Here’s one of those legendary NES titles that was something of a technological marvel back in 1985. You got a gun with the game and the Nintendo Entertainment System.

We had our NES around 1989 onward and have clear memories of playing this one. It’s all rather primitive now, but in the late ’80s it was cutting-edge stuff. The result is an iconic retro gaming title with unique qualities that have turned it into a legend.

Having a Quack at Duck Hunt

Although it looks basic these days, this warped our tiny minds back in the late 1980s. We can’t remember when we first played it. Probably 1988 or some such.

Whatever, the game was packaged with the Super Mario Bros. on the NES as a weird gaming combo. Accompanying Duck Hunt was the NES Zapper, a toy gun you could point at the screen and shoot at the digital ducks.

The game launched in Japan in April 1984, North America in October 1985, and August 1987 for good old Europe. Nintendo R&D1 was responsible for it.

Takehiro Izushi supervised the game. And Gunpei Yokoi (who invented the Game Boy) produced it.

And Duck Hunt has gone down in retro gaming legend. It’s iconic!

But what do you do, exactly? Well, the idea for the game is to shoot the ducks as they burst out of the grass.

Of course, you could just jam the gun up to the screen to make it a bit easier. But the hardcore gamers knew it was all about sitting at least four feet away from the screen.

Your pet dog then collects the ducks in the aftermath (neatly hidden by the grass).

Although if you missed the ducks as they burst upward, the dog goes and appears over the grass sniggering like Mutley. The bastard.

For those of us around at the time playing it as kids, its simplicity and psychotic violence left a lasting impact. But pretty much everyone who bought a NES (over 61 million people worldwide) tried Duck Hunt.

As it was packaged with the console (here in the UK, anyway). Otherwise, we greatly suspect, it wouldn’t have been played anywhere near as much by NES owners.

Fond memories, all the same, and fond enough for us to hunt down a copy at a Bolton 2025 retro gaming market. Here it is in all its glory!

This was a delightful find for us and the best bit of retro loot we got from the venue. Inside is the NES cartridge, plus the little instruction manual.

It now has pride of place amongst our retro gaming collection.

The Duck Hunt Demake!

In March 2024 it was noted in retro gaming circles the game got a Game Boy demake. You can find Duck Hunt GB on that link there and it’s a name your own price kind of experience. It’s the work of indie developer Tiger Bronnikov.

As the synopsis explains:

“DUCK GB! The second game of the ‘Primitive Arcade Game Collection’. Shoot 40 ducks to complete the round. And don’t forget to reload your gun. There are 3 regular rounds + 3 bonus rounds in total. Have fun guys. Let’s hit!”

The “Let’s hit!” line seems to be a nod to the Japanese habit of sticking Let’s! into their media texts. That’s as Japanese volitional form allows for nouns, so in Nippon they use it in a way that follows their grammar rules.

Or maybe we’re reading too much into things there.

Regardless, if you’re dying for your fix of this iconic title but lack access to the NES original, well you’ve got a free GB demake version to enjoy right there. And you don’t need the light gun to play.

And Here Are Pop Culture References to Duck Hunt

The game made a return to Nintendo’s Wii U on the Virtual Console in 2014. That caused something of a minor storm of retro gaming joy.

It’s remained on the gaming conscience over the decades, you see, to the extent Nintendo paid homage in the Smash Bros. fighting games.

Duck Hunt is, of course, a bit crap now. It’s not aged very well. But on this occasion nostalgia does play its part.

We haven’t played it since at least 1991. But we do remember it most fondly. It was of passing interest compared to the other games and a pick up and play type of distraction.

And these days it does connect us with our youth. Just in an utterly callous, hyper violent kind of way. Hunt duck? Yes.