Kaboom!

Le jeu

Kaboom! is an action video game published in 1981 by Activision for the Atari 2600. The game involves a Mad Bomber dropping bombs at increasing speeds as the player controls a set of water buckets to catch them. The gameplay was based on the Atari arcade video game Avalanche (1978). Kaboom! was programmed by Larry Kaplan with David Crane coding the graphics for the buckets and Mad Bomber. Kaboom! (Atari 2600) It was the last game designed by Kaplan for Activision, who left the company shortly after it was released. The game was later ported by Paul Wilson for the Atari 5200 system. General critical reception of the game commended its graphics, particularly the Mad Bomber whose expression changed depending on how well the player performed. Reception was mixed towards the simplicity of the game, with some critics praising it as a change of pace from games like Asteroids (1979) or Space Invaders (1978), while others found it lacking in variety and complexity. Retrospective reviews were more generally positive with it being praised for its simple and addictive action qualities and being among the best games released by Activision during its early era. The game sold over one million cartridges and was one of the best-selling Atari 2600 games. Following the game's release, cartridges with gameplay similar to Kaboom! were released for the Atari 2600 such as Lost Luggage (1982) and Eggomania (1983). In Kaboom!, a 'Mad Bomber' is dropping bombs to watch them explode. The player starts with three water-filled buckets and must catch the bombs to defuse them and gain points. The game uses the paddle controller, moving the buckets of water left and right by moving the dial clockwise and counter-clockwise. The bombs start dropping faster as more of them are collected. When the player misses a bomb, all other bombs on the screen explode and the player loses one of their buckets. If at least one bucket is missing, the player will receive a new bucket every 1, 000 points. Difficulty switches on the console make it so buckets are half as wide, making grabbing bombs more difficult. A two-player option is available where the players take turns controlling their buckets and have their own individual scores displayed.