0
Rulesheet, v2
============================
One quick game,
Then just one more;
Then another,
More and more,
Outside the light
Fades into night:
Look at clock =
T!.
Please, everyone, send me updates like mad. The email address (humanified
to avoid spam-searches) is:
shocked [at] antelope [dot] demon [period] co [full-stop] uk
** PLEASE DO NOT SEND UPDATES BY JUST REPLYING TO THIS MESSAGE. THAT
** WILL SEND THEM TO MY PERSONAL ADDRESS.
- Updates have been slow because my Cd-Rom drive has finally rung down the
- curtain and joined the choir invisible and my TimeShock! CD is hence
- beyond reach. This situation to be rectified as soon as possible.
The Plot
~~~~~~~~
Somewhere, sometime, existed a scientist who was the proud owner of a
Time Crystal. While doing whatever futuristic scientists do with Time
Crystals, they managed to break it. This had the effect of creating a
Timeshock! - a widening wave of anti-time, which threatens to destroy the
universe if it completes its trip back from the future to the dawn of
time.
The scientist, realising the crisis, quickly hacked together a time
machine, and set out to find where in time and space the four parts of the
time crystal had gone. Once they have all four parts, they will be able
to return to the Dawn of Time, and smash the crystal a second time,
creating a second Timeshock! - which will cancel out the first.
Changes from The Web
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For those who played The Web, the following features leap at you:
- The setup interface is a lot nicer.
- There's an operator mode. You can adjust gameplay parameters. However,
a lot of the parameters are marked as "Locked" initially, so you can't
change them; presumably there is some way to unlock them (various
ways have been mentioned: scoring GC or the Wizard award does NOT do the
trick - play for X hours...?)
- It runs in much higher resolution and colour depth.
- The bonus count music is a lot more mellow.
- The announcer is even more strange. Whilst Web boasted the Evil French
Woman, the Blade Runner Lift Woman and the Muppet Animal Bloke, Timeshock!
has only one announcer - a female announcer who appears to have been
connected to an emotion randomizer. (Supposedly she's the scientist who
broke the crystal.) Quotes are listed when non-obvious. The best quote so
far, though, is the tilt: "Don't they have pinball in your time?"
The Playfield
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Usual drill... left to right whistle-stop tour. We'll get to the complex
stuff in a moment.
Left Outlane: Yes, there is one. It contains the S light of SCAN.
Time Machine: Mounted to the left of the left outlane and above it. It is
the ball tank which holds locked balls. Balls are locked in it via an
arm mechanism which picks them up from a habitrail (which comes down from
the spinner). Balls are ejected through a gate, over the left outlane and
into the left inlane. Just like Indiana Jones, there is a post near to the
gate, and some outlane drains can be saved by this post. When a drain is
saved in this way, you score 5M.
Left Inlane: Totally ordinary, except it has the C light of SCAN.
W target: The W in W-A-R-P, on the bridge between the left outlane/inlane
and the orbit.
Left Orbit: One end of the orbit which curves right around the back of
the machine. Lights features in strict order.
Left Ramp: Used to light the Time Machine. Feeds back to the left inlane.
M-A-G targets: Face directly right on a bank just next to the left
ramp. One half of M-A-G-N-E-T.
Left Side Ramp: Above the M-A-G targets and facing right, similar to the
Demolition Time shot.
Spinner Lane: Just to the left of the Time Crystal, this lane feeds into
the Jet Bumpers, or may direct the ball to a habitrail to the Time Machine
if lock is lit.
A target: The A in W-A-R-P, just to the left of the crystal.
Time Crystal: Slapbang in the middle top of the playfield, a big green
rotating crystal. Its entrance is guarded by two rubber posts, a little
like the skull shot on No Fear (except that you can see the enterance - but
it makes it quite a tricky shot). Does lots of wonderful things.
R target: The R in W-A-R-P, just to the right of crystal.
Little hole: Just that.. a hole that lets the ball dribble out from the
jets. Nothing special whatsoever.
N-E-T targets: On the right of the R, facing down and to the left.
The second bit of M-A-G-N-E-T.
Bumpers and lanes: Two lanes with a set of jet bumpers above them. The
two lanes lite when rolled through and award bonus multiplier when both
are lit. Holding both flippers shuts off the jet bumpers if you want to
get the ball out quickly in a time-limit mode. (The time limits do
actually pause while the ball is in the jets, but you may want to get it
out quickly to avoid disrupting your shot rhythm.)
Right ramp: Also used to light the Time Machine. Feeds the right inlane.
Right orbit: Used to collect and score the Quickshot feature. Feeds right
round to the left orbit.
Upper-right flipper: Usable to hit the M-A-G targets and the left
upper ramp.
P target: On the maximum right of the playfield, the P in W-A-R-P.
Right inlane: Has MagnoSave!! Hit the MagnoSave key to activate a
magnet above the inlane and pull balls out of the outlane. It must be
relit once it's used. Also contains the A of S-C-A-N.
Right outlane: Guess there has to be one. Doesn't do anything nice,
apart from containing the N of S-C-A-N.
Attract Mode
~~~~~~~~~~~~
During Attract, you can do the following funky things by hitting button
combinations:
BOTH FLIPPERS AT ONCE: to put up your Score Validation Code for
submission to Empire's web site. Tap the right flipper to cycle through
statistics for your game. Codes are only issued for games played with
factory settings.
LAUNCH AND START TOGETHER: the operator's menu. During a game, this
cancels the game and returns to attract mode.
HOLD LEFT FLIPPER FOR 2 SECONDS: to enable challenge mode. Hit start to
play challenge mode, or the flipper again to cancel it. (Challenge mode
enabled multi-player sharing for all features.)
HOLD RIGHT FLIPPER FOR 2 SECONDS: to enable tournament mode. Hit start to
play tournament mode, or the flipper again to cancel it. (Tournament mode
equalises random features.)
HOLD LAUNCH FOR 2 SECONDS: to toggle between your custom settings and the
factory settings.
Skill Shot
~~~~~~~~~~
First, select Novice or Regular mode. Novice mode gives you 120 seconds
of unlimited-ball play. Regular mode is a 3-ball standard game. I bet
there's a hidden Wizard mode or similar in there somewhere.
The plunger shoots up the Left Side ramp and round to the right inlane.
Either the Left Orbit, Ramp, or Spinner will be lit. Shoot for the
skill shot, initially 5M; it rises by 1M, to a maximum of 10M, every time you
make it.
To enable the "Secret Skill Shot", hold both flippers while the ball
is in the plunger lane. In this mode, the plunger magically becomes a
manual plunger. Plunge and try and hit the "A" target of M-A-G. The award
is 1/2 of the standard skill shot value, but you get a free completion of
M-A-G-N-E-T (ie, awards and quickshots are advanced and magnosave is relit).
The Secret Skill Shot raises the skill shot value in the normal way.
Scanner
~~~~~~~
Use the flippers to cycle lit S-C-A-N lanes between the inlanes and
outlanes. Spelling S-C-A-N lights the Scanner at the Crystal. The scanner
is a random award. Known awards are:
Light Lock
Start Exploration
Video Mode
Find The Cow (?)
Small Points (random, 1M or less. If you collect Small Points, hit both
flippers to collect "Very Small Points" - 100 or less.)
Boost Multipliers (generally by 3x-6x)
Spot W-A-R-P target
Special
Advance Time Drive (by 20%)
Light MagnoSave
Advance Quickshot
30 second Ball Saver
Very big points (100M-200M)
Advance awards
The scanner starts the game lit. A counter is increased each time you
relight the scanner: every 5 scanners, a Super Scanner is lit. Super Scanner
is similar to the Super Random features on lots of old Data East tables; two
random options are chosen and you get to pick one of them. However, the
options are different, and better:
Special
Super Jets
Light all locks
Light all awards
Light all quickshots
Super bonus boost (5x-10x)
Spot empty continents
Activate Time Machine
Ultra Jets
Ramp Rampage
60 second ball saver
Super Magnosave (unlimited use until end of ball)
Light Video Mode
Light Time Warp
Midnight Madness (only available within +/- 15 minutes of 00:00 system time
)
Two extra balls are also available, at 10 and 100 scanners.
Ramp Rampage
~~~~~~~~~~~~
A 60 second timed mode. Object is to shoot each ramp 5 times. Each ramp
shot made is worth 1M+1M to 9M. There is also a value multiplier, which
starts at its maximum of 5 and decreases by 1 every 2-3 seconds, but never
below 1. Each ramp shot made increases the multiplier by 1, but never above
5. Shooting the upper ramp scores 1M*multiplier and boosts the multiplier to
5 right away. The 10th shot is worth a flat 100M.
