004 · DUCK HUNT
Ranked #3 in our Top 5 NES Games of 1985 →
In this episode, we're breaking out the Ol' CRT in order to play some NES Zapper Goodness. Does it still hold up in 2018? For more on Duck Hunt and EVERY NES game be sure to check out NEStalgiacast.com. At our website you can find detailed information about every game we play, our ESSENTIAL GAMES LIST, and links to our Twitch, YouTube, and more!
Duck Hunt is the first game on the show that you play by pointing a plastic gun at the TV, and it turns out that still works. Joe joined this episode remotely from his parents' house, and with a host missing it was a three-person panel: Mike, Sean and Joe. We started out split on it and ended up agreeing.
What makes it essential
- Shooting things at a screen never ages. Because you really aim, it doesn't date the way a D-pad and two buttons do. Joe expected his childhood memory to let him down and was instead shocked at how well an old light gun game worked.
- The Zapper is clever. When you pull the trigger the screen goes black for a frame, then the ducks turn into white squares, and the gun counts a hit only if it sees the black frame first and then the white. That is an anti-cheat trick, and it is why the game fails on HD TVs, where lag spoils it. With two ducks, each one lights up on a different frame so the gun knows which you hit. Line the sights up and a miss is your miss, a hit is earned. The American Zapper is a futuristic orange gun that belongs to the system, where the Japanese one looked like a revolver and came with a holster.
- Two ducks is the real game. One duck is a learning mode, and it gets interesting with a second player steering the duck. That player can't change the speed, only the direction, and sabotages your score by hiding behind the tree or staying at the top so it flies off sooner. Joe and his friend got to round 17 and played for hours. Two ducks adds the learning curve of tracking both with three shots, and the red and brown ducks leave the screen fastest, so you start choosing which to shoot first.
- Clay discs. Hardly anyone remembers this mode. Joe loved it as a different test: not reflex but accuracy, because the target shrinks as it flies away. The firework burst and the shrinking distance give it a deadline the ducks lack.
Where it's thin
- Standing distance matters. Too far and it won't register, too close and it is easy mode, and holding the gun against the screen makes you unmissable. The Zapper never felt as rewarding to our skeptic as a gamepad, and a hit didn't always feel earned.
- Little variety. More scenery, more obstacles, or more behavior from the ducks would have helped. It can feel more like an activity that happens to need an NES than a game you beat.
- A pile of hardware. You need the cartridge, an NES, a CRT and an official Zapper.
Beyond the game
Duck Hunt reached America three times before the NES: as a projector game, then on the arcade VS. System, and its success there helped convince Nintendo the NES was worth sending over. It came from Gunpei Yokoi, who also made the Game Boy. The Wii U re-release adds a crosshair and turns it into point and click, which we called sacrilege.
The bottom line
Essential. In the Essential Games List vote, Joe said yes right away because he couldn't put it down, and Sean followed. The third vote started out lukewarm, but came around on the argument that Duck Hunt is an essential part of the NES experience, because no other game gives you the Zapper in the same way. It went in unanimously, 3 to 0. If you can track down the gear, it is worth playing with company.
Written from our conversation in this episode.
Found automatically from the transcript and checked, but it can miss things or pick the wrong page. Spot a mistake? Tell us.
Games
- Duck Hunt mentioned at
The episode's game: the Zapper light-gun shooter with duck and clay-disc modes, shown as a launch-era NES pack-in.
- Laser Clay Shooting System mentioned at
Nintendo's 1970s projector shooting-gallery game, the original Duck Hunt idea, shot at a wall with a light rifle.
- VS. Duck Hunt mentioned at
The arcade version on Nintendo's VS. System, whose success helped convince Nintendo to launch the NES in America.
- Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U mentioned at
Fighting game where the Duck Hunt dog and duck appear together as a playable character.
- Duck Hunt (Wii U Virtual Console) mentioned at
The Wii U re-release, which added a crosshair so it plays like point and click.
- Kirby's Dream Land mentioned at
Joe's first game, played on the Game Boy.
- Super Mario Bros. mentioned at
Used as an example of a game with a score that the hosts never cared about.
- 10-Yard Fight mentioned at
An earlier NES game in the show's chronology, referenced in a joke about a shared timeline.
- Monster Hunter mentioned at
Mike's comparison for a hypothetical duck-bestiary Duck Hunt game.
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild mentioned at
Used as the model for a quiet, open-world modern Duck Hunt.
- Call of Duty mentioned at
Cited as an example of the dog-companion trend.
- Life Is Strange mentioned at
The modern backlog game compared with Duck Hunt in the Essential Games List pitch.
- Fortnite mentioned at
Game Joe's brother was playing, which made him wish he had an NES.
- Excitebike mentioned at
The next episode's game.
Hardware
- Nintendo Entertainment System mentioned at
The console the show covers; Duck Hunt's success helped justify its North American launch.
- NES Zapper mentioned at
The light-gun peripheral used to play Duck Hunt, including its futuristic US design and anti-cheat black frame.
- Nintendo Wii mentioned at
Console whose motion-aimed shooting games Joe says he would skip in favor of Duck Hunt.
