Gun.Smoke (NES) Review

Gun.Smoke is a vertical scrolling shooter that was developed for the Arcade by Capcom and was released in 1985. In 1988 it was ported to the NES and the Family Computer Disk System. Will you take the reins and fight down the streets as Marshall Dillon?...... no, but you'll find a good game to play.



In Gun.Smoke you play as a bounty hunter named Billy Bob. You arrive in the town of Hicksville and find that the population is being terrorized by a gang called the Wingates. The town is desperate for your help and will do anything to help you.

"We are on your side" my ass

In each stage, of which there is six total, you'll run into two members of the town that offer you help. One will sell you, not give but sell you, guns and ammo. In addition to your regular six shooter which has unlimited ammo, you can also buy a shotgun which sprays bullets, a machine gun that shoots faster than your pistol and a Magnum which kills all enemies with one shot, except for the bosses. You can also buy a horse, which acts as a shield, and a smart bomb. I'm not sure what the smart bomb does but I think it kills anyone on-screen if you're killed but I could be wrong.

After the town has bleed you dry they send you out to kill the Wingates. You start off heading through the town killing everyone you see and the town has lots of bad guys. You'll find them shooting off roofs, shooting out windows and so on. I enjoyed playing this game very much and I bet I would have loved it when I was a kid. Once you make it through the town you have a showdown with a member of the Wingates gang as a boss. Each one is unique and once you learn their pattern they are pretty easy to kill.

Now what the game doesn't tell you is that Billy Bob is a homicidal maniac. You ask why?? The reason being that the town makes you pay for the bounty before they let you go after him. What kind of bounty hunter pays for the privilege of killing the bounty? Playing the game I had to limit my spending so I had enough to pay for the bounty and a few times I didn't have enough so I had to pass the boss by and go through the town again to earn enough money. This kind of annoyed me.

I also ran into a few times where the game would slow down when there a lot of sprites on screen. It didn't effect the game in any way and in reality, made it a bit easier because everything was moving slowly.

I really enjoyed Gun.Smoke on the NES and am planning on trying the original arcade version of it. If you like vertical shooters, the old west, guns, and the NES then I recommend you try it out. I give Gun.Smoke a 7 out of 10.