VS. Duck Hunt

aka: Duck Hunt
Moby ID: 7312
NES Specs
Included in

Description official descriptions

Duck Hunt is a shooting simulation where the player goes out with his faithful dogs to hunt ducks. It requires the use of the Zapper light gun. In game modes A and B, players view a swampland from a first-person perspective. The dog scares the ducks out of the swamp, one at a time in mode A or two at a time in mode B. The ducks go flying around in the air and the player has three shots and a limited amount of time to shoot the ducks before they fly away. Each round only allows a limited number of misses in order to move on successfully. As the rounds progress, the ducks begin flying faster and faster, and fewer misses are allowed. In game mode A, a second player can control the movement of the duck using a controller plugged into port 2.

Mode C features target practice on clay pigeons rather than ducks. The perspective and rules here are the same, with only three shots to destroy two clay pigeons before they disappear off the horizon. Destroy enough clay pigeons to move on to the next, tougher round.

Spellings

  • ダックハント - Japanese spelling

Groups +

Screenshots

Promos

Credits (NES version)

6 People

Executive Producer (uncredited)
Producer (uncredited)
Chief Director (uncredited)
Design (uncredited)
Program (uncredited)
Sound (uncredited)

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 58% (based on 22 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.4 out of 5 (based on 104 ratings with 4 reviews)

A great NES game except for this annoying mutt

The Good
I used to play Duck Hunt way back since I first grabbed an NES from my brother. Those were the good ol' days when Nintendo used to have those orange light guns (a.k.a. the NES Zapper) in preparation for both pack-in titles include Super Mario Bros and Duck Hunt. It was a very funny game and that duck always try to be hiding someplace.

The Bad
The only character I don't like is the dog. Once I almost try to beat every level (except the Round 100 glitch), that dog always tries to trick me while I miss another shot killing that duck. And when the screen says "GAME OVER," he wins. Thanks a lot Nintendo for rubbing it in and let this dog tortured my Elmer Fudd dreams.

The graphics may be fun, but who wants to aim while shooting properly? The sound effects were badder than the dog, and the music is far from perfect unless the developers might've gotten this while watching Good Will Hunting.

The Bottom Line
I think it's a perfect example of a game that's so bad, it's good. Because I've been down this road for a while now and while this is Nintendo's greatest master plan to aim players concentrating on a hunting field trip where ducks can always be your best friend, but when this is all said then done, it's going to be a Dog Day Afternoon once this dog mocks at you. I hope Nintendo should put this on the Virtual Console soon and without light guns, you can always use your precious WII-motes to shoot ducks either single or multiplayer. Don't let this Dennis the Menace-like dog happen the same thing to you over and over again.

NES · by Kadeem Gomez (31) · 2014

On the hunt

The Good
This was my second game on the NES and I can still say it is very entertaining. It requires the zapper as a controller, which is absolutely fun to use.

The best part is naturally the light gun. It's just fun to use, especially in a game from 1985. You can stay close to the TV for some ease, or stay back to improve your accuracy and aim.

The clay pigeon shooting adds some nice diversity to the game, as well as the chance to shoot two birds at once.

The graphics and the music aren't exactly spectacular but are pretty good for an NES.

Oh, an naturally everyone loves your hunting dog that will laugh in your face if you don't shoot any birds!

The Bad
The bad part is the repetitiveness of the levels. Nothing changes except for the speed of the ducks, which do get harder and harder to shoot. But that's about it. The game is tremendous fun, but after two rounds of it, you will start to get bored, and even clay pigeon shooting doesn't bring the interest back. I continually go back and play it because it's fun, but it's only good in short bursts.

Also, the necessity of the light gun makes it hard for some people to play, since it won't work with anything else. The controller doesn't react to the game. So even if you have a WORKING NES, with the game, it might be even harder to find a working light gun.

The Bottom Line
This game is actually tremendous fun because we have relatively few good games which use a light gun, and this is the one of the earliest ones. Unfortunately, those without a light gun will not be able to play it. And even then, it may be even better to the the SMB combo to fall back on when you get tired of the game.

NES · by Matt Neuteboom (976) · 2005

Ducks Beware

The Good
The concept, I mean, shooting ducks is fun(in a videogame sense of course). It also is simple which is sometimes a refreshing quality in a game. The clay pigeon shooting mode adds to its playability, and the dog laughing if you miss is a nice touch.

The Bad
The repetitiveness of the levels, nothing drastic really changes. I wont criticise the sound or the graphics because they were fine for 1985.

The Bottom Line
Fun(except for Ducks) retro trip to the past.

NES · by Big C (56) · 2003

[ View all 4 player reviews ]

Discussion

Subject By Date
Arcade or FC release first? Freeman (64827) Jan 1, 2020
MSX port - unofficial? Grandy02 (673) Oct 30, 2010
Don't just play it... wear it! Pseudo_Intellectual (66275) Jun 14, 2007

Trivia

Dog

The Dog is one of the most infamous characters in videogame history. Why?

Well, at the start of a round he sniffs around the grass before diving in. When you're successful, he triumphantly holds your kill. But when you miss..........he laughs. At you. He stands up, points at you and chuckles. There are games on the internet devoted entirely to killing him.

References to the game

In the movie Boyz N The Hood, at Ricky and Doughboy's home, one of DoughBoy's homeboys is playing Duck Hunt with their NES sitting on top of the TV.

But the twist is, he first holds up a pistol, acting like he's gonna kill someone. When he fires, it sounds like it's real, but then in a second, Duck Hunt pops up, showing he's just playing a game. The problem is he didn't use a Zapper, just a real pistol.

Unofficial DOS port

In July of 1996, the underground ANSI art group Creators of Intense Art (CiA) released an unauthorized mouse-controlled MS-DOS port of this game in their 26th pack, downloadable at http://artscene.textfiles.com/artpacks/1995/ciapak26.zip

All game graphics were re-rendered as ANSI art by group founder/leader "Napalm", with programming duties falling to "Wizard of Id".

"Coders Information: þ 884 Lines Compiled þ 57k of Code Compiled þ 15k of Data Size þ 16k of Stack Size þ 100k of Heap"

Unofficial iPhone port

A version for the iPhone, based on the NES version, was made available on 5th January 2009 for $0.99. Ported to the platform through an emulator known as iPES, Lucas Manfield (LawlMart) was able to recreate most of the game. The first version had no sound and recreated the N64 analog stick and NES A-button to control the game. Sound and touch controls were promised for an updated 1.1 version, but Nintendo had the game pulled on 30th January 2009.

Awards

  • Screwattack.com
    • 1 in the "Top Ten Videogame Douchebags" list (for the dog

Information also contributed by Mark Ennis, Robbb"> and [Sciere](http://www.mobygames.com/user/sheet/userSheetId,30979/)

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Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 7312
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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Servo.

Wii U, Arcade added by Michael Cassidy.

Additional contributors: Apogee IV, Alaka, Pseudo_Intellectual, LepricahnsGold, Patrick Bregger, Grandy02.

Game added September 30, 2002. Last modified February 18, 2024.