Badlands (Konami)

Badlands (バッドランズ) is a 1984 laserdisc video game developed and published for the arcades by Konami. In the vein of interactive movie games like Wild Gunman, Dragon’s Lair, and Cliff Hanger, Badlands lets its players navigate through various animated sequences by pressing a single button at a precise moment (unlike Dragon’s Lair, there is no joystick). Since the game is themed as an old West shooter, the function of the button is almost always to fire the main character’s gun to fend off against attackers. If the player shoots too soon, he will be hanged for murder. Failing to fire in time, however, will result in being killed by the attack. As the player progresses, the timing becomes more precise.The game was very particular about firing at the right time, which made it very difficult and often unplayable. At one point Buck must shoot a snake and fire at the snake at the exact second to succeed. It is even possible for Buck to shoot himself in sequences where it shows him. Distributed by Centuri in the U.S., it was Konami’s only laserdisc game.