Customer Reviews

Gun.Smoke

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There's a lot of NES games that don't stand the test of time very well and/or are just plain terrible games! This Gunsmoke game however is one of the better games on the NES and one of the best games I purchased on Amazon. I only test-played the first stage so far, but even from that I could tell that this game has great potential. I don't know if this game has anything to do with the t.v. western series "GUNSMOKE"? I think it just has the same title, but I'm not sure. Boy, I sure wish there was a game based on the "BONANZA" t.v. series! That's my favorite.

Gun.Smoke is a great, underrated NES game that is extremely fun to play. I have a hard time, at this point, figuring out which game is better: this one or Contra because I feel both of these games are quite very similar. However, Gun.Smoke is a very unique game due to the ability of budgeting. Then, you have to decide whether you want to use a paid gun or go normal since when you die, the special gun will be taken away from you. So, a lot of times, Gun.Smoke becomes more of a thinking person game. That's why I feel that Gun.Smoke could be a better game than Contra. It is almost impossible to memorize the patterns in Gun.Smoke, and there are way too many enemies and bullets coming at you at the same time. I mean, this game is meant to destroy your left thumb; you always had to keep moving, moving, and moving around. It's unbelievable. Eventually, I managed to beat the game with a huge sore left thumb. Gun.Smoke is that...TOUGH. Ok, I am going to break down strategies for each of the six stages:
Reminder...I never used the cheat codes that Capcom supplied for the main menu. So, I went 100% pure.
Stage 1: My strongest recommendation during this one is to do at least three or four loops to accumulate the money. The more money you have, the more likely you will beat the game, that is, if you are really, really good in being elusive. Do not ever buy any wanted poster in the game. And this one, don't buy any gun (get the shotgun though) or horse. Just collect the money and pick up the free horse each loop. After you see the man selling items, walking on and seeing the left side first house, shoot at the hidden part just after the barrel. It will reveal a free wanted poster which will let you to enter a gunfight with the boss. The Boss is easily defeated with the shotgun by the side.
Stage 2: I do not recommend buying a horse in this one yet, but buy up all the guns and bomb as you can. Using any of the special guns is fine in this level. It's not a hard one yet. If you notice two World Cup trophy-like monuments right exactly in the center of the screen, go to the left side and shoot at the hidden part right after the barrel and right before the cactus to get a wanted poster. The Boss can be easily defeated with a Magnum gun. Just stay within three spaces directly to him, almost like being in a center of a circle created by the boomerangs.
Stage 3: This one, you will see somewhat of an increased difficulty. This is the stage that you start getting a horse and doing it in the next three more stages. Take advantage of either the machine gun or the shotgun because a lot of Indians is going to come at you, thus overwhelming you. There is one barrel before a circle cliff on the left side. Shoot at the hidden part on the left side of the barrel to get a wanted poster. To know which is the right one (there are two such of them), there are two rocks placed before the barrel. The final boss is an easy one if you use a shotgun and stay right beside him. Otherwise, the magnum gun will do the trick.
Stage 4: This is a difficult one due to initiation of enemies coming at you from the bottom. It's quite imperative that you start staying in the middle of the screen at all times. Never stay near of any of the borders. And you have to master the art of being elusive. It's going to save your life a lot of times. This is the point that your left thumb should start getting sore. When you see three barrels next to each other on the right side, there will be two barrels on the left side right immediately after. Shoot at the hidden part on the left side of the two barrels to get a wanted poster. The final boss is quite easy, believe me. Just use the magnum gun and take him down.
Stage 5: I think using the shotgun a lot in this one will make this stage much easier. Then you will find it no problem after getting a horse. On the right side, if there is a bridge that doesn't connect to the two lands, that's it, the wanted poster...shoot at the hidden part on the right side of the two barrels which are directly across from the cut off bridge. The boss is easy to take out if you have a magnum. The horse is helpful. Just always stay besides him, never directly in front of him. The shot gun is also helpful at this point.
Stage 6: Now, this is the hardest stage of the game. Believe me, this one is a matter of endurance, and your left thumb will be tested like no other before. You must always be moving, moving, and moving around. You must not rest for a second at all; always be moving, moving, and moving around to no end. This is the longest stage of them all. You must get a horse for this one, and get all guns you need plus the bomb. I highly recommend you to shift around guns a lot, and always be in normal mode with the bomb ready to be activated whenever you are feeling very overwhelmed. There are four light blue spots together right in the center of the red land. Directly in front of the first left bottom one is the hidden wanted poster. Shoot at it, and then get yourself out to the final bosses. I thought this one was easy because I kept moving from left to right and back in a half-oval fashion. Also, I kept taking out the mini-enemies first before I concentrated on the bosses. This made my job easier in taking out the bosses. First use the shot gun and machine guns before you go magnum. Finally, the game is over, and no...I am not doing three straight completions to see the real "The End" ending. One cycle of six rounds is enough for me.
Thinking about the game, I've always felt that the long walk from start to final boss is much, much harder than the fight with the boss (they were quite easy a lot of times given the right gun to use). The fact for this is because of the hundreds of enemies coming out at you, forcing you to retreat back and back and then you are stuck in a position, ending up getting shot. Comparing Gun.Smoke with Contra, I believe that the former is a tougher and is overall a better game than the latter despite its popularity. All in all, Gun.Smoke is a truly challenging shoot-`em game that will test your skills of elusiveness and patience and also your left thumb.