Shoot Away
Shoot Away[lower-alpha 1] is a 1977 electro-mechanical arcade game developed and published by Namco. Players use the rifle-shaped light guns to fire at clay pigeons, represented as flying white dots on a projector screen. There are two that must be shot down in each around, and players only get two bullets to hit them. Bonus points are awarded for shooting the pigeons as soon as they appear, or by destroying both of them with a single bullet.
| Shoot Away | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Namco |
| Publisher(s) | Namco |
| Designer(s) | Sho Osugi |
| Series | Shoot Away |
| Platform(s) | Arcade, Mobile phone |
| Release | |
| Genre(s) | Skeet shooting |
Development of Shoot Away was done by Sho Osugi, an engineer for Namco that worked on many of the company's driving games for arcades. He was assisted by Kazunori Sawano, best known for his work on Namco's first major hit Galaxian. Osugi remembers the game being among his most difficult projects, due to hardware limitations and the design of the cabinet. An often-repeated story is that the game was commissioned by Masaya Nakamura, the founder and president of Namco, out of his love for clay shooting. While Osugi claims the story is false, Nakamura playtested the game before it was released. Shoot Away was one of Namco's first products exported outside Japan, helping establish intercontinental connections with other manufacturers.
According to Osugi, Shoot Away was a success in arcades. While critical reception was limited, praise was directed towards its gameplay and unique design. A single-player version named Clay Champ was released in 1979, which was published in the United States by Allied Leisure. Shoot Away received two sequels, Shoot Away II in 1992 and Shoot Away Pro in 2018. Numerous virtual recreations have been developed for platforms such as such as the PlayStation 2, Nintendo DS, and Japanese mobile phones.
Gameplay
The player uses the attached lightguns to shoot down the clay targets on the projector. The player only gets two bullets to shoot down the targets, with bonus points awarded for shooting both targets with one shot. The game ends if the player fails to shoot down the targets several times.
Development
Sequels
A reskin of Shoot Away was released in 1984, under the name CosmoSwat. This version was space themed and had an actual monitor on the control panel, but otherwise is exactly the same. A true sequel, Shoot Away II, was released in 1992 and featured a new pedestal and projector design, score extends, and music. A version that had rapid fire lightguns was also produced. Shoot Away II was also featured as a minigame in the PlayStation 2 port of Time Crisis II[1] and was included as a bonus game in Point Blank DS in 2006.
A second sequel, Shoot Away Pro, was announced in December 2017 by Bandai Namco Entertainment, and was released in March 2018.