Mini PC for Light Gun Games

[Coops]

Hey,

I was scrolling through Facebook and I saw an advert come up for a retrogaming website that sold mini pc's that you could play light gun games on your modern TV using the Sinden Light Gun.

I don't know much about this stuff, so how easy is it to set up one of those Mini PCs for light gun games yourself without spending a fortune on the pre-installed ones? I know the Sinden Light Gun is about £90.

I have also seen the G'Aim'E light gun unit as I really enjoyed playing Point Blank when I was younger but they only come with a few games installed.

Thanks

 

[Brettster]

I have the Gaime thing, with the 4 games, it didnt work welll at first, then they released an update which fixed most of the issues, but I still have an issue with my TV being too big for the room, I really should sell it on! lol but if you have a smaller TV or larger room, then its a cheaper way to get into it. but only 4 games so far

 

[ZedEx48K]

Build a Gun4IR, go to places like Arcadepunks and get the light gun builds for free!

 

[Venom]

lot more builds like coinops with light gun games now. i have a very reflective lg oled so not sure sinden will be good or not. i stick with dolphin bar for stuff like rambo on teknoparrot ! Old Skool !!

 

[ZedEx48K]

You can also do a 4 point IR mod for Wiimotes to make them more accurate, as they suck by default for line of site shooting.

 

[2huwman]

I have the Gaime thing, with the 4 games, it didnt work welll at first, then they released an update which fixed most of the issues, but I still have an issue with my TV being too big for the room, I really should sell it on! lol but if you have a smaller TV or larger room, then its a cheaper way to get into it. but only 4 games so far

I need to try my Gaime again if they've updated it as I had the same issue with the TV being borderline too big for the space. I also read something (haven't tried it yet) that said that if you train it on your TV, and then plug a PC into the same TV, you can use the gun with MAME and Tecknoparrot etc and it will be properly calibrated. Guess it saves the info in the gun rather than the box.

Gun4IR also worked really well but was a bit of a messy hassle with the IR emitters stuck around the TV. They also got really hot and I started worrying about getting eye damage! Don't think that's physically possible unless you're very close to the emitters, but it put me off anyway.

Having tried lots of non CRT based systems, I honestly found the Ultimarc guns perfectly playable and easy to set up, especially with the newer arcade games on Tecknoparrot, and not significantly worse than other IR or camera solutions. Two linked PS2s with Time Crisis 2 and a pair of GunCons and Trinitrons is hard to beat though!

 

[ZedEx48K]

Having tried lots of non CRT based systems, I honestly found the Ultimarc guns perfectly playable and easy to set up,

Eeeeeew I had some once, they were terrible, they work the same as a wiimote so accuracy wasn't great and should you dare to move from where you were sat you had to calibrate again!

IR emitters will get warm in use, but first I've ever heard of someone think of eye damage!

 

[2huwman]

Eeeeeew I had some once, they were terrible, they work the same as a wiimote so accuracy wasn't great and should you dare to move from where you were sat you had to calibrate again!

IR emitters will get warm in use, but first I've ever heard of someone think of eye damage!

Yeah you can definitely damage your retinas with IR emitters. As I said, you need to be close for that to happen, so at normal play distance there's no real risk.

I know a lot of people don't like the Ultimarc guns, and they're definitely inferior to Gun4IR, but I found with standing at a bit of a distance, with careful calibration, and then not moving from that position, they were perfectly fine for the newer Teknoparrot stuff like the Transformers games etc. Older stuff I'd generally play on cabs or CRTs.

 

[Chihiro]

HOTD4 plays good on the mouse.

Naomi games running on a Pi5 via Batocera such as HOTD2, Maze of Kings & Confidential Mission are ok on a analogue pad too.

Both options are good if you don't have a gun setup

 

[Bods]

Eeeeeew I had some once, they were terrible, they work the same as a wiimote so accuracy wasn't great and should you dare to move from where you were sat you had to calibrate again!

IR emitters will get warm in use, but first I've ever heard of someone think of eye damage!

Sound worse than I imagined them, after playing Mad Dog on Philips CDi and the mouse Gun delay I thought no way I'm buying that type

 

[ZedEx48K]

Sound worse than I imagined them, after playing Mad Dog on Philips CDi and the mouse Gun delay I thought no way I'm buying that type

That was for Aimtraks, I have g4ir and they are great, not quite CRT great, but as close as we are getting so far, though in practice you would never really know with most arcade games.

 

[Bods]

That was for Aimtraks, I have g4ir and they are great, not quite CRT great, but as close as we are getting so far, though in practice you would never really know with most arcade games.

That's what I was referring too and The ones I avoided

 

[Coops]

Thanks for all your replies.

My living room is long but narrow so I don't have much space between the furniture and TV.

With regards to the IR sensors around the TV, either my kids or dogs will probably knock them off constantly so I feel that's not the best setup for my home.

The reason for using the Sinden guns is that they need less setting up than other light guns. I do like the idea of using the Wii as my kids still use it even though we have every modern console.

For now I might concentrate on setting up the Mini PC first and look at the light gun at a later date. Any advice on the type of specs I should be looking at for this? I would like to use it for some retro consoles up to PS1 & PS2.

Thanks again

 

[ZedEx48K]

Sinden may be a faster initial set up, but adding that border to every game isn't, gonna need custom bezels, reshade etc.

 

[samusaran]

I agree with Zed, i started with Sinden then moved onto to the Reapers and MX24.
No idea how your kids and dogs are going to knock the sensors off. All the wiring is at the back of the TV.

You will certainly spend a lot more time setting up the Sindens as to the all the other Sensor guns.

 

[ZedEx48K]

Aye, G4IR, calibrate and done, just works, I know some sinden owners, or should I say ex, they actually wanted less hassle (also found the other guns to be a smidge better too)

Yeah, no one is knocking them off, if they did I think you have a bigger problem the screen got broken while doing so