Wild Gunman (NES) guide by KeeperBvK aka Burkhart von Klitzing Contact: KeeperBvK@web.de Dedication: I dedicate this work to my beloved dad who passed away on the 07/13/2005. I always loved you and I always will. Thank you so much for the time we had. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 0.1 Legal Stuff ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This Guide may not be posted on any other website other than www.gamefaqs.com www.gamerhelp.com www.honestgamers.com without my permission and it may not be used commercially in any possible way. If you want to post it on another site please contact me via E-Mail or via the Message Board. Do not claim this guide or any part of it to be your creation. If you find any mistakes (even regarding the language as I'm German) please let me know. Copyright 2007 Burkhart von Klitzing ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 0.2 Version History ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1.0: Finished on 04/04/2006, 12 KB large Seems complete to me. 1.01: Finished on 05/13/2006, 12 KB large Added gamerhelp.com. 1.02: Finished on 03/12/2007, 12 KB large Added www.honestgamers.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 0.3 Contents ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | Latest Update | Search Key | ------------------------|---------------|------------| 0.1 Legal Stuff | 1.02 | | 0.2 Version History | 1.02 | | 0.3 Contents | 1.02 | | ------------------------|---------------|------------| 1. What is Wild Gunman? | 1.0 | AAA | 2. Controls | 1.0 | BBB | 3. Strategies | 1.0 | CCC | 4. Scoring | 1.0 | DDD | 5. FAQ | 1.0 | EEE | ------------------------|---------------|------------| 6. Closing Comments | 1.0 | FFF | 7. Experimental | 1.0 | GGG | ------------------------|---------------|------------| To quickly reach a certain section in this guide, press Ctrl + F and search for the specific Search Key. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1. What is Wild Gunman? AAA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Back in the days of the NES, Nintendo released the last light gun on any Nintendo system to be supplied with a decent amount of games. Some of them, though, were pretty simple and Wild Gunman definitely fits this category. You are a gunman in the Wild West and your goal is to take down as many bad guys as possible in some more or less quick gun fights that are over after a single hit. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2. Controls BBB ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ___________ Controller:| Select Button: Highlight another option on the title screen. Start Button: Choose a game mode. Pause and resume the game. _______ Zapper:| Shooting off-screen: Highlight another option on the title screen. Shooting on-screen: Shooting bad guys, of course. ;) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 3. Strategies CCC ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ _______ Game A:| The title screen already says it: There's one outlaw to fight. The enemy walks in either from the right or from the left, stops at the centre of the screen and draws his gun after a random amount of time. Once he does you are allowed to shoot him. Triggering your gun before that, results in a foul and in the loss of a life. Waiting to long to shoot him, allows for the bad guy to hit you, which also takes one life from you. After three lives lost, it's game over. After defeating an enemy another one will follow and there is no way of ending this game mode except for dying. Every target has a random reaction time after which you lose in case you don't attack, but knowing how much time you have doesn't help a bit, so simply ignore the information on the screen. Another random number is the bounty for an enemy. While the average bounty rises after a few stages and the average reaction time becomes harder to deal with, later on it stays pretty much the same. An odd thing about these figures is that they really don't correlate: I've seen e.g. an enemy with $5,800 and a reaction time of 0.6 seconds, as well as one with $6,000 reward and 0.5 seconds and one with $5,000 and 0.9 seconds. The lowest and the highest time I know of are 0.4 and 1.5 seconds. If you want to be good at this game mode, first of all ignore the time you have left and the outer appearance your adversary: They look different, but they all behave the same. Now look at the counter showing how much time you've needed to defeat an enemy. It stays at 0.00 seconds until you are allowed to attack. The opposite gunman will shout "fire" and the counter suddenly starts to change, which both should very well be sufficient for you to quickly realize you may shoot. Looking at the enemy is harder to pull off, as not every move he makes means the duel has started. Another extremely useful thing to remember is that the game doesn't require you to aim at the enemy but simply somewhere on-screen, so you see there's really no need to watch the bad guys. _______ Game B:| This is pretty similar to Game A, yet it has a few twists. This time two gunmen enter the screen, each one with a certain time he needs to hit you. Usually both enemies scream fire and become vulnerable at the same time, so you can take them down shortly after one another. Sometimes, though, one of them won't pull out their gun at all, requiring you to only hit the other one. Remember that the one who didn't aim at you won't do at all. Simply sit back and wait for the stage to end. In game B you still do not need to aim precisely. Hitting either the left or the right half of the screen will