Your Favorite Home Console Light Guns & Games

[BurritoBeans]

The Virtua Cop games on the Saturn were terrific, as was House of the Dead 2 on the Dreamcast.

 

These games seem like a dead genre, sort of like laserdisc games such as Dragon's Lair.

 

Now that the novelty is gone, they seem like an exercise in "here's a piece of technology, now make a game around it," never to return again. Agree/disagree?

Yeah, I'd agree with that. Outside of old consoles and the arcades (which are pretty rare) I rarely see light gun games around apart from those Cabela's hunting games, and even rail-shooters in general seem harder to find. I think part of the issue could be that you need to add all the extra hardware on like IR sensors to get the stuff to work on your LCD, and it may have been a bit of a niche market/it would be a heck of a niche market compared to the stuff coming out.

[Skippy B. Coyote]

These games seem like a dead genre, sort of like laserdisc games such as Dragon's Lair.

 

Now that the novelty is gone, they seem like an exercise in "here's a piece of technology, now make a game around it," never to return again. Agree/disagree?

I'd disagree. A reasonable amount of light gun games have been produced during every single home console generation from the NES / Master System generation up through the Wii, Xbox 360, and PS3 generation. The Wii got an especially large amount of quality light gun shooters thanks to it's motion controls, and a pretty good number were produced for use with the PlayStation Move as well.

 

Since light gun games have been popular for nearly the entire history of home video game consoles I don't see any reason why that popularity would cease anytime soon. There hasn't been much in the way of light gun shooters during the current console generation thus far, but even if nothing comes down the pipes this generation it's still only one console generation out of many and I'm sure there will be more next generation. Light gun games will never truly die off, because for as long as humans have had guns they've also had the desire to have fun playing with toy guns; and light gun games offer a very accessible, inexpensive, and and safe way to fulfill that primal urge to shoot stuff with toy guns.

 

 

Overall I'm on the hunt for a solid light gun that has force-feedback, is accurate to the sights, and feels solid in the hand. I like collecting the games for these even if I don't have a ton, and they're always pretty fun.

Have you tried the Innovation brand Super Jolt Gun for the PlayStation and Saturn yet? It's got a blowback slide like the guns used in the arcade versions of the Time Crisis series and Point Blank, the PlayStation version works with both GunCon and Justifier games, and it comes with a foot pedal for Time Crisis as well. It's said to have a pretty hefty realistic weight to it and the reviews of it that I've seen (such as ComputerSpaceFan's video on the first page) have all been positive. I can't speak to the accuracy of the Super Jolt Gun myself, having not tried one yet, but it could be something to check out if you're looking for a home console gun with a realistic feel and more arcade bells and whistles. You can still find them new in box on eBay for around $50 too.

Edited August 23, 2016 by Jin

[ComputerSpaceFan]

 

 

CTA Sure Shot for Nintendo Wii

allows you to reach your thumb up over the foregrip for easy access to all the buttons on top of the Wii remote without disrupting your aiming and shooting.

HMMMMM you've piqued my interest! I love my standard Wii Zapper but it's no good for Golden Eye, Conduit, Call of Duty, etc. because I have to reach 1,2,+, and - but maybe your controller is the solution. Odd request here but any chance you can upload a pic of your finger reaching for the A button or 1? I'm curious to see if this shell will fit my needs. And I did search online for such a picture but can't find one.

[Osgeld]

Point blank series ps1 and the back functions that came with the first game box set

Edited August 26, 2016 by Osgeld

[Mulletino]

Just did a review of my fave......

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDbXvyQoVnk

 

I had one of those! I won it in a competition, damn thing was louder than the TV with all it's clickety clacking!

 

But it was awesome playing Time Crisis and Point Blank with it lust like in the arcades.

 

I loved the lightgun section in the PSone classic Die Hard Trilogy.

