Gun Fight: Difference between revisions
video game |
Dave Nutting was an engineer and industrial designer, not a computer programmer, Tom McHugh coded Gun Fight |
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|developer = [[Taito Corporation|Taito]] |
|developer = [[Taito Corporation|Taito]] |
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|publisher = [[Taito Corporation|Taito]] (Japan & Europe) <br> [[Midway Games|Midway]] (United States) |
|publisher = [[Taito Corporation|Taito]] (Japan & Europe) <br> [[Midway Games|Midway]] (United States) |
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|designer = [[Tomohiro Nishikado]] |
|designer = [[Tomohiro Nishikado]] (''Western Gun'') <br> [[Dave Nutting]] (''Gun Fight'') |
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|programmer = |
|programmer = Tom McHugh (''Gun Fight'') |
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|series = ''Gun Fight'' |
|series = ''Gun Fight'' |
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|engine = |
|engine = |
Revision as of 07:35, 10 April 2011
Gun Fight / Western Gun | |
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File:Gun fight arcade flyer.jpg | |
Developer(s) | Taito |
Publisher(s) | Taito (Japan & Europe) Midway (United States) |
Designer(s) | Tomohiro Nishikado (Western Gun) Dave Nutting (Gun Fight) |
Programmer(s) | Tom McHugh (Gun Fight) |
Series | Gun Fight |
Platform(s) | Arcade |
Release | Arcade Astrocade Atari Commodore |
Genre(s) | Multi-directional shooter Run and gun |
Mode(s) | Two-player |
Gun Fight, known as Western Gun in Japan, is a 1975 arcade shooter game designed by Tomohiro Nishikado,[1] and released by Taito in Japan[2] and Europe[3] and by Midway Games in the United States.[1][2] It was a historically significant game,[4] and a success in the arcades.[5] It was later ported to the Bally Astrocade console[5] and several computer platforms,[4][6] and has been referred to as "the Halo of its day."[7] Gun Fight's success opened the way for Japanese video games in the American market.[8]
The theme of the game involves two Old West cowboys armed with a revolver and squaring off in a duel. Whoever shoots the other cowboy first wins the duel. Unlike in a real-life duel, however, both cowboys get numerous opportunities to duel in order to score points (one point per successful draw).[2]
Gameplay and story
Western Gun was an early run & gun, multi-directional shooter,[2] that could be played in single-player or two-player. It also introduced video game violence, being the first video game to depict human-to-human combat,[5] and the first to depict a gun on screen.[2] The game also introduced dual-stick controls,[9] using two distinct joystick controls per player, with one eight-way joystick for moving the computerized cowboy around on the screen and the other for changing the shooting direction.[2][10] Unlike later games, Western Gun has the main joystick on the right instead of the left. It was also the first known video game to feature game characters and fragments of story through its visual presentation.[11] The player characters used in the game represented avatars for the players,[5] and would yell "Got me!" when one of them is shot.[11]
Other features of the game included obstacles between the characters, such as a cactus,[12] and in later levels, pine trees and moving wagons; these objects serve to provide cover for the players and can be destructible. The guns have limited ammunition, with each player given six bullets; a round ends if both players run out of ammo.[4] Gunshots can also ricochet off the top or bottom edges of the playfield, allowing for indirect hits to be used as a possible strategy.[4][12]
Development and technology
Taito licensed its game Western Gun to Midway for release in North America, the second such license after the 1974 scrolling racing game Speed Race,[13] also designed by Tomohiro Nishikado.[14] The title Western Gun, while making perfect sense for Japanese audiences in that it conveys the setting and theme as simply as possible, was considered to have sounded odd to American audiences, so it was renamed Gun Fight instead for its American localization.[13]
Tomohiro Nishikado's original Western Gun design was based on discrete logic, like most video arcade games of the time.[1] When Dave Nutting adapted it for Midway, he decided to base it on the Intel 8080, which made Gun Fight the first video game to use a microprocessor,[8] after his company Dave Nutting Associates had already included the first arcade microprocessor in a pinball machine it licensed this technology for, Spirit of '76. Nishikado believed that his original version was more fun, but was impressed with the improved graphics and smoother animation of Midway's version.[15] This led him to design microprocessors into his subsequent games, including the blockbuster 1978 shoot 'em up game Space Invaders.[1] Gun Fight uses a black-and-white raster monitor and a yellow screen overlay.