take care of the outlaw in the corresponding corner. The correlation between reward and time is just as awkward as it is in Game A. The lowest and the highest time I know of are 0.4 and 1.6 seconds. Since the screaming sample doesn't help you in this mode (you can't hear whether both gunmen are about to attack or not), I propose not to look at the timer all the time. Instead aim your gun at the centre of the screen and watch for the speech bubbles showing you when to shoot. Now simply either dispose both enemies or aim a bit to the side to eliminate the hostile bad guy. In case one enemy has a way lower timer than the other one, you should aim at the more dangerous guy instead of aiming at the centre. _______ Game C:| In Game C (or also called Gang) you see a house with four windows and a door. Per wave you will have to face ten outlaws showing up in any of these five locations and you have to shoot them as quickly as possible. Unlike Game A and B, you don't get to see a timer or anything else showing you how much time you have, but on the other hand you can open fire as soon as you see an enemy. Fortunately, there will never be more than two bad guys on the screen at the same time and unlike other light gun shooters there are no civilians or anything else you aren't allowed to hit. Another bad thing, though, is that you have limited ammo (fifteen bullets per wave) so make sure your aiming is on the spot. Like in the other game modes you do not have to aim at an enemy directly, but just close to it. Given that there are five possible hitboxes here, you have to aim a bit better than in Game A and B, though. Still nothing to really worry about: It isn't too hard to survive for a long time here as well. I recommend aiming at the centre of the screen to quickly get any place into your crosshair. Always take down the outlaws in the order in which they enter the screen as the first one to appear always strikes first. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 4. Scoring DDD ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ------------ Game A and B| ------------ _______ Bounty:| Every enemy has a set reward shown either in the bottom left or bottom right corner. Defeating him will earn you that amount of money (or points, just how you look at it). This reward ranges from 2,800 to 6,800 in Game A and 3,800 to 8,500 in Game B. If you defeat an outlaw in Game B and make a mistake against the other one, you don't get any reward whatsoever. ______ Bonus:| Shooting the bad guys in less time rewards you with more points. This neat bonus is calculated extremely simply: Change the last digit of the amount of time you needed to a zero. Then subtract this time from the maximum time you had to defeat your current adversary. Multiply the result with 10,000: This is your bonus. This calculation might seem a bit complicated when explained by me, but it really isn't. I'll just give you an example to make it clear. An enemy would shoot you after 0.8 seconds. You hit him after 0.27 seconds. So it's 0.27 --> 0.20, 0.8 - 0.2 = 0.6, 0.6 x 10,000 = 6,000 points. In Game B you get two bonuses per duel, one for every enemy, but like the bounty, the bonus for one enemy is completely wasted when messing up with the other bad guy. ------ Game C| ------ _______ Bounty:| Like in Game A and B you receive a reward for every enemy that has been eliminated. Since there is no way of defeating an enemy AND knowing how long it takes for him to hit you I can't tell you if slow gunmen grant you less points than faster ones or if it is just randomly chosen. What I can tell you is that the lowest possible score is 1,000 and the highest score is 5,000. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 5. FAQ EEE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Q: Why no highscore section? A: Because the game's too easy. You can play on forever which renders a highscore competition pretty much useless. Q: Is there a two-player mode? A: No. Q: Is Clint Eastwood in this game? A: Err, no. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 6. Closing Comments FFF ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Wild Gunman is simplistic, yes...and it doesn't really offer anything spectacular (except for the "fire" sample, maybe), but it's a nice little game and even with other interesting wild west theme games out by now, like Red Dead Revolver or Dead Man's Hand, this is the only game I can think of that lets you be part of a classic gunfight duel we've all seen in lots and lots of movies. On the other hand Wild Gunman is a bit on the expensive side (at least here in Germany), so you probably would only want to buy this as an addition to your NES or Zapper collection. I'd appreciate any comments, questions, critics or whatsoever, so please mail me at KeeperBvK@web.de if you have anything to tell me (even misspellings and stuff). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 7. Experimental GGG ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In some other guides I've seen the author implement the following and I thought "Why not give it a try for your own guides?": If you really like this guide and you think it helped you or entertained you a bit or whatsoever and you feel like rewarding me not only by writing a nice e-mail, feel free to send some money to my paypal account at: LH_Zerberus@web.de Of course I don't want to make somebody send me money who doesn't really want to (even if I could, I wouldn't ;) ), but (also of course) I'd appreciate any contribution. Thank you very much for reading this guide and hopefully some more of my stuff on gamefaqs.