"Feel the Power!"
"Attack the castle! Commence firing! Fire at will!"
— Commander
Big Guns is a 1987 pinball game designed by Mark Ritchie and Python Anghelo and released by Williams Electronics.
Taking place in a medieval future, the King Tyrant is holding the Queen hostage. It's up to the Queen's military forces to storm the King Tyrant's castle and rescue the Queen. But to successfully storm the castle, they would have to be granted invincibility powers.
Big Guns's notable features include two catapults (the cannons) that shoot the ball into the air and into the habitrail, and a taller-than-normal backbox, which houses a bagatelle mini-game (the King's Chamber).
Big Guns demonstrates the following tropes:
- Anti-Frustration Features: There are three ball savers: the kickback on the left outlane, the center pop-up post between the flippers, and a diverter on the right outlane, which diverts the ball back to the right flippers.Commander: Get back in there!
- Damsel in Distress: The impetus for the story is the Queen being held captive by the King Tyrant.
- Deflector Shields: The military's force field is symbolzied by the pop-up post between the flippers.
- Feudal Future: Type 1, with royals and knights in full metal armor welding futuristic weapons.
- Invincibility Power-Up: When you're "invincible", the center pop-up post is raised, the left kickback stays active, and the right gate diverts the ball back to the right flipper for a set amount of time. The player can still lose the ball if it drains between the flippers and the center post.Commander: You are invincible! Save the Queen!
- No Fair Cheating: Unlike most other solid state and onward games, the player can only get the ball back from a "zero-switch" drain for free once. The second drain will end the ball even if it also failed to hit any switches.
- Save the Princess: The goal of multiball is to save the Queen from captivity.
- Skill Shot: Gently plunge the ball into castle tower to score the Tower Bonus, and it also loads the right cannon (if it isn't loaded already).
- Unexpected Gameplay Change: Loading the center cannon activates the King's Chamber in the backbox; fire the mini-ball and light all five shields to enable the extra ball.
- King Tyrant: She's mine now! Ah ha ha ha!
