What's Your Favorite NES Zapper Game?

[digitalpress]

Simple question. Supported games are listed below. Which one(s) are your favorite? Share your highlights!

Adventures of Bayou Billy, The
Baby Boomer
Barker Bill's Trick Shooting
Chiller
Duck Hunt
Freedom Force
Gotcha!
Gumshoe
Hogan's Alley
Laser Invasion
The Lone Ranger
Mechanized Attack
Operation Wolf
Shooting Range
To the Earth
Wild Gunman

[TheDomesticInstitution]

Duck Hunt! In fact, growing up, it's the only one I remember playing besides Hogan's Alley. Lame, but true.

Maybe I need to pick up some more light gun games and make up for lost time.

[Vectorman0]

Duck Hunt for me as well, for the same reason as TheDomesticInstitution. It is the only one I played during my childhood. Even now I haven't experienced most of the other Zapper games. I should give them a try one of these days.

[Red Warrior]

Wild Gunman... even though I do have to use my hands... ;)

Plus, it's the closest thing to an old west gunfight I can get in today's day and age... that I'm aware of. I even make sure to keep my gun at my side until I see "DRAW!". Makes it slightly more realistic.

[old_skoolin_jim]

My top 3, in no particular order: Duck Hunt (played the most), Hogan's Alley (always enjoyed), and Freedom Force (it was so mature for its time— terrorists and BLOOD in an NES game? Wild!). I only actually owned DH and FF, but a few years ago I started buying more zapper games as I found them. Barker Bill's Trick Shooting was pretty "meh", but OK for the $3 I paid. Operation Wolf was god-awful (and cramped my finger 2 minutes in), and I eventually did buy Hogan's Alley... in time to discover light guns do not work with LCD TVs... lé sigh.
EDIT: I almost bought Chiller off eBay too (from purely a collector's standpoint), but decided not to... the game's just seriously twisted in a bad way (10x more so for the, er... "more detailed" arcade version).

[Ruudos]

Track & Field II also has a Zapper mini-game in it, which I like.
Favorite would probably be good old Duck Hunt.

[Baloo]

I've only played Gotcha! The Sport, Duck Hunt, and Hogan's Alley and they're all pretty meh. All of them are so repetitive. I'd like to try Bill Barker's Trick Hunt Shooting one of these days though. If I had to choose a favorite it would have to be Duck Hunt then.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Gumshoe for sure!

It's not an easy one to get the hang of by any stretch of the imagination but I think it was one of the most AMBITIOUS NES zapper games ... and the one that feels like it holds up the best (IMO) to the conventions of modern gaming.

If you haven't played it, maybe this description will whet your appetite - it's a 1st party NES black-label era title ... imagine Super Mario Bros but Mario (in this case "Mr. Stevenson") walks left to right on his own and you use the zapper to make him jump as well as taking out the environmental hazards. It's great stuff and very sadly overlooked and under-rated in the history of NES games.

[fergojisan]

To The Earth for me. I loathe Duck Hunt.

[Garry Silljo]

Another vote for GumShoe. I put many hours into this one. More than any other zapper game I've played. To be fair though, although I own a copy I haven't yet tried Freedom Force.

[Pantechnicon]

I've always enjoyed Hogan's Alley the most. Takes me back to my Marine Corps days on both the pistol range as well as the dedicated arcade cabinet at the enlisted club. :2gunfire:.

I've got a copy of Chiller (CIB) but haven't spent a lot of time with it because by the time I got around to trying it out I had ditched all of my original NES hardware and the game didn't play so well on any of my crappy Famiclones.

Lone Ranger is one I've always been curious about, because the zapper combined with the RPG elements in an Old West setting sounds like pretty unique combination of gameplay for its time (pre-Wii, pre-Red Dead Revolver, etc). But I don't have a copy of this yet. And I might have to invest in a RetroDuo or something, assuming the Zapper support is any better than what I currently own.

[InsaneDavid]

Barker Bill's Trick Shooting (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiz1LzKMvj8) is my pick. It's just not my favorite Zapper game, it's one of my favorite NES games. I only wish the game would have been pushed a little harder and had become more popular. If anything it's the middle ground between Duck Hunt and the shooting game in Wii Play.

GumShoe is a lot of fun as well.

[wufners]

Of the four I've played (Duck Hunt, Hogan's Alley, Gumshoe, Wild Gunmen) . . .

Gumshoe for me too. I played through that one several times. Although I usually cheated and stood with the gun pressed to the tv.

[fergojisan]

Although I usually cheated and stood with the gun pressed to the tv.