Midnight Madness
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
10 ball frenzy with a 120 second ball saver. Every switch is worth 10
points (!).
Bonus Multiplier
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The two lanes above the bumpers advance the bonus multiplier by 1x each
time. An extra ball is lit at 25x. (Yes, you read that right - 25x.)
Jets
~~~~
The Jets pass through a series of stages of "Super Jets". In each stage,
it takes 100 hits to advance to the next stage. The number of Jets is not
held between balls unless you have collected the "Hold Jets" award from
the Left Orbit.
Stage 0: Super Jets unlit. Hits just count down. 100 hits to next stage.
Stage 1: Each Jet hit scores 1/3 of 1M. 100 hits to next stage.
Stage 2: Each Jet hit scores 2/3 of 1M. 100 hits to next stage.
Stage 3: Each Jet hit scores 1M. Maxed out.
Orbit Awards
~~~~~~~~~~~~
M-A-G lights the next award on the left orbit: N-E-T lights the next award
on the right. Spelling MAGNET completely lights MagnoSave (how'd you
guess? ;) )
Shooting the Left Orbit collects the highest lit award. The awards are:
Hold Multiplier, Hold Jets, Light Video Mode, 4-Ball TimeWarp, and Mystery.
If you hit the Left Orbit and no award is lit, you get a Paradox Award, a
random points award in the style of Odd Change. In Tournament Mode, this
is always 99,990.
The Mystery award at the end of the sequence is always Light Extra Ball
on your first completion of the awards. Second time, it can be a number of
things: if the award is collected in Multiball, you get Super Spinner.
Otherwise, you get Reverse Frenzy.
Shooting the Right Orbit collects the highest lit award. The only awards
on the Right Orbit are Quickshot awards: Quickshot 1x, Quickshot 2x... up to
Quickshot 5x. Quickshot counts down from 10M * quickshot multiplier; shoot
the Right Orbit to collect the countdown value, plus a Souvenir. "Souvenirs"
change with the timezone:
Present Day: Pinball, Magnet, Mobile phone, Couch potato, Pint of Milk
Future: Rocket board, Ray Gun, Battery, Red Knight 3000, Hologram
Projector
Rome: Death Mask, Papyrus Scroll, Toga, Ankh, ?
Prehistory: T-Rex Tooth, First Wheel, Baby Pterodactyl, Dinosaur Egg,
Asteroid
If you make a quickshot, and the NEXT quickshot above it was lit, then
that other quickshot mode immediately starts as a "Double Quickshot". This
quickshot is different: it counts down from 20M*Multiplier to 2M*Multiplier.
(Check: Is there a Triple Quickshot?)
Souvenirs
~~~~~~~~~
Souvenirs can be combined to enable special awards. Two Souvenirs are
required for each award. When you have the two required souveniers,
shooting a lit non-super scanner will display the two souveniers in
question and give you the award. Known so far:
(Key to timezones: (P)resent, (F)uture, (R)ome, (D)inosaurs=Prehistory)
Mobile Phone (P) Couch Potato (P) Very Big Points
T-rex Tooth (D) Baby Pterodactyl (D) Ultra Bonus Boost (10-20x!)
Death Mask (R) Ankh (R) Ultra Ball Saver (90 sec)
Pint of Milk (P) Dinosaur Egg (D) Find the Cow
Rocket Board (F) Battery (F) Special
Red Knight 3000 (F) Pinball (P) Extra Ball Quickshot
Toga (R) Magnet (P) Ultra Magnosave
Papyrus Scroll (R) First Wheel (D) Ultra Spinner
Asteroid (F) Hologram Projector (F) Secret Video Mode
Ultra Magnosave: Unlimited Magnosave use for the current ball AND THE
NEXT.
Extra ball Quickshot: 15 second quickshot: right orbit for extra ball.
Ultra Spinner: 3M/spin for 60 seconds.
Find the Cow: For the rest of the ball, one of the orbits or the spinner
lane will "find the cow", and award 5M plus 5M per cow found so far. The
cow moves after each successful shot. However, the shot is not lit - there
is no indication which shot it should be. (Check: Maxes out?)
Secret Video Mode: See Video Mode.
Super Spinner
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The spinner is worth 1M/spin for 60 seconds. Each spinner lane shot
adds 100K to the spinner value. (Check: Does it max out? Does the spinner
increase the timer?)
Reverse Frenzy
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
All major shots are 5M each. Shoot them all to light Extra Ball. After
this, they all relight: shooting them all again awards Very Big Points.
Easy? Nope. Throughout this mode your flippers are reversed and
semi-randomised. Usually the right button flips the left flipper. Usually.
There is a short ball saver after the end of this mode to prevent your ball
being lost due to the flipper confusion.
Quickshot Mania
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you complete all the Left Orbit awards and Quickshots, Quickshot
Mania becomes lit on the Right Orbit. For 30 seconds, hitting any
M-A-G-N-E-T target starts a Quickshot counting down on one of the orbits:
M-A-G lights the Left Orbit, N-E-T lights the Right. The start value of the
Quickshot on the Orbit will be: # targets hit * # seconds left in Mania * 1M.
Shooting the appropriate Orbit will award the value. You can continue to
light and collect either orbit regardless of the state of the other orbit.
Each target hit or orbit shot adds 5 seconds to the timer. In addition,
every orbit shot will light a number of the award or quickshot lights on
that orbit: the number is equal to the number of targets down on that side.
When all the lights are lit, either orbit completes Quickshot Mania and
awards 100M.
Combos
~~~~~~
The right orbit doesn't award anything when it's not lit for a Quickshot,
but it does enable the right ramp and right orbit for a combo. Shooting
the right orbit a second time advances the bonus multiplier. The right
ramp starts the combo sequence, which is:
Right Orbit -> as many bonus multipliers as you can get ->
Right Ramp (combo) ->
Spinner lane (double combo) ->
Side Ramp (triple combo PLUS Light All Continents) ->
Left Ramp (super combo PLUS Light All Locks *probably*) ->
Crystal (ultra combo PLUS Instant collection of all souvenirs for current
time zone (!!). Also, if you had the scanner lit, you'll get a
combination award right away.)
The Time Machine
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Spinning the Spinner awards letter(s) in the "Lock-O-Meter" (the five
triangular lamps spelling "L-I-T-E-Lock" near the Spinner). A couple of
spins (4?) are needed for each letter. Once all of them are lit, the Spinner
locks balls in the Time Machine. Each lock awards 5M. Lock three balls to
start Time Machine Frenzy. For your second frenzy and later, you
must complete the Lock-O-Meter for every lock.
However, you might actually (gasp) want to use the Time Machine to
Travel in Time. To do that, you do exactly the same thing, but you must
activate the Time Machine first. Shooting a ramp pumps power into
the time machine. For the first Time Travel, each ramp puts in 20%; for
remaining Time Travels, each ramp puts in 10%. After shooting any
ramp to power up the Machine, you must use the OTHER ramp for the next
power up. At the start of each ball, both ramps become available again,
unless one ramp has a lower power level than the other. (Check: I'm
definately missing something here, because I suspect the individual ramp
power levels count more significantly than implied. This section is due a
rewrite.)
Each ramp also lights the other ramp as a timed shot to award a Ramp Way.
Ramp Ways count up, although you won't see the count-up unless you carry on
shooting Ramp Ways when the time machine is at 100% (because the time machine
animation overrides the Ramp Way one). You will, however, hear the announcer
call "Two Way", "Three Way", "Four Way".. Ramp ways are worth 1M for each
ramp way made in the current sequence (ie, 2M, 3M, 4M.) After 10 Ramp Ways,
the announcer says something different... Spoiler 2.
If you have powered up the Time Machine, then when you lock three balls,
you'll be asked what period you want to travel to. (Note: Powering up the
Time Machine doesn't on its own light the locks - you still have to go
through the spinner procedure.) The periods available are:
Requirement
The Present Day None
The Distant Future None
Ancient Rome 1 Tachyonium
The Prehistoric Age 2 Tachyonium
The Dawn of Time 3 Tachyonium + 4 Crystal Fragments
(unknown) 8 Tachyonium + Dawn of Time completed
To go to Prehistory, Rome, or (unknown), you need to connect Tachyonium
from Explorations. The Dawn of Time is the Wizard award (Timeshock! Frenzy,
Spoiler 3), and you must collect all four Crystal Fragments from Time Machine
Frenzy to get there. (unknown) is.. very special (Spoiler 4, but please
resist).
