Emergency Call Ambulance Drivethrough
For Sega Arcade
Written by Magnus Andersson
rubens.barrichello@swipnet.se
on February 6th, 2001.

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This document is split into two parts:

1a. General information about this drivethrough
1b. Patient Damage caused by crashes
2. The drivethrough itself
--------------------------

1a. General information about this drivethrough

Ememrgency Call Ambulance is a racing game, which takes
place in Chicago. Your job is to bring patients from
various accidents to the hospital in time, before they
die. As any other racing game, there is a time limit, which
is the patient health. It is not only that you need to
hurry to the hospital, you also have to do it without
smashing into any trees, telephone-poles, cars and other
obstacles. The game is a rather hard one, fast reactions
are needed, and you have to take risks several times.
And a good potion of luck is also needed. Although "luck"
actually doesnt exist in this game, because all cars
are moving EXACTLY THE SAME WAY EVERYTIME! This means
that there is a way to get through the stages by a
strategy, which guaranteed would work everytime. The
problem is only that it is difficult to complete every
step correctly.

I (the author) live in Sweden, and over here, it is a law
that the traffic must get out of the way, when an ambulance
is on emergeny call, I dont know how it is in the USA, but
I guess the law is the same over there. But, dont expect
the traffic to move out of the way for you, they will block
your way whenever they can, which is quite frustrating (but
after all, it is a game). And a piece of advice before we
start: Try to drive through the corners in 45 degrees, if
possible. By doing so, you dont have to slow down, then
make a 90 degrees turn, and then accelrate again. By
driving through at top speed, you will certainly gain 2-3
seconds per corner, and believe me, this time will be needed!

As you drive, you will see a distance counter in the down
corner, which displays how far you are away from the
hospital. But, the distance counter doesnt go down at
the same speed all the time, because the game doesnt
count how far you have reached, it only counts the
"bird-distance" (if you would make a straight line from
the location of the ambulance, to the hospital). So, even
if you are driving at more than 100 kilometres per hour,
it could happen that the distance is shrinking very slowly,
while it on the next street is shrinking very fast, even
though the speed of the ambulance is the same.


1b. Patient Damage caused by crashes

As I described above, you also have to race fast
without smashing into any trees, telephone-poles, cars
and other obstacles. If you crash, the patient will get
a damage, and you will lose time. The patients condition
is being displayed in the top-right corner, and a nurse is
taking care of the patient. If you crash into a small
obstacle, like a tree, or a telephone-pole, you will
lose about 2-3 seconds, but if you crash into a big
obstacle, like a car, or a wall, the loss of time is much
greater, 5-10 (possibly even more!). Im not completely
sure about how it works, but I *think* that if the nurse
succeed in recovering the patient, then you will get
these "penalty" seconds back, but Im not completely sure
about how it works. But it should be that way, since it
would make the game more realistic, and more fair. I have
seen these conditions so far:

1. Stable condition (the best)
2. Loss of blood pressure
3. Bleeding
4. Faint
5. Loss of consciousness
6. Shock
7. Massive bleeding (the worst)

There is also another one, but I dont remember the name
of it. It started with "Ph" I think, but I cant remember
what it was.

--------------------------

2. Drivethrough


1st Case - Traffic Accident
---------------------------

Name of victim: Max (I think that was his name)
Age: 10
Distance: 2498 metres

In this case, you have to save a ten-year-old boy from a
car accident with a tank-truck. In 99 (Real-life) seconds,
you have to bring this poor child to the hospital, and the
distance is about 2000 metres (I dont remember the exact
distance).

First, simply drive on, keep full speed as you drive on the
highway, take the first corners (first right, then left)
at top speed. After this, the highway will be united with
another road from the right, and now more traffic is coming
up! Be careful here, and drive to the left of the yellow car
in fron of you here, and right of the police car which is
coming in the other direction (you have to squeeze your way
through here). After this point, you will have a black car
in front of you. It is blocking your way, but dont try to
overtake it! There is not enough enough space on the inside,
and your ambulance is not fast enough to do it on the
outside either! Instead keep the speed down a little bit,
so that you dont crash into him, and he will move out of
the way, when you have to turn next left. Try to drive
through this corner in 45 degrees, over the grass, it is
not too difficult to do so. Just be careful, so that you
dont smash into a phone-pole, or into any tree. Next,
simply drive up the hill, through the crossing, and in
the next right-going corner, try to drive through at top
speed in 45 degrees again, between the building and the
telephone-pole. Dont worry about the traffic, there wont
be any traffic direct ahead of you around the corner (at
least not in the very moment as you do the turn).

