From: kahlerm@sumax.seattleu.edu (Michael Kahler)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: Re: High Speed II split personality
Date: 15 Nov 92 19:58:56 GMT
Organization: Seattle University

In article <15956@goanna.cs.rmit.oz.au> s924105@yallara.cs.rmit.OZ.AU (Cameron Silver) writes:
>buzz@apple.com. (Steve Bollinger) writes:
>
>I'v noticed this too. But the difference is more blunt. All the HSIIs i'v seen
>have had RPM printed on the tacho on the playfield, and RPM pointing to the    
>loop around the back. But 1 is different. The sepercharger, and redline lights
>(at the enterance to the SuperCharger) have swapped places, the tacho lights are
>blank .. and the arrows pointing to the loop around the back say 'speed'. Also
>some HSII let the ball go round the supercharger 10-12 times .. while the latter
>one I described only lets it go around once (scum) .. sortta defeats the
>purpose a bit .. the supercharger is fantastic .. give the player a real rush
>when the balls flying 'round it, couples with the sound effect that's uesd..
> 

Mabye these changes have come about to make the game more 'realistic' on
the rpm/speed aspects.  The first time I played a HSII (which had the tach
labeled in RPM's and the loop labeled for 'RPM') I noticed hitting the lit
RPM loop increased your RPM on the tach, but the backglass display gave a
score depending on the actual 'speed', and also showed a 'speedometer'
with the speed value marked on it.   Hitting 'RPM'
increased the tach's RPM value, but the scoring was based on MPH.  (yes,
they are directly related in any given gear)  Yet when the backglass
speedo reaches it's 'red line', so does the tach.  Thus the speedo on the
display was 'redlining' in each sucessive gear, whereas it really only
should reach max speed in the highest (5th) gear.  Oh well, the graphic
speedo is a good indicator of how fast the ball went through the loop,
even if it did conflict with the tach readings.  I assume this is why the
'rpm' labels have been dropped on (later?) versions of the game.  

The super charger is great, and the multiball release is set up perfect to
take advantage of it.  When releasing the three balls into the right
inlane at the start of a multi ball, my goal is always to hit each one
into the SC and get all three racing around the track.  Getting all of
them in is pretty easy as the balls are released with pauses inbetween
them, allowing perfect shots on each one (not three balls on the flipper
at once).

Hey, BTW has anyone noticed the distinctive ZZ-top theme music in the
background on HSII?  I can't remember the title, but it's obvious when
your'e playing it.  

And another scoring question: During the 'supercharger ready' routine (4th
gear, i think) what is the 'supercharger total' listed on the display?  Is
this what you would score if you hit the SC before the end of the routine?
 The way I see it working is every lit shot you score (loop, tunnel, etc)
adds to the SC total, then hitting the SC gives you that score?  I've had
the SC total up around 100M, but my end of ball score is never near that
amount (I assume bacause I never hit the SC?).


       He got away......
                        HE WHAT?!!!

Mike Kahler
kahlerm@sumax.seattleu.edu

Dan Quale: "Will werk 4 fud"
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball