 | |
| Developer | Mac Senour |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Sega |
| Type | Light gun |
| Release date | |
| Introductory price | US$59.99 (equivalent to $134 in 2024)[4][5] |
| Power | SixAAA batteries[6] |
| Platform | Sega Genesis |
TheMenacer is alight gunperipheral released bySega in 1992 for itsSega Genesis andSega CD video game consoles. It was created in response toNintendo'sSuper Scope and as Sega's successor to theMaster System Light Phaser. The gun is built from three detachable parts (pistol,shoulder stock,sights), and communicates with the television via aninfrared sensor. The Menacer was announced at the May 1992Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago and was released later that year. The gun was bundled with apack-in six-game cartridge of mostlyshooting gallery games. Sega also released a Menacer bundle withT2: The Arcade Game.
Sega producer Mac Senour was responsible for the Menacer project and designed the six-game pack. He originally proposed non-shootingminigames based on existing Sega licenses likeJoe Montana,David Robinson, andToeJam & Earl, but most of the prototypes were abandoned due to high cost in favor of more shooting-type games. Sega did not plan anotherfirst-party release for the Menacer apart from the includedmulticart. Compatible games were published through 1995.
The Menacer is remembered as a critical and commercial flop. Critics found the six-game pack subpar and repetitive, and criticized the peripheral's lack of games. TheToeJam & Earl spinoff game was held in the highest regard, and reviewers recommended the Menacer-compatibleTerminator 2 game. Adirect-to-TV light gun that includes the six-game Menacer pack was released in 2005.
The gray, white, and red[2] Menacer is alight gunperipheral for theSega Genesis.[7] The Menacer is built of three separable parts: apistol,twin sights, andshoulder stock.[7] (In the peripheral's branding, these parts were called the Master Module, Binocular Module, and Stabilizer Module, respectively.[6]) The pistol has a double grip[8] and fires theinfrared beam[7] with a trigger on the back grip.[3] There are three buttons on the pistol's front grip: one pauses the game and the other two provide game-specific functions.[3] Unlike the Super Scope, the Menacer has two infrared transmitters.[9] The optional skeletal shoulder stock and binocular[8] twin sights were designed to improve the aim.Digital Spy reported that the twin sights never worked as intended,[7] andSega Force wrote that the gun must be recalibrated when adding or removing the sights.[6] Calibration is performed by aiming at abullseye target to adjust the gun's sensitivity.[3] The gun was designed to be reassembled to suit the player.[10]
The light gun's shots are controlled by its aim towards the television.[3] It operates on batteries and works in conjunction with a sensor plugged into the second controller port and placed atop the television display.[6] The sensor countsCRT televisionscan lines to detect the player's shots.[7]Sega Force noticed that the controller acts erratically when used underfluorescent lighting.[6] Sega recommended eight feet (2.4 m) of distance from the receiver,[8] though the peripheral works between four and twelve feet (1–4 m) from the television.[2]Sega Force reported that the controller lasts about 18 hours on new batteries,[6] though Will Smith ofThe Hawk Eye estimated fewer ("a matter of hours").[11] TheToronto Star wrote that the Menacer lasts 20 hours as opposed to the Super Scope's 50 to 140 hours. The Menacer has nopower switch: it automatically activates when aimed at the television[9] and turns off after 30 seconds without input.[6] The Super Scope fully drains its batteries when left on.[9] Menacer's Accu-Sight option putscrosshairs on the screen to eliminate the need to aim manually through the sights.[10] The gun does not have a "turbo" mode for continuous fire, unlike the Super Scope.[9]
.jpg)
The Menacer was produced in response to the NintendoSuper Scope[7] released several months earlier,[3] though Sega intended to support the peripheral as more than a clone.[12] These two peripherals brought arcade light gun gameports to home consoles.[7] The Menacer is the successor to theMaster System's Light Phaser.[3]
