Attack From Mars
Rule Sheet Version 2.3
Authored by: Bob McCann (mccannr1@pilot.msu.edu)
With help from:
Dan Wilson (wilso142@pilot.msu.edu)
Scott Tiesma (tiesmasc@pilot.msu.edu)
Mark Phaedrus (phaedrus@coho.halcyon.com)
Steve Baumgarden (sbb@panix.com)
Lots of stuff contained in this document is copywrited by WilliamsElectronic Games, so don't sue me...
This rule sheet can be downloaded at my pinball page loacated at:http://pilot.msu.edu/~mccannr1Or e-mail me and I'll send you a copy.
New to this version:
- Rule The Universe rules explained better
- Spelled Robert Friesl's name right in the game credits
- "Attack From The Pasture" video mode explained
- Corrected the address of my web page where this rule sheet can be found.
Contents
- Introduction
- Playfield Layout
- Skill Shot
- Attack Phase
- Multiball
- Stroke of Luck
- Total Annihilation
- Martian Attack
- Rule The Universe
- Misc
- End Stuff
Attack From Mars is the latest in the line of pinball games from Williams.It features a nice open playfield, and easy to understand rules. The themeis basically what it sounds, defending the Earth from attacking Martians.The credits for the game are as follows:
Design: Brian Eddy
Software: Lyman Sheats
Artwork: Doug Watson
Music & Sounds: Dan Forden
Mechanical Engineer: Robert C. Friesl
Dots: Adam Rhine & Brian Morris
Blatent Editorial - This is one of the best games to come out in aLONG time.
Here is the basic layout of the playfield starting just above the left outlaneand going clockwise around.
MAR Targets - 3 targets of which are the first the letters of the wordmartian.
Left Orbit - Loops the ball up to the top rollovers and bumpers. Lights a"capture". If capture is complete, loops ball all the wayaround.
Left Ramp - Sends ball back to left return lane. Lights a "Big-O-Beam".
Middle Orbit - Locks ball when lock is lit. Otherwise sends ball back aroundto right return lane and lights lock.
T Target - 1 target which is the next letter in the word martian.
Flying Saucer- The main toy in the game. Knock down the forcefield in frontof it to gain access to the three targets inside. Describedin more detail in the Attack Phase section.
I Target - 1 target which is yet another letter in martian.
Scoop - Used to start Martian Attack, and Rule The Universe. Alsoawards Stroke of Luck and Extra Ball when lit.
Upper Lanes - Used for regular skill shot, also increase bonus x.
Bumpers - 3 bumpers. Certain # of hits starts super jets.
Right Ramp - Sends ball back to right return lane. Lights a "Tractor Beam".
Right Orbit - Sends ball up to the top rollovers. Lights an "Atomic Blaster".If Atomic Blaster is complete, sends ball all the way around.
AN Targets - 2 targets which are the last 2 letters in Martian.
The game has a fairly easy skill shot which simply involves you shooting theball and then moving the flashing light to the correct rollever lane that theball is going through. It awards a point value and gives +5x bonus.There is also a super skill shot which sends the ball around, down the leftorbit. The game then gives the player a few seconds to hit any major shot,which will score 50 million, plus complete whatever you hit. Therefore, ifyou hit the right ramp, you will get 50 million, and it will finish thetractor beam. To activate the super skill shot, hold down the left flipperwhen shooting the ball.
The Attack Phase is the heart and soul of the game. It involves the playerprotecting a certain country from the martians. The countries are France,Italy, Germany, United States, & England. To start an attack phase, all 3targets which make up the force field in front of the flying saucer must behit. The forcefield will then lower opening up the 3 targets behind. Here'san attempt at a diagram to better explain this.
H H = Hole / D \ D = Drop Target /T T\ T = Side Targets / \ F = Targets on force field ========= F F F
When the force field goes down, the attack phase starts. The object is thento hit any of the targets inside. When a target is hit, it puts some damageon the attacking saucer and scores points. If more than one target is hit ina shot, it will multiply the damage and points by the number of hits (i.e. 2targets hit = 2X damage). When the saucer has taken enough damage, the droptarget in the back will stay down and a shot into the hole will destroy thesaucer. The first saucer destroyed is worth 200 million, and goes up 100million each time. This is not a timed mode, and will not end until thesaucer is destroyed, not even if you lose your ball. The amount of hitsrequired to take a shot at destroying the saucer goes up each time.
Once you defend all of the countries, you steal one of the flying saucersand start Attack Mars mode. First the force field must be knocked down, thenthe object is to hit the ball into the hole (the drop target will not comeback up). Every shot into the hole takes a chunk out of Mars and awards 50million points. The 10th shot into the hole destroys Mars and awards 2.5billion points.
The middle orbit is used to light lock and to lock balls. If lock is notlit, the ball will be sent back around to the right return lane and lock willthen light. Hit the shot again and it will lock a ball. Locking 3 ballsstarts multiball. In multiball, the left orbit, left ramp, middle orbit,right ramp, and right orbit all light up for jackpots. Hit all of thejackpots to light super jackpot. The super jackpot starts at the left orbit,and moves around every few of seconds. It moves to the different jackpotshots back and forth across the playfield. Once the super jackpot iscollected, it starts all over again. Multiball ends when less than 2 ballsare left. If Super Jackpot is lit when multiball ends, it will give you a10 second countdown in which you can still collect the Super Jackpot. Thegame allows a pretty long "grace" period after multiball ends as well, meaningthat remaining jackpots can still be collected after multiball ends. If youdo finish off all of the jackpots after multiball ends, you still get the 10second Super Jackpot countdown.
