Building a GunCon game library(I <3 light guns)

[discord]

Quote:

Originally Posted by seeberg IMO, games have come quite a ways since Duck Hunt and Clay Shooting, despite the continued simplicity of arcade light guns. Nonetheless, long live the Nintendo Zapper, the vintage favorite of all NES freaks! , Abe

Damn, I haven't seen that in ages! I still remember owning the duckies as a child hehe.

 

[seeberg]

Hey, everybody! Just checking in because I got my GunCon! Woo hoo! wOOt

It's pretty killer. I'll post my impressions tonight.

,
Abe

 

[seeberg]

Okay, impressions time. First off, the gun feels solid, but light(if I can make a cast of the gun and do a pewter/pot metal copy, that should fix things, or simply add weights to inside of the gun). I've read a bit on the history of Time Crisis and the GunCon, and found that the version of it for Playstation was designed to be true to original, sans a few things.

First off, the gun has no recoil action like the arcade version used with Namco's gun games of the time(and probably now), and there's no action pedal to go with it- there's a fix for this though- if I were to make a platform with the innards of a cheap-ass third party controller to make a foot switch, I could easily have an arcade style action button to go with my GunCon. But from there, things get interesting.

The GunCon is much easier to use than the previous gun I found at Goodwill, a Mad Catz Blaster. The feel of the trigger is much smoother, and it grips just right. Beyond that, the A and B buttons are literally right there, and are customizeable for lefties or righties(I'm right handed).

In comparison, the Blaster had alot of features that the GunCon lacked. It could work with PS1 and PS2 games(it had USB and controller plugs), and it would vibrate every time the trigger is pressed, without being software dependent. The GunCon doesn't vibrate, and it doesn't recoil. But it makes up for that thricefoldishly with accuracy. With the Blaster, my post stage results averaged 28-35%, and with the GunCon, it was 45-60%, and better

In addition, the Blaster had trouble firing near the edges of the screen, whereas the GunCon would maintain its superior accuracy out to the limits.

Essentially, what I'm getting at is that there is no substitute for the original, especially if the original has roots that are tried and true already. Despite its age and simplicity, it still gets two thumbs up from me. Now I can't wait to build my collection of compatible games, especially the remaining Time Crisis titles and the Point Blank series, which might end up being a party favorite

,
Abe