Photo credit: 2 Warps to Neptune
In 1974, Nintendo kicked off their coin-operated arcade era with Wild Gunman. This game required players to step up, pull a handgun from a holster, and face off against some unfriendly live-action gunslingers on a projection screen. Footage came from authentic film reels filmed on site in Japan, capturing the wild west-style shootouts in all their gritty grandeur. Timing was everything here. You could only draw and shoot after your eyes flashed and the word “FIRE” appeared on the screen. Get it right, and you’ll come out on top. If you mess up, draw too soon, or miss your shot, you will lose the duel.
Roughly a hundred units left the factory, the majority of which either stranded in warehouses or fell apart over time due to neglect. Today, just one original cabinet remains intact, and it is kept locked away in a private collection. That meant that for about 50 years, no one outside of that collection had the opportunity to play the game as it was intended. Everything changed when Callan Brown got wind of something unusual. The Canadian arcade collector and repair specialist spotted an eBay listing for the original 16mm film reels used in the Wild Gunman arcade cabinet, reportedly sourced from the warehouse of a retired operator in Saskatchewan. Recognizing their rarity, he moved quickly, placed the winning bid, and brought the reels home for his collection.
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Brown first had to preserve the reels before sending them to a competent facility in Toronto for scanning. Some of the reels showed scratches and dust from years of intensive use, while others appeared to be in perfect condition. He stored the worst pieces safely while keeping the better frames. Unfortunately, two of the four duel sequences remain absent, but there was enough solid content to bring the basic game experience back.
Brown then began the rebuild by creating a basic scale model on his workshop, but things quickly became out of control. The next thing he knew, he was drafting full-size designs, cutting plywood sheets for the cabinet frame, and assembling it piece by piece. His wife, Natasha, worked hard to hand stitch the cloth side panels so they matched the original design flawlessly. On his 3D printer, the front control panel was crisp and clear, and the LED lights worked. Brown even printed the gun’s body and attached it with infrared sensors that tracked movement in the same manner that classic console controllers did.
A single digital projector now manages film playback inside the cabinet, and everything runs on custom Unity code written by Brown. It reads the player’s time, selects the appropriate film clip, verifies the shot position, and awards a badge if the player hits a clean shot. Insert two quarters into the coin slot, and the machine will scream to life. The attract loop plays on the screen, allowing the user to grab the gun. A gunslinger appears on the screen, his eyes flare, and you receive the command to fire. Draw quickly but not too quickly, and then land that shot as the victory music begins to play. Everything feels just like the original game from the 1970s.