You and everyone else who's played a Zapper game. LOL

[Oobgarm]

Duck Hunt
Hogan's Alley
Wild Gunman

In that order.

[Ro-J]

I always preferred Freedom Force as a kid. You get several stages of terrorists, some with burlap sacks on their heads for some odd reason, with the occasional tied-up hostage to try to avoid shooting. It's not the most original zapper game but the gun felt extremely accurate when played from a distance.

Also....I always felt The Punisher for the NES should have been made as a zapper game, sure as hell played like one.

[Sonicwolf]

Duck Hunt. I always loved that game. Simple and Fun.

[BydoEmpire]

Gumshoe, though I always liked Wild Gunman as well. The LJN Paintball game was really well done, but I never liked paintball. If they had swapped out the graphics for aliens or generic enemy soldiers or something i would have liked it better. ;)

[sniperCCJVQ]

Operation Wolf and Freedom Force

No Track & Field 2 ?????

Gun Firing extra level

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0y1mia6AWw&feature=related

[JohnnyBlaze]

Wild Gunman. But, I'll tell you what will be my new favorite Zapper game: If someone came up with a hack of Duck Hunt where you can finally shoot that damn dog. WHO'S LAUGHING NOW? HUH?!

Yeah, I hate that damn dog.

[scooterb23]

I have to agree with Freedom Force and Operation Wolf as my favorites. I had no idea about a couple of those being Zapper games. Time to head to my store of choice.

[Arcade Antics]

If someone came up with a hack of Duck Hunt where you can finally shoot that damn dog. WHO'S LAUGHING NOW? HUH?!

Nintendo came up with it 25 years ago. You must have never played the arcade version.

Gumshoe & Chiller FTW.

[BydoEmpire]

The LJN Paintball game was really well done, but I never liked paintball. Wait, now I remember, I think that's Gotcha!

[JohnnyBlaze]

Nintendo came up with it 25 years ago. You must have never played the arcade version.

*opening MAME right now to check.....dream might come true.....*

[Gameguy]

Wild Gunman. But, I'll tell you what will be my new favorite Zapper game: If someone came up with a hack of Duck Hunt where you can finally shoot that damn dog. WHO'S LAUGHING NOW? HUH?!

Yeah, I hate that damn dog.

Enjoy. :)
http://www.i-mockery.com/minimocks/duckhunt/

[retrocollectorguy]

I never cared much for the Zapper games but my votes goes to Duck Hunt based solely on nostalgia.

[JohnnyBlaze]

Enjoy. :)
http://www.i-mockery.com/minimocks/duckhunt/

YESSSSS!

BTW, if somebody could put this on a NES cart, I'd die of happiness. LOL

About the standing close to the TV part, did anyone also use a magnifying glass?

[Sonicwolf]

About the standing close to the TV part, did anyone also use a magnifying glass?

What do you mean?

[todesengel]

I'd have to go with Hogan's Alley still a real fun little game.

[JohnnyBlaze]

What do you mean?

There was a trick where you put a magnifying glass in front of the Zapper and it's supposed to help you hit the target better:


Additionally, by using a magnifying glass on the gun, it fools the receptor into thinking that the rectangle is much larger than it actually is, allowing for a shotgun-like effect that will cover the entire screen. The same effect can be achieved by smearing grease on the lens. Pulling the trigger emits a loud, characteristic noise akin to a combination of a high-tensile spring snapping and a mechanical "click".

[Mr.Platypus]

This might seem strange, but my favourite is Baby Boomer.
It's two player, so one person can use the zapper, and the other can use a standard controller. A girlfriend and I once played this game every day for a month, until we beat it.
The levels are all pretty different, the music is what you'd expect from Color Dreams (Meaning pretty awful and laughable), and it was the kind of game that you could memorize and get really good at.
One of my happiest memories with my NES was finally finishing Baby Boomer.
Give it a try. And play it with a friend.

[Greg2600]

I really like Hogan's Alley and Wild Gunman.

[Eightbit Allstar]

I only played Duck Hunt and Laser Invasion with the Zapper. Former game is good, Laser Invasion however was tricky. Holding the D-Pad and the Zapper at the same time? Laserscope hurray.

[exit]

Duckhunt all the way.

[placebo]

Duck Hunt, because it's basically all I know. When's the favorite Power Pad game thread going to start?

[BydoEmpire]

One thing we can all agree on: the Master System had the best light gun games! ;-)

[Flippy8490]

Duck. HUNT!

[mrmark0673]

Chiller, hands down.

TWO PLAYER zombie shooting on the NES, doesn't get much better than that!

