Man arrested for robbing a store with Duck Hunt Zapper gun

Well, this is a very strange affair. A man has been arrested in the US after he attempted to rob a store using a NES Zapper.

If you’re unfamiliar with the NES Zapper, it was essentially a special gun-like controller used to play certain NES games - most notably Duck Hunt, Wild Gunman, and Hogan’s Alley. In 1984’s Duck Hunt, players could use the optical sensor-controlled Zapper to shoot at in-game targets. As reported by Dexerto, one man decided to use this little slice of video game history for some much more nefarious means in real life.

The arrested individual has been named as 25-year-old David Joseph Dalesandro. On Tuesday 30 May, Dalesandro walked into a store in York County, South Carolina, wearing a wig and a mask, armed with the faux Nintendo firearm. He then aimed the controller at the owner of the Sharon Kwik Stop and proceeded to demand they hand over money from the cash register.

Authorities confirmed that Dalesandro stole $300 from the store in total, but he was swiftly located by police and arrested at a nearby Dollar General. You can understand why the store worker mistaked the faux firearm for a real one in what I’m sure was a terrifying situation. Police added that Dalesandro was booked into the York County Detention Center following the arrest.

Duck Hunt is somewhat of a cult classic. There’s little to it other than shooting pixelated ducks, but fail to do and you’ll be faced with a game over screen. You may have played Duck Hunt more recently on the Wii U after the game was released as a virtual title back in 2014. Unfortunately, it’s not available on the Nintendo Switch at this point in time. Given the number of titles being added to Nintendo Switch Online though, it’s not out of the realm of possibility.