Game Console Infrared Component - Dismantled for reference and curiosity
In 1992 SEGA got sick of Nintendo's Super Scope hogging all of the light gun glory and released the SEGA Menacer.
Photographs of the Menacer 'gun' section will hopefully be added at a later date.
The Menacer is not connected to the Mega Drive by a cable and instead it's actions are tracked by an infrared receiver. The receiver for best results sits above the television and is connected to the Mega Drive's second controller port.
The gun section comprises a futuristic pistol, a removable shoulder stock and detachable dual sight... that was useless if used as intended. The pistol section is powered by six AAA batteries and is arguably more accurate than the Nintendo Super Scope.
To get gamers started the Menacer was bundled with a ROM cartridge containing six games as a pack-in bonus. The titles are; Space Station Defender, Pest Control, Front Line, Whack Ball, Rockman's Zone, and Ready, Aim Tomatoes!; the latter contained cameos from SEGA's popular 'ToeJam and Earl' characters.
Sadly as with so many gimmicky hardware add-ons the Menacer had very few games created for it. In fact for the Mega Drive (excluding the pack-in games) only two; 'T2: The Arcade Game' and 'Body Count'. A number of other titles were released but require either the Mega-CD or Mega-CD and 32X to be added to the Mega Drive to play them.
[Sega Mega-CD Titles] Mad Dog II: The Lost Gold, Snatcher, Who Shot Johnny Rock?, Crime Patrol and Mad Dog McCree.
[Sega Mega-CD and Sega Mega-CD 32X Titles] Corpse Killer
As the Menacer uses scan lines to determine where the gun barrel is pointing it will only work with CRT televisions; this does not most CRT computer monitors.
