After years in the technological wilderness, light gun games are making a long-overdue comeback.
In what feels like a relatively short space of time, we've seen the Sinden, Polymega GC01 and Gun4ir hit the market, and now we can also add the G’AIM’E light gun to that list. Produced by Japanese peripheral maker Tassei Denki under its G’AIM’E light gun-focused sub-brand ('Aim' – get it?), the big difference with this particular approach is that it reportedly leverages the flavour of the month – AI – to produce accurate results in a post-CRT world.
While there were some who cast aspersions on this venture when it was first announced, the G’AIM’E has some serious pedigree behind it. Tassei Denki produces a staggering number of accessories in an OEM capacity and is arguably one of the world's most successful 'unknown' hardware makers; there's a good chance you already own a gaming controller made by the company without knowing it.
Tassei Denki came up with the G’AIM’E in the initial hope that it could partner with a console maker, but, having also contacted industry veteran Bandai Namco, struck upon a partnership which has proven to be quite profitable – the G’AIM’E currently sits at over £565,000 on Kickstarter.
It seems that Bandai Namco wasn't content to simply license its games for the G’AIM’E, which comes pre-loaded with a specially-developed port of the original arcade version of Time Crisis, as well as Point Blank, Steel Gunner and Steel Gunner 2 (the latter three games being reserved for the 'Premium' and 'Ultimate' SKUs of the device).
Rather than simply hand over the ROMs and allow Tassei Denki / G’AIM’E to do as it wished, Bandai Namco actually handled the porting process itself, even going as far as to draft in some of the staff who worked on the original Time Crisis to ensure it was as accurate as possible.
I was lucky enough to be invited down to London to try out G’AIM’E, and came away very impressed indeed. With the Sinden-powered Polymega gun still fresh in my mind, the G’AIM’E feels incredibly close in terms of accuracy and responsiveness – but without the need for an unsightly border around the playing area.
Instead – and this is according to Tassei Denki – the device has been 'trained' on over 3,000 different TV sets in order to deliver this kind of performance. I reached out to the company for a more detailed explanation of precisely how this AI works, and was told the following:
AI functions much like a seasoned expert - whether an art appraiser or a structural engineer. Through extensive training involving thousands of learning iterations, the AI develops a kind of intuitive judgment, shaped by experience rather than rote memory. When faced with new data, it doesn’t retrieve a specific past example; instead, it draws on its internalised expertise to make direct assessments.
In the case of recognising a “screen,” the AI is trained on vast datasets to grasp key features - such as geometric shape, edge profiles, and pixel patterns. This training allows the AI to develop a deep, conceptual understanding of what defines a screen.
When a new image is captured, the AI uses this learned knowledge to analyse it, identifying regions that exhibit screen-like features. It can then accurately determine the screen’s boundaries and vertices within the image.
So, the AI can 'learn', then? Well, not quite. "The device does not learn your personal game play or learn as you play," the Tassei Denki rep tells me. "The AI training and machine learning is more about the screen recognition, position and accuracy, etc. In other words, the learning would be tied with software future updates with improvement of accuracy via PC or mobile app."
A short calibration sequence – where you fire three times at six different points on-screen – is all it takes to get G’AIM’E up and running, and once you've done that, you can move around the room (within reason) and the accuracy remains pretty rock-steady.
What's remarkable about this setup is that it's possible to use the G’AIM’E with a wide range of television sets, from small screens to 70-inch+ monsters. Heck, in the right lighting conditions, it's even possible to use the G’AIM’E with a projector – this isn't marketing fluff, either, as I was able to try it out in this configuration and performance remained impressive (the Sinden also offers this functionality, I should add).
To gauge how precise the gun was, I turned on the cursor option, which displays where the barrel is pointing on-screen (the only game this isn't available on is Point Blank, at Bandai Namco's behest). While there's a slight delay in gun movement and the movement of the cursor, it shows just how accurate the HD camera-and-software approach is.
Just as is the case with the Sinden, there are caveats; the lighting around the TV needs to be spot-on, and if you've got any other screens surrounding the main TV, it will cause problems – but I'd say the accuracy is pretty much on par with that of the Sinden and the GC01, even at this pre-production stage.
As for the hardware, the G’AIM’E is a more premium product than you might assume from looking solely at the promotional images. The gun feels solid and weighty, and there's no noticeable flex when you grip the handle tightly. It's also a close match to the original Namco arcade gun and the PS1 Gun-Con.
The force feedback built into the gun is subtle, but welcome, and the pedal – included in the Premium and Ultimate packages – really brings Time Crisis to life. The box that powers the experience is surprisingly small, and apparently contains a bespoke chipset – another indication of how seriously this whole venture is being taken.
It has a power and reset button, along with two USB-C ports on the front (for two guns, or a single gun and the pedal) and HDMI-out on the back (the G’AIM’E outputs in 1080p), along with a third USB-C for power. There's no WiFi and no way of adding new games (well, at least not officially, anyway – who knows what modders will achieve when it finally arrives); the aim here is to make a product which is "plug and play" and as accessible as possible. As such, the G’AIM’E is aimed (no pun intended) at an entirely different market to the more hardcore-focused Sinden.
What was stressed to me during the hands-on session is that the software side of the G’AIM’E is still under development, and the hardware itself is also going to undergo some changes; the braided cable will be changed to one with a rubber coating (something I'm slightly disappointed by, I have to admit), and it will be extended from 3 meters to 4.
The only colourway available is the blue and orange variant due to various international laws about imitating firearms (Japan will be getting a black and orange gun), but to be honest, I think it looks better anyway, and mimics the classic blue gun seen on the original Time Crisis cabinets.
I'll reserve final judgment until I have a review unit in my hands, but I came away very impressed with the G’AIM’E; the hardware is robust and accurate, and Time Crisis plays fantastically well. Point Blank is also a very welcome inclusion, as are both Steel Gunner titles – sprite-based light gun games from time before Namco struck big with Time Crisis.
What's exciting about the whole G’AIM’E venture is that there's clearly an appetite to apply the technology to a wide range of titles, systems and publishers, so we could see other devices pre-loaded with other light gun classics. Personally, all I want is a G’AIM’E with Time Crisis 2, but I guess that all hinges on this first attempt finding its audience – and on the evidence of the crowdfunding drive, that seems pretty assured at the moment.
The G’AIM’E is currently on Kickstarter. It launches later this year.