Baby Boomer

Retrospective reception has been heavily negative, citing broken hit detection, unfair difficulty, and polarized comparisons to Nintendo's early Zapper game, Gumshoe (1986). Club ranked it as the worst Zapper game ever released. A sequel titled Baby Boomer 2: 35 Years Too Soon was released in 2024 for modern platforms.

• Title — Baby Boomer • Developer — Color Dreams • Publisher — Color Dreams Gradiente (Brazil) • Designer — Jim Meuer • Genre — Light gun shooter • Modes — Single-player, multiplayer • Platforms — Nintendo Entertainment System

• Illustration — Boomer has fallen down a hole, leading to his instant demise. The game is a scrolling shooter in which the player protects a baby named Boomer, who crawls automatically across the screen from left to right. The player uses the Zapper to shoot enemies and environmental hazards before they deplete Boomer's life or impede his progress. Hazards include birds of prey, bottomless pits, and demonic enemies. Certain environmental objects interact with shots; for example, shooting clouds creates ice bridges over pits to allow safe passage. The game features a "milk meter" which acts as a hunger timer; if the meter depletes, the baby dies of starvation. Levels progress through distinct themes, starting in a suburban backyard and wilderness before moving to a graveyard, the "Pearly Gates" of Heaven, and the pits of Hell. Up to two players can participate simultaneously. Player one uses the Zapper to shoot enemies, while player two uses a standard controller to move Boomer and manage movement speed.

In 1989, Baby Boomer became the first game released by Color Dreams, and it remains one of only two unlicensed Zapper games. Because Color Dreams did not secure a license from Nintendo, it could not use the standard gray NES cartridge shells. Instead, it manufactured its own cartridges in a distinct baby blue color, including a charge pump circuit to bypass the 10NES lockout chip, a copy protection system used by Nintendo to block unauthorized software. In Brazil, Color Dreams licensed the game to Gradiente.

Baby Boomer 2: 35 Years Too Soon was released on August 16, 2024, for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Windows via the Epic Games Store. It was developed by the indie studio Kimulator's Films under license from Piko Interactive and Color Dreams (operating as Wisdom Tree). It supports local cooperative multiplayer for up to four players.