Which Platform for Lightgun Games?

[Spaced Invader]

I'm thinking of building a cab primarily for lightgun games (I may use it for other games too). What I'm wondering is, should I use a console for this (and if so which one) or am I better off with a PC/Actlabs setup.

I really only want one cab for lightgun stuff but have no idea which way to go. I also would rather not put mulitple systems in a cab and have to use different guns. Other factors that concern me are how many games will play on a given platform, the quality of those games; and, of course shooting accuracy.

I know I could use a PC, a Dreamcast, a Saturn, or a Playstation. Are there any more (haven't messed with nextgen consoles much)? Which system has the most/best games? What's the most accurate gun(s) to use?

Thanks for your help.  

Note: I posted here because my question is not console specific (even though consoles are mentioned).

Edit: Spelling Impaired

[eightbit]

It all depends on what games you want to play. FYI the xbox has a lightgun though I'm not sure how many games there are or what the quality is.

[Spaced Invader]

It all depends on what games you want to play. FYI the xbox has a lightgun though I'm not sure how many games there are or what the quality is.

Yes, b-u-u-u-t I have little experience with lightgun games, so, I don't know what I want to play. You can see I need lot's of advice!  

[TalkingOctopus]

I love the DC lightgun games but there are not very many of them:

House of the Dead 2
Virtua Cop 2 (On the Sega Smash Pack)
Confidential Mission

[StephenH]

If you like Emulation, you may want to go with a PC with VGA monitor or TV, and the Act Labs USB setup running Windows 98 or later.

Also, the old Nintendo NES may a good light gun setup as well, as there are several games for it.

If you like newer games, Dreamcast or PS2 are good choices.

[paigeoliver]

My votes goes for the NES, it is the cheapest, and I think it had more lightgun titles available than any other console.

[Spaced Invader]

NES? I totally missed that system (went straight from the 2600 to the Genesis...plus I was stationed in Germany when it was most popular). I really don't know anything about it except my little brother had a gun and a copy of Duck Hunt. So, there were more lightgun games for it than Duck Hunt? That's good...and cheap is always good.

While price is an issue (always), it isn't overriding. I'll buy a system if it's the bomb diggety lightgun platform. Also I already own a spare PC (AMD 1700mhz), a Saturn, a Dreamcast, and was just given a PS2 (brother traded for one of my many spare computers).

So far I see votes for a PC/Actlabs setup, Dreamcast, PS2, and the venerable NES.

In the forums I've seen reports of accuracy issues with the PC (Right?). The Dreamcast games, while excellent, are very few in number. The NES has a lot of games, but with dated graphics (Is this correct? Does this matter?). The PS2 was mentioned, but not much info given. Please correct anything I've got wrong!

I have another question. Will the PS2 allow you to play PS1 lightgun games? Anyone know? I think the PS1 had several and the PS2 has a few...don't know about quality though. Like I said, I'm a novice here.

The dreamcast really only had three lightgun games?

I'm still a bit lost. Thanks to everyone who replied and keep the opinions comming.  

[paigeoliver]

One thing to think about if you are considering a disc based system (Playstation or Dreamcast) is how long you plan on owning your cabinet.

Systems that use discs are MUCH more likely to fail over time. Sure you can get a replacement Dreamcast or Playstation very cheaply an easily now. But you certainly won't be able to get one in october of 2021.

Over time, disc failure is something to think about too.

Witness all the troubles people have with old laserdisc arcade games, and that stuff was supposed to be commercial quality, not home quality.

Maybe this isn't an issue because you plan to convert again later, or maybe you don't think that your cabinet is a keeper. But I know I personally plan on keeping most of my stuff until I am dead.

Well, I actually plan on selling a couple of them to fund an engagement ring oneday, but the rest of them are keepers.

[Spaced Invader]

Systems that use discs are MUCH more likely to fail over time

Good point. Which brings to mind another question. Can the NES lightgun games be run on a PC through an emulator? Playstation? SNES?

[hooded_paladin]

NES lightgun games and the lightgun are fully supported by at least one NES emulator... check the act-labs website and look at their gamelist.

[shmokes]

I think you should really consider a newer console.  The NES lightgun games just don't hold up to games like House of the Dead and Time Crisis.  It's not just that the graphics are better.  It's that the graphics are SO MUCH better that whole new gameplay concepts are created.  Really....don't put an NES in your system.  

[jerryjanis]

I don't have a lightgun, but the NES emulator for Dreamcast supports lightguns (I guess check out "NesterDC+") <- notice the "+".

Same goes for DreamSNES for the Dreamcast.

Heck, now I'm tempted to get a lightgun for the Dreamcast.

[TalkingOctopus]

Systems that use discs are MUCH more likely to fail over time

For Dreamcast this is not too much of a problem.  After you own the games, you can find an image of them on the net.  You can play burned games w/o a modchip or anything.  So if the disc ever fails, then you can just burn a new one.  

[Spaced Invader]

Thanks for all the advice. I'm still not sure which way to go...guess I'll have to do some research. Sure wish there was a review site dedicated to lightgun games. Thanks again!

[Lilwolf]

btw, the flash on the dreamcast is MUCH better then the one for actlabs.

Actlabs flashes a bright white.  The dreamcast does a light grey.  Much better in my opinion.  

The dreamcast seems to have slightly better accuracy.  Or more of... it doesn't seem to have the 1/10 shot off in left field that actlabs does.

btw, these results where with the SAME VGA monitor.  

[armad1ll0]

The US dreamcast guns suck, it's better to use the Japanese ones but my vote goes for the PS2 because it's still compatible w/ PSOne games.

This gives you the most accurate light gun because of the guncon 2's video loop.

