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Review: Pinballreviews.com on ??/??/????

Game: High Speed
Design: Steve Ritchie
Art: Python/ Sprenger
Year: 1985
MFG: Williams

	
        Reviewer  Rudy  9Ball  Drac  Buzz  Doc  Jimbo  Total
  Art: Backglass  9     6      7     6     8    7      7.25
  Art: Playfield  9     7      7     8     8.5  7.5    7.75
           Sound  9.5   9      8.5   9     9    9      9
Playfield Design  9     9      8     9     9    9      9
           Rules  8.5   9      9     8     8.5  9.5    8.75
       Longevity  9     8.5    8.5   8     9    9      8.75
          Totals                                       8.5

Rudy

Pluses:
Fast and furious game in its era. Great mix of music, sound effects and speech. Simple rule set. Light the green, yellow, then red lights, then run the red light via the ramp. Wide open playfield allows fast shots. Shooting a screaming left orbit shot and slamming it up the ramp is very satisfying. Beacon police light on the backbox tells the world you are rocking when you run the red light and score the jackpot. Great jackpot sounds and light show to boot! Neat rearview mirror on backglass. Rev the engine and rpm bonus lights with the flippers when the ball is ready to be shot into play. Overall it's a great game with everything required for fun.

Minuses:
none

9ball

Pluses:
Great game with many pinball firsts like Alfanumeric Displays, bad switch alert (love that alert knocker!), auto-replay percentaging etc.. 3 spinners add to the fun. Fast playfield with excellent flow. Nice upper right flipper ramp shot to lock balls and get bonus multipliers. The flyer was right by saying: "Everything else is left behind!"

Minuses:
BG and cabinet art a little drab even by 1985 standards. Hey, is that Freddy Krueger on the backglass?

Drac

Pluses:
Very fast moving game at the time of its release paving the way for faster titles by proving that harder games could sell well. Made the kickback a common feature (designs that sell well get their features borrowed heavily in future releases). Tight saucer shot and upper side ramp shot are fun to hit.

Minuses:
This game was a victim of its own popularity: because many future games incorporated its features (upper side ramp and kickback) due to its popularity, the enjoyment of the game is slightly diminished since these features are no longer as uncommon as they were at the time of its release. The popularity also makes it difficult to find examples with clean playfields.

Buzz

Pluses:
First game to really incorporate flow with ramp shots. 3 spinners is a great idea. First game to reward loop shots with incrementing awards. First Jackpot, first music score, first Alpha!

Minuses:
Backglass is rather ugly but most Steve Ritchie games have bad art thanks to hm getting stuck back bad artists.

Doc

Pluses:
High speed is a classic. It's a watershed game because it shows what is yet to come. The incredible programming of LED, Steve Ritchie in your face playfield design, great light effects, and most importantly the first jackpot shot. Although, I really didn't like the game when it first came out, I now realize it's strength. For that reason, I give it an overall 9.

Minuses:
none

Jimbo

Pluses:
Well, one of the best games ever. Great flow, cool sounds, fun story like play. Freeway shots are a lot of fun...especially scoring 2 at once. First game where you could put in your initials for a high score.....way cool!
I remember the day vividly....My friends and I were playing Comet on a Sat. at a bowling alley I 'lived' at. At about 1pm, in strolls in the game tech with a brand new pinball....it was High Speed!! My grades in school were never the same after that day. What an awesome game!

Minuses:
Very few....... a little easy Not a very good operating system(known to catch fire a lot!) Backglass could be better