Gone Duck Hunting
Most of us know that Nintendo first started out making toys and card games before creating Mario and the team of mascots we all know and love. They produced simple plastic contraptions that engaged families with a sense of fun. This has never been lost through the companies storied history as we’ve seen with the Wii console and, more recently, Labo products. It’s this simplistic approach to enjoyment that has always spurred on the Japanese giant and it’s perhaps perfectly epitomised through the game Duck Hunt.
Before the creators went on to bring us icons like Samus and Kid Icarus, they cut their teeth on ducks and lightguns. Indeed, before Gunpei Yokoi went on to design and develop the Game Boy and Masayuki Uemura had a hand in the NES, they would first work on Duck Hunt on the mechanical toy — which projected ducks onto a wall — before eventually bringing it to televisions across the world. Duck Hunt is the company’s second best-selling game for the Nintendo Entertainment System and while some may balk at the figure of 28 million units sold because of their inclusion with the console, it does nothing to dampen that fact that at the time, it was a technical feat while also being incredibly entertaining and leaving a lasting memory for those who played it.
Before the inevitable revisit to the software in 2012 for the Wii console, it had been many years since we’d grasped the grey Zapper…
