Bringing Back Classic Arcade Shooters with Retro Shooter
I met with Derek Dickson from Retro Shooter at the GDC Play area to test out his lightguns, specifically his new model the Reaper. When I got to his booth, there was a light crowd watching as a few people took turns using the lightguns to shoot a few targets on screen. I noticed that the game being played wasn’t a shooter game I’d seen before.
The booth was showcasing one of the games, named Grand Shooter, created by an indie developer specifically for their Retro Shooter console. Grand Shooter isn’t currently released but there is a demo on Steam that you can download and play for yourself now.
I sat down with Derek to chat about our favorite retro games, why he decided to make these specialized lightguns, and what he hopes to achieve with his company.
Stella: Tell me about your company, Retro Shooter.
Derek: Yeah, Retro Shooter is our brand. We build light guns and we're working with indie developers to build new light gun games. We've been selling light guns for just over two years now. We started with a small, simple gun and now we've had a submachine gun and a more arcade style light gun is what we've just come out with.
So our first gun that we developed is a little bit lighter than our Reapers and the kids really like that because they can play for a lot longer without their shoulders getting sore. The older generation, they love playing with the Reapers because it's got more of an arcade feel to it. But yeah, kids love it because there's nothing like it and they never grew up with it. We had the Zapper and we had the Super Scope from Super Nintendo.
So we had that and it was really cool tech and the younger kids and the younger generation, even like 20 year olds, they're like, wow, I can't believe that this even works. They've heard about it, oh my gosh, Duck Hunt was a thing, but they've never been able to play it at home because nobody has a CRT TV anymore. Who's going to store a TV that's a Jumbotron?
So yeah, with the ability to play on smaller screens, we can actually use projectors as well. So we've had somebody play on a golf simulator. They set it up in their bar and they had an 8x8 screen that they were playing on. So yeah, it's really interesting who started playing it.
Stella: So how does it work at home? How do you get this to react to the guns?
Derek: So we have an IR camera inside the muzzle of our gun and it reads, there's four IR emitters on the screen and when you first power on the gun, you calibrate the gun to the screen. That's all you really have to do. After that, it works as a mouse and keyboard or a joystick in certain emulators and on our console, it's just plug and play.
That's how they work on the modern screens. So you do need the four IR sensors around the screen. But you can play in 4-3 mode. I know that the classic guys really want to play 4-3. So you can change the calibration on the fly if you're going from a game that was originally built in 4:3 to 16:9.
Stella: This is obviously very cool tech that people haven't been able to have at home. So tell me, what was the inspiration behind creating these guns?
Derek: Yeah, well it's been decades since we've been able to play light guns at home. I remember as a kid being able to play Duck Hunt and having to go to the arcade and dropping so much money on quarters. So to be able to do that at home with your kids and with your family and friends, that's the experience we wanted to bring back.
Stella: I see this SMG gun. Is this one of your newer ones?
Derek: This is actually our second model. We ran a limited run of those guns for our audience. We never advertised it. We just pushed it out to our audience and our client base for fun. It was really taken very well. So we're looking at possibly building another one or a pump shotgun or something of that sort in the future. More guns to come. The pump shotgun would be really cool. I feel like that tactile feeling would be really great.
Stella: Are there any retro shooters that do work with your guns here?
Derek: Right now we have one indie developer that's built a game for our guns. We've built some games in-house and we're, like I said, looking for more developers to build more light gun games. We have an audience that wants gun games because they haven't had that for over a decade. And we're doing a contest for new games for next GDC. The game that wins the contest is going to be on the display booth for the next GDC.
Stella: Is that what you did for this one or no?
Derek: No. There's an interesting story for this guy. He's from Brazil and he saw our light guns being demoed on a YouTube video. And he reached out to us because we don't ship to South America. And he said, hey, I can't get the guns, but they'd be perfect for my light gun game. And so we made an exception and sent him a kit. And then he wrote me back, this works perfect. And he wanted to come to GDC and I said, wow, let's do it. So that's really how we got together.
Stella: Is there any thought of talking to other developers who may have had arcade games to try and bring that to a modern age with your consoles?
Derek: Yeah, absolutely. There's been some remakes of House of the Dead. There was one that was just released, which it's too bad they didn't offer light gun support for it. Sowe're going to knock on their door, maybe kick it down and tell them that we've got some awesome light guns that people would love to play their game with. Light guns that people would love to play their game with. There's obviously Virtua Cop that we would love to remake as well, and possibly license other classics.
Stella: What are some of the railgun shooters that you've played as a kid that kind of made you want this kit at home?
Derek: Oh my gosh, there were so many. I mean, obviously the first one would have been Duck Hunt, because that was my age group. And then a lot of, not so much at home. My mom was kind of against video games, so we were kicked outside to play all the time. But I would be at the arcade playing: Silent Scope was probably my favorite, and then, you know, House of the Dead, Carnival. Just the classics that were all over the place. That's what we could play.
Stella: House of the Dead is definitely the right answer. I love that one. Where can people find out more about this product?
Derek: If you're interested in knowing about developing for the product, that would be on our website. And then if you're interested in purchasing, once again on our website at RetroShooter.com.
You can follow all the latest updates on Retro Shooter right here at this link: https://retroshooter.com/
