“Firepower!!!” The voice says! Is it me or does he sound like he had diarrhea and is holding back a pants explosion to finish recording his lines?
It’s nothing to be ashamed of, we’ve all been there.
My wife, aka Wifebot, loves this game and Gorgar. It might be just the silly voices or maybe because I like to make fun of the speech while she plays. Gorgar is obviously more fun because you can add additional thoughts to his caveman speech. Me Gorgar… me went with Firepower to Mexican restaurant in Laredo Texas… was big mistake. Me hurt.”
My first memories of Firepower come from a roller skating rink when I was a kid. While Mata Hari was teaching me everything I know about pinball; It was beautiful, seductive, addictive! It would smack your balls around for a little bit, then take your money and make you come back for more.
Wait, it taught me everything I know about women… anyway, three or four games down from Mata Hari, some teenagers were swearing at a new Firepower. The only real goal is to get multiball which is nearly impossible in an arcade setting. You will be broke long before then, especially if you were a kid at the time.
By the time that roller skating rink closed, the firepower machine was the most beat up and dented game in the entire arcade. Intense frustration does that to people.
I only played it once. It lasted only a few seconds and I walked away disappointed. Which is exactly how the Wifebot describes our first date.
I didn’t really get the opportunity to play one again until I was in my late teens. I still didn’t understand the appeal.
Once I played one on freeplay years later, I finally got it.
I never did get multiball, but I had a good time trying.
There is no argument from me that the Ritchie brothers were the kings of ‘80’s pinball. Although I have, (and always will), prefer Barry Oursler and Python Anghelo games, both of the Ritchie’s had a way of making their games fun, attractive, and painful.
If there was one thing I’d change it would be to make the multiball a less rare occurrence, or at least add a ball saver timer so it lasts longer. I have watched the Wifebot play for over an hour to get multiball, only to lose it a few seconds afterwards. She swears for a good long while, yells, shakes her little fist, waves at it with one finger, sometimes two, and finally says “oh well.. start over!”
Even though getting multiball is basically the wizard mode for this game, the reward for doing it (a longer playtime) should be better. It’s one of the rules of good pinball, “Don’t take away something the player has earned.”
That’s my only complaint. I’ve never done it, but I’m sure I wouldn’t enjoy it. Which is ironically something I frequently hear from the Wifebot late at night.
Firepower is a classic! Plain and simple. It punishes you as much as it rewards you and leaves you wishing you had just done that last shot differently after every ball.
That’s the sign of a good game.
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