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

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  • čas přidán 15. 06. 2024
  • 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
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Komentáře • 3,2K

  • @jckatz
    @jckatz Před 6 měsíci +6695

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

    • @yourejustjelley
      @yourejustjelley Před 6 měsíci +104

      I second this

    • @thebeardofknowledge
      @thebeardofknowledge Před 6 měsíci +49

      This ⤴️

    • @kuzeyrl
      @kuzeyrl Před 6 měsíci +36

      i fourth this

    • @aesbj9228
      @aesbj9228 Před 6 měsíci +33

      Nth this

    • @FelkniaMusic
      @FelkniaMusic Před 6 měsíci +67

      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.

  • @mrspeeddemon727
    @mrspeeddemon727 Před 2 měsíci +71

    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
    @chadquigley227 Před 5 měsíci +225

    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 Před 2 měsíci +1

      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.

  • @fawstes
    @fawstes Před 4 měsíci +221

    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 Před 3 měsíci +2

      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 Před 3 měsíci +35

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

    • @UncleUncleRj
      @UncleUncleRj Před 3 měsíci +27

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

    • @johneygd
      @johneygd Před 3 měsíci +11

      @@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 Před 3 měsíci +2

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

  • @Wald246
    @Wald246 Před 6 měsíci +1027

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

    • @MrSkinnyWhale
      @MrSkinnyWhale Před 6 měsíci +160

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

    • @Watchyn_Yarwood
      @Watchyn_Yarwood Před 6 měsíci +16

      @@MrSkinnyWhale 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

    • @mllarson
      @mllarson Před 6 měsíci +6

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

    • @DutchBlackMantha
      @DutchBlackMantha Před 6 měsíci +3

      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 Před 6 měsíci +1

      @@MrSkinnyWhaleHahaha! 😂

  • @TheDaringPastry1313
    @TheDaringPastry1313 Před 6 měsíci +938

    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

  • @rsvp9146
    @rsvp9146 Před 3 měsíci +25

    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 Před 2 měsíci +4

      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 Před 2 měsíci

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

    • @ivan4087
      @ivan4087 Před 2 měsíci

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

  • @uroborous01
    @uroborous01 Před 6 měsíci +222

    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 Před 6 měsíci +13

      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.

  • @TDPEquinox
    @TDPEquinox Před 6 měsíci +1194

    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 Před 6 měsíci +68

      That makes sense. I was wondering how that worked.

    • @nekrugderzweite8298
      @nekrugderzweite8298 Před 6 měsíci +9

      As far as i know thats correct

    • @fe2k10
      @fe2k10 Před 6 měsíci +63

      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 Před 6 měsíci +17

      @@fe2k10 seems correct to me

    • @theslowmoguys
      @theslowmoguys  Před 6 měsíci +460

      Yeah makes total sense after seeing it in slow mo.

  • @yetinother
    @yetinother Před 6 měsíci +612

    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 Před 6 měsíci +143

      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 Před 6 měsíci +10

      LMAO !!! That is hilarious

    • @NoName-ik2du
      @NoName-ik2du Před 6 měsíci +31

      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 Před 6 měsíci

      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 Před 6 měsíci +15

      ​@@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.

  • @PotentialEn3rgy
    @PotentialEn3rgy Před 5 měsíci +12

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

  • @kilbabaplays8944
    @kilbabaplays8944 Před 5 měsíci +22

    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.

  • @westminsterabbey.6916
    @westminsterabbey.6916 Před 6 měsíci +587

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

  • @UselessDuckCompany
    @UselessDuckCompany Před 6 měsíci +294

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

  • @GunslingerAlGilead
    @GunslingerAlGilead Před 2 měsíci +2

    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!

  • @PixxelWizzard-dd5cr
    @PixxelWizzard-dd5cr Před měsícem +2

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

  • @MrAnimefan7
    @MrAnimefan7 Před 6 měsíci +589

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

    • @Doktor_Vem
      @Doktor_Vem Před 6 měsíci +43

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

    • @ColdPotato
      @ColdPotato Před 6 měsíci +39

      We put a man on the moon before iPhones.

