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In Nintendo's "Duck Hunt," how does the TV know when you've hit a duck?

straightdope.com — How exactly does the Nintendo game "know" where you are pointing the gun on the screen when you shoot ducks?!? Very mind-boggling!

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  • Aden, on 10/12/2007, -9/+135That was interesting but I be much more happier being able to shoot the dog when it laughs at me when I miss.
    • Raider8654, on 10/12/2007, -3/+44great game, good memories
    • AlwaysDuggDown, on 10/12/2007, -6/+175Because the duck dies
    • mblitch, on 10/12/2007, -3/+37It wasn't possible in the Nintendo game console version, but you could do so in one of the bonus rounds in the arcade version . IIRC, after being shot he would pop up on crutches.
    • retral, on 10/12/2007, -55/+10So the linked article is down (what's new? -.-) ...but I figured everyone knew how it works.. it flashes to a black background with a white spot - you guys can't tell when playing the game?
    • raindogmx, on 10/12/2007, -1/+19No really, the TV knows!
    • panique, on 10/12/2007, -1/+21It's a trick question. The TV never "knows", the game deck does.
    • jerrygofixit, on 10/12/2007, -4/+20Who cares, I just used to get real close to the TV and point the gun at the lower right hand corner and fire, works everytime :).
    • pvtjohndoe, on 10/12/2007, -0/+26When I was a kid I always wondered "Why the hell does the screen flash when I shoot?" so I took my Zapper apart. Ended up breaking it. Still didn't know how it worked.
    • Zippo, on 10/12/2007, -1/+41Put a magnifying glass in front of the Zapper... turns the Zapper into a bazooka.
    • yeahbuddy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5The Nintendo R.O.B was much better and cooler than duck hunt.

      For all you kids who weren't born then, here is a link to a comprehensive video:

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08VrKFl6vJ8&eurl=

      It works on the same premise as the Duck Hunt gun.

      They go for like $300 on feebay now. Wish I still had mine. It was awesome technology for the 80's!
    • DNABeast, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3I so hope we'll be able to import our Nintendogs to go hunting with us.
    • retral, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2I had/have one of those ROB's lying around somewhere, albeit some of the parts (gyros) are missing.
    • mightycbu, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2ok, that was some ancient news.
      for those who now feel the urge to dust off their NES and play duckhunt again, try this:

      remove the lens from the gun, now you can't miss!!!!!
    • nmaster64, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Everybody knows Nintendo systems run off the magic of the laughter of Japanese children...
    • raindogmx, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@yeahbuddy

      Grat video! I always wanted to see how R.O.B. worked. Now I know it was fun only topped by watching paint dry.
  • spookybathtub, on 10/12/2007, -10/+76I have always wondered about that. One of life's mysteries solved.
    • Raveren, on 10/12/2007, -17/+8I was asking this myself just yesterday!!! Great find!
    • sacherjj, on 10/12/2007, -3/+45Am I the only one that used a VCR to record the output of the Nintendo, then single framed the playback until I figured this out, almost 20 years ago?
    • thcobbs, on 10/12/2007, -24/+18@sacherjj

      Yes. Now, next stupid question.
    • chubbstar, on 10/12/2007, -21/+7comon now, was it really a mystery? i figured this out when i was six.
    • UGM2099, on 10/12/2007, -11/+4"comon now, was it really a mystery? i figured this out when i was six."

      Yeah it's not really, if you have a keen eye. I figured it out a few years ago when I dusted off the NES.
    • nepawoods, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8"comon now, was it really a mystery? i figured this out when i was six." ... "Yeah it's not really, if you have a keen eye. I figured it out a few years ago when I dusted off the NES."

