Not everyone has a ROM burner, and it's "unofficial." Even without it though, spamming the ramp shot isn't lucrative until you've hit it 99 times. Unless you like chopping wood, getting 99 miles is only worthwhile if you're in a tournament setting.

Great pickup! I'm sure you'll want to experiment and explore some settings and gameplay features on your own time, but one thing I do recommend is changing the shaker motor speed to "street." In street setting, the shaker varies depending on shots you make. So it'll be a low rumble when not much is going on, and when you make a ramp shot or something, it'll speed up with great vigor. Kinda cool.

Enjoy!

Everyone who comes over to play my games agrees that Earthshaker is the better game, and mine is sitting right next to Whirlwind. I personally prefer Whirlwind, and I think it gets more love from enthusiasts, mostly because WW is less exploitable than ES is. But ES has a much more interesting layout with a lot more "tricks" than whirlwind has, so I think that's why people gravitate towards it.

I think Earthshaker is more fun than both Whirlwind and Funhouse--i.e. I can play a game, and not feel stressed out, and just enjoy the experience. I think Whirlwind is a better playing game than both Funhouse and Earthshaker in both rules and layout. I can sit down at Whirlwind and really hash away through the game's progression to really make the most of it. Funhouse, far and away, is the most creative and most atmospheric though. I'd love to own one, but I can't justify the cost considering Whirlwind and Earthshaker are just as good or better in a lot of ways. But that's just me.

That’s news to me! Just watched it.

I really like the idea of updating these System 11 games. They have Complex playfields That would allow for deep WPC-like rules. As long as the modifications are 100% reversible, I’d totally try some of these mods.

I’m a big fan of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” They didn’t keep changelogs back in the system 11 days, but as I understand it, most of the changes in revisions are either foreign language/coin pricing corrections or other unnoticeable things.

If it makes you feel better, I’m still running proto roms in my Taxi, and I cannot tell any game differences between that and my friend’s newer revision roms in his Taxi.

Also ordered! I've been looking for a kit for years. Glad to see they're available again. Thanks for the link!

Congrats on the pickup! Just wanted to add that I really like your youtube videos. The series you did on your Robo-War restoration was fantastic. Thanks for taking the time to document it and upload them!

I don’t want to admit how long it took for me to find this by sheer pinball detective work. I originally thought it was a “Rad 80s/90s” themed game, like a Caribbean Cruise, Surf n Safari, Hollywood Heat, Radical etc etc… nope. None.

Then on second look, I thought “That flamingo is giving Python vibes.” So I looked for it in Hurricane, Police Force, even Bugs Bunny Birthday Ball. Nope. Not there either.

Then, it hit me. It’s a plastic from Popeye! It was actually kinda fun trying to find it. Here it is in the context of the whole kit (bottom left corner):

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As far as I’m aware, the sinking building is made in batches. You might have to wait for the next batch, assuming there is one. I remember trying to get one from him several years ago after his second batch ran out, and it wasn’t until now that I was able to buy one.

Definitely try reaching out to see if/when it’ll be re-run.

Do you have a new high current driver board too? If it’s the original, check the TIP37C and associated diode on the board.

If that all checks out, then ohm out the motor, but I’d be really surprised if the motor is bad.

Yup. Whirlwind.

Earthshaker’s early production backglass uses a hot pink Cadillac. Production backglasses are red.

They have completely different designs and shoot completely differently, but the rules for both are essentially the same--right down to the rules for the quick multiball. I'd say they complement each other in a collection, but I wouldn't want them to be my only two games. If money is no object and you can only have one, choose Whirlwind. It's the better game. If you're trying to be a little more budget conscious, go with Earthshaker.

As far as I’m aware, that decal doesn’t belong to ES. I’m almost certain that it’s been included in error. It’s the center drop target decal for the center ramp on Road Kings.

Unless your game has super early prototype ROMs, the pop bumper lights will not operate in attract mode. Seems like you simply stumbled on a game that has very early code.

If it bothers you that much, you’d have to track down someone who can burn you that particular rom revision, but it’s not really recommended, since the latest version of code would be the best option, since it would include bug fixes and other refinements.

