What it was
An outlaw faces you. You wait. When his eyes flash and a speech bubble shouts FIRE!!, you pull the Zapper trigger before he can draw. Fire too soon and the duel is lost before it starts; the game simply moves on to the next one.
Game A puts one outlaw in front of you, Game B two, and Game C a whole gang. That is the full menu. It is a reaction test dressed as a western, and it never pretends to be more.
Where it sits in history
The idea is older than the Famicom. Gunpei Yokoi built Wild Gunman for Nintendo in 1974 as an electro-mechanical arcade machine: a light gun aimed at a 16 mm projection screen showing filmed gunslingers, shot with local extras around Kyoto and at the Nara Dreamland park. Each scene had two reels, one for your win and one for your loss. Around 100 cabinets were sold, and Sega brought it to North America in 1976.
Nintendo turned it into a video game for the Famicom in 1984, swapping the film for cartoon sprites. In Japan it worked with the Beam Gun, a plastic revolver modelled on the Colt Single Action Army, sold with a holster belt. In 1985 it was a launch game for the NES with the Zapper, and it later ran in arcades on PlayChoice-10. Back to the Future Part II shows Marty McFly playing an arcade version that never existed, and Part III reveals that game is why he can shoot a real revolver. Nintendo marked Back to the Future Day, 21 October 2015, with a Wii U Virtual Console release that used the Wii Remote; that store has closed.
How it plays today
It is over fast. Three modes, one skill, and once your reflexes settle there is little left to learn. Like every Zapper game it also needs an old tube television, which is the real hurdle now.
Set up properly, it is still a great party piece. The wait before the flash is pure tension, and the early shot that throws a duel away gets a laugh every time.
Compared with
- Hogan's Alley: The other Zapper launch game about who to shoot, with cardboard gangsters in place of outlaws.
- Duck Hunt: The famous Zapper game; Duck Hunt is about aim, Wild Gunman is about timing.
- Gumshoe: Another Zapper game, from later in the NES years.
Why it matters
Roger Caillois called one kind of play mimicry: make-believe, becoming someone else for a while. Wild Gunman is mimicry with props. In Japan it came with a revolver and a holster belt, so a child in a lounge room could stand like a gunslinger, hand hovering, waiting for the stare to break.
It is a costume as much as a game. The film that borrowed it understood that: Marty's skill comes from playing at being a cowboy until the part became real. Most of us never needed to, but we knew the feeling of the stance.
Read: Who you are when you play →
- Caillois, R. (1958/1961). Man, Play and Games (trans. M. Barash).
What you're levelling up
You have been training these without noticing. Here is how to do it on purpose, and where it pays off away from the couch. All the skills games teach →
Hand-eye coordination
In the game. When the outlaw's eyes flash and FIRE!! pops up, you pull the Zapper trigger before he can draw. Pure eyes-to-hand speed.
Do it on purpose. Play Game C and count how many outlaws you drop per round. Next session, beat the count.
Off the couch. Fast, clean reactions help in sport, driving and catching whatever your mate knocks off the bar. Small competence reads as confidence.
Keeping your cool
In the game. Fire too soon and the duel is lost before it starts. The wait before the flash is pure tension.
Do it on purpose. Keep your finger off the trigger until the flash, every duel. Count your false starts and get them to zero.
Off the couch. Not jumping in too early, in a negotiation or a chat with someone you like, is a strong move. Let them finish. The pause is where you look confident.
Winning and losing well
In the game. It's a party piece best played with friends watching, and the early shot that throws a duel away gets a laugh every time.
Do it on purpose. Pass the Zapper round. When you jump the gun, laugh first, before anyone else can.
Off the couch. Laughing at your own stuff-up is the fastest way to win a room. Works at work and at the pub.
Verdict · 5/10
A one-trick game with a good trick and a strange, long history. Five minutes of high noon, best played with friends watching.
