Sheriff

Arcade Video game published 46 years ago:

Sheriff (c) 1979 Nintendo.

You control a sheriff who has been surrounded by bandits. You can move around in the middle of the screen, and pick off the bandits that have you circled in. The longer you play the quicker they move. Luckily you can move one direction, while firing another.

- TECHNICAL -

Main CPU : Intel 8080 (@ 2.016 Mhz)
Sound CPU : I8035 (@ 400 Khz)
Sound Chips : DAC, SN76477 (@ 400 Khz)

Players : 2
Control : Joystick 8-Way (controls movement), 8-Way rotary knob + push. (controls shooting)

This game uses some strange color hardware, which required a unique monitor.

Sheriff was one of the last games that was designed to look like a "Bowling Alley". It has light colored woodgrain sides that actually look like they were made from the same wood as a bowling lane. They have a 'Sheriff' logo painted on the side in black, with a few graphics of Mexican bandits circling the machine near the bottom. The front of the machine has a huge coin door, and a speaker grill offset to the left of it (both of these are black). The control panel is done in red and features game instructions, start buttons for each player, and the controls. The monitor bezel goes all the way up to the top of the machine (no marquee on this title), and has a few more game instructions, some cowboy graphics, and a big 'Sheriff' logo done up to look like an American Flag. There were also two cocktail versions of this title made. The first was in a standard white topped first generation Nintendo cocktail ("Donkey Kong" used the same one with a different top). The second one was a god awful red and white contraption that looked like some sort of fantasy jukebox (this one used a smaller monitor and is fairly rare).

- TRIVIA -

Sheriff was released in October 1979.

The Sheriff and the bandits characters, appear as trophy in the game Super Smash Bros. Melee.

After Sheriff's release by Nintendo in 1979, it was licensed to Exidy for re-release as "Bandido" in 1980.

- SERIES -

1. Sheriff (1979)
2. Sheriff 2 (1979)

- STAFF -

Characters designed by: Shigeru Miyamoto

- PORTS -

A slightly redesigned version of 'Sheriff' is included as an unlockable extra on Nintendo's Game Boy Advance title 'Wario Ware Inc.: Mega Microgame$'. In this version, Wario is the 'dashing hero' instead of the cowboy from the arcade game; the gameplay and graphics are otherwise basically the same. 'Sheriff' also serves as the basis for one of 9-Volt's microgames during normal play.

- CONTRIBUTE -

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