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56-768: The Zapper is an electronic light gun accessory launched within the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in North America on October 18, 1985. It is a cosmetic redesign by Nintendo of America 's head designer Lance Barr, based on Gunpei Yokoi 's Video Shooting Series light gun ( 光線銃シリーズガン ) , which had been released in Japan for the Famicom on February 18, 1984. The Zapper requires compatible NES games, such as Duck Hunt , Wild Gunman , and Hogan's Alley . Its internal optical sensor allows

112-567: A 3-in-1 cartridge with Duck Hunt , World Class Track Meet , and Super Mario Bros. Duck Hunt was re-released on Virtual Console for the Wii U console in Japan on December 24, 2014, and internationally on December 25. This version was modified for the Wii Remote controller in place of the NES Zapper. In North America, Vs. Duck Hunt became the third top-grossing arcade game on

168-448: A bonus stage has ducks flying out of the grass with the hunting dog occasionally jumping into the line of fire as a distraction. If shot, the dog scolds the player and the bonus stage ends. According to Nintendo of America employee Jerry Momoda, the dog was made impossible to shoot on console releases to make the game more family friendly. Duck Hunt was inspired by a 1976 electronic toy version titled Beam Gun: Duck Hunt , part of

224-491: A black screen and verifying that no targets match. The Wii Remote uses an infrared video camera in the handheld controller, rather than a simple sensor. Wesley Yin-Poole stated that the Wii Remote was not as accurate as a traditional light gun. GunCon 3 is an infrared light gun used for arcade games. Rectangular positioning is similar to image capture, except it disregards any on-screen details and only determines

280-532: A charm, and nobody missed R.O.B. or the Zapper once players realized that games played with the standard video game controller, like Super Mario Bros. , were much more fun." Other commentators give more weight more to the promise to buy back any unsold stock. In the 2001 book The Ultimate History of Video Games , Steven L. Kent argues that "most of the 500 retailers who sold the NES that Christmas might not have taken

336-551: A few rounds of play". Several communities have rated the game positively. 1UP.com users gave it an 8.7 out of 10, and the GameSpot community rated the multi-cartridge of Super Mario Bros. and Duck Hunt at 9.1 out of 10. It was rated the 150th best game on a Nintendo system in Nintendo Power ' s Top 200 Games list. IGN placed the game at number 77 on its "Top 100 NES Games of All Time" feature. The game

392-497: A game console also had a light gun . In August 1988, Antic magazine praised the Zapper's accuracy compared to the poor horizontal accuracy of the Atari XG-1 light gun , saying "if something is lined up in [Zapper's] sights, that's exactly what you hit". Regarding Nintendo's Trojan Horse strategy to convince retailers to stock the NES by marketing it as a toy for its launch, historian Chris Kohler said "The gambit worked like

448-418: A high-end piece of consumer electronics. Its bundle of wireless peripherals includes a computer keyboard, music keyboard, and a combination light wand and gun. The "combination light wand and gun" has an adjustable handle for either mode. However, North American retailers were still apprehensive to re-enter the video game market after the video game crash of 1983 , placing no orders. After the poor reception at

504-516: A moving hammer, which is automatically fired with a loud bang when the trigger is pulled without needing to cock the hammer. In North America, it was redesigned as the Zapper by Nintendo of America 's head designer Lance Barr, to match the NES's color scheme and to resemble a futuristic science fiction ray gun . It has a dark gray barrel and grip. In 1988, the Federal Toy Gun Law required that toy guns be distinct from real guns, so

560-548: A positive reception in the mid-1980s, but was later given mild praise in retrospective reviews. The game was inspired by Nintendo's previous electro-mechanical arcade game which was based on the Laser Clay Shooting System released in 1976. Upon release as a video game, Duck Hunt became a major commercial success both for arcades and consoles in the 1980s, helping to popularize light gun video games with over 28 million copies sold worldwide. In 1986,

