Wild Gunman
Platform: Nintendo Entertainment System
Region: USA
Media: Cartridge
Controller: NES Zapper
Genre: Light Gun
Gametype: Licensed
Release Year: 1985
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
Players: 1
_________________________

Put yourself in the middle of a western showdown. Armed with the Zapper, it takes a quick hand and deadeye to earn your reward. Draw against the most wanted outlaws in the West. Then, if you're brave enough, take on the whole gang at once!

--From the NES Wild Gunman instruction manual.

History:

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 that could be used instead of the Zapper.

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'.

The NES port of the game will be available for Nintendo's Wii console by way of the Virtual Console.

Controls:

Game pad
Select Button: Highlight another option on the title screen.
Start Button: Choose a game mode.
Pause and resume the game.

Zapper
Shooting off-screen: Highlight another option on the title screen.
Shooting on-screen: Shooting bad guys, of course.

Reviewer:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_Gunman
