected, Tunnel
Shots are counted, and balls can be held for roughly eight seconds during
Multiball.
You begin the game with zero Tunnel Shots. Every time you hit the Tunnel,
for whatever award, you are credited with a Tunnel Shot, cumulative over the
course of one player's game. Collecting some adjustable number of Tunnel
Shots (usually 8, but possibly as high as 14) will light the Special lights
on the outlanes. Both outlanes light and they remain lit until your game
ends or either one is collected. Another Special will be lit at an
additional fifty Tunnel Shots beyond the first Special. On most older
machines, lighting any Special in a multiplayer game will make that Special
unavailable to the other players. This is true for all subsequent Specials,
which are lit at every next fifty Tunnel Shots.
Burn Rubber is a random award like those found on many Bally and Williams
games. It is lit at the beginning of the game, and every time you shift up
after completing a Gear, it is relit. The first time you hit it, you will
see an animation of a map, with a marked path headed towards your random
award. The map includes such stops as "Chicago" and "Smallville", but you'll
never collect these awards - they're just window dressing. Subsequent Burn
Rubber awards will simply be displayed without a map. Awards include:
Relight Kickback
Bonus Held
1M, 3M, 5M, 10M
Lite Lock
RPM
Freeway
Spot Gear
Video Mode
Multiball
Extra Ball
Special
Some of these awards become "invisible" if hitting the Tunnel also completes
the current Stoplight color and lights a Lock for you; the machine will
display the stoplight status and "LOCK IS LIT" instead of the award.
Luckily, most of the awards obscured in this fashion are RPMs and Spot Gear
(never Video Mode, for example).
Sometimes the "RPM" award is labelled "2X" on the display. This may be when
the Left Inlane is lit or has been triggered but not yet timed out.
If Multiball is awarded, Multiball begins immediately, launching any locked
balls you or any other player may have, and autolaunching the other balls
(for a total of three) from the plunger lane. See Multiball.
Spot Gear is an especially nice award when you've just gotten into 5th Gear.
It saves you quite a few RPM shots. On the down side, if you haven't lit the
Extra Ball on the Freeway values yet, you'll now have to go to a special
effort to light it, while avoiding the reasonable temptation to just go ahead
with Redline Mania.
The Extra Ball can be lit on the Tunnel by completing the Freeway Values,
hitting all nine Stoplights during any Mania or Multiball, or by collecting
Redline Mania. Contrary to my earlier beliefs (and again, this may vary from
machine to machine, like everything else about High Speed II, including its
name, its playfield layout, and its tachometer!), any number of Extra Balls
can be lit here at one time.
The Extra Ball takes precedence over other awards, except the Helicopter
Bonus. Next is Video Mode, followed by Burn Rubber, if lit. If nothing is
lit and there is nothing else to be displayed at the time, you will see an
animation of your car driving into a tunnel, followed by a display of current
number of Tunnel Shots and number needed to light Special.
For information on the Helicopter Bonus, see the section on Multiball.
Video Mode
==========
Video Mode is lit by completing 3rd Gear. It remains lit until you collect
it. If you go all the way through to the end of 3rd Gear again without
collecting it, it does not "stack". It can also be awarded at random by Burn
Rubber, although I believe it will not do so on the same shot that collects a
lit Video Mode.
In Video Mode, you steer your car across three lanes filled with slow-moving
Volkswagen Bugs. Your current Gear determines the speed at which this
happens. You start in 3rd Gear. If you shift up to 5th Gear immediately and
complete Video Mode, you will collect roughly 26.5-27.5M easy points.
Completing Video Mode in 4th Gear is worth roughly 16-20M points. It's worth
the trouble to improve your skills to do Video Mode in 5th Gear. Note that
1st Gear is almost impossible!
The best and most common strategy is to straddle the line between the
leftmost pair of lanes. You can steer by holding the flipper buttons in
(pressing more than one will give precedence to the most recently pressed
button); there is no need to tap them repeatedly. If the machine is set up
for it or has been giving out very few Extra Balls recently, there will often
be an Extra Ball target in the far lane, instead of one of the Bugs. It's
more or less impossible to see this target and head for it; if you expect it
will come up, you may wish to anticipate its appearance (usually about 1/3 to
1/2 of the way through the Video Mode). Just drive through it to collect it.
Multiball
=========
Multiball is mostly the point of High Speed II. Although you can do very
well simply by hitting RPMs, Freeways, collecting Gears and Burn Rubbers,
you'll find that it's hard to avoid lighting Locks, and they can get in the
way if you don't collect them. With a well-setup machine and careful play,
Multiball can be very lucrative. Besides, it's extremely cool.
