Fans of retro light gun games have had it pretty good these last few years, with lots of new ways to play your old games hitting the market, but aside from just playing the classics, there’s also been a wealth of great new homebrew games from indie developers for retro hardware. One of the most notable of these that I’ve come across is Gunhawk, a 2023 title from Skyboy Games for the original NES hardware.
I’ve recently been playing through the entire library of NES light gun games while working on a new project covering the history of the genre for this particular hardware, Gunhawk was one of the games that stood out and clearly had the most effort and love put into it, and is easily one of the most fun games to play on the hardware. What Skyboy Games managed to pull off with this game generally surpasses what any other NES light gun game has accomplished, whether homebrew or official.
Featuring some great classic anime aesthetics with cool characters and lots of giant mecha, Gunhawk also has a very fun gameplay system where you play with both a standard controller and the Zapper in the other hand. While there were a few of the classic NES light gun titles that used a standard controller along with the Zapper, such as Shooting Range or Gotcha! The Sport!, those games simply used the controller to move the camera from side to side, but in Gunhawk, you’re using your controller to dodge bullet volleys and enemies in real-time.
While moving your mech from left to right and dodging bullets and attacks, you’ll also be targeting the fairly fast-moving enemies to shoot them down with your Zapper, making for some really fun gameplay that’s more unique and challenging than just about any other similar game on the console. You could even have a friend join for some improvised co-op where one person controls the dodging and one does the shooting, which was a lot of fun when I tried it, especially once the difficulty ramps up later in the game.
There’s even a little bit of a story that plays out in between the levels, and though it never goes too deep, it’s more than most light gun games of the era ever had, and it just adds to the immersion a bit. There’s also branching paths and a very satisfying upgrade system that allows you to power up various elements of your mech, making you a more formidable force as you go through the game, also adding variety to each playthrough as you go.
Additionally, there’s an occasional radio hacking minigame (similar to the Bionic Commando series) that allows you to score some extra upgrade points in between some of the stages and splits off your path to alternate branches depending on the results. You’ll use dodging moves and charge shots to strategize your play, and face off against vicious waves of enemies and bosses on your journey to the end.
While the difficulty on the first playthrough might feel slightly low for genre veterans at first, it ramps up as you progress, and after finishing the main game once, you’ll enter a second loop, where you get to keep all your upgrades from the previous run, but the difficulty is ramped up considerably, and your ability to continue is removed. This makes for a real challenge for anyone seeking a more hardcore experience and also adds some replay value to the package overall.
The game is available digitally on itch.io for use on emulators or flash carts for only a few dollars, as well as physically through several different sites. I recently got my hands on the awesome physical edition, which comes with some great art as well as a full, classically designed instruction manual with lots of great tips for the game as well as some extra fun where you’ll need to use an included lens to uncover secrets hidden inside the booklet.
I encourage any fan of classic light gun games to check it out and experience one of the finest examples of how great modern homebrew games for retro hardware can be. Stay tuned for the full retrospective on NES light gun history coming in the next few weeks and I hope to hear from anyone who gives Gunhawk a spin to see what you think!