- PlayStation VR mentioned at
The VR system Mike compares Duck Hunt's real-world aiming against.
- Wii U mentioned at
Console that got a Duck Hunt re-release with an on-screen crosshair.
- Game Boy mentioned at
Handheld that Gunpei Yokoi designed; it was Joe's first gaming experience.
- Virtual Boy mentioned at
Nintendo's 3D headset console, Yokoi's last project and a rough exit for him.
- Nintendo Switch mentioned at
The console where a hypothetical new Duck Hunt would appear.
- PlayStation 4 mentioned at
Console Mike's brother was playing Fortnite on; also named as a modern backlog console.
Companies
- Nintendo Research & Development 1 mentioned at
The Nintendo hardware team that developed Duck Hunt and the Zapper.
- Nintendo mentioned at
The company behind the NES, Duck Hunt and the Zapper.
- Illumination mentioned at
The animation studio making the Mario movie, not Disney.
- The Walt Disney Company mentioned at
Joked about as a future buyer of Nintendo for a cinematic universe.
People
- Gunpei Yokoi mentioned at
Nintendo designer behind Duck Hunt's projector origins, the Game Boy and the Virtual Boy.
Film, TV and music
- The Super Mario Bros. Movie mentioned at
The animated Mario film from Illumination, which had just been announced.
Terms and events
- Light gun mentioned at
The kind of controller the Zapper is, which detects light from the screen to register hits.
- Cathode-ray tube mentioned at
The CRT televisions required for the Zapper to work; HD TVs add lag that breaks it.
- Skeet shooting mentioned at
The real sport the hosts compare the clay-disc mode to.
Other
- NEStalgia Essential Games List mentioned at
The show's list of NES games that define the system; Duck Hunt was voted in.
Auto-generated transcript. Each paragraph starts with its timestamp. Speakers are not identified.
Take aim, fire, and score. It's Duck Hunt.
And welcome to NEStalgia, a chronological exploration of every NES game released in North America. I'm Mike. I'm Sean Tresmond. I'm Joe Castu. All right. And Joe is joining us via satellite for this episode, so he might just be a little late, but for the most part, I think it'll work. Guys, today we're talking about Duck Hunt, that game that kind of came out in America like three times before it came out on NES.
A lot of people don't know that, but Nintendo released it as kind of like this projector game that you shot at the wall with a real gun. And then it also went to the arcades and like the verse system thing, which was like a good thing Nintendo did. And then like... And you're saying you shot at the wall with a real gun. Well, yeah, that's dangerous, but believe it or not, you know, people love their guns.
So they were okay with it. They, you know, completely remortgaged their house and that... Yeah? Yeah, they just had to refinance the house after putting all those bullets in the wall. Okay. But more importantly, and what I was getting at, the success of the verse system version, that actually was kind of the catalyst for Nintendo to decide, like, the NES is worth sending that off to America.
Like, Duck Hunt was the game that kind of convinced them we have like a viable stake in North America. Yeah. And I mean, I don't think it actually even did that well in Japan as opposed to how, you know, because we do love our guns over here. Yeah. And the game kind of does feel American. Yeah. Right? I mean, I don't know about those that like that ever present tree. I don't know if that like, that looks like an Asian tree to me. Yeah, there's no wind in this game. Yeah. You know, the tree never like, I don't even, what's an adjective to describe a tree? Sway. Yeah, swaying. The tree never sways in the wind. Yeah. Okay, but let's just kind of do like first impressions.
So yeah, Duck Hunt is as I remembered it. It was one of the games that I did play in my childhood on the NES. It's still fun to shoot stuff at a screen. It doesn't matter like how old the technology is that that does it. It's still because of its tactile nature. And it's not just like D pad and two buttons. It's you're actually shooting at things. It doesn't really age at the same rate as the rest of these games. That's a good point. Joe? So yeah, my initial impression was actually really, really positive. This, I also played this when I was a kid. And I kind of went into it thinking like, eh, it's probably not as good as I remember.
But it kind of blew my mind. I was shocked at how well this old light gun game worked. And I had a blast. Okay, I kind of have a little bit of a different feel in terms of how well the game worked. Like, it is impressive that the zapper still works and that you can shoot the ducks and everything. But it is kind of, it's still restrictive in some ways. And there's, it's very easy to cheat. And it does become kind of really hard if you're too far away.
But overall, I liked it. I think my first impression was just kind of like, this is, this is what I remember. It wasn't exciting. It did, you know, like, it wasn't any better than when it was, than when I was a kid. So I think we should kind of just really quickly, even though it seems kind of obvious, we should talk about the objective of the game.
Does anybody kind of want to walk us through what you do? All right, I'll give it a shot. So you are trying to get the dog. What? The version I played. Yes? That you're supposed to, you're supposed to shoot the dog, right? Okay, I get it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think everybody would love to shoot that dog. What Sean's referring to is sometimes if you don't shoot the birds, the dog will laugh at you. And this just brings up another useless trivia fact. In the, I think it's the verse system version or it's the original projector version. Yeah, you can shoot the dog. You can shoot the dog. Yeah. In this one, you cannot shoot the dog.
