The Skill Shot is made by hitting the launched ball (assuming it makes
it all the way around to the upper left flipper) up the side ramp from the
upper left flipper. This is in actuality the first lit Combo shot and as
such is worth 5million. The second made skill shot is worth 10mil, etc.
Made skill shots increase the value of subsequent combo shots.
Combos are the most important part of Demolition Man ...
A combo is any sequence of the seven major shots when lit by its flashing
red arrow. In a really neat feature, unlit shots lite the next shots in
sequence ... in other words, you can keep hitting shots one after the
other and the game will keep lighting the proper shots in sequence.
Any major shot will light whatever shots can easily be made from that
shot. Ie: Left inlane lights right ramp, right loop, AcMag ramp ... Right
inlane lights Left orbit, Left ramp ... Right orbit (or AcMag/left roll)
lights Computer and Side Ramp, etc.
This is *not* as easy as it sounds ...
Each combo awards a set value depending on how many shots you have hit
in sequence ... 5M for the first, then 6M, 7M, etc. with no apparent
limit. The scoring reverts to 5M when the lit flashing shots time out.
You can make other shots in the meantime and the combos will remain lit.
The skill shot increases the base combo value by 1 million.
The side ramp will score "Double Combo" as the second part of a right loop/
side ramp combo.
Four of the combo shots (left and right loop, left and right ramp) also
have "explode" lites which award 10million a shot. Explodes are lit by
hitting an *unlit* underground hole (i.e. not lit as a combo; it may be
lit for Computer or Demolition Time). The Retina Scan also starts a
"Explode Hurry Up" round which makes use of these lights. See Retina
Scan for details.
The Combo shots lite the Computer every 10 combos and an extra ball at
12 and 50 combos. The 12 combo extra ball is percentage adjustable. The
Computer @ 10 combos is operator adjustable to 6,8,10,12 combos. Defaults
are 10 combos/computer and 12 combos/extra ball.
The Computer is accessed via the UnderGround shot and is lit by a yellow
lamp immediately above. Lit every 10 combos, the Computer is a random
award like the Camera on Twilight Zone. Awards seen so far :
- Light Extra Ball
- Light Explodes (lights all four explode 10M lamps)
- 3x Car Crash
- 2x Retina Scan
- Light Arrows (lights Laser millions on all combo shots)
- Maximize Freezes (freezes four balls and lights multiball)
- Collect Bonus (complete with bonus music!)
- Collect Standups (awards all the lit yellow targets)
This is the eyeball shot on the left side of the playfield. Shots that
knock the captive eyeball into the upper target award the Retina Scan value.
At certain numbers of Retina Scans hits, Explode Hurry Up is activated.
It takes 1 hit for the first Hurry-Up, four for the next. All four
Explode ramps are lit at a value of 15M that begins counting down. Hit
any explode lamp to collect and add 10M to the value for the next Explode
shot. The round times out when the countdown reaches 5M (or higher if
you've collected a few of the shots).
An extra ball is lit at three Retina Scans.
Retina Scan shots feed to the left saucer which drops the ball into the
left inlane.
Placed immediately above the Retina Scan, the Car Crash contains two captive
cars (yes, that's right ... captive cars) behind an impact target. Hitting
the target adds to the Car Crash value and lights an additional Car Crash
light. Hitting the target with three lights lit award the Car Crash value.
Car Crash is worth three, then six, then ten million (for 1/2/3 hits) and
is doubled if the top car hits the target at the end of the captive lane.
Car Crash lights Car Chase on the left/right lamps.
The Car Crash target has a terrible habit of deflecting the ball straight
down the middle, but the software does compensate with a short duration
ball saver. (Which, I'll warn you, can be turned off in LA-4 ROMs)
It's also quite easy to shake the cars across their opto switches if your
tilt is liberal enough.
The top lock is accessible via the left loop and a lucky center ramp shot.
It awards multiball and extra balls when lit and a mystery value when unlit.
Mystery values include :
- Big Points: 1M
- Hold/advance bonus X
- Hold standup value
- Boost combo values
- Hold combo values
- Light Access Claw
- Light Quick Freeze
- Increase Retina Value (+2 mil)
A left loop/top lock combination shot awards two combos and, in Capture
Simon mode, two Simon awards.