 

I've actually started getting back into light gun games as I loved them in the arcades (used to complete Point Blank with both guns at the same time) so have been looking at the latest options. I still have the latest Time Crisis on PS3, with the Deadstorm Pirates game and TC4 which I need to play, I have House of the Dead Overkill on Wii and noticed that the rest of the series is currently on sale at the PS3 store, although I already have HotD3 on that.

[GameGirl420]

I love the NES Orange Zapper and am a proud owner. Haven't taken it out of my Action Set box in a longtime though.

 

I like some of the Dreamcast gun games like Virtua Cop 2.

 

As far as NES Zapper games ,I like:

 

Gumshoe

Hogan's Alley

Gotcha! The Sport!

Chiller

Track & Field II

Laser Invasion

To the Earth

Shooting Range

 

..and of course Duck Hunt. I love the clay shooting game.

 

 

[ComputerSpaceFan]

Anyone know where I can get either of these guns? All online retailers seem to be out of stock and I think they were European releases because any eBay searches I do bring up sites outside North America ..... and also no longer available.

 

 

Wii Reload Rifle

 

 

 

Wii Marine Modern Urban Combat rifle

[JaguarBrett]

Nes Duck hunt

ps1 time crisis

Xbox House of the dead 3

Virtua Cop 2 Saturn

House of the dead overkill Wii

 

Are the first that come to mind ?

[mr_me]

RadioShack Electronic Full-color TV Scoreboard Target and Skeet (1976)

The rifle looked awesome.

http://www.museumofplay.org/online-collections/22/43/110.9487

[spacecadet]

This thread has really made me want to play some of my old gun games again. At the moment I don't really have a way of doing so - one of my main beefs with the switch to flat panel screens (though overall I wouldn't go back to CRT, light gun support is just one of the few things I really lament losing). Whatever monitor I end up with for my old computers will probably end up doing double duty for light gun games.

 

In the 32 to 128 bit era I was pretty big into these games. I have 2 GunCon 1's, 2 GunCon 2's, an official Saturn light gun and an official Dreamcast light gun (I think it was sold by Mad Catz in the US, but it was sold in Japan by Sega as the official gun).

 

Favorite games:

 

Time Crisis II (PS2)

Confidential Mission (PS2)

House of the Dead 1 and 2 (Saturn, Dreamcast)

Virtua Cop 2 (Saturn)

Point Blank 3 (PS1)

Vampire Night (PS2)

 

I guess that's all I have... short list but it seems outsized because I loved these games. Really made me feel like I was playing in an arcade.

 

About the guns... I feel like the GunCons and Saturn guns were actually pretty close in accuracy, to the point that I wasn't all that impressed when I got my first GunCon, and it was kind of a pain to hook it up. When I got my DC light gun, though, *then* I appreciated the accuracy of the GunCon. The DC light gun seems to hit the screen more or less randomly. I guess the Saturn guns were just really pretty good quality relative to most, and they did it without having direct access to the composite signal like the GunCons had. (Supposedly that's what made them so accurate.)

[SuperDork3000]

I really like to dual wield Saturn Stunners and play the House of the Dead

[Asaki]

For games, yeah I just own two - Duck Hunt and Hogan's Alley - and I can say that I like both except that they get a bit boring after a while

Duck Hunt VS is so much better than the original, I like it a lot.

[Jim Pez]

Best Wii gun. unlike the other wii guns this gun has the controller built in

 

Edited September 12, 2016 by jim1174

[ComputerSpaceFan]

This one's not so much a favorite of mine but more of an oddity that looks sweet!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFbEwJHPvKI

[zaneiken]

These are my two most commonly used light guns (Dreamcast on the left, PS1/PS2 on the right). Both have blowback.

 

[Seob]

Love Time Crisis on the ps2, also love Ghost Squad on the Wii.

 

But for the old pre-playstation, i have to go with the cheesy fmv shooters for the CD-i. Best of all, the CD-i Peecekeeper can be used with modern lcd tv's.