Series
- Gun Fight (1975)
- Boot Hill (1977)
Ports
In 1978,[16] the game was introduced to the home market with its port to the Bally Astrocade console,[5] which included a color version of the game within the system's ROM.[17] That same year, David Crane programmed his own version of the game, entitled Outlaw, released by Atari for the Atari 2600 console.[18]
In 1983, Epyx ported Gun Fight and another Midway game, Sea Wolf II, to the Atari 8-bit family, and released them in an "Arcade Classics" compilation.[6] In 1987, Interceptor Software ported the game to the Commodore 64 and Commodore 128 computers.[19]
Popular culture
In 1978 movie Dawn of the Dead, Peter and FlyBoy are playing this game at the mall. Peter loses as the allusion of Flyboy is bad shooter in real life.[20]
References
- ^ a b c d Chris Kohler (2005), Power-up: how Japanese video games gave the world an extra life, BradyGames, p. 18, ISBN 0744004241, retrieved 2011-03-27
- ^ a b c d e f Stephen Totilo (August 31, 2010). "In Search Of The First Video Game Gun". Kotaku. Retrieved 2011-03-27.
- ^ "Western Gun". The Arcade Flyer Archive. Killer List of Video Games. Retrieved 2011-04-02.
- ^ a b c d Template:Allgame
- ^ a b c d e Shirley R. Steinberg (2010), Shirley R. Steinberg, Michael Kehler, Lindsay Cornish (ed.), Boy Culture: An Encyclopedia, vol. 1, ABC-CLIO, p. 451, ISBN 0313350809, retrieved 2011-04-02
{{citation}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: editors list (link) - ^ a b "Atarimania - Arcade Classics: Sea Wolf II / Gun Fight". Retrieved 2011-02-01.
- ^ I. M. Stoned (2009), Weed: 420 Things You Didn't Know (Or Remember) About Cannabis, Adams Media, p. 158, ISBN 1440503494, retrieved 2011-04-02,
Before you assume it required you to type things in like "Go North" or "Examine Corpse," you should know that Gun Fight was the Halo of its day.
- ^ a b Steve L. Kent (2001), The ultimate history of video games: from Pong to Pokémon and beyond : the story behind the craze that touched our lives and changed the world, p. 64, Prima, ISBN 0761536434
- ^ Brian Ashcraft & Jean Snow (2008), Arcade Mania: The Turbo-charged World of Japan's Game Centers, Kodansha International, ISBN 4770030789
- ^ Western Gun at the Killer List of Videogames
- ^ a b Chris Kohler (2005), Power-up: how Japanese video games gave the world an extra life, BradyGames, p. 19, ISBN 0744004241, retrieved 2011-03-27
- ^ a b Rusel DeMaria & Johnny L. Wilson (2003), High score! The illustrated history of electronic games (2 ed.), McGraw-Hill Professional, pp. 24–5, ISBN 0072231726, retrieved 2011-04-02
- ^ a b Chris Kohler (2005), Power-up: how Japanese video games gave the world an extra life, BradyGames, p. 211, ISBN 0744004241, retrieved 2011-03-27
- ^ Chris Kohler (2005), Power-up: how Japanese video games gave the world an extra life, BradyGames, p. 16, ISBN 0744004241, retrieved 2011-03-27
- ^ Chris Kohler (2005), Power-up: how Japanese video games gave the world an extra life, BradyGames, p. 19, ISBN 0744004241, retrieved 2011-03-27,
As a game, I thought our version of Western Gun was more fun. But just from using a microprocessor, the walking animation became much smoother and prettier in Midway's version.
- ^ Template:Allgame
- ^ Rusel DeMaria & Johnny L. Wilson (2003), High score! The illustrated history of electronic games (2 ed.), McGraw-Hill Professional, p. 48, ISBN 0072231726, retrieved 2011-04-02
- ^ Brett Weiss (2007), Classic home video games, 1972-1984: a complete reference guide, McFarland, p. 87, ISBN 0786432268, retrieved 2011-04-02
- ^ Template:Allgame
- ^ Mall Arcade (Dawn Of The Dead) on YouTube