Sheriff

An arcade game (Most commonly as a cabinet but also made as a table top) developed by Nintendo R&D1 in 1979. Sheriff would be the first original game developed by Nintedo and stands as one of the earliest Western-Style video games ever produced. The player is thrown into the roll of a county Sheriff given the duty to protect his town from bandits and save a woman who was recently captured. This is a basic multi-directional shooter where the player is given unique controls for moving and shooting within the area on screen. It was played in the arcades of both Japan and America in the late 70's and early 80's. Due to its complex 8 directional controls, it gained little popularity, though kept a small cult following. Sheriff would be the first footsteps in acclaimed developer Shigeru Miyamoto's still thriving career.

• • Published by: Nintendo, Exidy

  • Developed by: Nintendo R&D1 (Research & Development 1)

  • Designer: Genyo Takeda, Shigeru Miyamoto

  • Platform: Arcade

  • Year Released: 1979

  • Significant Contributors to Game Development: Ikegami Tsushinki Co., Ltd.

  • Genre: Multi-directional Shooter / Run and Gun

• Other Games in Series:

  • • • Sheriff 2 (1979)

      • Bandido (1980)

      • Super Smash Bros. Melee (As a trophy) (2001)

      • Wario Ware Inc. : Mega Microgames$! (2003)

Sheriff incorporated a unique control set that had the player use an eight direction control stick and hit a button to fire. The games end goal and victory condition were to defeat all the levels of bandits to save the town and woman of whom your character falls in love with. the local objective is to clear each level by defeating each bandit one at a time. Its rule sets were basic, the player must fire at the bandits without being hit and pass all levels with a certain amount of lives. Some limitations are the delay in action of joystick reaction of character, along with firing rate, set lives, and complex controls. The player is able to traverse the whole playing field except for where the score is being kept. The game is pretty representational in its themes, though leaves some ambiguity in the characters and their love story at the end. The rule sets are pretty much explicit, while multiple strategies can be introduced, most players are set to a symetric style of play. The objective mechanics use the idea of chase (hunt and evade), while using openfield movement with smooth timing (though delayed). The game implores these sets of limitations and design elements to create the overall experience.

Gameplay

Sheriff implements the gameplay mechanics of a basic multi-directional shooter, a popular though dying genre at the time. Your character is given nothing but a gun and the ability to traverse the whole playing field. In the original only your sprite is allowed to move while the bandits sprites walk around the outer edge, occoasinaly entering the center area of play and action. You must dodge and evade their attacks while hunting and killing them off one by one. This creates a the sensation of chase, while everything is happening in a real and smooth time frame. Your character is protect by a series of four large shields (unbreakable) on each side and a boxing of small one pixel shields. A key element is the fact that the player can shoot in the opposite direction of movement, opening a whole new avenue of skill sets and strategies. The Sheriff must ultimatley avoid touching the bandits, dodge bullets, and shoot all 16 bandits to complete each level. There is also a system of points for kills with flying "innocent" vultures (Same psychology as the red Space Invaders bonus ship) as bonus points.

Controls

The game implemented a unique control scheme for moving around and taking action on the screen. The shooting joystick used a switch that can be pointed into eight different directions. This forces the player to first choose their direction and then press the switch to fire. A relatively large time delay between the movement of the joystick and the movement of your character is also implemented allowing the Sheriff character to walk in one direction while shooting in another. This also forces the player to be thinking one step ahead as they play. The bandits walk in a syncipated pace around the outer rim, while on rare occasion entering the center of the playing field in rapid movement. While all the movements are significant, one major complaint was of their complexity. The game itself was so hard to learn and master that many players grew to frustrated to continue playing. The controls would be simplified for its sequal "Sheriff 2", but the changes would be too little too late to save the series.

Plot

Sheriff involves a classical plot, while simple in its nature. It involves a significant woman being kidnapped at the beginning. Your character, Sheriff, chases the bandits out of his western town but is now cornered in the desert. The bandits circle around him while he tries to fight his way out. The Sheriff must fight his way through three sets of bandits to save both the woman and his town. At the end the Sheriff is shown with the woman while a large heart floats above his head. This leaves the player to imagine that the two fell in love after he saved her from the bandits creating something of a classic love story (As seen in many western movies prior).

Characters

Sheriff - He is the classical western Hero, and the protagonist of the game. While visually simple, his sprite resembles a slightly husky man in western garb (Cowboy hat, boots, and western clothes) with a frowning square shaped head and a gun in hand. His character design was most definaltey influenced by the popularity of western film, though he also could be accredited as an ifluence for Miyamoto's quintessential hero, Mario. His ultimate goal is to save his town and the woman he loves that has been kidnapped.

The first visual element the player comes across is the actual cabinet of the game itself. It is one of the last games to be designed to have a cabinet that resembles a bowling alley. This design for Nintendo takes great influence from their earlier Pigeon and Bandit shooting galleries created within abandoned bowling alleys. The machine actauly looks to be made of the wood of a bowling lane. The title and logo "Sheriff" is printed large on both sides and the front. Across the bottom is graphics of the Mexican like bandits chasing the maiden in sequence. The controll panel itself is done in red while instructions and more graphics of the bandits goes up the side of the screen. Across the top is the large golden title "Sheriff" done as if to resembled that of the American flag. Most of this art is decorative, besides the instructions themselves who artfully inform the player how to play. While all of the cabinet art is more decorative then functinal, the game sprites and graphics themselves serve a great funtion. They both make the plot and setting realistic and add a personal attachment with the player to the character. The video resolution was 224 x 256 pixels, with a refresh of 60.00 Hz and bit depth of 8. The character developement themselves were very innovative, it was the beginning of player to character relationships and a personal plot, one of love for instance in Sheriff. While the graphics themselves were not much more innovative then any predecessors, the character of the Sheriff himself and the maiden were quite forward for its time. This proved to be just a prequal to the greatness Miyamoto had instore for the world. The game involved pixelated sprites for graphical representation. The Sheriff was in yellow and is viewed from a profile, while the bandits in ceyan are viewed from something of a birds eye as they move around the perimeter in their three sequenced animation. The bonus buzzards are done in a magenta while the permanat barriors are red and green. Animations were simple but effective.

Sound

Little is written or recorded on the sound design of Sheriff (Highly due to the lack or and rarity of the game today). What little i could find in modern remakes has an upward and downward progression in music playing in the background that resembles something of the western theme. The shots and movements of the Sheriff and the Bandits is described much alike to the sounds created in Space Invaders (though not entirely similar). The sound focus' primarliy on your character of the Sheriff, having intro music, playtime music, and a sound sequence related to losing. The sound CPU is I8035 (@ 400 Khz) and the sound chips are DAC (@ 400 Khz) and SN76477 (@ 400 Khz) with using a bit depth of 8. The sound much like the visuals support the plot and the over all believability of the game and connection to the character Sheriff. This is meant to bring the player into having a more intimate relationship with his character and the game overall.