      You don't even need the keen eye. Just think for a few seconds about how it can be made to work. Do people here actually wonder how it works, and give up before they have it figured out? It's not that difficult.
    • r3z0nate, on 10/12/2007, -1/+18Give me a break, all of you people saying you knew when you were six. You may have noticed what was happening on the screen but you didn't know anything about photodiodes or what was actually happening between the tv, gun and console.
    • chubbstar, on 10/12/2007, -12/+1actually. i did. six years olds arnt stupid, if anything theyll figure it out faster that adults who dont bother to ask.

      excpt for the photoiodes thing, not sure what yer talking about there. but i certainly did know that the ducks turned white, shot light into the gun, was read by the gun then fed back to the system for a hit.
    • ShrimpCrackers, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Well the first clue for me was that the gun never emitted any light, even when I turned the TV off and the room lights off, but kept the game running. Nor did my Captain Power XT-7 jet.

      It then occurred to me that maybe the gun was a camera of some sort because of the lens they had inside. I figured this out when I was 11.

      What helped was that I had a Captain Power playset with the XT-7 fighter jet (actually a light sensor/gun), and one of the "turbines?" wouldn't rack up points when I covered it. Plus the jet would rack up points in the afternoon no matter where I fired on the screen, because the sun would shine through the living room and reflect light. It was then it dawned on me that maybe the opposite occurred.
  • ngmcs8203, on 10/12/2007, -4/+37Their went my one piece of Video Game trivia that I could answer before my super nerd friends. Thanks for ruining it for me!
    • floridiot, on 10/12/2007, -1/+54Your life is in shambles now. Sorry.
  • virtualmachine, on 10/12/2007, -8/+23http://duggmirror.com
  • EbenieRosa, on 10/12/2007, -21/+5I know Diggs != Clicks
    • floridiot, on 10/12/2007, -18/+2Diggs != Clicks
    • Mythrilfan, on 10/12/2007, -21/+0seems so. But i do not see where the big mystery is. how can such a thing manage to get to the digg front page? it's like... newton's fourth law :)
    • EbenieRosa, on 10/12/2007, -10/+2More Like "Moore's Law"


      heh.
    • Misanthrope, on 10/12/2007, -4/+41Digg != Chicks?
    • dustedbunny, on 10/12/2007, -5/+20@Misanthrope

      Well. There is at least one of us digg chicks here.

      And I know a few others. We tend to stick together for our own safety.

      :)
    • guytoronto, on 10/12/2007, -8/+27!= < ≠
    • awhiteflame, on 10/12/2007, -21/+11int main()
      {
      int a = 1;
      if(a ≠ 1)
      return 1;
      return 0;
      }
      ...
      $ gcc test.c -o test
      test.c: In function `main':
      test.c:4: error: stray '\226' in program
      test.c:4: error: stray '\137' in program
      test.c:4: error: stray '\160' in program
      test.c:4: error: parse error before numeric constant
      ..
      Therefore, != > ≠.
    • stuartjmoore, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2a ≠ 1 would be setting a to the value of not 1. a != 1 is testing whether or not a is 1...
    • noamsml, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2There are programming languages that use ≠? Somehow, I doubt it, especially considering that ≠ is not part of the common keyboard. Usually they use !=, =! or !(a==b)
    • Shinta, on 10/12/2007, -6/+3First, there are no girls on the internets. Second, you aren't a chick. Sorry.
    • ryodoan, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Aww common, you are leaving Visual Studio .net of of this... it would be either...

      Not diggs = clicks Or diggs chicks

      hmm... it will not let me do the VS.net !=.. because it is less than greater than, looks like html.... < >
      As for aWhiteFlame, he was showing what a program written with the ASCII != would do... it would error.
  • EbenieRosa, on 10/12/2007, -12/+2Even Duggmirror didn't get a chance to chache this while it was up . :|
  • evilTak, on 10/12/2007, -12/+2...because it falls down dead.
  • ElGuano, on 10/12/2007, -4/+30Site is down. I assume when the screen "flashes" on pulling trigger, the duck sprite becomes a certain color or short pattern, and the gun is just a photosensor that can register that pattern (if it sees the pattern, then hit; if not, then miss)?
    • DIGGAGE, on 10/12/2007, -16/+2Sounds probably.
    • ayeroxor, on 10/12/2007, -2/+42I could always see it. The entire screen goes black except for a white square where the duck is. If the gun's optical sensor is fed the white light, it's registered as a hit.

