User:Namcokid47/Point Blank

Point Blank is a light gun shooter arcade game developed and released by Namco in 1994. Using the attached light guns, players are tasked with shooting down targets in a number of pre-determined minigames before the timer runs out. Some stages feature specific objectives that must be completed to progress, such as shooting certain-colored targets or protecting a character from being hit. It ran on the Namco NB-1 arcade system.

Point Blank began as a more realistic light gun game that featured digitized actors as targets, similar to Konami's Lethal Enforcers, however the game was instead changed to be more appealing for younger players, with comical game graphics and silly game environments. The light guns used for the game were the first arcade guns to use recoiling, which were patented by Namco shortly after the initial prototypes were completed. The two mascot characters for the game, named "Dr. Don" and "Dr. Dan", were depicted as sombrero-wearing Mexican brothers in early sketches, before being finalized into Sesame Street-like puppets instead.

Point Blank was a surprise hit for Namco in arcades, described as a "cult favorite". Critical reception for the game was positive, with its originality and two-player co-op being highly praised. A home version for the PlayStation was released a year later in 1995, bundled with Namco's GunCon light gun peripheral. A number of sequel and spin-off titles would be released, as were several home ports of these games. The original was compiled into the PlayStation 2 compilation Gunvari Collection + Time Crisis in 2003, which saw a release only in Japan.

Gameplay
Point Blank is a light gun shooter arcade game.

Development
In the early 1990's, Namco began work on a new light gun game for arcades - similar to Konami's Lethal Enforcers, it used digitized actors as game targets, with large amounts of blood and gore. Executives at Namco decided to abandon the idea of a realistic shooter, instead toying with the idea of a more comical, family-oriented game. The head designer for the project was Yutaka Kounoe, known for his work on Dig Dug and Lucky & Wild, who decided to make the game a minigame collection, where players used the light guns to complete pre-determined objectives. Namco's financial department thought the game was of "no value", however Kounoe and his team pressed on with the project.

The lightguns were created by Shigeki Toyama, described as "Namco's resident Doc Brown character" for his unique ideas. Toyama rejected Namco's proposal of using more realistic light guns, as he disliked copying other's ideas - he based the schematics of the gun around the feeling of destruction and discharge of energy, which he felt made light gun games fun to play. The early schematics, which used high voltages intermixed with solenoids, proved frustrating for the electronics team, leading to Toyama redesigning the guns to increase the voltage once the trigger was pressed. Arguments arose about whether the guns should use recoiling or not - Toyama claimed that using realistic guns for a more comical game would provide a bit of humor to players. Toyama filed a patent for the guns after they were completed.

Kounoe created the data all himself for each of the game's stages, which included enemy patterns and frequencies. For several weeks, Kounoe would arrive at his office by 3:AM to work on the data for stages, giving him some alone time in the offices. The project became popular amongst Namco employees, who would commonly try out the game for themselves during breaks, including company higher-ups. Point Blank, titled Gun Bullet in Japan, was officially released worldwide in October 1994.

Release
Point Blank would be ported over to the PlayStation in 1995, bundled with the Namco GunCon peripheral to mimic the light guns used in the arcade version. This port also includes a new "adventure" mode with role-playing game elements intermixed with the minigames found in the main game.