131 lines
6.3 KiB
Plaintext
131 lines
6.3 KiB
Plaintext
Quick Take of Whitewater
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This Quick Take was written by Kevin Martin, <sigma@rahul.net>.
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This file may be freely re-distributed in any manner at any time, provided
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that it is not altered beyond typographical corrections. Any other kind of
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re-distribution requires my permission. I reserve no other rights and make
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no warranties or guarantees.
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Whitewater was designed and built by Williams Electronics, Inc.
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A common abbreviation for Whitewater is "WW" - however, this conflicts
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with the same abbrevation for Whirlwind, so be careful.
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Goals
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-----
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Visit Hazards to advance your Raft down the Whitewater rapids to visit Wet
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Willie's. Start special rounds by riding the Whirlpool. Sneak into Bigfoot's
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Cave. Ride the Waterfall in Multiball. Explore all features of the game to
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complete the Vacation Planner and collect the wizard bonus!
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Cabinet
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-------
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Whitewater is mostly decorated in white. The sides of the cabinet feature
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a greatly exaggerated Bigfoot holding onto a mountain, playing with the
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waterfall. The backglass features art from Youssi - a nicely drawn and
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detailed drawing of whitewater rafting - in which, regrettably, the only
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raft passenger not wearing a life-preserver vest is the young female.
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Whitewater also features a backlit waterfall on top of the cabinet head,
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which lights up to simulate slowly falling water.
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Playfield
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---------
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There are 3 flippers in Whitewater: 2 normal flippers at the bottom, and
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a normal-size flipper mounted on the raised mini-playfield. The upper
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flipper can shoot Bigfoot Bluff, a short ramp leading to a plastic
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whirlpool, or Insanity Falls, a steep ramp which goes through many up-down
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oscillations before returning to the left inlane.
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The Spine Chiller is a ramp which leads from the lower to the upper
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playfield, generally shootable only from the right flipper. Just to the
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left of this ramp is the Boulder Garden shot, which leads around the back of
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the game, underneath the upper playfield, to the Jet Bumpers in the lower
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right. The reverse of this shot is called Boomerang Bend. Just to the
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right of the Spine Chiller ramp is a saucer called No Way Out, which kicks
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balls to the upper playfield, and can also lock them for Multiball. To the
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right of No Way Out is a small ramp called Disaster Drop, which carries the
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ball underneath the Spine Chiller ramp and drops it at the entrance to the
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Boulder Garden shot.
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All of these named shots are Hazards - flashing Hazards must be collected
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in order to advance your Raft, which increases the Jackpot value and makes
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progress towards Wet Willie's (a mode in which all Hazards are 10M, and then
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the flashing light moves around and is worth 100M).
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Whirlpool awards are collected at Bigfoot Bluff, which is relit by Insanity
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Falls. These awards are mostly timed rounds or quick multiballs, and are
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almost entirely exclusive of one another.
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Whitewater has a kickback in the left outlane, called the Bounceback. It
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is not nearly as dangerous an area as on some other games, most notably
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High Speed II or Lethal Weapon 3.
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Other things to shoot for include the Lost Mine kickout above the left
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inlane, the R-I-V-E-R targets along the left side of the playfield (these
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advance the bonus multiplier, and letters can also be spotted by a steerable
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light on the inlanes), the Relight Bounceback targets facing left in the
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middle of the playfield, the two Hotfoot targets facing down and to the
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left above the right flipper (hitting these enough times starts a brief
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Jackpot mode), and various Combo Shots.
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Notables
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--------
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Whitewater features a small furry replica of Bigfoot on the upper playfield.
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He turns his head a full 360 degrees at various times, and is part of the
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diverter on the Bigfoot Bluff. He isn't nearly as obvious as, say, Rudy
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on Funhouse, though, and it's likely that the simulated waterfall on top
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of the cabinet head attracts more gimmick-oriented players than this furry
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doll does.
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On newer ROMs (at least L-1), Whitewater will briefly explain the Vacation
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Bonus every second time through the attract mode sequence.
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There is a dedicated, difficult-to-hit Extra Ball target immediately above
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the right inlane. Depending on how the machine is set up, this may be one
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of the most difficult Extra Ball targets ever.
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The manual plunger on Whitewater pretty much requires that the player
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plunge carefully, rather than launch the ball at full speed (this will
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send it down the Spine Chiller ramp, and straight towards the drain - and
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on the newest ROMs, this counts as a real drain!).
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The Whirlpool awards include a quick multiball, a hurry-up mode, lighting
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an Extra Ball, advancing the Raft for free, a random award, and a timed
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mode of 5X Playfield Values.
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Miscellaneous
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-------------
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This game was designed by Dennis Nordman, who, I believe, has not
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designed a game since, oddly enough, Blackwater 100. The design is very
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solid and coherent, and the theme and implementation seem to have wide
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appeal. With the exception of the careful work required to reach the
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Vacation Bonus, however, experienced players may tire of the game more
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quickly than some other machines.
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One notable maintenance problem in Whitewater is the upper flipper. Worse
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yet, the upper playfield is not hinged, and major exploratory surgery is
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required to fix problems in the upper flipper and the opto switches hidden
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underneath the playfield and the large plastic pieces in the game. For
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most of these switches, failures lead to very strange or unacceptable
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behavior.
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I believe Whitewater is a fairly successful earner, probably well enough
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to justify the added cost and difficulty of maintenance.
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=======================================================================
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Direct comments, corrections, etc, to <sigma@rahul.net>.
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And visit the Pinball Archive! ftp.rahul.net:/pub/sigma/pinball
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The Pinball Archive features these other files related to Whitewater:
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- a Rules Sheet: "Rules/whitewater"
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- a Tips Sheet: "Tips/whitewater.tips"
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