AV Guides, Console Guides, Howto & Guides
Lightguns and HDMI mods – GunCon 1 Edition
This article is a small update to our “Light Guns and HDMI Mods” article that we published back in 2022. Back then, there was no pass-through mode for the PS1 digital upgrade. That has now changed and pass-through modes are now available, allowing for direct 240p/288p output via HDMI, so it’s time to dust off our GunCon’s!
The Namco G-con 45 (known as GunCon NPC-103 in other countries) is one of the best loved old-school light guns. The reason for this is its extreme accuracy and lack of jitter. The G-con uses an extra wire that connects directly to the consoles composite video output. The result is silky smooth and accurate aiming, easily as steady as a Nintendo Wiimote, for instance and even faster to respond than the venerable waggle sticks from the Wii.
Why use HDMI out with a light gun?
Using a GunCon through a HDMI mod still requires a classic, 15khz compatible CRT television or monitor. Since virtually no consumer CRTs ever had HDMI inputs, why go to the trouble of using converters and using the HDMI out with a light gun, when the consoles analogue port is still available? The reasons are picture quality, audio quality and (possibly) convenience.
By routing your consoles signal through a HDMI cable, you get a pure digital to digital signal for both the audio and video. This signal is completely noise free, no ultra high end pure insulated mega plated super shielded audiophile grade analogue cable could ever compete with even a basic HDMI cable. You can route the digital audio signal to an amplifier or receiver for noise free audio that even the most ultra premium high end SCART cable could never deliver. Likewise if you place your DAC just before the CRT, minimising analogue video cable length as much as possible, you get the best possible picture quality.
The final point, convenience, really depends on your setup. Analogue cables can be bulky, particularly those that carry video and audio separately. By contrast, HDMI cables are much more compact and in gaming setups with huge amounts of cables, every little helps.
Yes but does it work?
The short answer to that question is yes, however for the PlayStation there are some caveats, so don’t throw your analogue video cable out just yet.
Perhaps the biggest stumbling block is that you must use DV1-Direct mode on the PS1 Digital/RetroGEM. To activate this mode, open the RetroGEM menu (L1+R1+Dpad Right+Circle) then navigate to Video->Direct mode and choose “DV1-Direct mode”. If you don’t see this setting, you will need to navigate to “System” and then look in “PS1Digital Settings”. Make sure “Show DV1 Direct mode” is set to “on”.
Unfortunately, it seems that many digital to analogue converters simply cannot handle the jitter inherent in the raw video signal from the PS1. In our testing both the HD Fury 2 and the HD Fury Nano would handle the signal, but the HD Fury 3 would not. Most scalers cannot handle this signal either, which is why PixelFX hide this option by default. Our tests have shown that DV1-Direct mode is necessary for accurate light gun use. DV1-Passthru mode almost works, but sometimes aiming would drift or lose tracking towards the edges of the screen.
Did you switch to DV1-Direct mode and now can’t see an image on your display in order to switch back again?, do not panic! All you need to do is reset your PS1 console and allow it to boot to the memory card manager (in other words boot it with the lid open). The console will display in 480i or 576i interlace on this screen, without any signal jitter, allowing you to change the output mode back again.
If you have a compatible DAC, the only other thing you need is a GunCon adapter. The yellow wire from the Guncon must attach to video out on this adapter. Namco bundled the official SCPH-1160 adapter with some GunCon units and this is what we used for the test. All this adapter is doing is breaking out composite video, so we’ve no reason to doubt that third party adapters would work just as well.
Back to the shooter
With the setup finalised it is time to gear up and test some games. For testing we used the following hardware:-
- Sony PlayStation SCPH-5552 (PAL) with RetroGEM Basic and xStation ODE
- 2 x genuine Namco G-Con units connected with extension cables (note that extension cables do not work with the Justifier light gun, but they work just fine with the GunCon/G-Con)
- HD Fury Nano Digital to Analogue converter
- Mitsubishi Megaview XC-3730C multisync CRT monitor
Our beloved Mitsubishi Megaview XC-3730C CRT is great for lightguns as it has full picture position controls built in. Even the GunCon has issues hitting the corners of a CRT screen, but with this display you can simply under-scan the picture slightly to compensate, making a super accurate light gun even more accurate.
There are a number of really great GunCon compatible games on the PS1, here are some that we tested.
Point Blank (US NTSC version) – The classic arcade target shooting game ran perfectly in this setup. The guns calibrated easily and aiming was precise throughout our multiple play sessions. A super fun light gun game suitable for all ages. The two sequels also on the PlayStation are much of the same, which is no bad thing.
Ghoul Panic (PAL version) – This game is similar to point blank but casts you as a furry trying to defeat a witch in a haunted house so that you can turn back into a human. This game seemed to have some minor issues with calibration, it took a few tries before it registered the light gun but, once it did, we didn’t notice any issues during several hours of gameplay.
The English version of this game is a PAL exclusive and looks to be a rushed port of the Japanese version (graphics in some places are simply chopped off instead of being resized, for instance). While its not as good as Point Blank, it’s still a fun little game and well worth playing.
Crypt Killer (US NTSC version – GunCon hack) – The GunCon patch of Crypt Killer didn’t work reliably, every so often it would act as if the gun was off screen even when it was pointing to the screen. We tried this game using an analogue cable and the issues persisted here too, so this issue is NOT due to the HDMI mod. This is a hack, rather than an official release, so maybe it simply doesn’t like the Megaview CRT we were using, or it simply needs more testing/fine tuning.
Die Hard Trilogy (Die Hard 2) (US NTSC version – GunCon Hack) – The Die Hard Trilogy GunCon patch worked perfectly, apart from it being impossible to enter our initials in the high score table at the end of a game. This is a brilliant PS1 shooter that is only enhanced by the extremely accurate GunCon.
What about PlayStation 2?
The PlayStation 2 also got it’s own version of the GunCon called, unimaginatively, the GunCon 2. Since a HDMI mod now exists for the PS2 as well, we plan on looking at the GunCon 2 in a separate article.
Looking to get your PlayStation HDMI modded?
We supply both DIY fit RetoGEM kits and offer a professional fitting service, making it super easy to get your classic consoles upgraded. Nothing beats the original hardware for the authentic experience, especially when using retro controllers like light guns!