But people would love to do that. Joe, do you want to try and walk us through the objective of this game? Yeah. I thought I'd like to do it as well. It was fun. So yeah, there's three different modes in this game. But the main objective of two of the modes is to shoot ducks. So, you know, you have the one duck version, which is kind of a lot easier than the other, where you're just kind of getting the hang of it. One duck kind of comes out, starts out pretty slow. You know, it zigs and zags, but, you know, it's just your simple target. Right. And then there's the two duck version. And then you have the two duck mode. Yeah. So the two duck version, which I think is much more fun.
Obviously, you have two ducks coming out. They get faster a lot, a lot quicker. But yeah, you have your peripheral gun. So you're actually aiming in real life, which is what I thought kind of set this apart, where it feels like you're kind of, it's kind of a skill based game on something you're doing in real life and not just like aiming within the game. I agree. And I think that's a good point to just jump in and kind of before we go too far into the rest of the game. I'd like to talk just really fast and to bring it up the zapper. I'd just like to talk about that because this is kind of the first game of a few that has the zapper involved in it.
And it's, first off, it's dramatically different than the Japanese version of the zapper. The Japanese version of the zapper actually looks like a gun and even came with a holster. Yeah. So you can just like keep it in there. It was very Wild Westy. Yeah. And then this one, the American version is actually, it's cool. It's futuristic. Yeah. One of the things that I've, I've heard people talk about when they talk about the change in the design of the zapper is that it's, it's like genre proof.
Like it looks like it's a part of the system and not a themed item for a specific game that you're playing. Yeah. That's a great, yeah. That's actually a great way of describing that. Yeah. So I would say that it was a good thing that they did that. I still would have thought it would be fun to shoot with like the, the little like six shooter thing. Kind of makes you wish that they did release like other, I'm sure there's a bootleg products, but like official versions of the zapper at the time, at least. That's not useful anymore.
Well, my favorite part about the zapper is that is the, just how well the, just the two sites line up. I mean, if you look down those two sites, it's then, and if you look down those two sites and you miss, the way I felt from everything I played, if you miss after looking down those two sites, you missed. Like I never. So you felt very rewarded and vindicated when you got a shot. Right. Like you felt like I deserve that shot. Like I shot that dump. Exactly. It never felt like when I missed, I could always tell like, yeah, I did miss. Like it never felt like the game screwed up or like the game wasn't accurate enough.
And then when I hit, I felt like, yeah, I hit. I got to wonder if I'm missing something. I got to wonder if I'm missing something there. You do play on a CRT. I didn't look through the, yeah, I did play on a CRT, but I didn't look through the crosshairs that you're talking about. I kind of, I shot more with like a squinty eye. Right. So if you look through those crosshairs, that's, I mean, what I found is like you, that's how you can know you're being as accurate as possible.
See, I found, I always had, um, the way that I played the game is you just hold it up to the screen and then you don't miss. It doesn't matter. You will never miss. Yeah. It doesn't matter what, like how the actual crosshair lines up. That's actually a great way, uh, Sean, to feel really good at a video game. It's just to, I've never felt better about a video game than when I cheat.
That's true. It is very easy to cheat in this game, but I, but I will say it's, it's kind of interesting that they built in a, an anti-cheating device, even though it's still so easy to just hold it up to the cheat, to the screen.
But, uh, if you were to just shine a flashlight in the light gun, the way the light, real quick, the way the light gun works is that when you pull the trigger, the ducks turn into white squares. And if the gun senses those white squares, it's a hit, which is kind of genius. Right. So if you could, if you could just shine a flashlight in there, it would always sense it as a hit. So what it does is when you pull the trigger, it actually has one quick black frame and then one quick white frame. Oh yeah. So if, if it doesn't sense the black frame first, it knows you're not pointing it at the screen and it automatically counts it as a miss.
Wow. That's really cool. Which is also why it doesn't work on like HD TVs because there's a little bit of lag. One of the very first frame perfect inputs. Exactly. Wow. Oh, and one real quick thing. I have to give a shout out to my zapper because it's not the gray one. I actually had the orange one and I really. I think that was, I think that was, um, more common. Really? Because they. I actually don't know if I've ever seen a gray one.
Yeah. I've only seen the orange one. Because I think during. It's more of the NES colors. Yeah. I think during the eighties, um, like some law was passed that all mock guns had to have that orange bit. Oh, right. Like, and they would have that red tip too. Trying to wear that. Yeah. So I think this was them just going like, we're going to make the whole thing orange.
All right. So that, that's it for the zapper. Uh, but let's talk about the game modes. First, let's just start very fast with the, uh, first mode, which is just the one duck.
Uh, anybody have any strong feelings about this? Strong feelings about one duck? Uh, well, actually that's what the mode is called too. It says like one duck and then the second book, two ducks. And it's like, okay. So, so my only particularly strong feelings about this is, I mean, first of all, it's very easy. This, this is the mode that you use to like, oh, to figure out what the game is to, to practice. It's definitely like a learning mode. And you'll see this kind of in almost every NES game that has like a mode A and a mode B. Right. It's like mode A is more like you learning the game. It's a little more friendlier.
