Video game peripheral maker Hyperkin has announced that it will soon be unveiling a brand new light gun accessory which is set to work with modern displays.
Named the 'Hyper Blaster HD for NES', Hyperkin describes the product as being the "first-ever commercially-produced solution" for playing Duck Hunt on the NES as it was always meant to be played. The light gun is said to work on HDTV displays, overcoming the issues which prevent the original NES Zapper peripherals from working correctly with modern setups.
Details are still rather slim at the moment (the product is set to be truly showcased during CES International 2019 later this week) but the following details have been shared in a press release:
- Play Duck Hunt for the NES with a light gun on an HDTV (original Duck Hunt cartridge
and NES required)
- Includes special Hyper Blaster HD light gun
- Includes Hyper Blaster HD Adapter to allow HDTV compatibility
Alongside the Hyper Blaster HD for NES, Hyperkin is also set to reveal the 'RetroN DIY for SNES' (a build-it-yourself, solder-free kit for making your own retro console, compatible with SNES cartridges), and the 'RetroN S64', which the company describes as "a cute, 64-bit era dock for the Switch".
Naturally, more details on these upcoming products will appear over the next few days.
Do you have a copy of Duck Hunt on NES? Have you been hoping for an HDTV solution for playing light gun games? Tell us below.
Comments 33
Awesome to light gun games working on modern TVs
So long as it doesn't require having to stick something on or around your TV, or that kind of thing, then I'm all for this.
Yoshi's Safari, Metal Combat: Falcon's Revenge, Time Crisis 2, I'd love to play a lot of light gun games on HDTVs (without modding and having a cursor).
It would be great if it worked with NES and SNES Mini, this way it would make sense to put Duck Hunt and the likes in those replica systems.
And it would be nice if it doesn't cost a kidney, as many of the retro oriented modern products featured in NL articles do.
Now this effort is well deserved! Once we solve the hdtv light gun issue games can become great again!
Virtua cop
House of dead
Leathal enforcers
Ghost squad
It always gets to me that the Wii U ended up with a bunch of lightgun NES games using the Wii remote, yet the Wii had none.
I guess it was a Smash 4 thing. Then though why not use the gamepad's touch screen for pointing the reticle? Why rely on a controller that doesn't come with the console? Oh Nintendo.
Definitely interested in this considering I've been slowly switching most of my retro consoles to HDMI. I've been leaving my NES hooked up to my old (and dying) CRT so I can still play Duck Hunt.
Dang, I'm already sold
House of the dead, Here I come ...
Butter me intrigued! I will be very interested to hear more. I quite liked Duck Hunt as a kid.
But if it ends up being real pricey I am not interested. I liked the game a lot, but it rarely held my attention for more than a half hour.
20-30 dollar range and I would consider it as a fun novelty pick up.
Why would it be pricey? Did hyperkin ever release something expensive? They are usually on the LPP side, am I wrong?
But I would love some duck hunt
Hope its cheap.
Sounds cool. Playing Duck Hunt on the WiiU with a Wiimote was super lame because it was way too easy.
Wish it had NES Mini/Classic support! (or even Switch support? )
30 years later and that damn laughing dog still haunting my dreams. He is a fixture in my psyche, laughing hysterically at my every mistake and failure. Until death do us part.
That's great, Hyperkin, now please also release one for the Dreamcast.
Point me in the direction of the pre order please.
I have the SMB/Duck Hunt/World Class Track Meet 3-Pak, Wild Gunman, Hogan's Alley, and The Adventures of Bayou Billy. This might be interesting for me.
They probably use the same tech that Nintendo use for the Wii remote to add in a cursor feature. What it does is the gun use a gyro sensor to move around the screen invisibly just like how it does on an NES emulator and the trigger act as a click just like on a mouse. Once the click found the hitbox on the duck characters it would deliver result in the same way as the original light gun.
Too bad Hyperkin can't make a quality product at all.
No thanks, I have a CRT with my NES, SNES, and Genesis hooked up. Cool idea though!
Yessss! I would love something like that. Geeze Nintendo, why haven't you done that?
I'd love to play the Point Blank series again; those were outstanding party games. You'd think there would be a technical workaround to bring light gun games back given the advances in motion controls over the past several years...and they would fit perfectly into the Switch's ever-expanding arcade/retro offerings.
@Moroboshi876 I have an adapter that allows me to use the original nes controllers on the nes mini. I think it's possible that it would work with this gun.
Wish it was 8bitdo instead...
@AlienX For the Wii? Maybe not Nintendo, but SEGA really delivered with a few of their arcade releases. House of the Dead 2&3 Returns (the absolute only reason I picked up a Wii in the first place), Gunblade NY & L.A. Machineguns Arcade Hits pack, Ghost Squad, and then there's console original House of the Dead Overkill (from a different team, but still worthy of the HotD name, IMO). The Wii Remote was, dare I say still is, the best 'light gun' out of any home console I've tried, with the right holders, because with the sensor bar it pretty much replicated the accuracy of that the arcade games can potentially have (when everything is in working order). I wish Namco had caught on and delivered some of the Time Crisis games, Point Blank, Ninja Assault, or even Mazan: Flash of the Blade (with Wii Motion Plus compatibility).
Oh, I almost forgot the Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles games.
@ThanosReXXX That would be sweet. Maybe not for House of the Dead 2 (I definitely prefer the Wii version), but for Confidential Mission, my favorite "Virtua Cop" style game.
Does it work with other NES Light Gun games? I don't think it'll be very popular if it doesn't.
Me & my wife play Duckhunt on the Wii U via wiimotes all the time. But this is great news as now we can pull out all the old cartridges and game on those again, without needing the Wii U. Really pumped for this!!!
You can play House of the Dead 2 & 3 on the Wii or Wii U. Get the Wiimote Niko gun adapters and it’s good to go. I play these all the time via the Wii U. For gun games, the Wii & Wii U really delivered.
Light gun games are still a lot of fun when done right and if the hardware works properly...
Ghost Squad on the Wii was phenomenal and the included calibration worked so well that the game could be played without an on-screen reticle if you used a gun peripheral with sights... the only problem was that the peripherals required a mechanical device to push the B button on the Wii-mote, so hand fatigue set in FAST!
I had a PS Move setup and a few light-gun games for it, including Time Crisis Razing Storm... the Move Sharpshooter device was nice and the trigger was fantastic... but the Move system had way too much lag and if I recall, none of the games could be played with the on-screen reticle turned off.
I would love to see a proper light-gun that works and have all of the classic light-gun games ported over... but it won't happen because there is little market for it.
I reckon light gun games, if working, would be much easier these days. We were used to playing these games on small tv screens. Sitting 3 feet away pointing at a 65 screen tv is like having unwanted cheat codes forced upon you.
@masterLEON Well I was referring to NES games specifically but since you brought it up there is one lightgun title that Wii got only in Japan, a pretty rad port of Starblade, an earlier space shooter with SNES Star Fox-like graphics.
https://www.lightgunverter.com/
This is a working solution. I preordered this thing, but it cannot be sold outside UK yet. I cannot wait to have mine...
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