Duck Hunt

Duck Hunt was released on April 21, 1984 for the Nintendo Entertainment System as a pack-in title. Since then it has also been released in two combination cartridges: the Super Mario Brothers / Duck Hunt cartridge, and later in the Duck Hunt / World Track Meet / Super Mario Brothers cartridge. It also later made its way into the arcades as Vs. Duck Hunt. The game was developed by Nintendo and is designed specifically for use with the Nintendo Zapper light gun.

Game Modes

There are three modes to choose from in Duck Hunt: Game A, Game B, and Game C. The objective of all these games is to shoot the various targets before the time runs out or you run out of bullets.

Game A

• This mode should be picked for beginners.
• Note: the NES controller in slot #1 can be used to control the duck's flight. Thus, a second player can help to reduce the difficulty by keeping the duck on screen, or increasing the difficulty by flying erratically or quickly to the edges.

In game A your dog scares up one duck for you to shoot. You are provided three bullets to shoot the duck and there is a limited amount of time before the duck flies away. There are 10 sessions of one duck per level and you must shoot a certain amount of ducks to advance to the next level. If you shoot all ten ducks in a level you get a "perfect bonus". As you advance through each level the ducks fly progressively faster and are therefore harder to shoot. Once you beat level 99, you will enter level 0: an impossible "kill-stage" where the ducks rapidly and erratically fly to the edges or leave the screen instantly.

Game B

Game B is pretty much the same game as game A except this time two ducks are scared out of the grass and you must shoot them both. This version is more difficult since you still only have three bullets and the time limit is the same. There are only 5 two duck sessions per level, making play slightly faster.

As with Game A, you can reach round 99 if you are skilled enough. If you complete it, you will enter round 0, where the ducks will move slowly rather than causing an instant gameover. Completing this round returns you to the first round.

Game C

The ducks are absent form this mode, being replaced by clay disks or "pigeons". Again, you are given three bullets with which you must shoot two disks that are launched from the bottom of your screen. As these disks progress through the air they get farther and farther away and much harder to shoot. If you can, it is easiest to shoot them as soon as they are launched. This mode is described as "the ultimate challenge" in the instruction booklet.

As with Game A, you can reach round 99 with enough patience. If you complete it, you will enter round 0. While the clays are launched at a slow speed, they will disappear half-way up the screen and require a quick reaction to hit.

Point System

Points are awarded for hitting individual ducks or disks, as shown in the table below. An additional bonus is awarded for hitting all 10 targets in a round. If you max out your score, it will wrap to 0 points.

Duck	Rounds 1 - 5	Rounds 6 - 10	Rounds 11 - 15	Rounds 16 - 20	Rounds 21 - 99
Black (A/B)	500	800	1000	1000	1000
Blue (A/B)	1000	1500	2000	2000	2000
Red (A/B)	1500	2400	3000	3000	3000
Discs (C)	1000	1500	2000	2000	2000
Bonus (A/B/C)	10000	10000	15000	20000	30000

In addition, you need to shoot a minimum number of ducks or discs on each round. The amount will start to increase on round 11, and will not decrease if you managed to wrap the round counter back to 0.

Rounds	Ducks/Discs required to advance
1 through 10	6 out of 10
11 through 12	7 out of 10
13 through 14	8 out of 10
15 through 19	9 out of 10
20 through 99	10 out of 10
0 and beyond	10 out of 10, Game mode B/C only

Images

• Title screen

  Title screen

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  Famicom box

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  NES PAL box