How the Nintendo Zapper worked in Slow Motion - The Slow Mo Guys

Ойын-сауық

Gav cranks up the fastest phantom to show the simple yet fascinating approach to shooting ducks on your telly in the mid 80s.
Instagram - / theslowmoguys
Filmed at up to 1,750,000 with the Phantom TMX 7510
How the Nintendo Zapper worked in Slow Motion - The Slow Mo Guys

Пікірлер: 3 200

  • @jckatz
    @jckatz5 ай бұрын

    I really want to see the laser scanner at a grocery store checkout. It seems to have mirrors moving very fast

  • @yourejustjelley

    @yourejustjelley

    5 ай бұрын

    I second this

  • @thebeardofknowledge

    @thebeardofknowledge

    5 ай бұрын

    This ⤴️

  • @kuzeyrl

    @kuzeyrl

    5 ай бұрын

    i fourth this

  • @aesbj9228

    @aesbj9228

    5 ай бұрын

    Nth this

  • @FelkniaMusic

    @FelkniaMusic

    5 ай бұрын

    There are! There are actually a few mirrors, 3 or 4 small spinning in the center, and two bigger ones to spread the beam in several directions when the scanner is operating.

  • @Wald246
    @Wald2465 ай бұрын

    I'd love to see an inkjet printer in slow-motion! I think the ink droplets falling on paper would be interesting

  • @MrSkinnyWhale

    @MrSkinnyWhale

    5 ай бұрын

    Even the Slo-mo Guys can't afford to waste that much printer ink

  • @Watchyn_Yarwood

    @Watchyn_Yarwood

    5 ай бұрын

    @@MrSkinnyWhale 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

  • @mllarson

    @mllarson

    5 ай бұрын

    @@MrSkinnyWhale Funny as that is, they could use an Epson Eco Tank printer.

  • @DutchBlackMantha

    @DutchBlackMantha

    5 ай бұрын

    Sounds great, but it'll probably be tricky to get camera vision there, with the printer head on one side and the paper+roller on the other.

  • @kasperchristensen8416

    @kasperchristensen8416

    5 ай бұрын

    @@MrSkinnyWhaleHahaha! 😂

  • @mrspeeddemon727
    @mrspeeddemon727Ай бұрын

    I'm 55 years old, grew up on Nintendo systems when I was younger. I had the Zapper and Duck Hunt and even back then I always wondered how that gun worked. Now I finally know. My life has come full circle. Thank you for taking the time to make this video.

  • @chadquigley227
    @chadquigley2274 ай бұрын

    I’m so glad you pointed out that on “two duck mode” the light boxes appear at separate frames . Because right from the start of the video I already knew how the light gun generally works , but I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how it knows WHICH duck you hit when there’s more than one. 15 years or so of watching you and you’ve never disappointed me . Thanks !

  • @MarkusAvrelius

    @MarkusAvrelius

    2 ай бұрын

    Further you stand better luck hitting the duck since it will cover larger area. Even though the receiver sees through a tunnel vision. That would explain why I always hit it even though I wasn't aiming much I thought it was broken.

  • @TDPEquinox
    @TDPEquinox5 ай бұрын

    I assume it flashes the boxes in two different frames so it can know which one you hit, otherwise it wouldn't be able to tell which of the boxes you're aiming at.

  • @Yourtoxicity

    @Yourtoxicity

    5 ай бұрын

    That makes sense. I was wondering how that worked.

  • @nekrugderzweite8298

    @nekrugderzweite8298

    5 ай бұрын

    As far as i know thats correct

  • @fe2k10

    @fe2k10

    5 ай бұрын

    Let me see if I understand correctly, when you press the button and there are 2 ducks on the screen, the game will generate 2 frames with white squares, if frame == 1 && white square, duck 1 dies, if frame == 2 && white square, duck 2 dies, is that so?

  • @roberine7241

    @roberine7241

    5 ай бұрын

    @@fe2k10 seems correct to me

  • @theslowmoguys

    @theslowmoguys

    5 ай бұрын

    Yeah makes total sense after seeing it in slow mo.

  • @TheDaringPastry1313
    @TheDaringPastry13135 ай бұрын

    As a 37 year old now, I was always curious how this worked and I also noticed the whole screen flashing on the menu! Really cool video

  • @atpoe2273

    @atpoe2273

    5 ай бұрын

    Lol same!

  • @godzilladestroyscities1757

    @godzilladestroyscities1757

    5 ай бұрын

    Same.

  • @MarmaLloyd

    @MarmaLloyd

    5 ай бұрын

    As a kid I assumed it had a ball in it that could detect trajectory based on calibration. Blew my mind seeing how it was done

  • @andreaslu1378

    @andreaslu1378

    5 ай бұрын

    Same! Also 37 years

  • @NerdOfftheRoad

    @NerdOfftheRoad

    5 ай бұрын

    Me too! You are not alone.

  • @fawstes
    @fawstes3 ай бұрын

    Truly brilliant, no emitters and receivers, no screen calibration, no markers on the screen to inform the receiver of any screen dimension, this was really ahead of its time

  • @wayne7521

    @wayne7521

    2 ай бұрын

    Nope there was a receiver that sat on top of tv ... believe it worked like infra red ...to show where gun was aiming , p.s. talking bout uk system ...maybe different

  • @maryrose2676

    @maryrose2676

    2 ай бұрын

    @@wayne7521 We owned one when I was a kid. Nothing sits on top of tv. It's just the gun.

