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The Super Scope, or '''Nintendo Scope''' in Europe , is the official Super Nintendo Light Gun . It was released in the Europe an and US markets, with a limited release in Japan due to a lack of consumer demand. It is a Wireless gun and uses an Infrared receiver which plugs into the right port of the console, comparable to the Menacer for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis . It has two action buttons, a pause button and a power switch and is powered by six AA Batteries . 1 The Super Scope does not work with NES Zapper games in conjunction with a SNES-to-NES converter such as a Super 8 . PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION The gun body is a Bazooka -shaped device, just under 2 ½ feet long. Located about midway on top of the barrel are two buttons, the purple "Fire" button and the pink "Pause" button, and a switch used to turn the Super Scope off or select regular or turbo mode. In the middle on either side are two clips for attaching the sight. On the far end of the gun, on the bottom, is a six inch grip with another button labeled "Cursor". On the end is the infrared transmitter and the lens, slightly larger than the size of a . The sensor is a small box, 2 ½" by 2 ½" by 1", with a standard SNES controller cord attached. On the front is an oval-shaped black area, receding back from the two sides to a red sensor about the size of a Dime . All of the Super Scope games made by Nintendo have a soft-reset to the game's main title. This is accomplished by pausing the game, then, while holding CURSOR, the FIRE button must be pressed twice. DETECTING A TARGET HIT The Super Scope makes use of the scanning process used in Cathode Ray Tube monitors, as CRTs were the only affordable TV monitors until the late 1990s . In short, the screen is drawn by a scanning Electron beam that travels horizontally across each line of the screen from top to bottom. A fast Photodiode will see any particular area of the screen illuminated only briefly as that point is scanned, while the Human Eye will see a consistent image due to Persistence Of Vision . The Super Scope takes advantage of this in a fairly simple manner: it simply outputs a '0' signal when it sees the television Raster Scan and a '1' signal when it does not. Inside the console this signal is delivered to the PPU, which notes which screen Pixel it is outputting at the moment the signal transitions from 1 to 0. At the end of the frame, the game software can retrieve this stored position to determine where on the screen the gun was aimed. All licensed Super Scope games include a calibration mode to account for both electrical delays and maladjustment of the Gunsight .2 The Super Scope ignores red light, as do many guns of this type, because red Phosphor s have a much slower rate of decay than green or blue phosphors. Since the Super Scope depends on the short persistence of CRT pixels, it will not function with modern displays (such as Plasma Screens or LCDs ) that continuously light each pixel. GAMES COMPATIBLE WITH THE SUPER SCOPE
CRITICISM The Super Scope was never very successful commercially. Critics blasted it as a bulky and cumbersome device that was difficult to use, especially in comparison to the lightweight NES Zapper . Consumers were also frustrated by the Super Scope's quick battery consumption. After four hours of continuous gameplay, the six AA batteries had to be replaced. In addition, the device was hurt by a lack of compatible software, although it is difficult to know whether a lack of software can be blamed for the Scope's unpopularity, or if the Scope's unpopularity simply scared off software developers. Due to the clunky design scheme, many players who played the Super Scopes for prolonged periods of time would sometimes suffer Eye Strain or nagging pain in the arms due to how the Scope is played. CAMEOS AND OTHER APPEARANCES The Super Scope has appeared in several video games and other media. Games
Other media
REFERENCES SEE ALSO
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