Whereas Nintendo has been a distinguished power within the sport trade for many years, it took a while earlier than they grew to become absolutely the powerhouse they’re right this moment. Lengthy earlier than their dominance in residence consoles, Nintendo manufactured enjoying playing cards, toys, and numerous gadgets–and, through the Seventies and 80s, they invested closely in creating coin-operated leisure for arcades. Even years earlier than Donkey Kong grew to become a company-defining hit, Nintendo was performing some wild issues in arcades.
Wild Gunman ’74, named such by gaming historian Kate Willaert to keep away from confusion with different Nintendo merchandise bearing the identical identify, was engineered by Nintendo’s legendary creator and inventor Gunpei Yokoi. It was a large lightgun sport that used full-motion video to depict Wild West quick-draw shootouts with outlaws–an absolute technological marvel for the time that earned loads of fawning press in coin-operated commerce magazines. Sadly, that spectacular know-how didn’t translate to gross sales for the costly cupboard, with roughly 100 items being bought, making Wild Gunman ’74 extraordinarily uncommon. Due to the machine’s age, measurement, proprietary know-how, and obscurity, working Wild Gunman ’74 items are virtually unattainable to find–only one unique machine is understood to exist, within the palms of a non-public collector.
However when Canadian arcade collector and restore professional Callan Brown bought ahold of among the unique Wild Gunman 74 movie reels used within the arcade machine from an eBay public sale, he felt a must try to restore it to its full, working glory–which he documented in an in depth YouTube video.
Within the video, Brown discusses his historic discover, describing the unique know-how for a way the sport would make the most of movie reels and showcasing samples from the movie he was capable of receive. As he factors out, the movie may degrade in a short time relying on how a lot the sport was performed, and a few reels have been in higher situation than others. Sadly, he wasn’t capable of receive all the identified movie that exists for the sport, however has preserved one of the best cuts of what he obtained. Then, consulting unique service manuals and using a mixture of modeling, fashionable software program, programming, and stitching by his spouse Natasha Aziz, Brown was capable of fabricate a full-size housing and gun unit for the sport to be performed on. Whereas it isn’t unique {hardware}, it is nonetheless a stunningly spectacular recreation of an expertise that wowed lucky arcade-goers of the mid-70s.
We reached out to Brown to get some extra particulars about his creation. Requested if he has any leads on the place the cupboard the unique reels got here from might have been put in, he mentioned he is nonetheless looking for the cupboard the place the unique reels got here from.
“The unique public sale mentioned it was from a long-retired operator’s warehouse in Saskatchewan, Canada,” mentioned Brown. “Each the public sale and person are gone from eBay, so I want I had requested extra questions earlier on! I’ve obtained a number of feedback on completely different boards about locations individuals performed this sport of their youth, so I’ve began recording these to make a map.”
“I do must shout out Raf Everett, who seems within the video, for scouring the online for tidbits of data on historic boards and the like, on who may need different movies and unique cupboards,” he continued.
What impressed him to go all-out on constructing a devoted arcade cupboard for Wild Gunman? “I actually, really was simply going to construct the size mannequin that I used for the fakeout in my video,” he mentioned. “I began modelling the cupboard from the obtainable photos and dimensions in July 2025, and started to appreciate there was nothing stopping me from simply creating the entire cupboard. It was completed in about February 2026, and I had been engaged on the video till the discharge on April 16. I’ve a number of expertise with CAD, 3D printing, and circuit board design. So the design and execution have been all completed by me, apart from the shroud panels that my spouse lovingly sewed. I had used Unity beforehand to create some VR simulations, in order that was a pure alternative for reprogramming the sport.”
Brown mentioned he’ll take the machine to the Ontario Pinfest, happening on Could 30-31 in Stayner, Ontario. Does he have plans to showcase the setup anyplace else? “Not at the moment, however I’ll preserve my eyes and ears open for alternatives.”
Lastly, will the movie reels be made obtainable on-line for perusal by newbie Nintendo historians? “That is after all what everybody’s asking,” he replied.
“All I can say for now could be that I vow to not let these movies and scans disappear.”