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 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 Eggomania (1983). A follow-up to Kaboom!, tentatively titled Kaboom!: The Return of the Mad Bomber was shown at the 1991 Summer Consumer Electronics Show for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, but was never officially released.
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.
More details about this game can be found on Wikipedia.org.
This version of Kaboom! was designed for Atari 2600, which was commercially very successful video game console of second generation produced by Atari from 1977 to 1992. It was the first console that used removable memory modules with games. At the time of its greatest fame, more than 30 million units of this console were sold for about $ 200 a piece. To date, the game library for this console contains nearly 1,000 original games. More information about the Atari 2600 can be found here.
Recommended Game Controllers:
You can control this game easily by using the keyboard of your PC (see the table next to the game). However, for maximum gaming enjoyment, we strongly recommend using a USB joystick that you simply plug into the USB port of your computer. If you do not have a joystick, buy a suitable USB controller on Amazon or AliExpress or in some of your favorite online stores.
Available online emulators:
5 different online emulators are available for Kaboom!. These emulators differ not only in the technology they use to emulate old games, but also in of various game controllers, multiplayer mode, mobile phone touchscreen, emulation speed, absence or presence of embedded ads and in many other parameters. For maximum gaming enjoyment, it's important to choose the right emulator, because on each PC and in different Internet browsers, the individual emulators behave differently. The basic features of each emulator available for this game Kaboom! are summarized in the following table:
If you like Kaboom! you'll probably like also some of the similar games in the overview below. The games you see here are selected based on title similarity, game genre, and keywords. However, the list is generated automatically and can therefore be very 'subjective' especially for some specific games. To find a particular game, please use our search form.
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This version of Kaboom! was designed for Atari 2600, which was commercially very successful video game console of second generation produced by Atari from 1977 to 1992. It was the first console that used removable memory modules with games. At the time of its greatest fame, more than 30 million units of this console were sold for about $ 200 a piece. To date, the game library for this console contains nearly 1,000 original games. More information about the Atari 2600 can be found 
