Retro|Spective 202: Arcade Lightgun Shooters

[Hirst]

If I remember right, Operation Wolf is technically not a lightgun game as it works off the gun position on some kind of gyroscope or something. But it's the same thing I guess. I always liked the "you have sustained a lethal injury. Sorry, but you are finished... here" game over screen but didn't know for years that there was a different one if you ran out of ammo for too long - you end up in a POW camp. Played it loads when we used to go to the caravan, they had it at a pub there for years along with OutRun, Big Run and a Space Invaders with the coloured strips on the screen to simulate colour.

[Asura]

If I remember right, Operation Wolf is technically not a lightgun game as it works off the gun position on some kind of gyroscope or something.

Simpler than that. It just has two analog mechanical devices; one of them moves back and forth (up/down) at the base of the "gun", and the other rotates left/right at the base of that. But yeah, not technically a lightgun game but then quite a few aren't if you start splitting hairs, like Gunblade, or Silent Scope - they all work the same way.

Fun fact - lightgun games actually pre-date videogames. The earliest lightgun videogames were, in effect, digitised versions of the concept, and they work in the same way (the gun is actually a camera).

[QualityChimp]

He has a powerful weapon.
He charges a million a shot.
An assassin second to none,
The Man With The Golden Gun.

Nice thread and I'll add some more productive thoughts later.

[Neon Ignition]

Game 05 - Police 911
Developed by Konami, this lightgun shooter utilised built in cameras to detect player movement. This was used to allow the player to physically duck and weave to avoid attacks in an effort to go a step beyond the kinds of existing options such as the foot pedal system. Technically the game is considered to be part of the Lethal Enforcers franchise thanks to a late in the series merging of the two but the original game was very much its own thing with players acting as a cop and your score determines your promotion through the ranks.









Was this shooter a game worthy of promotion?

[Asura]

Game 05 - Police 911

I loved this. They had a cabinet at a big arcade at a shopping mall, and I was keen to try it after reading about it in CVG.

Fantastic fun.

However, it was also a warning of things to come, because playing it ~3 times really made my knees sore. It's all the crouching and squatting.

Fast-forward 20 years and I had the same problem in VR; games like Superhot; would get muscle soreness the next day.

Fortunately I've found a solution of sorts; I now do Ring Fit Adventure most days and the squats etc. seem to have fixed that.

[wakka]

Videogames both the problem and the solution. I like it. I bought Ring Fit Adventure and it nearly killed me I am very unfit.

I never got to play as much of this as I'd like. I tried it once or twice over the years, but in that rushed sort of way where I was supposed to be doing something else and just giving it a quick bash.

I recall this got a PS2 release, with camera support but some rather curious peripheral compatibilities. I've just given it a quick google. I think you need a Konami Justifier, not a GunCon, and you also need a webcam - but not an Eyetoy, just a PC webcam.

Would be cool to give that a go if I had a CRT.

[Asura]

Videogames both the problem and the solution. I like it. I bought Ring Fit Adventure and it nearly killed me I am very unfit.

Bit of a tangent but I really recommend sticking with it. I was a mess when I first tried it but after a few days it got better, and now I'm doing it nearly every day. I don't think it could ever make you fit but it definitely helps with flexibility; like after doing it for a while, I feel better getting up in the morning, I ache less after playing VR games, and so on.

[Neon Ignition]

Game 06 - Mad Dog McCree
Gaming often moves in waves and one of those was the era of FMV based games. In arcades up and down the country one of the most prominent faces of this type of game was the unmistakeable image of Mad Dog McCree. The game operated like other lightgun games but required a specialised version of the gun so that it could detect that you can lowered your weapon before attempting its quick draw face offs. Despite being a 1990 lightgun FMV title it even enjoyed a long life with rereleases on console all the way up till 2013.










Did it Strike Curly's Gold or was it a Dirty No Good Vermin?

[Asura]

Game 06 - Mad Dog McCree

I loved this. However, my local arcad replaced it with a sci-fi game, called something like "Star Ranger", which wasn't as good.

[QualityChimp]

01 - Silent Scope
I loved Silent Scope, such and amazing concept and played it a fair bit, then realised that under the time pressure, it was actually easier using the main screen, rather than the scope, which defeated the whole object. I don't think I've played it or the sequels since.

02 - Golden Gun
Never heard of it.

03 - Operation Wolf
Never really played this too much as a kid as it looked too tough and a credit guzzler.
It looks fantastic to this day, though, with those chunky sprites.
I prefer Operation Thunderbolt, however.

04 - Virtua Cop
The problem with VC was that it followed on the tailcoats of Time Crisis and it wasn't a better game. Being 100% on rails with no way to dodge was a step back, IMHO, so never really played it.

05 - Police 911
OK, so I only played this a couple of times, but it looks great and played brilliantly.
I had the same issue as Asura in that it was ridiculously tough - on the thighs!
I need to point people in the direction of Crisis VRigade 1 and 2.
The original has a chunky aesthetic like Virtua Cop and the sequel is more realistic, although I prefer the retro look.
It's pretty tough and another thigh-burner, but you can normally get them in a sale for a few nights of shooter fun!

->Open Spoiler<-

06 - MadDoggThang McCree
I had the same issue with all the Laserdisc games in that the looked amazing, but never really felt like games.
I watched a fair few people play these in the arcades and there just seemed too much of a separation between them shooting the screen several times, then the game loading the right chapter to say if they succeeded or not.
(Cowboy) hats off to them for trying something so pioneering and high-budget, though.

Of these Laserdisc games, I actually preferred Gallagher's Gallery, which features a bargain-bin Weird Al asking you to blast a series of bizarre targets like eggs, alarm clocks and watermelons. It was just so bonkers and a bit different from just shooting more people like all the other shooting games.

->Open Spoiler<-

I'd love to play Quick 'n' Crash again...

[Neon Ignition]

I never really enjoyed playing McCree but it was a hell of a thing to watch when in an arcade and you could always hear the machine from far away, it was distinct and felt like part of the furniture of the experience being in there like several arcade sounds are to this day

[Asura]

04 - Virtua Cop
The problem with VC was that it followed on the tailcoats of Time Crisis and it wasn't a better game. Being 100% on rails with no way to dodge was a step back, IMHO, so never really played it

Do you mean in the order you played them? Because Virtua Cop was ~15 months earlier.

[QualityChimp]

Do you mean in the order you played them? Because Virtua Cop was ~15 months earlier.

Yeah, 100%.
I was pretty sure that was the chronology as I typed, but TC1 is a game I can still play now and enjoy.

I'll be honest, most of the SEGA shooters just felt like coin-guzzlers and the bosses were bullet-sponges as mentioned earlier.

[fuse]

Never spent too much attention on Mad Dog McCree, but I do remember an arcade in a Blackpool holiday camp thing having the "COPS" FMV-heavy lightgun game, and one day poking my head in with a mate to find an operator had loaded it up with something like 50 credits. Some of those scenes were so hilariously bad that I can still remember them to this day.

Ps. I'm looking forward to the point where these two active threads converge into the majesty of LUCKY AND WILD.

[Atticus]

I liked the measured approach top the gameplay in Virtua Cop ... with the target frames zeroing in to give the game a kind of rhythm. It made you feel more skilled that you really were ... but picking targets off with timing and precision always felt more rewarding than the more frantic lightgun games. I'm a sucker for those lovely AM2 visuals too.