Revenge from Mars

Williams, 1999 — shot-by-shot rules and strategy guide.

Open Revenge from Mars in the Pinball Genie app →

Revenge from Mars looks strange at first, because half the playfield is a projected video image and the targets you shoot live behind it. Look at the machine while the projector is idle and note where the centre target bank and the flat mini ramp actually sit. After that it reads like any other Williams game of the era, and a generous one — extra balls replace replays by default, so a good game runs a long time.

There is no start-mode shot

This is what confuses new players. A mode is always running. Nine of them split into three groups — Fuel, Weapons and a middle Saucer group — and you pick your starting group with the curved action buttons around the flipper buttons. Take too long and the machine picks for you. Finish a mode and the next one in that group starts immediately. The Saucer group only unlocks once the other two are done, and an unfinished mode waits for you across a drain.

Nearly every mode ends the same way. Do enough damage and the flat mini ramp in the middle of the playfield rises with a red light on it, and one shot across it flings the ball onto a shelf while the finishing animation plays. Learn that shot early — it closes modes, Martian Attack, Bonus Wave, Mothership and the wizard mode.

Flawless, and the nine saucer lights

Finishing a mode is not the same as acing one. Do exactly what the screen asked and you get a Flawless rating, worth one of nine saucer lights painted at the centre of the playfield. Finish any other way and it still ends, just without the light. In Martian Happy Hour, blowing up all three kegs ends the mode instantly and costs you the light if martians are still standing.

You do not have to ace all nine modes. Four other routes exist, and mixing them is faster:

• A Super Jackpot in Capture Multiball is worth one light.
• The 15-item Bonus Wave award is a light on default settings.
• Martian Multiball pays a light at ten martians destroyed and another higher up, both operator adjustable.
• Stroke of Luck has one in its award pool.

Missiles are the quiet scoring engine

While a mode runs, the orbits and ramps hand out missiles, and missiles do damage inside whatever mode you are playing — so a red circle on a shot you already made is never wasted. Your first missile of a ball is 500,000 and each one after adds 100,000, so twelve deep into a long ball you are collecting over a million a shot. The value resets each ball, which argues for building it inside one good ball. Twenty missiles lights an extra ball at the scoop, thirty pays five million, and fifty lights another.

The skill shot worth taking

The plain skill shot rolls the launched ball into the lit top lane for 500,000, climbing 100,000 each time. The Super Skill Shot is better: hold the left flipper button while you launch, the ball skips the lanes and lands on your left flipper under control, and any ramp or orbit inside roughly ten seconds pays a million plus 200,000 on every repeat — and spots three missiles free.

Four multiballs, all different

• Capture Multiball — the capture lane alternates between lighting Capture and taking one, so each lock costs two shots. Three Captures gives three balls and a shooting gallery: ten saucers at 500,000 to 1.5 million, then five hits on a big one for the Super Jackpot and a saucer light.
• Martian Multiball — the payoff for clearing all seven martian targets and finishing Martian Attack. Two balls, every shot kills a martian for a million. Centre twice raises the mini ramp; two ramp shots kill the big martian for two million and another replaces it.
• Bonus Wave — a four-ball round after each mode group, built around a floating 2X you push between the centre, both ramps and the lock. Cover all four and it promotes to 3X with every position free again, up to 5X. Items accumulate across the game, not per round.
• Mothership Multiball — at forty accumulated Bonus Wave items the flippers go dead and every ball drains into it. Ramps and orbits do more damage than the centre, and killing one mothership just summons a bigger one.

Hypno Multiball

Not on any instruction card. It appears in the Stroke of Luck pool after two or three awards or several completed modes. The playfield goes dark and a large spiral appears with a beam integrity percentage. The centre targets grind it down over roughly fifteen hits while the smaller spirals add balls and short ball saves, then the mini ramp finishes it. First completion is an extra ball; the second is fifteen million.

Attack Mars

Four requirements: all nine saucer lights, all three Bonus Wave multiballs, and Mothership Multiball. The centre shot then starts a three-stage assault worth over a hundred million on the final shot alone, and unlike some wizard modes the balls do not drain between stages. The real difficulty is steering with the action buttons while still flipping — three ships lined up and shot in the middle, four targets steered to their destinations, then the Big Brain. Practise the buttons during ordinary modes so it is not a new skill when it counts.

Goals in Revenge from Mars

Every goal below is tracked step-by-step, with shot paths drawn on the playfield map, inside the app.

• Rollover Skill Shot skillshot · Easy

  Launch normally and the ball ends up in the top rollover lanes. Rolling through the lit one pays 500K the first time and 100K more on every skill shot after that.

  Reward: 500K, climbing 100K per skill shot

• Super Skill Shot skillshot · Medium

  Hold the left flipper button while you launch. The ball skips the rollovers entirely, runs the left orbit and arrives on your left flipper. Hit any ramp or orbit inside about ten seconds for a million, plus 200K more each time you repeat it — and three free missiles.

  Reward: 1M climbing 200K, plus 3 missiles

• How The Modes Run progression · Easy

  There is no start-mode shot in this game. Nine modes sit in three groups, one is running at all times, and finishing one rolls straight into the next. Understanding that is most of understanding the machine.

  Reward: Structure of the whole game

• The Nine Saucer Lights progression · Hard

  Nine red lights on the painted saucer, and the largest single requirement for Attack Mars. Flawless mode ratings are the obvious route but there are four other ways in, which matters because some modes are far harder to ace than others.

