Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
Release Date: 10-18-85
The cover shows you almost the entire game
One of Nintendo’s strategies for launching the NES in America was convincing people that it wasn’t just a typical game machine. Part of this plan was releasing peripherals to go along with it. The original package came with a light gun and Rob the robot with pack-ins Duck Hunt and Gyromite. Can you imagine buying an NES and not having a typical controller game? It’s a strange thought and certainly something they quickly reconsidered before launching it nationally with Super Mario Bros. But it wasn’t just Duck Hunt which I will cover shortly. There were two other available light gun games at launch which is probably two more than most people even know exist. Of course if you’ve seen Back to the Future II than you probably also know about Wild Gunman. Marty shows off his skills to a very unimpressed kid. I have to say though Marty you’re not so special. Wild Gunman is one of the easiest light gun games I have ever played. Little Elijah Wood was right to make fun of you.
Get used to this screen
Wild Gunman is a game that looks like it’s going to be fun for about the first minute or so. It has a great western background and big characters. It has three modes of play with either one gunman, two gunmen, or gang mode where they pop out of an old timey saloon. However the novelty wears off quickly as nothing much ever changes. Games one and two have a timer that starts when you enemy yells draw. You just have to shoot them anywhere before time runs out to win. You can do this forever until you lose. The problem is that the enemies never move and always stand in the same spot. You can aim at one spot on the screen and never even move your arm. I played this mode with my eyes closed and only did a little bit worse. I didn’t even wait to get a game over and write down my score. It just didn’t seem worth it. Although things might change on the higher levels I never faced an enemy who took less than .40 seconds and I rarely took more than .30 seconds to shoot. It doesn’t help that it’s the same few enemies and exact same background constantly. I think the only reason they released this game was because they were able to get one actual spoken word in it. That was impressive in 1985.
Finally some action!
The other two modes are more challenging but still suffer from the same problems. Mode 2 has two outlaws on the screen but they still don’t move so the only difference is you have to move your arm slightly. I didn’t have much trouble with it either and got a very high score quickly. Gang mode almost saves the day by having the outlaws pop out of windows with no timer so fast action is a must. There are still only five large targets to shoot at and they always appear in the same places and can be memorized, but at least it felt more like an action game. I died much more quickly in the third round which was actually a good thing. I do feel slightly compelled to go back and improve a bit. So the game’s not a total loss, but it’s dangerously close.
Wild Gunman is the oldest game that Nintendo ported to the NES. It was originally an electro-mechanical game developed by the great Gunpei Yokoi in 1974. This was before Nintendo was even making video games. It certainly shows its age and I am disappointed that they didn’t improve it much in the decade between the original and the NES port. So far it is the second word launch game and it’s only saved from the red section by its slightly more fun third mode and nice western atmosphere. I am going to put it just ahead of Defunct because the arcade style gameplay does give it some replay value but I certainly enjoyed Evoland more. That means we have five good NES games of the 8 I have reviewed so the quality percentage is 62.5%. Hopefully the other two light gun games don’t put it too far in the other direction, but since one of them is Duck Hunt I wouldn’t get too hopeful.
1. Super Mario Odyssey
2. Galaga
3. Donkey Kong
4. Exodus: Ultima III
5. Pac-Mania
6. Wrecking Crew
7. Super Pac-Man
8. Pac-Man
9. Excitebike
10. Arc the Lad
11. Clu Clu Land
12. Artifact Adventure Gaiden DX
13. Mickey’s Racing Adventure
14. Metro-Cross
15. Ice Climber
16. Gaplus
17. Dragon Spirit
18. Pinball (NES)
19. Walt Disney World Quest: Magical Racing Tour (GBC)
20. Red Sea Crossing
21. Baraduke
22. Gamma-Attack
23. The Legend of “Valkyrie”
24. Galaxian
25. Evoland
26. Wild Gunman
27. Defunct
28. Gyruss (2600)
29. Looney Tunes Racing
30. Squidlit
31. Baseball
32. Birthday Mania
33. Bad Street Brawler
34. Burly Men at Sea
35. My Name is Mayo
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