And then like mode B is kind of like, okay, you want to challenge. This is what you get. Right. But what I didn't know when I was a kid, someone just told me, you know, recently before I played it this time is that a second, in one duck mode, a second player can control the ducks, which blew my mind. I did not, I never knew that you could do that. I think I remember doing that. Did you have someone to do that with? Yes. Yeah. So I actually played this at a friend's house and I think that might be part of why I'm so positive on it is playing this with a friend and competing and going back and forth was a, it was just, it just didn't get old because it's just that, you know, nature of competition.
Um, but yeah, so we, we controlled the one duck and I will say for the first, maybe 10 rounds, it's kind of useless to control the duck because he moves so slow anyways that. What is your, yeah. What's your like range of control on the duck? Cause the duck in the game already has like some pretty interesting diagonal paths. Right. I can't imagine you being able to pull off with the NES controller.
You, so you, you can, um, the only thing is you can't change the speed, but you can change the direction on like whatever six points or whatever the, whatever it moves. Right. Um, but so once it gets to maybe around 10 and it starts to speed up, that's when suddenly the second player feels like they can screw over the first player a little more easily because it's moving faster.
So like I would do little things like I would try and stay at the top of the screen. So when it was ready to fly away, it would just fly away immediately. It wouldn't have to cover the distance of the screen. Right. Or sometimes I would just try and hang out behind the tree. So it was harder to see the duck.
It's only little, little things that you can, that you can really do, but it's, it's, it's a fun, you know, it's a fun aside from the rest of the game. Okay. Uh, Sean, any feelings on one duck or should we move on to two duck? I think everything that can be said about one duck has just been said. That's, that's beautiful. And so let's move on to two ducks.
Kind of the real mode here is we're all alluding to. I definitely feel like this is a duck hunt at its purest. I think if you did three ducks, that would be like way too much. Yeah. Uh, and especially considering you only have three shots too, it'd just be like a major challenge. But I really respect kind of like the randomness of the pattern of the ducks too. Like even right off the bat, even though they're not going too fast, you still have, there's a bit of a learning curve there because you have to kind of follow both ducks while still only being able to shoot at one. I mean, was anybody able to shoot both ducks down at the same time? Is that even possible? I don't think they overlap.
So, Oh, you mean that with one shot, right? With one shot. Like I just, I was trying to do that, but it wasn't happening. Like there was never a time where I could perfectly hit them both. I, because of the technology, I don't think that like, it would have just any information. The one. Yeah. Right. Because, well, that's another, uh, thing about the, not to get back into the gun, but it, No, I love it. Keep going. When there's two ducks, um, it'll do black frame.
Then one, the first duck will light up in one frame and the second duck will light up in a different frame. How does it know? Oh, I, I, I, sorry. I almost asked a really dumb question. I get it. Yeah. So it just depends on which, which frame it senses the light and it knows which duck you hit. Did anybody play this game like for the high score? Like was anyone trying to chase a certain score or anything? When, when I was playing, I really didn't care about the score. I just wanted to keep like seeing how much faster the ducks would get.
I never really checked on my score. I couldn't even report to you what my high score is. No. Yeah. Same thing. I don't think that just because of like what we grew up with, we even, we do even, do you pay attention to scores in any game? I rarely pay attention to scores. Especially when they're like that big. If I was on a board in a new game, maybe. Yeah. Like I'll pay attention to the score. But in these games, I, I, no, I was never, and I think like I was also never good enough to care. Yeah, exactly.
So I wouldn't have. I mean, you can, you can even like, I know this is going out of, out of episode, but if you look at Mario, I mean like there are scores in Mario, but did you ever care about your score in Mario? It's often, they just like, it's an arcade thing. Yeah. You know, like the idea of like having a high score, putting your initials in the cabinet,
like that was something that was still like, even though that's really only appropriate at the arcade, consoles did it as a way to kind of like keep that. Bring your friends over. Right, right. And keep that arcade experience at the house. Mm-hmm. So, you were going to say? Yeah. So I wouldn't have cared about the score. I really never cared about the scores. But like I said, because I was playing with a friend, we were competing back and forth to beat each other's high scores. So it was kind of like a back and forth, like who could get the higher score.
So I think in that sense. Do you know like what score you landed on? Yeah. It tells you, it'll tell you the last, the highest score. Oh no, I just meant like, what, yeah. What was your score? Oh, do I know right now? No, I don't remember. It probably wasn't anything that great to anyone who plays this game more often than I do. Yeah, nothing impressive, right? But we got, on two ducks we were able to get, I think the highest we have ever gotten to like round 17. I don't remember the score. But yeah, that's, it did get significantly harder because at a certain point you're just, you can't miss like, you can only miss one duck. And I'm sure the further you go, you could probably not miss any.
Yeah. And they, and they appropriately reward you though too, you know, the points become more valuable as you move on through the rounds and even a perfect becomes worth more. Well, yeah. And a perfect, even from the beginning, I'm pretty sure a perfect is worth more than, more than the amount of the whole round. Like if you get a perfect, you double. And that's important, right? Yeah.
