is a
light gun shooter game developed and published by
Nintendo
is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops, publishes, and releases both video games and video game consoles.
The history of Nintendo began when craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi ...
. Based on an
electro-mechanical arcade game
An arcade game or coin-op game is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are presented as primarily game of skill, games of skill and in ...
in 1974 by
Gunpei Yokoi, it was adapted to a video game for the
Famicom console in 1984. It was released in 1985 as a
launch game for the
Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) with the
Zapper light gun.
History
1974 arcade game
''Wild Gunman'' is one of Nintendo's
electro-mechanical (EM)
arcade game
An arcade game or coin-op game is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are presented as primarily game of skill, games of skill and in ...
s created by
Gunpei Yokoi and released in 1974. It consists of a
light gun connected to a
16 mm projection screen
A projection screen is an installation consisting of a surface and a support structure used for displaying a projected image for the view of an audience. Projection screens may be permanently installed on a wall, as in a movie theater, mounte ...
.
Full-motion video footage of an American
Wild West gunslinger is
projected onto the screen. When this enemy character's eyes flash, the player draws and fires the gun. If the player is fast enough, the projection changes to that of the shot gunman falling down; otherwise it shows the gunman drawing and firing his gun.
Regardless of their success, the player continues to face off against other gunslinger opponents, of which there are five in total.
Should the player draw their gun prematurely, a "foul" light turns on and the player's input is ignored until the next duel begins, rendering the current duel unwinnable.
''Wild Gunman'' was released in North America by
Sega
is a Japanese video game company and subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings headquartered in Tokyo. It produces several List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises for arcade game, arcades and video game cons ...
in 1976.
The game's footage was filmed with local, uncredited
extras on location around
Kyoto
Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...
and at the
Nara Dreamland amusement park.
The toy version has a plastic gunman figure mounted on top of a plastic battery box called ''Custom Gunman'', which later became one of the microgames in the
Game Boy Advance
The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console, manufactured by Nintendo, which was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, and to international markets that June. It was later released in mainland China in 2004, under the name iQue Game Boy Advanc ...
title ''
WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgames!''.
In Japan, ''Wild Gunman'' was the sixth highest-grossing EM arcade game of 1976, below two other Nintendo
Laser Clay Shooting System titles, ''Sky Hawk'' at fourth place and ''Mini Laser Clay'' at fifth.
In North America, ''Wild Gunman'' was one of the most popular arcade machines at the AMOA 1976 show.
The game consists of four film scenes, called Film-A, Film-B, Film-C and Film-D. Each scene was shot on two
16 mm film
16 mm film is a historically popular and economical Film gauge, gauge of Photographic film, film. 16 mm refers to the width of the film (about inch); other common film gauges include 8 mm film, 8 mm and 35mm movie film, 35 mm. It ...
reels, for displaying
alternate outcomes, making up a total of eight film reels. Two of the original reels were discovered by collector Benjamin Solovey in 2021.
NES video game
Nintendo adapted the electro-mechanical game into a
video game
A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...
, replacing filmed footage with cartoon-style sprites.
In 1984 in Japan, the
Famicom version was released for use with the original version of the
Zapper gun peripheral. This version, named the ''Beam Gun'', was a plastic, western-style revolver accessory (modeled after the
Colt Single Action Army) that came packaged with a plastic holster belt. In 1985 in the United States, it was released on the
Nintendo Entertainment System.
Gameplay
The player waits for the opponent's eyes to flash (accompanied by a
speech bubble reading "FIRE!!") before shooting. It features a
shooting gallery where opponents are to be shot from the windows of a
saloon. A piece of
Frédéric Chopin
Frédéric François Chopin (born Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin; 1 March 181017 October 1849) was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic period who wrote primarily for Piano solo, solo piano. He has maintained worldwide renown ...
's "
Funeral march" indicates the player's defeat. This version was also published on the
PlayChoice-10 arcade system. On the
Wii U Virtual Console, the
Wii Remote pointer is used instead of the Zapper.
In popular culture
Experimental filmmaker
Craig Baldwin's 1978 short ''Wild Gunman'' features footage from the original 1974 arcade game which was re-edited, sped up, and slowed down to surreal effect.
The 1974 arcade game also appears in the 1981 film ''
Gas'', being played by the main antagonist. The film establishes the antagonist's ruthless cowboy-like personality by juxtaposing directly captured clips of the game with footage of him giving an expository monologue to his sons (and the audience) while playing. After delivering the monologue, he loses to a gunman and proceeds to shoot the game's projector screen multiple times with a real gun. The game's appearance is also a nod to the character's actor, frequent
western star
Sterling Hayden.
In the 1989 film ''
Back to the Future Part II'', protagonist
Marty McFly plays a non-existent arcade version of the NES ''Wild Gunman'' resembling a
Nintendo VS. System cabinet. The 1990 follow-up,
''Part III'', reveals that frequently playing the game has given Marty the skill to shoot a real revolver. Nintendo re-released the game to the
Wii U Virtual Console on October 21, 2015, to coincide with
''Back to the Future'' Day, honoring the game's appearance in the film.
In the ''
Super Smash Bros.'' series, the
''Duck Hunt'' duo can summon ''Wild Gunman'' characters to attack their opponents. Their "Final Smash" attack causes opponents to get caught in the middle of a shootout between the gunmen and the enemy characters from ''
Hogan's Alley''.
See also
* ''
Duck Hunt''
* ''
Hogan's Alley''
* ''
Gumshoe''
*
Laser Clay Shooting System
Notes
References
External links
''Wild Gunman'' seriesa
NinDB''Wild Gunman'' Arcade Prop Replicaa
KLOV
an
side of the flyer of the original 1974 ''Wild Gunman'' movie game (from Arcade Flyer Archive) as well as two picture
#1and
#2of this version (from an AOL member homepage).
on the
Famicom 40th Anniversary page
{{Authority control
1984 video games
Arcade video games
Full motion video based games
Intelligent Systems games
Light gun games
PlayChoice-10 games
Nintendo arcade games
Nintendo Entertainment System games
Nintendo games
Western (genre) video games
Video games developed in Japan
Video games directed by Shigeru Miyamoto
Virtual Console games
Virtual Console games for Wii U
Single-player video games