The Getaway: High Speed II

The Getaway: High Speed II, released by Williams Electronics Games in February 1992, is designer Steve Ritchie's sequel to his 1986 hit High Speed. Running on the Williams WPC platform with Fliptronics 2, it puts players behind the wheel in an adrenaline-fueled police chase, complete with a red police beacon atop the backbox, a traffic light on the playfield, and ZZ Top's "La Grange" as its theme song. With 13,259 units built, it was one of the best-selling games of its era.

The game features a three-flipper layout, three pop bumpers, and a five-target standup bank. A standout aspect is its use of diverters to manipulate ball movement: the left ramp diverter sends the ball either into the "Supercharger" magnetic ball accelerator or onto the left habitrail, while a diverter on the upper right sends balls toward the right orbit or into the playfield ball lock. The Getaway also offers three-ball multiball, a video mode, a left outlane kickback, and an autoplunger.

The machine's artwork, with backglass art by Doug Watson and remaining art by Mark Sprenger, is faithful to its cops-and-speeding theme; according to Watson, it is Steve Ritchie himself in the driver's seat of the getaway car. Its most distinctive control is the gear shift handle, used to launch the ball, shift gears during gameplay, and steer the video mode, making it an essential machine for enthusiasts to explore.