If you're here via a google search, this is page two regarding info on the prototype Earthshaker! ... click here to start at the beginning.
On to the building.
The next series of pictures are of the building "collapsing". The
first two hundred games are said to have the collapsing building.
The early games also had cloudy or whited out windows on them.
Below you'll find a link to a 4.2 meg video of the building in operation.
It's pretty crappy; mainly because of my camera skills and lack of a video camera.
But if you haven't seen a ES building in operation and just have too, well here it is.
click here to waste bandwith on a crappy video of a sinking building
The original center ramp also had a sticker that went to the very end
of the ramp. Due to complaints of not being able to see the
ball in the outlane area it was trimmed.
The little billboard sign on the right side of the playfield appears to
have been hand made similar to the aforementioned million/3 miles.
This is how the initial software version is labeled. Mark
Penacho had told me that this was his first full game that he undertook
the programming on. One of the bugs he pointed out was if you
set the game to not permit any tilt warnings, start a game and tilt it
without the ball leaving the shooter lane the game would never leave
the
tilt mode until the power is cycled. I believe there were one or
two other
quirks but I just can't remember them anymore. There are some
minor
differences in the sound and game play, but basically there are fewer
effects (I.E. flashers and sound effects) at different points.
One being, when credit is achieved the only thing to let you know it is
just a knock from the credit knocker instead of all the flashers and
sounds produced by the software.
Another interesting and elusive item for Earthshaker is the existence of a few backglasses that feature a neon pink cadillac instead of the normal red one.
Thanks to the illustrious e-Bay I was able to obtain a "pink" backglass for my game (hey I realize it can be expensive; but you can also get what you want or really need sometimes...)
I was also able to get a bit of the history behind this glass as well.
It is my understanding is that only 10 of these were produced and for personal
reasons by a person associated with the game and it's production. They
were produced after the game started it's production run but none were ever
officially installed in any production game, prototype or otherwise. A few
of these were immediately given out as "gifts" to certain people (this is the
reason they were produced) and yet a few others were given out to members of the
design team as well. A couple of the glasses have now made it into
collectors hands; such as the one above.
Incidentally if you look closely they just changed the pink screen
to
include the car, and changed the color of the screen from a normal pink
to neon
pink. Items such as the lady's sunglasses, amongst other items,
are now also neon pink in this backglass. It's gives it a pretty
striking and garish effect (the intended effect by the
producer) that I really kind of like. Then again if the red car
was the rare backglass...
One of the other items on note on the prototype game is cabinet color. I don't know at what point the change took place, but the early cabinets are of a lighter blue and the wood itself is screened. At a later point there is a switch to a darker blue and they have a screened "sticker" applied to the cabinet like all of William's and Bally's more recent games. It is now common belief through the sharing of information by collectors, that there are around two hundred of the earlier lighter color cabinets.
All of the above is either what I remember, in "black and white" on my machine, or is what I believe to be common knowledge. Of course I wish I had written it all down now. So take it for what it's worth, just like anything else on the net.
Just one more quick thanks to all of the people in the hobby that are making new parts and finding ways to restore and keep our machines up and running just like when they were new.
Thanks for stopping by, please email me if you have questions and/or
information other than, "Is your machine for sale?".
A couple of links I frequent;
Pinball Links -- Pinball
Game Web Index Site You may have come here from there.
(Check it out! TONS of Pinball related pages similar to this one,
BUT far better of course!)
The Pinball Wizard (He's the keeper of the
Earthshaker! owners list)
Pinball Repair Guides (Very useful!) Clay, DA MAN!
The pinGame
journal (I run to my mailbox again)
Pfutz's Pinball Page He worked for CAPCOM,
Wms and others.
This is one of the places I remember playing pinball, and the
animatronics kicked ass too!
They have video clips of The Rock-afire Explosion!
VegaNova's ShowBiz Pizza Place / Chuck E. Cheese's Website
I know this one isn't pinball, but you probably stood in awe of the
game too if you were between 8 and 18-ish at the time it came out;
The Dragon's Lair Project (Go here to update you machine)
Thanks!
03/08/04