Gaming History: Light gun games

If you've ever been to a video game arcade, then you'll have probably seen at least one light gun gaming cabinet where players are tasked with hitting on screen targets by aiming a gun shaped controller at the screen and pulling the trigger. Many of these types of games have also received a home console port, intended to work with gun peripherals for their respective systems.

The first recorded light gun game in an arcade was Seeburg's "Ray-O-Lite", the objective of which was to shoot a duck (which was an actual moving target with a light sensing tube attached) with a gun that emitted a ray of light. When the light was detected by the sensor on the duck, it would count as a hit, the duck would fall, and a point would be scored by the player. While simple, this essentially describes the process of most light gun games in existence, even if the way that it is achieved has changed dramatically.

(Seeburg Ray-O-Lite Cabinet - 1936)

Sega's first successful game, in 1968 was also a light gun style title called Periscope in which players targeted cardboard ships. In addition to being the first arcade game to charge a quarter per play, the game featured both mechanical and electronic sound effects, viewing windows for spectators and a series of lights to heighten the player's immersion.

Nintendo too produced some notable light gun arcade games before their entry into the home console market; 1973's "Laser Clay Shooting System" almost saw the company go bankrupt with a 5 million yen debt due to the oil crisis at the time. It wasn't until a smaller, cheaper version of the cabinet was produced that it began to be successful. Another more famous light gun title by Nintendo is 1974's "Wild Gunman" which began life as an arcade cabinet, featuring full motion video of a cowboy challenging players to a duel. 

(Wild Gunman for Famicom - 1984)

When the Famicom was released in Japan in 1984, the Beam Gun (or NES Zapper as it's known abroad) was quickly released as an accessory for the console. By the 1985 release of the NES in the USA, the Zapper was bundled with the console. With 7 specific light gun games, and 18 in total that worked with the peripheral, it made a noticeable impact on gaming at the time, even if the market for light gun games was fairly small. 

Sega too attempted a light gun accessory with their 3rd generation console; the Light Phaser, which had 13 (slightly more varied) games specifically for use with it. These two light guns worked differently to the early models, creating a black screen on the television for a single frame, before displaying white hit boxes over targets for specific periods of time, to be detected by the guns. There are plenty of rumours that guns could simply be pointed at light bulbs and would detect hits, but unless a game's programming was particularly faulty, this was not the case. 

(Space Station Defender from Menacer 6 in 1 Light Gun Cartridge for Sega Genesis - 1992) 

The fourth generation of home consoles didn't have a great amount of light gun games, despite light guns being released by Sega, Nintendo and Konami. Sega's Menacer was compatible with a 6-in-1 cartridge and two other games on the Mega Drive, as well as 6 FMV style Sega CD games, making a grand total of 9 games. 12 games worked with the Nintendo Super Scope, and the Justifier had just 9 compatible games in the 4th generation.

Fortunately the drought of light gun games in the fourth generation didn't carry over to the fifth, with the release of the Namco Guncon, and a Konami Justifier for Playstation. Among the games that worked with the Guncon were Time Crisis, Resident Evil: Survivor and Rescue Shot. While the Justifier worked with less games, it supported Die Hard Trilogy, Area 51 and Silent Hill amongst others. With a resurgence of quality light gun titles, the fifth generation set up a better future for the peripherals.

(Time Crisis for Playstation - 1996)

The fifth generation light guns were also more accurate than their older predecessors thanks to a change in how they worked. They used Cathode Ray Timing which sends a signal across the screen as the gun times how long it takes to detect the signal, and some maths is done to work out the destination of the bullet and register it as a hit or miss, all in the blink of an eye. Unfortunately neither this technology, nor that of the previous two generations works with flat screen televisions.

As gaming entered the sixth generation in 1999, the Dreamcast light gun was released with its own D-pad and A and B buttons, as well as being one of the most accurate light guns to date. Unfortunately, the untimely demise of the Dreamcast just two years later meant that only 2 light gun games were released that are compatible with PAL consoles; House of the Dead 2 and Confidential Mission (which are both excellent). With Time Crisis 2 and 3 coming out on the PS2 alongside the new Guncon 2, it was evident that light guns weren't just a thing of the past.

(House of the Dead Overkill for Wii - 2009)

With the advent of the Wii, Playstation Move and Xbox Kinect (to a lesser degree), "light" gun games have made a comeback as popular titles with games such as Resident Evil 4, Red Steel, Call of Duty and Goldeneye 007 using the Wiimote as a traditional lightgun style device (although technically there's not any light involved, but rather bluetooth signals). There is a large list of Wii titles and Playstation 3 titles which use the controller as a gun peripheral (or support the Guncon 3 in the Playstation's case).

In the eighth generation of consoles there's not yet been a light gun game, or a peripheral (besides the Wiimote) which supports this type of game. Whether this is a sign that light gun games have run their course and virtual reality is now waiting to give the added immersion that we seek or just due to the fact that the current generation is less than two years old I'm not sure. There's been a constant stream of light gun games in arcades from the 1936 Seeburg Ray-O-Lite to 2011's Friction, and beyond, which I'm sure will continue.