''High Speed'' is a pinball

simulation video game Simulation video games are a diverse super-category of video games, generally designed to closely simulate real world activities. A simulation game attempts to copy various activities from real life in the form of a game for various purposes such ...

developed by Rare for the

Nintendo Entertainment System The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in American ...

, and published by Tradewest in 1991. ''High Speed'' employs the

game engine A game engine is a software framework primarily designed for the development of video games and generally includes relevant libraries and support programs. The "engine" terminology is similar to the term " software engine" used in the softwar ...

that Rare previously developed for '' Pin*Bot'' (1990). Rare adapted the game from the pinball machine '' High Speed'', which was designed by Steve Ritchie and released by Williams Electronics in 1986. The following year, Williams Electronics was renamed WMS Industries prior to its

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investme ...

. In 1995,

Williams Entertainment WMS Industries, Inc. was an American electronic gaming and amusement manufacturer in Enterprise, Nevada. It was merged into Scientific Games in 2016. WMS's predecessor was the Williams Manufacturing Company, founded in 1943 by Harry E. William ...

, a division of WMS Industries, published a sequel, '' The Getaway'', for the

Game Boy The is an 8-bit fourth generation handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on April 21, 1989, in North America later the same year, and in Europe in late 1990. It was designed by the same te ...

, based on Ritchie's pinball machine '' The Getaway: High Speed II''.

Gameplay

Similar to '' Pin*Bot'', the NES version of ''High Speed'' plays identical to the pinball machine of the same name, but with a few new elements added in, such as collecting safes and

helicopters A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attribute ...

that allow the player to play bonus levels, where lots more points can be scored. The player can also collect money bags of the same name, and has to avoid enemies that will destroy the ball or the flippers, such as bombs and tumbleweeds. The object of the main game (as in the pinball machine) is to activate the police chase mode by hitting the nine stoplight targets, changing the main stoplight on the ramp from green to yellow, and then to red. Once the light is red, shooting the ball up the ramp starts the police chase mode. Shooting the ball up the ramp again escapes the police and starts multi-ball (where three balls are in play), and shooting one of the balls up the ramp a third time wins the hideout jackpot (beginning at 250,000 points and growing until it is collected).

References

* * 1991 video games Nintendo Entertainment System games Nintendo Entertainment System-only games Pinball video games Rare (company) games Tradewest games Video games scored by David Wise Video games developed in the United Kingdom {{Pinball-videogame-stub