History Main / HumanCannonball

** In the Carnival Night Zone in ''{{Sonic 3}}'', circus cannons appear throughout both acts, and allow the player to launch themselves into the air, and one is used to enter the next zone after the boss battle.

* In ''{{Game/Jumper}}'', there are "shooters", pink boxes which Ogmo can hop in to be shot in direction indicated by spinning cursor. Variations include blue faster ones (''Jumper Redux'') and one-time use yellow ones (''Jumper Two Editor''). ''Videogame/MoneySeize'', a game by the same author, features those as well.

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* ''TheLegendOfZelda'' has this in ''Twilight Princess'', although the catapult used before the stealth scene in ''The Wind Waker'' might also count.

* In ''{{Game/Jumper}}'', there are "shooters", pink boxes which Ogmo can hop in to be shot in direction indicated by spinning cursor. Variations include blue faster ones (''Jumper Redux'') and one-time use yellow ones (''Jumper Two Editor'').
* The artillery cannon in ''{{Clonk}}'' provides a quick way of getting clonks over large canyons or mountains.

* ''SchlockMercenary'' has subverted this recently.

** ''MarioParty'' had Wario's Battle Canyon in the original, where this was the only method of transport between areas.

** ''MarioKart'' has them on various tracks, often those based on the ''DonkeyKongCountry'' series.

* ''{{Spyro}}'' Year of the Dragon has a ninja level that allows you to do this, though ''human cannonball'' might be a bit of a misnomer

* ''WarioLand Shake It'' has this as a way of travel in several levels. Sometimes even with moving cannons.

** ''PaperMario'' had a giant Bob-Omb-powered cannon used to launch Mario to the moon...

* On ''Glee'' Sue decides to use a Human Cannonball as a gimmick in the cheerleading routine to win another National Championship. Sue has a very cartoonish way of looking at the world and in her delusion completely ignored how dangerous this stunt is outside a cartoon. Her top cheerleaders tell her she is crazy and quit the team in protest.

In fiction, particularly video games, the HumanCannonball act is, not much like RealLife, a popular way for a character to choose to travel instantly (or, if they're really unlucky, unwillingly). However, [[DidNotDoTheResearch unlike in real life]], fiction treats being shot out of a cannon in a very, '''very''' literal way. Unlike in actual acts, cannons used for this purpose in fiction are never powered by a large spring or compressed air, but by literal gunpowder and lighting the fuse. (Any explosions you might see in circus acts are just for show.) Expect characters to be shot really long distances too, on the country wide or even interplanetary scale. Expect them also to make a sudden stop via wall or solid piece of ground (or [[SoftWater water]] at the other end. In some works, there will not even be any apparent effects on gravity on anyone in mid flight, meaning their flight path will be a completely straight line from point A to B. May also be done with a large medieval catapult in some comical settings.

* Occasionally shows up here and there as a way to get sent flying. Usually it's unwilling, but at times the character loads himself in, lights the fuse, and BOOM.

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* In one ''UserFriendly'' story arc, Pitr is launched to the moon by trebuchet.

* Jules Verne's ''From the Earth to the Moon'', although the characters at least use a vehicle there. While Verne's calculations where surprisingly close to the truth considering the lack of data at his time, in RealLife the resulting G-forces (around 22000 g) would have crushed the vehicle and its passengers.