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Godzilla Rulesheet v1.0 by Dan Bradford Godzilla by Sega January 1998, was designed by Joe Balcer with software by Neil Falconer and Orin Day; art by Morgan Weistling. Only 510 were made, It has 4 balls, 2 flippers, 4 ‘radioactive breath’ magnets, 6 multiballs (including wizard mode), and a shaker motor. I saw it described on Pinside as “a system 11 rule set in a DMD game” This machine was made to cash in on the 1998 Godzilla film. Well, it wasn’t the best of films, but the pinball machine is actually enjoyable (see also Johnny Mnemonic, Congo, The Shadow, the Flintstones....). Film relevance to pin: New York is under attack, there’s a taxi chase, a surviving egg hatches into baby Godzilla. And there’s a helicopter at some point. I expect somewhere in the film there must be sonar as well. Overview Godzilla has fairly simple rules – there are lots of multiballs and hardly any modes – but it definitely includes risk/reward strategy. Do you cash in the multiball, or try to get more lined up before starting it? Starting a new MB from within a MB is fine, it increases the jackpot a bit and you get a new ball save, but for really big points you should start all 5 together. There’s an exciting art package – this game really looks the dog’s bollocks – and a ground-rumbling shaker motor that fits the action and genuinely adds to the game, like the shakers in Earthshaker and Jurassic Park; plus four separate magnets to add chaos. Godzilla himself is a detailed sculpted toy – a gnarly hand and a head that spits balls directly at the player. Ok, for experts, Godzilla is too easy. Great players can expect to get to Save New York often, even multiple times in a game, and they will wish there were more modes to play and deeper rules. For us lesser mortals, though, it’s a fantastic game that keeps you coming back again and again for more. It definitely has the fun factor and that ‘just one more game’ thing going on. This rulesheet was made for a machine with the most recent ROMs, CPU version 2.05, display version 2.0. If your game doesn’t have these ROMs, you may want to consider updating them to get the best out of your hardware.

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Godzilla Rulesheet v1.0 by Dan Bradford

Godzilla by Sega January 1998, was designed by Joe Balcer with software by Neil Falconer and Orin Day; art by Morgan Weistling. Only 510 were made, It has 4 balls, 2 flippers, 4 ‘radioactive breath’ magnets, 6 multiballs (including wizard mode), and a shaker motor. I saw it described on Pinside as “a system 11 rule set in a DMD game”

This machine was made to cash in on the 1998 Godzilla film. Well, it wasn’t the best of films, but the pinball machine is actually enjoyable (see also Johnny Mnemonic, Congo, The Shadow, the Flintstones....). Film relevance to pin: New York is under attack, there’s a taxi chase, a surviving egg hatches into baby Godzilla. And there’s a helicopter at some point. I expect somewhere in the film there must be sonar as well.

Overview Godzilla has fairly simple rules – there are lots of multiballs and hardly any modes – but it definitely includes risk/reward strategy. Do you cash in the multiball, or try to get more lined up before starting it? Starting a new MB from within a MB is fine, it increases the jackpot a bit and you get a new ball save, but for really big points you should start all 5 together. There’s an exciting art package – this game really looks the dog’s bollocks – and a ground-rumbling shaker motor that fits the action and genuinely adds to the game, like the shakers in Earthshaker and Jurassic Park; plus four separate magnets to add chaos. Godzilla himself is a detailed sculpted toy – a gnarly hand and a head that spits balls directly at the player. Ok, for experts, Godzilla is too easy. Great players can expect to get to Save New York often, even multiple times in a game, and they will wish there were more modes to play and deeper rules. For us lesser mortals, though, it’s a fantastic game that keeps you coming back again and again for more. It definitely has the fun factor and that ‘just one more game’ thing going on. This rulesheet was made for a machine with the most recent ROMs, CPU version 2.05, display version 2.0. If your game doesn’t have these ROMs, you may want to consider updating them to get the best out of your hardware.

Godzilla Rulesheet v1.0 by Dan Bradford

Let’s take a look around the playfield, clockwise from the bottom:

2 normal flippers with a skill post in the middle, and a standard slingshot in the usual place on both sides.

One inlane each side. These light the ‘Combo’ shot on the other side (left inlane lights right Combo target).

An outlane on both sides, no kickback, a Special to light in the left and

right outlanes.

3 yellow standup targets on the left and the right, with standup green ‘Combo’ targets above them. The left one is under Godzilla’s hand, the right one is supposed to be under a tiny helicopter, though I haven’t seen a game that still has it.

