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“Duck Hunt” (1985) for NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) (Last Updated 4/22/26)

Intro:

In case you don’t know “Duck Hunt” (1985) for NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) is a light-gun shooter videogame with 3 game modes where you in mode Game A you shoot your NES Zapper light-gun at your TV at 1 duck at a time, in mode Game B at 2 ducks at a time, and in mode Game C at clay targets being launched out into the distance. It can only be played single-player at least in the “conventional sense” but since a second player can with the regular controller control the ducks in that way it is a 2 player game.

Since the NES Zapper will only work on SD (Standard Definition) CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) TVs (televisions) (so just “tube TVs”) you probably don’t own a TV it can work for as it will not work on TVs that came out in more recent years of LCD (Liquid-Crystal Display), LED (Light-Emitting Diode), or OLED (Organic Light-Emitting Diode) TVs so know that before you rush out to buy the game so you aren’t disappointed but also know that there still is some hope because there is websites like NESLCDMod.com that work on patching popular light-gun games to feature a delay to get them to work but unfortunately people often report the NES Zapper still will not work without a modification (the simplest being the LED replacement) but fortunately they also report some 3rd party light-guns like the NES Tomee Zapp Gun will work. And there also is the 3rd party light-gun of the Hyperkin Hyper Blaster HD that works for the RetroN 1 HD and when used with the sold separately Hyperkin Hyper Blaster HD adapter also works with the RetroN 2 HD and RetroN 3 HD but that light-gun works only for “Duck Hunt” (1985) and only for the original cartridge “2-in-1” version of it.

Everyone when talking about the “Nintendo Entertainment System” calls it the shorter titles of “regular Nintendo” or “original Nintendo” (to differentiate it from other Nintendo systems that came out later) or abbreviates it “NES” but since “NES” is an even shorter title as well as more technical I will refer to it as that from now on in this article. And that system by the way first came out in 1985.

The different ways you can play the game:

While 1 way you can play the game is the original way of buy the standalone NES cartridge or the early official –– and popular –– multicart of 2-in-1 “Super Mario Bros.” (1985) / “Duck Hunt” (1985) which came out in 1988 or the multicart of “3-in-1 Super Mario Bros.” (1985) / “Duck Hunt” (1985) / “World Class Track Meet” (1987) which came out in 1990 (and they will work in any system that plays NES cartridges) that is no longer the only ways. A newer way is you can buy the Super Game 400 in 1 Multicart for NES, Ultimate NES Remix 154 in 1 Multicart for NES, or Super Games 150 in 1 Multicart for NES or play it via an NES EverDrive cart (also known as a “flash cart”) and NES multicarts and NES EverDrive carts work in any system that play NES cartridges except for the RetroN 5. It’s not on the Super Games 500 in 1 Multicart for NES, The 100 Best Videogames 143 in 1 Multicart for NES, the Unlicensed Collection 142 in 1 Multicart for NES, or Pocket Games 30 in 1 Multicart for NES. And the other newer way you can play the game is with videogame console emulators and while the popular 1 of an NES Classic Edition (which came out in 2016) has 30 built-in NES games on it this NES game is not 1 of them but it is on some of the 1s people modded to have far more built-in games and this game is also on some other non-portable emulators with built-in games and can also be played with some non-portable emulators that don’t have built-in games (as for portable emulators light-gun games are never on them due to how they are played it would not work right). To learn more about the ways to play this game read the “Ways to play vintage console videogames” section in my “Ways To Play Videogames” article I wrote: here.

In general:

It was an NES launch game (a “launch game” is a game that came out at the same time the system for it did, so at the system’s “launch”) and for some versions of the NES was also a pack-in game (a “pack-in game” is a game that came bundled with a system, so “packed-in” with the system).

