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 Duck Hunt is one the most famous
titles ever released on the NES.
It was given away to almost everyone who bought an NES as it was
originally packaged along with Gyromite
in 1985 in the Deluxe Set that came with R.O.B. the robot and the
Zapper light gun. After the
failure of R.O.B., it was packaged along with Super Mario Bros. (on a single cart) for many years leading
this configuration to be the most common cart in existence for the
NES. Finally it was packaged with Super Mario Bros. and World Class Track Meet in an NES
set that included a Power Pad as well.
Due to so many people owning the game from the moment they first
owned their NES Duck Hunt brings
with it some very nostalgic feelings.
It often finds itself ranked on lists of the greatest Nintendo
games ever made but when played today those rankings seem highly
questionable.
In Duck Hunt you and your
hunting dog are on the prowl for ducks.
Depending on the mode you play your pet pooch will discover either
one or two ducks at a time and jump in the bushes to scare them. Once scared, they will fly away – right
into the sightline of you and your trusty Zapper. Each round consists of ten ducks that
you must shoot with a line on the bottom of the screen marking how many
you must kill in order to move on to the next round. The backgrounds are identical in every
round with the only difference being how quickly the ducks fly around the
screen. While fun, the game gets
old pretty fast. There just isn’t
enough variety to keep you interested for more than a little while.
While Duck Hunt proved to be
a pretty popular game, the Zapper never really took off like people
thought it would. There were a
bunch of Zapper games made for the NES but none of them ever became as
popular as this original gangster.
 Positives:
I love using NES peripherals
so I’ve got to say that using the Zapper is a major plus. The controls are pretty decent as
well. It may not be as perfect as
I’d like but it isn’t that hard to hit the ducks that you’re aiming for. The graphics are large and easy to
distinguish, the game looks like it was made a bit later than 1985.
Glaring
Negatives:
Duck Hunt is
extremely repetitive – I often find myself turning the game off before
I’ve actually lost just because my arm is getting tired and I begin to
think about other games I could be playing instead. There also isn’t enough variety in the
backgrounds. I would love to see
an updated version of this game on the Wii where you get new backgrounds
with each level along with other changes as well. Instead every level is exactly the same
but with faster ducks.
Graphics
and Sound: OK
The ducks that you are
shooting are quite large and detailed along with your famous dog that
hunts them down. The background
scenery is decent looking but disappointing since it never changes. The sound is fine but gets abrasive
pretty fast since you have to hear the same little song after every
round.
Gameplay
and Controls: Good
I was surprised with how well
the game controls. It’d been a few
years since I’d busted out the Zapper and I always remembered it being
very difficult to shoot the ducks unless you were  right next to the screen. Thankfully, that isn’t the case – you
just have to figure out how the Zapper works. You can’t move the Zapper around too
quickly or aim it in weird angles.
If you keep the Zapper pointing straight at the screen and move it
a bit slowly you’ll have no trouble killing ducks.
Features:
Three Modes
Like all three of the launch
titles that were Zapper games, you get three different game styles. Duck
Hunt offers up an extremely easy and boring one duck version and a
much more fun and fast-paced two duck version. The two duck version is much superior
because it moves at twice the speed of the other version since you still
only get ten ducks per round. The
third game on Duck Hunt is Clay
Shooting – this game is by far the toughest since the rules are exactly
the same but now you are shooting little clay discs instead of large
ducks.
Fun?:
For Five Minutes
Duck Hunt is so
highly regarded because people remember how fun it was to play back in
the day. What they don’t remember
is that after about ten minutes they got bored and popped in Super Mario Bros. which they then
played for three hours.
Challenge:
It Depends
One thing that is true about
Zapper games is that they can be as hard as you want them to be. If you stand right next to the TV then
the game is incredibly easy. The
further back from the TV you go, the tougher the challenge is. Also, each of the three modes on the
cart provides increasing difficulty levels with the Clay Shooting being
genuinely tough.
Replay:
Definitely
 While only fun in short bursts, Duck Hunt has a replay value that
is through the roof. The game
brings back fond memories and only takes a few minutes to master. This is one that I always bring back
out (but only for a few minutes).
2
Player: Somewhat
The only two-player mode is
that in the one duck version of the game, the other player can control
where the duck flies on the screen.
As boring as that sounds, I remember playing that mode with my
friends somewhat often and having fun with it.
Online
Manual?: Yes at Nintendo Age
You can find every NES manual at www.nintendoage.com
Bottom
Line: Mainly good for nostalgia
Everyone remembers Duck Hunt but most people are
surprised with how boring it is when they pop it in to their NES these
days. This game is good for a
quick five minute nostalgia burst but you will quickly get bored with the
game and put it back on your shelf.
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