A big gnarly old hand sticking out of the playfield. WTF? This is

Godzilla’s right hand. The left outer loop (under the wrist of Godzilla’s hand) leads to a spinner at the top: this important shot can end up in three places – a weak shot will dribble into the pops, a decent hit will either shoot through to the shooter lane (a ‘Sneak-in’ worth 1M with the quote “you’re going the wrong way”), or will go up onto the squirly ramp that returns it to the right flipper. The 1st shot to this loop ‘spots sonar’ (lights one of the 6 inserts by the captive balls) > the 2nd one is a ‘mystery award’ (3M, 7M, spot helicopter, penis extension, others) > 3rd is ‘Super Pops’ (not that super, they become worth 100K instead of 50K I think, Guns N Roses this is not) > then the 4th shot qualifies Baby Godzilla multiball. If you don’t start this, the 5th shot lights extra ball at left inner loop, and the 6th starts Mean Green Machine mode.

Left inner loop (under his thumb): starts all multiballs that are qualified; start the wizard mode Save New York here after playing all 5 MBs; also score the Save New York superjackpot here; and collect EB at this shot.

A great big Godzilla head, and underneath it, 4 red TAXI targets: these get hit multiple

times during a game

Captive balls (Sonar) both sides of the right ramp, with a third (travelling) captive ball above one of them, lighting it. You need to knock the captive ball from one side of the ramp to the other. When you hit it, it carroms to the other side. These captive balls where you advance Sonar are also referred to in the flyer as ‘Nuclear Captive Balls,’ so there’s that.

Right ramp (under Godzilla’s left hand crushing skyscrapers): a firm shot goes round to the left flipper, or a

weak shot drops to poppers. Ramp shots first light the footprint inserts, then qualifies Godzilla multiball, then (if you don’t start this) the next ramp starts Score Does Matter mode.

Godzilla Rulesheet v1.0 by Dan Bradford

‘Super’ Skill shot If you hold the left flipper while launching the ball, it goes all around to the left flipper. Shoot it on the fly or try a live catch – either way you have to get straight up the right ramp for 5M. If you don’t hold the left flipper in during launch, there is no standard (non-super) skill shot, it just feeds the pops which is pretty skilful, i’m sure you’ll agree.

Those Five Multiballs:

Godzilla Multiball – @ right ramp. Qualify Godzilla MB by hitting the right ramp 4 times, the last time the ball coming back to you not via left flipper but through Godzilla’s mouth (actually as it is easy to fumble this). Start it the same way you start all the MBs, at the left inner loop. During multiball, score jackpots at the right ramp. Baby Zilla Multiball – @left orbit. 4 shots to the spinner are enough to qualify Baby (Godzooky) MB. Start it at the same place as all of them, left inner loop. During multiball, score jackpots at that same left orbit. Taxi Multiball – @TAXI standups. Hit T and A, and X and I to qualify TAXI MB, then start it at the same place, the inner left orbit. During multiball, score jackpots at T-A-X-I; subsequent multiballs need multiple hits at T-A-X and I. Sonar Multiball - @ captive balls. 6 captive ball hits needed to qualify Sonar MB. It’s started the same as all of them, at left inner loop. During multiball, score jackpots at lit captive ball. If you are feeling mean, or are playing a really close multiplayer game, there’s a cheeky play here – if your opponent still needs Sonar MB, and if you can remember the side they had knocked it from, you could knock the ball back there, forcing them to make two shots instead of one to advance their Sonar multiball. Thanks to Adam from pinballrevolution.com for that tip. Helicopter Multiball – @ Combo shots. Combos are scored by an inlane to light the opposite Combo target, which you then have to hit. Sometimes you can roll into them off the yellow targets, but this can be dangerous. Hitting an unlit Combo target scores zero, hitting a lit Combo target advances bonus X – to 2X then 3X then 4X then 5X and finally 6X also qualifies Helicopter MB. It’s a lot easier to qualify this and get those lit Combos when already in a MB. Start it at the same place as all of them, left inner loop, and during multiball, score jackpots at the left or right yellow targets (you need to hit all 3 of either bank). This is the hardest and so usually the last multiball to get started. Multiball scoring: Standard jackpot for one MB is 5M. If you add-in multiballs to this, they add in 1, 2, 3 and 4M, so the second takes it to 6M, the third to 8M, the fourth to 11M, the fifth to 15M. If you start two together, they’re worth 7M each and added-in ones increase jackpots by 2, 4 and 6M. Start three MBs together for 11M jackpots, and added-in increase jackpots by 4 and 6M. Starting four MBs makes jackpots 17M, the fifth adds 6M. Maximum value is if you start all five together, for 25M jackpots. Thanks to Keefer on TILTForum.com for the details.