Once you've selected a period, you have to shoot the Time Crystal to
start the Time Machine. Lean back and watch the *AWESOME* pyrotechnics.
(Have somebody standing by to catch your jaw first time. Twentieth time,
hit launch to skip it ;) ) Immediately after your Travel, Time Machine
Frenzy starts with 4 balls rather than 3.
Your Time Zone determines the music played. It also changes the
Explorations you will have available. Most importantly, however, you can
collect only one Crystal Fragment from each Time Zone.
If you light the Time Machine but you really don't want to change Zone,
you don't have to. When you're asked where you want to go, select the
Zone you're already in. 3-ball Time Machine Frenzy will start just as
if the Time Machine had never been lit. The Time Machine will remain
active, so you'll have the option to travel again next time you start
Time Machine Frenzy.
(Strategy note: It's a VERY bad idea to Time Travel on your first Time
Machine Frenzy. If you do, you'll have to go back for the Present Day
Crystal Fragment later, and that means making four time trips instead of
three - and that extra time trip will be a 10-shot job..)
Time Machine Frenzy
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Three- or Four- ball play (sorry, must avoid saying m____b___) - four-ball
if you took a trip through time immediately before starting it, three- if you
didn't. Both ramps are lit for Jackpot. Collecting a Jackpot lights the
opposite ramp for Double Jackpot for a limited time; collecting a Double
lights the opposite ramp for a Triple. Collecting a Triple lights the
opposite ramp for ANOTHER Triple, and you can go on all day if you like.
If one ramp is lit for a multiplied jackpot, shooting the unmultiplied
Jackpot on the *OTHER* ramp will reset the timer for the multiplied jackpot.
Jackpots start at 10M and increase 100K/spin and 1M/side ramp to no known
limit.
Each Jackpot also lites a Continent; Double lites 2, Triple lites *FOUR*
(yes, four.. yes, I know it's strange). When all seven Continents are lit,
you have found a Crystal Fragment. Shoot the Crystal to get the Fragment
(50M). You cannot collect ANY jackpots while the Crystal Fragment is
lit! Once you have the fragment, the Side Ramp lights for Super Jackpot,
which is 5x Jackpot Value.
Once you have the Super Jackpot, any Triple Jackpot collected will light
the Side Ramp for Ultra Jackpot for 5 seconds (regardless of the Side Ramp
being lit for any other Jackpot): if it times out, it reverts to Super
Jackpot again. Ultra Jackpot is 100M + values of all previous jackpots that
multiball (!) to maximum 500M. Scoring the Ultra unlights all continents
and puts you back to the beginning: it also resets the value of the
Ultra.
After a frenzy in which you got a Crystal Fragment ends, shoot the
Crystal to lock the Fragment into place. The ball will be piped to one of
the miniature Fragments around the playfield - which one it goes to is
determined by your Time Zone. Locking a fragment is worth 50M. Locking
the Fourth fragment lights Extra Ball.
There is no frenzy restart or similar, but if you have the Crystal
Fragment available when you drop out of frenzy, it will remain lit
for 15 seconds. There is a brief grace period after the frenzy in which you
can still still collect one or two Jackpots. However, if the Crystal
Fragment wasn't lit as your Frenzy ended, then even if it only takes one
or two Jackpots to light it, you can't light the Fragment in the grace period.
If you get another Time Machine Frenzy in the same time zone, you start again
from where you were, unless Ultra Jackpot was available, in which case you
must recollect a Super Jackpot to enable the Ultra Jackpot again.
Time Warp
~~~~~~~~~
Spell W-A-R-P (hit the letters in strict order) to light "30 second Time
Warp" at the Crystal. Spelling WARP again adds 15 seconds to the timer.
Time Warp is 2-ball play. For the first X seconds (however many you earnt
by spelling WARP), spelling W-A-R-P again or shooting the left side ramp adds
another ball (provided you have less than 4 in play), and any balls you drain
will be relaunched.
The Warp Jackpot starts at 10M, and goes up by 500K * balls-in-play every
time you hit a W-A-R-P target. There is a Jackpot Multiplier, which initially
is x1; spell W-A-R-P or hit the side ramp to increase the multiplier. The
Crystal collects the jackpot.
After one Jackpot, the Jackpot multiplier goes to x0 (ie, unlit). Spell
W-A-R-P to or hit the side ramp put the multiplier to x1 and relight the
Jackpot.
Time Warp, it seems, can be started almost any time. It can be started
during an Exploration. It can even be started during Time Machine Frenzy.
However, you cannot lock balls for any frenzy during a Time Warp. (However,
you can *light* one lock.)
Exploration
~~~~~~~~~~~
Shoot the Upper Ramp in normal play. This explores a Continent. If you
find Tachyonium there, an Exploration starts. If you don't, you just
count up a Continent. The Jets rotate the lit Continent, so you can use the
double-flipper trick to select a Continent if you want Tachyonium quickly.
The lit continent also rotates constantly while the ball is in the plunger
lane, so you might be able to select a Continent by carefully timing your
launch.
There are 7 continents and 2 will contain Tachyonium. Which two is
determined by your Time Zone. Every five empty continents (even if all
five aren't in the same Time Zone) awards "big points", which starts at
25M and rises by 25M every time it's collected. Continents with Tachyonium
do not light, or count, unless you actually complete the mode; so you can try
the modes several times.
Exploring all the empty continents in one Time Zone doesn't do anything
(except almost certainly get you a Big Points award). However, if you
explore every continent in a Time Zone, and you have gotten all the
Tachyonium, something VERY special happens... see Spoiler 1.
If you shoot the Spinner -> Ramp combo, you explore *TWO* continents. If
both are empty, you get nothing. If one has Tachyonium, you get the 1
Continent count-up for the empty one, and the Exploration for the other one
starts. If BOTH have Tachyonium, only the first one starts. If Lock is lit,
and you want to try this combo, hold the right flipper down for a little
while then tap the left. The lock will unlight for roughly 2 seconds so you
can try the shot.
The backglass animation on the Explorations is *AWESOME*.
Starting any Exploration appears to award 1M (this may also be true for
an empty Continent).
Present Day
-----------
Channel Tunnel (Europe): 60 seconds. Shoot the Right Orbit to start
mining. All the time you're mining, your score and the mode percentage
rises. Shooting any ramp or the spinner speeds up the count-up. When you
reach 99%, you'll be told you have found the Tachyonium; you must
now shoot the Left Orbit to safely get the Time Machine out of the
Chunnel.
If you don't make the Right Orbit shot to start mining in the first 15
seconds, the Machine starts mining automatically, but you will need to
speed up a large number of times to make up for the time deficit at the
start.
Since your score goes up constantly while you're mining, no precise
scoring information can be given. When you find the tachyonium, you will
have made 50M on the mode. Getting the tachyonium is worth another 50M.
Mount Rushmore (North America): ["Get UP there.."] The three Ramps are lit.
Clear off all three, then hit the Spinner for the final climb, 50M, and the
Tachyonium ["THERE it is!"]. If you run out of time, you fall off Mount
Rushmore.... owwwch. The first three climbs are worth 5M, 15M, and 30M
respectively.
Ancient Rome
------------
Chariot Race: 60 seconds. You start in 4th place, and the aim is to move
to 1st. To move ahead a place, shoot the lit ramp or orbit. At any given
time, the orbit and the ramp on one side of the playfield or the other will
be lit; however, the lit orbit and ramp switch sides every half-second or
so!
Pyramid (Africa): 65 seconds. Shoot the crystal to light all shots except
the upper ramp and crystal; shoot all five shots (2*ramp, 2*orbit, spinner)
to win the mode. As in the Channel Tunnel, if you haven't hit the crystal
by 15 seconds into the mode, the game spots the Crystal and lights the shots
anyway.
Distant Future
--------------
Power Plant: 60 seconds. Destroy the Power Plant by hitting the bumpers,
just like you did with the Ammo Dump in The Web. ;) Each bumper does 1%.
At the start of the mode, and whenever the ball leaves the bumpers, the
orbits will light to do 29% damage for 3 or 4 seconds. At 98% damage, shoot
either orbit for the Tachyonium.
