Duck Hunt
Introduction
Duck Hunt was developed by Nintendo R&D1, the mostly hardware-focused team also behind the NES Zapper light gun itself, with Shigeru Miyamoto directing, Gunpei Yokoi producing, and Hiroji Kiyotake handling the game’s graphics and character designs. It first appeared in Japan in April 1984 for the Famicom and as an arcade cabinet, before becoming a launch-window title for the NES in North America in October 1985 and reaching Europe two years after that. The Zapper itself was a cosmetic redesign by Nintendo of America’s Lance Barr built on top of Yokoi’s earlier Japanese light gun hardware, and together the pairing let players physically aim at a CRT television to shoot ducks that flush out of tall grass, with a hunting dog popping up between rounds to retrieve downed birds or laugh at a missed shot. Its simple, physical, arcade-style gameplay helped popularize light gun games on home consoles and made Duck Hunt a genuine commercial phenomenon, selling more than 28 million copies worldwide and becoming one of the best-selling video games of its era.
