People are still apparently getting use out of the NES Zapper well over three decades past its release, but not always for ideal reasons. Originally intended to be used with shooting games like Duck Hunt on the Nintendo Entertainment System, at least one crook has since taken to using the video game accessory for felonious crimes. In Hermosillo, Mexico, a bank was actually robbed by a man using the classic NES peripheral.
Stupidity of the crime aside, you’ve got to admire the audacity of this bank robber. The man wrapped the Zapper with black tape to obscure its lighter colors. When he pointed the “weapon” at the bank tellers, the ruse worked and he made off with an untold amount of money. Unfortunately for him, local police captured the crook soon after and placed him under arrest. They’re now investigating the suspect for over a dozen other bank robberies, but there’s no word on if an NES Zapper was used in those incidents as well.
Elementos de @Policia_HMO detuvieron hace unos minutos a una persona que acababa de cometer un robo a Banamex de Plaza Girasol.
Al momento de la detención se le encontró un arma de juguete envuelta con cinta aislante y una gorra deportiva utilizada en el robo. pic.twitter.com/EobidfJXY7— Policía Municipal de Hermosillo (@Policia_HMO) December 18, 2018
Perhaps the saddest detail to come out of this story is that the robber chopped the cord off the Zapper to make it look more realistic. This renders the accessory unusable, assuming the Zapper was otherwise working fine. For longtime Nintendo players, it’s kind of a bummer to see such destruction of classic NES merchandise. If you ask me, the robber should be tacked with additional charges just for that.
The good news here is that people at the bank were in no real danger whatsoever during this “armed” robbery. We can presume the authorities found the situation to be very entertaining as well, once the suspect was in custody. It’s obviously better that it was an NES Zapper as opposed to a real gun, but that’s still not going to matter much to the criminal, who’s about to spend a very long time behind bars.
Related Article: Mario Voice Actor Charles Martinet Honored by Guinness World Records