  Reward: Progress toward Attack Mars

• Collect Missiles strategy · Easy

  While a mode runs, the orbits and ramps hand out missiles that also do damage in whatever mode you are in. Your first missile of a ball is 500K and each one after that adds 100K, so a long ball turns them into serious scoring.

  Reward: 500K rising 100K per missile; extra ball at 20 and 50, 5M at 30

• Stroke of Luck mode · Medium

  Light all four return-lane rollovers and the upper right scoop pays out a random award. The list runs from a flat 500K all the way up to an instant multiball, so it is almost always worth taking.

  Reward: Random award, up to Hypno or Capture Multiball

• Bonus Multiplier multiplier · Easy

  The two rollover lanes above the jets advance your bonus multiplier when both are collected. Either flipper button swaps which one is lit, so a ball rattling around the jets should never waste a lane.

  Reward: Bonus multiplier advance

• Alien Abduction mode · Medium

  Small saucers try to tractor-beam objects off the street outside the White House. Each rescue pays what that object was worth before the hurry-up ran it down, and adds that value to a mode jackpot starting at a million.

  Reward: Up to 3M per rescue, plus a growing mode jackpot

• Martian Happy Hour mode · Medium

  Five martians drinking at a bar under three suspended fuel kegs. Each martian is worth 1.5M and takes a different number of hits depending on where it sits — one on the ramps, two on the capture lane and centre target, three in the middle.

  Reward: 1.5M per martian, 4M per side keg, 6M for the centre keg

• Secret Weapon mode · Easy

  A straight fight between a giant martian and your battle machine. Shots chip away at a life bar across the top of the screen, and when it empties one more shot finishes the job. This is one of the friendlier modes to ace.

  Reward: Flawless rating and a saucer light

• Tower Struggle mode · Medium

  Four martians tugging at a leaning tower. Two saucers sit on the ramps, and two martians sit on the lock shot and the upper martian light. All four have to go for the Flawless.

  Reward: Flawless rating and a saucer light

• Mystery Mode mode · Medium

  A random draw from several completely different mini-games. What you are asked to do changes every time, so read the screen before you commit a shot.

  Reward: Varies by draw

• Drive-In Demolition mode · Medium

  Martians park themselves in front of the screen and you are the one with the heavy weaponry. Every shot does damage against a meter, and the meter has to go all the way down for the saucer light.

  Reward: Flawless rating and a saucer light

• Paris in Peril mode · Medium

  A catapult at the centre flings whatever comes to hand at a saucer above the Eiffel Tower. Centre targets fire it for around 13% damage each; the outer missile lanes do 25%. After the first hit, four martians parachute in.

  Reward: 1M, 1.5M, 2M and 5M for the four martians

• Big-O-Beam mode · Medium

  A saucer has enlarged the livestock on a farm. Centre targets make the barn leap into the saucer for 2M a go, while ramps and orbits shrink an animal for 4M each. Four animals to save, and this pays better than most of its neighbours.

  Reward: 2M per barn hit, 4M per animal

• Mars Kneads Women mode · Medium

  Six television screens, and the job is to watch all six. Orbits are the efficient shot because they start a show straight away; ramps only pop the mini ramp up so you have to spend a second shot to watch anything.

  Reward: 2-5M for the console, scaled by how many shows you watched

• Martian Attack mode · Medium

  Knock down all seven martian targets around the playfield and Martian Attack lights at the Stroke of Luck scoop. Two rubber martians then wiggle at you and both have to die before the giant one on screen will.

  Reward: Leads directly into Martian Multiball

• Martian Multiball multiball · Medium

  Two balls, and every shot on the playfield kills a martian for a million. You begin the count at three because the game credits the ones you already killed. Ten total is a saucer light and there is a second threshold higher up.

  Reward: 1M per martian, 2M per big martian, saucer lights at the thresholds

• Capture Multiball multiball · Medium

  The regular multiball. The capture lane alternates between lighting Capture and taking one, so it costs two shots per lock. On the third Capture you get three balls and a saucer shooting gallery.

  Reward: 500K to 1.5M per saucer, then a Super Jackpot and a saucer light

• Bonus Wave Multiballs multiball · Hard

  Finish a whole mode group and you get a four-ball round built around collecting items. The multiplier is the real game here: a floating 2X you push around with the action buttons, and shooting it on all four shots promotes it to 3X.

  Reward: Jackpots at 5, 10, 20, 25 and 35 items; saucer light at 15; extra ball at 30

• Mothership Multiball multiball · Hard

  Collect forty Bonus Wave items across the whole game — they accumulate, you do not need them in one round — and the flippers go dead so every ball drains into Mothership Multiball.

  Reward: Large points, and a Grand Mothership waiting behind it

• Hypno Multiball secret · Hard

  A Stroke of Luck award that normally shows up after two or three visits to the scoop or several completed modes. The playfield goes dark apart from the lit shots and a rotating spiral appears at both ramps and the capture lane.

  Reward: Extra ball the first time, 15M the second

• Attack Mars wizard · Hard

  The end of the game. Light all nine saucer lights, complete the three Bonus Wave multiballs and play Mothership Multiball, and the centre shot starts a three-stage assault that can double your score by itself.

  Reward: Over 100M on the final shot alone

• Stacking Up Extra Balls strategy · Medium

  This machine hands out extra balls instead of replays by default, and there are enough routes to them that a good game can run a very long time. Knowing all of them changes how you play the middle of a game.

  Reward: Extra balls at 50M and 200M, plus several playfield routes