Wikipedia

Duck Hunt

This article is about the 1984 Nintendo game. For the 1968 Sega game, seeLight gun shooter.For the sport, seeDuck hunting.

Duck Hunt[a]is a 1984light gun shootervideo gamedeveloped and published byNintendofor theNintendo Entertainment System(NES). The game was first released in April 1984 in Japan for theFamily Computer(Famicom) console and in North America as anarcade gamefor theNintendo VS. System.It became alaunch gamefor the NES in North America in October 1985, and was re-released in Europe two years later.

Duck Hunt
North American NES box art of Duck Hunt.
North American box art
Developer(s)Nintendo R&D1
Intelligent Systems[4][5]
Publisher(s)Nintendo
Director(s)Shigeru Miyamoto[6]
Producer(s)Gunpei Yokoi
Designer(s)Shigeru Miyamoto[6]
Hiroji Kiyotake
Programmer(s)Kenji Nakajima
Artist(s)Hiroji Kiyotake
Composer(s)Hirokazu Tanaka
Platform(s)Nintendo Entertainment System,Arcade
ReleaseNES
  • JP:April 21, 1984[1]
  • NA:October 18, 1985
  • EU:August 15, 1987
Arcade(VS. Duck Hunt)
Genre(s)Light gun shooter,sports,shooting gallery
Mode(s)Single-player,multiplayer
Arcade systemNintendo VS. System,PlayChoice-10

Players fire theNES Zapperat aCRTtelevision,[7]with three attempts perroundto shoot ducks andclay pigeons.

The game initially received a positive reception in the mid-1980s,[8]but was later given mild praise in retrospective reviews.[9][10]The game was inspired by Nintendo's previouselectro-mechanical arcade gamewhich was based on theLaser Clay Shooting Systemreleased in 1976.[11]Upon release as a video game,Duck Huntbecame a major commercial success both for arcades and consoles in the 1980s, helping to popularizelight gunvideo games with over 28 million copies sold worldwide.

In 1986, the nationwide launch of the NES included the Deluxe Set bundle withpack-in gamesDuck HuntandGyromite.The later Action Set hasDuck HuntandSuper Mario Bros.on one cartridge. The finalDuck Huntbundle is the Power Set, with a multi-cart withWorld Class Track Meet,Super Mario Bros.,andDuck Hunt.The game was released onVirtual Consolefor theWii Uin 2014.

Gameplay

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Duck Hunthas two game modes: one shootingducks(top) and the other shootingclay pigeons(bottom). In either, the player has three attempts to shoot the on-screen targets when they appear.

Duck Huntis afirst-personshooter gamewith moving on-screen targets, firing theNES Zapperlight gunat aCRTtelevision screen.[7]The player selects the game mode, one or two targets appear, and the player has three attempts to hit them before they disappear. Each round totals ten targets.[12]

The player must hit a minimum number of targets to advance to the next round or else get agame over.The difficulty progresses with faster targets of an increasing minimum number. The player receives points per target and bonus points for shooting all ten targets per round. The highest scores are tracked per session.

Duck Hunthas three optional game modes. In Game A and Game B, the targets are flying ducks, and in Game C the targets areclay pigeonsthat are launched into the distance. In Game A, one duck appears at a time and in Game B two ducks appear.[12]Game A allows a second player to control the flying ducks with aNES controller.[13]Completing Round 99 in Game A advances to Round 0, which is akill screenwhere the game shows erratic behavior, such as haphazard or nonexistent targets, thus ending progress.[14]

Vs. Duck Hunt

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Vs. Duck Huntwas released as aNintendo VS. Systemarcade gamein April 1984,[3]and was later included in thePlayChoice-10arcade console.[15]The console supports two light guns, for alternate players.[16]: 45 

Gameplay consists of alternating rounds of Games B and C, with 12 targets per round instead of 10 and sometimes three targets at once instead of two. Every missed target costs one life until the game ends.

After every second round, abonus stagehas ducks flying out of the grass with thehunting dogoccasionally jumping into the line of fire as a distraction. If shot, the dog scolds the player and the bonus stage ends. According toNintendo of Americaemployee Jerry Momoda, the dog was made impossible to shoot on console releases to make the game more family friendly.[16]: 45–46 

Development

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Duck Huntrequires theNES Zapperand aCRTTV.[7]

Duck Huntwas inspired by a 1976 electronic toy version titledBeam Gun: Duck Hunt,part of theBeam Gunseries, designed byGunpei YokoiandMasayuki Uemurafor Nintendo.[17]Nintendo Research & Development 1developed both theNES Zapperand the NES version ofDuck Hunt.The game was supervised by Takehiro Izushi,[18]and was produced by Gunpei Yokoi. Themusicwas composed byHirokazu Tanaka,who did music for several other Nintendo games at the time.[19]The music was represented in the classic games medley on theVideo Games Liveconcert tour.[20]DesignerHiroji Kiyotakecreated thegraphicsand characters.[21][16]: 47 

Release

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Duck Hunthas been released alone and in several combinationROM cartridges.The Action Set bundle of the NES in the late 1980s has one cartridge containingDuck HuntandSuper Mario Bros.[22]The Power Set bundle includes the Zapper, thePower Pad,and a3-in-1 cartridgewithDuck Hunt,World Class Track Meet,andSuper Mario Bros.

