Game: Wild Gunman
Console: Nintendo Entertainment System
Developer: Nintendo
Release Date: 1984
Wild Gunman has a wonderfully simple concept; using the NES Zapper Lightgun players must shoot outlaws before the outlaw has a chance to shoot them. In the game's first 2 modes, the amount of time each outlaw will shoot in is displayed and it's up to players to hit them within this time. Game A features a single outlaw per turn, whereas Game B features 2 with differing reaction times. Game C mimics a shooting range with 5 possible outlaw locations, and a little more time in which to react initially.
Assuming that your NES Zapper is functional (because many issues with Light Gun games stem from the guns themselves), there's a good amount of content within the game, and although its a simple concept, and each Game Mode is fairly similar, the idea has been taken to each logical conclusion in each. As each mode progresses it becomes harder and harder to out-react the outlaws until players lose all their lives and reach a game over.
Graphically the game appears almost like a cartoon in its style with a range of characterised outlaws and a desert backdrop. While the screen must flash briefly for the lightgun to operate, it doesn't get in the way of gameplay at all, and players are free to concentrate on nailing their shots. The music is sporadic and almost builds up to each shot, but fits the game fairly well.
Overall Wild Gunman was an impressive game for its time, and is probably about the best version of a gunslinger duel you're likely to get, at least in a light gun style console game. The imagery of the game has become classic for many, including references in Warioware, and it's still a viable choice as a party game with friends.
Rating: 70/100
Grade: C
Game: Hogan's Alley
Console: Nintendo Entertainment System
Developer: Nintendo
Release Date: 1984
Alongside Wild Gunman in the range of NES shooting games was Hogan's Alley; a game which elaborated on the Lightgun formula and offered even more content. Game A sees players taking shots at bad guys on a shooting range; there's a limited amount of time to pick off any bad guys who appear in a line-up of 3 suspects. There's policemen, as well as innocent civilians who players must refrain from shooting or they'll lose the round, and gain penalty points for each target missed or incorrect target hit.
Game B is more like a mobile shooting range, with the screen scrolling between locations and bad guys/civilians popping up and moving around behind walls and buildings. This is probably the best mode of the game and shows off the Zapper very well. Game C is trick shot mode; another thing referenced by the Warioware series, where players attempt to shoot barrels to land them within zones at the end of the screen and gain points based on the difficulty of the shots.
Graphically the game isn't too advanced, but the bad guys and innocents can be differentiated between pretty easily; although not so much so that it doesn't take a moment to process who is who. This element of the game is what keeps the difficulty and excitement on a challenging level. The music featured fits the game well, though much of the time it is obscured by the shooting sound effects.
Overall Hogan's Alley is almost the ultimate NES light gun shooting game, featuring 3 different and fun game modes, great ideas and elaboration on a simple concept and high tension and excitement as players try to react as quickly as possible to what appears on-screen.
Rating: 73/100
Grade: C
Game: Bird Week
Console: Nintendo Famicom
Developer: Lenar
Release Date: 3rd June 1986
I have to admit I made a mistake here; I was under the impression that Bird Week might well focus on shooting birds of out the sky with the NES Zapper. It turns out that it's nothing of the sort, and players take control of a bird on a mission to feed its young. Nevertheless, I might as well review the game whilst I'm here before finishing on something a little more violent to avian creatures.
There's not really a whole lot to the game; the bird controlled by the player flies around collecting things for its young to eat, and avoiding a bigger bird. When the young birds are hungry, players can feed them with anything they've caught. Once they're satisfied, it's time to move onto the next level with more birds and a different layout. The screen loops, so it's possible to fly in a single direction and get back to the nest if desired.
Graphically the game is pretty crude and basic; the birds are probably the best drawn things in the game, with the trees close behind. Everything else is a simple shape without much shading or definition of any kind. The game's music has about a full minute of loop, but I'm not a massive fan of it as there's barely any relation to the actual game and it's grating after a while.
Overall I think I'd have preferred it if you were allowed to shoot the birds in this game; the concept is boring, the levels are uninteresting, the music is grating and the difficulty is beyond easy. Maybe it was intended as a kids game, but children would tire of this kind of thing even faster, so I'm not sure that's an excuse.
Rating: 31/100
Grade: E
Console: Nintendo Entertainment System
Developer: Nintendo
Release Date: 18th October 1985
Finally a game where you can shoot ducks; Duck Hunt doesn't quite have the scope of modes featured in Hogan's Alley, but it's somewhat similar to Wild Gunman, in that there's 1 duck mode, 2 duck mode, and a Clay Shooting option. The regular game sees players attempting to shoot 10 ducks out of the sky, and progressing by hitting 50% or more of them per level. 2 Duck mode features 2 ducks at a time with the same idea. The Clay shooting mode launches discs for players to hit, and is a similar concept which has been featured as an unofficial separate game on many pirate multicarts.
Out of the 3 lightgun games featured in today's reviews, this one gets boring the most quickly. Before Round 1 was even finished, I wondered what more there could be to the game. It turns out that a second player can control the ducks via the NES gamepad, which is pretty fun and does make for more of a multiplayer experience, but other than this, Duck Hunt is as slow as it seems. Until you miss enough shots, you'll be playing round after round with slightly faster ducks and that's about it.
Graphically the game is simple and has only the backdrop you see above, and a slightly different one for clay shooting. There's a dog who mocks players for missing shots who is famously annoying but other than this, it's a straightforward game, visually. The only music featured is menu music, and a short interlude between shots, which isn't really long enough to rate as being good or bad; the sound effects are fairly average and overall I found the presentation of the game harder to enjoy than either of the other two light gun shooters.
Overall Duck Hunt may well be an oft referenced classic for the NES, but in practice there's not a whole lot to do, as it's a very basic light gun game which only adds the challenge of rapidly moving targets when compared to other games for the console. The Clay Shooting mode is a nice addition, but nothing that elevates it above a game which entertains for under 15 minutes.
Rating: 50/100
Grade: D
duck hunt
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