There are three ways to start Multiball. The "normal" way is to light all
three Locks and lock all three balls. Another way is through a random award
from Burn Rubber, which I believe is much more likely if the machine has been
having very few "normal" Multiballs during recent games. The third way is to
collect Redline Mania after completing 5th Gear. See the section on Redline
Mania for information on what makes it different from other Multiballs.
The first lock provides an animation of your car pulling up to a scantily
clad female (presumably a hitchhiker) on the highway. She usually says,
"Nice wheels" or "Nice car" and you say "Hop in".
The second lock provides an animation of your car screeching to a halt in
front of Donut Heaven, where one to four police cars are parked. If there
are three... read the section on Secret Mania.
The second "normal" Multiball is slightly different. On the first lock, your
car pulls up in front of Donut Heaven, and Car 504 says, "This time I'm gonna
nail that dirtbag." Functionally, everything's the same, but this gives you
twice as many chances to start Secret Mania.
Later Multiballs have no hitchhiker - just quick animations of Donut Heaven.
When you have the red light completed and two balls already locked (virtually
or actually), the game will repeatedly flash "RUN THE RED LIGHT". When you
lock this third ball, there is an animation of your car tearing through a red
light at which Car 504 is parked.
"Dispatch, this is Car 504. Suspect ran a red light, over."
"Roger, 504, apprehend 'em."
During Multiball (slightly different for Redline Mania), ten loops through
the Supercharger are required to light the Jackpot, which is always worth
25M. Putting a ball into the Supercharger will make it loop ten times. If
you put another ball in far enough to hit the lower optical sensor, the game
will think there are two balls, and will loop the ball(s) for twenty loops.
If you actually have two in there, this usually registers twenty-one loops.
If you send the ball past the first optical sensor and then it trips it on
the way down as well (assuming any running balls don't get in the way), the
game will think that all three balls are in there, and you will receive
thirty loops before the ball(s) are returned. If you hit the Supercharger
during Multiball and the diverter fails to operate properly, the ball will
return to the Left Inlane, and you will be immediately credited with having
made ten loops.
Note that the game can be tricked into thinking there are three balls in the
Supercharger even when you have only two balls in play!
On subsequent Multiballs, lighting the regular Jackpot will require ten more
loops for each time you have collected it previously. The maximum number of
loops required to light any Jackpot is twenty. The maximum number of loops
required to light any Super Jackpot is fifty.
When you light the Jackpot, the back ramp comes down and is worth 25M.
Collecting the Jackpot will enable you to shoot the Supercharger to light the
Super Jackpot. This will always require at least twenty loops. The Super
Jackpot is (or should be) 50M, followed by 75M, 100M, and so on without limit
(I know of 675M, and have personally collected 175M). Note that you must
keep at least two balls in play while lighting and collecting Super Jackpot.
"Dispatch, this is 504. Suspect got away."
"He WHAT?!"
"HE - GOT - AWAY!!"
"504, you are authorized to use lethal force."
"Damn, they're shootin' at us!"
If all but one ball drain while you are still shooting to light or collect
the regular Jackpot, you will have 20 seconds (configurable?) of Getaway
Time, during which you can light and collect the Jackpot as normal. There is
an extremely brief grace period for the Super Jackpot - if a ball is found in
the Hideout just after the other balls have drained, you will be awarded a
Super Jackpot of "base value", which may be less than the lit value if you
are in Redline Mania. It's all very complicated and inconsistent, but Keefer
thinks he understands it. Bug him at "
[email protected]" about this.
Hitting a ball into the Tunnel during Multiball will credit you with a
Tunnel Shot, and the ball will sit there for roughly eight seconds. When it
does kick out, you have a relatively clean shot at the Jackpot on the Left
Loop (top flipper). If you are in Getaway Time, the ball will kick out
immediately so that you can shoot for the Jackpot (well, if it isn't lit
right then, you can't really shoot for it...).
Hitting all nine Stoplight targets during Multiball, as in Secret Mania, will
light the Extra Ball.
There is a Free Ride on Multiball on most machines, although it is usually
very short. (There's a bug, though, described above...)
After you have collected the regular "Getaway" Jackpot and while you still
have at least two balls in play, shooting a ball into the Tunnel will award
the Helicopter Bonus. This is when a police helicopter tries to follow you
into the tunnel, and crashes into the mountain. I've seen the Helicopter
Bonus up to 75M, so this can be significantly more valuable than the Getaway
Jackpot itself. Yes, points for blowing up police helicopters. I guess it's
"OK" because they shoot at you first, right? Copkiller, indeed.
