Wham Ball (Rick Bauer)

Title – Wham Ball
System – Commodore 64
Author – Rick Bauer
Publication – Compute!’s Gazette, Issue 75, September 1989
Page Scans – 1 2 3
Preserved by – eboy71
Recommended Emulator – VICE

Download ROM

Loading the Game –

Mount the disk image (CG75-1989-01 Whamball.d64) in your emulator. In VICE, this is done by selecting File → Attach Disk Image
Load the app by typing LOAD”WHAMBALL”,8
Once loaded, type RUN to start

Control Summary
F1 Enter Training Mode (unlimited lives)
F2 Exit Training Mode
F3 Increase Speed
F4 Decrease Speed
F7 Increase Level
F8 Decrease Level
RETURN Start Game
RUN/STOP Nudge
CMDR Left Flipper
CRS RIGHT Right Flipper
SHIFT-LOCK Pause

Article Text & Instructions:
“Wham Ball” is a one-player pinball game where you control the action. It features 26 screens, 32 speeds, and up to 40 randomly placed Whammies per screen. And, since the game uses keyboard control. You won’t need a joystick to play.

Getting Started
Wham Ball is written in machine language, but it loads and runs like a BASIC program. Use “MLX,” the machine language entry program found elsewhere in this issue, to type it in. When MLX prompts you, respond with the values given below.

Starting address: 0801
Ending address: 1650

When you’ve finished typing the data for Wham Ball, be sure to save a copy to tape or disk. To play the game, simply load the program and type RUN.

Wham Ball displays the main screen and waits for you to press a key. At this point, or anytime after completing a level, the function keys become active. Press f1 to put you into trainer mode, where you can enjoy an unlimited number of balls, to return to regular playing mode, press f2. Press f3 to increase the speed of the ball and f4 to decrease it. You can also increase or decrease the level you start on by pressing f7 or f8, respectively. When you’re ready to play, press RETURN.

Playing the Game
The object of Wham Ball is to knock out all the Whammies on each level, thereby advancing you to the next screen. As the game begins, you see six flippers near the bottom of the screen. You control the left flippers with the Commodore key and the right flippers with the cursor-right key. You also see walls placed in and around the screen.

The screen is always surrounded by walls, but the placement of the walls in the middle of the screen depends on the level.

In addition to the flippers and walls, the screen also contains drop targets and randomly placed Whammies. Hitting the center drop target raises the center bumper at the bottom of the screen, and hitting the drop targets in the lower left and right corners lowers the bumper. Because the bumper keeps the ball from falling through the hole at the bottom of the board, it’s a good strategy to raise it as soon as possible.

When you release a new ball, it starts from the lower right corner of the screen and moves diagonally across the screen until it bounces off an obstacle. The ball rebounds off walls, the center bumper, and the flippers. It passes through Whammies and drop targets, thus removing them from the screen. Hitting a wall scores 10 points, while hitting a Whammie scores 200 points and advances the bonus. If a ball rolls down between the flippers, you lose it. You start with five balls and are awarded an extra ball after completing each level, but you can accumulate no more than five balls at once. After completing a level, you receive a bonus for each Whammie you’ve hit.

A Little English
You can hit all the Whammies on the board, but some require bank shots. The position of the flipper when a ball strikes it determines the angle at which the ball rebounds, if you can’t quite seem to get the right angle, you can “bump the machine” with the RUN/STOP key.

The bump feature is useful if the ball becomes caught in an endless bouncing pattern. Similarly, bumping the machine can prevent a ball from rolling down between the flippers. Bumping can get you out of impossible situations, but it should be used judiciously. A quick, light tap will shake the machine, but a hit that’s too hard causes the machine to tilt. When you till, the center flippers disappear and the other ones freeze for approximately 14 second. If you’re lucky enough not to lose your ball, play continues as normal.

If you get a phone call in the middle of a great game, you can press the SHIFT-LOCK key to pause the game. Releasing the key resumes the action.

Editor’s Notes:

This is a terrific game, and quite indicative of just how good the type-ins were by the end of the C64 era. 4 or 5 years earlier, a game like this could have been a full commercial release.
*Typing in Wham Ball requires the use of MLX, the machine language editor program used by COMPUTE! and COMPUTE!’s Gazette. The starting address is 0801 and the ending address is 1650. MLX can be downloaded here.