Is there a future for my lightgun games?

[CDiablo]

I love lightgun games and rail shooters. I have guns for almost every system you can think of. Now that TVs have gotten fancier around my parts my guns and their games have become useless. I miss HOTD for Saturn, Gumshoe for NES and the incredibly cheezy and fun American Laser games for my 3DO. I dont see myself having space for a CRT in my future but I dont want to let go of my gun collection.....So does anyone know or think there will be some kind of way to play these games again? Will some wonderful retro gaming company think of a solution or will my guns be left to collect dust.

[Greg2600]

Most likely no, the only solution is to keep an old CRT television around.

[mario2butts]

Probably best to keep a CRT around.

This (http://gear.ign.com/articles/689/689009p1.html) might be something worth checking out, though it only works with PS2/ Xbox/ PC. Looks like they're sold out at Play-Asia and ebay prices are kinda high...

[ooXxXoo]

As more and more technology approaches, one of us is going to have to figure it out.....Too many projects, so little spare time.

[Press_Start]

There was a guy who got the Power Glove to work on the Wii with help from an NES adaptor from RetroUSB. If it works for the glove, then it could work for the Zapper.

$22 may seem a bit steep, but saves the work and space hauling a big TV around.

[theChad]

There was a guy who got the Power Glove to work on the Wii with help from an NES adaptor from RetroUSB. If it works for the glove, then it could work for the Zapper.

$22 may seem a bit steep, but saves the work and space hauling a big TV around.

I'm not sure how you're figuring that would make the Zapper work. The issue is with the light detection, not...being able to plug it into a Wii...:?

[DefaultGen]

.....

[FlufflePuff]

Keep a CRT. At least they can be had for dirt cheap right now.

[roushimsx]

I wound up picking up an extra CRT just for my light gun games :(

Now I need to get yet another (hopefully matching) one for when I want to get my 2p Time Crisis 2 and Time Crisis 3 on.

[jb143]

I think it could be possibe to reconfigure a NES Zapper to work on modern TV's but you'd also probally have to write your own games. The problem is because of the timing of the refresh rates of the screens.

If you don't keep a CRT around your best use for a Zapper might be to cut the cord and go as Captain N for Halloween.

[Press_Start]

I'm not sure how you're figuring that would make the Zapper work. The issue is with the light detection, not...being able to plug it into a Wii...:?

It was an idea I wanted to throw out there. Besides, experimenting the Zapper on the Wii sound interesting and it is does work well, then there's maybe hope for our stockpile of retro peripherals. ;)

[rbudrick]

There was a guy who got the Power Glove to work on the Wii with help from an NES adaptor from RetroUSB. If it works for the glove, then it could work for the Zapper.

$22 may seem a bit steep, but saves the work and space hauling a big TV around.

That is cool, but the Power glove does not depend on the scanline refresh rate. It uses external sensors that you put around the TV.

-Rob

[chrisbid]

no room for a 13" CRT, but lots of room to collect half a dozen light guns?

[Aussie2B]

You should keep a CRT around for more than just light gun games. Most older games in general don't look right on HDTVs (even some games as recent as PS2). The graphics are designed with the scan lines of a SDTV in mind. Some games don't even work right at all. On my HDTV with my PS2, there are a few PS2 games that don't display (Art of Fighting Anthology) and no PS1 games display right (the picture usually splits, keeping the bios screen on the bottom and the game continues to play on the top).

[Greg2600]

The likely road, IMO, is a replacement gun entirely. It could work like the Menacer/Superscope, or using modern technology. It would then have to translate that into the signal/data the NES or other classic system would require. I think this is much more complex solution than making an adapter to get say get an NES controller to work on a PC. That means, is there a ROI? Maybe not. But I'm not a super technical/engineering guy, so maybe it's not so difficult?

[jb143]

The problem is that it's the software, not the gun, that is determining if a hit has been made. The software is keeping tabs on the monitors refresh rate and comparign the signal to that comming from the gun. Which is why I suggested earlier that any modified light guns would probally only work for homebrew games made specifically to work with newer displays.

If there were any games that only checked the gun for white light then you might have a better chance of getting those to work. Action Max for example should work fine...if you don't mind sticking the suction cup light sensor to the corner of your new LCD TV.

[CDiablo]

no room for a 13" CRT, but lots of room to collect half a dozen light guns?

I need my tvs big or not at all, if I ever own a house and get the space Id like a 52" just for light gun games. 13-32" is unacceptable.

[boatofcar]

I need my tvs big or not at all, if I ever own a house and get the space Id like a 52" just for light gun games. 13-32" is unacceptable.

A 32" CRT is unacceptable? :roll:

[acem77]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_gun
based on the wiki maybe some type of device could simulate scan lines on a hd tv could be used as a video adapter for old school systems and their light guns.
i always thought the over all brightness/contrast of new hd displays effected the light guns.

[Greg2600]

In the past, TV Out programs could simulate scanlines on the PC to TV connection. I suppose they still could? I don't see how you could do so on the TV itself though. As I said, if the programming in the new gun could take its "hit" programming, and convert that to the programming of the old gun, the console wouldn't know the difference. I won't take a gander on how difficult that is, but I think that is doable.