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 special weapon designed to fire very heavy rounds at a high speed, providing an excellent penetration effect. Its firing mechanism and barrel were not designed by human scientists, but reverse-engineered from powerful techno-magical weapons used by Mental's artillery. The cannonballs fired by the cannon contain uranium, though military experts claim that the lead casing used on the cannonballs completely eliminates potential hazards for the operator caused by the uranium filling, thus minimizing the chances of radiation poisoning. These uranium-caused hazards to the target are not held important, considering the purpose of the device.
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. Low power shots are still capable of piercing through multiple enemies, and dealing heavy damage to stronger ones.
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 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: XXL, the cannon appears as an upgrade for the 12 Gauge Shotgun. It 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.
An uncharged shot will instantly kill almost any of the weaker enemies and so is particularly effective against Sirian Werebulls or Kleer Skeletons as a last resort.
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.
Its piercing abilities make it a fantastic choice when dealing with excessive amounts of Sirian Werebulls and Cucurbitos, as they commonly line up behind each other.
A cannonball loses some of its speed when hitting the ground in the first game. Due to this, it is recommended to aim slightly upwards.
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 is an effective weapon against The General, including the large and monster variants, as fully charged shots are needed to inflict major damage towards it. Enemies such as the T-Mech and Albino Cyclops can be gotten rid of as well.
It is the most effective weapon against the big Spider Mechanoid.
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 ammunition for the cannon 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. This reduces weapon switching and saves ammunition.
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.
Its texture is in the final game'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.
If a Cucurbito's corpse is gibbed with the cannon in Serious Sam HD or Serious Sam VR, their death sound can be heard despite having been killed already.
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