Continue down this street, avoid the cars, and try to keep
a straight line to the right. Take the next right-corner in
45 degrees as well, but slow down a bit here, if you have full
speed, the risk is high that you crash into the building on the
other side. Drive down this way, through the crossing (no
cars will come in any direction, so simply drive through).
Here you will see another ambulance which crashes into the
water, but you dont have to bother about it, because it
wont crash into your ambulance. As you approach the sea,
you will see that you must turn left. Do NOT go through
this corner in 45 degrees, the risk is too high that you
crash into a tree (and that is not worth the risk,
IMHO). Instead, slow down (use your brakes!), and take
the corner in 90 degrees. Immediately after this corner,
there is another one, going left. You can however take
this one in 45 degrees. Keep going up again, and take the
next right-corner in 45 degrees as well.

On this next street, simply keep on driving at full speed,
on the right side. You only have one more corner to go, and
this corner is the hardest part in the 1st case. It depends
a bit on how fast you have been. If you have been driving
very fast, then a small truck will turn into this corner,
blocking your way. If that happens, dont try to take the
corner in 45 degrees, then you will smash into him.
Instead, slow down, and take the corner in 90 degrees.
If you have been driving a bit slower, then the way
*should* be clear, so that you can take a 45 degrees
turn, but be careful here, because there is also a
yellow car (I think), who is intending to drive this way,
so the risk exists that you will drive into him instead.
Another red car here is also blocking the way. But in
any case: Take it easy through this corner, if you have
enough time left (20-25 seconds), only take a wild risk
if you are short of time. On the final street, it is
simply to drive on, on the right side of the street, to
the hospital.


2nd Case - Street Battle
------------------------

Name of victim: Edward
Age: 35
Distance: 1934 metres

In this case, a 35-year-old police officer has been damaged
by a crime gang, and the gang is still on the run! And a
nasty thing is that the seconds are ticking faster than
in reality during this case!

This level begins in a garage. The beginning is simple:
Drive through the first corners and out of the garage
in the beginning without hitting any cars. As you exit the
garage, you will come out on a big street. Dont be afraid
of exiting the garage, no cars will collide with you (you
will only see the gangs van with a couple of police cars
just before you exit, but you will not collide). Out of
the garage, turn left, up the hill, but be careful here!
Dont keep too high speed! Just as you reach the top of
this small hill, immediately turn right! You cant see
any arrows yet (this is a bit nasty when you play it for
the first time), but turn right, and then straight on.

A bridge is coming up ahead. The bridge is open, but there
is no time to wait for the bridge to go down, you have to
jump over! Plenty of police cars are driving on the bridge
at the start, but just keep to the right, and you will not
collide. As soon as the last car is gone from the bridge,
head up the bridge, left of the queue, and when you drive
up, try to get back to the right side again, so that you
will land safely, and not collide with the bars on the
other side of the bridge. It is important that you make
the jump straight, so that you dont collide with the
edge of the bridge as you jump over (when you do this,
youll see what I mean). When you are over, then are two
quick corners to get through, first left, then right. The
best way to get through these two corners is actually to
try to drive straight through the corners, and turn the
wheel as little as possible The second corner can be taken
in 45 degrees, so that you squeeze yourself between two
bridge-pillars. It is a bit dangerous, but you need to
save time! As you take this second corner, slow down a
bit, beacuse another car is ahead of you, and there is
a risk that you collide if you dont slow down. Now you
will drive a short distance under the bridge. Drive
carefully (but FAST!) through the traffic, and be ready
to turn left again (you will see the gangs van and the
police cars again). Do not attempt to drive this corner
in 45 degrees, it is not possible. Instead, slow down
and take the corner 90 degrees, and then accelrate up.
After this corner, stay in the middle to avoid two
police cars standing to the left and right.