Stroke of luck is lit by lighting all of the lights in the outlanes andreturn lanes (just like lighting Khan multiball in The Shadow). It iscollected by shooting the scoop. It awards a random award by putting 4 onthe screen and having a flying saucer shooting them away until one is left.Some of the awards include multiball, strobe multiball, light EB, startattack phase, light martian attack, points, bonus X, Video Mode & Sneak Attack.
Features started only by Stroke of Luck:
- Video mode is like an old Apple ][ computer game called Sabotage. Youcontrol a cannon in the center and move it left and right (it is constantlyshooting). Your goal is to shoot the flying saucers that are trying to land.You get points for every saucer you shoot, and the mode ends when a saucerreaches the ground. Once per video mode, the launch button can be pressedand will destroy all of the saucers on the screen. This is useful for whena saucer is about to hit the ground and it is too late to shoot it. After30 saucers are destroyed, an Extra Ball pod is sent down, shooting it awardsan Extra Ball. After all of the saucers are destroyed (40 or 50 of them),the mothership comes down. It moves left and right trying to avoid yourcannon fire. Hitting it 80 times destroys it. Finishing video mode givesa total of around 635 million points. There is also a way to turn the flyingsaucers into cows! To do it you have to get the cow off of the big-o-beam andthe tractor beam and while it is showing the animation of the cow hit the launchbutton (you will hear a strange noise if you do it right). If you get video modeafter doing this it will change video mode into a sort of "Attack From the Pasture!"
- Strobe Multiball is one of the coolest things in the game. When this starts,everything that was going on in the game stops. The force field comes up (ifit was down) and all of the lights shut off. A strobe light by the flyingsaucer then starts flashing, and this is the only light coming from the game.3 balls are then kicked out, and the object is to hit the force field as manytimes as as possible. The game awards 50 million per hit, and awards a bonusafter a certain number of hits (Light EB at 10 hits, 250 million at 20).This ends when less than 2 balls are left, and the game goes back to what wasgoing on before this started. An interesting note about this is that becauseof the Strobe Multiball, this is the first pinball game to come with anEpilepsy warning on it.
- Sneak Attack lights one of the martian target banks up at random. A hurryup value starts at 150 million and counts down. If you hit the lit targetbank, it awards the value, gives you 2 martian bombs, and lights MartianAttack.
Total Annihilation involves collecting the awards from the orbits and ramps.The left orbit is Capture, the left ramp is the Big-O-Beam, the right rampis the Tractor Beam, and the right orbit is the Atomic Blaster. It takes3 shots to complete one of these, unless you complete it using the superskill shot. Once one of them is completed, it starts a hurry-up in whichthe flying saucer (inner targets or force field) starts at 100 million andcounts down. If you finish another one of the ramp/loop awards while theother one is counting down, the hurry up will reset at a higher point value.If all 4 awards are completed during the countdown, the game will award 1billion points.
Once you complete all 4 things, Total Annihilation starts. It is a 4 ballmultiball in which every major shot awards the Annihilation value. The lockshot awards an Annihilation jackpot, which is increased by hitting the othershots. Therefore, if you collect a lot of annihilation values, you get thepoints for hitting it and they are also put into the jackpot making it worthquite a large amount. Once the jackpot is collected it resets back down toit's base value an can be built up again.
Martian Attack is lit by hitting all of the martian targets (or can be litby Stroke of Luck). It is collected by hitting the scoop. Once started, all4 martians must be hit within a time limit. The martians are above each ofthe 4 martian target banks (They start dancing around when this mode startslike the Boogie Men in Elvira). To hit them, just hit a target in the targetbank below them. If Stroke of Luck gave you a martian bomb, you can hit thelaunch button and it will award you one of the martians. Once you hit all4 martians, Martian 2-ball starts. During this you just want to hit themartian targets as many times as possible. Each hit is worth 20 million, butcan be increased if you hit all of martian targets again while Martian Attackis lit. 2-ball ends when 1 ball drains. The game records how many martiansyou killed during this, and there is a listing on the high score table forthe person who killed the most.
Rule The Universe is the "wizard" award in the game. It is a pretty hardthing to achieve. To get it, the following things have to have been done:
- At least 1 Super Jackpot must have been collected during multiball.
- Super Jets must have been started at one point during the game.
- Martian Attack multiball has to have been started.
- Total Annihilation must have been played.
- Mars has to have been conquered in the Mars Attack phase.
- 5-way combo must have been done.
When Rule The Universe is started, everything becomes lit. Total Annihilationstarts up, the martian targets are worth 50 million, pretty much everything awardspoints. You get a multiball with the ball saver lit for awhile. The object is tocollect 5 billion points while multiball is still going. Once the 5 billion pointshave been collected, everything stops. The game awards you an extra 5 billionpoints as well as putting your name in the high score list as the last person torule.
- One of the best things about this game is that features don't end whensomething else is started up. If you have an Attack Phase going and youstart multiball, it keeps going. Very good idea. Many things can be goingon at once.
- Cows are present in this game. Sometimes when you hit the Big-O-Beam, acow is enlarged and the lady says "Would you look at the size of that cow?!"and it moos. The cow is sometimes tractor beamed up as well. There is alsoa picture of a cow on the right ramp.
- Once Rule the Universe has been played once, you don't have to conquer marsagain in order to light Rule the Universe again (but you do have to do allof the other things).
- Bonus can be very big in this game. I've seen bonus multipliers as large as42X! Awarded almost 4 billion just in bonus!
If you have anything to add, or correct, please e-mail me at the followingaddress: mccannr1@pilot.msu.edu This rule sheet is available at my pinballpage (http://pilot.msu.edu/~mccannr1) and possibly at the otherpinball sites.
HTML Conversion by David Gersic dgersic@niu.edu
