Hogan's Alley

Year: 1985
Publisher: Nintendo
Genre: Shooting - Zapper


Growing up I wanted to be a great many things. I wanted to be an engineer, I wanted to own a pet shop, I wanted to be an investment banker (no, really) - a great many things. I never once, though, wanted to be an officer of the law. You know why? Because people shoot them!

We can't all be fearless civil servants after all.

Hogan's Alley was the first NES game most people played that presented you with something that resembled a contemporary human being upon which to open fire. The game took the obvious out, though, and made the targets police training cutouts. No real bad guys are harmed in this game. Wouldn't want to insult the delicate sensibilities of the American public after all. Never mind the fact that Nintendo already declared open season on ducks.

GUN SHOP: no place more lawless in the 80's.

Anyway, there are three different game modes: Hogan's Alley A is a classic police training shooter where three cutouts are brought out sideways, and then turned towards you simultaneously, requiring you to judge which, if any, to shoot. Hogan's Alley B takes place in an actual alley, but still with police training cutouts. The third game is a Trick Shooting gallery that involves shooting cans to keep them in the air and make them bounce through certain gates.

The variety of cutouts is extremely limited and, while they endeavored to make a few of them look fairly similar, you quickly get a feel for what you're looking for in a target. The timing is painfully slow and doesn't really get much harder - you'll have more than enough time to shoot anything on any screen for as long as you feel like playing.

John's Rating: 3.0 out of 5.0. Like Duck Hunt, the game really doesn't offer anything that a flash game doesn't these days, but has no major failings.