After this, comes a tricky part. Here are several corners
in a row, first right, then right, then left again (I
think). Drive 45 degrees through the first two corners
(this will more or less be a straight line through the
corners, since they are so close to each other), between
the telephone-poles and the buildings. You gain plenty of
time by driving like that. But in the third left-going
corner, you have to slow down, the corner is sharp, and
you cant go in 45 degrees through that corner. When you
have gone through that corner, drive straight on. Next,
two left-going corners are coming up. Drive wide through
these corners (far away from the blue area), because the
van and some police cars will appear in other direction.
When you have gone through these corners (you have done a
"U-turn" now), then drive up on the blue area, because two
police cars will appear from the next right-going corner,
and they will take up the entire road, so the only way to
avoid a crash is to drive up on the blue area (this blue
area will not cause any damage for your patient). Brake a
little bit, so that you can get into the curve again, as
soon as the police cars are gone. When you are through
this corner, the hospital is right ahead, but the bad guys
never give up! Keep driving on the right side, and the
gangs van will pass you, along with two police cars. As
soon as they have passed you, turn over the left part of
the street (there is no traffic going in other direction,
so dont worry), because the van will turn around, and
will drive back on your side! When the van has passed you,
drive in the middle of the street, so that you dont crash
into the two police cars standing to the left and right.
When you passed them, drive straight on to the hospital.


3rd Case - Fire
---------------

Name of victim: I didnt catch it (no, thats not her name!)
Age: 23
Distance: 2280 metres

The Flamingo Hotel is on fire, and the inferno takes place
during the night. You have to drive a 23-year-old pregnant
woman to the hospital.

Well, this is a dark stage. Not only that you are driving
during the night, and it is more difficult to see, but
also that the city is in a mess, and that you have all
odds against you! And the seconds are ticking faster than
in real life during this case as well! And the time limit
is cruel. If you crash a single time, you wont make it!

The level begins just outside the hotel, and first of
all, drive straight on, and avoid the electric sign in
the beginning, which has fallen down on the street. When
you have passed it, you will drive on a pretty narrow road.
Drive on your right side. Drive through the first easy
corners, and then an ambulance will meet you from the
other direction, but he will not crash into you, just
stay to the right. You will drive out on a larger street,
and this is where the mayhem begins! I dont understand
whats wrong with the other ambulance drivers, but they
seem to be drunk! Keep driving to the *very* right, as
close to the edge as possible, without colliding to the
edge, and keep absolute *full speed*. But now, an
ambulance is driving against you, and it seems as he will
collide, but if you have enough speed, and if you drive
enough close to the edge, the ambulance will miss you by
just a few millimetres. There is a risk that the backside
of your ambulance get a scratch, so that you get a
one-second penalty, but it cant be helped.

