1970s
Gun Fight
1975 · Action · Arcade
Overview
Gun Fight is a classic 1970s action game developed by Taito / Midway for Arcade.
Deep Dive
Gun Fight is a classic 1970s action game developed by Taito / Midway for Arcade.
Developer Story
Gun Fight was originally developed by Taito in Japan as Western Gun in 1975, then licensed to Midway for the North American market. Midway engineer Dave Nutting redesigned the game around an Intel 8080 microprocessor — making it the first arcade game to use a microprocessor rather than custom hardware logic. This was a pivotal moment in arcade history: microprocessors made game logic programmable rather than hardwired, enabling far more complex games.
Did You Know?
- Gun Fight was the first arcade game to use a microprocessor — a decision by Dave Nutting that changed how all future arcade games would be built.
- The original Japanese version (Western Gun) used discrete logic circuits; the American remake was a near-total redesign around an Intel 8080 CPU.
- Players could move their gunfighters around the screen — an early form of character control in a shooting game.
- The Wild West theme made it a cultural touchstone, and the game was controversial for its depiction of human-on-human violence.
