It's been almost 20 years since the release of this masterpiece and almost 16 years since I first grabbed that orange gun and started shooting...so I've decided to do a retrospective. What has Duck Hunt/ Skeet Shoot taught us? How has it affected the generation who grew up with it?
There's only a few things I can vividly remember from my childhood and all of them involve either falling off something or sitting in front of a television playing the NES. I remember that fateful day when my sister and I were being babysat by some girl who lived in a fancy house, I was only 4 or 5 but I can still picture the house perfectly, and the room where I first encountered NINTENDO ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM! It was glorious. I stood in awe as I stared at the mario brothers start screen. I still remember what I thought as I stared "I want. Gimme gimme." And I did. For Christmas or birthday or something I finally got the Mario Bros/ Duck Hunt double cartridge! It was my own, my precious!
For the first 5 days or so I stuck with Mario Bros, then after finally becoming slightly bored with it, I switched over to Duck Hunt. Hey this is great! Shooting hundreds of ducks with no intention of picking up their dead carcass, COOOOOL! Yeah, I got one, and another! I'm a crack shot fool! HUH!? What's this?... The screen turns red, "Fly Away"? What the!? Why is that dog laughing at me? I felt the cold gun slip out of my hands and fall gently on the carpet. I slowly backed away from the television. I had never before in my life felt such ridicule from a videogame cartoon character. It hurt. I never again would play the Duck Hunt. The seed of hatred toward the canine species has been planted deep in my heart. Yes, Duck Hunt is responsible for my random displays of anger toward dogs.
Well that's it. At least the violence learned from Duck Hunt was counteracted by the puzzley goodness of Tetris and the cuteness of Mario.
Yeah there was no point to this. Goodnight.
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