PRGE News: 8-Bit Widgets Bringing Light Gun Gaming to Intellivision Consoles
While at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo last week, we came across a table with an interesting light gun setup that was somewhat bewildering at first, since there were four NES Zapper guns hooked up to an Intellivision console, with an odd version of Duck Hunt playing on the screen. As I talked to the folks manning the booth, I found out that this setup was indeed playing light gun games on an Intellivision console, something that was not possible before.
This was made possible thanks to the hardware that 8-Bit Widgets has built, called the IntyNES, which is a device that hooks into the cartridge port of the Intellivision which allows you to use NES and SNES controllers to play your Intellivision games, which includes using NES light guns. Their team has engineered this device and opened up lots more possibilities for owners of the classic console, allowing for many more control options, and opening up a whole new world of light gun gaming on the device.
Along with creating the device and the ability to use light guns, they’re also working together with IntellivisionCollector.com and an indie developer to publish several light gun games for Intellivision, and I got a chance to check out all four of the games that are currently in development. Three of the games are prototypes for now, showcasing the functionality of the hardware, but the hope is that they’ll all get full releases including box art and manuals, as shown in the picture shown above.
The four games in development are the Duck Hunt clone, Duck Hunter, a new game called Shooting Gallery that supports 4 players, a light gun port of Sega’s Bank Panic, and another new game called Zapperlords, which plays like a light gun version of Atari’s Warlords, and also supports 4 players. All the games were a lot of fun and the light gun functionality worked quite well, giving all that much more potential fun and reason to want the IntyNES and light gun functionality on the Intellivision.
Duck Hunter is set to release and ship by the end of 2025, and it’ll be available through IntellivisionCollector.com. They’re working now to figure out the logistics of how to set up a bundle where you can get an IntyNES, the game, and potentially an NES light gun in a package deal. For any light gun fans who still own an Intellivision, this is an awesome development that shows the power of fan communities in keeping old hardware and game genres alive.
Keep an eye out for more updates as we get closer to the release, and if you’d like to order an IntyNES for your console now, you can email 8bitwidgets@gmail.com or also keep an eye on their Etsy and eBay pages, where they’ll be able to be purchased in the near future.
