The Sinden Lightgun is something that’s a rather unique and ambitious product. It’s a light gun that is designed to be used on modern displays.
Hardware:
The product uses a camera in the front of it in order to see what’s on the screen in combination with a software application.
The controller itself has four action buttons, trigger, pump action, and a d-pad, and this specific model also has recoil support. The recoil is achieved by using a rod and piston like configuration. When implemented through the software, the trigger is pulled which causes the piston to move the rod back and push it forward with a rather loud and satisfying click or thud sound.
The camera in the front of the controller uses full color to see what’s on the screen and processes the information in real time. Going from raw to processed, the trigger is pulled and it produces a blue square which tells the controller where it’s aimed and when the trigger is pulled to produce and capture the processed blue square on screen and registers as a shot fired in game.
Every button from the pump action, face buttons, d-pad, even the trigger can be mapped to whatever you want it to be, with the default setting on PC of it acting as a mouse.
The controller itself with the recoil has some pretty nice weight to it and it feels very nicely built as a result. It feels like a premium product for the premium price you’re paying.
The last thing I will say about the hardware is that it features a 16 foot USB-cable, yeah you read that correct, 16 feet of USB-cable. I found the reason for this is because the controller is designed to be used at a length of 10 feet way from the display you’re using. This is a considerable length away from the display, but that’s not to say it won’t work from a shorter distance.
Software:
The Sinden Lightgun uses software that you have to download directly from Sinden’s website, there is no software that comes packed with the controller. Once you download the software, you have terms to agree to as with most software, but then you can really dive into what the controller has to offer.
You can use it to configure and map all of the buttons, update the controller firmware, enable and adjust recoil setting, calibrate the controller, and configure a pedal accessory if you have happened to purchase one. The neat thing here is that with the pedal, it supports the configuration of not only the Sinden pedal, but any third party pedal you may have decided to purchase, which is a nice feature.
The last feature I want to talk about when it comes to the software is the border. So with the software you download, it allows you to adjust the border on your display. This border has to be set in order for the Sinden controller to function accurately. The good news here is that not only can you make a lot of adjustments to it like the width, color, and per game window settings.
So we have talked about the hardware and the software, but how does it feel to play with? Well it feels really good, provided you have enough space, what you plan on playing with it, and what platform you’re using it on.
It’s suggested that you play with it at at least 10 feet from your display, but I found that you can play alright with it at about 4-5 feet from the display as long as you’re willing to mess with and adjust settings accordingly. So unless you want to do a lot of adjusting of settings, make sure you have enough room to play with the controller at the suggested 10 feet of space between the gun and the display.
Yes, I’ve gotten the controller to work at about half the suggested distance but that was with tweaking and a lot of trial and error, I wouldn’t recommend it.
With that said, I did want to touch on what platforms the Sinden supports. It officially supports PlayStation 1, PlayStation 2, Raspberry Pi, Linux, and PC, with Android support being in beta.
PlayStation 1 and 2 require a bit of work to get working as well as additional materials, wiring, it’s quite the process to get it setup and I haven’t explored that as it’s well beyond what I am able to get up and running. I have tested and played with it using Windows and Batocera which is a distro of Linux that focuses on emulation.
I tried playing a few games like House of the Dead Remake but couldn’t get it to work due to my setup and the games requirements, but it is playable without Sinden. Other games I played were some stand-alone emulators which worked really well with the Sinden, though there is a bit to configuring each emulator in order to get it working relatively well.
The best experience I have had with the Sinden is using it with Batocera. It’s as easy as loading up a game, going into the menu and selecting the option to enable the Sinden. The border pops up and it just works. Regardless of the game you want to play with it, it’s so easy that it kinda surprised me a little.
Even with my experience and lack of being able to get original console support to work, Sinden does have a rather comprehensive and very well written Wiki to support any setup and configuration you may be going for or are curious about. You can find it with a simple Internet search.
In closing I want to say that I really enjoy the Sinden Lightgun and it really is a premium product that has had a lot of care and thought going into it. There are plans to make using it with consoles like the PlayStation 1 and 2 a lot easier and additional console support being looked at as well.
You can pick up your own Sinden Lightgun by going to www.sindenshop.com, pick your color, if you want one with recoil or not, and any additional accessories you might like to go along with it. Shipping is surprisingly fast and it comes in a nice little box with foam padding.
If you want an authentic arcade experience without shelling out big bucks for an actual arcade cab, pick up the Sinden Lightgun. I highly recommend this product for any fan of arcade gaming fan.
Disclaimer: We were provided a review unit
In addition to writing articles, Ryan Byers also creates content for his YouTube channel called "Obscure Games and Consoles", collects video games, and dabbles in video game development.