Hold onto your house — Sega’s 1996 Twister rides the storm-chasing blockbuster onto a six-player playfield, crowned by a literal fan mounted atop the machine that whirs to life or stops depending on the current mode, a wonderfully theatrical bit of weather theater. Designed by John Borg with Paul Faris art, it features a spinning disc with a magnet, a diverter magnet, and a busy field of thirteen standups, all in service of chasing down tornadoes.
The strategy is a parade of distinctive multiballs. Shoot the ramp five times to start the five-ball Chase Multiball, with each subsequent start requiring one additional shot, and qualify the chase ramp for jackpots by piling up switch hits. Shooting the lit WIND orbits nine times kicks off the gloriously named Cow Multibull, a nod to the film’s most famous airborne bovine, with replays requiring extra orbits. Canister Multiball starts by shooting the lock drop target to reveal a hole, then shooting that hole to lock balls, with the first multiball needing three locks. It’s a machine built around stacking up storms and riding the chaos, with that overhead fan spinning up to sell the spectacle every time the weather turns.
Twister is a fun, atmospheric Sega that leans all the way into its disaster-movie theme, from the physical fan to the Cow Multibull gag. It rewards a player who works the ramps and orbits to trigger its various multiballs and then keeps the balls alive through the storm. Chase the tornadoes, wrangle the cows, lock your canisters, and let that fan howl. It’s loud, breezy, mid-’90s fun — a storm worth chasing every time the credits roll in.