Game:

The Pinball Arcade (2012)

Category:

Walkthrough

Duration: 39:15

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Apollo 13 is a 1995 pinball game designed by Joe Balcer and Joe Kaminkow, released by Sega Pinball, based on the film of the same name. Kevin Bacon (Jack Swigert), Bill Paxton (Fred Haise), and Gary Sinise (Ken Mattingly) provided custom speech for this game. Tom Hanks although he is in the film is no where to be seen in this table due to licensing issues.

This was played on the Pinball VPX Software

This is a very dense pinball table; playfield toys include an elevating Saturn V rocket, a lunar LEM module, a countdown LED, and a rotating Moon. Collect orbits around the table to Advance the Spacecraft around the Moon and return to Earth, and perform various Apollo Missions along the way — perform a manual burn to straighten the orbiter, fix the Life Support systems, fix the CO2 scrubbers, and take care of the Master Alarm. For more points, shoot the Saturn and load up for multiball, or use gravitynote to slingshot pinballs over the Moon. Even with all these features, the biggest appeal of the game is its 13 Ball Blastoff Multiball, where thirteen balls are unloaded onto the playfield. Up to six people can play at once, either individually or in teams, and the game offers "Novice" and "Wizard" difficulty settings for players.

Not surprisingly, Apollo 13 is considered a gimmick table, with the Saturn V rocket, pinball-grabbing Moon, and thirteen-ball multiball entertaining for the first few times. Afterwards, players tend to be divided, with supporters who find it a well-balanced game for beginners and novices, and detractors who bemoan the lack of satisfying shots or a deeper challenge. If nothing else, it's worth a few plays just for the experience.

Gameplay
After starting a game, you have a choice of "Regular" or "Novice" mode. "Regular" is the normal 3-ball arrangement. "Novice" is timed play; the player has 2 minutes when any drained balls are autoplunged, and after the 2 minutes expires, the game is over when the balls on the field drains.

You can start a game in "League" mode by holding the left flipper button in while starting a game, and "Wizard" mode by holding the right flipper button in.

There are 9 Missions; after doing all of them, Master Alarm is lit at the right saucer. The Missions are:

- Orbiter
- CO2
- Manual Burn
- Rocket 2-Ball
- Moon's Gravity
- Under Volt
- Life Support
- Docking
- Lite Extra Ball

Once the 9 missions have finished, the wizard mode Master Alarm will start. It's a 40-second frenzy where every target scores 1 million and adds 1 million to a Jackpot that is lit at the Blastoff ramp.

The Jackpot does not reset after collecting it, and does not have a limit. This round can be worth many points if the player has mastered the ramp shot.

Multiball modes
Apollo 13 has a number of pinball modes:

Regular Multiball - 5-ball
13-ball: When the 8 BLASTOFF letters that are shown below the score display are completed , the next multiball will be 13 BALL.

When 13-ball starts, the bottom post raises and stays up for about 10 seconds. Five balls are launched, and after about 5 seconds the 8 balls in the 8-ball holder are released, all at once. There is no ball saver. During 13-ball, the Rocket is lit for Jackpots. After a Jackpot, the bottom post is not raised, increasing the difficulty of play.

After 5 Jackpots have been collected, the Super 13-Ball Jackpot is lit.

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