Duck Hunt

Revolutionary would be the only way to describe this game.  When it first came out it just blew people’s minds.  Adults and kids. The simple idea that you could point a gun at your TV, pull the trigger and get a result was beyond most people’s imaginations.  But hey, it was innovation like this that made Nintendo the giant that it was.

This game, along with Super Mario Brothers, was the first game to ever appear on the Nintendo Entertainment System. So don’t expect amazing, world class graphics here. Expect instead to see perfectly acceptable graphics.

First off, the backgrounds are simple yet effective. Basically, its a blue screen (sky) with green bushes. There isn’t anything wrong with that. The ducks animate very nicely when they fly across the screen, and the dog has a nice design to him. Overall, the graphics in Duck Hunt for the Nintendo Entertainment System are simple yet very well done.

The premise: for some reason, you’re out in a field. You’ve got a loaded rifle and your hound with you. Now, you can choose to practice on clay targets, but that’s just…not right, is it? After all, this game is about hunting ducks. So, you wait for one or two ducks to fly up in the air, and that’s when your gun comes in handy.

The control is simple; you’ve just got the trigger button, so if you can’t figure how to work this game you have problems. You’re supposed to sit from something like 20 feet away from the screen, but that’s a pretty tough deal. The light gun seems pretty accurate, but it’s still surprisingly easy to miss those small, moving ducks. If you do miss, and you will, your dog will come bounding over and laugh at you. Unfortunately your dog’s fur is bulletproof or something, ’cause none of your shots can hurt it. Damn.

You can just hear the animal rights people of the 1980’s just freaking out over this one.  Indiscriminant killing of wild animals was not the most PC thing at the time.  However, their cries were silenced by the millions THUDS as children around the world shot their way to social maladjustedness.

Overall, Duck Hunt is a moderately fun gimmick of a game. The light gun is fun to use, and the control and graphics/sound are good. Playing against yourself (and the dog) is not only hard but also irritating, and in the end you’ll feel frustrated by the fruitless ordeal, but the multiplayer can make for some interesting and fun moments. The biggest problem about this game is that it teaches young ’uns to aim at moving objects using realistic weapons; it’s like some sort of army training camp! The violence of it all repulses me. However, if you can tolerate the mind-numbing horror, you might actually like the game.