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Wii Zapper to include Zelda crossbow game

Nintendo has announced that it will bundle a <em>Duck Hunt</em>-esque <em> Zelda</em> shooting game with its Zapper peripheral

John Falcone Senior Editorial Director, Shopping
John P. Falcone is the senior director of commerce content at CNET, where he coordinates coverage of the site's buying recommendations alongside the CNET Advice team (where he previously headed the consumer electronics reviews section). He's been a CNET editor since 2003.
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John Falcone

Crave US: When Nintendo announced the Wii Zapper at July's E3 show, the company promised the add-on would be bundled with a game (a 'pack-in', in gamer parlance). And the Mario Factory has made good on the pledge: the Zapper will include Link's Crossbow Training, a Zelda-themed target shooter.

The game will progress from simple bull's-eyes to moving targets (including enemies from the Zelda series), and -- while we wouldn't expect much more than a glorified "how to use the Zapper" tutorial -- something tells us Crossbow Training could be as infectious as Wii Sports. It's got plenty to live up to, mind -- the original NES Zapper was bundled with the classic Duck Hunt.

Either way, it's good to see Nintendo adding some value to what's less a controller and more a big hunk of plastic. (The Zapper is simply a housing that places the Wii Remote and Nunchuk into a mounting that's vaguely reminiscent of a Tommy gun.)

In addition to the included crossbow title, three third-party titles will also be Zapper-compatible: EA's Medal of Honor Heroes 2, Capcom's Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles, and Sega's Ghost Squad. Each of those games are Wii exclusives, and all are due by the end of the year. The Zapper itself will be available in North America on 19 November for $20 (£10), but there's no word yet on UK pricing or availability. -John P. Falcone