I sent an email over to [email protected] regarding the following 3 oddities/bugs not long ago. I think most players will be interested in the first one. I suspect that there are probably a few players that already know about it and an even greater number that have achieved the early Extra-Ball exploit(?) without realizing it. I've written a more detailed explanation about it below the email.
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1) One of the requirements to lighting up an Extra Ball is to complete 5 missions but I somehow usually achieved it before completing 5 missions which confused me, so I looked into it. I've since noticed that while in the fourth mission of any planet's mini-wizard mode you can activate the Add-A-Ball feature during the grace period (when the mission has just ended having failed it and you're in open play) doing so allows you to re-enter the mission from where you left off, and when done, this makes the mission count as completed again; 2 for 1. This can be used to increase the amount of missions you have completed for your End of Ball Bonus points and getting the Extra Ball lit sooner than possible.
For the record, this quirk with the Add-A-Ball and grace period resulting in some missions counting as completed twice is fine by me, so I'd hate to see the grace period reduced or changed as some of the best moments in the game come from taking advantage of the grace period. I just wanted to bring this to your attention as there might eventually be an elegant solution available (if a solution is needed at all) without negatively altering the Add-A-Ball and grace period.
2) If you have successfully made the Left Loop Death Star shot twice in open play (1 shot away from lighting the Death Star Missions) and the Video Mode is activated by shooting all the force targets 3 times, the Fork Ramp lifts on the Premium/LE. Now if you make the Left Loop Death Star shot with the ramp up for the third time the game registers that the DS is now lit, the ball travels around to the diverter, then down the right rail and drains while the flippers are dead, then relaunches into open play.
3) Playing as Leia when I stack Endor 1 with another mission (say Tatooine 1) and I press both flippers to skip the animation of the speeder video at a certain point, the video pauses but you can still hear sound. The ball enters play but the flippers are dead until the ball drains and relaunches, then everything is back to normal. I've found it sometimes difficult to recreate this glitch consistently; it might be down to the timing of when to exactly skip the Endor 1 animation video that is the key. I have not noticed this occurring with any other animation other than Endor 1.
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A more detailed example of how the early extra ball might usually play out:
Let's use the classic R2-D2 opener of selecting the DS while shooting Endor four times. You then stack DS 1 and Endor 3 and complete them both. That's now 2 missions completed. You start the DS mini-wizard mode but unfortunately you fail at it quickly (booo ). But, that's still 3 missions completed. You start Battle above Endor and you have a better go at it, lighting up the Action button orange for your Add-A-Ball. Now, before successfully completing the mission, you drain until you have one ball left, and this ends your multiball, the mode finishes and you are back in open play and the game registers Battle above Endor as a mission completed, making it 4 in total. Crucially, the Add-A-Ball feature is still available to you during this grace period for a second or so. You now quickly hold down the Action button and the Add-A-Ball is activated. This puts you back into the Battle above Endor mission right where you left off. Whether you now successfully complete the mission or not, at the end of it, you will have registered the Extra Ball for completing 5 missions, even though you have only completed 4. This 2 for 1 only works while attempting to complete any of the four planet mini-wizard modes, this doesn't work while in Victory Multiball as it is not a mission.
It's a decent strategy to employ especially if you are on your last ball, that way you can get the Extra Ball early without having to tackle another mission and risk draining in the process.