Wild Guns
Wild Guns | |
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Shooting gallery | |
Mode(s) | Single-player, cooperative multiplayer |
Wild Guns
Development lasted five months on a small budget with a team of only three core members and two support staff. The team leads had previously worked together on The Ninja Warriors (1994) for the Super NES, and so chose to develop for that system. Wild Guns was heavily influenced in its gameplay and artistic design by arcade games such as Blood Bros. and Dynamite Duke. The game's scenery, characters, and sound design drew ideas from the Western film genre and the science fiction manga Cobra, creating a space Western setting.
Wild Guns received positive reviews at its initial release, and in retrospective reviews is considered a
Gameplay
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/47/Wildguns4.png/220px-Wildguns4.png)
Wild Guns is a shooting gallery game with an American Wild West setting along with
The player controls either Annie or Clint in the foreground with the D-pad and must shoot enemies in the background and dodge enemy fire. While holding the fire button down, the D-pad instead makes the gun reticle move. Shooting and moving at the same time is not possible. While the gun is holstered, the player can jump, dive, and roll to evade gunfire.[1] A "Look Out!" text bubble will appear when one can dodge bullets.[3] Some enemies will throw dynamite sticks at the player, but these can be tossed back. A lasso can be used to temporarily stun enemies.[2]: 13
Both enemies and their bullets can be shot down.[3] Defeating enemies will sometimes reveal item boxes, which can hold precious metals such as gold and silver for extra points, and bombs.[2]: 10 Only five bombs can be held at a time, which can be used to clear the screen of enemies.[2]: 10 [3] Weapon upgrades may appear after defeating certain enemies. These weapons, such as shotguns and machine guns, will increase the player's firing speed or damage output.[2]: 11–12 When a player's bullets hit bullets fired by enemies, a gauge at the bottom of the screen will fill. Once filled, the player will be awarded with a Vulcan gun, the most powerful weapon in the game which grants invincibility. The gauge will then begin to deplete and the Vulcan gun will disappear once empty.[2]: 12, 15
Development
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/04/Wild_Guns_concept.png/220px-Wild_Guns_concept.png)
Development of Wild Guns began when a small team of Natsume staff was asked to create a game quickly and cheaply while waiting for their next major assignment. The team consisted of three core members: Shunichi Taniguchi for game design and graphics, Toshiyasu Miyabe for programming, and
Wild Guns was heavily influenced by Dynamite Duke and Blood Bros. during development. The space Western setting was largely influenced by the space Western manga Cobra. The screen shaking and mirage-like effects that occur after explosions were influenced by the film RoboCop 3.[5] When composing the music for Wild Guns, Hiroyuki Iwatsuki drew upon the influence of a Western soundtrack "Best Of" CD that Natsume had provided him. He enjoyed listening to the CD both during and after development. The game's music was created using PC-98s, a Roland W-30 keyboard, and a MIDI sequencer. Some sounds came from the Roland Sound Canvas series.[6]
Originally, the reticle could only move up and down, and lateral movement was done by moving the player side-to-side; this, however, proved to be cumbersome and was changed. The "Look Out!"
Release
The game was released in Japan on August 12, 1994.[7] The North American version of Wild Guns was set to be released in the third quarter of 1994 and was reviewed at the time, but the release was unexpectedly delayed until the third quarter of 1995.[8] A 32X version was reportedly planned for 1996,[8] but never materialized. The game has since become a rare collector's item.[9] The game was rereleased on the Virtual Console for the Wii in 2010 and Wii U in 2014.[10][11] The game was added to the Nintendo Switch Online subscription service in 2020.[12]
An enhanced remaster titled Wild Guns Reloaded was released for the PlayStation 4 in December 2016.
Reception
Publication | Score |
---|---|
Nintendo Life | 9/10 (SNES)[1] |
Nintendo Power | 3.3/5 (SNES)[b][20] |
Mega Fun | 66% (SNES)[23] |
MAN!AC | 69% (SNES)[24] 75% (PS4)[25] |
Superjuegos | 92/100[27] |
Contemporary reviews of the game were positive. Famitsu gave it a score of 26 out of 40.[7] Reviewers at Electronic Gaming Monthly cited the cooperative multiplayer mode and challenging levels as the game's strongest points. They declared it one of the best shooters on the SNES and compared it to the Neo Geo game NAM-1975.[21] GamePro praised the game for its intense action, fun cooperative multiplayer mode, colorful graphics, and ability to shoot almost any on-screen object. They remarked that the game is difficult even on easy, but that players are rewarded for perseverance.[28] Nintendo Power found the game to have good graphics and control, and complimented the presence of both male and female playable characters. However, they believed the game was not as challenging as other shooters.[20]
In a retrospective Virtual Console review,
Wild Guns Reloaded was also well received. Critics praised the game for being a quality remaster of an already classic game.[29][30][31] Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu gave the PS4 version of the game a score of 29 out of 40.[22]
Notes
References
- ^ a b c d e Allen, Mat (June 5, 2010). "Wild Guns (SNES) Review". www.nintendolife.com. Nintendo Life. Archived from the original on November 26, 2015. Retrieved November 25, 2015.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Wild Guns (instruction manual) (NTSC, SNES ed.). Natsume. 1995.
