Collection essentials #38: Barker Bill’s Trick Shooting (NES)

 

Here’s the first light gun game on the list, using the Nintendo “Zapper” gun accessory! The Zapper is especially known for one game in particular that I’ll get around to pretty soon. A note about any of these retro gun accessories is that you need an old tube TV to use them. If you have an HDTV they won’t work, because those TVs add at least a tiny bit of delay when projecting their images, so that throws off how these accessories work.

This game was also made by Nintendo, but is quite obscure and strangely it didn’t even get a release in Japan. A dog that appears to be based on the one from the aforementioned more-famous game is featured here.

There are four different modes of play in BBTS. One involves shooting a series of ascending balloons, one (pictured) involves shooting a bunch of thrown saucers while dealing with a bird who tries to snatch them, one involves shooting falling objects that are sometimes obscured by windows, and the last one is a marathon that involves all three other modes plus new exclusive segments.

Sadly I didn’t know about BBTS until adulthood so I don’t have a lot of history with it, but I really like the Zapper, so any good game that uses it I’m going to consider an essential and will revisit every now and then.

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