Barker Bill’s Trick Shooting
System: NES
Release Date: August 1990
Developer: Nintendo Research & Development 1
Publisher: Nintendo
Genre: Light Gun Shooter
Show off your gunslinging skills in Barker Bill’s Trick Shooting! If you’ve been hounding for another Zapper game, this is something to whet your appetite. Play through five different games to test your accuracy, speed, and reflexes.
You can choose to play Balloon Saloon, Flying Saucers, or Window Pains on their own or string them together in Fun Follies. Balloon Saloon has you shooting balloons as they appear before floating off screen. Flying Saucers has you shooting plates that are thrown by Barker Bill and his assistant, Trixie. Window Pains has a number of closed and open squares and items dropping from above. The farther down you shoot them, the more points you get. Special in Fun Follies are Trixie’s Shot, where you need to shoot coins before a bird can take them away. And Bill’s Thrills, where Bill throws an item at poor Trixie and you have to shoot it before she gets hit.
You start with 10 credits and lose one whenever you miss a target, or when you shoot Trixie, the dog, or the bird. These can be earned back by collecting gems and when you make it to the slot machine level. The more matches, the better!
Graphics: 2.5
Everything looks fine. There are more than an average number of colors on screen at once.
Sound: 2.0
The music is composed well, but there’s not a big variety.
Gameplay: 2.0
Shoot targets. Don’t miss.
Difficulty: 3.0
The targets are mostly fair and it gets more difficult as the rounds increase.
Fun Factor: 2.5
It’s a light gun shooter that doesn’t try to do too much, it’s a good time.
Overall Rating: 2.4
Barker Bill’s Trick Shooting earns a C+. If you like light gun shooters, you’ll enjoy this. I like it, at least.