Editing NES Zapper (section)

==Reception==
In February 1988, in a review of ''[[Gotcha! The Sport!]]'', ''Computer Entertainer'' magazine commented that there was "always demand for a gun game [...] We know our Nintendo owners love games they can use with their Zappers".<ref name="CEFeb88">{{cite magazine | magazine=[[Computer Entertainer]] | title=The Video Game Update | date=February 1988 | volume=6 | issue=11 | via=[[Internet Archive]] | url=https://archive.org/details/computer-entertainer-6-11/page/n11/mode/2up | page=12 | access-date=July 16, 2024}}</ref> In July 1988, ''Computer Entertainer'' opined that ''[[Freedom Force (1988 video game)|Freedom Force]]'' was [[Sunsoft]]'s "best game yet. And they've made the best use yet of the Zapper light gun by building a game around a theme that's as topical as the evening news: the taking of hostages by terrorists". Most of its survey respondents who own a game console also had a [[light gun]].<ref name="CEJuly88">{{cite magazine | magazine=[[Computer Entertainer]] | title=The Video Game Update: Nintendo Software | date=July 1988 | volume=7 | issue=4 | via=[[Internet Archive]] | url=https://archive.org/details/computer-entertainer-7-4/page/10/mode/2up | page=10 | access-date=July 13, 2024}}</ref> In August 1988, [[Antic (magazine)|''Antic'' magazine]] praised the Zapper's accuracy compared to the poor horizontal accuracy of the [[Atari XG-1 light gun]], saying "if something is lined up in [Zapper's] sights, that's exactly what you hit".<ref name="Antic2">{{cite magazine | magazine=[[Antic (magazine)|Antic]] | title=First look inside the Atari XE Game system | first=Matthew | last=Ratcliff | url=https://archive.org/details/1988-08-anticmagazine/page/n43/mode/2up?q=%22XG-1%22 |access-date=March 1, 2021 | volume=7 | issue=4 |date=August 1988 |pages=43–45}}</ref>

Regarding Nintendo's [[Trojan Horse]] strategy to convince retailers to stock the NES by marketing it as a toy for its launch, historian Chris Kohler said "The gambit worked like a charm, and nobody missed R.O.B. or the Zapper once players realized that games played with the standard video game controller, like ''[[Super Mario Bros.]]'', were much more fun."<ref name="Power-Up">{{cite book|last=Kohler|first=Chris|title=Power-Up: How Japanese Video Games Gave the World an Extra Life|date=2004|publisher=Brady Games|location=Indianapolis, IN|isbn=0-7440-0424-1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VuA7DQAAQBAJ|page=214}}</ref> Other commentators give more weight more to the promise to buy back any unsold stock. In the 2001 book ''[[The Ultimate History of Video Games]]'', [[Steven L. Kent]] argues that "most of the 500 retailers who sold the NES that Christmas might not have taken the merchandise if it were not for a risky offer made by [[Minoru Arakawa|[Nintendo of America President Minoru] Arakawa]] himself—a money-back guarantee."<ref name="Ultimate History"/>{{rp|297}}