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   On this Thanksgiving addition of Throwback Thursday, I would like to take the time to go back to a simpler era of 8 bit graphics and uncomplicated game play. The year is 1983 and the Wii producing company named Nintendo had our hearts at hello. Nintendo made us look at video games in a whole new light. I must say they pretty much revolutionized the game industry at this time. All you "Noobs" to the game industry have to check out "Pong" sometime and you'll see what I'm talking about. I started out on the Atari, but the Nintendo system was like strapping a rocket between your legs and going for a leisurely ride around the neighborhood. They also were the first console system to openly court third party developers. Well with my history lesson out of the way, I'll get down to business.

  Since it is Thanksgiving I'll stay with the theme of Turkey, but in duck form,Duck Hunt that is.

   With all the controversy going on about violence in games, and the new release of the Wii "Zapper". I thought I would go back in time to the original "Zapper", and the game Duck Hunt. Duck Hunt was a charming little title that was accompanied with a gun like controller called a "Zapper". At the time this was a major breakthrough, because if you wanted to play an actual shooting game you had to hop in your car and travel to the local arcade. Now with the release of Duck Hunt in 1984, you could easily play from the comfort of your own home.

   Duck Hunt was one of my favorite NES titles of all time. Even though I'm not a hunter of any sorts, I thoroughly enjoyed shooting little 8 bit ducks out of the sky. The game pretty much gives you three options of either shooting one duck, two ducks, or clay pigeons. You are given a minimum amount of ammo to work with and must nail the quirky moving ducks before they get away. As you progress through the levels the ducks get faster and harder to kill. Nintendo actually did a decent job on this title, the "Zapper" was also surprisingly accurate for its time I must say. Beating the game is nothing but time consuming. The only way to actually beat this title is to progress to level 99. After this level there will be ten consecutive non duck appearances then the game will end. This is very different from the cinematic endings you see in games today. So if you ever have the chance to play Duck Hunt don't hesitate, it will be well worth it. I can almost still hear that damn dog laughing at me for letting those ducks get away.

    Happy Thanksgiving everyone.......Have a safe one..please

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