For many gamers, their first video game console was the original Nintendo Entertainment System. Chances are that if you owned a Nintendo, you or your parents also purchased the NES Zapper, an electronic light gun. The Nintendo Zapper usually came with Duck Hunt , or you may have received Duck Hunt as a pack-in game, paired with Super Mario Bros. Old-school gamers will likely remember trying to shoot the ducks, and if you failed, the famed dog — formally named The Dog, or the Laughing Dog — would pop up from the bright green grass and cruelly laugh at you.
In our modern world of gaming, with no shortage of video game media outlets, shows, and forums — an in-game secret isn’t kept a secret for long. This is a modern-day benefit that old-school gamers did not have access to. So, numerous Nintendo video game secrets from back in the day are just now being discovered by many gamers.
One of the most popular secrets discovered for the Nintendo well after it’s initial release date was revealed in 2009. As Screen Rant documented, Makoto Wada, a member of the original development team for Punch-Out , revealed that during the Bald Bull fight, an audience member takes a flash picture. Said camera flash was a signal for the player to punch Bald Bull, with a well timed punch sending the charging opponent straight to the mat.
Was there anything more annoying during Duck Hunt than the dog laughing at you? #retrogaming pic.twitter.com/XFfjdDJxI5
— Glowing Eye Games (@GlowingEyeGames) June 25, 2017
While the Bald Bull tip was the most popular trick recently revealed, that may change thanks to a Duck Hunt hot tip that Seth Rogen recently shared on Twitter. It turns out that there was a two-player game mode that many Nintendo users weren’t aware of — the second controller could be used to control the duck. Rogen tweeted that he discovered the trick when he played the game with his sister because he sat on the second controller by accident.
Me and my sister found this out because I sat on the controller by accident and the duck kept flying to the top right corner.
— Seth Rogen (@Sethrogen) September 17, 2018
This information provided by Seth Rogen has set Twitter on fire. Most old-school gamers didn’t realize that controlling the duck was possible, because many of them got Duck Hunt as a pack-in game, and it didn’t come with an instruction manual. Ari Weintraub, a professional gamer, replied to Seth Rogen on his Twitter , stating that he was unaware of this — dropping an F-bomb to express his shock. While some Twitter users wrote that they already knew of the trick, most people replying to Rogen’s tweet expressed that they had no idea that this was possible.
Why am I so mad about this?! #sad #nintendo #duckhunt
— Neil Brown, jr (@NeilBrownJr) September 18, 2018
— rlm? ???? she/her (@roblynmaz) September 17, 2018
Rogen’s trick also caused many fans to reminisce on Duck Hunt , and one Twitter user, Luis, replied to Rogen’s tweet with some art that he recently repurposed as a tribute to the video game.
I just repurposed a thrift shop painting into an homage to Duck Hunt and other NES game references. pic.twitter.com/zcZiF2O2ON
— Luis Vela Art (@LuisAVela_Art) September 17, 2018
This isn’t the only Duck Hunt trick that modern users have discovered. Because the Nintendo Zapper is a light gun, when the brightness on the television is adjusted to a very high level, it tricks the game into thinking you’re shooting the ducks successfully — regardless of where you aim on the screen. Unfortunately, you will need to have a CRT TV to perform this trick, as the light gun won’t work on modern LCD, LED, or Plasma televisions.
There aren’t too many other Duck Hunt game secrets out there, but who knows — maybe Seth Rogen will discover another one that will blow video gamers’ minds.