  • @UncleUncleRj

    @UncleUncleRj

    2 ай бұрын

    @@wayne7521 I think you're talking about the Wii. NES had no receiver.

  • @johneygd

    @johneygd

    2 ай бұрын

    @@wayne7521you are probably confused with the superscope for the snes because that one uses a infrared reciever,BUT it still works on some of the same princeples of the nes zapper gun.

  • @takemebacktothen

    @takemebacktothen

    2 ай бұрын

    What are you rambling, this is Not ahead at all. It's really simple, archaic, repetitive and boring gameplay.

  • @uroborous01
    @uroborous015 ай бұрын

    I remember when it first came out. I remember my first time playing. I remember how awesome it was. The only person in the room interested in the mystery of how it worked was my electrical engineer father. Now all these years later its so cool to see the whole process in its ballet of technological prowess. It really was the best time to be a kid. And i am so glad i made the effort to get and keep 2 crt tv’s specially for the nes and snes.

  • @maboleth

    @maboleth

    5 ай бұрын

    Indeed! The (S)NES days were the best and most fun days of all the video games. Playing meant fun and enjoyment. There was nothing else.

  • @yetinother
    @yetinother5 ай бұрын

    I used to cheat on this game with my brothers. We had a pull-down shade for the kitchen window that reflected perfectly on the TV in a particular spot I learned that if I pulled the window shade down to exactly the right spot it would mimic the square that the gun picks up, so just before my turn to play I would go into the kitchen and adjust that blind so that I could just point at the reflection of the kitchen window with the gun and score perfect points. Then when it wasn't my turn I would intentionally stand in between the TV in the window to make sure the reflection couldn't allow anybody else to do the same thing.

  • @SomeYouTubeTraveler

    @SomeYouTubeTraveler

    5 ай бұрын

    That's some big brain brother cheating right there. XD Me, I just never told my bros about how the 2nd-player controller could control the ducks, and I'd hide it under a pillow on my lap and give my brother terrible advice on where it "looks like" the ducks are heading. I've changed a lot since then, and it only took finally getting punched by him as a grown man...

  • @CapStar362

    @CapStar362

    5 ай бұрын

    LMAO !!! That is hilarious

  • @NoName-ik2du

    @NoName-ik2du

    5 ай бұрын

    But what about the black frame? The reflection would always be there, so the game would never be able to get the black image to confirm you weren't cheating. (Obviously you won't know the answer to this, but it does confuse me.)

  • @Ineedanaccountnow0

    @Ineedanaccountnow0

    5 ай бұрын

    Yeah he's just a dirty liar. We literally just watched the explanation, and this guy's cheat is clearly not enough to satisfy the requirements@@NoName-ik2du

  • @LarsWilms

    @LarsWilms

    5 ай бұрын

    ​@@NoName-ik2duyeah and also the gun doesn't see the shape of the square, it's just the "hitbox" of the duck. So whether the shape of the reflected window resembled the hitbox doesn't matter, the gun just sees the difference between light and no light on the specific frames when you're shooting and the specific area you're aiming at.

  • @westminsterabbey.6916
    @westminsterabbey.69165 ай бұрын

    I love these quieter informative videos you do Gav, I’m glad you’ve kept them going after the lockdowns, they’re fascinating

  • @pat2rome

    @pat2rome

    5 ай бұрын

    Same! I see "how ___ works" and I get so excited.

  • @Geeksmithing

    @Geeksmithing

    5 ай бұрын

    Exactly. Doesnt have to always be over the top and flashy

  • @MARKBaid

    @MARKBaid

    5 ай бұрын

    Amazing

  • @smittywerbenjagarmanjensen3059

    @smittywerbenjagarmanjensen3059

    5 ай бұрын

    What lockdowns

  • @Geeksmithing

    @Geeksmithing

    5 ай бұрын

    @@smittywerbenjagarmanjensen3059 bless your heart ❤️

  • @rsvp9146
    @rsvp91462 ай бұрын

    Christmas morning, 1985. Santa left the NES for us. Duck Hunt and Excitebike. Came with the Zapper and the ROB robot thing. I still remember being blown away by the graphics. A huge step up from Atari and Coleco. Always wondered how the Zapper worked. Thanks! They changed it from grey to orange so cops would know it wasnt a real gun. In 80's SoCal, you always heard stories of kids being shot accidentally playing Lasertag. I also remember every market sold cap guns, usually like a old west revolver. You put a roll of caps in it and "BANG". Eventually, all those guns had bright red tips. Then they all disappeared.

  • @Oli-Ravioli

    @Oli-Ravioli

    2 ай бұрын

    We lived through magical times. For me it was a Mario Bros / Duck Hunt cartridge with the zapper. Every now and then we would go to the video club and we would rent a NES game for the weekend. Simpler times. Think about it: we saw the evolution of graphics, computing, science and technology. Something actual generations might never get to truly experience.

  • @SydneyCarton2085

    @SydneyCarton2085

    2 ай бұрын

    Same, only it was Christmas 1988 and we got Super Mario Bros/Duck Hunt and Commando with an NES.