616-493: A screen. Nintendo released the Beam Gun in 1970 and the Laser Clay Shooting System in 1973, followed in 1974 by the arcade game Wild Gunman , which uses film projection to display the target on the screen. In 1975, Sega released the early co-operative light gun shooters Balloon Gun and Bullet Mark . The first detection method, used by the NES Zapper, involves drawing each target sequentially in white light after

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672-493: A stick to input directions, but no A button. The controller was bundled with Space Shadow . When used with Space Shadow , the Hyper Shot can output game audio from its built-in speaker and use haptic feedback to simulate the recoil of firing a gun; while the Hyper Shot can be used as a controller and light gun for any game, Space Shadow is the only game to support the speaker and haptic feedback. Space Shadow requires

728-743: Is a first-person shooter game with moving on-screen targets, firing the NES Zapper light gun at a CRT television screen. 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. The player must hit a minimum number of targets to advance to the next round or else get a game 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 Hunt has three optional game modes. In Game A and Game B,

784-412: Is typically more expensive initially but easier to maintain and repair. Positional gun games include Silent Scope , the arcade version of Resident Evil Survivor 2 , Space Gun , Revolution X , and Terminator 2: Judgment Day . Console conversions may use light guns. A positional gun is essentially an analog joystick that records the position of the gun to determine the player's aim on

840-465: The Beam Gun series, designed by Gunpei Yokoi and Masayuki Uemura for Nintendo. Nintendo Research & Development 1 developed both the NES Zapper and the NES version of Duck Hunt . The game was supervised by Takehiro Izushi, and was produced by Gunpei Yokoi. The music was composed by Hirokazu Tanaka , who did music for several other Nintendo games at the time. The music was represented in

896-552: The RePlay arcade charts in November 1985 , below Vs. Hogan's Alley at number one. The two popularized light gun video games by 1985. It was bundled with the Nintendo Entertainment System console in 1985, with 28.3 million copies sold worldwide. Upon release in arcades, Eddie Adlum of RePlay magazine praised Duck Hunt and Hogan's Alley as the "cream on the cake" among Nintendo VS. System and for successfully capturing

952-565: The crashed video game market . The Video Shooting Series light gun was designed for Famicom by Gunpei Yokoi and Satoru Okada of Nintendo R&D1 , modeled realistically after a revolver . Its technology was based on the light gun toy used in Nintendo Beam Gun toy line, which in turn was based on the Colt Single Action Army revolver . The Video Shooting Series light gun is a double-action revolver with

1008-411: The " Duck Hunt Dog" or the "Laughing Dog", notorious for smugly laughing at the player for missing ducks. The dog is on GamesRadar ' s list of "the 12 most annoying sidekicks ever", GameDaily 's list of characters "we wish we could kill but can't", GameSpy ' s "top 10 dogs in gaming", and MTV ' s award for the greatest video game canine. The dog makes a cameo appearance in

1064-564: The Consumer Electronics Show, Nintendo revised its marketing strategy to avoid the crashed video game market in favor of the toy market, redesigning it as the Nintendo Entertainment System . Expensive wireless technology was abandoned, and the light gun and wand became the wired Zapper. The NES ports of Nintendo's existing hit arcade games Duck Hunt and Hogan's Alley were used to position

1120-598: The Deluxe Sighting Scope, an accessory for the NES Zapper, under the brand name QuickShot. The scope is a sight that snaps onto the top of the NES Zapper. In 1988, the Video Shooter was released in the United States by Placo Toys . The Video Shooter is a wireless light gun controller for the NES. The infrared receiver is a rigid panel plugged directly into the controller port of the NES; it

1176-605: The Hyper Shot and cannot be played with other light guns, as the game expects button input to come from the Famicom expansion port (which only the Hyper Shot can provide). In 1989, Nexoft released The Dominator ProBeam in the United States, a wireless version of the NES Zapper. Unlike other third-party light gun products, the ProBeam is officially licensed by Nintendo, bearing the Nintendo Seal of Quality . The ProBeam uses

