Nintendo Zapper Light Gun ReLives! (is Alive Again!)
The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) Zapper Light Gun aka Famicon Light Gun is a pistol-like light gun that is bundled with the 1985 NES console, something like a wireless Xbox 360 controller bundled with the next-gen console today.
This Zapper can actually zap “Live” ducks, clay pigeons and guys whom you just know you have to zap on your TV. The Zapper has two colours, grey and neon orange (early version of the gun is grey). Since then, the Zapper was dead as a duck until now…
From a student asking a scientist in 1999…
name Robert
tatus student
age 17
Question - How does the zapper gun used for Nintendo work? It is
mindboggling. When you shoot the gun at the TV screen, it somehow senses
the ray or something from the gun and knows when to kill the ducks. Can
you explain this to me?The gun is looking at the TV. If it sees a duck (or, more likely, just
a bright spot) at the time you press the trigger, the duck dies.Tim Mooney
to a genius modder concocting a Zapper Plus Mousey gadget to shoot ducks in Duck Hunt in 2006…
to a Zapper & Nintendo Revolution Controller Customized Light Gun of the future…
Surprisingly, the Zapper is still selling now.
My conclusion is that no one has forgotten the good old Zapper from Nintendo and it has the potential to bundle with the Nintendo console again.
Shooting ducks will take the Whole World by storm again!
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POSTED IN: Nintendo Wii, Retro Gaming
3 opinions for Nintendo Zapper Light Gun ReLives! (is Alive Again!)
Jonic
Apr 15, 2006 at 14:51
Hold on a second… The picture you used there isn’t a Zapper… Well, not an original anyway… This is a Zapper: http://retropassion.co.uk/retro/stock_images/P6240004lg.jpg
Not the difference in ergonomics and the shape of the barrel…
And technically the Zapper does look at the TV, but it’s not as if it’s a camera. It’s actually picking up stray electrons of light that escape the CRT.
As a CRT TV projects each frame onto the screen (left to right, top to bottom), projected electrons sometimes come through the front of the TV screen, which are then picked up by the Zapper.
When the Zapper’s trigger is pulled the screen flashes white. Using the time in microseconds between when the frame started scanning onto the screen and when the photodiode picks up the white of the screen flash, the NES can pinpoint exactly where the gun was pointed at the screen when the trigger was pulled.
It then works out if there was a target (a duck/clay pigeon) in that particular area of the screen when the trigger was pulled (and the photon was picked up) and if there was it registers a hit on either the duck or clay pigeon that was there…
In layman’s terms: Yes, the Zapper watches the TV, but that gives the impression that the Zapper has a camera in there actually watching… This isn’t really the case, so I thought I’d clarify the matter…
Jonic
Apr 15, 2006 at 14:53
I of course meant an “electron” instead of a photon… Sorry about that :)
Patrick
Apr 16, 2006 at 06:09
Thanks Jonic!
The picture used is one that they combine the Zapper w the Nin Rev Controller. A mod Zapper picture.
Electron, photon and atom. Bring back the good old memories of my Physics exams. Duh.
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