Jackpot values Start 1 MB 5M Add a 2nd 6M Add a 3rd 8M Add a 4th 11M Add a 5th 15M Start 2 MB 7M Add a 3rd 9M Add a 4th 12M Add a 5th 16M Start 3 MB 11M Add a 4th 14M Add a 5th 18M Start 4 MB 17M Add a 5th 21M Start 5 MB 25M

Godzilla Rulesheet v1.0 by Dan Bradford

Score Does Matter mode This mode is started by 6 shots up the right ramp (ie. after qualifying Godzilla MB you ignore that, and instead hit the ramp again twice more). This mode rewards repeated shots to the right ramp at 5M a time, there is a 10 second timer counting down on the DMD that is restarted by each shot. Get ‘Start Multiball’ flashing before starting this, then start the SDM mode, start the multiball(s), immediately get another right ramp shot in quick, and milk that mode – every right ramp now has 5M added to the jackpot value. I don’t know if this can be stacked with Mean Green Machine mode, but maybe. Maybe also with Save New York (SNY)?

Mean Green Machine mode This mode is started by 6 shots up the left orbit (ie. after qualifying Baby Zilla MB you ignore that, and instead hit the orbit again twice more). This mode rewards repeated shots to the left orbit at 5M a time, there is a 10 second timer counting down on the DMD that is restarted by each shot. Get ‘Start Multiball’ flashing before starting this, then start the MGM mode, start the multiball(s), immediately get another left orbit shot in quick, and milk that mode – every left orbit now has 5M added to the jackpot value. I don’t know if this can be stacked with Score Does Matter / SNY, but maybe.

SAVE NEW YORK This Wizard Mode is available after all 5 multiballs have been played, and is started at the left inner loop. Jackpots are worth the maximum value you obtained so far in the game – so anything from 5M to 25M. In this mode, all major shots score a jackpot and also advance a letter in NEW YORK – so seven shots to spell that, then a superjackpot at the left inner loop to finish up, worth double, and kills the flippers briefly. With a total of 9 jackpots to score, Save New York is worth up

to (9x25) 225M. After you score the superjackpot, base jackpot scores are doubled, so a single jackpot in any single MB starts at 10M as you re-enter the fray and start ‘chopping wood’ again, with maximum jackpots (if you start all 5 together) of 50M. Presumably the second time you SNY, it can be worth up to 450M. This doubler is held for the rest of your game, not just the rest of that ball, so if you can Save the Big Apple on ball one, even better. Strategy All multiballs can be stacked together or added in at any time, and there are pros and cons to both approaches: starting them individually means you have smaller initial jackpots, but each added MB restarts a ball save and adds any dropped balls back into play; starting them all together means bigger jackpot points potential, plus a Save New York value of up to 225M. Also, if you start all 5 together then you can put your initials in. So, do you start more than one MB simultaneously with the one start multiball shot, or do them as they are qualified, but with smaller jackpots? Well watching expert players at PAPA16, they all seemed to prefer starting only one or two together, then adding more in as they go along. Just before starting multiball start one of the modes if it is close, for extra point value. TAXI targets get hit all the time anyway, so it’s best to try to add TAXI MB during the ball save time of any other MB you just started, like a freebie. Helicopter MB and Sonar MBs are the hardest to qualify, so keep an eye on those, and remember to aim for captive balls and Combo targets during any MB if those aren’t already played. Many players seem to like the strategy of going left orbit all day, to keep playing Baby Zilla MB (you can play it again, it doesn’t freeze anything out until all MBs played) and during that to hit other stuff. Left orbit awards free Sonar hits, and if you start Mean Green Machine before playing the MB, you can double up your points for each shot.

Godzilla Rulesheet v1.0 by Dan Bradford

Bonus Lit Combo hits advance the bonus multiplier shown horizontally just above the flippers – 2X then 3X then 4X then 5X then 6X. Bonus can be ok in a long ball but it’s not huge, this isn’t Twilight Zone or Theatre Of Magic, but still it’s nice to keep the bonusX nice and high.

