Throwback Thursday: Duck Hunt

Happy Thursday Gamers! Today's throwback is a first person shooter and one of our favorite retrogames - Duck Hunt!

Duck Hunt is the infamous light gun/first person shooter game developed and published by Nintendo for the NES console. It was first released in Japan in 1984 and was later released to North America in 1985 and in Europe in 1987. In Duck Hunt, players use the NES Zapper to shoot ducks that appear on the television screen. They are given three shots to shoot the ducks, which appear one or two at a time. If the player shoots the required number of ducks in a single round, he advances to the next round; otherwise, it's game over.

NES Zapper

The game initially received few reviews, but was given mild praise from critics. Duck Hunt elicited a positive reaction from gamers. It's legacy comes from the use of the Zapper and from the "Laughing Dog". The unnamed dog would provoke and retrieve the ducks, but would also laugh at the player when they missed. "Laughing Dog" was named one of the "most annoying characters ever", but his "smugness" has helped him remain one of the most recognizable video game dogs. And even though we couldn't shoot the dog, we still welcome Duck Hunt into GGR's TBT Vault.