textfiles/games/beavis.fan

Bowen's Guide to Beavis and Butt-Head
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	In case anyone hasn't heard, there's a new Williams game 
currently in beta.  It's based on the Beavis and Butt-Head show.
	The game was designed by Mark Ritchie, so it has those 
distinct characteristics:  two ramps, one on each side;  one big 
orbit around the back.  In fact, the entire game is split in two, 
basically representing B&B's couch.  All the general targets on 
the left side have something to do with Beavis, and all the 
targets on the right have to do with Butt-Head.
	Some unusual things about the playfield:  this game has the 
most sinkholes in any game I've seen in a long time, five.  There 
are two on either side of the game, coordinated with pictures of 
the two lovable characters;  the upper holes correspond to the 
two's mouths, while the lower holes...well, you figure it out.  
The upper holes also serve as mode starts, which are in the form 
of TV dinner courses sitting in the middle of the playfield.  
Beavis & Butt-Head have two different meals in front of them.  
Complete both meals and you get--well maybe I'll tell you later.  
A fifth sinkhole is located in the back middle of the game, 
serving as the Lock and Jackpot shot.
	Among the modes are "Let's Burn Something", "Beavis & Butt-
Head's Sing Along", "At the Drive-In", "Burger World", and 
"Washin' the Dog".  They're hilarious.  Note that a lot of the 
modes are based on episodes of the show.  There are a total of 13 
modes, but the only other one I can remember is a lame-o points 
award.
	"Let's Burn Something" starts with the two on the couch, 
where most of the action actually begins.  Beavis:  "Hey Butt-
Head...  let's burn something." "Uh, okay." Shoot the flashing 
shot, chosen at random, and Beavis lights (for each successful 
shot in 2O seconds) a piece of paper, a book, a dog's tail, some 
guy's house, and if you manage to complete the round, he burns 
down the local mall!  "Fire, fire fire fire!!"
	Lighting "Beavis & Butt-Head's Sing Along" starts a heavy 
metal (prob.  Mettalica) song.  Butt-Head:  "This rocks!" and they 
start grunting out the guitar chords.  The video's reception goes 
bad, and your job (as Butt-Head) is to keep the reception good 
enough to hear the video.  You need to shoot the TV targets in the 
left-center area as many times as possible, and before things get 
too bad on the TV (which you see).  Beavis yells "Fix it, 
Buttwipe!" during the round, and something worse if you 
fail...hope there's a family setting.
	"At The Drive-In" has you trying to sneak candy at the movie 
theater's snack bar.  It's a hit-the-bumpers round;  the display 
shows Butt-Head distracting the snackbar guy while each bumper hit 
shows Beavis stealing a bar;  it's really funny when you hit 5 or 
1O bumpers in a row, because, obviously, he moves pretty fast.  If 
you don't hit any bumpers, you get caught stealing, beaten up, and 
thrown out of the theater (losing 5M points).  "That was not 
cool."
	"Burger World" has a customer walking in to request "large 
coffee, pie, large fries.  Now!" Beavis, in the back, has to work 
frantically to prepare rotten food for the guy, while Butt-Head 
tries to delay the guy from getting what he wants.  So to win the 
round, you must hit as many targets as you can, but only on the 
left side of the playfield (remember it's divided almost in half);  
hitting enough targets on the right side causes the customer to 
walk behind the counter and get the stuff himself.
	In "Washin' the Dog," B&B take the same guy's dog for a walk 
to the laundromat, where they try to clean the dog by putting it 
in the washing machine.  Shooting either orbit shot runs a cycle 
of the washer (wash, spin, rinse, dry--it's a dual washer-dryer) 
and shows great animation of a not-too-happy dog.
	-Gross animations are everywhere in "Butt-Head's BB Mania", a 
video mode.  It depicts him discovering a loaded BB gun on the 
ground, after which your job is to guide him to anything that 
moves.  Anything, including birds, cars, dogs, old ladies, 
airplanes, and even Beavis.  (Ow!  Hey, buttwipe, cut it out!)
	For fun, try "The Comedian," another mode, in which Beavis 
gets up on open mike night.  Shoot his (left) ramp and he tells a 
joke (there are a good stash of these) -- "Ya know what about 
bunnies?  They suck!" "Ever watch the news on TV?  It sucks!" "One 
time I ate a lemon.  It sucked!" You get the idea...  the crowd 
can't stand him, but Butt-Head laughs like hell...
	Any time five consecutive ramps are shot, the game lights a 
Hurry Up mode, almost exactly like FT or IJ.  In this mode, B&B 
are running away from that really fat guy from the hospital (can't 
recall his name), who seems in the mood for cannibalism.  To 
escape, you must shoot one of two flashing sinkholes, which drop 
B&B through a manhole, awarding the points.  "Sewage is cool."
	The multiball in B&B isn't too difficult to get;  the concept 
is that the balls got lost in the seat cushions of their couch.  
Getting locks is similar to IJ in that the lock shot is hidden 
behind drop targets.  Shoot down the couch drop targets (located 
straight up the middle of the playfield) to reveal the hole ("huh 
huh...you said hole...");  when a ball is locked, we see Beavis 
drop something in the couch.  After two balls are locked, the hole 
closes.  To start multiball, you must drop all three targets 
(display:  B&B throwing pillows to look for the lost balls), then 
shoot the left (Beavis') ramp to start the multiball.  Beavis:  "I 
found my balls..." <points, guess where> "Huh huh..." They both 
start laughing outrageously.
	Laughter continues as a ball is shot out of each of B&B's 
mouths (the two upper sinkholes), and the laughing just keeps 
going through the whole multiball (a concentration nightmare).  
Jackpot is lit by shooting the right ramp ("Hey Beavis, check it 
out..." as lots of lights flash) and scored by the left ramp ("Huh 
huh...  jackpot." Not an exciting quote, but the display and 
lights are great.  "That was cool.")
	I didn't get very far with the jackpots;  there's probably a 
Super Jackpot somewhere.  A few more random things:  consecutive 
ramps get the two to laugh faster and faster, so this probably 
works up to a quick multiball of some kind.  Also, an unlit shot 
to one of the two "head" sinkholes sometimes awards a great 
display of Beavis saying "I think I'm gonna hurl," and then he 
does.  Dunno what I did to get that to happen.
	Everything in B&B is pretty true to the show.  It's not 
really all that detailed of a game, but I s'pose there must have 
been a quick release time on it.  Displays an the playfield are 
especially cool, and Mike Judge is given credit for some of the 
artwork.  Nice job, Williams...it's, uh...huh huh...cool.

Bowen Kerins  (bowen@cardinal.stanford.edu)
(PLEASE read the first letter of each paragraph.)