Robot War (South America): 60 seconds. The M-A-G-N-E-T drops are lit. Hit
them to attack the robot. MAG targets are worth 10%, NET are worth 5%.
Completing either bank lights the upper ramp for a *lot* of damage (35-50%?)
Shooting any target in either bank will RAISE all targets in the OTHER bank
(but it will not unlight the upper ramp). If you hit certain other shots
(the left orbit certainly, possibly the spinner..) the robot hits you, which
deducts 5%.
Prehistory
----------
Dinosaur Stampede: 60 seconds. Similar to Chariot Race: hit the left
orbit, then the right orbit, then make two more orbit shots while the
lit orbit alternates between the sides. Fortunately, they only alternate
every second as opposed to every half-second.
Volcano: 60 seconds. Put three buckets of water on the volcano. Spinner
lane gathers water; any ramp dumps it. You can hold up to 2 buckets of
water before dumping some. When 3 buckets are on, shoot the crystal for
the Tachyonium.
Video mode
~~~~~~~~~~
Pops up at the Crystal as the third Left Orbit award. The game also
sometimes seems to light it at odd times (scanner? 3rd ball sympathy?)
Shoot the Crystal for the video mode.
The aim of the mode is to fly the Time Machine down a cylinder, collecting
Clown faces (1M apiece) and avoiding mines. The Time Machine can take
5 hits from the mines before the Video Mode ends. The twist is that the
cylindical tube is affected by gravity. If you want to get the awards near
the top of the tube, you need to build up your momentum by swinging back
and forth in the bottom, or you won't be able to climb the sides of the
tube. But if you're swinging back and forth, you'll hit more mines.
The final face on each level is worth 10M * level.
If you get all the faces on a level, you get all your lives back and go to
the next level immediately. However, if you win that level, your Video Mode
will end, and your next Video Mode will start on the following level - in
other words, you can play a maximum of two levels per trip. If you get all
the faces WITHOUT losing a life, the video mode total is doubled.
If you miss some of the points, you leave video mode, and you will start
from the same level next time you score Video Mode.
SECRET Video Mode is a different beast altogther. It always starts at
level 1 regardless of your normal Video Mode level. Cows are substituted for
Clown Faces. You can play as many levels as you wish in one trip, but you
do NOT recover lives between levels.
Bonus
~~~~~
The end of ball bonus:
(25k * Scanners
+ 50k * Ramp Ways
+ 100k * Continents
+ 250k * Souvenirs)
* Multiplier
Spoilers
~~~~~~~~
Rules for things you'd perhaps prefer not to know about right away.
To read sensibly, delete every other character of each line, starting with
the second. Eg:
T|h|i|s| |i|s| |a|n| |e|x|a|m|p|l|e| |o|f| |h|o|w| |t|h|e| |s|p|o|i|l|e|r|s|
a|r|e| |w|r|i|t|t|e|n|.|
Of course, on the actual spoilers, the intervening characters are letters and
numbers to make it hard to read the surrounding text. Just load your
editor, point the cursor on the second character of each line, and hit
Delete, RightArrow, Delete, RightArrow, until the end of the line. It
won't take long, and (although I know it's very sad to say so) it does
produce a rather nice effect.
---------------------------------------
Spoiler 1
~~~~~~~~~
WMhaernt ianl lt hteh eh acpopnyt isnoecnkt sh iitns ay otuirm eh ezaodn e
aorne al ilta,r gaen weaxltlr am acdoen toifn epnett e- aAntdl aDnatvies
-I wkinlolw atphpaeta ri so nr utbhbei smha pb.u t EDxop lyoorue
tchairse cao nhtoionte nIt dtoon ts twaarntt Gtloo bpault
Daonmyi npautnicotnu,a tai 1620 isne choenrde Fsriennczey iwti twhi
elalc hm askwei ticth twooor tohb 157050OKs o*r r(yl iatb
coountt itnheantt sl)a.p s eO nien csotnutpiindeintty ibsu tl iit haatd
tthoe psutta rsto;m et hneu mrbaemrps ainnd istp ilninkeer atnoy
roanmep wciolmlb or elaidg htth icso natniynweanyt si irne atlhley
nhoorpmea ly ofua sahrieonnt. d eIcfo dyionug laitg htth ea lwlr
tohneg cpoanrtiitnye notns ,p utrhpeo ssew itthcaht vwaoluuled
bbeec oomdeds 25AM .
---------------------------------------
Spoiler 2
~~~~~~~~~
NMoo owsaey...
---------------------------------------
Spoiler 3
~~~~~~~~~
AT htei mqeudi c5k- bbarlolw nf rfeonxz yj ufmopre d132401 soevceorn dtsh.e
Bloatzhy odrobgi tnso wa nids rtahmep st iamree floirt :a lslh ogooto
adn ym eonf wtehlels ei tt os aeynsa bmleen obnuet oIf stuhpep
Corsyes tiatl iFsr argamtehnetrs ,* etxhiesnt sihno otth itsh ed
caryy satnadl atgoe lwohcikc ha ib aklnlo wt hae rleo.t oAff tpeero
tphlee chraytset ablu ts hnoetv,e rt hmei nrde.m aNionwi nigs sthhoet st
wiimlel froerl iaglhlt .g o oAdf tpeerr slooncsk itnhga ttsh eb
feotutretrh tboa lclo,m et hteo ctrhyes taaild roefl itghhet sp afrotry
tahse iffi ntahle ys haoctt utaol lsym awsohu ltdh ea sC riyts tiasl
ain de xspaevcet tthhee yu nwiovuelrdsnet. e vTehne vlootcek sf oarr e
wtohretmh. 2157Ms,+ 1520TM!,t 2705WM0,d naan db 0110001Ms; btihnea
friyn,anli cseh.o.t ainsy wwaoyr tih t715209Mh,i nmka kii nwga st hgeo
tiontga lo n1 Ba.b o uItf pyeooup lfea inlo,t tciommei ntgr atvoe lt
ahgea iani dt oo fr etphlea yp aTritmyewshhiocchk wFarse nfzayi;r
yloyu aailmsloe sgse tr etahlel yo phpeoyr tausn iit ya mt ow rTiitmien
Tgr atvheils aiftt eirs smuyc cbeierdtihndga.y TTohmeo rMraoswtyeary
OIf hToipmee mayw adrrdi vies ggeitvse nf ifxoerd tshoeo
fna sstoe sIt ccaonm palcettuiaolnl yo fp lTaiym etshhiosc kg
Farmeen zayg.h
---------------------------------------
Spoiler 4
~~~~~~~~~
Wlhiesnn gyaoiut theahveeo n8y rTfaocdhuyloanuiaudmo tahnudp thaaevte
ceotmmpilaebtoetdn rTtiymyeesahoorcrke pflrpetnlzyyn,o atkhrec luhnhklnaoqwrnt
etnitorsyn cwdihlile ucihnatnwguee mtsoa iTphcel lEenldr noufa mTtiimseg.
Sseelreucdta otiheissb gaanhds ntiiemsen wteraayvrenla dtihbefroeg ntso
agcmteifvaabttes rWtiezuaoredi dFsrteendzhya!o r aTohsiesh binss nag a6
boailoln cfdreewnoziym efrosrh i6a0o msmescrotnedesw,t ratnidi ttihiel
ftotlrlootwaimnagm nairsef eatcsteicvtea:i wTsiamnet iMtaocsheihnte
Fhrseinczuyb,r yQaugitcskdsdhtoqts hMnadnbihae,d lUhlsthrtah rJaeitnsl,o
Reaimgpe aReaomhpdajgeei,o aUiluttreae eSbpeiintnlears,a tUtletrrra
Foihnidr lTfhfem aCoohwt,o yUglitircav iTuinmreh eWnaernph oFhrdewntzsyt,p
atntdn oGlleorbmahlb tDsogmsinntadtkiaotnr.s t(e!w)k n iIgft nyeonu
shcyoarmey g1eBI itaoftnaolh,i etnhteh sesxotertat gbdatluly ilriaghhetfsi,r
beuatl dyeoiui wmhulsoto oceoolflaehcito iimtn edxuoroihnogp etthhe
Frrweannzayt soirs oittt tgyodeusn aatwtahye.o
Many thanks to Ade and Champie for making this wonderful game, and for
not releasing it until after my finals :)
The official list of wonderful contributors:
Malcolm Peach mpeach@netcomuk.co.uk
Keith Johnson keefer@access.digex.net
David Smith D.M.Smith@lancs.ac.uk
--
============================
One quick game,
Then just one more;
Then another,
More and more,
Outside the light
Fades into night:
Look at clock =
T!.
