Light gun shooter

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Light gun shooter, also called light gun game or simply gun game, is a shooter video game genre in which the primary design element is aiming and shooting with a gun-shaped controller. Light gun shooters revolve around the protagonist shooting targets, either antagonists or inanimate objects. Light gun shooters generally feature action or horror themes and some may employ a humorous, parodic treatment of these conventions. These games typically feature "on-rails" movement, which gives the player control only over aiming; the protagonist's other movements are determined by the game. Games featuring this device are sometimes termed "rail shooters", though this term is also applied to games of other genres in which "on-rails" movement is a feature. Some, particularly later, games give the player greater control over movement and in still others the protagonist does not move at all.

Light gun shooters employ "light gun" controllers, so named because they function through the use of light sensors. Mechanical games using light guns had existed since the 1930s, though they operated differently to those used in video games. Throughout the 1970s mechanical games were replaced by electronic video games and in the 1980s popular light gun shooters such as Duck Hunt emerged. The genre was most popular in the 1990s, subsequent to the release of Virtua Cop, the formula of which was later improved upon by Time Crisis. The genre is less popular in the new millennium, as well as being hampered by compatibility issues, but retains a niche appeal for fans of "old school" gameplay.

Definition

"Light gun shooters", "light gun games" or "gun games" are games in which the protagonist shoots at targets, whether antagonists or objects, and which utilise a gun-shaped controller (termed a "light gun") with which the player aims. While light gun games may feature a first-person perspective, they are distinct from first person shooters, which utilise more conventional input devices. Light gun games which feature "on-rails" movement are sometimes termed "rail shooters", though this term is also applied to other types of shooters featuring similar movement. The light gun itself is so termed because it functions through the use of a light sensor: pulling the trigger allows it to detect light from the on-screen targets.

Design

Duck Hunt. The game is viewed through the eyes of the protagonist; the player is using a light gun controller to target an on-screen duck.

Targets in light gun shooters may be threatening antagonists such as criminals, terrorists or zombies, or they may be innanimate objects such as apples or bottles. Although these games may be played without a light gun, the use of more conventional input methods has been deemed inferior. Light gun shooters typically feature generic action or horror themes, though some later games employ more humorous, self-referential styles.

Light gun shooters primarily revolve around shooting large numbers of enemies attacking in waves. The protagonist may be required to defend himself by taking cover, or by shooting incoming thrown weapons, such as axes or grenades. The player may also compete against the clock, however, with some games also featuring boss battles. Games may also reward the player for accurate shooting, with extra points, power-ups or secrets. Games which do not pit the player against antagonists instead feature elaborate challenges constructed mainly from inanimate objects, testing the player's speed and accuracy. More conventional games may feature these types of challenges as minigames.

Light gun shooters typically feature "on-rails" movement, which gives the player no control over the direction the protagonist moves in; the player only has control over aiming and shooting. Some games however, may allow the protagonist to take cover at the push of a button. Other games may eschew on-rails movement altogether and allow the player to move the protagonist freely around the game's environment; still others may feature a static environment. Light gun shooters utilise a first person perspective for aiming, though some games may allow the player to switch to a third person perspective in order to maneuver the protagonist.

Not all gun games use light guns for input. Many arcade gun games also use positional guns, mounted to the cabinet on a swivel that allows the player to aim the gun. These work quite differently to optical light guns, which are tethered and stored in a mounted holster. A positional gun is essentially an analog joystick that records the position of the gun to determine where the player is aiming on the screen. Arcade gun games that use positional guns include Silent Scope, Space Gun, and Revolution X.

History

Popular GunCon light guns. The bright orange illustrates the toy-like appearance of most light guns, whereas the grey example appears more realistic.

Mechanical gun games existed before the emergence of electronic video games, as far back as the 1920s. The first light guns appeared in the 1930s, with the Seeburg Ray-O-Lite. Games using this toy rifle were mechanical, in which the rifle fired beams of light at targets wired with sensors. These games evolved throughout subsequent decades, culminating in games such as Sega's Periscope (the company's first successful game, released in 1966), which required the player to target cardboard ships. Periscope was the first arcade game to cost a quarter per play. Sega later produced gun games which resemble first-person light gun shooter video games, but were in fact electro-mechanical games that used rear image projection in a manner similar to the ancient zoetrope to produce moving animated targets on a screen that the light gun shoots at. The first of these games was Duck Hunt, which Sega released in 1969; it featured animated moving targets on a screen, printed out the player's score on a ticket, and had sound effects that were volume controllable. That same year, they released Missile, which featured electronic sound and a moving film strip to display targets on screen, with a gun that was controlled using a joystick. Sega's final electro-mechanical game (before moving onto video games) was the 1972 release Killer Shark, a light gun game that was known for its appearance in the 1975 film Jaws. Throughout the 1970s, mechanical arcade games were gradually replaced by electronic video games, following the release of Pong in 1972, with 1978's Space Invaders dealing a yet more powerful blow to the popularity of mechanical games.

