This C64 homebrew conversion of Ultimate‘s 1986 ZX Spectrum hit Gunfright was developed by Rod & Emu and released in 2017, and it’s another decent modern port of a thirty year-old game.

Like all of Rod & Emu‘s ports (including Knight Lore, Alien 8, and Pentagram) this game features a useful configuration screen for setting up various tweaks and cheats.

You begin the game with a shooting gallery minigame that allows you to acquire some cash. This money is required to buy bullets (five dollars each), use a horse (the blow-up inflatable kind), or pay fines for accidentally shooting innocents. You must then explore a small Wild West town, looking for outlaws to take down.

The Gunfright gameplay process is: follow the pointing boys to find a bandit (who will be walking around, so the pointing boys change direction to indicate that), then shoot the bandit to enter the showdown. In the showdown screen you must leave the gun where it is until the screen flashes “draw!“, then quickly move the aiming cursor over the bandit and fire. If you were quick enough you should shoot the opponent before he shoots you. If you draw too soon the opponent will usually fill you full of lead and you lose a life.

If you walk into a towns-person, tumbleweed, a cactus, or a bandit, you lose a life. Unless you’re on a horse, in which case you lose the horse, but continue to live. If you shoot an innocent resident you receive a significant fine, and if you run out of money you can no longer buy replacement ammo or use a horse.

Gunfright is a decent enough game, and it is arguably easier to play than Ultimate‘s other Filmation titles. It does have some nice touches (the Ennio Morricone-inspired music in particular is great; it’s just a pity there’s not more of it), but overall Gunfight is quite a repetitive game with relatively simple gameplay. It’s still worth adding to your C64 collection, though. All the Ultimate Filmation conversions from Rod & Emu are.

More: Gunfright on Wikipedia
More: Gunfright on CSDb