light guns?

[mercury187]

Hi, I would really like to get a couple of light guns to play some of the gun games. I was wondering if the AimTrak is my only option? Our main TV IS an LCD, however, we also own a 27" Sony tube/crt TV which has svideo so I could also connect my computer to that (sometimes I play duckhunt on it using our NES).

I noticed in an older post someone mentioned that Act-labs on a CRT screen are much better than Aimtrak but it looks like only the red gun is sold on the Act-labs site and everything else is discontinued.

[TPB]

Seeing as you have a CRT TV with SVideo,

There are plenty of great gun games on the PS1 & PS2.  There are three different guns for these consoles :

Konami Justifier  >>  old PS1 games.
Namco GunCon  >>  newer PS1 and old PS2 games.
Namco GunCon2  >>  newer PS2 games.

For LCD TV's :

Apart from the AimTrak, there's also the HKEMS LCD TopGun III :
==============================================

http://www.play-asia.com/ems-topgun-iii-paOS-13-49-en-70-4e7s.html

http://www.hkems.com/product/xbox/1108.htm

http://www.hkems.com/qa_1108.htm

http://www.hkems.com/files/1108/TopGun_III_eng.pdf

[Afterburner]

I've got one of the older TopGun versions.  It works, but not great.

Not sure if newer versions have improved.   My primary complaint was you had to get so far away from the screen it wasn't fun.  Not great on small screens,  but might be good on large TVs or projector setups.

Some people added a wide angle lens to the barrel that is supposed to help a lot.

I'd love to try one of the Aimtraks.  It's on my list.   Sounds like the Aimtrak is much higher resolution and easier to integrate with Mame since it gets recognized as a native usb mouse....no pesky drivers to fiddle with.

[BadMouth]

There are some other threads that pretty much cover everything ad naseum.

To avoid any confusion, the guns TPB mentioned are for the original consoles, not for emulators.
A lot of people come to the conclusion that a Playstation 2 is the optimum platform for gun games.

If you're sticking to emulators, it depends on how picky you are about how they function.
IMO, the Aim-Traks are the best choice for LCD screens, but the aim does not stay perfect when body position or height of person playing is changed, so you need to rely on the on-screen crosshairs instead of the gun sights.  It's similar to playing gun games on a Wii.
There are a few other options for use with LCD screens, but they aren't as plug and play and won't work any better.

My personal preference is for the true light guns that only work with CRT TVs or monitors.  This is what the guns were like when I was growing up.
I use the gun sights and the aim is accurate to within 3 pixels.  The downside is that you can't use them on games that originally had mounted guns and spray bullets, like Terminator 2.  The Aim-Traks will work fine with those games.  The Act-Labs guns turn up occasionally, but you might have to keep an eye out for a couple months before you come across a pair.  Don't buy the oldest version that connects via gameport instead of USB.  They work differently and aren't compatible with as many emulators. 

[Afterburner]

I will also add that lightgun games are the primary reason my cab has a dual trackball setup.

Lightguns are more authentic,  but the trackballs pretty much let me play any 2 player lightgun game with virtually no hassle.