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{{Infobox Pinball }} F-14 Tomcat (often abbreviated F-14 or F14) is a 1987 pinball machine designed by highly regarded designer Steve Ritchie. It was Ritchie's first machine since the 1986 smash hit High Speed broke the solid-state era sales record. In addition to developing the machine's concept and design, Ritchie also lent his hand with composing some of the game's music alongside veteran pinball composer Chris Granner.
The theme of F-14 Tomcat is consistent with the contemporary cultural underpinnings of the Cold War era, in that the player controls the titular fighter jet, one of the most well-known and popular airships of the era, in battles against a fictional Soviet commander named General Yagov. (Ritchie, incidentally, provided the voice for Yagov as he taunts the player and screams in agony when the player defeats him (through the completion of certain game targets and goals.)
[edit] Design Overview
F-14 Tomcat, like Ritchie's previous hit High Speed, is an extremely fast-playing game, attributable in large part to the machines's largely symmetrical playfield design and the abundance of stand-up targets (which maintain much of the ball's speed, as opposed to drop targets which slow the ball down.) There are only two shots that "stop" the ball in F-14 Tomcat, and one of them (the left kicker) subsequently propels the ball at extremely high velocity back toward the lower flippers.
In a departure from pinball conventions of the time, F-14 Tomcat contains only one pop bumper near the top of the playfield (most machines of the era contained a bank of at least three.) This bumper was strategically placed between the two upper flippers which provided an element of chance when the player attempted to hit the T-O-M and C-A-T standup targets on the top banks.
F-14 Tomcat is also one of the last modern pinball machines to lack a conventional ramp shot (perhaps an ironic twist given the "flight"-oriented nature of the theme.) In place of ramps, the game contains an intricate series of habitrails that use diverters to feed the ball to various lock locations (one on the far right side of the playfield, and two others in a holding area in the center of the playfield.) The plunger launch will feed one of these three lock areas, and if the lock is not lit, a ball will be ejected from the center holding area to the inner loop at the upper-side of the playfield which surrounds the top target banks. All balls will be ejected from these locations when 4-ball multiball is activated by the player. The habitrail network can also be fed via a vertical up-kicker which is located at the end of the far right lane (known as the "launch" lane.)
From a design standpoint, F-14 Tomcat seems to borrow equal parts from the high-octane, flow-oriented nature of Ritchie's High Speed with the dual-layered, four-flipper target based gameplay of Ritchie's 1980 classic Black Knight. Unlike Black Knight, however, F-14 Tomcat does not have a multi-tiered playfield, which would likely have slowed the game down and interfered with its flow.
The basic goal of F-14 Tomcat is to kill General Yagov, which can be accomplished by first downing all of his wingmen's planes. To score kills, the player can either shoot the left lane to the Yagov kicker, or shoot one of the two center targets on the lower side of the ball after the kill targets are lit via either the left or right inlane. Progress on kills are indicated by a series of lights above the flipper that move from Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, and Golf. When all kills have been scored, the player can shoot the Yagov kicker to defeat him, scoring an extra ball.
An additional and highly lucrative goal is to score Fighter Jackpots, which can only be obtained in the game's multiball mode. To achieve multiball, the player must activate the locks by hitting targets corresponding to each letter in T-O-M-C-A-T. There are four target banks at which this can be done; two in close proximity on the upper playfield on opposite sides of the upper flippers and the pop bumper, a T-O-M bank of targets on the middle left side of the playfield, and a C-A-T bank on the middle right side. The lower banks can be hit from the lower flippers. If a letter is spotted on either the lower or upper banks, it is also spotted on the corresponding letter elsewhere on the playfield.
Once locks are lit, they can be activated by shooting the "launch" lane (the right lane), where the VUK sends the ball(s) into the various lock locations via the habitrail network. When three balls are locked, T-O-M-C-A-T must be spelled again to light the "Release" function, also at the right VUK. Shooting the launch pad when release is lit causes four-ball multiball to start. The primary goal during multi-ball is to shoot the launch pad to score "landings." When three landings are completed, the Fighter Jackpot (usually around 700,000 points) is awarded. Repeated jackpots can be earned as long as at least two balls are in play.
Spelling T-O-M-C-A-T during multiball lights the extra ball at the Yagov Kicker.
F-14 Tomcat also contains the Steve Ritchie trademark left-outlane kickback feature (titled "Rescue" in this game), which is lit at the start of each ball and can be re-lit by shooting one of the two center targets (which are alternately lit to re-activate "Rescue."
To advance the bonus multiplier, the player must hit a lit 1-6 target (along the sides of the center ball holder) to light the "Flyby" (inner orbit near upper flippers), and then shoot the "Flyby" shot to advance the multiplier up to 8X. With the bonus fully maxed out at 8X multiplier, the end-of-ball bonus can exceed 1,000,000 points.
[edit] Similarities to Other Machines
F-14 Tomcat contains numerous design similarities to other machines designed by Steve Ritchie.
Most notably, the process of achieving multiball (by spelling T-O-M-C-A-T and locking balls) is very similar to Ritchie's 1986 High Speed. The Fighter Jackpot is similar to the Getaway Jackpot in high speed, although the launch pad must be hit three times to award it, as opposed to the one ramp shot needed for the Getaway Jackpot in High Speed. This is probably due to the fact that the ramp shot in High Speed is more difficult than the launch pad shot in F-14. The 1-6 targets are also present in both games.
In addition, the four-flipper layout resembles Ritchie's Black Knight and Black Knight 2000 games, although F-14 has more symmetry to increase game speed and flow, and there is no multi-tiered upper playfield like those found in the Black Knight games.
[edit] New Features
F-14 Tomcat contained two features never previously seen on pinball machines at the time. The Yagov Kicker, which sends balls at high velocity back toward the flippers, was unprecedented in its concept and design and has only been seen again once (the Raptor kickout in Data East's 1993 machine Jurassic Park.)
The concept of the Yagov kicker also led to the introduction of the "Flight Insurance" feature, which was the first "ball-saver" in modern pinball history. It was likely included as a safeguard against the possibility that a misadjusted Yagov kicker could send the ball directly between the lower flippers, unfairly ending the ball prematurely for the player. Ball-savers of various sorts subsequently became widespread in future pinball machines, often lit at the start of a ball to prevent new players from becoming unduly discouraged. By default, however, F-14's "Flight Insurance" ball-saver was not activated at the start of each ball; it only activated when the Yagov kicker is hit or for the first few seconds of the multiball sequence.
[edit] Miscellaneous
It is likely that the success of the blockbuster 1986 film Top Gun, which featured Tom Cruise as an ace F-14 Tomcat pilot, provided at least some of Ritchie's inspiration for this theme, given the proximity of the film's release and the introduction of the F-14 pinball machine.
At the time, Williams did not purchase film license for pinball tie-ins, so they most often created original themes even when the concept was inspired by a commercial property. Steve Ritchie's own 1978 Stellar Wars is an example of this phenomenon, as George Lucas was unwilling at the time to license the Star Wars name for a pinball machine.
Incidentally, Steve Ritchie would go on to design Williams' first film licensed pinball machine, Terminator 2: Judgment Day in 1991, and his two final Williams machines, Star Trek: The Next Generation (1993) and No Fear: Dangerous Sports were both licensed games.
A video version of F-14 Tomcat was included in the launch pack of GlobalVR's Ultrapin video pinball machine in 2006.
[edit] Sources
[2]IPDB Entry for F-14 Tomcat
76.231.4.33 (talk) 17:12, 21 January 2008 (UTC) Articles for creation/2008-01-21
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