#509: Gun.Smoke
Capcom’s quarter-consuming cowboy Commando can’t quite compare
Initial release: October 23, 1985
Platform: Arcade, many ports
Developer: Capcom
Red Dead Redemption II was a cultural phenomenon upon release. Despite reports of developer crunch woes, jokes about horse testicles and the “collector’s box” fiasco, it remains one of the most popular games of recent years. But let’s wind the clock back a bit, to 1985. Y’see, Red Dead Revolver — that Playstation 2 game also developed by Rockstar Games — isn’t just what Redemption is a spiritual successor to; it, too, is, or was at least intended to be, a spiritual successor to a little arcade game called Gun.Smoke. (Yes, the period is part of the title.)
While wholly unrelated to Gunsmoke, the TV show, or the various films named Gunsmoke or some variation thereof, the obvious thematic thread is that all have an Old West theme. That’s right, you play a rootin’ tootin’ gun-shootin’ wandering Man With No Name, taking down the Wingate gang and their pals across a series of levels.
Gun.Smoke’s most immediate comparison is to Capcom’s earlier game Commando, but both are part of a broader genre that was popular in arcades at the time: a slowly-moving upwards scroll as the player moves about shooting enemies that come in from every direction. The only thing that separates them from the likes of, say, 1942, is that the player is on foot… at least for the most part.
Like most arcade games of the period, Gun.Smoke is pretty simple. You shoot dozens upon dozens of bad guys across ten levels; three fire buttons allow you to shoot in three different directions, and holding down two buttons will let you shoot in between their respective angles. Aside from items that increase your score, there’s also items to increase your speed, your bullets’ speed, and your weapon range. You can collect as many as you want, but the improvements are largely incremental. And, similar to the tank from Ikari Warriors, you can mount a horse which gives you some speed and a few extra hits at the cost of a larger hitbox.
This is one of the hardest arcade games ever made, and a big part of that is the fact that you can only take one hit before dying, and the game boots you back to a checkpoint every time instead of just resurrecting you like most arcade games do. It becomes a matter of luck, as the lead flying everywhere is not predictable as it would be in one of the more intentional “bullet hell” games that are popular these days. If you can get through the first five levels unscathed, you’ll then face the sixth level, an interminably long trek through a hostile Native American village full of angry gun-toting warriors, with some unfortunate genocidal implications that I doubt Capcom, a Japanese company, ever thought to consider. It only gets more difficult from there.
To be honest, I didn’t particularly enjoy my time with Gun.Smoke; between the absurd difficulty, the starkly brown graphics and generally muddy soundtrack, there’s not really a lot to recommend it.
While there were numerous ports (and knockoffs like Desperados) the one that stands out is the 1988 Famicom/NES port. Stripped down to just six levels, this version of Gun.Smoke plays significantly easier compared to its arcade big brother, aided in part by the fact that your score actually counts as money to use to buy weapons and equipment. It otherwise plays almost exactly the same, albeit with some tweaks to the items and bosses. The soundtrack is a lot more fun this time around, complete with cooler fanfare when you complete a level. The graphics have been redone and while they’re fairly simple they pop with a lot more color, making for a more entertaining visual. They also went so far as to add something of a story, placing the action in 1849 (which doesn’t explain the presence of ninjas any more than before) and doing their level best to give a little bit of that Old West narrative — at least as much can be discerned through the poor English translation.
Even still, though, as much as I liked the NES version better, ultimately I feel that given Capcom’s long history in the arcades, it’s clear that Gun.Smoke was left to die in the desert for a reason.
