Slamball
arcade pinball game for Commodore 64, 1984
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Use Control Port 2.
The big and nasty Americana monster has come along and eaten up Mastertronic's
pinball table where the Slamball family resides, a living clan of ball
bearings with a happy deposition. The pinball table is inside the monster's
stomach and the balls are in a bit of trouble. The pinball table is still
operational, and since the monster's stomach knows that the family is still
inside, it has decided to eject them one by one. The hole at the bottom of
the table, which normally recovers the ball, instead slides down into the
monster's digestive tract.
Luckily for you, as a member of the secret society of prevention of cruelty to
pinballs, have gained radio remote control of the table, and you must now
stop at nothing to prevent any of the Slamball family from getting into the
Americana Monster's digestive tract.
The whole game revolves around a vertically scrolling window of four screens
that form the entire length of the table. As you launch the ball, you need to
decide on the power at which the ball is ejected into the playfield. Four
sets of flippers are positioned throughout the table; with the left and right
flippers being controlled by pushing left or right on the joystick,
respectively.
All the elements of a real pinball table, such as bumpers and rollbacks, are
included here. Even a nudge is implemented in times of extreme danger.
Hitting nudge causes the whole table to wobble, and nudge is useful when a
member of the Slamball family is in danger of entering the digestive tract.
If the nudge gets overused, then the flippers are disabled until the ball
reaches the Monster's alimentary canal.
Around the table are a number of enzymes which are held in groups of up to
four. If a slamball comes into contact with these enzymes, the enzymes
themselves disappear, and when an entire group is destroyed, a blob appears.
If a slamball destroys this blob before it destroys itself by hitting the
table's walls, the score multiplier is increased. If all the enzymes are
destroyed, the level is complete and a bonus for any balls left is awarded.
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Some useful keyboard shortcuts
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[PAUSE] - stop/continue game
[F9] - quick load game state
[F12] - quick save game state (still stored after leaving the site)
[F10] - toggle performance meter
[F11] - toggle fullscreen mode
[ScrollLock] - quick switch control ports
[PageDown] - make a screenshot (320x200)