Light Guns

Through this page you will learn how to enable Light Gun input for games, and how to control them.

Enabling Light Gun Input for a System in Game Scanner

Simply click to enable the "Lightgun" option in the same place you can enable mouse or keyboard input in Game Scanner: Core Options. For most cores, that's it, you're done.

You should move your light gun games into a separate folder for that system, e.g. "Games\PS1 (Lightguns)", as all games under the folder will receive input as light gun games, and won't work with normal controls if they're common games. Enabling light gun input for common controller games will disable their input.

Device Code

You'll notice there's a "Device code" field under your "Lightgun" option, showing a number. That number defines the ID for which virtual controller the core will see, such as a gamepad, a mouse, or light guns. Each core can have their own different ID numbers to define which is which.

Since version 1.0.6, Game Scanner has an internal database with those default values for each core. When you enable "Lightgun" input, it will automatically select the default light gun device code for you. All the games under that folder will automatically use that input device in Retroarch, which means you don't need to mess with Retroarch's input settings to save core overrides/remaps anymore.

Some cores have multiple different light guns models. E.g. some PS1 games, like Time Crisis, will work only with the "Guncon" model, while others, like Area 51, will work only with the "Justifier" model, and each will have their own device code. You can choose it from the "Device code" drop down in Game Scanner, or manually type a new unknown ID in the field if needed.

TL;DR: If you see your light guns but can't shoot, try another device code from the dropdown.

Light Gun Supported Cores

Not all cores have light gun support. This is a list for which cores you need to choose for the systems you want to play with light guns.

Any cores not listed here will most likely not have light guns support.

System	Core
3DO	4DO
Arcade*	MAME (no year, just "MAME") FB Alpha 2012 (Any flavor) FinalBurn Neo
NES	FCEUmm
PlayStation	Beetle PSX Beetle PSX HW
Sega Master System	Genesis Plus GX
Sega Genesis	Genesis Plus GX
Sega CD	Genesis Plus GX
Sega Saturn	Beetle Saturn
Sega Dreamcast	Flycast
SNES	Snes9x (not 2010, no year, just "Snes9x") bsnes (Any flavor)

Arcade / MAME Games*

More often than not, 3D games can be glitchy in the MAME core. Usually your best course of action is to use a home console port of your arcade game instead, for better compatibility.

E.g. try playing House of the Dead 2 on Dreamcast (Flycast) instead of arcade (MAME).

How to Play

Starting

When you focus input into a game with light gun input enabled, your hands will turn into light guns. Just press the trigger to shoot! When detaching from the game, you'll see your hands again.

Handless

If you're playing with keyboard / mouse or controllers, your "nose" will be your gun, and you'll see a crosshair when gazing into a screen running a light gun enabled game. You'll automatically switch between "nose" and hand modes by pressing any respective button, even while already attached to a game.

Juggling Multiple Screens

If you have multiple TVs running light gun games, you can seamlessly shoot and switch between all of them if had focused input into any light gun game first. You can shoot a single screen with both hands, or any screen with any hand. Non light gun screens will be ignored when shooting.

Reload

There are games where you "reload" by shooting off screen, and you can just do that. Just be careful to not shoot another screen running a light gun game, or you'll shoot switch to it instead of registering an off-screen shot. With your keyboard / mouse / controller "nose" gun, you can still do that, but there's also a shortcut button for easier off-screen shooting (also easier on your neck).

Aux Buttons

Some games need auxiliary buttons on your light gun, such as pressing Select to add a coin, or Start to begin the game, or a button to take cover and reload in Time Crisis. Each hand holds all auxiliary buttons for that light gun, which means you can use them independently on each screen. The buttons will affect the latest screen you shot, for each hand. Check the button layout below.

Gunslinger

If you want to show off or just feel cool, press the Grip button with a flick of the wrist to spin your guns! If you just press it with no flick, the gun will just fall hanging on your finger with physics, and then you can spin it like that. You can even shoot while spinning, can you hit your targets like that?

Controls

If you're using Index Controllers or WMR Controllers, the Touch buttons below will be translated like this: Mapped Controls

Control	Touch	Vive	Gamepad	Keyboard / Mouse
Shoot	Trigger	Trigger	A / RT	Left Click / Space
Aux A	A / X	Trackpad [Down]	X	Z
Aux B	B / Y	Trackpad [Up]	B	X
Aux C	Analog [Up]	Menu Button	Y	A
Start	Analog [Right]	Trackpad [Right]	Start	Right Shift
Select	Analog [Left]	Trackpad [Left]	Select	Enter
Reload	Shoot off screen	Shoot off screen	LT or Shoot off screen	Left Shift or Shoot off screen
Spin	Grip Button	Grip Button
Detach	Press both Analog Sticks	Press both Menu Buttons (only in light gun mode, or else press both Grips)	Press both Analog Sticks	Ctrl + Space

Some games use light guns with Dpad buttons. This is still going to be implemented. If you really need to use a Dpad in a game, e.g. to select a game mode, you can use your controller Dpad or your keyboard arrows for the time being.