Okay, cool. Uh, anybody else have anything on two ducks? No. All right. Cool. Well, the only other thing just that I noted too, sorry, I've got a lot to say about duck hunt, but, uh. I want, I want to hear it. The, uh, the, the different colored ducks go and they leave the screen more quickly. The brown ones. Yeah. Well, the, the, there's, I think there were black, blue and red.
Well, brown, I guess brown, red. Yeah, blue is, blue is like the first one you usually see. Right. And then I, I remember, um, I remember the brown ones. I'm sure there are black ones, but, uh, yeah. So they, which, which one was like the hardest, I guess. I think the red brown ones, I think they were the, they left the screen the quickest, but it, but I just thought it was interesting. There were three different like levels.
So at a certain point I was like, okay, which one do I shoot first? Because it's going to leave sooner. You know what I mean? Right. Yeah. That is kind of like, I was kind of, when I was playing this game kind of had a beef with it because I didn't feel like there was like enough programmed into the ducks, like to like, or even like variety. But it's kind of funny that you mentioned that. And only now am I realizing that that's true.
Yeah. The colors of the ducks and the flyway. And it's, it's, it's subtle enough that it's kind of, it's kind of nice. Yeah. I have noticed you, you do have, you do have some beefs with this game. What was the, what were the things that you were kind of calling it out on earlier? So I was calling it out mainly on the, the zapper functionality and that one thing that, and this happened to me even as a kid, but basically if you're, if you're standing way
too far away, you won't be able to register for the most part. And if you're standing too close, it's almost like playing on easy mode. So you do kind of have to find that perfect rhythm, but even, even that said, and this could just be me being bad at it. The zapper as like a, as a controller feels like less rewarding than the NES gamepad feels with the other games. Like I feel like when something clicks with me on the NES gamepad, it's like, to me that's
gaming and that's like me getting in the groove with the zapper. When I got a shot, I was never, I never felt like certain, like how Joe did. I never felt so certain that like I earned that shot. And then there were other times where I kind of felt like, uh, I had that. That was my shot. You know, like, yeah. I think you were also saying, uh, that you didn't think that there's enough to the game, right? Right. I feel like the, the two duck mode is definitely like a significant improvement on the first one, but I would have just liked to even see like more obstacles or different, different scenery, you know, like something different.
What Joe was saying about like how it, I mean, it can definitely have fun with this alone, I think. But like, as that, um, it's less like the, yeah, the score is there, but it's less of a, like, Oh, I'm going to beat duck hunt where it's more like, uh, no, this is more of like an activity that you just happen to have to have an NES to do. I like that perspective. Joe, do you have anything to add? Yeah. Well, I also feel like it was something where, like I said, I feel like throughout the night while I was playing it, like I got better at it or so it felt like I was actually, even though it's still just a video game, like it felt like I was actually improving.
It was just so much more rewarding. So I was doing something in real life. You know what I mean? I mean, I'm sure it doesn't really translate to shooting a gun, but like, I felt like it must've been accurate because I was getting better at it. How, you know what I mean? Um, is this better than, is this better than like a VR experience today?
I think, I think that, so I've never really been in like an actual like PlayStation VR or anything, but I think, and this might not be a popular opinion, but I would probably play this over most things on the Wii. On the Wii. Okay. Yeah. So, so that's what I was kind of comparing it to. I couldn't believe how well it worked. And also, you know, just to, to talk real quick about, um, about the idea that there's not a lot to do or that you would get bored quickly. And maybe it's because I was playing with someone else, but man, we, we played this for a while. Then we went out with a couple of our friends and then we told our friends we were playing it and we went back and we played it for like another few hours. Like we were. Wow.
Yeah. And cause there's just so many, you know, I felt like there was kind of a lot you could do. You could do the, you can do the one duck, which is like easy mode, just easier way into it. Then you can do one duck with a second player, which you're not competing for score against each other. That is a cool, that is a cool addition that I wish I would have been able to take part in. And what's interesting is that you're not competing against each other for score. One player is trying to sabotage the other player's score, which is like something that you don't see very often. Yeah. And then you've got two ducks. Who was more successful in that mode? The, probably the zapper, right? Oh yeah. It was a lot harder to be the duck.
It was really more, it was really more like, oh, this is my score without a player. This is my regular score. How much worse can the second player make you do? You know what I mean? Sounds like a good drinking game where the person who plays the duck has to take a shot every time they get shot. There's another one. We have, we have a whole list of NES drinking games. Yeah. We should actually do like a little, like, um. A write up. Yeah. That should be a write up of NES drinking games.
Okay. You guys, you guys are talking pretty good about Duck Hunt. And to be honest, I'm liking a lot of your arguments. Like, even though I'm not too jazzed about this game, as we like to say sometimes on this podcast, I do think that you guys have like sound reasons to like Duck Hunt. Right. And one thing that I want to suggest too is that try playing it with, by looking through the sites. I guess, I maybe you'll still, maybe we'll just still have different opinions, but I think you might notice that it, it feels really good. It feels better. To go through the sites. Yeah. At least that's how I felt. I felt very satisfied.
