Articles tagged “Light Gun Commando”
Adding Xbox controller support to Light Gun Commando
After building a USB Guncon 2 adaptor for my Light Gun Commando project the Xbox seemed like it should be the next console to support as that also uses USB for its controllers. The xboxdevwiki seemed like a good starting point for information about its controller protocol. I wanted to be able to compare against real Xbox controllers too, so I bought an Xbox controller cable online and cut it in half so I could use the plug end to connect my circuit to the Xbox and the socket end to connect Xbox controllers to my PC.
Supporting Wii remote extension controllers in Light Gun Commando
Some light gun games, such as Resident Evil: Dead Aim, require the use of more conventional controller inputs along with pointing a gun at the screen and pulling a trigger. Some light guns have a d-pad in an easily accessible location on the back of the controller to allow for reasonably comfortable control of your character with a thumb, but the Wii remote's placement of the d-pad on the top and near the front makes it fairly awkward to use when held like a gun. Fortunately, there is an extension controller port on the bottom of the Wii remote that allows the connection of additional controllers such as the Nunchuck or Classic Controller that can be held separately from the gun or clipped onto the Wii remote's gun-shaped holder to bring the controls into a more easily-accessible location.
Classic Controller Electronics Light Gun Commando Light guns Nunchuck uDraw GameTablet Wii remote
Updating Light Gun Commando to ESP-IDF 5.0 and simulating a Guncon 2
I've continued working on the Light Gun Commando project that I hope to be able to use as a system for playing light gun games on old consoles with Wii remotes. The Wii remotes are connected to an ESP32 microcontroller using Bluetooth, and I had a few small issues with this arrangement, most obviously with a cheap third-party Wii remote that refused to pair. I had also encountered a few other quirks and oddities along the way, such as the timer capture's interrupt (used to measure the horizontal scanline period for timing purposes) crashing the whole system if it received too many pulses in a short while (e.g.
Electronics Guncon 2 Light Gun Commando Light guns Namco Sega Sega Dreamcast Sony Sony PlayStation 2
Light Gun Commando: LCD-compatible light gun support for original console hardware?
As the previous entries on this site might indicate, I do enjoy a good light gun game. Unfortunately, when it comes to playing them on home consoles you usually need to use a CRT television for the gun controllers to work. I have a CRT or two at my disposal but I'm well aware they won't last forever and they're not really the most convenient devices even when they are working at their best. Bearing this in mind I decided to try to find a way to get light guns working on LCD TVs. My experiments back in early 2015 – called DC-LiGuE, the "Dreamcast Light Gun Emulator" – never amounted to much.
Electronics Light Gun Commando Light guns Sega Sega Dreamcast Sega Mega Drive Sega Mega-CD Sega Saturn Sony PlayStation