[BassGuitari]

Hmm. I never really thought about what my favorite light guns are since most of the ones I've used have performed satisfactorily. Here are some mini-reviews of some of the ones I've used the most:

NES Zapper - It's accurate, reliable, well-built, and a classic. The sights are big and easy to pick up. The heavy trigger pull and obnoxiously loud spring action are mildly off-putting but don't offset the Zapper's positive attributes. I try to pull the trigger only halfway--it's a lighter, springier action than pulling all the way through and you don't get that loud spring click. I used to see clip-on scope sights for this thing advertised in Nintendo Power and such BITD--anyone ever try one?

Sega Light Phaser - I think mine might actually be broken; oftentimes it doesn't register anything onscreen at all, apart from the white flash where the game knows you pulled the trigger but can't tell that you're actually aiming at the screen. Broken wire, maybe? When it works, it's accurate, well-balanced, and--unlike the Zapper--has pleasantly light trigger action. Reliability is possibly a concern, but I've only really ever used two or three...ever.

Atari XG1 - This is far and away the worst light gun I've used from any major manufacturer. For starters, it doesn't seem to work reliably on any screen larger than 13 inches. Second, on a good day, you'll get groupings high and to the left; on a bad day, you're all over the screen. In theory, it actually has some of the best sights of any classic light gun--big, easy to pick up, well-aligned, and style for days; unfortunately, they're essentially useless due to the poor calibration of these guns. Pros: looks really cool; light trigger action. Cons: everything else.

TV Scoreboard Pistol - I don't know what this is actually called--I think the TV Scoreboard documentation simply refers to it as "the pistol." Looking like a realistic amalgamation of vintage '70s and '80s Colt pistols (as in, 1870s and '80s), this thing definitely gets points for style--revolver aficionados will even note the fake loading gate behind the right side of the "cylinder" (but no ejection rod...can't have it all, I guess!). Trigger action is very tight--there's almost no play to it at all--and yet sort of spongy at the same time. It's kind of hard to describe. Sights can be hard to pick up since the gun is all black, and the games are just black screens with white blocks to shoot at.

Color TV Scoreboard "Colt 45 Special" - I can't comment too much on its performance since I haven't really put it through its paces yet, but this is one of my favorites regardless. The pistol can be used by itself, or transformed into a target pistol with an additional barrel, or transformed yet again into a carbine with a second, longer barrel and clamp-on stocks (and of course you could use the shoulder stock with any of the shorter barrels, too, if you're into that Artillery Luger or VP70M style). The trigger feels very loose and has a lot of travel but little tactile feedback; it feels broken but seems to work as it should (could just be my gun). The pistol grip is strange in that there's a single, yet very pronounced finger contour, like, right in the middle of the grip. Like it was designed for a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle or someone else with only three or four very large fingers, or a 3/4-sized Mr. Spock. The sighting on the carbine is weird because the barrel has a hooded front post while the rear sight is the standard notched type. I've found that the longer the barrel, the harder it seems to be to actually hit the little yellow blocks the Color TV Scoreboard gives you to shoot at, I'm guessing due to less light reaching the photoreceptor in the pistol. With all the attachments, it starts to feel a little flimsy. Whatever. This thing would be awesome even if it was worse than the XE gun.

Dreamcast Pelican gun - Good accuracy and balance, and I like that it has a foregrip trigger guard. The trigger action sometimes feels kind of sticky, though. Don't know why. I've opened it to investigate, and it was clean as a whistle inside. Pretty good gun overall, but I feel like I need one of those Desert Eagles for my DC like Zaneiken has. House Of The Dead 2 now seems...incomplete without it.

I've also got a set of green M1911-style lightguns for Xbox, with articulating slides and everything. No games to test them on, though. I have no information on these guns since they have no markings whatsoever. I've also got a Guncon for PS1 but I never used it since my console doesn't have the individual AV ports.