Please, everyone, send me updates like mad. The email address (humanified
to avoid spam-searches) is:
shocked [at] antelope [dot] demon [period] co [full-stop] uk
** PLEASE DO NOT SEND UPDATES BY JUST REPLYING TO THIS MESSAGE. THAT
** WILL SEND THEM TO MY PERSONAL ADDRESS.
- Updates have been slow because my Cd-Rom drive has finally rung down the
- curtain and joined the choir invisible and my TimeShock! CD is hence
- beyond reach. This situation to be rectified as soon as possible.
The Plot
~~~~~~~~
Somewhere, sometime, existed a scientist who was the proud owner of a
Time Crystal. While doing whatever futuristic scientists do with Time
Crystals, they managed to break it. This had the effect of creating a
Timeshock! - a widening wave of anti-time, which threatens to destroy the
universe if it completes its trip back from the future to the dawn of
time.
The scientist, realising the crisis, quickly hacked together a time
machine, and set out to find where in time and space the four parts of the
time crystal had gone. Once they have all four parts, they will be able
to return to the Dawn of Time, and smash the crystal a second time,
creating a second Timeshock! - which will cancel out the first.
Changes from The Web
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For those who played The Web, the following features leap at you:
- The setup interface is a lot nicer.
- There's an operator mode. You can adjust gameplay parameters. However,
a lot of the parameters are marked as "Locked" initially, so you can't
change them; presumably there is some way to unlock them (various
ways have been mentioned: scoring GC or the Wizard award does NOT do the
trick - play for X hours...?)
- It runs in much higher resolution and colour depth.
- The bonus count music is a lot more mellow.
- The announcer is even more strange. Whilst Web boasted the Evil French
Woman, the Blade Runner Lift Woman and the Muppet Animal Bloke, Timeshock!
has only one announcer - a female announcer who appears to have been
connected to an emotion randomizer. (Supposedly she's the scientist who
broke the crystal.) Quotes are listed when non-obvious. The best quote so
far, though, is the tilt: "Don't they have pinball in your time?"
The Playfield
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Usual drill... left to right whistle-stop tour. We'll get to the complex
stuff in a moment.
Left Outlane: Yes, there is one. It contains the S light of SCAN.
Time Machine: Mounted to the left of the left outlane and above it. It is
the ball tank which holds locked balls. Balls are locked in it via an
arm mechanism which picks them up from a habitrail (which comes down from
the spinner). Balls are ejected through a gate, over the left outlane and
into the left inlane. Just like Indiana Jones, there is a post near to the
gate, and some outlane drains can be saved by this post. When a drain is
saved in this way, you score 5M.
Left Inlane: Totally ordinary, except it has the C light of SCAN.
W target: The W in W-A-R-P, on the bridge between the left outlane/inlane
and the orbit.
Left Orbit: One end of the orbit which curves right around the back of
the machine. Lights features in strict order.
Left Ramp: Used to light the Time Machine. Feeds back to the left inlane.
M-A-G targets: Face directly right on a bank just next to the left
ramp. One half of M-A-G-N-E-T.
Left Side Ramp: Above the M-A-G targets and facing right, similar to the
Demolition Time shot.
Spinner Lane: Just to the left of the Time Crystal, this lane feeds into
the Jet Bumpers, or may direct the ball to a habitrail to the Time Machine
if lock is lit.
A target: The A in W-A-R-P, just to the left of the crystal.
Time Crystal: Slapbang in the middle top of the playfield, a big green
rotating crystal. Its entrance is guarded by two rubber posts, a little
like the skull shot on No Fear (except that you can see the enterance - but
it makes it quite a tricky shot). Does lots of wonderful things.
R target: The R in W-A-R-P, just to the right of crystal.
Little hole: Just that.. a hole that lets the ball dribble out from the
jets. Nothing special whatsoever.
N-E-T targets: On the right of the R, facing down and to the left.
The second bit of M-A-G-N-E-T.
Bumpers and lanes: Two lanes with a set of jet bumpers above them. The
two lanes lite when rolled through and award bonus multiplier when both
are lit. Holding both flippers shuts off the jet bumpers if you want to
get the ball out quickly in a time-limit mode. (The time limits do
actually pause while the ball is in the jets, but you may want to get it
out quickly to avoid disrupting your shot rhythm.)
Right ramp: Also used to light the Time Machine. Feeds the right inlane.
Right orbit: Used to collect and score the Quickshot feature. Feeds right
round to the left orbit.
Upper-right flipper: Usable to hit the M-A-G targets and the left
upper ramp.
P target: On the maximum right of the playfield, the P in W-A-R-P.
Right inlane: Has MagnoSave!! Hit the MagnoSave key to activate a
magnet above the inlane and pull balls out of the outlane. It must be
relit once it's used. Also contains the A of S-C-A-N.
Right outlane: Guess there has to be one. Doesn't do anything nice,
apart from containing the N of S-C-A-N.
Attract Mode
~~~~~~~~~~~~
During Attract, you can do the following funky things by hitting button
combinations:
BOTH FLIPPERS AT ONCE: to put up your Score Validation Code for
submission to Empire's web site. Tap the right flipper to cycle through
statistics for your game. Codes are only issued for games played with
factory settings.
LAUNCH AND START TOGETHER: the operator's menu. During a game, this
cancels the game and returns to attract mode.
HOLD LEFT FLIPPER FOR 2 SECONDS: to enable challenge mode. Hit start to
play challenge mode, or the flipper again to cancel it. (Challenge mode
enabled multi-player sharing for all features.)
HOLD RIGHT FLIPPER FOR 2 SECONDS: to enable tournament mode. Hit start to
play tournament mode, or the flipper again to cancel it. (Tournament mode
equalises random features.)
HOLD LAUNCH FOR 2 SECONDS: to toggle between your custom settings and the
factory settings.
Skill Shot
~~~~~~~~~~
First, select Novice or Regular mode. Novice mode gives you 120 seconds
of unlimited-ball play. Regular mode is a 3-ball standard game. I bet
there's a hidden Wizard mode or similar in there somewhere.
The plunger shoots up the Left Side ramp and round to the right inlane.
Either the Left Orbit, Ramp, or Spinner will be lit. Shoot for the
skill shot, initially 5M; it rises by 1M, to a maximum of 10M, every time you
make it.
To enable the "Secret Skill Shot", hold both flippers while the ball
is in the plunger lane. In this mode, the plunger magically becomes a
manual plunger. Plunge and try and hit the "A" target of M-A-G. The award
is 1/2 of the standard skill shot value, but you get a free completion of
M-A-G-N-E-T (ie, awards and quickshots are advanced and magnosave is relit).
The Secret Skill Shot raises the skill shot value in the normal way.
Scanner
~~~~~~~
Use the flippers to cycle lit S-C-A-N lanes between the inlanes and
outlanes. Spelling S-C-A-N lights the Scanner at the Crystal. The scanner
is a random award. Known awards are:
Light Lock
Start Exploration
Video Mode
Find The Cow (?)
Small Points (random, 1M or less. If you collect Small Points, hit both
flippers to collect "Very Small Points" - 100 or less.)
Boost Multipliers (generally by 3x-6x)
Spot W-A-R-P target
Special
Advance Time Drive (by 20%)
Light MagnoSave
Advance Quickshot
30 second Ball Saver
Very big points (100M-200M)
Advance awards
The scanner starts the game lit. A counter is increased each time you
relight the scanner: every 5 scanners, a Super Scanner is lit. Super Scanner
is similar to the Super Random features on lots of old Data East tables; two
random options are chosen and you get to pick one of them. However, the
options are different, and better:
Special
Super Jets
Light all locks
Light all awards
Light all quickshots
Super bonus boost (5x-10x)
Spot empty continents
Activate Time Machine
Ultra Jets
Ramp Rampage
60 second ball saver
Super Magnosave (unlimited use until end of ball)
Light Video Mode
Light Time Warp
Midnight Madness (only available within +/- 15 minutes of 00:00 system time
)
Two extra balls are also available, at 10 and 100 scanners.
Ramp Rampage
~~~~~~~~~~~~
A 60 second timed mode. Object is to shoot each ramp 5 times. Each ramp
shot made is worth 1M+1M to 9M. There is also a value multiplier, which
starts at its maximum of 5 and decreases by 1 every 2-3 seconds, but never
below 1. Each ramp shot made increases the multiplier by 1, but never above
5. Shooting the upper ramp scores 1M*multiplier and boosts the multiplier to
5 right away. The 10th shot is worth a flat 100M.