      Not exactly string theory...
    • stealthboy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7It doesn't register the pattern; just the change from dark to light. The whole screen flashes black except for the shape of the duck, which is drawn white.
    • ElGuano, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4Ayeroxor - and if there are multiple ducks on screen, I assume different colors/pattern flashes are used to distinguish them? I guess simple logic prevails in the end.
    • dustedbunny, on 10/12/2007, -1/+14From the article:


      "Here's what happens. You shoot at a duck, which appears on an ordinary TV screen. The gun is connected to the game console; pressing the trigger blackens the screen, then causes a duck-shaped white target to appear momentarily. If your aim is true, a photo sensor in the gun detects the shift from dark to light, and bingo--dead duck. In short, the TV emits the light pulse and the gun detects it, not the other way around."


      :)
    • prockcore, on 10/12/2007, -8/+14Yeah, that's why you can cheat at duck hunt just by pointing the gun at a lightbulb. The gun will always see white, and will register a hit.

      That trick doesn't work with the superscope (see my comment below).
    • ElGuano, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8Pork: From the article: "The patent explains how the dark-to-light shift prevents you from cheating by pointing the gun at a steadily shining light source, a weakness of earlier light guns."

      Wish I still had my light gun to test this.

    • merreborn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10"Yeah, that's why you can cheat at duck hunt just by pointing the gun at a lightbulb. The gun will always see white, and will register a hit."

      No you can't. I tried that as a kid. Flashlights, everything. If you RTFA, it explains that that doesn't work, and links to the patent explaining why.
    • DelMonte, on 10/12/2007, -0/+19Ok the article is a little confusing, let me explain it so you can understand that you cannot cheat by pointing the Zapper to a light bulb.

      1. The players pulls the trigger.
      2. The screen becomes -completely- black. The program checks that the Zapper doesn't see any light at this precise moment. If it does, the shot is considered a miss.
      3. A white rectangle appears where the duck was. The program checks if the Zapper sees light. If it does, AND it didn't see light when the screen was blackened, it registers a hit.

      For two ducks, step 2 and 3 are repeated. That's why there wasn't more than 2 ducks at a time, since for 10 ducks it would have needed to flash the screen 10 times and probably induce epilepsy :)

      So no you cannot cheat by pointing the Zapper at a light source, since the program would detect light when the screen is black, and cancel your shot for cheating. The game could technically detect cheating as opposed to a missed shot, and it could have made the dog angry or something, but in Duck Hunt both resulted in a "miss!".

      This process was invented by Gunpei Yokoi (Metroid, Kid Icarus, UltraHand, GameBoy) He build the first Nintendo arcade machines, which were electro-mechanical games using two 8mm movie projectors, one with the animated cartoon characters, and the other with white targets on a black background. The game would turn off both projectors when shooting to check for cheating, then flash the targets projector for a brief moment, then back to the game projector.

      Gumshoe actually started as an electro-mechanical arcade game (ie not the one in Back to the Future II).

    • ayeroxor, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1elguano: "Ayeroxor - and if there are multiple ducks on screen, I assume different colors/pattern flashes are used to distinguish them? "

      While it all happens brilliantly fast for us mere mortals, each duck is only white for a fraction of a second, and not at the same time as any other. When you pull the trigger, the gun waits for all the ducks to "flash" and when it sees the flash it tells the console. The console knows that is was, e.g., duck number 2 that was flashing when the gun said "I SEE IT!"

    • DelMonte, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Ehm... just a little late correction to my post: When I said Gumshoe, I was talking about "Wild Gunman". The NES version of the game is rumored to be released for the Wii virtual console.
  • stinkypyper, on 10/12/2007, -5/+9Finally! I have waited and eternity for the answer to this question!
  • prockcore, on 10/12/2007, -3/+16The way the superscope works is way cooler. When you pull the trigger, the screen flashes to white. The gun tells the console exactly when the pixel it's pointed at goes white, and then the console checks the horizontal and vertical refresh counters and know which coordinates you are pointing at.
    • ayeroxor, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9This is, consequently, how light pens work. That is, if anyone remembers light pens...
    • ElGuano, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2Now that is clever engineering! An added bonus seems like the system would then be able to show you bullet-holes where you miss, which the Duck Hunt gun wouldn't.