  • @ivan4087

    @ivan4087

    Ай бұрын

    @@SydneyCarton2085 it was 1993-94 for me (but i live in poor third world country caled russia so its normal here)

  • @Spicygoats
    @Spicygoats5 күн бұрын

    I was born during the gamecube era, but my bro still had the older consoles lying around. Duck Hunt was probably one of my favorites because of the gimmick. The click sound of the gun's trigger along with the flash of the screen was so satisfying and I felt so cool. I knew the flash of the screen had something to do with how it functioned, but I never looked into it. Cool to finally know. I wish my bro hadn't sold those old consoles and games, but he's all about emulation now. Personally, nothing beats the tactile and auditory feedback from slotting in a cartridge and playing on original controllers. I still remember how the plastic of the controller felt in my hands, pushing the d-pad around and the concave buttons in. Playing with the tray that kept the cartridge in place. The clicks of said tray and the power buttons... yeah, I'm gonna buy em all back if I ever get the money saved up.

  • @MrAnimefan7
    @MrAnimefan75 ай бұрын

    This continues to be magic. How they figured out they could do this is unfathomable.

  • @Doktor_Vem

    @Doktor_Vem

    5 ай бұрын

    Them Nintendo people are pretty damn clever, ain't they

  • @ColdPotato

    @ColdPotato

    5 ай бұрын

    We put a man on the moon before iPhones.

  • @joergojschaefer3521

    @joergojschaefer3521

    5 ай бұрын

    @@ColdPotato Absolute nerd knowledge: An single iPhone 6 could control around 120 million Apollo space flights at the same time!

  • @timvangenechten5258

    @timvangenechten5258

    5 ай бұрын

    The tech was not new and inferior to other systems. With the system Nintendo used it was nearly impossible to detect many objects at the same time. They would have to induce an epileptic shock by flashing the screen over and over to achieve that. Try playing operation wolf with the zapper and you'll know what I mean.@@Doktor_Vem

  • @DeanQuinn-ep2lt

    @DeanQuinn-ep2lt

    5 ай бұрын

    ​@@joergojschaefer3521Jesus. I never knew the "at the same time" part to that fact

  • @UselessDuckCompany
    @UselessDuckCompany5 ай бұрын

    This game was a gem of my childhood. Once you discover the second controller can control the ducks it's a whole new game.

  • @brod520

    @brod520

    5 ай бұрын

    Whaaaaat?! No way!

  • @tonybeaumont8289

    @tonybeaumont8289

    5 ай бұрын

    Wait whaaaat

  • @twelvecatsinatrenchcoat

    @twelvecatsinatrenchcoat

    5 ай бұрын

    This feels like a company of ducks trolling people as revenge for Duck Hunt.

  • @bskibinski

    @bskibinski

    5 ай бұрын

    Wow memory unlocked!

  • @StraveTube

    @StraveTube

    5 ай бұрын

    YOU COULD WHAT??

  • @PotentialEn3rgy
    @PotentialEn3rgy4 ай бұрын

    I grew up with this 40 years ago I've always wondered how it worked!! What an amazing piece of engineering!!

  • @samuraidoggy

    @samuraidoggy

    2 ай бұрын

    Lol ure old

  • @GunslingerAlGilead
    @GunslingerAlGileadАй бұрын

    My family couldn’t afford it when I was a kid and I saw this first when invited to someone’s house. Blew my mind straightaway. It was good growing up in 90s though tough times in an ex-USSR country for adults. Appreciate it, mom, dad and grandma!

  • @LeeorVardi
    @LeeorVardi5 ай бұрын

    that bit of filming the CRT at super slo-mo alone is worth this video, incredible stuff.

  • @user-bw6jg4ej2m

    @user-bw6jg4ej2m

    5 ай бұрын

    They have an even better video about that from 5 yrs ago: "How a TV Works in Slow Motion"

  • @danieldavis8607

    @danieldavis8607

    5 ай бұрын

    ​@@user-bw6jg4ej2m Thanks! Gonna watch it now.

  • @pawnix4122
    @pawnix41225 ай бұрын

    I appreciate the slower episodes that you make between the main uploads with Dan. It is nice to get some more lightly edited videos in between to make sure you guys aren't dead.

  • @PixxelWizzard-dd5cr
    @PixxelWizzard-dd5crАй бұрын

    This is the first explanation of how the zapper worked that I understood. Slowing everything down helped so much. Thank you.

  • @zakwest9063
    @zakwest90634 күн бұрын

    I can't thank you enough. I've been ruminating about this mystery for 30+ years. Good show, mate!

  • @IndyStry
    @IndyStry5 ай бұрын

    This is genuinely ahead of its time. So much thinking and programming went even to make sure you won't cheat by pointing it at a white bulb, not to mention nobody back then had slowmo cameras to even figure this out. Do more such smaller but super intriguing videos man!

  • @jpe1

    @jpe1

    5 ай бұрын

    Hardly “ahead of its time” Nintendo copied earlier American duck hunt games, the game goes back to the 1970’s.

  • @Jaspertine

    @Jaspertine

    5 ай бұрын

    ​@@MidwestRainstorms They're at least partially right though. The Magnavox Odyssey had a primitive light gun back in the 1970s. Nintendo didn't invent the peripheral so much as refine it, and make much more enjoyable games. As for copying "earlier American duck hunt games," that's a new one to me, and sounds a bit dubious. Electromechanical light gun games were a thing prior to light gun video games, and Nintendo had dabbled in such technology in the 1970s, but I can't find any articles mentioning specific examples of earlier games that they'd have copied. But I also only did like 2 google searches, so don't take this as the definitive final word.

  • @jpe1

    @jpe1

    5 ай бұрын

    @@MidwestRainstorms I stand by my comment… my parents bought me one for Christmas in 1978, yes the graphics were literally just a white square that went across the screen, but all the core concepts were there, the “gun” that was a photo sensor, the video blanking, the timing… Nintendo just refined the graphics and put some marketing into it, no new innovations at all.