You could also make this a lot more in, uh, you can make this game a lot more interesting by like having self-imposed rules. Like you can actually, like I know that the, uh, the Japanese version had the holster. Like try like, uh, between, uh, between rounds, keep it at your belt. Right. Yeah. Like a quick draw kind of thing. You can, you can do a lot with this game. It's not just what's in the code.
It's kind of, yeah. You, you needed to use your imagination back then. Yeah. And I feel like you guys are making me feel like I let the game down. I think I failed the game. I think you failed Duck Hunt, man. Failed Duck Hunt. We'll have to, we'll have to give it another year and I'll do a re-review where I just admit that I was wrong and that Duck Hunt is incredible. Uh, so let's just talk because we're talking a lot about the ducks. Let's talk about clay discs.
Oh yeah. That's another mode in this game that I feel like no one really knows about. Like if you, you know how like when you go on people on the street and you talk, you know, you ask like a question about something and it's like for a very obvious topic. If we brought in like Duck Hunt people who played it in their childhood, I bet they wouldn't be able to tell you, oh yeah, that had a clay disc mode. You know, like people just don't really, you don't see that image too often. Nintendo really doesn't mention it that much. Yeah. No, I vaguely remember, um, happening upon it and then getting angry because that wasn't the mode I wanted back in, like back when I was a kid. It's much more fun to be shooting live targets than, uh, these clay discs.
Uh, Joe, obviously, uh, for someone who had the most of the game, I think that's the most value out of this game. Where do you, uh, put the clay discs in respect to the rest of the game? So I do want to say, I promise I'm not just like a Duck Hunt fanboy.
Like I haven't played this in years. But clay discs was the best mode ever. I really, I can't say best, but I really enjoyed the clay discs too because it offered something different than the ducks where it felt like with the ducks, it was like test your, you know, test your reaction and your reflexes. Like how quick can you keep up with the duck? Like where the discs was like testing your accuracy more like cause the target gets smaller and smaller. And so there, you know, me and my friend Mark that played this, we kind of said that like there was nothing really more satisfying than missing a shot on a clay disc and then slowly
zeroing in on it and then squeezing the trigger. And you feel like, I mean, I feel like I'm like an assassin. Like I feel like it made me feel like I was really, you are, you are doing like, you're doing beautiful things to duck hunt. You really are a duck hunt shill. You should be like a duck hunt archivist. You know, like, just like, uh, you should buy every NES copy of duck hunt and just like keep it for yourself. So you have the whole collection. If I could, I would, I would do that. Here, here's the one satisfying thing about the clay discs for me.
Uh, first off, I really liked the sense of draw distance in that. Like that was kind of cool to like, even though it was just changing the size, it did kind of feel like, Oh no, I have to like, I have to hit this target. It's vanishing. Whereas like the ducks just kind of decided after a while, like, I'm gone.
Yeah. Peace out. Like, you know, like the clay disc, you actually like felt like an alarm, uh, in you to like shoot them before it was too late. Now, uh, the other thing I really liked about the clay shooting was kind of like that firework explosion. They make when you blow them up, you know, they just kind of like, it's definitely satisfying. Yeah. That is a, that, that looks nice. And it, and it sounds, it feels more rewarding than like, and then don't get me wrong. It's kind of cool to see the duck to like pose there for a second as dead.
Uh, no, it looks more startled. Like it's like, Oh no. Yeah. Okay. I'm dead. Would be like, that would actually be, this is rated G. That would be incredible. When you shot the ducks and duck hunt, you just saw like their bloodied massacred bodies.
Yeah. That would be bad. I know. I mean, thank goodness. Nintendo never included that, but, um, there's that. Uh, anything else on clay discs? Uh, yeah. The only other thing I have too, is that, um, of course it, it felt like there were a kind of two ways you can play that too, where you could test your reflexes. Like as soon as they come out on some point of the screen, see how quickly you can shoot both of them, but then you're more likely to, to actually miss.
Or you can kind of test your, you know, your accuracy on smaller targets, like take your time zero in on it, but then the target gets smaller and smaller. So you're less likely to actually like jump and shoot too soon, but you're more likely to miss because the target's so small. So it did feel like there were two different ways to sort of play that or even just like there was a punishment for missing right away. Right. No, and that's what I agree on. I definitely think. That sounds like, um, it sounds like it's the, it's the same philosophy of actually skeet shooting. Like I don't, I've never done it before, but it sounds like it could be applied to the actual like sport.
Right. Or activity. Yeah. So it seems like it translated well. Yeah. All right, cool. Um, I do have some stray thoughts. Oh, I'd love to hear some stray thoughts. I do think that even though I did say that, um, over overdone joke about shooting the dog, I think the dog gets a bad rap. Um, because yeah, he snickers at you when you miss, but he also seems to be genuinely happy for you when you, when you, when you actually hit that duck and he's like, Hey, look what I got. Like it looks, he's, he's there with you. And I think he's laughing with you and not at you. He is part of the experience for sure. I actually feel very close to the dog. The dog. Yeah.
