Favorite Variations - Canyon Bomber

[BassGuitari]

Bombing out a block-filled canyon always struck me as a bizarre premise for a video game. How did those blocks get there, and why do they need to be destroyed--with as much accuracy as possible? Couldn't the blocks be removed and used as construction materials (like, for building Breakout walls) or something instead? Whatever the case, it's weird, but I guess that's part of what makes Canyon Bomber fun!

My favorites on this cartridge:
Game 1 - Canyon Bomber, vs. CPU, falling blocks
Game 3 - Canyon Bomber, vs. CPU, suspended blocks
Game 7 - Sea Bomber, vs. CPU

The Difficulty Switch settings are a wash for me (and they're the same for all variations). On "B" you can re-fire before the bomb hits, a la GORF, but the CPU is more skilled. On "A" you can't fire again until your bomb has hit. Either way, beating the computer is incredibly difficult since you get only six misses, but the CPU's are unlimited--a clever way of making otherwise braindead, nonstop-firing Air-Sea Battle-style AI into a formidable opponent!

Game 1, of course, is the standard Canyon Bomber game we're all familiar with. Game 3 is the same except the blocks don't fall down when your bombs burrow through them; in some ways I prefer this version since I think it's easier to hit blocks floating in the air than the ones along the bottom, especially as more and more blocks are cleared away.

Tucked away at the back of this cartridge is Sea Bomber (effectively a port of Atari's 1977 arcade title Destroyer, except you control an airplane instead of a ship), which does its best to upstage the marquee Canyon Bomber games, and arguably succeeds. The premise here makes more sense, for one--presumably you're at war and you must destroy enemy shipping and naval craft. It makes great use of the paddles as a means of determining the depth at which your bombs will detonate. Very nice graphics for 1979, although the sound is a little sparse and lacking Canyon Bomber's cheery "bombs away" whistles. Sea Bomber is definitely a hidden gem, arguably worthy of its own cartridge with variations of its own!

Edited June 27, 2017 by BassGuitari

[+SpiceWare]

That's one I don't play - it doesn't generate VSYNC correction, it holds it for 14 scanlines , which causes my C=1084S to roll.

[edladdin]

Bombing out a block-filled canyon always struck me as a bizarre premise for a video game. How did those blocks get there, and why do they need to be destroyed--with as much accuracy as possible? Couldn't the blocks be removed and used as construction materials (like, for building Breakout walls) or something instead? Whatever the case, it's weird, but I guess that's part of what makes Canyon Bomber fun!

 

My favorites on this cartridge:

Game 1 - Canyon Bomber, vs. CPU, falling blocks

Game 3 - Canyon Bomber, vs. CPU, suspended blocks

Game 7 - Sea Bomber, vs. CPU

 

The Difficulty Switch settings are a wash for me (and they're the same for all variations). On "B" you can re-fire before the bomb hits, a la GORF, but the CPU is more skilled. On "A" you can't fire again until your bomb has hit. Either way, beating the computer is incredibly difficult since you get only six misses, but the CPU's are unlimited--a clever way of making otherwise braindead, nonstop-firing Air-Sea Battle-style AI into a formidable opponent!

 

Game 1, of course, is the standard Canyon Bomber game we're all familiar with. Game 3 is the same except the blocks don't fall down when your bombs burrow through them; in some ways I prefer this version since I think it's easier to hit blocks floating in the air than the ones along the bottom, especially as more and more blocks are cleared away.

 

Tucked away at the back of this cartridge is Sea Bomber (effectively a port of Atari's 1977 arcade title Destroyer, except you control an airplane instead of a ship), which does its best to upstage the marquee Canyon Bomber games, and arguably succeeds. The premise here makes more sense, for one--presumably you're at war and you must destroy enemy shipping and naval craft. It makes great use of the paddles as a means of determining the depth at which your bombs will detonate. Very nice graphics for 1979, although the sound is a little sparse and lacking Canyon Bomber's cheery "bombs away" whistles. Sea Bomber is definitely a hidden gem, arguably worthy of its own cartridge with variations of its own!

 

I always thought this was a weird game too, but not bad for low intensity fun. I think my favorite is the Sea Bomber variation, which feels like a leftover from from Air-Sea Battle - another early title I enjoy more than I should.

 

As you probably know, Canyon Bomber was also a port of a Bronze-era Atari coin-op game:

 

http://www.arcade-museum.com/C/Canyon_Bomber.html

 

Can't say I have ever seen a Canyon Bomber cab in real life.

[Torr]

Holy cow... I don't know why, but watching the gameplay video on the ArcadeMuseum site was intense!!!