Super Nintendo Entertainment System Cannon Fodder (Europe)
0GameplayCannon Fodder is a military-themed action game with strategy and shoot 'em up elements. The player controls a small squad of up to four soldiers. These soldiers are armed with machine guns which kill enemy infantry with a single round. The player's troops are similarly fragile, and while they possess superior fire-power at the game's outset, the enemy infantry becomes more powerful as the game progresses. As well as foot soldiers, the antagonists include vehicles such as Jeeps, tanks and helicopters as well as missile-armed turrets. The player must also destroy buildings which spawn enemy soldiers. For these targets, which are invulnerable to machine gun fire, the player must utilise secondary, explosive weaponry: grenades and rockets. Ammunition for these weapons is limited and the player must find supply crates to replenish his troops. Wasting these weapons can potentially result in the player not having enough to fulfil the mission objectives. The player can opt to shoot crates - destroying enemy troops and buildings in the ensuing explosion - at less risk to his soldiers than retrieving them, but again at a greater risk of depleting ammunition.
The player proceeds through 23 missions divided into several levels each, making 72 levels in all. There are various settings including jungle, snow and desert, some with unique terrain features and vehicles such as igloos and snowmobiles. The player must also contend with rivers (crossing which soldiers are slowed and cannot fire) and quicksand as well as mines and other booby traps. In addition to shooting action, the game features strategy elements and employs a point-and-click control system more common to strategy than action games.[9] As the player's troops are heavily outnumbered and easily killed, he must use caution, as well as careful planning and positioning. To this end, he can split the squad into smaller units to take up separate positions or risk fewer soldiers when moving into dangerous areas.
DevelopmentCannon Fodder was developed by Sensible Software, a small independent developer then of several years' standing, which had become one of the most prominent Amiga developers. Cannon Fodder - its working title from early in the development -[10] was created after such successes as Wizkid, Mega Lo Mania and especially Sensible Soccer and was developed by six people in a "small, one room office". It was rooted in Mega Lo Mania, the "basic idea" being - according to creator Jon Hare - a strategy game in which the player "could send groups on missions, but that was all really."[9] The group nonetheless wanted to introduce action elements into the strategy ideas of Mega Lo Mania,[9] giving the player "more direct" control, though retaining the mouse control and icons uncommon to shoot 'em ups.[11]
In accordance with habit Sensible's personnel eschewed storyboards when developing the starting point, instead writing descriptions of the concept and core gameplay functions. Sensible made an early decision to employ its signature "overhead" camera. Development of the basic scrolling and movement was another early step. Individual programmers then worked on various parts of the design, with the team play-testing rigorously as it went, often discarding the results of its experiments: "The reason we make good games is that if we put something in that turns out crap, we're not afraid to chuck it out", said graphics designer Stuart Cambridge. Hare elaborated: "[We] constructively criticise what comes out, gradually getting rid of the naff ideas and keeping any good stuff. We change it again and again and again until we get what we want."[9] A point of pride was the realistic behaviour of the homing missile code,[12] while the rural setting of some of the levels was inspired by Emmerdale Farm.[9][13] Earlier works-in-progress employed larger numbers of icons than would be featured in the final version.[14] The mechanics also had more depth: individual soldiers had particular attributes - such as being necessary to use certain weapons or vehicles[14] - and a greater capacity to act independently, both removed in favour of "instant" action rather than "war game" play.[9] Final touches were the additions of the last vehicles and introductory screens.[14]