As for the Zapper, originally, it was going to be called a light gun. But something was eating at me a little bit because, at that time, arcades were getting a very bad reputation.
One of the incidents I remember hearing about was when police went into an arcade and a kid pointed an arcade gun at them. They mistook it for a real weapon. That incident made everyone change their guns to bright orange, red, or yellow—including us.
Because of that, we weren’t sure about the name either. So, we decided to conduct a focus group, which we did in Paramus, New Jersey. Ron and I teamed up with a great company, and they brought in about 20 or 30 housewives who had children.
The person leading the focus group explained the Nintendo light gun, Duck Hunt, and all the other great features. However, about a third of the women got up and walked out, and the rest said, “No guns are coming in my house.”
Immediately after, we had another group come in. This time, all we did was change the name to the Zapper. The results were the exact opposite; everyone thought it was great.
That one little focus group could have had a big impact on our success.
https://nintendoeverything.com/former-nintendo-staffer-explains-why-nes-zapper-changed-its-name-from-the-light-gun/
