There’s retrogaming, and then there’s retro gaming. This next project falls into the second category, as [Callan] of 74XX Arcade Repair digs into the original Wild Gunman, first released by Nintendo way, way back in 1974 — on 16 mm film. Yes, it was a film-based arcade machine, but how else were you going to get realistic graphics just two years after PONG?
The game had two 16 mm projectors, with four different sets of film reels available, each depicting five gunmen. Unfortunately for [Callan], the film is all he has, so he’s not so much repairing as re-creating the historic game. Luckily, he had the manuals, so at least he knew how it was supposed to come together.
One projector did most of the work, showing the gunmen and a hidden timing signal for the game to know when the user could shoot; the other only activated if the user pulled the trigger at the correct time. Interestingly the ‘gun’ has an IR illuminator that bounced infrared light off the screen to a detector in the cabinet — much like later TV remotes. That makes for a rather large circular hitbox around the enemy gunslinger, which is perhaps not a bad thing for a game likely to be found in a bar.
His recreation is all-digital as he didn’t want to risk completely wearing out the vintage film. Instead there’s a PC, a digital projector, and a pico-based light-gun running the OpenFire firmware. [Callan] did go to some lengths to match the original appearance, with a combination of 3D printing, woodworking and fabric arts. Plus his recreation is authentic to the behavior of the original, so what more could you ask for?
As far as we know, this is the only playable version of the 1970s game in existence. [Callan] will have it available to play at the Ontario Pinfest 2026, in Stayner, Ontario on May 30-31, 2026. Happily enough, that’s 50 years since the game first arrived in North America in 1976. Worth a trip? Well, that depends on your location.
This reminds us of the time someone 3D printed a Computer Space cabinet, which only predates Wild Gunman by a few years. Speaking of 3D printing, you can also print your own 16 mm film camera, if you want to make an indie version this now-vanished style of arcade game.
This articles is written by : Nermeen Nabil Khear Abdelmalak
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