  • @lalle5000

    @lalle5000

    5 ай бұрын

    Slowmo wouldn't be necessary though, as they could just tweak the duration of e.g. the black or white boxes as they pleased within the game code

  • @Bonde7280

    @Bonde7280

    5 ай бұрын

    @@MidwestRainstorms Did you research anything your self, or do you just like to spread misinformation? 😉

  • @arfdinglare
    @arfdinglare5 ай бұрын

    Geez that robocam shot midway through was so butter smooth I thought it was a 3D render. I always love seeing how y'all make usage of that.

  • @mitchib1440

    @mitchib1440

    5 ай бұрын

    lol i probably would've been fooled as well had i not immediately seen the tape holding it down lol only the highest of budgets on Slow Mo Guys!

  • @kilbabaplays8944
    @kilbabaplays89445 ай бұрын

    I've known this for a very long time, but I always wondered how they managed to decide between multiple targets on screen (especially with later lightgun games on NES and other systems, even arcade). I just kind of forgot to go and find out. Nice to have such a clear video and amazing footage showing the scanlines and the black frames etc. Great watch.

  • @dog_solitude
    @dog_solitude24 күн бұрын

    Always wondered how that worked. Me and a mate spent a lazy childhood Sunday testing it to its limit by lining up mirrors around his house to see how far away we could still hit ducks. I recall it working from the corridor outside his room with two mirrors between us and the TV. Fun times 😂

  • @PierceArner
    @PierceArner5 ай бұрын

    Gotta say that no matter what new peripherals they come out with, nothing beats that satisfying, *_“ker-tang!”_* when you pull that old light gun trigger.

  • @ThisisDD

    @ThisisDD

    5 ай бұрын

    Zwuh-cruck was how mine sounded 🤷🏼‍♀️

  • @roberine7241

    @roberine7241

    5 ай бұрын

    can't beat the simplicity of a light sensor in a piece of plastic with a button

  • @nickwallette6201

    @nickwallette6201

    5 ай бұрын

    They put a big old steel slug in the handle, too, just to give it a sense of heft. Someone obviously cared when they designed that thing.

  • @TheLastArbiter
    @TheLastArbiter5 ай бұрын

    So creative… I love how when a technology is less developed, creators are forced to use ingenuity and you get so many interesting things instead of twelve versions of the same thing

  • @jerotoro2021

    @jerotoro2021

    5 ай бұрын

    So true. I just wish Nintendo would stop deliberately creating such a scenario 🤨

  • @S.M.HassanShah

    @S.M.HassanShah

    5 ай бұрын

    Oh I was looking for this. It's mostly sad to look where the world is going now as compared to older times.

  • @jckatz

    @jckatz

    5 ай бұрын

    Keep in mind all that was done in Bytes 56 copies of duck hunt would fit on 1.44 floppy 💾 North America (NTSC): 26,214 bytes Europe (PAL): 32,768 bytes Japan (Famicom): 32,000 bytes

  • @theneonbop

    @theneonbop

    5 ай бұрын

    Yeah, you don't get as much cool and clever mechanical stuff anymore, people will just use microcontrollers, sensors, and motors. Of course there is a lot of ingenuity that went into designing those, but it isn't as visible or as fun, and means that not much ingenuity has to go into the projects that use them.

  • @theneonbop

    @theneonbop

    5 ай бұрын

    @@jckatz Someone recently fit snake game into 64 bytes in assembly.

  • @AppaTalks
    @AppaTalks2 ай бұрын

    As a kid, I took my blaster apart and put it back together without the case, used electric tape to hold the lens much closer to the parts. No matter where I aimed, I would get a successful hit and got all the levels.

  • @andrewhonn
    @andrewhonn12 күн бұрын

    Almost 40 and still have my sns... my kids play with it too which is awesome to show them old game's

  • @galfisk
    @galfisk5 ай бұрын

    Anything that has alternating current and a gas discharge looks neat in slowmo. Neon lamps, neon signs (those with actual neon and clear glass), low pressure sodium bulbs, AC welding, Jacob's ladders, and more.

  • @RealUlrichLeland

    @RealUlrichLeland

    5 ай бұрын

    That's a good one

  • @CorporateZombi

    @CorporateZombi

    5 ай бұрын

    I wonder what the start up of a plasma globe would look like. Or what it would look like when you touch a single part of the globe.

  • @lightseeker1813
    @lightseeker18135 ай бұрын

    as a guy who grew up on this game I can say that was such a legendary demonstration.

  • @confushisushi

    @confushisushi

    5 ай бұрын

    I can still hear that dog lol

  • @kenwillis8487

    @kenwillis8487

    5 ай бұрын

    Same here!

  • @kenwillis8487

    @kenwillis8487

    5 ай бұрын

    We got the original Nintendo with Mario and duck hunter in 1986 I was 6 years old! It was a family gift for us kids to share ( one brother two sisters ) I bet my dad played it more in the first month that us kids!

  • @jlt131

    @jlt131

    5 ай бұрын

    including the fact he was just a few inches from the screen, which is how we always got to the higher levels

  • @spike3082

    @spike3082

    5 ай бұрын

    Oh yes we did lol I still have my original zapper just got to get another NES

  • @kroepoekhetkonijn5296
    @kroepoekhetkonijn529611 күн бұрын

    I love the cat being so curious

  • @austensperry4163
    @austensperry41635 ай бұрын

    This truly is brilliant. I never would have guessed that’s how it worked.

