What's the Best Dreamcast Light Gun?

[digitalpress]

With the supercool new Dreamcast setup we've got here (X-Arcade stick and 21" monitor) I'm looking for another light gun.

If you own one, what do you think of it? And if you know, how does it compare to others?

[jaybird]

I just got House of the Dead 2 for the Dreamcast & am really wanting a light gun myself. Using the controller frustrates the heck out of me with that game.

While I figured they'd be dirt cheap, they go for a pretty good amount on eBay. :( Are they in demand that much?

On an off-topic note: Joe, did you ever get your old Tips & Tricks articles scanned & posted?

[MankeyMan]

I've only ever used the Official and Mad Cats one, and the Official one feels more natural, and is a bit lighter IMO.

[GENESISNES]

yeah. i have the official one that has turbo and stuff on it, and it works like a charm.

[maxlords]

There's no official US gun, and as far as I know, the official one from Japan not only is not compatible with the US games, but also sucks. I have the Interact Starfire and it's a total POS. Bad accuracy, ungainly triggers, bad button placement, etc etc. I don't think there are any good guns for the DC at all. Kinda sucks..cause I dig light gun games. I'd buy a good one if there were any good guns.

[asharru]

I bought death crimson OX and it came bundled with a Pelican Accessories Stinger Light Blaster. I'm very happy with it actually (more so than the game) and it works fine with the house of the dead II. It has rumble, quick reload, and the ablility to stick a memory pak in. I did a quick search of ebay, and didn't turn one up. At the time I got mine (about a year ago) the bundle was fairly common, so you may still be able to find it.

edit: did a little more research

http://www.pelicanacc.com/images/products/pl-513.gif



http://www.pelicanacc.com/search/detailed.php?id=10

[digitalpress]

Yeah that Stinger looked like it had potential. I have an Interact one and no troubles... not sure what you mean about it being inaccurate, if mine wasn't accurate I wouldn't be able to kick ass, which I do. :D

[Goblin]

I have both the Pelican mentioned above and the mad katz "phasor" style. Hands down I say the Mad Katz wins, I found the Pelican to be a little cheaper in terms of construction. I had to take it apart once to adjust the trigger, and I don't thing the problem was unique to my unit. In terms of accuracy both are about the same, but my preference lies with the Mad Katz.

[GENESISNES]

I have the Interact Starfire and it's a total POS. Bad accuracy, ungainly triggers, bad button placement, etc etc.

Which one maxlords? There was a small compact one, and a big turbofire one that kicked ass.

[Happy_Dude]

Auto fire dosen't work on all games. I have a madcatz Dream Blaster
and auto dosen't work on Confidential Mission.

For acuracy I use the Official Gun, It's a bit big though and dosen't
feel balanced unless the VMU is in.

[kevincure]

My TV is my dorm is an LCD hooked up with a TV Tuner, so I can't play any of my light gun games! They need to make an adapter to play on plasma/projection/lcd for all of us without normal CRT sets.

[slapdash]

I have both the Pelican mentioned above and the mad katz "phasor" style. Hands down I say the Mad Katz wins

Funny... I was researching them, looking through magazine reviews, and the Pelican came up over all of them in the one comparison review I saw.

Coolest LOOKING gun is the SRC one (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1950360633).[/url]

[MightyMagnor]

https://www.mysticarmynavy.com/item1.cfm?ID=504

Its time I showed you I'm not folling around.

With this gun, you will stand undefeated. For none can withstand its power. It is compatible with all systems and manages to destroy all enemies even if your shot strays from the screen.

With a great costume there must come great responsibility
--THE MIGHTY MAGNOR

[Achika]

I've only used the Interact Starfire and once it's calibrated correctly, works like charm. I was turned off by the design of the Mad Catz one, thusly never using one. But it looks wimpy! HA THERE I SAID IT.

[Raedon]

The interact I have is more acurate then my Madcats Phasor..

[c0ldb33r]

Mega bump from 2003.

