NES Zapper
From Freepedia
The NES Zapper or Famicom Light Gun in Japan is a pistol-shaped electronic light gun sold as part of the original NES system in 1985 and the Nintendo Famicom in 1984. The Japanese iteration was a realistic portrayal of a hand gun but when released in North America was made to look like an unrealistic science fiction ray gun. Early Zappers were gray, but later the color was changed to a neon orange, due to the fact that many likened the device too much to an actual gun. It allowed players to aim at the TV and, depending on the game, shoot pixelated ducks, clay pigeons, gangsters, terrorists, and many other obvious targets.
When the trigger was pulled, the game blanked out the screen with a black background for one frame, then, for one additional frame, drew a solid white rectangle around the sprite you were supposed to be shooting at. The photodiode at the back of the Zapper would detect these changes in intensity and send a signal to the NES to indicate whether it was over a lit pixel or not. A drop followed by a spike in intensity signaled a hit. Multiple sprites were supported by flashing a solid white rectangle around each potential sprite, one per frame.
- The orange Zapper appears as the weapon used by the title character of Captain N: The Game Master, a cartoon and comic book series.
- Recently, G4's Attack of the Show made the Snapper, a Sniper Rifle version of the Zapper designed to be used with Duck Hunt. More information can be found here.
Games
- The Adventures of Bayou Billy
- Baby Boomer
- Barker Bill's Trick Shooting
- Chiller
- Duck Hunt
- Freedom Force
- Gotcha!
- Gumshoe
- Hogan's Alley
- Laser Invasion
- The Lone Ranger
- Mechanized Attack
- Operation Wolf
- Shooting Range
- To the Earth
- Track & Field II
- Wild Gunman
See also
External link
| Consoles |
|---|
| Color TV Game | NES/Famicom | NES 2 | AV Famicom | SNES/Super Famicom | Virtual Boy | Nintendo 64 | GameCube | Panasonic Q | iQue | Revolution (forthcoming) |
| Handheld |
| Game & Watch | Game Boy | Game Boy Color | Game Boy Advance | Game Boy Advance SP | Nintendo DS | Game Boy Micro |
| NES Accessories |
| Advantage | Cleaning Kit | Four Score | Max | Power Glove | Power Pad | R.O.B. | Satellite | Zapper |
