"Those containers are filled with extremely flammable fuel. One shot, and they'll explode. Watch out."
— Asimov, Azure Striker Gunvolt
How are these barrels blowing up? They must have fumes inside of them. [...] Okay, let's try this barrel theory... (blam blam) Huh... (BOOM) Whoa-ho-HO! Captain Combustion reporting for duty! I don't get it, this shouldn't be happening. I mean, all of this... but the liquid-to-fumes ratio must be stored in the most unsafe way possible. Is it on purpose? [...] But yeah, the cops seem to be using them on purpose. They must've been modified to combust easy. So they're retrofitted to be a poor man's explosive? They don't seem that poor, they have gun nests and missiles. Maybe the idea is to make it easy to kill everyone with anything, everywhere, at all times. Everyone must die. Before lunch.
The Red Barrel. The explosive companion of goons. Each day, they give their lives, so that we may live. And for the red barrel, Just Cause 3 is genocide.
— Bajo, Good Game
IGN: The big question on everyone's mind is why are there so many exploding barrels on this unexplored island?
Amy: All the old wooden powder kegs were left behind by the original Spanish colonists — c'mon, it makes perfect sense! Why they haven't disintegrated after 400 years, why the powder inside is still combustible and ignites from a single bullet hit, and why the Spaniards stacked them up in such convenient places... it's just one of the mysteries of the island, I guess. But mainly there are so many exploding barrels because it's fun to shoot exploding barrels.
Amy: All the old wooden powder kegs were left behind by the original Spanish colonists — c'mon, it makes perfect sense! Why they haven't disintegrated after 400 years, why the powder inside is still combustible and ignites from a single bullet hit, and why the Spaniards stacked them up in such convenient places... it's just one of the mysteries of the island, I guess. But mainly there are so many exploding barrels because it's fun to shoot exploding barrels.
— IGN's interview
with Uncharted: Drake's Fortune game director Amy Hennig
with Uncharted: Drake's Fortune game director Amy HennigIf you're in a gun war, would you hide inside a barrel of flammable liquid?
This is an exploding barrel. You can tell it explodes because it's red.
The explosive barrel, frustrating AND hackneyed.
— Comic Book Guy, The Simpsons Game
DOOM is festooned with explosive barrels - generously populating most levels, and proving quite useful for taking out enemies standing nearby.
Doom II even has a level devoted to them: "Barrels O' Fun", although its more of an exercise in not blowing yourself up.
See those barrels? They're filled with delicious candy. Go ahead and crack one open!
—Commander Douglas Hill on a map where exploding barrels regularly teleport on the field, Red Alert 3