    • @joergojschaefer3521
      @joergojschaefer3521 Před 6 měsíci +33

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

    • @timvangenechten5258
      @timvangenechten5258 Před 6 měsíci

      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 Před 6 měsíci +8

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

  • @IndyStry
    @IndyStry Před 6 měsíci +510

    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 Před 6 měsíci +9

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

    • @Jaspertine
      @Jaspertine Před 6 měsíci +15

      ​@@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 Před 6 měsíci +15

      @@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 Před 6 měsíci +5

      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 Před 6 měsíci +2

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

  • @austensperry4163
    @austensperry4163 Před 6 měsíci +24

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

  • @kriegschwert
    @kriegschwert Před 6 měsíci +4

    Solid trigger discipline, even with a toy. Respect.

  • @lightseeker1813
    @lightseeker1813 Před 6 měsíci +310

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

    • @confushisushi
      @confushisushi Před 6 měsíci +9

      I can still hear that dog lol

    • @kenwillis8487
      @kenwillis8487 Před 6 měsíci +2

      Same here!

    • @kenwillis8487
      @kenwillis8487 Před 6 měsíci +4

      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 Před 6 měsíci +2

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

    • @spike3082
      @spike3082 Před 6 měsíci +1

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

  • @TheLastArbiter
    @TheLastArbiter Před 6 měsíci +404

    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 Před 6 měsíci +9

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

    • @S.M.HassanShah
      @S.M.HassanShah Před 6 měsíci +3

      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 Před 6 měsíci +9

      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 Před 6 měsíci +1

      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 Před 6 měsíci +1

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

  • @MikaelMurstam
    @MikaelMurstam Před 5 měsíci +5

    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 Před 5 měsíci

      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.

  • @yemarican
    @yemarican Před 6 měsíci +1

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

  • @colinmacvicar2507
    @colinmacvicar2507 Před 6 měsíci +352

    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 Před 6 měsíci +6

      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 Před 6 měsíci +30

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

    • @fllthdcrb
      @fllthdcrb Před 6 měsíci +1

      @@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 Před 6 měsíci +6

      @@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 Před 6 měsíci +3

      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.

  • @pawnix4122
    @pawnix4122 Před 6 měsíci +198

    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.

  • @jesse00pno
    @jesse00pno Před 5 měsíci

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

  • @RohitSharma84
    @RohitSharma84 Před 3 měsíci

    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!

  • @LeeorVardi
    @LeeorVardi Před 6 měsíci +71

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

    • @user-bw6jg4ej2m
      @user-bw6jg4ej2m Před 6 měsíci +8

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

    • @danieldavis8607
      @danieldavis8607 Před 6 měsíci

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

  • @arfdinglare
    @arfdinglare Před 6 měsíci +90

    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 Před 6 měsíci +22

      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!

  • @joedirt5720
    @joedirt5720 Před 2 měsíci +1

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

  • @zakwest9063
    @zakwest9063 Před 22 dny

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

  • @tmaris
    @tmaris Před 6 měsíci +89

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

    • @TheGman0808
      @TheGman0808 Před 6 měsíci +1

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

  • @galfisk
    @galfisk Před 6 měsíci +58

    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 Před 6 měsíci

      That's a good one

    • @CorporateZombi
      @CorporateZombi Před 6 měsíci

      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.

  • @browaffle1268
    @browaffle1268 Před 6 měsíci +1

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

  • @I.Lostalim
    @I.Lostalim Před 5 měsíci +7

    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.

  • @PierceArner
    @PierceArner Před 6 měsíci +158

    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 Před 6 měsíci +3

      Zwuh-cruck was how mine sounded 🤷🏼‍♀️

    • @roberine7241
      @roberine7241 Před 6 měsíci +3

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

    • @nickwallette6201
      @nickwallette6201 Před 6 měsíci +2

      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.

  • @BaltiSean
    @BaltiSean Před 6 měsíci +13

    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.

  • @naveenraja7
    @naveenraja7 Před 6 měsíci +17

    Always wanted to know how that thing worked. And this was the exact video I've been looking for from someone who can accurately explain. Thanks so so much for the video. You guys are awesome.

  • @jnchacon
    @jnchacon Před 3 měsíci

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

  • @BodomFox
    @BodomFox Před 6 měsíci +71

    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 Před 6 měsíci +3

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

    • @peterwhitey4992
      @peterwhitey4992 Před 6 měsíci +4

      You could have googled it.