MTL Rollovers light an increasing bonus (2x, 3x, 4x, 5x) multiplier. They
are *very* hard to see because of the two big ramps in the way.
Getting the 5x bonus multiplier lights the extra ball on the left loop.
Each completed MTL rollover sequence lights Access Claw.
The Jet Bumpers increase the Retina Value. It starts at 5M and goes up
100K per jet. There are two Jet Bumpers and one slingshot ... the slingshot
counts as a jet bumper.
Jet Bumpers award 500k a Pop.
The Claw is the other major important feature of Demolition Man. It
awards five different modes culminating with a 'wizard award' of Demolition
Time. The Claw is accessed via the right ramp when lit. Completing the
MTL rollovers lights the left inlane which then lights the claw on the
right ramp. The five claw award (from left to right) are :
Start AcMag -- this mode returns the ball to the left inlane. Repeated
center ramp shots award an increasing value just like Judge Dredd's
excellent Safe Cracker mode. Animation is an increasingly bizarre range
of objects being blown to kingdom come.
Awards are 5mil to 12.5mil, then 6mil to 13.5mil, adding 1million for
each successful center ramp shot.
Lock Freeze -- This is a simple award, not really a mode. Lock freeze locks
as many flashing Freeze lamps as you need to light multiball, or starts
a multiball if lit. When you Lock Freeze to start a multiball, it starts
the multiball with one *additional* frozen ball. VERY HANDY.
The ball is returned to the saucer above the left inlane.
Prison Break -- This is an award/shoot mode that's very quick. The ball is
dropped above the upper left flipper. You are awarded 15million. A
reflex shot into the Underground doubles this, a reflex shot into the
side ramp triples this.
Prison Break also lights Car Chase which is an alternating ramp award
very similar to PayBack Time on T2. Awards are 5 million per
successful ramp.
Super Jets -- The Jet Bumpers are lit for 25 hits at 1million per hit. Each
yellow target adds to the number of hits left.
The Ball is dropped directly into the jet bumper area.
Capture Simon -- The ball is dropped down a tunnel and served to the right
ramp just like the Underground. The seven major shots are lit for 5mil
each for three shots. Each 5million award is added to a 25million award
for completing all three shots for a total of 40million.
All Claw mode awards increase the second time around.
This is the award for completing all five Claw Modes. It is accessed via
the Underground which is lit via a blue light. All major shots are lit
for 15million and stay lit. That's right -- all shots remain lit for as
long as you keep more than one ball in play. Completing the five yellow
targets adds a ball and increases the jackpot award by 5mil. Losing a ball
decreases the award. All shots are totalled for a "Demolition Time Total"
like LITZ is and is a separate high score table entry.
Demolition time starts with an outright 50million point award.
And some very, very neat sounds/animation ...
These are similar to Twilight Zone's Greed targets. They are worth 1million
plus 1million per number of hits (resets on each ball). Maximum of 20 hits.
Depending on machine settings, One, Two, or Three sets of targets must be
completed to light Quick Freeze, depending on whether Quick Freeze is set
to easy, medium, or hard.
Demolition Man has *four* multiball modes ... each of which has a variable
number of balls. Ball locks are lit by lighting Freeze lamps via the
yellow targets ... Balls are then locked via the left ramp or Claw.
Multiball is started by hitting the top lock via the left loop or, sometimes,
a lucky shot up the center ramp. Multiball can also be started, if all
required balls are already frozen, via the Lock Freeze mode on the Claw.
Fortress Multiball -- Requires one frozen ball. Jackpots are Center Ramp,
UnderGround, Left Ramp. Then the Right Ramp is lit for a Super Jackpot.
First three are normal jackpots, Super Jackpot is a Triple Jackpot.
Base is 20mil to 35mil based on number of frozen balls and the yellow
targets add 2mil to the base value. After getting the Super Jackpot,
the center ramp relights to start over again. During the second go-round,
more shots are required before the Super Jackpot is lit ... mainly, the
left and right loops are added as Jackpot shots.
Museum Multiball -- Requires two frozen balls. All shots are lit for
jackpots. Once all jackpots are made, the right ramp is lit for the
Super Jackpot. Base value is 25M (minimum since you froze two balls),
jet bumpers add 1million.
