Anyone who remembers the days of cartridge games harbors a fondness for the iconic ’80s Nintendo game Duck Hunt. The concept was simple, fun, and just challenging enough to be instantly addicting. Point your Zapper at the screen and wait for those ducks to take off. Its simple point-and-shoot layout made it the perfect game for kids of all ages, but Seth Rogen just revealed an aspect to the game that most of us didn’t realize.
It has a two-player mode, in which the second player controls the ducks.
Hot tip that’s 25 years late but I didn’t have Twitter back then: in Duck Hunt on Nintendo, the second player controller controlled the duck.
— Seth Rogen (@Sethrogen) September 17, 2018
“Hot tip that’s 25 years late but I didn’t have Twitter back then: in Duck Hunt on Nintendo, the second player controller controlled the duck,” he wrote Monday on Twitter.
Rogen’s tweet blew the collective minds of all those children of the ’80s who spent their days passing the Zapper back and forth. According to Rogen—and the rulebook—the second player can take over the ducks’ pre-programmed diagonal movements and challenge their friends or siblings to a more complex match.
Me and my sister found this out because I sat on the controller by accident and the duck kept flying to the top right corner.
— Seth Rogen (@Sethrogen) September 17, 2018
His Twitter reveal struck a chord with duck hunters across the web. Even Brie Larson was shocked at the news.
I wish I could have shared this when it was relevant!!!
— Seth Rogen (@Sethrogen) September 17, 2018
People were rocked by the news. So many summer days spent inside, trying to keep the sun away from the sensors in the gun so that it would actually work; friends, waiting nearby for their turn to start when all they needed was to pick up the controller.
It’s a lot.
— Seth Rogen (@Sethrogen) September 17, 2018
I did not come on Twitter to have my mind blown today. I feel like my life is a lie. What's next, if you turn the NES upside down, it shoots money out when you beat Mega Man II?
— Tom Jorgensen (@Tom_Jorgensen) September 17, 2018
This ended at least two friendships in my childhood. But I don't regret anything, I don't want to be friends with someone who couldn't protect us from a couple of zig-zagging ducks. https://t.co/ZgS78r12kj
— Dan Przygoda (@dprzygoda) September 17, 2018
my whole life has been a lie. why why why reveal this now. pandora's box cannot be closed again. https://t.co/chSLU7qs7a
— Hend Amry (@LibyaLiberty) September 17, 2018
I feel like I wasted my childhood https://t.co/R9fBgMbvGA
— Shané Nikolao (@snikolao) September 17, 2018
One Twitter user, Sam Machovech, was nice enough to share the rulebook with the rest of us.
Someone clearly didn't read the manual cc @Sethrogen https://t.co/KXzK2iPXHW pic.twitter.com/ZHVqG7aP8s
— Sam Machkovech☂️ (@samred) September 17, 2018
The number of people who still own the original Nintendo has certainly gone down significantly from Duck Hunt‘s heyday, but it’s time to fish in your parents’ attic for an old zapper.