Midnight Madness
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
10 ball frenzy with a 120 second ball saver. Every switch is worth 10
points (!).
Bonus Multiplier
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The two lanes above the bumpers advance the bonus multiplier by 1x each
time. An extra ball is lit at 25x. (Yes, you read that right - 25x.)
Jets
~~~~
The Jets pass through a series of stages of "Super Jets". In each stage,
it takes 100 hits to advance to the next stage. The number of Jets is not
held between balls unless you have collected the "Hold Jets" award from
the Left Orbit.
Stage 0: Super Jets unlit. Hits just count down. 100 hits to next stage.
Stage 1: Each Jet hit scores 1/3 of 1M. 100 hits to next stage.
Stage 2: Each Jet hit scores 2/3 of 1M. 100 hits to next stage.
Stage 3: Each Jet hit scores 1M. Maxed out.
Orbit Awards
~~~~~~~~~~~~
M-A-G lights the next award on the left orbit: N-E-T lights the next award
on the right. Spelling MAGNET completely lights MagnoSave (how'd you
guess? ;) )
Shooting the Left Orbit collects the highest lit award. The awards are:
Hold Multiplier, Hold Jets, Light Video Mode, 4-Ball TimeWarp, and Mystery.
If you hit the Left Orbit and no award is lit, you get a Paradox Award, a
random points award in the style of Odd Change. In Tournament Mode, this
is always 99,990.
The Mystery award at the end of the sequence is always Light Extra Ball
on your first completion of the awards. Second time, it can be a number of
things: if the award is collected in Multiball, you get Super Spinner.
Otherwise, you get Reverse Frenzy.
Shooting the Right Orbit collects the highest lit award. The only awards
on the Right Orbit are Quickshot awards: Quickshot 1x, Quickshot 2x... up to
Quickshot 5x. Quickshot counts down from 10M * quickshot multiplier; shoot
the Right Orbit to collect the countdown value, plus a Souvenir. "Souvenirs"
change with the timezone:
Present Day: Pinball, Magnet, Mobile phone, Couch potato, Pint of Milk
Future: Rocket board, Ray Gun, Battery, Red Knight 3000, Hologram
Projector
Rome: Death Mask, Papyrus Scroll, Toga, Ankh, ?
Prehistory: T-Rex Tooth, First Wheel, Baby Pterodactyl, Dinosaur Egg,
Asteroid
If you make a quickshot, and the NEXT quickshot above it was lit, then
that other quickshot mode immediately starts as a "Double Quickshot". This
quickshot is different: it counts down from 20M*Multiplier to 2M*Multiplier.
(Check: Is there a Triple Quickshot?)
Souvenirs
~~~~~~~~~
Souvenirs can be combined to enable special awards. Two Souvenirs are
required for each award. When you have the two required souveniers,
shooting a lit non-super scanner will display the two souveniers in
question and give you the award. Known so far:
(Key to timezones: (P)resent, (F)uture, (R)ome, (D)inosaurs=Prehistory)
Mobile Phone (P) Couch Potato (P) Very Big Points
T-rex Tooth (D) Baby Pterodactyl (D) Ultra Bonus Boost (10-20x!)
Death Mask (R) Ankh (R) Ultra Ball Saver (90 sec)
Pint of Milk (P) Dinosaur Egg (D) Find the Cow
Rocket Board (F) Battery (F) Special
Red Knight 3000 (F) Pinball (P) Extra Ball Quickshot
Toga (R) Magnet (P) Ultra Magnosave
Papyrus Scroll (R) First Wheel (D) Ultra Spinner
Asteroid (F) Hologram Projector (F) Secret Video Mode
Ultra Magnosave: Unlimited Magnosave use for the current ball AND THE
NEXT.
Extra ball Quickshot: 15 second quickshot: right orbit for extra ball.
Ultra Spinner: 3M/spin for 60 seconds.
Find the Cow: For the rest of the ball, one of the orbits or the spinner
lane will "find the cow", and award 5M plus 5M per cow found so far. The
cow moves after each successful shot. However, the shot is not lit - there
is no indication which shot it should be. (Check: Maxes out?)
Secret Video Mode: See Video Mode.
Super Spinner
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The spinner is worth 1M/spin for 60 seconds. Each spinner lane shot
adds 100K to the spinner value. (Check: Does it max out? Does the spinner
increase the timer?)
Reverse Frenzy
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
All major shots are 5M each. Shoot them all to light Extra Ball. After
this, they all relight: shooting them all again awards Very Big Points.
Easy? Nope. Throughout this mode your flippers are reversed and
semi-randomised. Usually the right button flips the left flipper. Usually.
There is a short ball saver after the end of this mode to prevent your ball
being lost due to the flipper confusion.
Quickshot Mania
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you complete all the Left Orbit awards and Quickshots, Quickshot
Mania becomes lit on the Right Orbit. For 30 seconds, hitting any
M-A-G-N-E-T target starts a Quickshot counting down on one of the orbits:
M-A-G lights the Left Orbit, N-E-T lights the Right. The start value of the
Quickshot on the Orbit will be: # targets hit * # seconds left in Mania * 1M.
Shooting the appropriate Orbit will award the value. You can continue to
light and collect either orbit regardless of the state of the other orbit.
Each target hit or orbit shot adds 5 seconds to the timer. In addition,
every orbit shot will light a number of the award or quickshot lights on
that orbit: the number is equal to the number of targets down on that side.
When all the lights are lit, either orbit completes Quickshot Mania and
awards 100M.
Combos
~~~~~~
The right orbit doesn't award anything when it's not lit for a Quickshot,
but it does enable the right ramp and right orbit for a combo. Shooting
the right orbit a second time advances the bonus multiplier. The right
ramp starts the combo sequence, which is:
Right Orbit -> as many bonus multipliers as you can get ->
Right Ramp (combo) ->
Spinner lane (double combo) ->
Side Ramp (triple combo PLUS Light All Continents) ->
Left Ramp (super combo PLUS Light All Locks *probably*) ->
Crystal (ultra combo PLUS Instant collection of all souvenirs for current
time zone (!!). Also, if you had the scanner lit, you'll get a
combination award right away.)
The Time Machine
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Spinning the Spinner awards letter(s) in the "Lock-O-Meter" (the five
triangular lamps spelling "L-I-T-E-Lock" near the Spinner). A couple of
spins (4?) are needed for each letter. Once all of them are lit, the Spinner
locks balls in the Time Machine. Each lock awards 5M. Lock three balls to
start Time Machine Frenzy. For your second frenzy and later, you
must complete the Lock-O-Meter for every lock.
However, you might actually (gasp) want to use the Time Machine to
Travel in Time. To do that, you do exactly the same thing, but you must
activate the Time Machine first. Shooting a ramp pumps power into
the time machine. For the first Time Travel, each ramp puts in 20%; for
remaining Time Travels, each ramp puts in 10%. After shooting any
ramp to power up the Machine, you must use the OTHER ramp for the next
power up. At the start of each ball, both ramps become available again,
unless one ramp has a lower power level than the other. (Check: I'm
definately missing something here, because I suspect the individual ramp
power levels count more significantly than implied. This section is due a
rewrite.)
Each ramp also lights the other ramp as a timed shot to award a Ramp Way.
Ramp Ways count up, although you won't see the count-up unless you carry on
shooting Ramp Ways when the time machine is at 100% (because the time machine
animation overrides the Ramp Way one). You will, however, hear the announcer
call "Two Way", "Three Way", "Four Way".. Ramp ways are worth 1M for each
ramp way made in the current sequence (ie, 2M, 3M, 4M.) After 10 Ramp Ways,
the announcer says something different... Spoiler 2.
If you have powered up the Time Machine, then when you lock three balls,
you'll be asked what period you want to travel to. (Note: Powering up the
Time Machine doesn't on its own light the locks - you still have to go
through the spinner procedure.) The periods available are:
Requirement
The Present Day None
The Distant Future None
Ancient Rome 1 Tachyonium
The Prehistoric Age 2 Tachyonium
The Dawn of Time 3 Tachyonium + 4 Crystal Fragments
(unknown) 8 Tachyonium + Dawn of Time completed
To go to Prehistory, Rome, or (unknown), you need to connect Tachyonium
from Explorations. The Dawn of Time is the Wizard award (Timeshock! Frenzy,
Spoiler 3), and you must collect all four Crystal Fragments from Time Machine
Frenzy to get there. (unknown) is.. very special (Spoiler 4, but please
resist).
