Kaboom!
Kaboom! | ||||||||||||||||
Atari 2600 - USA - 1st edition. |
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Kaboom! is a catcher video game developed and published by Activision in 1981 on the Atari 2600, and in 1983 for the Atari 8-bit and Atari 5200.
In the game, the Mad Bomber is on top of a building throwing bombs down on the public. Your job is to catch the bombs in a stack of buckets in order to extinguish their fuses. If you miss a bomb, it explodes, and you lose a bucket. If you lose all your buckets, the game ends.
Despite pretty repetitive game play, Kaboom! sold around a million copies putting it among the top 30 best selling titles on the Atari 2600.
Contents
Personal
Own? | Yes. Atari 2600 cartridge and manual. |
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Won? | No. The game doesn't have a proper ending, but it does have a planned game over at 999,999 points. |
The second batch of Atari games I bought from my friend in middle school had a copy of this game. I played it for a little while, found it quite dull, and gave up on it. I have never even come close to reaching the planned game over at 999,999 points.
Review
2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
Best Version: Atari 8-bit
— This section contains spoilers! —
Good
- The premise is cute, and the mad bomber graphic is pretty good.
- There is a minor, but silly, change in the face of the Mad Bomber when you read 10,000 points.
Bad
- The game is too difficult. The twitchy turns of the Atari 2600 Paddle Controller paired with the erratic movements of the Mad Bomber result in a very steep difficulty curve. And, with very little in the way of incentive, becoming a skilled player isn't very rewarding.
- While the game attempts to make losing a bucket not quite so catastrophic by dropping you down a level, it still becomes measurably more difficult when your bucket stack gets smaller.
- The game has a difficulty setting, which is nice, but it only makes the game harder than it already is, which isn't very helpful. An easy mode would have been nice.
Ugly
- The game's difficulty tops out at level 8, which only takes about 1 minute to reach, and, after that, you're just playing the same level over and over again until you lose, or, you hit the planned game over with a score of 999,999, which takes over 3 hours.
Media
Box Art
Documentation
Atari 5200 advertisement with River Raid.
Screenshots
Videos
Play Online
Representation
Strong female character? | Fail | There are no women. |
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Bechdel test? | Fail | There are no women. |
Strong person of color character? | Fail | There are no people of color. |
Queer character? | Fail | There are no queer characters. |
Ports
Port | Released | Porter | Publisher | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Atari 2600 | 1981-07-?? | Activision | Activision | Original release. |
Atari 8-bit | 1983-10-?? | Activision | Activision | More detailed graphics. |
Atari 5200 | 1983-11-?? | Activision | Activision | Nearly identical to the 5200 port. |
Credits
Role | Staff |
---|---|
Design | Larry Kaplan |
Programming (Atari 2600) | Larry Kaplan |
Programming (Atari 8-bit and 5200) | Paul Willson |
Graphics | David Crane |
Links
- atariage.com/software_page.php?SoftwareLabelID=630 - AtariAge - 5200.
- Video Games
- 1981 Video Games
- Video games developed by Activision
- Video games published by Activision
- Atari 2600 Games
- Atari 5200 Games
- Atari 8-bit Games
- Video Game Genre - Action
- Video Game Genre - Ball and paddle
- Video Game Genre - Catcher
- Video Game Genre - Single-screen
- Media Theme - Law enforcement
- Multiplayer
- Multiplayer Alternating versus
- Software Distribution Model - Commercial
- Video Games I Own
- Video Games That Can't Be Beaten
- Video Games I Haven't Beaten
- Video Game Rating - 2
- Video Game Graphics Rating - 2
- Video Game Sound Rating - 2
- Video games which can be played online
- Video games without a strong female character
- Video games that fail the Bechdel test
- Video games without a strong person of color character
- Video games without a queer character
- Video Game Prime Order - Action, Adventure, Strategy
- Game Mechanic - Planned game over