Keep driving over the bridge (I believe it is a bridge),
and take the next left-going corner at *top speed*, and
drive quickly over to the right side, so that you dont
collide with the traffic in the other direction. Now you
will find yourself in a tunnel. To cars to the right (one
yellow and one red I think) will almost be blocking your
way, but squeese your way through between them. You have
to to this twice in the tunnel, and during the second time,
you also have to do it in a right-going conrer, which makes
it more diificult. When you reach this place, but see that
there really is no space between the cars, then the reason
for that is, that you didnt get enough speed down into
the tunnel (therefore the cars have gotten new positions).
If these cars are driving side by side, then there is no
possibility to drive through, then you must over take them
both to the left. That is a dangerous move, since cars are
coming in the other direction, but you have to do it. But
*top speed* as I wrote above, is important. When you drive
through the tunnel, keep the full speed, dont ease down
the slighest bit on the speed here, you cant afford that.
When you are out of the corner, you will reach a crossing,
and there is a queue in front of you as well. Here you
have to drive left, but dont try to go through in 45
degrees here. Traffic will come from the other direction,
so that will be impossible. Instead, drive right of the
queue, break, and turn left. Be careful here, because if
you break too hard, there is a risk that you lose control
over your ambulance for 2 seconds, and that causes you
loss of time, and the risk is high that you collide with
someone, so be careful. But you have to slow down a
little bit, before you turn, and then brake, because
there is an annoying telephone-pole on the left side
of the street that you will enter, and if your speed is
too high, you will run into it, and if you do...well..
then, it will extremely difficult to make it in time
to the hospital. On the next street, keep on driving
on the right side, and be ready to break for the
very narrow croner to the right. Here, you need to have
*very low* speed as you enter this corner, because you
will make a jump down to a very narrow road. If your
speed is too high, you will lose control and ram into
a telephone-pole, or even worse, a building. So be very
careful when you turn here. You will find yourself on a
very narrow road, drive as fast as you can here, but be
also careful, so that you dont collide with any obstacles.
When you are through this narrow road, you have to drive
right again. Dont try to drive through in 45 degrees
between the blue pillar and the other pillar to the right,
that doesnt work. Drive through that corner in 90 degrees
instead, but be sure to keep a low speed when you exit
this narrow road. If the speed is too high and you break
too hard as you enter the next speed, you will lose
control of your ambulance, and possibly crash into
another car.

This is another bridge, and simply drive on the right side
here, and avoid the traffic. The next corner is going left,
take this corner in 45 degrees, and then keep yourself to
the right side of the road, and simply drive on. After a
few seconds you will see two cars standing in the middle
of the road, so you have to drive between them to get
through (it could be a bit difficult the first time, but
once you know where the cars are, avoiding them shouldnt
be any problem). After another few seconds, you have to
turn right. Slow down as you enter this curve, because a
tank-car is coming from the other direction, and you will
collide if you dont slow down. Now you will come out on
a major street, and in a split-second, you must decide if
you want to drive on the right or left part of the road,
beacuse the way in divided into two parts here. You will
most likely arrive on the left part of the street, and
thats good because that way is easier. When you are up,
you first have to keep to the left, to avoid a bus which
drives in your direction. As soon as it has passed you,
get *quickly* to the right side of the street, then keep
as much as possible to the right, because the van
from the 2nd case will show up AGAIN and will RAM YOU
FROM BEHIND if you dont stay out of the way! This
is a rather mean trick from Sega, because it is
impossible to know about that when you play for the
first time. But try to stay to the right, and the
van *should* miss you. Then, a police car comes up
from behind, and he does the same thing (This is NOT
"Chase HQ", stupid cop!!), and it is more a matter of
luck than skill if you succeed in avoiding him as well.
If you do collide with any of them, you wont lose that
much, "only" 2-3 seconds, but that could be enough, so
that you fail this case. If you entered this street on
the right side of the street, the traffic is slightly
different, and the van and the police car will not appear,
but on the other hand, a police car will crash into you in
the front instead, and it is "impossible" to avoid that
collission, since other cars are blocking the way as well.
So therefore, the left part of the street is better to take,
there you have at least a chance you get through unharmed. 
Then it is time for the final corner, and it goes left. You
can NOT drive 45 degrees through it. Instead, slow down a
bit, and drive 90 degrees through.

Now the hospital is right ahead, but it isnt over yet! A
tank-truck crashes in front of you! Quickly, drive over to
the left side. The ground is burning here, but dont worry
about that, you can drive through the flames without
hurting your pateint. Just dont collide with the tank-car.
If you do, then its over. When you have passed this
tank-car, then *another* tank-car crashed just behind the
first one, but simply stay to the left, and you will make
it through, unhurt. It is easy to avoid this truck.
Then, the hospital is right ahead.

And of course, the child is born after this incident, but
the game does not tell weather the child was male or female.