Once you've selected a period, you have to shoot the Time Crystal to
start the Time Machine. Lean back and watch the *AWESOME* pyrotechnics.
(Have somebody standing by to catch your jaw first time. Twentieth time,
hit launch to skip it ;) ) Immediately after your Travel, Time Machine
Frenzy starts with 4 balls rather than 3.
Your Time Zone determines the music played. It also changes the
Explorations you will have available. Most importantly, however, you can
collect only one Crystal Fragment from each Time Zone.
If you light the Time Machine but you really don't want to change Zone,
you don't have to. When you're asked where you want to go, select the
Zone you're already in. 3-ball Time Machine Frenzy will start just as
if the Time Machine had never been lit. The Time Machine will remain
active, so you'll have the option to travel again next time you start
Time Machine Frenzy.
(Strategy note: It's a VERY bad idea to Time Travel on your first Time
Machine Frenzy. If you do, you'll have to go back for the Present Day
Crystal Fragment later, and that means making four time trips instead of
three - and that extra time trip will be a 10-shot job..)
Time Machine Frenzy
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Three- or Four- ball play (sorry, must avoid saying m____b___) - four-ball
if you took a trip through time immediately before starting it, three- if you
didn't. Both ramps are lit for Jackpot. Collecting a Jackpot lights the
opposite ramp for Double Jackpot for a limited time; collecting a Double
lights the opposite ramp for a Triple. Collecting a Triple lights the
opposite ramp for ANOTHER Triple, and you can go on all day if you like.
If one ramp is lit for a multiplied jackpot, shooting the unmultiplied
Jackpot on the *OTHER* ramp will reset the timer for the multiplied jackpot.
Jackpots start at 10M and increase 100K/spin and 1M/side ramp to no known
limit.
Each Jackpot also lites a Continent; Double lites 2, Triple lites *FOUR*
(yes, four.. yes, I know it's strange). When all seven Continents are lit,
you have found a Crystal Fragment. Shoot the Crystal to get the Fragment
(50M). You cannot collect ANY jackpots while the Crystal Fragment is
lit! Once you have the fragment, the Side Ramp lights for Super Jackpot,
which is 5x Jackpot Value.
Once you have the Super Jackpot, any Triple Jackpot collected will light
the Side Ramp for Ultra Jackpot for 5 seconds (regardless of the Side Ramp
being lit for any other Jackpot): if it times out, it reverts to Super
Jackpot again. Ultra Jackpot is 100M + values of all previous jackpots that
multiball (!) to maximum 500M. Scoring the Ultra unlights all continents
and puts you back to the beginning: it also resets the value of the
Ultra.
After a frenzy in which you got a Crystal Fragment ends, shoot the
Crystal to lock the Fragment into place. The ball will be piped to one of
the miniature Fragments around the playfield - which one it goes to is
determined by your Time Zone. Locking a fragment is worth 50M. Locking
the Fourth fragment lights Extra Ball.
There is no frenzy restart or similar, but if you have the Crystal
Fragment available when you drop out of frenzy, it will remain lit
for 15 seconds. There is a brief grace period after the frenzy in which you
can still still collect one or two Jackpots. However, if the Crystal
Fragment wasn't lit as your Frenzy ended, then even if it only takes one
or two Jackpots to light it, you can't light the Fragment in the grace period.
If you get another Time Machine Frenzy in the same time zone, you start again
from where you were, unless Ultra Jackpot was available, in which case you
must recollect a Super Jackpot to enable the Ultra Jackpot again.
Time Warp
~~~~~~~~~
Spell W-A-R-P (hit the letters in strict order) to light "30 second Time
Warp" at the Crystal. Spelling WARP again adds 15 seconds to the timer.
Time Warp is 2-ball play. For the first X seconds (however many you earnt
by spelling WARP), spelling W-A-R-P again or shooting the left side ramp adds
another ball (provided you have less than 4 in play), and any balls you drain
will be relaunched.
The Warp Jackpot starts at 10M, and goes up by 500K * balls-in-play every
time you hit a W-A-R-P target. There is a Jackpot Multiplier, which initially
is x1; spell W-A-R-P or hit the side ramp to increase the multiplier. The
Crystal collects the jackpot.
After one Jackpot, the Jackpot multiplier goes to x0 (ie, unlit). Spell
W-A-R-P to or hit the side ramp put the multiplier to x1 and relight the
Jackpot.
Time Warp, it seems, can be started almost any time. It can be started
during an Exploration. It can even be started during Time Machine Frenzy.
However, you cannot lock balls for any frenzy during a Time Warp. (However,
you can *light* one lock.)
Exploration
~~~~~~~~~~~
Shoot the Upper Ramp in normal play. This explores a Continent. If you
find Tachyonium there, an Exploration starts. If you don't, you just
count up a Continent. The Jets rotate the lit Continent, so you can use the
double-flipper trick to select a Continent if you want Tachyonium quickly.
The lit continent also rotates constantly while the ball is in the plunger
lane, so you might be able to select a Continent by carefully timing your
launch.
There are 7 continents and 2 will contain Tachyonium. Which two is
determined by your Time Zone. Every five empty continents (even if all
five aren't in the same Time Zone) awards "big points", which starts at
25M and rises by 25M every time it's collected. Continents with Tachyonium
do not light, or count, unless you actually complete the mode; so you can try
the modes several times.
Exploring all the empty continents in one Time Zone doesn't do anything
(except almost certainly get you a Big Points award). However, if you
explore every continent in a Time Zone, and you have gotten all the
Tachyonium, something VERY special happens... see Spoiler 1.
If you shoot the Spinner -> Ramp combo, you explore *TWO* continents. If
both are empty, you get nothing. If one has Tachyonium, you get the 1
Continent count-up for the empty one, and the Exploration for the other one
starts. If BOTH have Tachyonium, only the first one starts. If Lock is lit,
and you want to try this combo, hold the right flipper down for a little
while then tap the left. The lock will unlight for roughly 2 seconds so you
can try the shot.
The backglass animation on the Explorations is *AWESOME*.
Starting any Exploration appears to award 1M (this may also be true for
an empty Continent).
Present Day
-----------
Channel Tunnel (Europe): 60 seconds. Shoot the Right Orbit to start
mining. All the time you're mining, your score and the mode percentage
rises. Shooting any ramp or the spinner speeds up the count-up. When you
reach 99%, you'll be told you have found the Tachyonium; you must
now shoot the Left Orbit to safely get the Time Machine out of the
Chunnel.
If you don't make the Right Orbit shot to start mining in the first 15
seconds, the Machine starts mining automatically, but you will need to
speed up a large number of times to make up for the time deficit at the
start.
Since your score goes up constantly while you're mining, no precise
scoring information can be given. When you find the tachyonium, you will
have made 50M on the mode. Getting the tachyonium is worth another 50M.
Mount Rushmore (North America): ["Get UP there.."] The three Ramps are lit.
Clear off all three, then hit the Spinner for the final climb, 50M, and the
Tachyonium ["THERE it is!"]. If you run out of time, you fall off Mount
Rushmore.... owwwch. The first three climbs are worth 5M, 15M, and 30M
respectively.
Ancient Rome
------------
Chariot Race: 60 seconds. You start in 4th place, and the aim is to move
to 1st. To move ahead a place, shoot the lit ramp or orbit. At any given
time, the orbit and the ramp on one side of the playfield or the other will
be lit; however, the lit orbit and ramp switch sides every half-second or
so!
Pyramid (Africa): 65 seconds. Shoot the crystal to light all shots except
the upper ramp and crystal; shoot all five shots (2*ramp, 2*orbit, spinner)
to win the mode. As in the Channel Tunnel, if you haven't hit the crystal
by 15 seconds into the mode, the game spots the Crystal and lights the shots
anyway.
Distant Future
--------------
Power Plant: 60 seconds. Destroy the Power Plant by hitting the bumpers,
just like you did with the Ammo Dump in The Web. ;) Each bumper does 1%.
At the start of the mode, and whenever the ball leaves the bumpers, the
orbits will light to do 29% damage for 3 or 4 seconds. At 98% damage, shoot
either orbit for the Tachyonium.