I've just purchase house of the dead 2 for DC and have a pelican gun. My problem is that the DC recognizes the gun as a controller. It will let me move the crosshair around with the crappy little dpad, but will not act as a light gun.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

[Kiddo]

Unfortunately I'd have no idea. Sounds like it's busted. :(

I myself have an Interact Starfire and can't calibrate the thing for crap. Since I heard that every other gun is even WORSE with aiming, I feel very disheartened about it.

[tom]

It's well worth it looking towards UK and getting/importing 'the real thing', it works a treat.
http://www.videogamecollectors.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=222470&g2_serialNumber=2

[Kitsune Sniper]

Yes, those Pelican and Interact guns break very easily. I've bought a few that don't even detect the edges of the screen properly. They're worth money if they work... but the triggers and sensors are just really bad.

I have about five or six different pairs of lightguns from different manufacturers. One of these days I'll write a comparison.

[c0ldb33r]

I managed to get it to work, kind of. I can't plug it in all the way, I have to leave it unplugged just a little and the light gun works.

Two weird things though:

1. the gun actually shoots about an inch right from where it should (I'm consistently killing civilians as a result!)

2. I went into the gun calibration screen and the game wouldn't recognize a hit at all. I had to reset the game to get out.

All in all it works okay I guess, but I think I'll get the Wii version instead of tracking down a better gun.

[DuckTalesNES]

Kitsune,

Since writing a comparison might take a while, can you just briefly tell us which one is best?

[Edmond Dantes]

Found this topic due to a google search, bumping it because I'm interested in this subject.

A local store has two Pelican light guns and they look nice, but I want to know if they suck before picking them up. It sounds like they might be decent...

[wiggyx]

I've used all of the aftermarket guns. IMO, they're all pretty much the same in terms of quality and functionality. I personally prefer the SEGA gun.

[Tupin]

The official Sega lightgun was never released in the US because of the Columbine shooting, the "less realistic" MadCatz one got the official branding.

That one seems to be the most reliable, can't speak for the Dream Blaster.

[MidnightRider]

I had a Mad Catz(however it's spelled), no complaints. I don't know if DC era light guns work on HD's, if that an issue with you at all, though.

[Greg2600]

They're all equally fine. I prefer the MadCatz Dream Blaster quasi-official US release, because it looks like a Star Trek TOS phaser, and it's not as bulky as the others. I would not get the SEGA official gun, because it has compatibility issues with NTSC US games. Also, one of the guns doesn't have autoreload, which is a must for me.

[calgon]

They're all equally fine. I prefer the MadCatz Dream Blaster quasi-official US release, because it looks like a Star Trek TOS phaser, and it's not as bulky as the others. I would not get the SEGA official gun, because it has compatibility issues with NTSC US games. Also, one of the guns doesn't have autoreload, which is a must for me.

You'd be surprised at how hard it is to track down a madcatz blaster in decent condish...been on the hunt for a while now

[Greg2600]

There are plenty on eBay, may cost $25

[fahlim003]

I have the (larger) Interact Starfire and it works fine as mentioned once it's calibrated. The problem is the slim picking for light-gun games on Dreamcast. There's Confidential Mission (essentially Virtua Cop), Death Crimson, the cheap Virtua Cop 2 conversion, HOTD2, and... that's it. Not exactly a lot happening there.

One gun that linked many years ago on here was the SRC gun, specifically the SRC Bio Gun. It's what I remember hearing to be reputedly the best aftermarket gun for Dreamcast with good accuracy. It's in a shell of the Saturn Stunner and all white last I saw it. I never got one myself since they were quite uncommon and again I never got any first hand evidence to support whether it was good or not. It does actually work with another game, Silent Scope, which was the main reason I became interested in it, making it compatible with one extra game.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1S6cEuo3PE
The maker of the video mentions the lens is scratched which could explain it's poor accuracy. All the same, checking the wikpedia page, I like the sound of the "infinite stream of ammo" for the Mad Catz gun.

[wiggyx]

You'd be surprised at how hard it is to track down a madcatz blaster in decent condish...been on the hunt for a while now


Wow, I had no idea that the official JP gun wasn't compatible with US releases :( I only have a JP version of HotD2 that I bought with the gun when it came out. Bummer.