      Wasn't this the selling point of the Sega Master System light gun? I assume it uses a similar system as the superscope.
    • DelMonte, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2No the Sega Master System light gun worked the same way as the Zapper.
    • EtherGnat, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1The disadvantage to the superscope system is it will not work with LCDs and similar displays.
  • shitforbrains, on 10/12/2007, -32/+4You are an idiot. Oh and guess what, when you go to the grocery store, the door "knows" that you were coming and opens the door. It's just like magic.
    • dustedbunny, on 10/12/2007, -4/+30I always thought the door at the grocery store opened automatically due to my aura of awesomeness...

      Damnit. :(
    • aurrea, on 10/12/2007, -14/+4How would the door open if it didn't "know" you were there? Lucky guess?
    • dustedbunny, on 10/12/2007, -7/+12@aurrea

      No no no...you don't understand....for those without the awesome aura like myself....if you say "Open Sesame!" and flail your arms up, the door will open magically!

      Works every time. try it!
    • underthelinux, on 10/12/2007, -3/+9Wow, when you're beautiful doors magically open for you!
    • ayeroxor, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4how would you know?
  • bpapa, on 10/12/2007, -0/+17I actually found this out about a year ago and wondered to myself at the time what the frick is wrong with me, why didn't I try to find out the answer 20 years ago?

    Oh yeah, no internet.
  • vonskippy, on 10/12/2007, -34/+5"Very mind-boggling!"

    If you're 5 years old.

    Wow, they do a little cmos light detection and the unwashed uneducated hoards think it's freaking MAGIC!
    • 6502programmer, on 10/12/2007, -2/+28@ vonskippy:
      "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Arthur C. Clarke
    • dustedbunny, on 10/12/2007, -1/+14vonskippy is angry because his belief that magic elves inside his television were the ones alerting that you just indeed shot a duck have just ben debunked.

      You poor thing. :(
    • SCraft, on 10/12/2007, -0/+17The "uneducated hoards"? It's spelled "hordes", genius.
    • Exhaust, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12"hoards" hahahahaha

      I love when someone makes a spelling or grammar mistake when ranting about how someone else is uneducated.

      Bet you feel like douche now...
  • KevinWhite, on 10/12/2007, -7/+2"pressing the trigger blackens the screen, then causes a duck-shaped white target to appear momentarily. If your aim is true, a photo sensor in the gun detects the shift from dark to light, and bingo--dead duck."
  • alienvenom, on 10/12/2007, -1/+13Might be worth pointing out that the light gun does not work with LCD monitors/TVs as LCDs don't handle the refresh rate like televisions do. Also, the gun has to be tuned to interpret PAL versus NTSC as its entirely dependent on the frequency of the television (50 Hz and 60 Hz).
    • DelMonte, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2"Also, the gun has to be tuned to interpret PAL versus NTSC as its entirely dependent on the frequency of the television (50 Hz and 60 Hz)."

      This is not true for the Zapper, as it doesn't depend on the synchronization with the scanning beam. It wont work well with an LCD though, because it has a greater persistence and some little delay and may leave an image when the screen is supposed to be black (to check for cheating).
    • alienvenom, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Actually, I know for a fact that my Zapper does not work with PAL monitors. Perhaps newer versions of the Zapper are better.
    • DelMonte, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Weird, the Zapper mainly contains a photo-sensor and a switch, it doesn't have to be tuned for a PAL TV, that was my main point.

      So you're saying you tried a US Zapper on a PAL NES? Did you use the PAL version of Duck-Hunt?

      I'll concede that the game may have to be tuned for a PAL TV, just like all NES and SNES games. But the parent poster was talking about tuning the gun.
  • Spacks, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1Like NGMCS said, that was one of the few bits of trivia I knew that most other people didn't know. I suppose thats good in the long run though, its fun knowing how stuff works.

