Video Game Meta

Gunfighter

Gunfighter

Console: Magnavox Odyssey 2
TV Standard: Region Not Set
Developer(s): Philips Interactive Media
Release Date: 1979-05-01
Co-op: No
Type: Shooter

In the early days of videogames, Midway scored big points with a game called Gun Fight. In that game, two players each controlled a cowboy whose task was to gun down the other before being shot himself. Complicating the duel were on-screen obstacles like cacti and stagecoaches. It was a simple gameplay concept, but an effective one. Like other home video game manufacturers, Magnavox couldn't resist copying this little gem. Neither could they resist appending yet another pointless sci-fi theme to it, and the result is Gunfighter, the game where futuristic cowboy androids shoot it out for some unfathomable, futuristic cowboy android reason.