Wild Gunman
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Wild Gunman | |
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Developer(s) | Intelligent Systems |
Publisher(s) | Nintendo |
Platform(s) | Famicom/NES, Virtual Console |
Release date | JPN February 18, 1984 NA October 18, 1985 EU February 15, 1988 |
Genre(s) | Light gun game |
Mode(s) | Single player |
Rating(s) | ESRB: E (Wii Virtual Console) |
Media | 256-kilobit cartridge |
Input methods | NES controller |
Wild Gunman (ワイルドガンマン Wairudo Ganman?) is a light gun game created by Nintendo.
Contents |
[edit] Gameplay
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. 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$!.
[edit] Updated versions
An updated video game version of the game was released in the arcades in 1984, replacing photographic images with cartoon-style video game sprites. In this version the player also waited for the opponent's eyes to flash (accompanied by a speech bubble reading "FIRE!!") before shooting. It also featured a shooting gallery where opponents had to be shot from the windows of a saloon. It was available on the PlayChoice 10 system, and also as a two-player Vs. Series version. The Famicom version for use with the Zapper peripheral was released in Japan the same year, and in the US on the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1985. This is also the first NES game that used voice synthesis.
A minigame based on Wild Gunman was featured in Kirby's Adventure and a brief version of the NES game is included as a minigame in WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$!.
The NES port of the game will be available for Nintendo's Wii console by way of the Virtual Console.
[edit] Appearance in Back to the Future Part II
An '80s Wild Gunman arcade cabinet makes a cameo appearance in the movie Back to the Future Part II[1], where it is dismissed as a "baby's toy" by children (one being a young Elijah Wood) of 2015, because "you have to use your hands". According to Bob Gale's DVD commentary for BTTF II, this arcade version of the game was specifically created for the film, since the game was never released in arcades with a dedicated cabinet.
[edit] References
- ^ The Wild Gunman (1984) (VG) video game in Cafe 80's was specially made for the film. Wild Gunman was an actual light gun game for the Nintendo Entertainment System, but was never a dedicated arcade cabinet. It was, however, included in many of Nintendo's Play Choice 10 machines, hence why a lightgun was on the cabinet. The sound effects heard in the movie are from the game, but, the on screen graphics are entirely new, drawn to resemble what appeared. Ironically, the actual game itself had far better animation.
[edit] External links
- Front and Back side of the flyer of the original 1974 Wild Gunman movie game (from Arcade Flyer Archive) as well as two pictures #1and #2 of this version (from an AOL member homepage).