Wild Gunman

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Wild Gunman
Developer(s)	Intelligent Systems
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Platform(s)	Famicom/NES
Release date(s)	JPN February 18, 1984 NA October 18, 1985 EU February 15, 1988
Genre(s)	Light gun game
Mode(s)	Single player
Media	256-kilobit cartridge
Input methods	NES controller, NES Zapper, LaserScope, Famicom Revolver

Wild Gunman (ワイルドガンマン, Wairudo Ganman^?) is a light gun game created by Nintendo.

Gameplay

Screenshot showing typical gameplay of Wild Gunman for the NES

The original version was one of Nintendo's early electro-mechanical arcade games released in 1974. It consisted of a light gun connected to a 16mm projection screen. An image of a Wild West gunslinger was projected onto the screen and when his eyes flashed, the player needed to draw and shoot. If the player was fast enough the projection would change to that of the shot gunman falling down, otherwise it would show the gunman drawing and firing his gun. A piece of Chopin's "Funeral March" indicates the player's defeat.

The second version had a plastic gunman figure mounted on top of a plastic battery box called Custom Gunman, which later became one of the microgames in the Nintendo Game Boy Advance title, WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$!

Other releases

An updated video game version of the game was released in the arcades in 1984, replacing photographic images with cartoon-style video game sprites. In this version the player also waited for the opponent's eyes to flash (accompanied by a speech bubble reading "FIRE!!") before shooting. This was the first NES game that used voice synthesis.^{[citation needed]} It also featured a shooting gallery where opponents had to be shot from the windows of a saloon. It was available on the PlayChoice 10 system, and also as a two-player Vs. Series version. The Famicom version for use with the Zapper peripheral was released in Japan the same year, and in the US on the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1985. The Famicom version was also available packaged with a plastic, western-style revolver accessory (modelled after the Colt Single Action Army) that could be used instead of the Zapper.

The Famicom-exclusive revolver accessory.

A very limited edition of the game was created for promotional purposes and distributed at the 1986 National NRA Annual Meeting. This version of the game is very similar to the original with the primary difference being that some targets are labeled 'anti-gun advocate' and 'ATF thug'.

References

In Back to the Future Part II, when the main character Marty McFly travels into the year 2015, he goes to a retro 1980s cafe and finds a Wild Gunman arcade cabinet. Upon showing the kids how to play, one kid comments "You have to use your hands? That's like a baby's toy!"

External links

• Wild Gunman Series at NinDB
• Front and Back side of the flyer of the original 1974 Wild Gunman movie game (from Arcade Flyer Archive) as well as two pictures #1 and #2 of this version (from an AOL member homepage).

See also

• Duck Hunt
• Hogan's Alley
• Gumshoe