Back in my day we had these things called light gun games. You would stand a foot away from the screen (or put the gun right up to the screen) and took down ducks, or bad guys, or aliens, or whatever was on the screen. There were a lot of these in the arcade, you have probably played one, maybe with a friend at the arcade before a movie. But it was not only in the arcade, the technology came home with games like Duck Hunt and Point Blank. Sure the game was linear but man was it fun.
Let's start with the classic Duck Hunt. The game came free with Mario, so already, awesome. The title of the game says it all, you hunted for ducks. They would fly on the screen, you would shoot them and your dog would grab them or laugh at you, depending on how good your aim was. You kept going until you missed a certain amount and it was done. Yeah it was not a long game or anything but being able to use a light gun on your couch was so much fun. It added a degree that a controller could not match.
Then we got PS one light gun games. This featured Point Blank and Time Crisis. Point Blank was blast. It was not like a lot of other shooting games where you trying to fight people but it was a collection of mini games where you would shoot different targets. It had a good variety and having different challenges helped from it getting repetitive. Time Crisis on the other hand was all about the action. You could duck behind a wall to take cover and then you would jump out to take down the guys shooting at you. If you play it, always shoot the guys in red first, their aim is much better. Again, it was limited as you only moved forward and shot things. But just like Duck Hunt, having the light gun was a different experience that a controller could not get you.
I see why these games became obsolete. There are only so many things you can do with them and you would have to buy a light gun on top of the game. But still, for a couple of hours at a time, it was a good way to paly a game.
Which ones do you miss?
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