So, I was playing The Shadow last night and managed (not for the first time) to reach The Final Battle and was feeling pretty confident that this was the one where I finally defeated Kahn (after all, I’d just re watched Pinball 101 over the weekend, so my skills must be way better than last week, right?)
(Now, I've reached The Final Battle several times before, but have never been able to complete it. I've even got there twice in the one game - but failed on both attempts. The nearest I've managed to get was several months ago a few weeks after I had done a complete strip down refurb of the machine. On this occasion I had started The Final Battle and I had successfully hit all the shots on the main playfield and was left with just three lights on the Battlefield. With only two balls left in play I managed to get the first ball into the battlefield upkicker and as that ball was popped onto the Battlefield I slotted the second ball in behind it - victory was surely mine. The first ball flew down the Battlefield, and I deftly positioned the kicker in a position to send the ball careening back up the mini playfield taking out at least one of those three lights, however, instead of the ball being pushed back up the table as expected - the kicker didn't kick and the ball just rolled to one side and fell off the Battlefield. Not to worry, I'd still got the other ball up there and whilst the first was rolling down the left habit rail, I still had time to concentrate on those last three lights. So, a quick reposition of the kicker and... still nothing - the ball hits the kicker and stays there, only falling off as the kicker moves to one side in time with my flipping the left flipper to keep the other ball in play. I play on valiantly, somehow managing to get back on the Battlefield twice more, but still the kicker refuses to kick. Eventually, I give in and let the balls drain before turning the game off. On inspection, it turns out my soldering skills had left a lot to be desired as one of the wires on the newly replaced kicker coil had come away - D'oh!).
Anyway, back to last night and I’m having another storming game on The Shadow and once again reach The Final Battle. This time I’m determined that victory really will be mine. By the time the Ball Save period ends, I can see that most of the main playfield lights are out and, judging by the mayhem around the flippers, it looks like I’ve still got all five balls in play. Time for a quick check of the Battlefield… yep still a couple of targets to hit up there, so I change my focus and concentrate on taking them out, which I do without too much fuss. Now back to the main playfield were I can see that now there are only three shots left - left loop, right loop and the inner loop. And I’ve still got three balls left! I hit one of the balls in flight (no cradling in my games room!) and the left loop is made, but I fail to connect with it correctly from the upper right flipper, narrowly missing the inner loop, damn! Never mind, still plenty of time. I sneak a quick glance of the DMD… eh! It’s showing that “0 shots remainâ€! Must be a mistake… just need to take out those last two shots… aargh!, lost another ball… never mind, that’s the right loop taken care of. Another check of the DMD… “255 shots remainâ€â€¦ What The… whilst my mind tries to make sense of this and I try to convince myself that I can hit 255 targets no problem, I loose another ball and The Shadow and it’s Final Battle defeats me once more… I let the last ball drain, turn off the machine and go watch the TV, quietly.
So my question is this, do I have a possessed Shadow? Or am I just unlucky? Or am I running old ROMS? I’ve had a look on IPDB and can’t work out what the latest ROMs should be (and I’m at work at the mo and can’t remember what’s in my game). Anyone seen this before?
Cheers
Geoff
(Now, I've reached The Final Battle several times before, but have never been able to complete it. I've even got there twice in the one game - but failed on both attempts. The nearest I've managed to get was several months ago a few weeks after I had done a complete strip down refurb of the machine. On this occasion I had started The Final Battle and I had successfully hit all the shots on the main playfield and was left with just three lights on the Battlefield. With only two balls left in play I managed to get the first ball into the battlefield upkicker and as that ball was popped onto the Battlefield I slotted the second ball in behind it - victory was surely mine. The first ball flew down the Battlefield, and I deftly positioned the kicker in a position to send the ball careening back up the mini playfield taking out at least one of those three lights, however, instead of the ball being pushed back up the table as expected - the kicker didn't kick and the ball just rolled to one side and fell off the Battlefield. Not to worry, I'd still got the other ball up there and whilst the first was rolling down the left habit rail, I still had time to concentrate on those last three lights. So, a quick reposition of the kicker and... still nothing - the ball hits the kicker and stays there, only falling off as the kicker moves to one side in time with my flipping the left flipper to keep the other ball in play. I play on valiantly, somehow managing to get back on the Battlefield twice more, but still the kicker refuses to kick. Eventually, I give in and let the balls drain before turning the game off. On inspection, it turns out my soldering skills had left a lot to be desired as one of the wires on the newly replaced kicker coil had come away - D'oh!).
Anyway, back to last night and I’m having another storming game on The Shadow and once again reach The Final Battle. This time I’m determined that victory really will be mine. By the time the Ball Save period ends, I can see that most of the main playfield lights are out and, judging by the mayhem around the flippers, it looks like I’ve still got all five balls in play. Time for a quick check of the Battlefield… yep still a couple of targets to hit up there, so I change my focus and concentrate on taking them out, which I do without too much fuss. Now back to the main playfield were I can see that now there are only three shots left - left loop, right loop and the inner loop. And I’ve still got three balls left! I hit one of the balls in flight (no cradling in my games room!) and the left loop is made, but I fail to connect with it correctly from the upper right flipper, narrowly missing the inner loop, damn! Never mind, still plenty of time. I sneak a quick glance of the DMD… eh! It’s showing that “0 shots remainâ€! Must be a mistake… just need to take out those last two shots… aargh!, lost another ball… never mind, that’s the right loop taken care of. Another check of the DMD… “255 shots remainâ€â€¦ What The… whilst my mind tries to make sense of this and I try to convince myself that I can hit 255 targets no problem, I loose another ball and The Shadow and it’s Final Battle defeats me once more… I let the last ball drain, turn off the machine and go watch the TV, quietly.
So my question is this, do I have a possessed Shadow? Or am I just unlucky? Or am I running old ROMS? I’ve had a look on IPDB and can’t work out what the latest ROMs should be (and I’m at work at the mo and can’t remember what’s in my game). Anyone seen this before?
Cheers
Geoff
