Duck Hunt (1984)

Duck Hunt (Japanese: ダックハント, Hepburn: Dakku Hanto) is a light gun shooter video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) video game console. First released in Japan on April 21, 1984, it was later released on October 18, 1985 in North America as a launch game for the NES, and on August 15, 1987 in Europe.

The game was released as a Virtual Console title for the Wii U in 2014. In Duck Hunt, players use the NES Zapper to shoot ducks that appear on the television screen. The ducks appear one or two at a time, and the player is given three shots to shoot them down. The player receives points upon shooting each duck. If the player shoots the required number of ducks in a single round, the player will advance to the next round otherwise, the player will receive a game over. The game initially received few reviews, but was given mild critical praise and elicited a positive gamer reaction. Prior to the NES version, Nintendo also made a Duck Hunt game based on Laser Clay Shooting System released in 1976. It was later a pack-in game, paired with Super Mario Bros. the pack later also included World Class Track Meet.