As highlighted by @katewillaert on Twitter, Ben Solovey (thefairshot on instagram) has managed to uncover two reels of 16mm film that were originally part of Nintendo's Wild Gunman arcade cabinet from 1974.
While Nintendo console gamers will probably be more familiar with the NES port of this light gun shooter (or the version that Marty McFly plays in Back to the Future Part II), the original arcade game was created by Gunpei Yokoi and used a 16mm projector to display the various gunslingers you were drawing against. Interestingly, the arcade game came to the US in a joint venture between Nintendo and Sega — you can read all about this unlikely collaboration in a Wild Gunman piece we wrote a few years ago.
Obviously, film stock is fragile stuff and any surviving prints from the original coin-op are approaching 50-years-old now. However, Solovey is in possession of two of the eight reels, as shown below:
Each of the four selectable scenarios — labelled A-D — comprised two reels, and Solovey apparently has everything from 'Film-D':
If you're wondering how a light gun can interact with film stock, your opponents' eyes flash (as you can see above) just before they draw. If you're fast enough to pull the trigger, you'll see them fall to the ground — otherwise, they'll stay standing and you'll be brown bread.
There's no word just yet on the exact plans for the film, but Solovey (a cinematographer) is a specialist in this area, so we'll be keeping an eye on plans for this fascinating piece of Nintendo arcade history.
[source instagram.com, via twitter.com]
Comments 17
Awesome history lesson.
I used to love this game as a kid.(The NES version)
Now this is fantastic. Up until now all footage of this game survived only as a brief part of a scene in some obscure movie or the other.
this so cool. Nintendo has such a rich history when it comes to games. i really do not remember this game. The original Donkey Kong was my first introduction to Nintendo and I have been a fan ever since.
What, you have to use your hands? That's like a baby's toy!
Wow! This is like almost 20 years before Mad Dog McCree, amazing find! And you can see how light gun tech started to advance to moving images, up from physical shooting galleries and self-contained ones. This is fascinating.
I love a good FMV. The one that had me hooked was Texas ground zero……still waiting for limited run to release the switch version.
always nice to see bits and bobs recovered like this, especially fragile timebombs like film reels. there's someone on twitter who does the same for 35mm and below anime I think.
vaguely related--do the old NES box arts with the upscaled pixel art freak anyone else out? the combination of high-res pixels and smooth, normal circles is so weird to me
I played this in an arcade sometime in the 90s. I remember thinking the "graphics" were impressive, and having no idea how to time it right and losing miserably
This is extremely cool! Never heard about this before.
That is actually just a really cool historical find from gaming history. It cracks me up that the shots look like something out of Bonanza.
"If you're wondering how a light gun can interact with film stock, your opponents' eyes flash (as you can see above) just before they draw. If you're fast and accurate enough to aim and point at the big white 'flash', you'll see them fall to the ground"
Not sure if this would be correct? Unlike the game console "light-guns" the arcade versions (and toys) actually did fire beams at a mechanically operated sensor behind the projector (or somewhere else it could be reflected into, or in a toy), rather than sticking the sensor in the gun and the light in the display? I'm not sure a sensor would be able to tell the difference between that flash in the eyes and any other bright spot on a projected image. Seems more likely it signaled when you were allowed to shoot.
Someone ask Jeremy Parish, he probably knows:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dxa2QkZmso
Would be great to be able to play at least some version of this game one day besides the NES/Famicom one I grew up with.
You have to use your hands, that's a baby's toy. To quote Frodo.
@kupocake You’re absolutely right — it must’ve been a simply reaction test. I’ve changed the text. 👍
The fact this game actally used a 16mm projector fascinates me... and not just one but two projectors running at the same time to display either a hit or a miss 😮
What an absolute tragedy if Nintendo hasn't preserved/archived the original footage.
This is just screaming for a glorious 4K remaster.
Imagine that! A remaster of the granddaddy of FMV video games from all the way back in 1974!
And to think that Pong was considered a big deal a mere 2 years prior!
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