Canyon Bomber

Ported to the Atari VCS in 1979.

• Title — Canyon Bomber • Developer — Atari, Inc. • Publisher — Atari, Inc. • Designer — Wendi Allen • Programmer — Arcade Wendi Allen 2600 David Crane • Released — ArcadeNovember 19772600April 1979 • Genre — Action • Modes — Single-player, multiplayer • Platforms — Arcade, Atari 2600

• Illustration — Atari VCS screenshot The player and an opponent fly a blimp or biplane over a canyon full of numbered, circular rocks, arranged in layers. The player does not control the flight of vehicles, but only presses a single button to drop a bomb which destroys rocks and gives points. Each rock is labeled with the points given for destroying it. As the number of rocks is reduced, it becomes harder to hit them without missing. The third time a player drops a bomb without hitting a rock, the game is over.

To create Canyon Bomber, Allen modified a Sprint 2 board which she then programmed. The first version of the game required 3K of ROM. As ROMs were expensive at the time, Allen’s supervisor requested that she fit the game into 2K, which she did.

An Atari 2600 port was developed by then-Atari employee David Crane. It uses solid bricks rather than round rocks. Instead of visible point values, each layer of bricks has a color corresponding to its worth. It also includes Sea Bomber game modes where players destroy ships instead of rocks.