How challenging is the process of replacing cabinet decals on this game (or really any system 11 for that matter)? I’ve done radcals multiple times, but never decals.

Interesting that the ES backglass looks like that. I have a White Water and TZ CPR mirrored backglass, and I don't notice any lines from the printing process. Have you reached out to them to ask if this was considered normal?

It’s definitely properly mirrored. Looks great.

I’ll take one! Pm sent.

The only mod I’ve ever considered for this game is a sign that better highlights the quake shelter. I know it’s labeled on the center “road sign” but it points to the standup target. So many people who play my game don’t know where the shelter is to start “aftershock.”

I considered making a yellow road sign and attaching it to the wire from right above the cellar hole in the past.

I am in no way a mod person, but damn, that bridge does look good. Almost as if it were part of the game from day 1.

If you've played Whirlwind, you'll feel right at home with Earthshaker. Very similar objectives: Shoot the lit targets as indicated by the institute to advance towards multiball. Shots up the main ramp advance the captive ball (which acts in the same manner as the tornado drop target on whirlwind). I will say that Earthshaker does have a really good playfield. I've always thought it was one of Lawlor's better designs. The inner loop shot is repeatable (similar to shadow loops), the lock shot is infinitely satisfying, and feels similar to the open bookcase shot on TAF, and the right ramp jackpot shot feels smooth. The state diverter is brilliant. There are some other interesting nuances: during 3-ball multiball, a shot to the shelter will hold the ball indefinitely until one is lost. Without flipper staging, this code feature makes shooting for jackpots a little more interesting. Quick multiball can be stacked with regular multiball for unlimited millions and a jackpot. It's just a terrifically shooting game.

ES has 2 big downsides: The jackpot can only be collected once per multiball (no way to relight), and to a much lesser extent, the center ramp can be spammed for miles. Once you reach 99 miles, the player is awarded a 200,000 pt "end of the road" bonus, which is really lopsided. Granted, doing so takes a ton of time, and is woodchoppy as all hell. It's not a quick rules exploit like the unlimited millions from Police Force.

If you have a larger collection, ES is a great game. In a small collection, maybe look for something else.

Is anyone running prototype Roms in their game? Easily identified by the alternative attract mode that flashes the pops. Are there any significant rule changes?

Try the simple stuff: have you checked all the switch diodes?

System 11 game ROMs are essentially considered “finished” regardless of the revision. While L-3 is the most recent rom revision, your L-1 version is likely to have any noticeable gameplay changes. This extends to the sound ROMs as well.

As an example, I have proto sound and game ROMs in my Taxi, and I have never noticed any differences to it compared to more recent versions of the ROMs.

Through my research, I’ve found that rom revisions on system 11 games mostly contained changes to things like coin pricing for other foreign currency’s or language updates. You’re not going to see any gameplay upgrades.

If you’re game is playing well as-is, there’s no reason to change out your ROMs, imo.

FM synthesis IS the sound of the 80s. It’s already perfect, imo. Like a Sega Genesis or Yamaha DX7. The only improvements I’d want to see(hear) would be improved voice samples. That was the only real flaw with these soundboards.

Both. Speech callouts were generated with a CVSD (Continuously Variable Slope Delta) chip. In an interview with Chris Granner, he stated that the encoding method the chip uses really hinders the quality, as it’s only 1 bit per sample.

I imagine that due to the chip’s limitations, and ROM space availability limitations, the raw data on the speech ROMs probably isn’t all that great either. I imagine we’d have to find the original studio recordings if we wanted proper samples.

It’s entirely possible that Granner still has them. He released the samples from the original DCS mix of TZ years ago.

That’s because these soundboards don’t use music samples. The Yamaha chip generates sound signals from raw data. It’s because of this that I’ve always felt that FM synthesis soundboards used in System 11 and early WPC games are FAR superior to the DCS. ROM space went much farther since it only had to store bits of data to generate music, so music clips could be generated in real time, be modified in real time, and had the ability to be much longer than DCS counterparts.

Compare white water to AFM. White waters soundtrack is lush, never repetitive, and has at least 10 unique tunes all at least a minute long. AFM has 20-30 second loops of maybe 3 or 4 sampled tunes. It’s no contest.