FINAL CASE - PLANE CRASH
-------------------------

Name of victim: Gregor Tavaresky
Age: 48
Distance: 3358 metres

Disaster strikes again, or rather, lightning strikes
again! It has struck the airplane with a president of
a "certain country" as the game says, and the plane has
crashed into Lake Michigan!! It doesnt say from which
country the president comes from, but he looks Japanese,
even though he has a russian name (on the other hand,
Japan doesnt have a president, but he doesnt look
like Vladmir Putin either). But in any case, it is NOT
Bill Clinton, if you thought so! I was dissapointed,
because I thought that the player would save dear ol
Clinton. The man that the ambulance staff are taking
care of during the intro looks a bit like Clinton, but it
isnt...it could possibly be a parody of Clinton, I dont
know.

But anways...

In this case, time goes normally, one second in the game
is one second in reality. And thats needed, because it
is a loooong way to drive...

This case is very special. The flight crash took place
during the night, so it is dark again, and the rain is
*pelting* down, making the roads *very slippery*. But, there
is NO TRAFFIC!! Not a single car is on the road!! The only
cars you can see are some motorcycle-polices that are
escorting you to the hospital, but they will not come in
your way. Because this stage doesnt cotain any traffic,
there is not very much to say about this stage. Simply
follow the arrows, and take it a bit more careful through
the corners than usual, since the road is slippery.
I havent played this stage many times, so I cant describe
it as well as the other cases, but Ill make a try.
Take the first corner at top speed. In the corner
after that, There is a U-turn to the right. Brake hard
as you are through the first part of this turn, or else
you will slide off the road and collide with a building.
When you reach a little bit further, you will jump over
a bridge, similar to the bridge in the 2nd case, and
after this bridge, make sure to go in 45 degrees in the
left corner directly after jumping over the bridge. The
house there is on fire, and something seems to fall down
from it, but driving through there is of no danger for
your ambulance. This is the only place where I have
seen a possibility to go in 45 degrees through a
corner, I dont think there is any possibility to do
it elsewhere. After this corner, you must turn right
again, and up a small bridge (it does not contain any
jump though). After that, you have to drive up on a
small narrow street, to a bridge above. Keep full speed
as you drive up here, and keep up the speed til that it
is time to drive down from this bridge. When you are
driving down from the bridge, you have to turn right.
The curve is not very sharp, but on the other hand,
the street is very narrow, so it is easy to scratch
your ambulance and lose time even so. After that part,
another bridge collpases (I think it was the bridge at
least) in front of you, and heavey stone-blocks fall
down on the road, but they are easy to avoid, simply keep
yourself in the middle of the street. And after that
comes a tunnel, and from here on, it is "only" to keep
driving on to the hospital. You have make a O-turn (in a
circle), and making this turn is a bit tricky, because
of the slippy road. Dont get into the curve too fast,
because if you do so, you will lose control of the
ambulance, and possibly crash into a wall. When you are
out of the circle, it is a straight way to the hospital.
When I drove in the tunnel, I thought the track would be
normal again, since we road shouldnt be wet inside the
tunnel, but wrong I was...this part is slippery as well,
so be careful here.

To be honest, I have not completed the game. I had about
150 metres left from the hospital, and then I didnt crash
a single time, and I made the 45 degrees corner correctly,
but even so, it was not enough. So it is really a hard
final stage. I cant imagine how bad it would be *with*
traffic...nothing surprising should happen during the last
150 metres (I still couldnt see the hospital from that
distance, because there are stone-blocks blocking the way
completely, but they are destroyed by rockets fired from
behind (these rockets will never hit you, so dont worry),
so the way gets cleared as you drive on. This also
happens when you enter the tunnel.

I hope that this drivethrough has been able to help you
a little bit. Remember: Wherever there is a will, there
is always a way! And thats the same with this game. But
it is really hard one.

If you have any further questions, then drop me a line,
and Ill try to help you out. :) My e-mail
is "rubens.barrichello@swipnet.se".

Other walkthroughs I have written are "Mystaria - The
Realms of Lore" and Shining Wisdom for Sega Saturn,
"Guardian Heroes" (strategy map) for Sega Saturn,
"Tails Adventure" for Sega Game Gear, and "Prince of
Persia" for Sega Mega CD. If you are interested in
reading any of these, just e-mail me. :)

Best of luck, I wish you! :)

Magnus Andersson
rubens.barrichello@swipnet.se
