Wild Gunman ’74 is an electro-mechanical arcade game designed by Gunpei Yokoi and released by Nintendo in 1974. It projected 16mm film footage of live-action Wild West gunslingers onto a screen, requiring players to draw a physical pistol from a holster and fire at the right moment. No working original cabinet is known to survive. In April 2026, Canadian arcade collector Callan Brown debuted a fully playable recreation built from recovered film reels and modern hardware.

Wild Gunman ’74: Nintendo’s Forgotten First Arcade Game

Wild Gunman is an early arcade coin-op game, designed by Nintendo legend Gunpei Yokoi, which was released in Japan in 1974. It featured actual 16mm footage of Wild West gunmen projected onto a screen, with a flashing signal indicating to players when to draw a physical pistol from a holster and shoot back. No pixels, no sprites. This was pre-digital interactive entertainment, years before Space Invaders, built on a mechanical skeleton of celluloid and light.

The game consists of four film scenes, called Film-A, Film-B, Film-C and Film-D. Each scene was shot on two 16mm film reels, for displaying alternate outcomes, making up a total of eight film reels. The 1974 cabinet used two simultaneous 16mm film reel projectors to display a live-action light gun western. Shoot at the right moment and the projector would switch reels to a winning outcome. Miss, and you got the losing state.

The whole thing was engineered by Gunpei Yokoi, the same designer who would later give the world the Game Boy. Yokoi specifically requested that film manufacturer Fuji use Tetoron, a polyester blend tougher than standard film stock. Even so, he estimated the reels would start degrading after roughly 1,000 play sessions. For a coin-op that needed to earn back its investment over years, that was a ticking clock baked into the hardware.

And the hardware wasn’t cheap. The machine was believed to cost “between three and six times the amount of a typical arcade attraction.” Roughly 100 units were sold , and Wild Gunman was notably introduced in North America, thanks to a surprising partnership between Nintendo and the original Sega of America , a historical irony that still makes collectors do a double take. Sega’s association with Nintendo goes back to 1976, when Sega introduced Nintendo’s Wild Gunman and Shooting Trainer arcade games to North American players.

Wild Gunman ’74 and Its Vanishing Act

Film degrades. Machines get junked. No working cabinet is known to have survived anywhere in the world. A single, untested cabinet surfaced at an auction in 2023, but its current location remains unverified. For decades, the clearest evidence that this machine ever existed came from unusual sources: experimental filmmaker Craig Baldwin’s 1978 short Wild Gunman features footage from the original 1974 arcade game which was re-edited, sped up, and slowed down to surreal effect. The 1974 arcade game also appears in the 1981 film Gas, being played by the main antagonist.

In 2021, gaming historian Kate Willaert noted that the clearest footage of the game wasn’t in any arcade, but in an underground experimental short film and an obscure 1981 comedy called Gas. Willaert coined the designation “Wild Gunman ’74” to avoid confusion with other Nintendo products bearing the same name , including the far more familiar NES Zapper game released in 1985.

That same year, another piece surfaced. Ben Solovey managed to uncover two reels of 16mm film that were originally part of Nintendo’s Wild Gunman arcade cabinet from 1974. Solovey had everything from ‘Film-D.’ Solovey works for Film Preservation Society, a nonprofit organization based in Los Angeles , and presented his findings at the Orphan Film Symposium under the title “Battle Sharks and Wild Gunmen: The Challenges of Film-Based Arcade Games (1974-78).” Some of his recovered materials now reside at the Academy Film Archive .

But having footage in an archive and having a playable game are two very different things.

Callan Brown’s Wild Gunman eBay Discovery

Brown recalled: “One day in July 2025, as I was browsing the arcade parts category on eBay I came across an auction that didn’t make a lot of sense to me: a set of Nintendo branded film reels.” Puzzled by seeing film reels in an arcade auction, Brown noticed the Nintendo quality control stickers, painting the reels as the genuine article.

Brown told Time Extension: “I recognised these quality control stickers from other Nintendo products, like my Donkey Kong Jr. cabinet and my Vs. Dual System, so I was convinced they were genuine… I knew there was something special here, so over the next 6 months, I became obsessed with two words: Wild Gunman.”

The reels he purchased included multiple copies of Reels/Sub-Reels B and D, but only one (somewhat degraded) copy of Reel/Sub-Reel A, and no copies of Reel/Sub-Reel C. Three of four outlaw sets accounted for. That fourth gunfighter remains lost somewhere, possibly in a box in someone’s attic, possibly gone for good.

After placing a winning bid and buying a classroom 16mm projector from a nearby town, Brown was able to watch the Wild Gunman reels, likely their first screening in 40 years.

Rebuilding Wild Gunman ’74 With Modern Hardware

“I really, truly was just going to build the scale model that I used for the fakeout in my video,” Brown told GameSpot. “I started modelling the cabinet from the available pictures and dimensions in July 2025, and began to realize there was nothing preventing me from just creating the whole cabinet. It was finished in about February 2026, and I had been working on the video until the release on April 16.”