Extra Balls and Specials 5 left orbit shots lights EB, to be claimed at the left inner loop. EBs can also be awarded by reaching a certain score if you allow that in the settings, and similarly as the award from the Special. Special can alternatively be set to award points, a credit, or SFA. When it’s lit (no, I couldn’t work out how) the Special is awarded by hitting the switches in the left and right outlanes, so grab it during a MB.

Other random stuff in the game The ball saver at the beginning of each ball is only

started when the first switch is hit. Rollover lanes – there aren’t any. Or are there? No. You score some points by hitting pop bumpers,

hitting yellow targets, hitting TAXI targets, hitting captive ball, hitting Combo target etc but don’t worry about them as it’s small potatoes.

Those green ramps are very nice, I like them, anyway. The left one goes up and down a bit like on Whitewater. Heheheee that yeti was funny. There are 4 magnets – ‘radioactive Zilla breath’ according to that flyer again

– three under the main area of the playfield that create some random movement, and one at the top to grab some orbit shots and drop them into the poppers. Data

East and Sega magnets are often a bit weedy though. Bonus X can also be advanced by lots of pop bumper hits. On the backglass you can see graffiti that says “Save Ferris,” referencing

one Ferris Bueller, also played by Matthew Broderick in another, better film. Enter the code 2L 2R 2L 2R to see the credits on the DMD. The backbox above the DMD refers to Sega Showcase (those horrible

convex bendy plastic backboxes seen on Starship Troopers, XFiles, Space Jam and a few others) but Godzilla’s cabinet design was a one-off, more reminiscent of an older Gottlieb like Surf ‘n Safari. By the way, i’m just going to ramble now. There’s nothing more about

the pinball below this point, so you can leave. Stop reading now please. Some background to the legend Godzilla Godzilla, a mutated dinosaur, was invented in 1954 by Tomoyuki Tanaka to illustrate the terror Japanese felt after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki - Godzilla’s original skin texture was inspired by the keloid scars seen on Hiroshima survivors. The filmmaker wanted to symbolise nature’s revenge: allegedly, nuclear radiation from atomic bombs over an island in the Pacific awakened and empowered a prehistoric sea monster. Godzilla is itself radioactive, with electrical discharge through its dorsal plates, and powerful ‘atomic breath’ that can be ignited, even worse than waking up after a late night kebab, fully dressed lying on the bed with the lights on.

Godzilla Rulesheet v1.0 by Dan Bradford

Godzilla is recognized by Guinness World Records to be the longest continuously running movie franchise, having been in on-going production from 1954 to the present day (with several hiatuses) – a total of 29 Japanese films and 2 American reboots in 1998 and 2014. In 1996, Godzilla received the MTV Lifetime Achievement Award, and in 2004 it was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2004. Godzilla features in 11 episodes of The Simpsons and was even spotted playing basketball in a 1992 Nike advert. So it’s (he’s? she’s?) considerably more famous than you, ok?

Starting at supposedly 50 meters in length in 1954 (when (s)he was played by a man in a costume), Godzilla has gone through lots of transformations, notably the 100m T-Rex-like monster of 1984-95, and more recently the 300 meter spiky-backed monster from the latest franchise starring Walter White, who dies near the start. Godzilla the pinball machine, however – and it’s the only Godzilla pinball *currently*, though I suggest that a new game would be very popular – is based on the 70m monster featuring in the 1998 film. Background to this 1998 Godzilla film In October 1992, TriStar Pictures formally announced their acquisition of the rights to Godzilla from Toho to produce a trilogy of Godzilla films, with the promise of remaining true to the original series. ‘Godzilla’, directed by Roland Emmerich, was released in May 1998, at the same time as Deep Impact, and Lethal Weapon 4, to negative reviews from critics and fans, despite being a moderate box office success. The major points of criticism were centred around the character's radical departure from the traditional Godzilla design, how it was portrayed fleeing from the military, how it didn't breathe traditional nuclear fire, how it laid eggs, was an incredibly fast runner, can burrow underground, and could be killed by missiles during the film's climax. Bollocks to that, people said it looked like an iguana. Planned sequels were abandoned. The film swept the Golden Raspberry Awards in 1999, winning Worst Supporting Actress, and Worst Remake or Sequel, also nominated for Worst Picture, Worst Director, and Worst Screenplay. Some photos used with permission from General Custer on POA. Thanks also to details from Adam and Keefer