High Speed
System: Genesis
Release Date: July 1991
Developer: Rare
Publisher: Tradewest
Genre: Pinball
Escape the police and rack up the highest score in High Speed! Tradewest is back with another hot pinball machine of the 1980s. Rare developed Pin*Bot for Nintendo and did the duty here for Tradewest, as well. The credits are free, and there’s no one behind you in line, so pull the plunger and get to it!
The layout looks faithful to the actual machine, but the colors are enough to make my eyes bleed. The dithering used in the color design makes discerning different landmarks on the board incredibly difficult. The screen also splits to always show the flippers, which I can’t tell if I like or not. The main thing I found to do is light the traffic lights and then get a good shot up the ramp to run the red light and start a police chase. I think this is what unlocked multi-ball, which is always my favorite pinball mode. The ball will give you friendly bounces near the gutters and off the flippers if you’re patient.
Three icons occasionally appear on screen. A money bag will add to your point total. There are also helicopters and safes, which will unlock a bonus screen when you collect three of them. Three helicopters will carry you off to a screen with four race cars. You want your red car to win, so must shoot your ball into opposing cars to spin them out or into your car to ignite a turbo boost. Three safes take you to a pachinko game, where you need to get the balls to sit in four alcoves. I couldn’t get the middle slot filled.
Also added into the video game version are a series of enemies. Water puddles will slow you down, but you can destroy them by hitting them fast enough. Tumbleweeds will grab you and try to throw you down the center. You can destroy them by shaking the table with the B and Select Buttons. Rust balls try to dissolve the flipper joints. There are bombs that will destroy your flippers if you can’t knock them away. This was how I finished my last game, missing the left flipper. At least I made the leader board.
Graphics: 1.0
Not enough colors are able to be represented on screen at once to make this look decent.
Sound: 2.0
The music is very Rare and the voice samples are pretty okay.
Gameplay: 1.5
It’s pinball, but I can’t tell what I’m shooting at or what I’m supposed to do.
Difficulty: 3.0
This is more forgiving than a real pinball machine and other video examples so far.
Fun Factor: 1.5
I like a machine that I can tell what’s going on. I can’t here.
Overall Rating: 1.8
High Speed earns a C. I can not in good conscience recommend this pinball machine. There are many better choices out there.