The SBC Cannon, or just Cannon, is a portable artillery weapon that is capable of mowing down many weak opponents in a row, or dealing heavy damage to tougher enemies. Like the XM214-A Minigun, the cannon is one of Serious Sam's trademark weapons.
The cannon is a marvel of modern weaponry that was originally reverse-engineered by Professor Gottlieb Kiesel from technomagical ordnance captured from Mental's forces. The original design has since been adapted and improved, rendering the cannon one of the most powerful infantry weapons available. Balanced to perfection, the cannon's barrel fires extraordinarily heavy uranium-filled projectiles at high speed, providing excellent penetration and easily smashing through several hostile units in a row. Rumors persist that the uranium-filled cannonballs can be hazardous to the operator, but Dr. Kiesel claims that the effect on the average life expectancy of an Earth Defense Force soldier should be negligible.
As the cannonballs have great piercing capabilities, this makes the cannon very useful for taking down powerful enemies with a single cannonball and multiple weaker enemies when they are lined up. The cannon can attain various levels of power and speed depending on how long it is charged.
Raahloom, the boss of the Jewel of the Nile DLC, uses a much larger and more modified version of this weapon. The cannonballs fired from his cannon are much larger and deal more splash damage in comparison to the balls fired by Sam's cannon. Raahloom's cannon can also fire up to five or six balls in succession.
In Serious Sam: Double D (the XXL version), the cannon is a bit weaker than in other games, but it is still effective. A Gunstack combination of the cannon with other strong weapon upgrades can kill even the strongest enemies with ease.
Appearances[]
As the cannon is such a powerful weapon, it does not usually appear until the later levels in the Serious Sam games for balancing purposes. It can, however, sometimes be found in secrets in levels earlier than when it normally appears.
Since the cannon does not appear as a regular weapon, it can only be obtained by upgrading the 12 Gauge Shotgun. The upgrade can be purchased from The Trader after completing the game.
In Serious Sam 3 and the VR remake, the cannon is normally acquired much later in the game compared to previous games, first appearing in The Power of the Underworld, though it can be found much earlier as a secret in Under the Iron Cloud.
An uncharged shot will instantly kill almost any of the weaker enemies and so is particularly effective against hordes of enemies such as Kleer Skeletons or Sirian Werebulls or as a last resort.
Its piercing abilities make it a fantastic choice when dealing with excessive amounts of Sirian Werebulls, as they commonly line up behind each other.
When aiming at stronger enemies, it is useful to make sure that a few weaker enemies also get in the cannonball's path. This reduces weapon switching and saves ammunition.
The cannon can be used to dispose of Highlander Aludran Reptiloids with high speed and low risk as it takes only four shots (a few more to kill a Highlander's Bride however). With Serious Damage active though, the player can take down a Highlander's Bride with only three or four cannonballs.
In the classic version of Serious Sam: The Second Encounter, Highlanders have very high resistance to cannonballs, so it is only recommended to use the cannon on them if serious damage is active.
A cannonball loses some of its speed and damage when hitting the ground in the classic releases. Due to this, it is recommended to aim slightly upwards.
Serious Sam 2[]
The cannon is an effective weapon against The General, including the large and monster variants, as fully charged shots are needed to inflict major damage towards them. Enemies such as the T-Mech and Albino Cyclops can be eliminated as well.
It is the most effective weapon against the big Spider Mechanoid.
Serious Sam 3: BFE[]
The cannon can be used to kill a Witch-Bride of Achriman in one shot, though this may be considered a waste of cannonballs for several Witch-Brides, considering the rarity of cannonballs throughout the campaign. In The Guardian of Time, however, cannonball ammo is rather plentiful.
When aiming at stronger enemies, it is useful to make sure that a few weaker enemies also get in the cannonball's path to save ammo, as cannonballs are fairly rare in the game except for in the final level.
Serious Sam 4[]
Just like with previous installments, the cannon is an excellent weapon for mowing down hordes of weak enemies, like Gnaars (especially the females), Kleers, Werebulls, and Zubenhakrabian Spider Nymphs and for destroying groups of Adult Arachnoids, Reptiloids, and Scrapjacks.
The cannon does not work as effectively on the Khnum compared to the Serious Sam 3 version due to it having received an increase in health. If the player fires at its head though, this deals twice as much damage as firing at its body. This way, the player can easily defeat a Khnum and even take out groups of them if the player has dual-wielded cannons.
Dual-wielded cannons are extremely effective for taking down pursuing Technopolyps and Saggitarian Sidewinders in the later parts of the game.
Behind the scenes[]
Back in the early Alpha phases of Serious Sam 1, Sam was supposed to light the cannon's fuse with a torch, then the cannon would charge and shoot out a really powerful cannonball. Files of the early cannon exist in the leaked Serious Sam Evaluation Publisher build, even though the cannon wasn't usable in the build because it wasn't yet finished, although you can pick it up as well as its ammo but you couldn’t select it.
Alternate ammo for the cannon called the nukeball existed at one time. According to its code, it would essentially be a more powerful version of the regular cannonball fired by the cannon. Since the regular cannonball is already ridiculously powerful when charged up, it was probably removed for redundancy.
The cannon's texture is in The First Encounter's files and is an alternate skin for the regular cannonball model. Although in Test 1 it was supposed to be the regular cannon ammo and the cannon's ammo icon was supposed to be like the model (not 1 cannonball), there were supposed to be 3 cannonballs on the ammo HUD icon.
Related achievements[]
Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter[]
Cannon Expert
Pierce 10 enemies with a single Cannonball.
Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter[]
Balls of Steel
Find all 3 Cannons in Teotihuacan - The City of the Gods.
Bone Crusher
Kill 300 Kleers with the Cannon.
Serious Sam VR: The First Encounter[]
I love my Cannon
Kill 100 Enemies with the Cannon.
Cannon Expert
Pierce at least 10 enemies with a single cannonball.
Serious Sam VR: The Second Encounter[]
Mine's bigger than yours
Destroy an enemy cannon with your own cannon.
Crunchy
Kill 100 Kleers with the Cannon.
Serious Sam Fusion[]
Cannon Expert
Pierce at least 10 enemies with a single cannonball.
I love my Cannon
Kill 100 Enemies with the Cannon.
Mine's bigger than yours
Destroy an enemy cannon with your own cannon.
Crunchy
Kill 100 Kleers with the Cannon.
Serious Sam 4[]
Dismemberfest
Dismember 50 enemies with cannonballs.
Trivia[]
In the top-down bullet hell shooter Enter The Gungeon, there is a weapon called the Serious Cannon, which is a direct reference to this weapon.
The weapon's three initials stand for 'Seriously Big Cannon'.
The Serious Sam 2 version of the weapon has a text reading "Paynekiller" on the right side, which are references to both the Painkiller and Max Payne series of video games.
As stated above, the cannonballs are filled with uranium, a radioactive element that can be hazardous upon exposure. This doesn't seem to have any effect on Sam, though.
Gallery[]
Serious Sam 1[]
Pre-release[]
Alpha worldmodel.
Alpha viewmodel.
An early Alpha screenshot of the cannon with a few Werebulls.
Nukeball ammo model.
Retail[]
Worldmodel.
HD worldmodel.
Viewmodel.
HD viewmodel.
Classic HUD icon.
HD HUD icon.
Serious Sam 2[]
Pre-release[]
Early pre-release screenshot with the cannon.
The cut red cap model that appeared behind the front pressure gauge.
