In 1984, Nintendo launched the NES gaming system along with many legendary titles. Among them, the game Duck Hunt, often referred to as the Duck Shooting game, contributed to a vibrant childhood for many. Nintendo also devised a very simple yet interesting mechanism to make us feel like we were actually shooting a gun.
First of all, the gun doesn’t shoot anything at all. In fact, it only contains a light sensor that allows the gun to detect the light emitted from the screen. If you pay attention, you will notice the screen flickers continuously when you pull the trigger. Because the flicker is so fast, you might not clearly see the positions of the ducks, which will be highlighted in white like in the image below:
To determine whether you hit or not, the gun will detect the light from the area of the screen that the sight is aimed at. If it “sees” the flickering of two colors, black and white, it will signal that you hit. If it flickers and still “sees” black, it means you missed.
In summary, the gun from the Duck Hunt game doesn’t emit any light, laser beams, or anything like that. It simply detects the flickering light on the screen and sends the information back to the NES.
This mechanism, although quite simple, still leaves us wondering about its “magical” nature, doesn’t it? I hope this article has provided you with some useful and interesting knowledge!
According to Gearvn