"Where'd he go?"
"He went in the tunnel--"
"HEY! LOOK OUT!!"
<<crash>>
"Chopper, you out there?"
Redline Mania
=============
Redline Mania is lit by completing 5th Gear. It's the red light on the
Supercharger entrance. Hit the Supercharger to collect it. It awards the
following (not necessarily in order...)
10M
Extra Ball is Lit
Freeway at 5M
All Targets 500K
Kickback is Lit
Jackpot is Lit
Super Jackpot at 100M
Multiball
Redline Mania is a normal Multiball, except that no loops are required to
light the initial Jackpot, all targets are worth 500K, and the Super Jackpot
begins at 100M (with no corresponding increase in the number of loops
required to light it). It's generally best to collect Redline Mania after
lighting the Extra Ball on the Freeway, because you cannot light it after
collecting Redline Mania. Because the Super Jackpot is so much more valuable
in Redline Mania, it's very important to get the regular Jackpot out of the
way, preferably on one of the two free shots you'll get (either from the
Hideout or the auto-plunger, depending on whether or not any balls were
actually locked), and then shoot for lighting and collecting the 100M Super
Jackpot as if it were the regular Jackpot.
If you've previously collected a 100M Super Jackpot or higher, the starting
value for the Super Jackpot in Redline Mania will be 25M more than the
highest collected Super Jackpot value.
Secret Mania
============
Secret Mania is essentially a Frenzy mode that was thrown into the game, and
it isn't integrated very well (IMHO). Any time you see the animation of your
car in front of Donut Heaven and there are three police cars parked there
(the number seems to have some pattern, and it also seems to be random - go
figure), shift Up and Down a couple of times quickly. This will give you 20
seconds of Secret Mania, during which all targets are worth 500K, as in
Redline Mania.
In Tournament Mode, there are always three cars at Donut Heaven.
There are several problems with Secret Mania. First of all, the lighting
scheme is extremely tricky for twenty seconds - all lights flash in
alternating pairs. You may find it difficult to even survive Secret Mania.
Second, it's not especially point rich. The most I've heard of is about 21M,
and that's still less than a simple Video Mode, and Video Modes have no risk
associated with them at all.
Worst of all, the game becomes confused about the state of the locks for
Multiball after Secret Mania, especially in a multiplayer game. Typically,
the machine completely resets the Stoplights to flashing green, although it
remembers where you were on locks. It's not uncommon to see the game saying
"RUN THE RED LIGHT" while the green Stoplights are flashing. Run the green
light, I'd say.
The advantages of Secret Mania are that you can light an Extra Ball by
completing the stoplights, and you essentially get another lock lit for
free... sometimes.
It's possible to get the game into a state where Locks are lit but the Back
Ramp won't come down to accept the balls. This is frustrating, to say the
least. Another glitch is that after one player has a Multiball, other
players may find that balls they lock, although counted, are always fed to
them out of the Hideout, whether that is appropriate or not. This can be a
bit startling if you've turned away to sign autographs or whatever ;)
Tips, Tricks, Strategies
========================
My basic strategy is to go through Gears, unless the Locks are especially
easy on the machine (ie, the Left Orbit and Left Loop are easy shots to make
solidly). It's not unwise to collect Burn Rubber in between Gears, but don't
fret if you miss a couple - the biggest points are in the top end of the
Gears, and if you get in a rhythm shooting Freeways, those are usually more
important than one Burn Rubber (they light the Extra Ball).
The biggest cause of ball drains in High Speed II, without question (assuming
you don't just flail around and let them go out everywhere), is the gaping
left drain. It's even worse on machines which have been thoughtfully set up
with a left lean (I think that if operators want to make a game harder, they
should fiddle with software settings, and to a certain degree, the Tilt
sensitivity). The worst thing about a left drain is that once it happens,
you're in immediate danger of having another on the next ball. A game that
is going fantastically well, with, say, five Extra Balls waiting, can be over
in sixty seconds if you start having problems with the Left Outlane.
Therefore, you should concentrate on shooting the 1-2-3 targets to relight
the Kickback, right? Well, sort of. If you're close to Redline Mania, shoot
for that instead (it relights the Kickback), because aiming for the 1-2-3
targets tends to put the ball into the most dangerous areas for outlane
drains - a ball which heads towards the 3 target on the left is pretty much a
goner. Also, Burn Rubber can relight the Kickback sometimes. It's probably
intended as an insult, but I've come to be very appreciative of this award
recently.
My Video Mode strategy is described above, under Video Mode.