[HoshiChiri]

The Virtua Cop games on the Saturn were terrific, as was House of the Dead 2 on the Dreamcast.

 

These games seem like a dead genre, sort of like laserdisc games such as Dragon's Lair.

 

Now that the novelty is gone, they seem like an exercise in "here's a piece of technology, now make a game around it," never to return again. Agree/disagree?

 

Slightly disagree- I chalk it up to the difficultly of making functional light guns on modern TVs. In the 80s, you simply plugged the gun into the controller port and pointed it at the TV. It was cheap(er) to make & easy to explain to customers, which meant higher adoption rates for better game sales. Heck, a lot of systems bundled the gun in with the console.

 

In the 90s/2000s things got more complicated- remember the video pass-through on the guncon & alignment screens? Console bundling didn't really happen either- but it was still easy enough to explain how to use, so people were still willing to buy them (although not as many... people were starting to be more concerned with sticking guns into kid's hands for play. Especially after Columbine.) The cost-to-adoption ratio was still favorable.

 

Then flat-screen TVs took over the market, and the old tech didn't work anymore. You needed to ship your guns with special sensors that had to be set up just right, and usually weren't as responsive as the old stuff. So you've got an accessory that costs more to make, doesn't work as well, and isn't as appealing to a gun-sensitive culture. Quite simply, the profit isn't there anymore. It worked for the Wii, because everyone already had a sensor for their wiimote set up, you only had to make a plastic housing for it. But other systems? Not so much.

 

I'm unfortunately off the light-gun train for the time being as I don't have room to set my crt up. I do own a zapper (CIB, even ), an SMS light phaser, and a PS1 guncon. I remember I got a discount on that because it was in a bin of random controllers at a local shop... controllers that had gotten their cords tangled together in a giant knot. The guy working was impressed that I actually sat there for 10 minutes, carefully working the cables out of the knot, so I could have that guncon. I told him it would be worth it to finally play Elemental Gearbolt properly. It was.

[Professor Gull]

I am a Sega fan for shooters but PS1 comes in a close second for me as well.

 

I like to do some Letha Enforcers on the Sega CD dual wielding the blue and pink Justifiers. The blue one is also neat for playing Snatcher as well.

 

I got the 2 stunners for the Saturn with House of the Dead and that I could play for hours.

 

sadly I did have 2 Madcatz Phasers for my Dreamcast but they took a dip in some water and never worked right again. But they were fun at the time.

 

Other good shooters.

Virtua Cop 2 Saturn

The Conduit Wii

Maximum Force Saturn

Area 51 Playstation

[Austin]

Is the Conduit an on-rails light gun style shooter? I was always under the impression it was a FPS.

[Professor Gull]

Is the Conduit an on-rails light gun style shooter? I was always under the impression it was a FPS.

Its FPS not an on rails deal and to be honest using a plastic gun option for that game is problematic because you need to use most of the buttons and the chuck for throwing grenades.

[Austin]

Its FPS not an on rails deal and to be honest using a plastic gun option for that game is problematic because you need to use most of the buttons and the chuck for throwing grenades.

Ah, that's what I figured--so basically Wiimote for aiming amd shooting, and nunchuk for movement and action buttons.

[Professor Gull]

Ah, that's what I figured--so basically Wiimote for aiming amd shooting, and nunchuk for movement and action buttons.

 

Yup and you have to use the d pad to access a few extra items. and the + and - to change out weapons. So gun molds are really not all that useful for that game.

[Asaki]

In the 90s/2000s things got more complicated...

It also didn't help that Sega decided that 9-11 was a good reason to not release the Dreamcast gun in America =(

[madhatter667]

After digging into this thread, I up and bought a Nyko Super Cobra for PSX. Lol. Figured I'd start with something compatible with both light gun types. Gotta get my hands on some light gun games now! Lol.

 

Other light guns in my collection are the Zapper, and the Best Electronics Atari light gun.

Edited September 28, 2016 by madhatter667