Brown has experience with CAD, 3D printing, and circuit board design. The design and execution were all done by him, except for the shroud panels that his wife lovingly sewed. Reverse-engineering patents and making use of open source software, he built a modernized replica of Wild Gunman.

The technical details are worth lingering on. The hardware has been updated, with all the lights now handled by an Arduino, and the projectors replaced by a single digital projector. For the gun, Brown went with infrared LEDs and made the gun itself the detector rather than the screen, functionally close to how the Wii Remote pointer worked. He recreated the game logic in Unity, building the timing systems around his digitized footage. Insert two quarters into the coin slot, and the machine screams to life.

Brown noted that his project is a “reimagining” rather than a 1:1 replica of the 1974 hardware. I’d argue that’s exactly the right call. The key here is that the reels themselves are now protected. By moving to digital projection, Brown ensures the surviving footage won’t degrade further through repeated playback. The cabinet looks and plays like the 1974 original, but the irreplaceable film is spared.

Wild Gunman ’74 Heads to Ontario PinFest 2026

Brown intends to showcase his recreation of the game at the 2026 Ontario PinFest (taking place between May 30th and May 31st 2026), and will be showcasing the game alongside other Nintendo Wild Gunman merchandise, such as the 1972 Wild Gunman toy and a Custom Gunman Toy from 1976.

The 4th Annual Ontario PinFest takes place at 2220 Fairgrounds Rd. N, Stayner, ON (between Wasaga Beach and Collingwood), May 30-31, 2026. Admission is $25 on Saturday, May 30 and $20 on Sunday, May 31. Over 100 machines will be available to play, all set on free play.

In my view, this is what makes Brown’s project matter more than a typical restoration. Most gaming history preservation happens in archives, museums, and private collections where the public never sees it. Brown’s project is different. He built something you can stand in front of and play, which is exactly how Wild Gunman was meant to be experienced in 1974.

Why Wild Gunman ’74 Preservation Matters Now

This project sits at the intersection of two preservation philosophies that rarely overlap. Solovey’s approach is institutional: get the film to the Academy Archive, present at NYU, ensure proper archival custody. Brown’s approach is experiential: build the cabinet, wire the gun, let people play it. Neither is wrong. Both are necessary. The film needs to survive in a climate-controlled vault. The game needs to survive as a thing you can actually encounter.

“Thank you for joining me on my journey to make what might be the only playable Wild Gunman ’74 in North America,” says Brown, “maybe the world.” Brown has also indicated he intends to release his Arduino code and Unity game publicly, which would let other builders attempt their own recreations. When GameSpot asked about releasing the film scans, he replied that he vows not to let the films and scans disappear.

To me, this is grassroots preservation at its best. A guy in Ontario with a 3D printer, a soldering iron, and a lucky eBay bid did something no museum, no corporation, and no archive had managed to do: he made Wild Gunman ’74 playable again, 52 years after Gunpei Yokoi first imagined cowboys flickering on celluloid inside a coin-operated box.

Wild Gunman ’74: Frequently Asked Questions

What is Wild Gunman ’74?

Wild Gunman ’74 is an early arcade coin-op game designed by Gunpei Yokoi, released in Japan in 1974 by Nintendo. It featured actual 16mm footage of Wild West gunmen projected onto a screen, with a flashing signal indicating to players when to draw a physical pistol from a holster and shoot back. It is distinct from the better-known 1985 NES game of the same name.

Is the original Wild Gunman ’74 arcade cabinet still playable?

No working original cabinet is known to have survived anywhere in the world. An untested cabinet surfaced at auction in 2023, but its current location remains unverified. Arcade collector Callan Brown has built what may be the only playable Wild Gunman ’74 machine in the world, using digitized film reels and modern hardware.

Where can I see and play Callan Brown’s Wild Gunman ’74 recreation?

Brown said he’ll take the machine to the Ontario PinFest, taking place on May 30-31 in Stayner, Ontario. Admission is $25 on Saturday and $20 on Sunday.

Is Wild Gunman ’74 the game from Back to the Future Part II?

Not exactly. In the 1989 film, protagonist Marty McFly plays a non-existent arcade version of the NES Wild Gunman resembling a Nintendo VS. System cabinet. That prop was fictional. The real 1974 machine was a massive unit with film projectors, not a standard video arcade cabinet.

Who first recovered Wild Gunman ’74 film reels?

Two of the original reels were discovered by collector Benjamin Solovey in 2021. Solovey had the two reels making up ‘Film-D.’ Thanks to Callan Brown, we now have newly scanned footage of B, D, and part of A, representing a little over half of the available reels.

Will Callan Brown release his Wild Gunman ’74 software and film scans?

Brown has indicated he intends to release both his Arduino code and Unity game at some point. Regarding the film scans, he told GameSpot that he vows not to let the films and scans disappear, though specific release plans have not yet been confirmed.