Light Guns

A light gun is a gun that you can point and shoot at an arcade game screen to shoot objects in the game. Light guns of different size and shape are popular in almost all shooting games.

Editors Note - This page should contain brief descriptions of various lightguns available, and details of their setup. If any one portion of the page starts getting a little too long, a seperate page may be started for that topic.

Act-Labs Lightgun

Pros:

• These have been around for a while - so they have been more thoroughly tested/supported.

Cons:

• Only works on either a TV or a CRT Monitor - not both (corresponds to which model you buy)
• Does not allow continuous tracking
• Expensive

Related Links: Act-Labs Webpage - Retroblast! Review

LCDTopGun

Pros:

• Allows for Continuous tracking
• Works on ALL display types.

Cons:

• Relative newcomer, still working out kinks - shouldn't be long before these are the standard.
• Requires you to stand far away from the monitor.

Related Links: Lik-Sang Webpage - Unofficial FAQ - Unofficial Setup Info (Out of Date with recent Mame changes) - BYOAC Forum Thread

GunCon2

Pros:

• Cheap - You might already have these sitting around your house.

Cons:

• Requires hardware to work with CRT Monitors.*

  *With one exception being the Guncon2 compatible: 
   RGT:G1, which works independently with any display.  

Related Links: GunCon2PC Driver Webpage - BYOAC Forum Thread

AimTrak

Pros:

• Ease of Use - Simple set up and calibration.
• Works on all TVs - LCDs, CRTs, it all works.
• Distance - Shoot from almost anywhere.
• Cost - A low price considering all of the perks.

Cons:

• Gun Shell - Requires the usage of homemade gun shell or a gutted gun peripheral.
• Newcomer to the market, but support is strong.

Related Links: Ultimarc Information Page

Lightgun Games List

This is an incomplete list of lightgun games.

• Born To Fight
• Catch-22
• Cheyenne
• Chiller
• Clay Pigeon
• Combat
• Crackshot
• Crossbow
• Gunbuster (light or positional?)
• Hit 'n Miss
• Mechanized Attack
• Mobil Suit Gundam Final Shooting (light or positional?)
• Operation Wolf
• Shooting Gallery
• Showdown
• Turkey Shoot (light or optical positional? -- no potentiometers)
• Who Dunit

Because of MAME's flexibility in handling inputs, a lightgun game like Operation Wolf will run pretty much the same as a positional gun game like Operation Wolf 3 using an analog joystick or trackball. (see the Analog Joystick game list for more positional gun games)

Other game lists:

• Spinner and Dial Games
• Rotary Joystick Games
• Dual Joystick Games
• Analog Joystick and Yoke Games
• Multi-Player Games
• 2-player game list -- dgame compiled an excellent list of 200 games here.
• "All Killer, No Filler" game lists -- BadMouth has compiled these excellent collections 1. SHMUPS, 2. VS FIGHTERS, and 3. SPORTS.

Software Settings

Mame Lightgun Setup

See Also

• Controls