[Sosage]

Chiller, hands down.

TWO PLAYER zombie shooting on the NES, doesn't get much better than that!

Tortured naked zombies?

It's a tie between Wild Gunman, Hogan's Alley, Duck Hunt and Freedom Force. I remember when Nintendo and Konami were pushing Bayou Billy pretty hard and thinking "Wow! Utilizes the pad AND the zapper!!! How advanced!".

[HappehLemons]

Chiller, hands down.

TWO PLAYER zombie shooting on the NES, doesn't get much better than that!

Eh, although I never played the NES version if it's anything like the Arcade version I can say it's a pretty bad game. Mindless torture wasn't something I enjoyed doing when I was a kid and although I enjoy manhunt every once in a while I found Chiller to be really offensive.

[Ro-J]

One thing we can all agree on: the Master System had the best light gun games! ;-)

Personally I found the NES zapper to be more accurate than the SMS light phaser and have a better feeling trigger. As for games........I sure did love Gangster Town.

[Videogamerdaryll]

Freedom Force
Chiller
Wild Gunman

[jperryss]

Duck Hunt and Operation Wolf were the only two I ever really played for more than 15 minutes total, I had more fun with Duck Hunt. It was also the first NES game I played EVER.

[guitargary75]

Gumshoe or Wild gunman.

[BetaWolf47]

I've played Barker Bill's Trick Shooting, Duck Hunt, Hogan's Alley, Shooting Range, Operation Wolf, and Gotcha!. Hard to say which is the best though. Hogan's Alley, Shooting Range, and Duck Hunt are all pretty decent games.

[Duke.Togo]

Gumshoe. Such a unique take on a light gun game.

[FoxNtd]

It will always bother me that there is no Famicom version of Gumshoe. Absolutely preposterous.

Had no idea Chiller existed until this thread.

[treismac]

Duck Hunt forever. Honorable mention goes to Hogan's Alley. I might add that I really enjoyed Wild Gunman until I realized that all you have to do to "shoot" your opponent is land a shot on the screen rather than specifically on him. Very, very lame.

[DragonMaster Sam]

Duck Hunt and Gotcha!. And I think I may have played To The Earth when my brother rented it one time.

[A.C. Sativa]

Adventures of Bayou Billy... God, that game sucks ass.

[treismac]

Adventures of Bayou Billy... God, that game sucks ass.

Yeah... I don't think many of us regard it as the gem of our collection.

[FoxNtd]

Yeah... I don't think many of us regard it as the gem of our collection.

Umm.. I have Mad City. It's not bad, I like the mixed styles of gameplay. The game loops with your score preserved so it might be interesting to do a high score run on it. The alternate ending where you break up with the girl you played the whole game to rescue is pretty funny. :)

Gotcha is an interesting idea, I don't think there are other paintball games besides it in that generation. It's also the only game that has the LJN mark on it that I'd actually play. :popcorn:

[treismac]

Umm.. I have Mad City. It's not bad, I like the mixed styles of gameplay. The game loops with your score preserved so it might be interesting to do a high score run on it. The alternate ending where you break up with the girl you played the whole game to rescue is pretty funny. :)

Gotcha is an interesting idea, I don't think there are other paintball games besides it in that generation. It's also the only game that has the LJN mark on it that I'd actually play. :popcorn:

Alright, I'll see your defense of Bayou Billy and raise you a "defense" of LJN. In addition to Gotcha, LJN also developed T & C Surf Design, a worthy bargain bin NES game which has a strangely addictive surfing mode that induces zen-like states of mind when you play it for long enough. Some of the most infamously crappy LJN games like Back to the Future, Friday the 13th, and The Karate Kid were developed by other companies and were only published by LJN. :wink 2:

Edit:

Honestly, in my opinion, Bayou Billy/Mad City isn't so much a bad game as it is a game that does an odd take on the beat 'em up genre. The Famicom version is much more doable difficulty wise, too. I'll never understand the reasons why Japanese video game developers decided to make some games easier for North America and ratcheted it up in others.

[FoxNtd]

Alright, I'll see your defense of Bayou Billy and raise you a "defense" of LJN. In addition to Gotcha, LJN also developed T & C Surf Design, a worthy bargain bin NES game which has a strangely addictive surfing mode that induces zen-like states of mind when you play it for long enough. Some of the most infamously crappy LJN games like Back to the Future, Friday the 13th, and The Karate Kid were developed by other companies and were only published by LJN. :wink 2:

Edit:

Honestly, in my opinion, Bayou Billy/Mad City isn't so much a bad game as it is a game that does an odd take on the beat 'em up genre. The Famicom version is much more doable difficulty wise, too. I'll never understand the reasons why Japanese video game developers decided to make some games easier for North America and ratcheted it up in others.

