Information about light guns

Light guns were fairly early available for video game systems. In the seventies and eighties they were not less common as nowadays (back then fewer input devices were available for video game systems). Different light guns work in different ways. Normally the screen gets black and white when the trigger is pulled to determine whether a target was hit. Some TV types (such as 100Hz, LCD, ...) can cause problems when used with "normal" light guns, as they modify the picture displayed or can not display the picture as fast as a CRT. Some light guns (e.g. G-Con .45, additionally connected to video-out) work different to enhance precision, but they will only work with dedicted games. One of the most unusal light gun is probably Nintendo's Super Scope which looks actually like a bazooka.

Körting Tele-Multi-Play Color Light Gun

This is the light gun (more like a rifle actually) for the Körting Tele-Multi-Play Color. This light gun from the seventies looks actually nearly like a real gun. To make sure light guns are not mistaken for real guns new light guns normally have only one colour (preferably a candy-like colour that will make the light gun look like a toy). Another light gun that shows that old light guns look more real is the Telstar Marksman.

Atari's XG-1 light gun

On the packing you could see a red lightgun, but it was actually only available in grey.

The Nintendo Zapper

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The Justifier
(in candy colour ..yuck!)


Nyko's Cobra
The Cobra light gun from Nyko could be used on the Sony Playstation as well as on the Sega Saturn.

The G-Con .45
The G-Con .45 was much more precise than your average light gun, but it had to be connected to the video out.

Dreamcast light gun
Sega's light gun for the Dreamcast