Wild Gunman
System: NES
Release Date: October 1985
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
Genre: Light Gun Shooter
Wild Gunman is another launch Zapper game. This is one I actually never played before, but after checking it out, it’s basically the Samurai Kirby mini game from Kirby Super Star. There are three modes of gameplay, A, B, and C.
Game A pits you against one of five different gunmen. The gunman comes on screen and after a moment shouts “FIRE”. You need to draw and shoot him before he shoots you. The manual says it’s against the rules to draw before the gunman does, but what does the game know?! You score more points the faster you shoot your opponent. You have three losses or fouls before it’s game over.
Game B has you facing off against two gunmen. The gunmen shoot at different times, so it’s best to make a plan of who to shoot first. But don’t be too quick, it’s not a guarantee that both gunmen will shout “FIRE” at you. Like in Game A, the fastest draw you’ll face is four tenths of a second.
Game C is entitled Gang. You are in front of an olde tyme saloon with a door and four windows. Each round, you have 15 bullets to shoot 10 gunmen, who appear at different spots. If you take too long to kill them, they take away one of your lives.
I would like to play this with a Zapper on a TV. I could see getting a kick out of having a duel with the gunmen. Unfortunately, Wild Gunman is a $50 game loose and I don’t want to play it THAT much.
Graphics: 3.0
The graphics are definitely better than Hogan’s Alley. The gunmen are animated very nicely and the backgrounds all look more detailed than what I’d expect.
Sound: 2.5
I really like the western song that plays at the beginning of the round. The digitized “FIRE” yelled by the gunmen is a surprise from such an old game.
Gameplay: 2.5
Shoot the enemy faster than he can shoot you. Simple enough.
Difficulty: 2.0
I would say it’s not very difficult until you face the fastest possible time or multiple guys with super fast reaction times.
Fun Factor: 2.0
This would be way more fun in front of an actual TV playing with the Zapper. I admit that, so I bumped the Fun Factor up a bit more than I would give it otherwise.
Overall Grade: 2.4
Wild Gunman gets a high C+ in my book. I think it would have been a great play back in the 80s. Now, it’s ok.