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1232-546: The NES Zapper game Barker Bill's Trick Shooting , where he can be shot. In Wii Play (2006) and its sequel Wii Play: Motion (2011), some elements from Duck Hunt and Hogan's Alley are 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 in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U . Masahiro Sakurai ,

1288-614: The NES as a gun game instead of a video game system, and Nintendo Research & Development 1 developed the R.O.B. (Robotic Operating Buddy) accessory toy. On October 18, 1985, the NES was launched in the New York City test market , bundled with the Control Deck, Zapper, R.O.B., two controllers, Duck Hunt , and Gyromite . After successful launch in New York, the NES was gradually rolled out to other major markets in

1344-604: The United States, starting with Los Angeles in February 1986 and followed by other major American cities, culminating in the nationwide launch in July 1986. In June 1986, the original launch bundle was rebranded as the Deluxe Set, and a cheaper bundle was launched with two controllers and Super Mario Bros. Now no longer bundled with every system, the Zapper and R.O.B. were made available for individual sale. In January 1988, at

1400-537: The Video Blaster to give it the same feel. The tip of the Video Blaster's barrel is painted orange, but this coloration is much less prominent than other light guns released in the United States after the passage of the Federal Toy Gun Law. On February 20, 1989, Bandai released the Hyper Shot in Japan. In addition to functioning as a light gun, the controller has equivalents to most of the Famicom controller's buttons; it has B, Start and Select buttons, as well as

1456-454: The Wii Remote's pointer as a virtual Zapper. The Wii U game Splatoon and its Nintendo Switch sequels Splatoon 2 and Splatoon 3 all include several N-ZAP weapons, which are heavily based on the Zapper's design. The N-ZAP '85 and N-ZAP '89 use the gray and orange colors of the Zapper respectively. The N-ZAP '83 appears in Splatoon and Splatoon 2 only, with the red and gold from

1512-588: The Winter CES, the orange Zapper revision was announced (as had been required by the Federal Toy Gun Law of 1987) within the new Action Set bundle of the NES. Also announced was the third-party Zapper game Freedom Force . In June, at the Summer CES, the Power Set was announced for release that year, bundling the orange Zapper. In 1989, the orange Zapper was released. In North America, Bondwell released

1568-460: The Zapper or a controller (such as The Adventures of Bayou Billy , Track & Field II , and Chiller ). Some NES games were co-promoted with or designed for particular alternative light gun accessories. In North America, Laser Invasion came with a coupon for a discount for the LaserScope headset, although it can also be played with the regular Zapper. The Japan-only Space Shadow

1624-487: The barrel to allow it to be wielded using two hands. In 1990, Konami released the LaserScope , a headset accessory for use with the NES Zapper, in the United States and Japan. It is voice-activated, firing a shot whenever the wearer says "fire", although some reviewers criticized its ability to do so. The headset also includes stereo headphones for use with the NES and an eyepiece with a crosshair that sits in front of

1680-515: The cast of Wild Gunman to fire at opponents with their guns, or comically dodging shots fired at opponents from the Zapper. The games feature an unlockable Duck Hunt -themed stage . Both the Duck Hunt team and stage return in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate , and the team is featured in the June 2019 trailer announcing Banjo and Kazooie as downloadable content. In the 2015 film Pixels ,

1736-521: The classic games medley on the Video Games Live concert tour. Designer Hiroji Kiyotake created the graphics and characters. Duck Hunt has been released alone and in several combination ROM cartridges . The Action Set bundle of the NES in the late 1980s has one cartridge containing Duck Hunt and Super Mario Bros. The Power Set bundle includes the Zapper, the Power Pad , and

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1792-483: The company's first successful game, which requires the player to target cardboard ships. Periscope is an early electro-mechanical game , and the first arcade game to cost one quarter per play. Sega's 1969 game Missile features electronic sound and a moving film strip to represent the targets on a projection screen, and its 1972 game Killer Shark features a mounted light gun with targets whose movement and reactions are displayed using back image projection onto