Duck Huntwas re-released onVirtual Consolefor theWii Uconsole in Japan on December 24, 2014, and internationally on December 25.[23]This version was modified for theWii Remotecontroller in place of the NES Zapper.[23][24]

Reception

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In North America,Vs. Duck Huntbecame the third top-grossing arcade game on theRePlayarcade charts inNovember 1985,belowVs. Hogan's Alleyat number one.[27]The two popularized light gun video games by 1985.[8]It was bundled with theNintendo Entertainment Systemconsole in 1985, with28.3 millioncopies sold worldwide.[28]

Upon release in arcades, Eddie Adlum ofRePlaymagazine praisedDuck HuntandHogan's Alleyas the "cream on the cake" amongNintendo VS. Systemand for successfully capturing the experience of olderelectro-mechanicalgun gamesintovideo gameformat. He said thatDuck HuntandHogan's Alley"sported simulated handguns on a wire cable and pop, pop, pop, you do your thing just like in the old days only at video targets".[8]

AllGamecalled the game an "attractive but repetitive target shooter" and "utterly mindless... the game is fun for a short time, but gets old after a few rounds of play".[9]Several communities have rated the game positively.1UPusers gave it an 8.7 out of 10,[29]and theGameSpotcommunity rated the multi-cartridge ofSuper Mario Bros.andDuck Huntat 9.1 out of 10.[10]It was rated the 150th best game on a Nintendo system inNintendo Power's Top 200 Games list.[30]IGNplaced the game at number 77 on its "Top 100 NES Games of All Time" feature.[31]The game was ranked 24th inGamesRadar's "The best NES games of all time".[32]Jeremy Parish ofUSgamerstated thatDuck Huntpaired with the NES Zapper "made the NES memorable" and was one of the key factors behind the success of the NES. Parish relatedDuck Huntto theWii Remotein that they made their respective consoles more approachable and reach a widerdemographic.[33]

Legacy

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Duck Hunt'snamelessnon-playablehunting doghas been referred to in media as the "Duck HuntDog "or the" Laughing Dog ", notorious for smugly laughing at the player for missing ducks.[34][35][36]The dog is onGamesRadar's list of "the 12 most annoying sidekicks ever",[37]GameDaily'slist of characters "we wish we could kill but can't",[38]GameSpy's "top 10 dogs in gaming",[39]andMTV's award for the greatest video game canine.[40]The dog makes a cameo appearance in the NES Zapper gameBarker Bill's Trick Shooting,where he can be shot.[41]

InWii Play(2006) and its sequelWii Play: Motion(2011), some elements fromDuck HuntandHogan's Alleyare in the mini-games "Shooting Range" and "Trigger Twist", in which some of the various targets are ducks and cans.

The dog and a duck, collectively referred to as "Duck Hunt", appear as playable characters inSuper Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U.Masahiro Sakurai,the creator and director of theSuper Smash Bros.series, said thatDuck Hunt's commercial success as "the most-sold shooting game in the world" was one of the primary reasons for its inclusion.[42]In the games, theDuck Huntteam utilizes multiple attacks inspired by the light gun, including throwing clay pigeons, kicking an explosive version of the can fromHogan's Alley,summoning the cast ofWild Gunmanto fire at opponents with their guns, or comically dodging shots fired at opponents from the Zapper.[43][44]The games feature anunlockableDuck Hunt-themedstage.Both theDuck Huntteam and stage return inSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate,and the team is featured in the June 2019 trailer announcingBanjo and Kazooieas downloadable content.[45]

In the 2015 filmPixels,the dog cameos as anachievement trophysent to the protagonists by the aliens following their victory over the enemies ofCentipedeinLondon.He is adopted by an elderly woman whose apartment was infiltrated by one of the titular enemies.[46]

The premise for the psychological horror VR gameDuck Seasonby Stress Level Zero is inspired byDuck Hunt.[47]

A fan game,Duck Hunt GB,was released for the PC in 2024 that usesGame Boy-style graphics.[48]The same developer is currently developing a new game with 3D graphics, titledTiny Duck Hunt 3D.[49]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^Japanese:ダックハント,Hepburn:Dakku Hanto

References

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  3. ^abAkagi, Masumi (October 13, 2006).アーケードTVゲームリスト quốc nội • hải ngoại biên (1971-2005)[Arcade TV Game List: Domestic • Overseas Edition (1971-2005)] (in Japanese). Japan: Amusement News Agency. p. 128.ISBN978-4990251215.
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  8. ^abcAdlum, Eddie (November 1985)."The Replay Years: Reflections from Eddie Adlum".RePlay.Vol. 11, no. 2. pp. 134-175 (170-1).
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