| Duck Hunt | |
| North American NES box art of Duck Hunt. | |
| Developer(s) | Nintendo R&D1 |
| Publisher(s) | Nintendo |
| Designer | |
| Engine | |
| status | Status Missing |
| Release date | JP April 21, 1984 US October 18, 1985 CA February 3, 1986 EU August 15, 1987 |
| Genre | Light gun shooter, First person shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, Two-Player |
| Age rating(s) | |
| Platform(s) | Famicom, NES, Arcade |
| Arcade system | Arcade System Missing |
| Media | 192-kilobit cartridge |
| Input | Light gun |
| Requirements | Nintendo Entertainment Software |
| Credits | Soundtrack | Codes | Walkthrough | |
Duck Hunt (ダックハント) is a video game for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) game console system in which players use the NES Zapper to shoot ducks on screen for points. The game was developed and published by Nintendo, and was released in 1984 in Japan. The ducks appear one or two at a time, and the player is given three shots to shoot them down.
Duck Hunt was one of the two original pack-in titles for the first release of the game system.[1] The game was not initially reviewed often, but given mediocre critical praise and positive gamer reaction.[2][3] Prior to the NES version, Nintendo also made a Duck Hunt game based on Laser Clay Shooting System released in 1976.[4]
Gameplay
Players are allowed to shoot up to three bullets at ducks. (Screenshot of NES version.)
In Duck Hunt, players use the Nintendo Zapper Light Gun and attempt to shoot down either ducks or clay pigeons in mid-flight. Duck Hunt was also released as an arcade game in 1984,[5] as Vs. Duck Hunt, and is included in the PlayChoice-10 arcade console.[6]
The game has three modes:
- One Duck – In each round, there are 10 ducks for the player to shoot down. Only one duck appears on screen at a time, and the player has three shots to hit it.[7]
- Two Ducks – Identical to "One Duck" except that the ducks appear on screen in pairs. A new pair of ducks will not appear until both of the previous pair have either escaped or been shot down.[7]
- Clay Shooting – In each round, there are 10 clay pigeons for the player to shoot down. Clay pigeons are fired off two at a time from a first person perspective and are aimed into the distance.[7] In Vs. Duck Hunt, Clay Shooting mode appears as the second round with the first round being the two duck variation (the arcade version never had one duck).
In the first two modes, a dog retrieves the ducks a player shoots, and laughs at the player if both of the birds on screen escape (and if the player fails to advance to the next level).
The dog being shot in Vs. Duck Hunt.
During bonus stages in Vs. Duck Hunt the dog jumps out from the grass as a distraction to the player as they try to shoot ducks, thus putting himself in the line of fire and enabling a player to inadvertently shoot him. If the dog is shot, the bonus round ends.[7]
Several unofficial remakes of Duck Hunt have been released which enable the player to shoot the dog.[8] The nameless dog makes a cameo appearance in the NES game Barker Bill's Trick Shooting (another Zapper game) and he can be shot.[9]
While Duck Hunt does not have a traditional multiplayer mode, the manual states that a second player may plug in a standard NES controller in the other controller port and control the duck that appears. This option is only possible in the one duck mode.[10]
Development
Nintendo Research & Development 1 created the game. They also developed the Light Gun used in Duck Hunt. The game was supervised by Takehiro Izushi,[11] and was produced by Gunpei Yokoi.
Packaging
Duck Hunt has been placed in several combination cartridges. In the Action Set configuration of the NES in the late 1980s, Duck Hunt was included with Super Mario Bros..[12] This particular cartridge is found very often in the United States, due to it being included with the purchase of a NES.[12] A Power Set was also available, which included the Action Set, the Power Pad and a 3-in-1 cartridge that included Duck Hunt, World Class Track Meet and Super Mario Bros.[13]
Audio
Clay Shooting releases two clay pigeons at once.
The original music was composed by Koji Kondo and Hirokazu Tanaka, both of whom did music for several other Nintendo games at the time.[14] The game's music was represented in the classic games medley on the Video Games Live concert tour.[15]
Legacy
Allgame called 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."[2] Several user groups have rated the game positively. 1UP.com users gave it an 8.7 out of 10,[16] and the GameSpot community gave the Mario-Duck Hunt package a 9.1 out of 10.[3] It was rated the 150th best game made on a Nintendo System in Nintendo Power's Top 200 Games list.[17] IGN also placed the game at number 77 on its "Top 100 NES Games of All Time" feature.[18]
References
- ↑ Gyromite. Gamespot. Retrieved on 2006-12-10
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Duck Hunt Overview. Allgame. Retrieved on 2006-11-20
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Duck Hunt. GameSpot. Retrieved on 2006-11-20
- ↑ Nintendo Duck Hunt (1976)
- ↑ Duck Hunt at Arcade Vault. Retrieved November 21, 2006.
- ↑ PlayChoice History. Playchoice. Retrieved on 2006-11-21
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 'Duck Hunt'. NinDB. Retrieved on 2006-11-21
- ↑ Adobe Flash Game ("Flash"). Retrieved on 2006-09-20
- ↑ Video Game Cameos & References. Video Game Cameos & References Database. Retrieved on 2006-11-21
- ↑ Duck Hunt Cheats. IGN. Retrieved on 2006-11-21
- ↑ Pioneers of the Renaissance. N-Sider. Retrieved on 2006-12-11
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Super Mario Bros. and Duck Hunt. Console Classix. Archived from the original on 2006-12-07 Retrieved on 2006-11-25
- ↑ 3 in 1 Cartridge. amazon.com. Retrieved on 2006-11-25
- ↑ Hirokazu Tanaka Musical Credits in Games. Starman. Retrieved on 2006-12-10
- ↑ The Ground Breaking Video Games Live Hits UK Shores. Video Games Live. Retrieved on 2006-12-12
- ↑ Duck Hunt. 1UP.com. Retrieved on 2006-11-20
- ↑ "NP Top 200". Nintendo Power 200: pp. 58–66. February 2006
- ↑ Top 100 NES Games of All Time. IGN. Retrieved on 2009-10-14
External links
fr:Duck Hunt ko:덕 헌트 is:Duck Hunt nl:Duck Hunt pt:Duck Hunt simple:Duck Hunt fi:Duck Hunt sv:Duck Hunt