Since the sights of the NES Zapper you have to align the same exact way as a real gun with iron sights of the 1 of the 2 main types which is “open sights” (the other main type is “aperture sights”) this game helps teach about marksmanship for pest control (of pests such as crows, squirrels, and rabbits) and the sport/putting food on the table thing of hunting (and not just of ducks) and the sport of target shooting (shooting at paper targets with airguns and firearms) and all of these things also provides training if someone will-be-or-is-in the military or police or if someone has to do legal self-defense to try and save their life. And it teaches marksmanship and in a way that is safe for all (even without training), legal for all (even for those too young to legally use a real gun or those who otherwise are prohibited), environmentally friendly, and does not involve the controversial thing of killing an animal in real-life. While someone can use marksmanship skills to help cause the evil and stupid horrible senseless tragedy that is every mass shooting over 99.999% of people with any marksmanship skills at all never go do a mass shooting and so that skill set is then never used for something bad and for the police and any armed law-abiding citizen that helps stop a mass shooter (like with the Greenwood Park Mall shooting) they are always using their marksmanship skills for something good. And with the mass shootings the new media does a terrible job of giving them too much coverage helping the mass shooters to be famous like they often want and the news media never describes the mass shooters with negative words such as “evil” or “stupid” when they really should to make sure that they aren’t accidentally glorifying them and with giving the mass shootings too much coverage it also helps lawmakers against the Second Amendment of the Bill of Rights in the Constitution of the United States of America to use the horrible senseless tragedy to push their political agenda that they already had as the excessive coverage helps to convince some voters that mass shootings are a bigger problem than they really are as the truth is someone is much more likely to die from an auto accident or something than at the hands of a mass shooter.

The closer you are to screen the easier it is to play the game which makes sense as the targets are then bigger from your perspective.

If you put the NES Zapper up to the light bulb of a lamp or flashlight and keep pulling the trigger it will register as getting hits (but it isn’t always very accurate and might require certain types of bulbs) and so it is a “cheat” to then advance through the levels and there is a real reason to do that of if you wanted to advance as fast-and-easy as possible to the more challenging later levels or just “effortlessly want to see what’s ahead.”

Like Tetris the game has no ending sequence when you beat the game it just “glitches up.”

Jokes:

That would be funny if in the game it said “No ducks were harmed in the making of this videogame or in the playing of it either as this game just involves ‘digital ducks’ and that type of duck truly ‘has no feelings.’” And “Only you can prevent duck abuse. Only kill ducks in this game or while hunting if it is legal for you to do so and if hunting don’t take too many as that would be against the law and also would negatively impact their population and also make sure to eat each 1 you do take so it is not a waste of food.”

“People hunt ducks so why not chickens? Because there’s no sport since chickens can’t actually fly.”

“I 1ce had duck at a Chinese restaurant and what did it taste like? ‘it tasted good like chicken only even better so ‘duck doesn’t suck as it tastes the opposite of yuck.’”

“What is your character having for dinner that night? Duck. And in “Half-Life” (1998) when your character wants to crawl through a ventilation shaft what does he do? Duck.”

“Besides how they look what is the difference between a duck and a goose? I don’t know I’m not an expert on them, I just know in this game there are only ducks.”

If you play the game until you beat it so it glitches up what do you call your character? “The most illegal duck hunter in history –– and the local duck population will never recover.”

In real life what does a game warden say to someone who took too many ducks? “This isn’t the NES game ‘Duck Hunt’ (1985) where you can take as many ducks as you want –– you are in BIG trouble.”

What do you call a hunter who was not able to take any ducks while out hunting so he goes home and plays “Duck Hunt” (1985)? “Not playing ‘Duck Hunt’ (1985) for fun but out of frustration.”

What videogame do ducks hate the most? “Duck Hunt since it’s ‘open season on ducks –– and with no limit on how many the hunter can take’” and what videogame do box turtles hate the most? “The other game on the 2-in-1 and 1 of the others on the 3-in-1 of ‘Super Mario Bros.’ (1985) because it’s mean to jump on a turtle –– and so instead if he is box turtle you should do something nice for him like feed him some cantaloupe.”

What does Snoop Dogg say as to why he wants to play “Duck Hunt” (1985)? “Cause it’s 187 on a mutha fuckin’ duck” and why does he hate ducks? “Cause they want to drink from the water but they ain’t chipped in.” (The 2 songs spoofed here in the order they are spoofed are 1 1st titled “Deep Cover” and then “Gin and Juice.”)

In Oregon (where I live) there is big rivalry between the OSU (Oregon State University) sports team of the Beavers and the U of O (University of Oregon) sports team of the Ducks and so if someone is playing “Duck Hunt” and wants to relate the game to that they can say “Today I’m going to be like a Beavers fan and say their slogan of: ‘fuck the ducks.’”

Game Genie codes:

Note: Game Genie codes require a standalone cartridge of this game and a Game Genie device or a standalone cartridge of this game and a RetroN 5 and these codes are for the North American version of the Game Genie.

SZNIPPZG Infinite ammo.
ELXSLZEI Always hit the duck in single-duck mode 1.
ALSIPLEI Always advance to the next round and if you miss all the targets you get the perfect bonus.
AASIAUZA + ALSIPLEI Always get the perfect bonus.
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