Okay, before you ask, no, the Atari 2600 does not have a light gun, nor is there an aftermarket one in the works somewhere (that I know of). That may leave you wondering just how is Duck Hunt getting ported to the Atari 2600. Carefully. Seriously, the team at Olioni Games Inc are behind this and they have solved the light gun problem in a simple way.
Depending on which Nintendo Entertainment System bundle you picked up you may or may not have gotten Duck Hunt. For most reading this, we got the version with Super Mario Bros and Duck Hunt on one cartridge, two controllers and a light gun (mine was two tone gray, what color was yours?).
It made sense to pack in Duck Hunt for use with the light gun accessory. Sadly, even though the light gun was a pack-in with most of the systems sold, it still was not used all that much by third parties, or even Nintendo themselves.
Had there been a light gun available for the Atari 2600, we might have seen a port of Duck Hunt by Nintendo back in the day. Nintendo was open to licensing their characters out early on, this meant Donkey Kong and even Mario Bros appeared on non-Nintendo consoles.
Sadly, the Philips CD-i partnership probably sealed that door shut forever.
Thanks to Olioni Games we are finally getting a port for the 2600.
Better late than never, right?
This is not an official port by Nintendo, as I am sure most have figured out already. This means a few liberties could be taken as 100% perfect porting was probably never the goal.
For one, the light gun problem. This is solved by moving a cursor around the screen with your joystick. No need to shoot like you would in a game like Missile Command. Simply get your cursor where the birds and such are and they disappear, replaced with another.
Simple controls for a console known for having simple, addictive, gameplay. If it works, why fix it?
If you are interested in checking out this demake of Duck Hunt then head over to the Olioni Games Inc YouTube channel. They have a download link for the Beta in the comments section.
