Gun.Smoke (USA)
Gun.Smoke is a vertical scrolling shooter arcade game created by Capcom in 1985 (its author is Yoshiki Okamoto). The game, which has a Western theme, centers around a character named Billy Bob, a bounty hunter who is after vicious criminals of the Wild West.
Despite its name and theme, it has no connection to the western TV series Gunsmoke.
Gun.Smoke is very similar to Commando, another Capcom game, but with several differences. This game is a scrolling shooter in which the screen scrolls upward automatically and players only have three ways to shoot, using three buttons for left, right, and center shooting. The player can also change the way the gunman shoots through button combinations. The player dies by getting shot or struck by enemies otherwise by getting caught between an obstacle and the bottom of the screen. They player can collect special items, including a horse for protection up to three hits (or get killed by an obstacle), boots for speed of movement, bullets for faster shots and rifles for longer shot range. These items are found by shooting barrels and rifles, boots, and bullets can stock up to five. Some items that add score points include stars, bottles, bags, dragonflies, and cows, but two other items to watch out for are the yashichi, which is a 1up and the cattle skull, which reduces Billy's power.
Note: Two versions of Gun.Smoke were released under license in America by Romstar. One has a fixed sequence of bosses; in the other, the third and sixth levels are swapped, so that Roy is followed by Wolf Chief, and Pig Joe is followed by Ninja. The other version also removes the boss rundown.
Despite its name and theme, it has no connection to the western TV series Gunsmoke.
Gun.Smoke is very similar to Commando, another Capcom game, but with several differences. This game is a scrolling shooter in which the screen scrolls upward automatically and players only have three ways to shoot, using three buttons for left, right, and center shooting. The player can also change the way the gunman shoots through button combinations. The player dies by getting shot or struck by enemies otherwise by getting caught between an obstacle and the bottom of the screen. They player can collect special items, including a horse for protection up to three hits (or get killed by an obstacle), boots for speed of movement, bullets for faster shots and rifles for longer shot range. These items are found by shooting barrels and rifles, boots, and bullets can stock up to five. Some items that add score points include stars, bottles, bags, dragonflies, and cows, but two other items to watch out for are the yashichi, which is a 1up and the cattle skull, which reduces Billy's power.
Note: Two versions of Gun.Smoke were released under license in America by Romstar. One has a fixed sequence of bosses; in the other, the third and sixth levels are swapped, so that Roy is followed by Wolf Chief, and Pig Joe is followed by Ninja. The other version also removes the boss rundown.
Gun.Smoke (USA)
Technical
CPU
- maincpu N2A03 (@ 1 Mhz)
Chipset
- N2A03 (@ 1 Mhz)
Display
- Orientation Yoko
- Resolution 255 x 240
- Frequency 60.098 Hz
Controlers
- Number of players 4
- Number of buttons 2
- Kind of controler
- triplejoy (8 ways)
- triplejoy (8 ways)
- triplejoy (8 ways)
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Gun.Smoke (USA) Screenshots
Clones of Gun.Smoke (USA)
Ports
Gun.Smoke was ported to many systems:
- The MSX
- The PlayStation and the Sega Saturn as a part of Capcom Generation 4
- The above version was featured on the PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable and the Xbox as a part of Capcom Classics Collection
- The IBM PC as a part of Capcom Arcade Hits 3
- The Amstrad CPC as Desperado - Gun.Smoke; this platform actually received a sequel called Desperado 2
- The ZX Spectrum
NES version
The game was later ported to the Nintendo Entertainment System and Family Computer Disk System in 1988. The objective is to free the town of Hicksville from the band of criminals known as the Wingates. But in order to capture their most dangerous henchmen, in each stage the player must retrieve a Wanted sign of said henchman, otherwise it is impossible to clear the stage. The NES version also has different music. In this game, the main character is a bounty hunter named Billy Bob.
Even though the NES version stayed true to the gameplay of the arcade version there were major changes done:
Though virtually identical to the NES version, the FDS version featured several differences from the NES version:
Differences from the arcade version
Even though the NES version stayed true to the gameplay of the arcade version there were major changes done:
- Only six of the ten bosses were in this version (Master, Ninja, Cutter, Wolf Chief, Los Pubro, and Fat Man).
- Billy was given extra weapons like: a shotgun, a machine gun, a smart bomb, and a magnum.
- Bullets are used for ammo for the extra weapons.
- A storyline is built around the game: in 1849, the Wingates attack the town of Hicksville, kill the Sheriff, and raid trouble every day until Billy comes (with a sunset behind him).
- The Wingates in the game are a gang instead of a family of 2 sons and a father.
- You can purchase weapons and items from people
- Four of the bosses had their names changed. Master's name was changed to Bandit Bill, Wolf Chief was changed to Devil Hawk, Fat Man was changed to Fat Man Joe (a knockoff of Pig Joe) and Los Pubro was changed to Wingate.
- Los Pubro was made the final boss in the NES version as Wingate, a Mexican sadistic and bloodthirsty bandit with some features of Emiliano Zapata, (a famous revolutionary and bandit leader), with a slash over one of his eyes, a cape, and armed with a machine gun. The player must also battle Wingate twice.
- The other bosses had their appearances changed too. Bandit Bill (Master) now wears a red shirt and blue jeans. Cutter wears a baggy blue sleeveless shirt and red pants. Ninja wears a purple ninja outfit with no mask and sports a ponytail and he shoots shurikens that split into fours. Devil Hawk (Wolf Chief) is now shirtless and uses fireballs as his weapon. Fat Man Joe wears an armored plated shirt and uses a bomb gun.
- There is another type of yashichi that will give you temporary invincibility.
Disk system version
Though virtually identical to the NES version, the FDS version featured several differences from the NES version:
- This game, like virtually all other FDS games, feature load times.
- The font is similar to what is used in most Capcom games on the Famicom/NES. However, on the NES version, the font is changed to the military-font, also seen in the arcade version.
- "In America" is called "In 1849".
- Bandit Bill's mugshot on the wanted poster is slightly different in both versions of the game. In the FDS version, his shirt has an open collar, with part of his body showing. In the NES version, his shirt has a scarf around it. On top of that, the mugshots for the wanted posters were originally more colorful looking, whereas in the NES version, they're a bit more realistic looking.
- In this version, the shopping music features less instruments. Also, many of the tunes featured in the NES version are nowhere to be found in this version, and instead recycle the same music for certain scenes in the game. This is due to the limited memory space in FDS disk cards.
- There is no game demonstration like there is in the NES version
- After beating the game the first two times, the player is rewarded with a Japanese message that tells the player to try the game again. After the third time, the player will be rewarded with a simple message that says "THE END". The Japanese message was thrown out in the NES version, instead of being translated into English.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack for the arcade version was composed by Ayako Mori. On August 25, 1986, Alfa Records released a limited edition soundtrack, featuring all of the music from the arcade version, as well as two unused tracks. Its catalog number was Capcom Game Music - 28XA-94.
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