ADuck Huntfan committed theft while armed with a black-painted NES Zapper. With real guns in existence that have beenmodeled after this peripheral, this seems like one of the next logical steps.
Since its debut in 1984, Nintendo’sDuck Huntpopularized the light gun video game genre and became an NES gem, being packed in with numerous other NES games includingSuper Mario Bros.and being rereleased onto the Wii U’s Virtual Console thirty years later. Its imagery has made cameos in various official and fan products, including 2023’sThe Super Mario Bros. Movie. Most notably, even its iconic laughing dog earned an appearance in the rosters ofSuper Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS/Wii UandSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate, alongside a duck and even an invisible player holding an NES Zapper. And that’s probably just scratching the surface.
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As reported by local network The Wax, a man in Charlotte, North Carolina by the name of David Joseph Dalesandro robbed a local convenience store at 5:45 PM on May 30 while armed with an NES Zapper cloaked in black paint. Fortunately for everyone involved,unlikeHeroes of the Storm, this man was not able to recreateDuck Hunt. Reportedly, the gun had not been altered in any other way and was merely used as a threat, allowing the robber to swipe $300 from the cash register.
Dalesandro was arrested for an unspecified span of time by the York County Police Department shortly after the robbery, having been tracked down by the cops after only managing to get down the street from the crime scene, easily distinguished by his mask, wig, and hooded sweatshirt. The fake gun was seized as well, and was locked up in the evidence vault despite its harmlessness. Peoplerecreating iconic video games elsewhereis far from an uncommon practice, including in real life, but it’s not every day when one of such attempts starts to become dangerous.
The motives behind the crime are not known at this time, but it wouldn’t be the first time a gamer hasattempted to reenact an aspect of a video gamein real life as an act of passion. Perhaps this guy was aDuck Huntfan and was simply trying to be funny about it. Another possible reason behind the firearm choice could be the criminal’s inability to get a real gun for the heist, given North Carolina’s background check laws. No updates on this story have been provided as of yet.
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