  • @colinmacvicar2507
    @colinmacvicar25075 ай бұрын

    One thing people (my friends at least) didn’t notice in Duck Hunt was that while in two player mode, you could control the duck’s movement with the controller while the other player was playing. My friends would get frustrated that there ducks would move a lot more then mine would and I’d tell them they’re imagining it.

  • @fllthdcrb

    @fllthdcrb

    5 ай бұрын

    Really? I'm pretty sure I always knew that back when I played. Maybe that's the difference between people who are willing to tinker with things and those who aren't.

  • @meanmutton

    @meanmutton

    5 ай бұрын

    @@fllthdcrb I would say it is more the difference between those who read the manual and those who don't.

  • @fllthdcrb

    @fllthdcrb

    5 ай бұрын

    @@meanmutton That, too. I loved to read the instructions, but I'm not sure whether I did in this case. It's also possible the person I was playing with told me, since it was their NES and copy of the game. But it was so many years ago, and I was pretty young, there are a lot of details I've forgotten.

  • @rongill1234

    @rongill1234

    5 ай бұрын

    @@meanmutton when i had this game i wasn't even in kindergarten yet and def couldn't read anything but i fig it out because just cause when you are waiting on your turn and you see a controller not doing anything you just decide to mess with stuff

  • @jakefriesenjake

    @jakefriesenjake

    5 ай бұрын

    I remember playing a really old, long racing game on the atari. My cousins came over and they tried it out. They didn't have a system. They would play and play and complained that their hands were hurting and needed a break. I said tuff. They died early and handed me the controller.... I played until my hands were killing me, and told them to pause the game (button on the console!) I won the first round.

  • @tmaris
    @tmaris5 ай бұрын

    I remember being very young playing this game and not understanding how it worked felt like magic. Great explanation Gav!

  • @TheGman0808

    @TheGman0808

    5 ай бұрын

    Same. I’d try puttin the gun directly on the screen then bring it back and different angles. I loved it😂

  • @joedirt5720
    @joedirt5720Ай бұрын

    This is something i didn't know i needed!!! As a 80s baby this is EVERYTHING 😮

  • @MikaelMurstam
    @MikaelMurstam4 ай бұрын

    It's also interesting that when you have two ducks, as you said, the white boxes appear on different frames. This must be so that the game can figure out which duck you shot. Pretty cool.

  • @RevDrTarr

    @RevDrTarr

    4 ай бұрын

    I figured out long ago how the Zapper worked, but couldn't figure out how it knew which duck was being aimed at. I could see the screen flash and the white boxes, but not the separate frames.

  • @paytonfeery5898
    @paytonfeery58985 ай бұрын

    The reason it shows two white boxes on separate frames is so that it can tell which duck you shot at, because whether it sees the first or second frame determines which duck it was

  • @daleryanaldover6545

    @daleryanaldover6545

    5 ай бұрын

    This strengthens the concept where the gun is the receiver of input and not the screen nor the software in the game, if the game software is the one that checks for hit, it could probably just get the coordinates of the box on the screen but that would require a lot of memory for computation. Alternating between two white boxes, th3 game can check for hits without knowing the coordinates because the game can simply infer the white boxes as duck 1 and duck 2. Very clever piece of technology! I could have worded this better but the idea is there.

  • @BleuSquid
    @BleuSquid5 ай бұрын

    I was a Sega kid, never had a Nintendo. The Sega Master System also had a gun which was only released in the West, called the Light Phaser. I'd always assumed it worked similar to the Nintendo version, but it appears not! I just found a reference that describes Sega's method. In short, it does math because it knows exactly what part of the screen is being drawn at any given time. This allowed the Light Phaser to have a higher accuracy than its Nintendo counterpart, although it was thrown off by some later CRTs that had unusual geometries (I found several users reporting issues with the Sony flat-screen Trinitrons, where the gun was consistently shooting to the right). To summarise what I've just read: When the trigger is pressed, the next frame will be a solid bright color (in Sega's version of Duck Hunt, "Safari Hunt", I believe the entire screen was painted the color of the sky for that one frame). When the scanline reaches the point visible to the gun, the hardware locks in the horizontal position (software would be too slow), and the software reads this value and together with the current scanline, it can determine an x,y coordinate, which allows the system to effectively map out a rough semi-circle of the view of the gun, and thus compute where the center of the circle would be. (I'll link my references in the next comment, since I expect they'll be held for moderation as links in comments often are)

  • @I.Lostalim
    @I.Lostalim5 ай бұрын

    As an Australian, I appreciate you having the more pleasing PAL version consoles there as opposed to those American bricks. Even our cartridges were a nicer shape 😆 My mate had Duck Hunt and that orange version of the Zapper. Decades later as an adult I had theories about how it worked, cool to actually see it in action.

  • @browaffle1268
    @browaffle12685 ай бұрын

    I grew up playing Duck Hunt as a kid. Really cool to see how it all worked 30+ years later. Thank you Gavin.

  • @BodomFox
    @BodomFox5 ай бұрын

    Gav, you just have lifted one of the heaviest loads off my shoulders. I've been wondering about how this thing worked for almost my entire life.

  • @themightyspudmurphy8

    @themightyspudmurphy8

    5 ай бұрын

    Yes I've been wondering how that works my whole life and now I no!

