PixlBit

Get out the Zapper and get ready to shoot some gangsters!

Today's retro game is old (as you can tell from the box art). This classic NES game was released in 1984 in Japan, and was one of the launch titles for the NES in North America in 1985. It was developed by Nintendo and Intelligent Systems, and published by Nintendo. It was one of the few games to use the Zapper, Nintendo's light gun accessory (most noteworthy for being used for that grand classic Duck Hunt). I'm actually fortunate enough to have a Zapper (and this game), which means this blog post is my personal experience, not just with the game, but with my orange little friend.

The title screen will display for a few seconds, then the screen will change to show you the characters of the game. There are three gangsters which you're supposed to shoot, and three civilians (lady, professor, policeman) which you should avoid. The characters are not animated, but simply cardboard cut-outs that move on a holder. It seems lazy, but the presentation works very well. Their expressions have a certain charm to them.

                                                           Beautiful, isn't she?

HA has three main games: Game A, Game B, and Game C (Trick Shot). In order to choose the game you want to play, a regular controller must be in port one, and the Zapper in port two. Let's briefly look at these three games. 

Game A

This game is like a shooting gallery. Three characters will come out at once. You won't be able to see who they are until they're all in position, then they turn and you have just a few seconds to shoot the bad guys. Be careful not to shoot the civilians (I don't know what they're doing hanging out with the gangsters). Upon being shot, the gangster will spin around sporadically (I was hoping he would blow up, but this game is for kids, blast it!). If you hit a civilian, the screen will flash red (but there's no blood; after all, these are just cardboard cut-outs). If you fail to shoot a gangster, the screen will also flash red and the word "miss" will appear below that gangster. The game goes on until you have 10 misses. This is a good warm-up for Game B.

Game B

This is by far the best game of the bunch. The characters randomly appear throughout a revolving scene (which includes a gun shop, a building with four windows, and a fence that says "Keep Out!"). Once again, you have to shoot only the gangsters. This one is much more challenging than Game A. There will be times when you have to shoot two characters one after the other, but make sure they're both gangsters! You can't be trigger happy here. Sometimes a character will move across a certain area, and you must shoot him while he's moving; failing to do so will result in a miss. The same scene will repeat. On Round 3, the colors change and the characters move faster. It's Game Over after 10 misses. This game is pretty fun, and challenging too.

Game C

This game is completely different from the first two. You must shoot tin cans and try to get them to land on one of the three ledges on the left of the screen. The top ledge is worth 300 points, the middle ledge is worth 800 points, and the bottom is 5,000 points. This game is actually called Trick Shot, and indeed it is tricky! Hitting the cans can be tough, which makes you realize how easy it was to shoot those big fat gangsters. I can't blame the Zapper, though; it all has to do with the angle at which you're pointing the Zapper at the screen. This game is truly the real challenge of the overall game.

The Zapper is very accurate. The cord was long enough that I was able to stand about six feet from the TV, which is the perfect distance. Doing the one-eye sharpshooter worked very well for the first two games; it was much harder for the third, but this difficulty would be due to the size of the objects being shot, not because the Zapper was off. Another thing is, I actually stood to play this game! Well you can't shoot a gun sitting down! The Zapper is awesome! This accessory/TV connectibility was possible way before the Wii came along. (I just thought of this: how awesome would it be if someone developed an FPS for the NES which incorporated the Zapper? It would be awesome, but I'm dreaming, right?)

Final Verdict--4 Stars: Recommended

As simple as it is, HA is still a fun game. However, for you to fully experience this game, you must have an NES, the game cartridge, and the Zapper. Don't even try to play this on an emulator, it's not the same. So here's my question, Pixlbit friends: do you have any memories with the Zapper? Duck Hunt, perhaps? Have you played this game? I'm curious to know. If not, don't feel bad.

It's interesting to think that this game might have been a precursor to the FPS genre. Light gun games were huge in the arcades at this time. Hogan's Alley may be old, but it's not forgotten. Shooting cardboard cut-out gangsters has never been more fun, so we thank you for that, Hogan.

Join me every Saturday as we take a look back at all kinds of retro games, good and bad.