1848-400: The creator and director of the Super Smash Bros. series, said that Duck Hunt ' s commercial success as "the most-sold shooting game in the world" was one of the primary reasons for its inclusion. In the games, the Duck Hunt team utilizes multiple attacks inspired by the light gun, including throwing clay pigeons, kicking an explosive version of the can from Hogan's Alley , summoning

1904-463: The dog cameos as an achievement trophy sent to the protagonists by the aliens following their victory over the enemies of Centipede in London . He is adopted by an elderly woman whose apartment was infiltrated by one of the titular enemies. The premise for the psychological horror VR game Duck Season by Stress Level Zero is inspired by Duck Hunt . A fan game, Duck Hunt GB , was released for

1960-411: The experience of older electro-mechanical gun games into video game format. He said that Duck Hunt and Hogan'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". 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

2016-427: The merchandise if it were not for a risky offer made by [Nintendo of America President Minoru] Arakawa himself—a money-back guarantee." The Wii Zapper peripheral for the Wii console is a plastic casing for the Wii Remote attached to a Nunchuk that is held like a gun for point-and-shoot gameplay. It is not technically or visually similar to the Zapper. The Wii U Virtual Console re-releases of NES games can use

2072-412: The nationwide launch of the NES included the Deluxe Set bundle with pack-in games Duck Hunt and Gyromite . The later Action Set has Duck Hunt and Super Mario Bros. on one cartridge. The final Duck Hunt bundle is the Power Set, with a multi-cart with World Class Track Meet , Super Mario Bros. , and Duck Hunt . The game was released on Virtual Console for the Wii U in 2014. Duck Hunt

2128-570: The orange revision was released in the same year. The Video Shooting Series light gun was released for Famicom in Japan on February 18, 1984, bundled with Wild Gunman , and a holster accessory was released. In January 1985, at the Winter Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Nintendo of America presented the Advanced Video System , a prototype American redesign of the Famicom, which was pitched as

2184-528: The original Famicom controller, but shaped like the Zapper. Light gun The first light guns were produced in the 1930s, following the development of light-sensing vacuum tubes . In 1936, the technology was introduced in arcade shooting games, beginning with the Seeburg Ray-O-Lite. These games evolved throughout subsequent decades, culminating in Sega 's Periscope , released in 1966 as

2240-520: The player to aim at a television set and accurately shoot at in-game targets. The Zapper bridged Nintendo's existing library of hit arcade light-gun shooter games into the NES's launch library. As distinct toys, the Zapper and R.O.B. (Robotic Operating Buddy) were key to the identity of the NES bundle , for positioning the NES's 1985–1986 launch into the North American toy market instead of into

2296-536: The rectangular outline of the game screen. By determining the size and distortion of the rectangle outline of the screen, it is possible to calculate where exactly the light gun is pointing. This method was introduced by the Sinden Lightgun. The positional gun is common in video arcades , as a non-optical alternative to a light gun. The positional gun is permanently mounted on a swivel on the cabinet , as an analog joystick for aiming crosshairs onscreen. This

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2352-403: The same infrared NES receiver as Nexoft's The Dominator MasterControl, a wireless controller including a joystick. The receiver connects to the NES via a cable connected to the controller port; the instructions recommend placing the NES and receiver on top of the television. The ProBeam is bright orange and has a built-in scope with crosshairs. It is heavier than the NES Zapper, but has a grip under

2408-469: The screen blacks out. The computer knows that if the diode detects light as it is drawing a square (or after the screen refreshes), then that is the target at which the gun is pointed. Essentially, the diode tells the computer whether or not the player hit something, and for n objects, the sequence of the drawing of the targets tell the computer which target the player hit after 1 + ceil(log 2 ( n )) refreshes (one refresh to determine if any target at all

2464-440: The screen. The gun must be calibrated, which usually happens after powering up. Early examples of a positional gun include Sega 's Sea Devil in 1972, Taito 's Attack in 1976, and Cross Fire in 1977, and Nintendo 's Battle Shark in 1978. Duck Hunt Duck Hunt is a 1984 light gun shooter video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). The game

