It's easy to forget just how massive the NES was back in its glory days, but even that system paled in comparison to the near-domination that its Japanese counterpart - the Famicom - enjoyed in its homeland. Simply put, the Nintendo "Family Computer" was the only real game in town if you were a Japanese player, and the massive install base meant that companies were willing to take risks they might have otherwise avoided, purely because the audience was so large.
One such example is the Bandai Hyper Shot, a Famicom light gun shaped like a machine gun. It could be used just like the standard Zapper, but was packed with unique features which set it apart - the most exciting of which was the "Body Vibration System", which delivered a convincing recoil effect - as long as you inserted batteries, of course. The Hyper Shot also included a speaker and directional pad.
Only one game was ever produced which made use of the Hyper Shot's suite of functions. 1989's Space Shadow is a pretty straightforward Operation Wolf clone where you stalk the corridors of a spaceship blasting alien enemies. During play, music is pumped into the Hyper Shot's speaker and squeezing the trigger causes the gun to vibrate. You can also throw grenades using the gun's "B" button.
It would appear that despite its cool appearance, the Hyper Shot wasn't a runaway commercial success - no other games were produced which made use of its features. A North American launch was out of the question; Nintendo of America had changed the design of the Famicom light gun (which was shaped like a realistic revolver) to a space-age laser gun to avoid the issue of children brandishing them in the streets and frighenting strangers; there's no way a controller which looked like a machine gun would have gotten the green light for a western launch. As such, it remains something of an import curiosity.
You can check out the gun in action - as well as footage of Space Shadow - in Game Dave's excellent video below.
Comments 16
i can only imagine the level 5 twister of righteous indignation if this thing ever escaped into the west. explains why i want one.btw, the opening for the video should've been the ad for it. i would've laughed for days if i saw it back then.
i just realized. this means that this was the very first controller with not only a speaker but vibration. if the thing wasn't marketing suicide, it would've brought features to a wider audience that would only have done so generations later. mind = blown.
These days, you would have to be nervous holding anything that is black and could be misconstrued as a gun.
A black torch, black handbag, black wii remote anyone ....
In some neighbourhoods - make sure your zipper is done up, particularly when the police are knocking at the front door.
Reminds me of the megatron toy
@Jamotello The regular famicom controller had a speaker as well. The vibration is new though.
Someone needs to send one of these to the Intergalactic Space Arcade.
@Jamotello
NES had quite a lot of random 3rd party (and a few 1st party) peripherals that introduced features that wouldn't become prominant until so much later, like Internet play, motion control, 3D, etc.
They could have did a full recolor to market in America. They could have made it some wild gawdy color pallet. They were not customizing actual weapons like they do now.
Very interesting. Yeah, lots of different peripherals for Famicom/Super Famicom that did all kinds of things.
.."You wanna play rough? Okay. Say hello to my little friend!"..
This is beautiful, Nintendo of America was a mistake.
That is sick! What a neat peripheral!
"A North American launch was out of the question; Nintendo of America had changed the design of the Famicom light gun (which was shaped like a realistic revolver) to a space-age laser gun to avoid the issue of children brandishing them in the streets and frighenting strangers; there's no way a controller which looked like a machine gun would have gotten the green light for a western launch."
That's pretty ironic, considering how widely accepted it is in the US to publicly wear a gun and how some gun enthousiasts overseas even demand allowing children to use guns...
Can't tell a difference between a machine gun and submachine gun, eh NintendoLife?
i want one
Now you can play as if you where in the Yakuza, children! Lol!
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