Target: Terror

Target: Terror is a 2004 video game, a Light Gun Game developed by Raw Thrills, the independent arcade game devhouse founded by the legendary Eugene Jarvis. In the same vein as Maximum Force or Area51, you are fighting terrorists and defending locations. Instead of three areas as in Maximum Force, this game has nine levels, split into three locations; the Denver Airport, the Golden Gate Bridge, and the Los Alamos research facility. A tenth level is unlocked after completing the first nine; the goal there is to prevent a hijacked airliner from crashing into the White House. Because of the terrorists' ridiculous accuracy, Target Terror has gained infamy for being one of the hardest light gun games ever made.

A Wii port was released in 2008 by Konami and Leviathan Games. It wasn't very good.

It also has infamy for another reason: the cheesy acting of the NPC's, which are actually full motion video superimpositions of the game's designers dressed up in street clothes/army fatigues/police uniforms and pretending to be terrorists/hostages/friendlies. For that reason, the game has a bit of a reputation as So Bad It's Good, with IGN's video reviewer saying, "I don't know whether to give this game a 1 or a 10!"


 * Boom! Headshot!: The arcade versions have settings that regulate the amount of blood and gore in the game so it can be displayed in family-friendly locations. The highest gore level adds headshots that will gib the enemies' skulls into bloody chunks, with a massive point bonus and combat medal for doing so. See Lighter and Softer below for the lowest gore setting.
 * Die, Chair, Die!: In addition to the Exploding Barrels and breakable windows, many other scenery pieces can be shot.
 * Equal Opportunity Evil: There are plenty of women among the legions of terrorists.
 * Exploding Barrels: Annoyingly, both the terrorists and the innocent bystanders will hide or go near these.
 * Freeze Ray: One of the powerups that can be acquired.
 * Gorn
 * Groin Attack: And how! The Gold edition also gives out a "nutcracker" medal for groin shot streaks.
 * The Guards Must Be Crazy: And the innocent bystanders, and the terrorists...
 * Hostage Spirit Link: One of the reasons the game is so hard is that there's a LOT of hostages just standing there.
 * Kill It with Fire: The flamethrower, which allows you to put your enemies to the torch.
 * Kill Sat Smart Bomb: A useful powerup that's acquired by shooting a satellite that occasionally sprints across the screen. Using it clears a screen of terrorists and/or takes half the lifebar off of the helicopters that appear twice in the game.
 * Large Ham: Everybody overacts in a way that would make William Shatner proud. Special mention goes to the news reporter that introduces each level.
 * Lighter and Softer: The lowest gore setting removes all blood and replaces it with paintball splatter effects.
 * Medium Blending: Full Motion Video sprites for the terrorists, friendlies and hostages, 3D graphics for the background objects.
 * More Dakka: The machine gun powerup shoots at such a rate of fire that you can get combo bonus points for hitting the same terrorist multiple times, hit them multiple times in the head and the head pops off with a 'decapitation' declaration from the game.
 * Nintendo Hard: Unless you can shoot the terrorists as soon as they come out before they begin firing, you're probably going to take a hit.
 * Out of Continues: At the last section on the hijacking mission pointedly the game will say "there are no continues beyond this point" and give you a time limit to get back up to full health.
 * Rewarding Vandalism: Breaking stuff earns medals.
 * Shock and Awe: The appropriately-named "Shocker" powerup.
 * Shooting Gallery: 5707 Terror Terrace, one of the bonus games where you earn extra points for shooting the terrorist targets and get points deducted for shooting innocent targets. Hit three innocents and the bonus game ends.
 * The War on Terror: Blatantly marketed as a post September 11 reaction to terrorism.
 * Updated Rerelease: The Gold edition, which adds combat medals and secret areas.
 * Vaporware: A sequel was teased by Eugene Jarvis when the Wii port was released in 2008, but nothing else has been heard of it. Can't blame Jarvis, as Raw Thrills has kept busy with various other games in the following three years. Chalk it up to lack of resources.