    I'm still kind of curious though how the game deals with multiple ducks being on screen. I haven't been able to get the page to work (I'll check the duggmirror eventually), but if the answer is on their that'd be something I'd like to know.

    I can't believe its been 20~ years since the Nintendo--I was born the year it came out (right before the release), and for a long time I watched my dad play. After a while though, I became a duck hunt pro--I could easily press the gun to the screen and gun-sling away at those ducks ^_^.
    • Spacks, on 10/12/2007, -4/+3Actually, I found it on the secondary site linked in the article.
      [How Stuff Works. "How does the light gun for a video game work?" 2006. http://www.howstuffworks.com/question273.htm]
      "The computer blanks the screen and then paints the entire screen white. It takes time for the electron beam to trace the entire screen while painting it white. By comparing the signal coming from the photodiode with the horizontal and vertical retrace signals, the computer can detect where the electron beam is on the screen when the photodiode first senses its light. The computer counts the number of microseconds that pass between the time the horizontal and vertical retrace signals start and the time the photodiode first senses light. The number of microseconds tells the computer exactly where on the screen the gun is pointing. If the calculated position and the position of the target match, the computer scores a hit."

      Now thats pretty darn neat.
    • DelMonte, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Spacks

      That's neat but that's not how the Zapper worked on the NES. I'm pretty sure though that this is how the SuperScope worked.

      The circuitry necessary to be able to synchronize the program with the electron beam was too expensive in the NES days. The way the Zapper works is how it's described in the digg linked article.

      Note that this is why this more efficient method doesn't work with an LCD or Plasma TV, since the scanning method is different on those.
  • kuribo, on 10/12/2007, -2/+45For another piece of Duck Hunt trivia, did you know that while the duck is flying around, the regular NES controller can control the duck? Turns Duck Hunt into a two player (simultaneous) game. My mind was blown when I heard that maybe 5 or 6 years ago, and it still amazes me to this day.
    • skyshock21, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5So wait, the 2nd controller person can play as the duck? That rules!
    • EricAnderton, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9Fantastic.

      I've had that game for 16 years and I didn't know that! Sweet.
    • shortcircuit13, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8Whoa. I've gotta try that now.

      My girlfriend still has her NES with Duckhunt, but we've never even considered controlling the duck.

      To me, this is more awesome than the lightgun detection "blink", which I could always somehow see.
    • Punisher2K, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10Yes it is amazing. Mostly because that leetness was hidden in that freakin manual of all places! And by hidden I mean plainly written.
    • Azewaldo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I remember that. My bro & I would do that.
    • BIGmog, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Here's another bit of trivia. If you play Duck Hunt on a B&W TV, you can't miss. Everything will count as a hit.
  • stryker2you, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8I've never thought about this until now, but its my #1 concern.
  • habubu, on 10/12/2007, -11/+3If someone hasn't logically figured out how this works on their own, they probably can't read the web page that explains it i.e, my goldfish.
  • MartyMcFly713, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2hah, i've always wondered that.
  • jeylux, on 10/12/2007, -29/+5This was interesting technology....







    10 years ago.
    • dustedbunny, on 10/12/2007, -9/+29That was a very unnecessary....






      gap between the beginning and ending of your comment.
    • jeylux, on 10/12/2007, -9/+3it was for dramatic effect...

      whats the necessity of your comment to point out my innecessity to leave a space?
    • dustedbunny, on 10/12/2007, -12/+4it's my personal vendetta in life....





      to poke fun at you, jeylux.









      Sorry.
    • jeylux, on 10/12/2007, -8/+4is this considered digg flirting?






      because i just threw up a little bit in my mouth...
    • ifonly, on 10/12/2007, -5/+4asl???










      13/f/usa
    • AlThor880, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3*I put on my wizards cap and robe*
  • phimu227, on 10/12/2007, -8/+1because it's your dog
  • Asianwaste, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3I remember my friend had the perfect distance between the couch and the screen. All you had to do was point straight and shoot w/o aiming and you'd hit every time. That was cheating worse than putting the gun to the screen.
    I hope Wii has duckhunt for the wiimote.
    • RevHelix, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2How big was the TV?