Light guns used in electronic video games work in the opposite manner to their mechanical counterparts: the sensor is in the gun and pulling the trigger allows it to receive light from the on-screen targets. Computer light pens had been used for practical purposes at MIT in the early 1960s. Nintendo released an early solar-powered light gun, the Nintendo Beam Gun, in 1971. The following year, the first commercially available video game console, the Magnavox Odyssey, had a light gun accessory. Nintendo released the Laser Clay Shooting System, which used solar-powered light guns, in 1973, followed in 1974 by the arcade game Wild Gunman, which used optical light guns and full-motion video projection from 16 mm film to display live-action gunslinger opponents on screen. In 1975, Sega released the early co-operative arcade shooter video games Balloon Gun and Bullet Mark, where the players use Tommy-inspired light guns to hit a variety of moving targets displayed on the monitor, with lower points given for slower targets such as balloons and tanks, and higher points for faster targets such as pirates and jets, while points are deducted for misses, which also varies depending on which targets are missed.

The first gun games controlled using positional guns, as opposed to light guns, also began appearing at around the same time in the 1970s. An early example was Sega's 1972 arcade game Sea Devil, an electro-mechanical game similar to Killer Shark but featuring a mounted positional gun, which shot at moving targets whose motions and reactions are displayed using back image projection onto a screen. Positional guns were later used in shooter video games, with an early example being Taito's co-operative shooter Attack in 1976, followed in 1977 by Taito's Cross Fire and Nintendo's Battle Shark.

Light guns first became popularly used for video games in the mid-1980s, with Nintendo's Duck Hunt being a much-loved example. It was followed by variations such as lightgun scrolling shooters, like Taito's Cycle Shooting (1986) and Operation Wolf (1987), and forward-scrolling rail shooter gun games, like Sega's Gangster Town (1987), a Light Phaser game for the Master System that featured forward-scrolling car chase sequences. Namco's StarBlade (1991) featured real-time 3D graphics. Taito's Gun Buster (1992) was a unique first-person shooter gun game, using a joystick to move and positional gun to take aim.

Sega's Virtua Cop, released in arcades in 1994, broke new ground, popularized the use of 3D polygons in shooter games, and led to a renaissance in the popularity of arcade gun games. The game was inspired by the Clint Eastwood film Dirty Harry as well as a coffee advertisement in which a can of coffee grew larger in a gun's sights; in Virtua Cop the player had to shoot approaching targets as fast as possible. The acclaimed Time Crisis by Namco, released in Japanese arcades in 1995 and Sony's PlayStation console in 1997, introduced innovations such as simulated recoil and a foot pedal which when pressed caused the protagonist to take cover. The game's light gun controller, the GunCon, was also acclaimed. Namco also released Point Blank for the PlayStation in 1998 (previously available in Japanese arcades as Gun Bullet since 1994), a 2D sprite-based game featuring a unique minigame structure and quirky, humorous tone. The game was critically acclaimed and received two sequels, both for the PlayStation console.

Light guns were suppressed for a time in the U.S. after the 1999 Columbine High School massacre and its attendant controversy over video games and gun crime. Since the late 1980s light gun controllers have been generally manufactured to look like toys by painting them in bright colours. In Japan, which lacks the gun crime found in the U.S. and in which civilians cannot legally own guns, more realistic light guns are widely available.

Light gun shooters are less popular in the new millennium than in the 1990s, with new games in the genre seen as "old school". The Time Crisis and House of the Dead franchises continued to receive acclaimed instalments, with the arcade machine for the latter's House of the Dead 4 Special (2006) featuring large screens enclosing the player, as well as swivelling, vibrating chairs. Some games attempted to incorporate elements of first person shooter or survival horror games through the use of less restricted character movement and exploration, with varying degrees of success. Examples of this approach include several Resident Evil survival horror light gun games, such as 2000's Resident Evil Survivor which incorporates first-person shooter elements and 2003's Resident Evil: Dead Aim which incorporates third-person shooter elements, and 2007's Time Crisis 4 which features a first-person shooter mode played with the GunCon 3 peripheral, which uses two analog sticks for movement and camera control and the pointer for aiming. Others, however, unashamedly paid homage to 1990s arcade gameplay, even embracing a somewhat parodic style.

Light guns are not compatible with modern high-definition televisions, leading developers to experiment with hybrid controllers, particularly with the Wii Remote for the Nintendo Wii, as well as the PlayStation 3's GunCon 3 peripheral used with Time Crisis 4. Recent Light Gun games such as Time Crisis: Razing Storm, The Shoot and the upcoming House of the Dead Overkill are beginning to utilise the PlayStation Move motion control system.

See also

• List of light gun games

References

• Ashcraft, Brian (2008), Arcade Mania! The Turbo Charged World of Japan's Game Centers, Kodansha International