Wasteland Multiball -- Appears to function exactly like Fortress with
larger jackpots (because of more freezes) and more than one jackpot can
be lit at a time.
Cryo-Prison Multiball -- All Jackpot shots are lit and ADD to the Super
Jackpot which is lit for repeated shots to the right ramp. The regular
Jackpot shots do not award Jackpots, though ... they *just* add to the
Super Jackpot. Note that after shooting a Super, you have to shoot a
regular Jackpot shot to relight it ... and you can't collect another
Super Jackpot until the animation from the current one finishes.
Interesting note -- Super Jackpot shots go to the Claw where they are
returned to the left inlane.
Completing all Multiballs light a special Demolition Jackpot shot on the
right ramp. The game takes the best Jackpot score for each multiball
mode (regular jackpot or super jackpot) and multiplies it by the total
number of jackpots in each multiball mode according to the following
formula (thanks Keefer !) :
For the purposes of the DJ, all super jackpots count as jackpots. Then,
all the jackpots are added up like this :
(# Fortress jackpots + 1) * 15M +
(# Museum jackpots + 1) * 20M +
(# Wasteland jackpots + 1) * 25M +
(# Cryoprison jackpots + 1) * 30M = Demoltion Jackpot
Therefore, the minimum DJ you can get is 90M, if you didn't get a single
jackpot. Also, if you start another multiball (Fortress) when the DJ is
lit, it goes away (just like draining)!
After you complete Cryo-Prison multiball, and hopefully collect the
Demolition Jackpot, you start over with Fortress Multiball.
Bonus count consists of 10mil for each claw visit, 1mil for each combo,
and a bonus multiplier. Bonus can be speeded up by pressing both flippers.
Note: you can repeat claw modes and each claw visit, NOT each lit claw
award, scores 10M in bonus. There is a special trigger award ... see the
spoilers for more details.
Game Notes
As I've noted in many posts, this game has *weird* physics. I've seen balls
clear the entire playfield in the air ... roll in circles ... hit a wall
and bounce 20 inches to clear a metal wall ... and worse. There is lots
of rubber, lots of spin, and we all know what that ends up with.
Animation is superb, and the L-1 sound ROMs are an exceptional improvement
over the old P-1 ROMs. This game has the best sound other than Star Trek TNG
I've heard ... for music alone, I think its actually better than STTNG.
Ball play is fluid, albeit frenetic when the ball goes on one of its physics
bending tricks. Shots lead fluidly from one to another.
There doesn't seem to be a big scoring flaw in the game and scores seem
to be stabilized in the 1 to 5 billion range. While this is still high,
it's considerably better that STTNG's absurdly high scoring.
Cows and Secret Awards
There are a few secret awards from the triggers ...
All combos made by using the triggers as flipper buttons award an
additional 1 million at fun with bonus.
-
Pressing both thumb buttons on the handles during a multiball awards
the next Jackpot as a "Secret Jackpot" (not including super jackpots).
-
Pressing both thumb buttons when you get "Big Points/1million" from
the top lock yields an "Eat at Joe's" graphic and 5 million points.
-
Pressing both thumb buttons *and* both triggers when you get "Big
points/1million" from the top lock yields "WAG" for 10 million points.
-
Pressing both thumb buttons right after the third Capture Simon shot
(when you've captured him) yields a 10 million capture bonus.
-
Pressing both thumb buttons right after hitting the second Retina
Scan yields a great graphic of the prison warden getting his eye poked
out and used for the retina scan ... plus 10 million. This is called
the "Smithers" bonus after the character in the movie.
-
Pressing both thumb buttons right after getting the U-Look-Gr8-2Day
gives you a 10 million "Feel Great" bonus ...
There are also three cows so far :
-
The eighth AcMag award is an exploding cow.
-
There is also a secret cow in the AcMag mode ... just press both thumb
buttons at any point to get a free AcMag award and the same exploding
cow from above.
-
There is a cow on the rotating icon panel for the top lock's mystery
award.
Rolling the ball up the left inlane and into the Retina Scan saucer will
give you 10 million and a "Huxley" bonus.