  • @peterwhitey4992

    @peterwhitey4992

    5 ай бұрын

    You could have googled it.

  • @CapStar362

    @CapStar362

    5 ай бұрын

    Smarter Everyday also covered this topic

  • @penguin44ca

    @penguin44ca

    5 ай бұрын

    Really? It's not hard to figure out

  • @jaymac1022

    @jaymac1022

    5 ай бұрын

    Same I actually wondered again the other day. Not enough to google it but a very convenient video to click on

  • @remlapgarage
    @remlapgarage5 ай бұрын

    More of these types of slow mo videos, please, these are so damn fascinating

  • @yemarican
    @yemarican5 ай бұрын

    This game was ahead of its time. Awesome days. Thank you for sharing this...really interesting.

  • @kriegschwert
    @kriegschwert5 ай бұрын

    Solid trigger discipline, even with a toy. Respect.

  • @BaltiSean
    @BaltiSean5 ай бұрын

    When you said “40 years ago” I realized how old I was. Amazing it’s been that long. My first console was the Atari 2600.

  • @Silent_Sounds
    @Silent_Sounds5 ай бұрын

    This is my favorite video you guys have done in a while. So fascinating

  • @jesse00pno
    @jesse00pno5 ай бұрын

    Born in 1982, played this tons! THANK YOU SO MUCH for demystifying this tech for me!!

  • @RohitSharma84
    @RohitSharma842 ай бұрын

    I was always curious about how it worked so when I ran across this video in my YT feed I just had to check it out! It was worth it! That's genius level of engineering with such simple components. Thank you for making this video!

  • @jong2359
    @jong23595 ай бұрын

    This video is absolutely insane. The sheer depth of perspective you can provide on CRT TV's and the NES Zapper by just simply showing us what our eyes can't.

  • @TheRealSkeletor

    @TheRealSkeletor

    5 ай бұрын

    Your eyes can, it's our brains which are much more limited.

  • @NotHereForLikes

    @NotHereForLikes

    5 ай бұрын

    @@TheRealSkeletorI mean, OPs brain probably but a couple of outstanding humans like us?! No shot! ;)

  • @Starfloofle

    @Starfloofle

    5 ай бұрын

    These videos really make me appreciate the utter marvel that is old technology. It's one thing what we have now, understanding that it's built on these foundations we laid so many years ago, but seeing the older stuff makes you understand just what phenomenal feats of engineering must have gone into making these ubiquitous things like electronic displays possible in the first place.

  • @dannygraves4997
    @dannygraves49975 ай бұрын

    Since you have SNES there already Gav... the Super Scope was a more complicated system, while using similar(ish) functionality; maybe do a high speed breakdown of that?

  • @Pauly421

    @Pauly421

    5 ай бұрын

    Is that some kind of sniper version? xD

  • @dannygraves4997

    @dannygraves4997

    5 ай бұрын

    @@Pauly421 Nope, just the (wireless) lightgun for the SNES. Or perhaps I should say light Canon, because honestly, it looks more like some kind of grenade/rocket launcher.

  • @Nicola_Bailey

    @Nicola_Bailey

    5 ай бұрын

    Yes my brother and I had the Super Scope, and as you say it looked like a rocket launcher. I've never seen the smaller zapper gun.

  • @Shoopity

    @Shoopity

    5 ай бұрын

    Definitely worth a slow-mo. I believe it worked by actually knowing exactly where the CRT beam was at the time the trigger was pushed.

  • @HuckelberryFriend
    @HuckelberryFriend4 ай бұрын

    Mind: blown. The simplicity yet genius behind this peripherial is amazing.

  • @KenoPotato01
    @KenoPotato015 ай бұрын

    this was a big question for me back more than 20yrs ago, thanks for giving answers to my curiosity back then!!!!

  • @ZeroSuitSamo
    @ZeroSuitSamo5 ай бұрын

    Very cool! The white box has been known by most gaming nerds for a while, but I never knew about the blank frame first. This actually explains the behavior some friends and I saw at a LAN party once. Someone brought an NES with Duck Hunt, and we all knew the gun was just looking for a white box. So I got out my iPod Touch and used the flashlight app (which was just a white screen and max brightness) and we just pulled the trigger looking at that. But it only worked once, and we didn't know why. I guess that one successful hit was just luck or a fluke.

  • @Pauly421
    @Pauly4215 ай бұрын

    You just answered a question I've been pondering since I was like 5! "How does it know where you're pointing???" Its so simple now that I understand... THE GUN ISNT PROJECTING ANY KIND OF MAGIC BEAM IT IS THE SENSOR! That's genius! 🤯🤯🤯Thank you Gav!

  • @GODDAMNLETMEJOIN

    @GODDAMNLETMEJOIN

    5 ай бұрын

    The way I heard it explained the first time was that actually the TV shoots the gun.

  • @Cindyo77

    @Cindyo77

    5 ай бұрын

    I thought it was some magical beam from the tv too. So mysterious

  • @suhail802

    @suhail802

    5 ай бұрын

    Same here Paully421. I never thought I would get the answer 30 years later in slow motion.

  • @Erkle64

    @Erkle64

    5 ай бұрын

    I remember reading something about later similar products detecting when the beam crossed the point it's looking at and using the timing to determine the hit pixel. That's why they required you to shoot the corners and center of the screen to calibrate them and the Zapper didn't. It also meant they didn't need to flash the screen.

  • @peterwhitey4992

    @peterwhitey4992

    5 ай бұрын

    Can't believe none of you ever googled it.