Robot War (South America): 60 seconds. The M-A-G-N-E-T drops are lit. Hit
them to attack the robot. MAG targets are worth 10%, NET are worth 5%.
Completing either bank lights the upper ramp for a *lot* of damage (35-50%?)
Shooting any target in either bank will RAISE all targets in the OTHER bank
(but it will not unlight the upper ramp). If you hit certain other shots
(the left orbit certainly, possibly the spinner..) the robot hits you, which
deducts 5%.
Prehistory
----------
Dinosaur Stampede: 60 seconds. Similar to Chariot Race: hit the left
orbit, then the right orbit, then make two more orbit shots while the
lit orbit alternates between the sides. Fortunately, they only alternate
every second as opposed to every half-second.
Volcano: 60 seconds. Put three buckets of water on the volcano. Spinner
lane gathers water; any ramp dumps it. You can hold up to 2 buckets of
water before dumping some. When 3 buckets are on, shoot the crystal for
the Tachyonium.
Video mode
~~~~~~~~~~
Pops up at the Crystal as the third Left Orbit award. The game also
sometimes seems to light it at odd times (scanner? 3rd ball sympathy?)
Shoot the Crystal for the video mode.
The aim of the mode is to fly the Time Machine down a cylinder, collecting
Clown faces (1M apiece) and avoiding mines. The Time Machine can take
5 hits from the mines before the Video Mode ends. The twist is that the
cylindical tube is affected by gravity. If you want to get the awards near
the top of the tube, you need to build up your momentum by swinging back
and forth in the bottom, or you won't be able to climb the sides of the
tube. But if you're swinging back and forth, you'll hit more mines.
The final face on each level is worth 10M * level.
If you get all the faces on a level, you get all your lives back and go to
the next level immediately. However, if you win that level, your Video Mode
will end, and your next Video Mode will start on the following level - in
other words, you can play a maximum of two levels per trip. If you get all
the faces WITHOUT losing a life, the video mode total is doubled.
If you miss some of the points, you leave video mode, and you will start
from the same level next time you score Video Mode.
SECRET Video Mode is a different beast altogther. It always starts at
level 1 regardless of your normal Video Mode level. Cows are substituted for
Clown Faces. You can play as many levels as you wish in one trip, but you
do NOT recover lives between levels.
Bonus
~~~~~
The end of ball bonus:
(25k * Scanners
+ 50k * Ramp Ways
+ 100k * Continents
+ 250k * Souvenirs)
* Multiplier
Spoilers
~~~~~~~~
Rules for things you'd perhaps prefer not to know about right away.
To read sensibly, delete every other character of each line, starting with
the second. Eg:
T|h|i|s| |i|s| |a|n| |e|x|a|m|p|l|e| |o|f| |h|o|w| |t|h|e| |s|p|o|i|l|e|r|s|
a|r|e| |w|r|i|t|t|e|n|.|
Of course, on the actual spoilers, the intervening characters are letters and
numbers to make it hard to read the surrounding text. Just load your
editor, point the cursor on the second character of each line, and hit
Delete, RightArrow, Delete, RightArrow, until the end of the line. It
won't take long, and (although I know it's very sad to say so) it does
produce a rather nice effect.
---------------------------------------
Spoiler 1
~~~~~~~~~
WMhaernt ianl lt hteh eh acpopnyt isnoecnkt sh iitns ay otuirm eh ezaodn e
aorne al ilta,r gaen weaxltlr am acdoen toifn epnett e- aAntdl aDnatvies
-I wkinlolw atphpaeta ri so nr utbhbei smha pb.u t EDxop lyoorue
tchairse cao nhtoionte nIt dtoon ts twaarntt Gtloo bpault
Daonmyi npautnicotnu,a tai 1620 isne choenrde Fsriennczey iwti twhi
elalc hm askwei ticth twooor tohb 157050OKs o*r r(yl iatb
coountt itnheantt sl)a.p s eO nien csotnutpiindeintty ibsu tl iit haatd
tthoe psutta rsto;m et hneu mrbaemrps ainnd istp ilninkeer atnoy
roanmep wciolmlb or elaidg htth icso natniynweanyt si irne atlhley
nhoorpmea ly ofua sahrieonnt. d eIcfo dyionug laitg htth ea lwlr
tohneg cpoanrtiitnye notns ,p utrhpeo ssew itthcaht vwaoluuled
bbeec oomdeds 25AM .
---------------------------------------
Spoiler 2
~~~~~~~~~
NMoo owsaey...
---------------------------------------
Spoiler 3
~~~~~~~~~
AT htei mqeudi c5k- bbarlolw nf rfeonxz yj ufmopre d132401 soevceorn dtsh.e
Bloatzhy odrobgi tnso wa nids rtahmep st iamree floirt :a lslh ogooto
adn ym eonf wtehlels ei tt os aeynsa bmleen obnuet oIf stuhpep
Corsyes tiatl iFsr argamtehnetrs ,* etxhiesnt sihno otth itsh ed
caryy satnadl atgoe lwohcikc ha ib aklnlo wt hae rleo.t oAff tpeero
tphlee chraytset ablu ts hnoetv,e rt hmei nrde.m aNionwi nigs sthhoet st
wiimlel froerl iaglhlt .g o oAdf tpeerr slooncsk itnhga ttsh eb
feotutretrh tboa lclo,m et hteo ctrhyes taaild roefl itghhet sp afrotry
tahse iffi ntahle ys haoctt utaol lsym awsohu ltdh ea sC riyts tiasl
ain de xspaevcet tthhee yu nwiovuelrdsnet. e vTehne vlootcek sf oarr e
wtohretmh. 2157Ms,+ 1520TM!,t 2705WM0,d naan db 0110001Ms; btihnea
friyn,anli cseh.o.t ainsy wwaoyr tih t715209Mh,i nmka kii nwga st hgeo
tiontga lo n1 Ba.b o uItf pyeooup lfea inlo,t tciommei ntgr atvoe lt
ahgea iani dt oo fr etphlea yp aTritmyewshhiocchk wFarse nfzayi;r
yloyu aailmsloe sgse tr etahlel yo phpeoyr tausn iit ya mt ow rTiitmien
Tgr atvheils aiftt eirs smuyc cbeierdtihndga.y TTohmeo rMraoswtyeary
OIf hToipmee mayw adrrdi vies ggeitvse nf ifxoerd tshoeo
fna sstoe sIt ccaonm palcettuiaolnl yo fp lTaiym etshhiosc kg
Farmeen zayg.h
---------------------------------------
Spoiler 4
~~~~~~~~~
Wlhiesnn gyaoiut theahveeo n8y rTfaocdhuyloanuiaudmo tahnudp thaaevte
ceotmmpilaebtoetdn rTtiymyeesahoorcrke pflrpetnlzyyn,o atkhrec luhnhklnaoqwrnt
etnitorsyn cwdihlile ucihnatnwguee mtsoa iTphcel lEenldr noufa mTtiimseg.
Sseelreucdta otiheissb gaanhds ntiiemsen wteraayvrenla dtihbefroeg ntso
agcmteifvaabttes rWtiezuaoredi dFsrteendzhya!o r aTohsiesh binss nag a6
boailoln cfdreewnoziym efrosrh i6a0o msmescrotnedesw,t ratnidi ttihiel
ftotlrlootwaimnagm nairsef eatcsteicvtea:i wTsiamnet iMtaocsheihnte
Fhrseinczuyb,r yQaugitcskdsdhtoqts hMnadnbihae,d lUhlsthrtah rJaeitnsl,o
Reaimgpe aReaomhpdajgeei,o aUiluttreae eSbpeiintnlears,a tUtletrrra
Foihnidr lTfhfem aCoohwt,o yUglitircav iTuinmreh eWnaernph oFhrdewntzsyt,p
atntdn oGlleorbmahlb tDsogmsinntadtkiaotnr.s t(e!w)k n iIgft nyeonu
shcyoarmey g1eBI itaoftnaolh,i etnhteh sesxotertat gbdatluly ilriaghhetfsi,r
beuatl dyeoiui wmhulsoto oceoolflaehcito iimtn edxuoroihnogp etthhe
Frrweannzayt soirs oittt tgyodeusn aatwtahye.o
Many thanks to Ade and Champie for making this wonderful game, and for
not releasing it until after my finals :)
The official list of wonderful contributors:
Malcolm Peach mpeach@netcomuk.co.uk
Keith Johnson keefer@access.digex.net
David Smith D.M.Smith@lancs.ac.uk
--