Vampire Night
Virtua Cop 1&2 (import)
TimeCrisis 1-3 (1 is on the PSOne)
Gun Bullet/Point Blank  1-3
Ninja Assult
Resident Evil: Dead Aim

[codeena]

Hi all,

I recently put together an all-gun game cabinet from a positional gun game cabinet that I hacked to use it's guns with the PC (T2, Operation Wolf, etc.).  

I have the Dreamcast w/HOTD2, Confidential Mission & Virtua Cop 2.  I use the Interact light guns which work great using the VGA adapter, but I had major problems using them with a regular TV (not sure why).  I saw that there is a gun with Silent Scope support, but I don't know how well it works.

I also have a PS2 in the cab.  If I had a choice of only one system, I'd go for the PS2 because of titles Armad mentioned that use my favorite gun, the GunCon 2.  Plus you get the backwards compatibilty of Playstation gun games like:

Elemental Gearbolt
Area 51
Maximum Force
Project Horned Owl
Time Crisis Project Titan
Lethal Enforcers I and II
Gunfighter / Jesse James & Mad Dog McCree (I think it works w/the lightgun)
Resident Evil Gun Survivor (import version)

And for the PS2 not mentioned earlier:

DinoStalker
End Game

Granted, some of these titles are not very good, but I thought I'd try to name some titles.  BTW, Point Blank 2 is my favorite out of my gun games that I own.

I think that all XBOX has is HOTD3, but I think that they may be coming out w/Virtua Cop 3 (I saw this at IGN.com).

BTW, I posted earlier about my concern of having a glass bezel negatively affecting the accuracy of the lightguns.  I now have this setup, and the guns work fine.

Also, if anyone has experience with the Dreamcast NES emulator with lightgun support, that'd be great if you can share your thoughts on how well it works...Duck Hunt is a great classic!

Lastly, I'm looking for a cool name for the cabinet.  So far, I have:

MegaGun Collection
MegaGun: The Arcade Collection
Arcade SuperGun

Any ideas?

[Spaced Invader]

Well, thanks to Armand and Codeena (plus some research on my own) I've made up my mind. I'm gonna go with the PS2. Seems like it has the most games (counting PS1 titles); most of the games are very well done; and it has the best/most accurate lightguns (GunCon 1/2).

I still have a Christmas gift cab to finish, so this will be my New Years project. Now I can start gathering the peices.  

I have one more question for those more knowledgable than myself (most of you). Is there any way to have a joypad hack and a lightgun plugged in at the same time? I want to be able to set up a fighter panel on the cab, and have the guns avalible too...without plugging and unplugging. So, does this sound doable?

Oh yeah, Codeena, do you have pics of your cab...I'd love to see how it came out.

Thanks to everyone who answered...and anyone who bothered to read this thread. I appreciate all your help.

[namzep]

Depending on how you're planning on interfacing the hack to your PC (USB would get my vote) it should be much of a problem.  

[Spaced Invader]

Depending on how you're planning on interfacing the hack to your PC (USB would get my vote) it should be much of a problem.  

Not PC...PS2 (Playstation 2).  

[codeena]

Hey Spaced Invader,

Currently, I don't have pictures of my cab, but I will after I decide on a name for it.  It is an Alien3: The Gun by Sega.  You can check out a pic on KLOV's site.  Except mine is all black (except for the guns that are gray, and the gun's bases that are white).  I haven't changed the cabinet on the outside, but I did have to make a mount inside for the NEC 27" VGA (rez up to 800x600)--has two S-Video inputs (I have a 3rd party PS2 S-Video cable w/GunCon support).  I took out the original monitor that was facing up and reflected by a mirror--I'm not sure if you know about these older positional gun game cabs, but most of them had this mirrored image setup.  Unfortunately, consoles don't support this reflection (and some Mame games don't either).  

If you check out the picture of the cab, you'll notice that there are two doors to the left & right of the coin door.  Anyways, I gutted all the original Alien3 parts and placed my PS2 into one of the openings, and the lightguns inside the other opening.  I also gutted the coin door insides and placed my Dreamcast behind it.  Below that (where the coins would drop), there is an compartment I use for storing my DC, PS and PS2 games.  Other mods I'd like to do are to install 2 holsters and make a new marquee and sideart for it.  

As for installing a joystick & buttons--I thought of that too.  But unfortunately for me, there is not much space left over on my control panel. I thought of interchangable panels, but the guns are very heavy (much more than T2 ones).  Assuming that you don't have positional guns, there should be no problem installing a PS2 joystick into it, and still have room for holsters or openings in the cp for lightguns (or the guns can go to the sides or front--not necessarily on the cp). You can have a joystick and lightgun plugged in at the same time (unless you want to play w/two players--then you'd have to swap).  Also, the PS2 joystick is good even if you want to use a PC w/it in the future because you can use a USB-Playstation adapter (I do).  I also have the Playstation to DC, Gamecube and XBOX adapters.  BTW, I forgot to mention that some of the Playstation lightgun games are NOT compatible with the GunCon (and all are not w/the GunCon2).  I have a couple of guns that support each type.

Good luck with your project-I'm sure it'll be well worth your effort.  

[Spaced Invader]

You can have a joystick and lightgun plugged in at the same time (unless you want to play w/two players--then you'd have to swap).

I was thinking more of a splitter...so, two PS2 guns and two PS2 controllers are plugged in at the same time. Anyone know if it'll work?

I forgot to mention that some of the Playstation lightgun games are NOT compatible with the GunCon (and all are not w/the GunCon2).

Anyone know if the guns that support multiple modes (guncon 1, guncon 2, and normal) are any good?

[dpdelcollo]

I dont know about PS2 lightguns, but for PS1 lightguns it was impossible to get more than one gun connected at a time even when I tried using different brands and different hookups.  They may have solved this problem by now, but at the time, all my lightgun games were only 1 player with the gun.