Salem, MA
I got to play Stern's newest beta recently (thanks to Mark at PAPA HQ). It's based on the Beavis and Butt-Head show, of all things. Someone must be a fan.
The game was designed by George Gomez, so it has that distinct "fan" layout (I said someone was a fan). Two ramps, one on each side; one big orbit around the back. But in a twist, the entire game is split in two, basically representing B&B's couch. All the general targets on the left side have something to do with Beavis, and all the targets on the right have to do with Butt-Head.
Some unusual things about the playfield: this game has the most sinkholes in any game I've seen in a long time, five. There are two on either side of the game, coordinated with pictures of the two lovable characters; the upper holes correspond to the two's mouths, while the lower holes...well, you figure it out. The upper holes also serve as mode starts, which are in the form of TV dinner courses sitting in the middle of the playfield. Beavis & Butt-Head have two different meals in front of them. Complete both meals and you get--well maybe I'll tell you later. A fifth sinkhole is located in the back middle of the game, serving as the Lock and Jackpot shot.
Among the modes are "Let's Burn Something", "Beavis & Butt-Head's Sing Along", "At the Drive-In", "Burger World", and "Washin' the Dog". They're hilarious. Note that a lot of the modes are based on episodes of the show. There are a total of 13 modes, but the only other one I can remember is a lame-o points award.
"Let's Burn Something" starts with the two on the couch, where most of the action actually begins. Beavis: "Hey Butt-Head... let's burn something." "Uh, okay." Shoot the flashing shot, chosen at random, and Beavis lights (for each successful shot in 20 seconds) a piece of paper, a book, a dog's tail, some guy's house, and if you manage to complete the round, he burns down the local mall! "Fire, fire fire fire!!"
Lighting "Beavis & Butt-Head's Sing Along" starts a heavy metal (prob. Mettalica) song. Butt Head: "This rocks!" and they start grunting out the guitar chords. The video's reception goes bad, and your job (as Butt-Head) is to keep the reception good enough to hear the video. You need to shoot the TV targets in the left-center area as many times as possible, and before things get too bad on the TV (which you see). Beavis yells "Fix it, Buttwipe!" during the round, and something worse if you fail...hope there's a family setting.
"At The Drive-In" has you trying to sneak candy at the movie theater's snack bar. It's a hit-the bumpers round; the display shows Butt-Head distracting the snackbar guy while each bumper hit shows Beavis stealing a bar; it's really funny when you hit 5 or 10 bumpers in a row, because, obviously, he moves pretty fast. If you don't hit any bumpers, you get caught stealing, beaten up, and thrown out of the theater (losing 5M points). "That was not cool."
"Burger World" has a customer walking in to request "large coffee, pie, large fries. Now!" Beavis, in the back, has to work frantically to prepare rotten food for the guy, while Butt-Head tries to delay the guy from getting what he wants. So to win the round, you must hit as many targets as you can, but only on the left side of the playfield (remember it's divided almost in half); hitting enough targets on the right side causes the customer to walk behind the counter and get the stuff himself.
In "Washin' the Dog," B&B take the same guy's dog for a walk to the laundromat, where they try to clean the dog by putting it in the washing machine. Shooting either orbit shot runs a cycle of the washer (wash, spin, rinse, dry--it's a dual washer-dryer) and shows great animation of a not-too happy dog.
Gross animations are everywhere in "Butt-Head's BB Mania", a video mode. It depicts him discovering a loaded BB gun on the ground, after which your job is to guide him to anything that moves. Anything, including birds, cars, dogs, old ladies, airplanes, and even Beavis. (Ow! Hey, buttwipe, cut it out!)
For fun, try "The Comedian," another mode, in which Beavis gets up on open mike night. Shoot his (left) ramp and he tells a joke (there are a good stash of these) -- "Ya know what about bunnies? They suck!" "Ever watch the news on TV? It sucks!" "One time I ate a lemon. It sucked!" You get the idea... the crowd can't stand him, but Butt-Head laughs like hell...
Any time five consecutive ramps are shot, the game lights a Hurry Up mode, almost exactly like FT or IJ. In this mode, B&B are running away from that really fat guy from the hospital (can't recall his name), who seems in the mood for cannibalism. To escape, you must shoot one of two flashing sinkholes, which drop B&B through a manhole, awarding the points. "Sewage is cool."
The multiball in B&B isn't too difficult to get; the concept is that the balls got lost in the seat cushions of their couch. Getting locks is similar to IJ in that the lock shot is hidden behind drop targets. Shoot down the couch drop targets (located straight up the middle of the playfield) to reveal the hole ("huh huh...you said hole..."); when a ball is locked, we see Beavis drop something in the couch. After two balls are locked, the hole closes. To start multiball, you must drop all three targets (display: B&B throwing pillows to look for the lost balls), then shoot the left (Beavis') ramp to start the multiball. Beavis: "I found my balls..." <points, guess where> "Huh huh..." They both
start laughing outrageously.
Laughter continues as a ball is shot out of each of B&B's mouths (the two upper sinkholes), and the laughing just keeps going through the whole multiball (a concentration nightmare). Jackpot is lit by shooting the right ramp ("Hey Beavis, check it out..." as lots of lights flash) and scored by the left ramp ("Huh huh... jackpot." Not an exciting quote, but the display and lights are great. "That was cool.")
I didn't get very far with the jackpots; there's probably a Super Jackpot somewhere. A few more random things: consecutive ramps get the two to laugh faster and faster, so this probably works up to a quick multiball of some kind. Also, an unlit shot to one of the two "head" sinkholes sometimes awards a great display of Beavis saying "I think I'm gonna hurl," and then he does. Dunno what I did to get that to happen.
Everything in B&B is pretty true to the show, though it makes me wonder why they would make this game now when it feels more like it belongs in 1995. Displays an the playfield are especially cool, and Mike Judge is given credit for some of the artwork. Nice job...it's, uh...huh huh...cool.