Like I, I don't want to say that like, you know, I thought about the dog when the game was off. All right. And you know, cause that's not true. That's like a Joe thing. I guarantee you, Joe actually had a dream where he went out. Uh, into his backyard and the dog hopped over the bushes and he started shooting at duck violently. I'm convinced it wasn't a dream actually.
Oh my gosh. Any other stray thoughts? I think, uh, I think that's really it. I think, I think my only, I mean, this might not necessarily be a stray thought, but, uh, so I was, uh, you know, I'm, I'm actually right now, uh, remote because I'm at my parents' house. I'm visiting my parents' house for the week and I was watching my brother play Fortnite on the PS4. And I just kept wishing I had an NES with me so I could play duck hunt. So I felt like, I felt like that was such a testament to how good this game still is. Like I love it. They're playing a PS4 and I'm just like, I want to play this NES game.
Yeah. That, that's, that's a beautiful thing, Joe. And, and I think that kind of brings us into what our, our next topic will be. But real quick, I have to bring up because it's just something as a smash brothers guy, I have to bring it up. Duck hunt as a character is in super smash brothers for Wii U and 3DS. Like, like the dog and the, and the duck that have forged an alliance. They forged an alliance together. It feels kind of wrong. Yeah. It should have been the dog and me with a gun. That should have been the actual smash brothers character. Well, it may be like a prequel before the dog betrayed the duck. Oh wow. So wait, that puts everything in the smash brothers universe and all the other games in everything is before.
Yes. Duck hunt is the end all. We never, yeah, we're playing the games chronologically, but we've never decided to create like a Nintendo cinematic universe. Well, I think we'll smash brothers just is that, you know? But I guess what I meant more is like the timeline of these games. So like, where does duck hunt play in relation to my fight against the Super Bowl team in 10 yard fight? Like, do they happen on the same day? I think it's not far off. It's probably within the same calendar year. Okay, great. Uh, I think we're gonna have to wait for Disney to buy Nintendo to see the cinematic universe.
Well, they did just announce that Mario movie, but, uh, that's not with Disney. That's with illumination, but we're not going to talk about that. No, that's not for this. Uh, but I have to mention just real fast that like, what a surprise that was to get duck hunt as a character back into smash brothers. And while that's a modern game, I would love to get takes on two people that are very jazzed about duck hunt. I'd love to get your guys take on what would a modern, like they, if they made another duck hunt game, Nintendo announces duck hunt for switch, right? What is it? What does it have? What are the features that put it in a modern game?
So it's full blown simulation. Um, you, uh, beautifully rendered ducks. Okay. There's actually like a mode that you go into. That's just like a duck bestiary. And they're actually like different sub genuses of duck. And it's really just a love letter to ducks. Right. It's kind of like monster hunter for ducks.
But the dog, like, you know how like 2016 or maybe it was 2015 was like the year of the dog companion, like with call of duty having like a, a dog thing. Right. And they, they're going to sell like the dog is going to be the new, like that is the companion to end all companions. If they made this game. I imagine it being like open world, kind of like open world style graphics, you know, where it's like beautifully artistic and like, or you, you, you seem like you were focusing on like very hyper real graphics, very hyper real. I think that what it's a very Nintendo. I know Nintendo personally. Yeah. Okay. Wow. Um, yeah. So it's going to be, you walk around.
Um, it's actually, there's no music. It's, it's a very, um, uh, what's it's, it's, it's, it's a very, it's, it's quiet. It's soothing sort of like breath of the wild, but, um, and then you, you switch modes. Um, when you, when you find a, a good spot with that, we like, there will be that tree. And then it just kind of becomes like that 2d plane again.
And then you look, and then you look down and you're holding an NES controller for some reason. Uh, I like the idea that you, that you have to, that you have to track the ducks. There's a duck tracking element that's introduced. Yeah. It's like, yeah. In case they get away. And I actually, yeah, I really liked this game now and I kind of hope Nintendo gives us Duck Hunt 2 for the Nintendo. I'll tell you what I hope it's not because they, 2d Breath of the Wild.
That's perfect. That's actually beautiful. Yeah. Uh, Joe? Uh, no, cause they did re-release. I mean, it wasn't a remake, but they re-released it for the Wii U. Yes. The only, the only. We don't talk about that console. People are, people are still upset, Joe. They paid a lot of money for that console. Right. Well, I mean, and Duck Hunt's not as good on the Wii U. They added a crosshair. So it's just a point and click game. You're just clicking on ducks. Right. That seems, that seems a little, um, sacrilege as a way to play this game.
Yeah. Uh, so real fast, uh, Duck Hunt was developed, uh, by Nintendo R and D, but also specifically by Gunpei Yokoi, who, uh, actually is more famously known. I mean, Duck Hunt was like his passion project all the way from the seventies with the projector version. But that's really the guy who's behind the Game Boy. Yeah. You know, like, so he wasn't just designing innovative, like software, like Duck Hunt, where it's, you're shooting at the screen. He came up with that whole system. You also have like him designing like hardware. Yeah. Pretty much put Nintendo on the map. I mean, Game Boy, that was my first experience to gaming was with the big fat Game Boy, but! That was the first game? That was my first experience.