    • @CapStar362
      @CapStar362 Před 6 měsíci +2

      Smarter Everyday also covered this topic

    • @penguin44ca
      @penguin44ca Před 6 měsíci +1

      Really? It's not hard to figure out

    • @jaymac1022
      @jaymac1022 Před 6 měsíci

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

  • @remlapgarage
    @remlapgarage Před 6 měsíci +135

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

  • @ThreeToesofFury
    @ThreeToesofFury Před 6 měsíci

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

  • @KenoPotato01
    @KenoPotato01 Před 5 měsíci

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

  • @Silent_Sounds
    @Silent_Sounds Před 6 měsíci +187

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

  • @paytonfeery5898
    @paytonfeery5898 Před 6 měsíci +82

    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 Před 6 měsíci +1

      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.

  • @Spicygoats
    @Spicygoats Před 24 dny

    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.

  • @HuckelberryFriend
    @HuckelberryFriend Před 4 měsíci

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

  • @BleuSquid
    @BleuSquid Před 6 měsíci +9

    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)

  • @jong2359
    @jong2359 Před 6 měsíci +65

    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 Před 6 měsíci +3

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

    • @NotHereForLikes
      @NotHereForLikes Před 6 měsíci +2

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

    • @Starfloofle
      @Starfloofle Před 6 měsíci +1

      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.

  • @bvz9712
    @bvz9712 Před 2 měsíci

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

  • @daarshg
    @daarshg Před 3 měsíci

    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 !

  • @ZeroSuitSamo
    @ZeroSuitSamo Před 6 měsíci +18

    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.

  • @rashira9610
    @rashira9610 Před 6 měsíci +81

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

    • @kevintyrrell7409
      @kevintyrrell7409 Před 6 měsíci +1

      @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 Před 6 měsíci +6

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

    • @babbiification
      @babbiification Před 6 měsíci +1

      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 Před 6 měsíci +1

      @@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.

  • @herq2409
    @herq2409 Před 5 měsíci

    I always wondered. Thanks for such a good explanation! All genius ideas have an inherent simplicity that solves a complex problem. Awesome!

  • @AppaTalks
    @AppaTalks Před 3 měsíci +1

    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.

  • @dannygraves4997
    @dannygraves4997 Před 6 měsíci +31

    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 Před 6 měsíci

      Is that some kind of sniper version? xD

    • @dannygraves4997
      @dannygraves4997 Před 6 měsíci

      @@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 Před 6 měsíci +1

      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 Před 6 měsíci +2

      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.

  • @Pauly421
    @Pauly421 Před 6 měsíci +34

    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 Před 6 měsíci +7

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

    • @Cindyo77
      @Cindyo77 Před 6 měsíci +1

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

    • @suhail802
      @suhail802 Před 6 měsíci +2

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

    • @Erkle64
      @Erkle64 Před 6 měsíci +1

      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 Před 6 měsíci +1

      Can't believe none of you ever googled it.

  • @andrewhonn
    @andrewhonn Před měsícem

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

  • @Pi7on
    @Pi7on Před 6 měsíci +4

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

    • @Inertia888
      @Inertia888 Před 6 měsíci +1

      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…

  • @jimbothesailor4217
    @jimbothesailor4217 Před 6 měsíci +14

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

  • @dustinwhitesell4860
    @dustinwhitesell4860 Před 6 měsíci

    That was one of the coolest and most relaxing videos I’ve ever watched

  • @suomenpresidentti
    @suomenpresidentti Před 2 měsíci

    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. 😊

  • @Dschonathan
    @Dschonathan Před 6 měsíci +14

    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 Před 6 měsíci +2

      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 Před 6 měsíci +1

      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 Před 6 měsíci +1

      @@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.

  • @mikakettunen7939
    @mikakettunen7939 Před 6 měsíci +16

    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! 🤟🤟🤟

  • @hrishikeshpatil6962
    @hrishikeshpatil6962 Před 6 měsíci

    Good memories with this game. And to learn now how it worked, it is simply genius!!

  • @GDI-disc-accepted
    @GDI-disc-accepted Před 5 měsíci +1

    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

  • @ticklemetango
    @ticklemetango Před 6 měsíci +27

    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!!!🖤🖤

  • @davidalexallen
    @davidalexallen Před 6 měsíci +15

    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!

