Decipher the mysterious mechanism of action of the legendary 'duck shooting' gun

Players will use a laser gun called Zapper to hit the ducks flying on the screen. So, how does the gun know whether you aim or miss the duck?

Duck Hunt or more often called duck shooting game is a part of creating an intense childhood for many true gamers of the time 8x, 9x. To attract players, Nintendo has devised an extremely simple but interesting mechanism to help players feel like shooting a real gun.

Players will use a laser gun called Zapper to hit the ducks flying on the screen. So, how does the gun know whether you aim or miss the duck?

Picture 1 of Decipher the mysterious mechanism of action of the legendary 'duck shooting' gun

The answer is actually surprisingly simple, there is no miracle here. The 'old-fashioned' CRT monitor is a barrel TV that is unresponsive. The duckgun has a built-in light sensor that helps identify points on the TV screen that you are aiming for.

If you notice you will see when you pull the trigger, the TV screen will blink off continuously. Then, the position of the ducks will appear white cubes and that's where you will shoot. The light sensor inside the Zapper will recognize changes in light intensity (black and white). Analysis results will be sent to NES. If the player targets the white spot, it will give you a notification that you hit, if you hit the black spot, you have missed.

Picture 2 of Decipher the mysterious mechanism of action of the legendary 'duck shooting' gun

In the case of multiple goals, it will identify the first one. At that time, the frame rate was 60 frames per second, continuous screen flickers took only 1 frame, equivalent to about 0.016 seconds. The change only took place in the blink of an eye but the naked eye could still recognize it. However, that does not affect the player's gaming experience.

Update 25 January 2020
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