West Phaser gun

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  • Iurius
    Barbarian

    • janvier 2016
    • 341

    #1

    West Phaser gun

    Hi friends!
    I have an unusual question - about the lightgun called West Phaser, released in 1989 by Loriciel(s).
    I have finally got it in my collection - alongside the three other gun models for IBM PC. The Spanish, the American, and the Taiwanese ones. But the French one is definitely the rarest!

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ID : 			920527 Cliquez sur l'image pour la voir en taille réelle 

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    However, it is also the only one I can't get working..
    I have it unboxed, unfortunately, but the advertisements and the covers say it will NOT work on VGA/LCD/Plasma monitors. So, only CGA/EGA monitor is needed? I do not have one yet. But I wonder if there were no VGA monitors in France at the end ot 1989, when it was released, really?

    Maybe there are people here who have West Phaser or used to have one and know how it works!

    Only two games support it - "West Phaser" (the 1989 edition uses this gun only, and the 1992 re-edition "Steve McQueen's West Phaser" supports the keyboard, the mouse and the joystick as well) and "Crazy Shot" from 1990 (it also supports the keyboard and the mouse).

    Every game says to shoot at the center and then to hold the gun while it flashes - that test passes fine. But then it says to shoot the central square five times - and after the first shot, the screen goes white, and the game freezes

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ID : 			920524 Cliquez sur l'image pour la voir en taille réelle 

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    It connects to a serial port (RS232), and it needs only Port 1, so I had to use 25->9 pins adapter. The gun's connector does not look original - probably replaced by a previous owner.
    Only pins 3, 5, 7, 20 & 22 are used.

    Cliquez sur l'image pour la voir en taille réelle 

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    There is a programming manual and an example included with the "West Phaser" from 1989! Maybe a programmer could explain how it works and why CGA/EGA?
  • Hoagie
    Abandonwarriors


    • mars 2005
    • 4804

    #2
    Hi!
    It was also compatible with the Actionware games (P.O.W., Capone, Sideshow).
    VGA monitors were definitely available by the end of 1989 (cf the Amstrad PC 2286), but maybe they were a bit too expensive or not popular enough, French publishers were still focusing on EGA.

    Commentaire

    • barbarian_bros
      Evil is Good


      • octobre 2007
      • 9443

      #3
      Envoyé par Hoagie Voir le message
      Hi!
      It was also compatible with the Actionware games (P.O.W., Capone, Sideshow).
      VGA monitors were definitely available by the end of 1989 (cf the Amstrad PC 2286), but maybe they were a bit too expensive or not popular enough, French publishers were still focusing on EGA.
      Even more : 1989 was the first year most French publishers started to focus on EGA for the PC versions of their games. I/E : most 1988 games from Loriciels were CGA only.
      In France in the late 80's, VGA was a thing but only on the professional market. Home computing was mainly 8bits computers (Amstrad CPC, C64, Spectrum...) and 16/32bits computers (Commodore Amiga and Atari ST).
      "Do you know what "nemesis" means? A righteous infliction of retribution manifested by an appropriate agent. Personified in this case by an 'orrible cunt... me."
      Brick Top, Snatch, 2000

      Ma collection de jeux

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      • Iurius
        Barbarian

        • janvier 2016
        • 341

        #4
        Envoyé par Hoagie Voir le message
        It was also compatible with the Actionware games (P.O.W., Capone, Sideshow).
        Yes, there was an advertisement about that. But the available version of "Capone" does not support it, and there are no PC versions of "P.O.W." and "Sideshow", those were Amiga-only. It seems that Amiga monitors are closer to CGA/EGA in this regard?..

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