      13 inch, 10 feet back, dark room... proverbial bazooka?
    • Sparkster185, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I'm pretty sure it's going to be released on the virtual console.
    • SkippyDoorknob, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1However it should be noted that the Wii Remote's pointer functionality is handled in a totally different way than the Zapper (and works with all TV types)
  • repruhsent, on 10/12/2007, -13/+2Some more straight dope for you:

    If you didn't know this, you're a moron.
  • raptorjb007, on 10/12/2007, -9/+0I always wondered why if I shot the first duck multiple times in rapid succession the others would also get shot. Oh well, there is always some sort of unintended "feature."
    • gyrfalcon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8They flash at different rates dumba$$.... Stop lying to be cool.
  • mechanisma22, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Now the Wii has gyro sensors or something so doesn't need a light sensor, but what is the sensor bar for? What iss more magic on the NES is how low level the programming was; they had to make a game from the chip and byte level, now its all made with 3D programs and C. I miss my super scope, especially that block game and the robot shooting game. It was the best thing ever in the 90's except using up 6 AA batteries.
    • DelMonte, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4The Wiimote has accelerometers that can detect movement and rotation, but they are not perfect at detecting absolute position and rotation. That's why the PS3 controller cannot be used as a pointer.

      So the Wiimote, in addition to accelerometers, has a new kind of pointing device. This is the part that uses the sensor bar.

      A little infra-red camera inside the Wiimote detects an image of the IR leds in the sensor bar, then calculate the position, presumably with a neural network process.
    • psylence, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1DelMonte: I loled... Lets play "find the information I added to make me sound smart" game!
    • DelMonte, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1psylence:

      I'm not sure what you mean? Could you be more specific?
    • DelMonte, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Oh I think I got it... You don't believe that the Wiimote contains an infra-red camera because IGN and Wikipedia didn't say so? You think I made that up to sound smart?

      I had first figured that out by myself yeah, but I wouldn't have stated that as a fact before I could find definite proof of it.

      Look at the video found in this page: http://www.engadget.com/2006/11/11/wii-setup-and-interface-walkthrough-video

      At around 7:00 in the video, the Wii shows on screen what's being seen by the Wiimote infrared camera, live. Unfortunately the Engadget guy is wrong when saying it's what's being seen by the sensor bar, it's the opposite, the Wiimote sees the sensor bar via its IR camera.

      The sensor bar shouldn't be even called a sensor bar, it only contains 2 IR LEDs that emits infra-red, it doesn't sense anything. This can be evidenced on some videos of the bar filmed in dark condition, where video cameras gets sensitive to infra-red light and showed the two IR LEDs.

      As for the neural net part, I wrote "presumably" to show it's speculation on my part. But it makes sense, it would be easier to train a neural net to correlate images of 2 LEDs with the position, than to try to make a program that does it and can cover almost all possible angles and conditions.
  • bbendele, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3I figured this out when I was around 6 years old. I pointed the gun at my Apple IIGS monitor when it was displaying some white onscreen, and the ducks started dying when I pulled the trigger. The only question I had was how it decided which duck or clay you were killing. Im guessing they turned white on alternate frames or they were different shades of white.
    • dotdan, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I'd be interested in knowing this, too.
    • seanmac, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3so the anti-cheat system in duck hunt is about as effective as VAC
  • greenrider, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Man, does anyone remember when the Straight Dope message boards were THE place to go for finding out the answers to all kinds of random or profound questions?

    This was in the days before they decided to try to charge people for accounts and before the rise of Meta Filter.
    • MyDarnSnakeLegs, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1I remember those days. I even used this screen name. I stopped paying when the community became violently opposed to any but the very very liberal. I still like Uncle Cecil though.
  • dfltr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3this question has bugged me for decades... but it was the kind of bother that didn't really result in taking the time to figure it out.

    thank you digg for solving mildly annoying childhood mysteries.
  • Ruffy, on 10/12/2007, -10/+2i've none the "mystery" of the lightgun since around the time I played the damn game.


    n00bs


    hell i think i learned it from Mister Wizards world

  • Nexus85, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3actually... I played duck hunt for about a year ago our at some peoples house... and I could easily see the screen flashing, and then it's this little square around where the duck was... so it's really not that hard figuring out how it works
    • GoatBnnn, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2I love the way this is 800+ diggs, when all it takes is a little attention to explain it to yourself.