Man you have no idea what a dream-crusher T&C was. I wanted that game to be good. But it isn't, at least to me. When I saw what kind of game it was I thought it would be amazing. The LJN logo on the label made me turn pale but I still tried to play. It feels like it's unfinished or something. Similarly to Gotcha which was an OK game but damn is it short. There's like nothing to do.

Epyx's California Games is a little bit more satisfying but I never even bothered to buy it.

I don't understand why Mad City was tampered with, especially the alternate ending being stripped out. I wonder which is more common, the USA position of a developer tampering with stuff or the Japanese home office insisting on it. Of course this is different from situation to situation but which explanation is the common one hmmm... This tampering bullshit is one of the major factors why I import everything anyway, I can't stand this crap. I wanna play them how the people who made them wanted them to be played. Fuck the USA marketers, they're not game designers and have no say in this stuff.

Another thing about Mad City. I saw an ad/flyer for the game and it pushes the idea of 3 styles of play, that was the big thing about the game I guess as their ad for it was centered around it. That's precisely what I liked about the game. :)

[BydoEmpire]

I always liked Gumshoe, probably because it wast he game I got when I got the Zapper. I also through Wild Gunman was pretty fun, and Gotcha! was cool if I remember correctly, but at the time I wasn't crazy about the theme. I'd rather be shooting enemy soldiers, gangsters or cowboys.


One thing we can all agree on: the Master System had the best light gun games! ;-)I'm with you there 110%. SMS light gun games absolutely rule.

[treismac]

Man you have no idea what a dream-crusher T&C was. I wanted that game to be good. But it isn't, at least to me. When I saw what kind of game it was I thought it would be amazing. The LJN logo on the label made me turn pale but I still tried to play. It feels like it's unfinished or something. Similarly to Gotcha which was an OK game but damn is it short. There's like nothing to do.

I enjoyed T& C as a child, as it was one of my first NES games, so my estimation of its merits are far from reliable. The hit detection in the skateboarding section can be ridiculously bad at times and attempting to jump a ramp is NEVER a safe bet, but I still enjoy it. I disliked surfing as a kid, but I like the hell out of it now that I have the techniques figured out.

I owned Gotcha as a kid, too, and, yeah, that game was way too short. It was a good concept though. A sequel with a new theme/setting (i.e. not paintball) would have been cool.


This tampering bullshit is one of the major factors why I import everything anyway, I can't stand this crap. I wanna play them how the people who made them wanted them to be played. Fuck the USA marketers, they're not game designers and have no say in this stuff.


The damn suits think they know best in any artistic industry, regardless of how clueless they are. Some localization actually works out alright, though. I dig the greaser/'50s look in the North American release of Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari (River City ransom) more so than the less than successful graphical attempt to depict the Japanese school uniforms in the original. Pajamas. They looked like pajamas.

[Gunstar Hero]

Duck Hunt for sure. The simplicity and easy learning curve makes it fun! Plus I haven't really looked into checking out any others yet but I heard chiller is expensive and Bayou Billy is god awful ROFL

[rewindtimegames]

I'm in the Track and Field II issue of Nintendo Power for a high score. I'm not braggin or anything. Maybe just a little.

[WispFollower]

Reading this thread has given me urge to get a set of complete zapper games. I greatly enjoy them, and I realized there are many I haven't played! I keep a crt next to my lcd for the random urge to play a zapper game. It's funny, as it doesn't get used a lot, but that's just the kind of gamer I am.. It could be years since I've played a game, but if I get the need to play, I must play. I think this is the basis of how and why I became a collector.

Wow.. went off topic a bit there. Anyway, out of the ones I've played, I think Wild Gunman is winning right now. Classic art and sounds. I love the Back to the Future connection (unfortunately, I have never seen the arcade game :( ). When I get the itch to really test my reflexes, that game is seriously fun. The different modes and difficulty levels are excellent. I love the mode where you have to take on a whole gang. The only way to play is keeping the gun at your hip until "draw!" Otherwise, you're just testing how fast you can move your finger rather than if you can draw, aim, and fire like a true skateboarding time traveller.

[treismac]

I'm in the Track and Field II issue of Nintendo Power for a high score. I'm not braggin or anything. Maybe just a little.

Haha!! Brag away, man. That's a cool distinction, to be sure. How about posting a scan of your name and score in the issue?