Comments on: Kaboom!

Kaboom!

Kleptophoria! — Thu, 17 Mar 2005 13:37:57 -0800

by Activision's Larry Kaplan. [both links feature loud noises] And because you didn't ask, here's a 1984 article about the not-so-legendary 30 secrets of Atari.

By: leotrotsky

leotrotsky — Thu, 17 Mar 2005 13:50:14 -0800

&%&#@! trackpad

By: swift

swift — Thu, 17 Mar 2005 13:52:02 -0800

Thanks - one of my favorite Atari games, along with Pitfall, Night Driver, Asteroids, and Adventure.

By: swift

swift — Thu, 17 Mar 2005 13:54:04 -0800

But you really need a paddle.

By: lowlife

lowlife — Thu, 17 Mar 2005 14:09:33 -0800

Is it just me, or is there some really bad collision detection code when the bombs get really quick? I'm positive I should have bucketed a few that I missed (when getting up around the 2000 point mark).

By: mkultra

mkultra — Thu, 17 Mar 2005 14:12:23 -0800

Thanks! I dug the Atari article. High Score! is a great book on the history of videogames. Not terribly deep, but oh, the memories.

By: Kleptophoria!

Kleptophoria! — Thu, 17 Mar 2005 14:25:01 -0800

Yeah, I've heard of that book. It is one of those "will read when have free time" books, haha. There are more and more videogame books being published like that these days. One of my dubious claims to fame is that some guy who worked under me at a fansite somehow has a praise quotation on the back of Chris Kohler's book. I'm very impressed, by the way, with anybody who got as high as 2000 points.

By: loquacious

loquacious — Thu, 17 Mar 2005 14:25:35 -0800

Dang, I learned new stuff from the 30 secrets of Atari link, and I'm a pretty rabid consumer of old videogame trivia. Like #28. Looks like Jobs was ripping off Woz from the beginning. Bad Jobs, bad!

By: odinsdream

odinsdream — Thu, 17 Mar 2005 14:27:29 -0800

There's a similar game known as Avalanche that I actually prefer to this one. It features the same kind of gameplay, but the "bombs" are of various sizes.

By: jcruelty

jcruelty — Thu, 17 Mar 2005 14:33:07 -0800

Always loved the bomber graphic. Second the High Score recommendation.

By: loquacious

loquacious — Thu, 17 Mar 2005 14:52:32 -0800

I can easily break 1000 but either the game keeps freezing or my mouse does and it's always at the worst possible moment.

By: quam

quam — Thu, 17 Mar 2005 15:27:19 -0800

Great game --- I remember buying the cartridge. If only Ice Hockey was out on Flash, I remember earning enough points to obtain an Activision Ice Hockey patch from Activision corporate headquarters! I also freeze (while the bombs continue to fall :( ), after about the third screen, usually.

By: Kleptophoria!

Kleptophoria! — Thu, 17 Mar 2005 15:33:53 -0800

Perhaps we're killing the server. Softly. (Yes, Ice Hockey is totally the best ever.)

By: Bear

Bear — Thu, 17 Mar 2005 15:58:15 -0800

This is so cool! I haven't played this in 20 years. This and Dodge 'Em were my favorites! Thanks for the trip back in time...

By: fungible

fungible — Thu, 17 Mar 2005 19:30:15 -0800

Yeah, but when I was a kid, I had the friggin' patch. It's amazing I wasn't beat up more.

By: fungible

fungible — Thu, 17 Mar 2005 19:32:50 -0800

Oops, the Kaboom patch wasn't on that page. Try this one.

By: mkultra

mkultra — Thu, 17 Mar 2005 19:39:31 -0800

fungible, those are awesome. If I had only known back in the day...

By: Kleptophoria!

Kleptophoria! — Fri, 18 Mar 2005 00:05:27 -0800

I don't know if developers still send out congratulatory letters to high score nerds. Those WERE the days.

By: The Card Cheat

The Card Cheat — Fri, 18 Mar 2005 06:32:54 -0800

Ah, the Activision patches...I had a blanket with like a dozen of those things lovingly sewed onto it by my mom. It has long since been carted off to the Goodwill, and I like to think it's being used as a curtain by some hipster in NYC.

By: gorgor_balabala

gorgor_balabala — Fri, 18 Mar 2005 08:34:35 -0800

ARGH, Wacom tablet

By: NortonDC

NortonDC — Fri, 18 Mar 2005 15:36:25 -0800

I'm over 10,000, with no end in sight. There's a strategy to it, once you conquer the basics of not walking your mouse off the top. It's actually in your favor to drop bombs at the right moment.

By: NortonDC

NortonDC — Fri, 18 Mar 2005 21:54:08 -0800

That game crapped out at 14,741. Pausing for a few hours of drinking may have impacted my performance. Maybe.