My Supercharger Mode strategy mostly depends on what I'm doing when I happen
to complete 4th Gear. Preferably, I have the ball on the lower right
flipper. Shoot the Supercharger for 5M. Hold the left flipper up, push the
machine forward as the ball comes down, bouncing it over to the right
flipper. Shoot the Supercharger for 10M. Repeat until you miss and have to
do something desperate, or until Supercharger Mode ends. It doesn't truly
end until you see the "Supercharger Total" message on the screen. (The
Supercharger Total is usually very, very wrong; ignore it.) If this isn't
possible, try to do repeated Right Orbits - they're still worth the Freeway
value plus the 5M per Orbit. If you light the Extra Ball during Supercharger
Mode, there is no message. If you shoot the Tunnel for a lit Extra Ball
during Supercharger Mode, it does pause and award the Extra Ball. A third
alternative for Supercharger Mode is to shoot Speed Millions on the Left
Loop, although on some machines it will not track them for Loop Champion in
this mode! Note that the Tunnel will not award Video Mode or Burn Rubber
during Supercharger Mode.
I always try to light the Extra Ball before collecting Redline Mania, in
order to get two Extra Balls for the price of one ball in play. In Redline
Mania or Multiball, try to get balls to whichever right flipper you have an
easier time shooting Jackpots with. If the flippers come up steeply on your
machine, you can probably backhand balls into the Supercharger. This can be
extremely useful during Multiball (or for collecting Redline Mania).
One somewhat tricky shot worth perfecting is the Right Orbit, repeatedly.
I've managed as many as nine of these in a row - it's a slightly easier shot
than the Left Loop for Speed Millions, it awards the same RPMs, and it awards
and increases the Freeway value. Plus, it's the shot to make for the 2X RPM
during each gear. The safest way to roll through the Left Inlane is to hit
the Supercharger - it feeds to that inlane. With enough practice, you should
be able to slap balls around the Right Orbit until it takes a funny bounce on
the way down. Don't forget to shift while you're doing this at an insane
speed ;)
The problem with Speed Millions is that the "sweet spot" on the upper right
flipper is extremely small. Worse yet, a missed shot will usually dribble
about on the lower stoplight targets and head towards the right outlane.
Although there's enough rubber over there to help you out, and Death Saves
aren't impossible, it's still dangerous. If Speed Millions don't interest
you or aren't lit or you don't want to shoot a lit Lock, just let the ball
fall when it passes the upper right flipper. It should go past the right
slingshot (without triggering it) and come to the lower right flipper in a
good position for shooting the Supercharger or Left Orbit. A dead catch is
workable here, but be careful - with the ball headed towards the left
already, the ball will tend to spin towards the center drain. Just holding
the flipper up may lob it up towards the right outlane you were trying to
avoid in the first place. In short, it's best to master an on-the-run slap
shot up the Supercharger or around the Left Orbit (harder).
A slow ball from the upper flipper will catch the post beneath the entrance
from the plunger lane and head towards the left flipper or the drain.
Whoops.
On newer machines, Speed Millions and RPMs on the Left Orbit are NOT awarded
when the Lock is lit. Neither is the left Freeway value, but if you roll
over the lit 2X Freeway target in the right inlane first, it will award ONE
Freeway value when you make the Lock. There's actually a very good reason
not to award RPMs when locking a ball - on older machines, it was possible to
start Supercharger Mode (at the end of 4th Gear) at the same time you ran the
red light to start Multiball. This would result in a mode where you couldn't
light the Jackpot, ever! Or at least, that's what happened on the P-B ROM
machine I discovered this problem on. You still had twenty seconds of
Supercharger Mode, but the Supercharger never did any loops after that.
Eventually, Multiball comes to an end, nothing gained.
On some older machines, Redline Mania counts as a "normal" Multiball in the
sense that it "erases" any locks you had previously. On newer machines, it
doesn't do this. This may be what is leading to unusual situations where the
Lock is lit but the Back Ramp won't come down.
Quotes
======
"Dispatch, run a make on license plate KINGPIN."
"Choppers, can you see the suspect?"
"Roger, dispatch, I see him."
"Choppers, head to 504's location."
"What kind of car IS that, anyway?!"
"Alright, up against the car, buddy. You have the right to remain silent,
anything you say may be used against you in a court of law."
Thanks to everyone who has sent notes and information which has contributed
to this Guide.
And don't forget the Pinball Archive by anonymous FTP to:
ftp.rahul.net:/pub/sigma/pinball
(192.160.13.1)
I do not speak for my employer, my friends, my relatives, or my cat. In
fact, I hardly even speak for myself.
[end of file]