2520-524: The sidescrolling platformers Gumshoe and Baby Boomer also support it. In some games, it can be used on the title screen to select a mode and start the game. Some games require the Zapper to be played (such as Duck Hunt , To the Earth , and Shooting Range ), some can be played using either the Zapper or a controller (such as Operation Wolf and Mechanized Attack ), and some have specific shooting-oriented levels that can be played using either

2576-511: The targets are flying ducks, and in Game C the targets are clay pigeons that are launched into the distance. In Game A, one duck appears at a time and in Game B two ducks appear. Game A allows a second player to control the flying ducks with a NES controller . Completing Round 99 in Game A advances to Round 0, which is a kill screen where the game behaves erratically, such as haphazard or nonexistent targets, thus ending progress. Vs. Duck Hunt

2632-445: The targets are in its hit zone. If a target is hit, the game determines which one was hit based on the time of the flash, as each target flashes for one video frame, one after another. The Zapper can only be used on CRT displays ; it will not work on LCDs , plasma displays or other flat panel displays due to display lag . In February 1988, in a review of Gotcha! The Sport! , Computer Entertainer magazine commented that there

2688-427: The wearer's right eye. It was designed for the game Laser Invasion , but works with any game compatible with the NES Zapper. In the United States, Laser Invasion came with a coupon for a $ 5 discount for the LaserScope. The Zapper can be pointed at a television set to interact with on-screen targets in games that support it. Games and game modes that support the Zapper are primarily shooting gallery games , although

2744-420: Was "always demand for a gun game [...] We know our Nintendo owners love games they can use with their Zappers". In July 1988, Computer Entertainer opined that Freedom Force was Sunsoft 's "best game yet. And they've made the best use yet of the Zapper light gun by building a game around a theme that's as topical as the evening news: the taking of hostages by terrorists". Most of its survey respondents who own

2800-402: Was bundled with, and can uniquely use the speakers and haptic feedback of, the Hyper Shot light gun. When the Zapper's trigger is pressed, the game causes the entire screen to become black for one frame. Then, on the next frame, all valid targets that are on screen are drawn all white as the rest of the screen remains black. The Zapper detects this change in light level and determines if any of

2856-409: Was designed with the intention that the NES would be placed on top of the television in order to detect the Video Shooter. Multiple Video Shooters can be used with a single receiver. When the gun is fired, a red light on the back of the gun is illuminated to indicate that a shot has been fired. The gun has a clear plastic sight on top of the gun to assist in aiming shots. In late 1988, the Video Blaster

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2912-712: Was first released in April 1984 in Japan for the Family Computer (Famicom) console and in North America as an arcade game for the Nintendo VS. System . It became a launch game for the NES in North America in October 1985, and was re-released in Europe two years later. Players fire the NES Zapper at a CRT television, with three attempts per round to shoot ducks and clay pigeons . The game initially received

2968-399: Was hit and ceil(log 2 ( n )) to do a binary search for the object that was hit). A side effect of this is that in some games, a player can point the gun at a light bulb or other bright light source, pull the trigger, and cause the system to falsely detect a hit on the first target every time. Some games account for this either by detecting if all targets appear to match or by displaying

3024-529: Was ranked 24th in GamesRadar ' s "The best NES games of all time". Jeremy Parish of USgamer stated that Duck Hunt paired with the NES Zapper "made the NES memorable" and was one of the key factors behind the success of the NES. Parish related Duck Hunt to the Wii Remote in that they made their respective consoles more approachable and reach a wider demographic . Duck Hunt 's nameless non-playable hunting dog has been referred to in media as

3080-492: Was released as a Nintendo VS. System arcade game in April 1984, and was later included in the PlayChoice-10 arcade console. The console supports two light guns, for alternate players. 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,

3136-414: Was released in North America by Camerica . The Video Blaster has the same shape as the Famicom light gun, but different colors and is compatible with the NES controller port rather than the Famicom extension port. The Famicom light gun included weights to make it heavier, which this controller lacks; however, because the two controllers use the same mold, the Famicom light gun's weights can be transplanted to

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