If Kickstarter was invented for any one thing, it’d be making new games for retro systems. For a while, that go to retro system was the Dreamcast. But now, Super Russian Roulette looks to make the NES the de facto retro console.
Cowboy teddy bear not included. Sorry.
Super Russian Roulette comes to us via Andrew Reitano, a DIY NES guru whose created various homebrew games and custom hardware hacks. He’s even released an NES game before, so he’s got experience in this kind of thing. This is his first Kickstarter campaign, and for a first time, one man project, it looks pretty good. There’s plenty of information about the game, why he’s on Kickstarter, the risks involved, and about Andrew himself. The pitch video is this amazing fake commercial for the game. That alone makes the Kickstarter great.
The game itself is a party game taking advantage of the original light gun, or the Zapper, that came with the NES. As the name suggests, you play a gambling game with Vladimir Putin take turns passing the light gun around with your friends and pulling the trigger. You can play with up to two friends as well as an AI cowboy, and whoever shoots themselves in the head wins. No, wait, you lose if that happens.
That’s all there is to it.
There are a few features you wouldn’t normally find in an NES game however. There’s a “brand new cartridge […] with 1 MEGABYTE (wow!) of program memory.” I don’t know what that means, but it says wow with an exclamation mark, so I can’t help but be excited. There’s also full voice acting from the cowboy, and an extensive soundtrack by Nick Gargiulo.
Sorry Europeans, but this game was tested and is intended for North American units. I guess you’ll have to make due with free healthcare.
Any of you familiar with the old days of playing on the Nintendo Entertainment System might have a few pressing concerns after hearing the words “light gun” and “Zapper.” Games using them don’t usually work (at all) on modern flat screen televisions, and Zappers are notoriously hit or miss, especially these days. Reitano claims that the game does in fact work on modern TV’s, and you don’t need an old CRT in order to play.
As for Zappers, it is hard to find a working one, but that’s just the kind of game this is. You can take your chances on Ebay where there are a few cheap third party and original ones, but that’s up to you.
All in all, I like what I see from Super Russian Roulette. It’s kind of like a coffee table book; something you look at once or twice but keep around just for the novelty or to look nice. There’s no denying there’s a limited audience. If you’re an American with an NES and a working light gun and friends willing to play, you’re all set. If not, well, you can always display the cartridge if you want! See, I put in an exclamation mark to make you excited, just in case you were feeling down.
Track the progress of the Super Russian Roulette Kickstarter in our Campaign Calendar.
