Nintendo Entertainment System, known as Atari for short in our country, was released in 1985. NES, one of the most popular consoles ever, maintained its popularity in our country until the beginning of the 2000s. It hosted hundreds of legendary games such as Super Mario Bros, Tank 1990, Captain Tsubasa and Duck Hunt, which is the subject of this article.
NES, that is Atari, had another accessory that sometimes comes in the box and sometimes needs to be bought as an extra: the Atari pistol. You could hit the targets on the screen with this weapon, which was used especially in the game Duck Hunt, and could also be used in several different productions such as Wild Gunman set in the wild west. So, how did this weapon, which seemed so ahead of its time for 1985, perceive the elements on the screen?
Arcade gun detects light, not objects
First of all, let’s start by saying this: CRT televisions, called the old generation, could display images between 60 and 85 frames per second. The Atari pistol takes full advantage of this, too. Basically, what you think is that the Atari gun will detect the duck you aim on the screen, but in fact, the gun does not have such a technology. All it can do is perceive light.
When you aim your gun at the TV and press the trigger, the screen goes completely black for a short time, even if you are not aware of it. In the frames that come right after the screen goes black, a bright light appears where the duck is. If the barrel of your gun is turned towards where the light is at that moment, the device detects this light and assumes that you have shot the duck.
Since all this happens in a very short time, you can’t see the screen getting dark or getting brighter. In this way, the illusion that the Atari gun can select moving objects is formed. There is also an easy way to test this: If you still have an Atari somewhere in your house, you can open the game and shoot at a bright light or light bulb when the ducks appear. The gun will detect the incoming bright light as a target and you will be deemed to have hit all targets.
This was the working logic of the Atari pistol. Do not forget to share your opinions about NES and pistol with us in the comments.
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