  • @patriotcanuck6485
    @patriotcanuck64855 ай бұрын

    Duck hunt was one of my favorites

  • @aurorathekitty7854
    @aurorathekitty78545 ай бұрын

    I got a Nintendo brand new for Christmas with Mario,duck hunt, and that track game with the pad you ran on. I wish I still had all that. I played that Nintendo until the first PlayStation came out.

  • @rashira9610
    @rashira96105 ай бұрын

    I already knew how the Zapper worked before hand, but seeing it in slow motion was definitely pretty neat!

  • @kevintyrrell7409

    @kevintyrrell7409

    5 ай бұрын

    @rashia9610 How does it know which duck you shot at in 2 duck mode? The lens sees white, but there are two white squares. There's no way for it to know which of the two you were pointing at.

  • @GODDAMNLETMEJOIN

    @GODDAMNLETMEJOIN

    5 ай бұрын

    He explained in the video, each duck gets its own frame.

  • @babbiification

    @babbiification

    5 ай бұрын

    I knew it was a light detection device rather than a light emitter, but I would never have imagined that the technology was this integrated, displaying the frame of the square because you pressed the trigger. The engineering of analog input solutions always seems crazy to me.

  • @RAHelllord

    @RAHelllord

    5 ай бұрын

    @@kevintyrrell7409 You'll notice that the two targets get their own frame, that's how the game determines which duck is being hit because only one of the two will be "seen" at once. If the gun doesn't see a white square during the first frame it knows the first target wasn't hit, and if the gun doesn't see a white square during the second frame it knows the second one wasn't hit either. If instead it sees one of the two target it can determine which one was hit based on the frame. In other games with more potential targets it's the same thing, the screen will show as many frames with a single square as there are targets on the screen. In some games that means up to 7 flashes every time the trigger is pulled.

  • @Dschonathan
    @Dschonathan5 ай бұрын

    I always knew that CRTs draw their frames line by line but i always thought they glow for longer, like in a way that half or 2/3 of the screen is illuminated at a time. It's crazy to realize a running CRT is 99% black at all times

  • @Dash323MJ

    @Dash323MJ

    5 ай бұрын

    The slow motion might be deceiving, because when filming in slow motion, the camera picks up way less light, meaning that although the slow motion camera can't see the line that was drawn 50 lines ago, your eyes might still be able to see it.

  • @noop9k

    @noop9k

    5 ай бұрын

    It depends on the phosphor. Monochrome PC monitors would have a much longer persistence, but for a regular TVs it's just about right and it actually helps to make motion smooth, unlike how LCDs blur any movement.

  • @nickwallette6201

    @nickwallette6201

    5 ай бұрын

    @@noop9k Yep - it really IS dependent on the phosphor. I always thought that some TVs flickered more back then, and years later I realized that was actually the case. It was a compromise between eye strain and detail, particularly temporal detail. You could have a TV that flickered less, but smeared movement more; or a TV with super clean motion, but more flicker.

  • @jnchacon
    @jnchacon2 ай бұрын

    Incredible. When I was a kid, and up til now, I was very intrigued about how it was done. Thank you!

  • @circuitnerd
    @circuitnerd4 ай бұрын

    I had a vague idea of how the zapper worked but not exactly. It really is an impressive piece of tech.

  • @Pi7on
    @Pi7on5 ай бұрын

    Til. I love how "old" technology was so simple and practical, and yet perfectly functional.

  • @Inertia888

    @Inertia888

    5 ай бұрын

    With all the power that we have now, I can only imagine, what sort of amazing things could be, if we were developing with such clever efficiency, as they were in the past…

  • @davidalexallen
    @davidalexallen5 ай бұрын

    My favorite part about this video is how ingrained gun safety is in you -- you kept your finger off the trigger, even of a video game gun!

  • @ThreeToesofFury
    @ThreeToesofFury5 ай бұрын

    brilliant! ive ALWAYS wondered how these systems worked with such old tech. thanks!!!

  • @yashargarrett1789
    @yashargarrett17895 ай бұрын

    I was always wondering about this. I started to think that it was a gimmick and worked randomly without any logic but gave you a feeling of working. Now I get it with your thoroughly illustration.

  • @jimbothesailor4217
    @jimbothesailor42175 ай бұрын

    I wondered about this for 30 years. Genuinely... This came up in my brain about once a month!

  • @mikakettunen7939
    @mikakettunen79395 ай бұрын

    ABSOLUTELY FASCINATING - I was total Duck Hunt maniac back in 80´s and also obsessed about how things work - thank you so much for this slo-mo retrospective! 🤟🤟🤟

  • @bvz9712
    @bvz9712Ай бұрын

    I remember using the grey zapper back in the 80’s and it was amazing and still is today! Thanks for the video 👍🏻

  • @namemycactus
    @namemycactus3 ай бұрын

    This is honestly so fascinating. I love this

  • @ouch1011
    @ouch10115 ай бұрын

    I really like these “how it works” style of video. There is so much technology that we take for granted that do amazing things in the blink of an eye

  • @ticklemetango
    @ticklemetango5 ай бұрын

    I'm always impressed by the process of collecting the footage and the editing too but this one takes the cake! Cheers for continually fascinating shots AND editing!!!🖤🖤

  • @_baller
    @_baller5 ай бұрын

    Really fascinating technology

  • @SparklySpencer
    @SparklySpencer5 ай бұрын

    This was one of my favorite games to play at the grandparents house

  • @CamoGuy76239
    @CamoGuy762395 ай бұрын

    Oh my God! My childhood has been completed! No more mysteries, no more questions, just complete understanding and a newly gained reverence for what seemed to be electronic magic! 🤯

  • @ExiledPalace
    @ExiledPalace5 ай бұрын

    Loving the trigger discipline from Gavin 😂😂

  • @JamesQMurphy

    @JamesQMurphy

    5 ай бұрын

    Dan's influence?

