Game of the Day 3/28/2016: Human Cannonball
There was a request for a little more older systems in these topics, so here we go with Human Cannonball for the Atari VCS. It isn't a particularly amazing game or really even good, but I've always found it oddly amusing, especially nowadays as a precursor to now-popular physics games like Angry Birds.
Really, that's what Human Cannonball is, is Angry Birds' granddad. It's a physics game in which the speed and trajectory (in angular degrees) are displayed at the top of the screen, and your goal is to successfully launch you little daredevil into the safety of a water tower. This is rather arbitrary, as the one important variabke missing is measured distance, so you really are mainly just kinda guessing through trial and error at first until you get a feel for your stunt. By default, you get seven tries to compete your stunt as many times as possible.
There are several variations including the ability to move your cannon, move the water tower, add a scrolling wall through which you must hit the gap, randomizing either speed or angle, and, of course, two player variants of all of these in which you compete for the highest total of successes.
Human Cannonball is very simple, but is one of the earliest examples of a physics game. There is a bit of comedy to be had, as your stuntman is a little stick figure who outstretches his arms and legs while soaring through the air, yet has hilariously good animation for going limp and falling to the ground if he hits an obstacle, and the crudely written "ouch" next to him on the ground gets a chuckle for the first few tries. I can't say it's really fun to play all the time, but I do get a laugh out of it now and then, and it's kind of fun to show mobile phone players where their games came from. I just wanted to talk about it because I've found it to be an interesting curiousity.
Played this one?
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