A mod on a classic retro gaming peripheral that is beaming (teehee) with cool.
Portsmouth Virginia’s North Street Lab are an inventive bunch of engineers with an offbeat, fun at all costs, mindset to match. Definitely, my kind of guys. Their latest gaming-related creation is a prime example of that spirit: a NES Zapper that actually shoots out a wall-melting laser from its barrel. Don’t try shooting your TV with this light-gun, kids!
Actually, don’t try shooting any living thing with this bad boy. For reals, yo. North Street Lab hacked a 2 WATT laser into the famous Nintendo-licensed peripheral, a beam 400 times more powerful than a regular laser pointer that can burn through objects, and even more dangerously, if you’re not responsible and wearing the proper safety glasses, could instantly take an eyeball out.
Knowing this hazard kind of dampens the overall coolness of this project – welp, there goes my perfect Captain N costume for Halloween I guess – but not the technical skillfulness that North Street Lab used in building it. First in taking apart the zapper, adapting all the necessary components (like a 445nm M140 diode, one high discharge lithium-polymer battery, and other items I can’t describe with my lack of know-how) to fit inside its brightly colored gun-shaped frame, and finally, assembly.
Doing all this, at least from what I saw looking through the highly detailed step-by-step guide that North Street Lab freely provides, is an elongated and exhausting process. No doubt. Although the end result surely in my mind is totally worth all the trouble in the name of awesome. Which, personally, is always a noble ambition in my book.
That being said, go ahead and take a gander at the NES Zapper laser gun in action as it takes down a poor helpless stick-person.
For more whacky contraptions that are full-on cray cray (in a good way of course!) check out North Street Lab’s website; they’ve got a lot of great stuff to see for anyone interested especially in engineering. As for whacky posts about the latest in geek, look no further than Walyou where we’ve got the latest gaming news – a round-up of excellent game trailers from Tokyo Game Show 2012 – and for the Jedi’s out there living on their own, a Star Wars cookbook.