  • @GDI-disc-accepted
    @GDI-disc-accepted4 ай бұрын

    Been gaming since 86..started with a C64 then a master system...had every console ever since...i still play the snes and ps1 more than my PS5..miss those days

  • @Imaproshaman7
    @Imaproshaman75 ай бұрын

    I watched that first video of a TV in slow mo when it came out all those years ago. It's great to see a followup! it feels just like yesterday...

  • @capt_bry
    @capt_bry5 ай бұрын

    i always wondered how that worked. thank you so much. that really is a genius piece of engineering.

  • @tdiman46
    @tdiman465 ай бұрын

    this is the first time i've clicked on a video with gavin in it in years, and i just gotta say that i love that he hasn't changed a bit. still a wonderfully charming content creator. keep it up gav

  • @Kickinpony66
    @Kickinpony663 ай бұрын

    That was a beautiful display of how Raster Scan works! I learned raster scan when I was in Electronics School, in the US Navy. What we could only see in our heads, through classroom explanation, we can see in your video!

  • @lebronshoecollector2556
    @lebronshoecollector25565 ай бұрын

    This stuff is so amazing!! I live seeing how things from my childhood worked! Thank you

  • @sylance777
    @sylance7775 ай бұрын

    Thanks for the nostalgia! The hours I spent on this game as a kid.

  • @mons2639
    @mons2639Ай бұрын

    I was thinking about it few months ago, it’s was really advanced for its time. Thanks for the video.

  • @stevedrollinger9691
    @stevedrollinger96914 ай бұрын

    Absolutely fantastic! I always wondered how this worked.

  • @tommymclaughlin-artist
    @tommymclaughlin-artist5 ай бұрын

    Thank you for this, I've always wondered how the Zapper works, and you explained it in the most beautiful way possible.

  • @stevenjordan9497
    @stevenjordan94975 ай бұрын

    Those things had the most satisfying click.

  • @daarshg
    @daarshg3 ай бұрын

    looking at the tile i wondered how can the slow mo cam show us how this tech works , but I am beyond words after watching the video ! Amazing and simplistic tech for its time ! and thanks for making such informative videos !

  • @maquinaghost389
    @maquinaghost3895 ай бұрын

    Blew my mind. Sophisticated at the time

  • @topazboy333
    @topazboy3335 ай бұрын

    This is the coolest video you guys have done in years to me. I already knew how the zapper worked but it was still super cool to see in person

  • @raineylights
    @raineylights5 ай бұрын

    really impressed recently with how much content is being posted here. Almost one a week is very impressive considering you guys used to be once a month. Loving it all

  • @kainvs
    @kainvs5 ай бұрын

    If you aim right at the center of the TV, the duck will fall no matter what position it is in... I really liked that game, they gave it to me 33 years ago

  • @suomenpresidentti
    @suomenpresidentti2 ай бұрын

    I still have Nintendo 8-bit in excellent condition with accessories. Played duck hunt and Mario Lots with kids on last christmas. It it a gift from 80's that just keeps on giving. 😊

  • @CarlScripter
    @CarlScripter5 ай бұрын

    If you had a second CRT on a channel that wasn't broadcasting (static / snow) and shot at it, it was always a hit.

  • @gillesbisson199
    @gillesbisson1995 ай бұрын

    Would really love to see the droplets from an inkjet printer !!

  • @Abitgenius
    @Abitgenius4 ай бұрын

    Basically its a real world camera with unique ability, which paints white background around the subject after clicking but before capturing. Cool stuff

  • @oswith971
    @oswith9715 ай бұрын

    The trigger on the Zapper was so satisfying to press, no other light gun or gun controller I've used in general felt as good. It was so loud and tactile

  • @youtubeSuckssNow
    @youtubeSuckssNow5 ай бұрын

    This was such a unique video. I would love a series just slowing stuff from our every day lives down.

  • @henrysteven137
    @henrysteven1375 ай бұрын

    this is so cool, I love these types of slo mo videos

  • @pathakkkk
    @pathakkkk4 ай бұрын

    I saw this for the first time in 1999 and have been intrigued ever since. Thanks for clearing this up

  • @jedmcdonald4695
    @jedmcdonald46955 ай бұрын

    I was born in 84 and always wondered how this worked because it seemed so ahead of its time. Thank for this in depth explanation.

  • @jafethvanelten7898
    @jafethvanelten78985 ай бұрын

    Can I just say I really, really appreciate your trigger discipline, even with a fake gun. I practice trigger discipline on things like NERF guns and electric drills so it's really cool to see someone do that as well.

  • @idahomike

    @idahomike

    5 ай бұрын

    Maybe it's a bit odd, but out of the whole video I was most impressed with that, too. I find myself even using proper trigger discipline with garden spray bottles. It gets a bit excessive, sure, but it's nice to see when someone is following such a fundamental firearm safety principle so effectively.

  • @Starfloofle

    @Starfloofle

    5 ай бұрын

    Gav and Dan are really surprisingly responsible people despite seeming like a bunch of goons half the time.

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