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The NES zapper doesn't work on LCD TVs, but my friend has a Samsung CRT HDTV and was wondering if it would work on that type of TV. Does anyone know?

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3 Answers

up vote 13 down vote accepted

The NES must do the following to "read" the zapper:

  1. Wait until next frame starts
  2. Make the screen black, except for a small area where a target is
  3. Read the zapper to see if it's detecting light
  4. Wait until next frame starts
  5. Make the screen completely black
  6. Read the zapper to see if it's not detecting light

If it detected light in both step 2 and 5, the zapper is not pointed at the TV set and the program should count it as a miss. However, if light was detected in step 2 but not step 5, then the program should count it as a hit. This is why the screen flickers in Duck Hunt, and the duck sprite is replaced with a solid white sprite for 1/60th of a second, when you pull the Zapper trigger.

TL;DR: It should work on any TV if the contrast and response time of the display are good enough.

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you say it should work on any TV, but in practice it only works on CRTs. (Definitely not on LCDs. I haven't tried on plasma or DLP, but I've heard that it doesn't work well on those either.) Is it because LCDs have too low of a response time, or too low of a contrast ratio? If it's the response time, I wonder if new 120Hz LCD TVs will work with it. – Kip Feb 24 '11 at 14:59
@Kip Both. Most LCD TVs have both too slow a response time (which is measured in ms and is not the same as refresh rate measured in Hz) and too low contrast (often the contrast rating is "relative contrast" instead of the more meaningful absolute contrast). – SevenSidedDie Jun 23 '11 at 15:27
Great answer, I've always wondered how the zapper worked. – Jerron Jun 23 '11 at 15:27
up vote 2 down vote

http://www.gamespot.com/pages/forums/show_msgs.php?topic_id=26384705.

I believe it only works on any CRT but take a look at this thread i've posted, hopefully it helps.

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up vote 2 down vote

Just adding on to ultrasawblade's answer, his method is correct in the hit/miss detection but it does not take into account of which duck you are aiming at if there are multiple ducks on the screen.

I'm going to c/p my answer from this question

To understand this part, you have to know about retrace lines.

Retrace lines only exist on CRT type displays that contain cathode ray tubes (typically three). Inside this tube sits an electron gun. To draw a picture, a electron gun shoots an electron beam that interacts with the phosphor coated screen to generate a RGB color. This electron beam sweeps across the screen both horizontally and vertically many times per frame, and the end result is the picture you see.

During this process, the NES or whatever system you have hooked up to your TV knows the exact position of the retrace, and it uses that information, as well as the hit/miss detection in the linked question to determine if you hit a particular duck on the screen.

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great answer. so does this mean lcd, dlp, and plasma displays will not work at all unless there is only one target on the screen? – Kip Jun 24 '11 at 3:43

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