  • @maquinaghost389
    @maquinaghost389 Před 5 měsíci

    Blew my mind. Sophisticated at the time

  • @Kickinpony66
    @Kickinpony66 Před 4 měsíci

    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!

  • @ouch1011
    @ouch1011 Před 6 měsíci +5

    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

  • @lebronshoecollector2556
    @lebronshoecollector2556 Před 6 měsíci +20

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

  • @stevedrollinger9691
    @stevedrollinger9691 Před 4 měsíci

    Absolutely fantastic! I always wondered how this worked.

  • @pm12321
    @pm12321 Před 5 měsíci

    Super interesting and very well explained 👏. You're so right that it's a remarkable device, and it's kind of mind-blowing that 40 years ago, this genius invention was compatible with most if not all TVs, without a receiver or transmitter on the TV. Very cool.

  • @capt_bry
    @capt_bry Před 6 měsíci +17

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

  • @tommymclaughlin-artist
    @tommymclaughlin-artist Před 6 měsíci +4

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

  • @gabevdm
    @gabevdm Před 5 měsíci

    Thank you! This was pure magic! Always wanted to know how this works. And that in the eighties.

  • @yashargarrett1789
    @yashargarrett1789 Před 6 měsíci

    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.

  • @sylance777
    @sylance777 Před 6 měsíci +6

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

  • @tdiman46
    @tdiman46 Před 6 měsíci +4

    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

  • @segretoesconociusto
    @segretoesconociusto Před 5 měsíci

    You have just answered one question from my childhood. Thank you!

  • @oswith971
    @oswith971 Před 5 měsíci

    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

  • @CamoGuy76239
    @CamoGuy76239 Před 6 měsíci +9

    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! 🤯

  • @topazboy333
    @topazboy333 Před 6 měsíci +5

    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

  • @wjhung2
    @wjhung2 Před 5 měsíci +3

    Wow. I always wondered how that worked. That was fascinating. Thank you!

  • @dog_solitude
    @dog_solitude Před měsícem +1

    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 😂

  • @BoomstickGaming
    @BoomstickGaming Před 6 měsíci +36

    Shout-out to that clay shooting bonus mode in Duck Hunt!
    (clay disc totally should have been the one added to Smash)

    • @GODDAMNLETMEJOIN
      @GODDAMNLETMEJOIN Před 6 měsíci +1

      Clay pigeon is my favorite projectile in the series

    • @TheRealSkeletor
      @TheRealSkeletor Před 6 měsíci

      You actually can shoot the clay discs in Smash Brothers.

  • @youtubeSuckssNow
    @youtubeSuckssNow Před 6 měsíci +6

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

  • @stufflistings
    @stufflistings Před 2 měsíci

    Wow. Such an incredible video.
    Have spent countless hours playing this game with my parents and family members. Back then, we used to be super amazed at the "tech" Nintendo pulled off. Your video made me feel real old and nostalgic at the same time ❤

  • @valve0radio
    @valve0radio Před 6 měsíci

    Aaabbsolutely Ammaazing old tech. Your demo/ explanation & lesson thanks! I had always wondered how a standard TV could be used !

  • @raineylights
    @raineylights Před 6 měsíci +3

    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

  • @ExiledPalace
    @ExiledPalace Před 6 měsíci +12

    Loving the trigger discipline from Gavin 😂😂

  • @bartvanleeuwen3842
    @bartvanleeuwen3842 Před 6 měsíci

    That was an awesome video!! Always wondered how it worked. Mind is at peace now.

  • @Imaproshaman7
    @Imaproshaman7 Před 6 měsíci

    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...

  • @stevenjordan9497
    @stevenjordan9497 Před 6 měsíci +4

    Those things had the most satisfying click.

  • @CarlScripter
    @CarlScripter Před 6 měsíci +7

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

  • @pathakkkk
    @pathakkkk Před 5 měsíci

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

  • @scotttaxdal5297
    @scotttaxdal5297 Před 6 měsíci +1

    So that's how it works! I always wondered about that. Thanks for sharing this with us!

  • @henrysteven137
    @henrysteven137 Před 6 měsíci +8

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