      Some people just dont pay much attention I guess...
    • DelMonte, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1It wasn't hard to figure out that little white square would flash on the screen... but the anti-cheat system (first blackening the screen completely) wasn't.
    • DelMonte, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Let's fix that last part:

      "but the anti-cheat system (first blackening the screen completely) wasn't as easy to figure out."
  • moonwell, on 10/12/2007, -5/+3nintendo was a nerve killer stuff, I broke at least 5 joy and 1 machnine including this noob gun until this era ended :) The fact is I always know how this works, just because it's logic, I really sorry those ppl who don't have such a thing :)
    • slois50, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Grammar follows a logic as well. Stop patting yourself on the back.
  • TwinkieTheKid, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Ever shoot through a magnifing glass?
  • Punisher2K, on 10/12/2007, -6/+2Holy ***** welcome to 1980
  • GoatBnnn, on 10/12/2007, -7/+2You guys really didnt know that? I figgured that one out when I was 5!!

    Do you watch the games you play? You dont notice the giant black flash that just coincidentally happens every time you shoot?
  • spiritamx79, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2i would just shot the small ducks on the bottom of the screen
  • seanmac, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1So how does the superscope work?
  • Jack9, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1This is one of the interview questions I was posed once (they just kept asking me ones until I didn't know), then I had to reason out how to do it. I held the title "Troubleshooter" at Bizrate.
  • rowlodge, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0pre-Wii...and the old fashioned way to get er done.
  • yeahbuddy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Man, I remember playing with the Nintendo ROB. That thing was awesome. With the gyroscopes too! Classic. Wish I still had it...

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R.O.B.

    http://www.mobygames.com/game/gyromite/cover-art/gameCoverId,14581/

    Jeez!

    http://tinyurl.com/y8bko8
  • Wyek, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0The fun fact about that it's that the flashing impact effect when you hit the trigger give a little bit of realism, but it's with this flicker that the technology work... funny...
  • bobbygeorgina, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1I thought everyone already knew this.
  • oscill8, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2I'm confused. Is this article dugg so much because it was really such a mystery? Or because it's funny that people are so blown away by technology that was easy to figure out when we were 7 years old? No, I didnt know any specifics of photo-sensors when I was seven, but I saw a square flash on the duck and an "eye" on the end of the gun. 1+1. This does not represent genius on any of our parts. Lots of the comments are not very reassuring... so I hope most people are digging this because it's funny. It says not-so-great things about the demographic here if this is not the case.
    • psylence, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Congratulations, you're the 100th person in this thread to try to reassure themselves that they are in fact intelligent. Get over it!
    • DelMonte, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Like many others claiming to have figured it out by themselves, I bet you didn't figure out the anti-cheat system.
  • infinite411, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Makes me want to dust off the old orange gat and have a go at those flying bastards... I also hated the dog when he would laugh his ass of.
  • Pedlya, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I knew about this when I was like 9 o_o
  • Matty2Jay, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I was talking to a friend about this just the other day...how could someone not have modified the code somewhere on the net to make shooting the dog possible and releasing it as a rom? I mean, I know HOW someone could not have done it...you know what I mean!
  • rovertly, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1mind-boggling???
    more like BLOG SPAM!!!
    you should have linked directly to the howstuffworks article, *****!
  • royaltea, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Come to think of it. I remember pulling the trigger and the TV screen having a quick flash.
  • r3z0nate, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I love all of the people claiming they figured it out when they were six, then go on to state they didn't know anything about the photodiodes or what was actually happening, WHICH is what the article is about.
  • jamesvaughn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Based on this I should be able to make some serious duck soup after successful experimentation. I think I actually have all the equipment: NES, big red & gray plastic gun, Duck Hunt--all in working order, lamp, black and white sheets of paper, tv.
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