Wow. Wow. Uh, with, uh, with, um, Kirby's Dream Land. That was my, uh, that was my first game. Uh, but I just thought that was worth mentioning. Uh, Gunpei Yokoi, um, he continued to develop, to develop stuff for Nintendo for a long time until I believe the Virtual Boy, uh, was kind of his last thing. And it was kind of, it was kind of sad. It's a, um, it's a less than graceful exit for Nintendo. He kind of had to leave after that. And it is disappointing to see the company treat him that way, uh, after his advancements with the Game Boy and everything. But I just thought that was worth a mention. Let's, uh, let's get right into Essential Games List.
All right. It's Essential Games List. Uh, we're in episode four now. So you guys should really know what this is. I mean, come on, you've been listening to every single episode, right? Well, if you haven't, here's what the Essential Games List is. Essentially, we're looking to, essentially, here's what the Essential Games List is. That's good, that's good. I'm a character. Basically, you have your PS4, you have your PC, you got all these great games. You have your Nintendo Switch too, why not? And you're playing all these great games, your backlog's already huge, and then you hear about a game like Duck Hunt, and you're like, huh, should I play Duck Hunt when I have access to Life is Strange?
I'm always gonna try and just go weirder. That's the most obscure comparison. With games. Should I play Duck Hunt when I have Life is Strange in my backlog? And basically, we're here to tell you if you should, if Duck Hunt is essential. And that doesn't mean that if we say it's not essential, that you should skip it. We're just saying that, like, essential games means this defines the NES. This is a, this is still a relevant game today.
Uh, let's kick things off with Joe. Joe, I have a strong suspicion about where this essential games list is going, so let's hear it. Well, here comes the twist. No, there's no twist. Uh, yeah, I obviously am putting this on my essential games list, or voting for it to go on the essential games list. Uh, I think just the fact that, that I couldn't put the game down. I mean, I was, you know, I, I think that there was a, it offered a lot, it didn't get boring, and it was just fun to compete with other people.
Um, the only issue with, with that is it, it might be a little tough to get your hands on, because you do need the original cartridge, you need an NES, you need a CRT TV, and you need, like, an official Nintendo Zapper. So. But you're saying all of that's worth tracking down to play this. I think all of that's worth tracking down to play this, because you have it, and it's just, it'll be fun, you know, you can just keep busting it out whenever you have company over, and you can compete against everyone, you know, it's, um, I think it's worth it. If you can track that stuff down, definitely worth a play.
Alright, so it's in Joe's essential games list. Sean? I'm going to, uh, I'm going to put it in the essential games list. Oh, there it is! I, I think, yeah, it is difficult to, it's a difficult game to find and play correctly, but, um, this is, uh, like I said near the beginning, like, this, this game doesn't age like the rest of them, because of just the nature of it, and I really do, like, as I was explaining that, that sort of joking, um, remake sequel, I really want to play that now. Yeah. Um, but, yeah, this, this is actually in the essential games list now. This is, and that's true, one thing we didn't mention is that it just takes a majority vote here to get into the essential games list, so two out of three does do it.
However, I had a come to Jesus moment, uh, when talking about the essential games list for a minute. You guys were bringing up great points, and I was like, yeah, it's a, it's a good game. It's a good game. But then I said what the essential games list is, and the key word there is that it is an essential part of the NES experience. And I do feel like Duck Hunt is essential to the NES. I do feel like no other NES game gets the zapper, which is a key component of, like, NES launch and just, like, the concept of, like, playing Nintendo. And so, when, when I think about the essential experience for the NES, I think this game offers it. And while I went back and kind of had my fill, I do think that if, if you're curious about
Duck Hunt and you haven't played, this is a game worth playing again. Yes. You know, uh, it, it made up what Nintendo was at that time. It's still kind of, it feels Nintendo. Uh, but overall, I have to put this in the essential games list because I feel like if you're interested in Duck Hunt, if you're interested in the experience of the NES, this game is still worth playing. So I know that we're down a person, but since it's unanimous, is this, does this get gold? This gets gold. This is gold. This is, this is unanimous. I, and I want to thank both of you for really turning this ship around. I just got the chills.
Yeah. Duck Hunt, my favorite game of all time. No, I'm just kidding. But Duck Hunt is essential. I'm loving it. Duck Hunt is 1985 game of the year right now. Yeah. Until the rest of the games get reviewed. Uh, but yeah, that, that was really cool.
Uh, guys, thank you so much for, um, contributing to today's episode. Thank you. Yes, thank you. And that's all the time we have for this episode of Nostalgia. Join us next time for Excitebike. And be sure to play it yourself if you can. For more Nostalgia, please subscribe to our podcast wherever you listen. And be sure to check out NostalgiaCast.com. That's N-E-S-T-A-L-G-I-A, cast, dot com.
There, you'll find links to the show and show notes, as well as our other platforms, such as Twitch, where we do semi-regular let's plays of the games we talk about here. We also have YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook. Thank you so much for your support of Nostalgia. We thank you for spending time with us. I'm Michael Esposito. You can find me on at Esposito Film on Twitter, and I'll talk to you soon. The End