- ^ a b c d e f g Thomas, Lucas M. (July 13, 2010). "Wild Guns Review". www.IGN.com. IGN. Archived from the original on December 2, 2015. Retrieved July 10, 2016.
- ^ a b c Ciolek, Todd (January 6, 2007). "GameSetWatch COLUMN: 'Might Have Been' - Wild Guns". www.gamesetwatch.com. GameSetWatch. Archived from the original on September 22, 2016. Retrieved July 10, 2016.
- ^ ).
- ^ "ナツメ岩月博之氏インタビュー". www.ne.jp (in Japanese). Game Kommander. Archived from the original on September 27, 2016. Retrieved July 10, 2016. (Translation Archived July 6, 2018, at the Wayback Machine)
- ^ a b c "ワイルドガンズ [スーパーファミコン]". Famitsu. Retrieved May 17, 2019.
- ^ a b GamePro staff (September 1995). "ProNews: At the Deadline". GamePro. No. 74. IDG. p. 140.
- ^ Massey, Tom (January 25, 2015). "A guide to gaming's most valuable treasures". Eurogamer. Retrieved August 10, 2018.
- ^ "Wild Guns". www.nintendo.com. Archived from the original on December 25, 2016. Retrieved July 27, 2018.
- ^ "Wild Guns Reloaded marks the series' first new game in 22 years". Polygon. Archived from the original on November 15, 2016. Retrieved July 27, 2018.
- ^ Bankhurst, Adam (May 14, 2020). "May 2020's Nintendo Switch Online NES and SNES Games Announced". IGN. Retrieved December 22, 2021.
- ^ LeClair, Kyle (November 18, 2016). "Wild Guns Reloaded Aims For a December 13 Release in Japan | Hardcore Gamer". Hardcore Gamer. Archived from the original on November 19, 2016. Retrieved November 20, 2016.
- ^ a b Carter, Chris (December 9, 2016). "Wild Guns Reloaded confirmed for US and Europe, is getting physical". Destructoid. Archived from the original on December 13, 2016. Retrieved December 16, 2016.
- ^ a b "Natsume Inc. and Natsume Atari Inc. partner on Wild Guns: Reloaded" (PDF). www.natsume.com. Natsume. May 12, 2016. Archived (PDF) from the original on June 15, 2016. Retrieved May 13, 2016.
- ^ Pereira, Chris (April 19, 2017). "Classic SNES Game Wild Guns' Remaster Heads To PC". GameSpot. Archived from the original on April 21, 2017. Retrieved April 20, 2017.
- ^ "Wild Guns Reloaded on Steam". store.steampowered.com. July 11, 2017. Archived from the original on July 12, 2017. Retrieved July 13, 2017.
- ^ "Wild Guns Reloaded". www.nintendo.com. Archived from the original on April 22, 2018. Retrieved April 22, 2018.
- ^ "『WILD GUNS Reloaded』がNintendo Switchで登場 - ファミ通.com". ファミ通.com (in Japanese). January 26, 2018. Archived from the original on March 1, 2018. Retrieved July 27, 2018.
- ^ a b Nintendo Power staff (October 1994). "Now Playing: October 1994". Nintendo Power. Vol. 65. p. 107.
- ^ a b EGM staff (October 1994). "Review Crew: Wild Guns". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 63. Ziff Davis. p. 34.
- ^ a b "WILD GUNS Reloaded(ワイルドガンズ・リローデッド) [PS4] / ファミ通.com". www.famitsu.com. Archived from the original on October 29, 2016. Retrieved July 27, 2018.
- ^ Gößmann, Holger (July 1995). "Test Super Nintendo - Wild Guns". Mega Fun (in German). No. 34. CT Computec Verlag GmbH & Co. KG. p. 41.
- ^ Forster, Winnie (July 1995). "Spiele-Tests - SN - Wild Guns". MAN!AC (in German). No. 21. Cybermedia. p. 53.
- ^ "Wild Guns Reloaded - im Test (PS4)". MAN!AC (in German). February 1, 2017. Retrieved November 23, 2018.
- ^ Kemps, Heidi (January 2, 2017). "Wild Guns Reloaded Review". GameSpot. Retrieved November 26, 2018.
- ^ Sol, Bruno (May 1995). "Super Nintendo Review - Wild Guns: Sin Perdon". Superjuegos (in Spanish). No. 37. Grupo Zeta. pp. 82–84.
- ^ GamePro staff (November 1994). "ProReview: Wild Guns". GamePro. No. 74. IDG. p. 129.
- ^ Kemps, Heidi (January 2, 2017). "Wild Guns Reloaded Review". GameSpot. Retrieved April 29, 2017.
- ^ LeClair, Kyle (December 23, 2016). "Review: Wild Guns Reloaded | Hardcore Gamer". Hardcore Gamer. Archived from the original on December 24, 2016. Retrieved April 29, 2017.
- ^ Carter, Chris (December 15, 2016). "Review: Wild Guns Reloaded". Destructoid. Archived from the original on March 3, 2017. Retrieved April 29, 2017.
External links
- Wild Guns at MobyGames
- Wild Guns at GameFAQs
- Wild Guns Reloaded official website (Japan)
- Wild Guns Reloaded official website (English)