Mac Senour, a producer at Sega,[13] was responsible for the peripheral and its six-game cartridge as the company's "hardware boy".[12] He designed the sixminigames based on Sega's previous intellectual property and licenses—such asToeJam & Earl—under the instruction to avoid shooting games. His prototypes included games based onJoe Montana (Joe Montana Wide Receiver Training Camp) andDavid Robinson, but when presented, the company asked for more shooting games and scrapped all license-based games (besidesToeJam & Earl, whose license was free) due to their added cost. His "reverseBlockout game" prototype was the only other title carried to the final cartridge. Senour recalled that upon his cubicle presentation to Sega Japan's president, the executive did not say anything besides "very good" before leaving. Sega did not plan any otherfirst-party releases for the Menacer—Senour recollected that "they laughed when I proposed more."[12]
Sega announced the Menacer alongside theSega CD at the May 1992Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago[14] and the peripheral was released towards the end of that year.[2][3] By December 1992, the Menacer began shipping withT2: The Arcade Game as a bundle.[15]Playthings reported that Chicago toy retailers promoted Sega electronics including the Menacer over Nintendo's during their 1992 Thanksgiving promotions.[16] Sega's sales exceeded Nintendo's during the 1992 Christmas season, and gained cultural cachet for the Menacer among other peripherals.[17]Electronic Gaming Monthly reported in March 1993 that the Menacer would not have a new game for six months.[18] Compatible games were published through 1995.
Mac Senour left Sega in 1993[19] forAtari Games, where he received an increase in pay and status.[12] He later worked atKonami andElectronic Arts.[13] In his first days at Atari, Senour was sent to Paris, where he remembered an excess of unsold Menacers in aVirgin Megastores display. His translators told the clerk that Senour was responsible for the Menacer, and when Senour offered to autograph their stock, the clerk replied in slow English that Senour could autograph the items he purchased.[12]
In 2005,Radica created a Menacer-based direct-to-TVdedicated console with the original six-game cartridge built into a light gun controller[20] as part of their Play TV Legends line of Sega Genesis dedicated consoles.[21]Retro Gamer wrote that Radica's gun is based on theSega Saturn light gun's design and not the Menacer's.[22]
Games include thepack-insingle-player[2] Menacer 6-game cartridge,[a] which consists of mostlyshooting gallery games:[7]
Digital Spy mentionedBody Count,T2: The Arcade Game, andMad Dog McCree as Menacer's other notable games.[7]Terminator 2 was the first external game to work with the Menacer,[10][25] the only one confirmed as of December 1992.[2]Terminator's programmers,Probe Software, later began work on another Menacer-compatible game.[10]Terminator 2 has a two-player mode that uses one Menacer light gun and one controller.[25][26]Sega Force reported that Menacer gameplay registered faster than the Genesis controller.[25]Mad Dog McCree, alive actionWild Westshoot 'em up for the Sega CD, used either a controller or a choice of several light guns: the Menacer, theKonami Justifier, orthe game developer's own compatible light gun.[27] InBody Count, the player defends Earth from an alien invasion.The Irish Times wrote that the game is "ideally suited for the ... Menacer" and is "to be avoided" otherwise.[28] The Menacer is also compatible withCorpse Killer andAmerican Laser Games' other titles, such asWho Shot Johnny Rock?[29] The light gun does not work with Konami'sLethal Enforcers games orSnatcher,[29] which use the Konami Justifier.[30]
| Title | Release date (console) |
|---|---|
| Menacer 6-Game Cartridge | |
| T2: The Arcade Game[10] | June 6, 1992[31] (Genesis) |
| Mad Dog McCree[27] | April 22, 1993[32] (Sega CD) |
| Body Count |
|
| Who Shot Johnny Rock?[34] | September 21, 1994[32] (Sega CD) |
| Mad Dog II: The Lost Gold[35] | September 27, 1994[32] (Sega CD) |
| Corpse Killer[36] | November 7, 1994[37] (Sega CD,Sega 32X[36]) |
| Crime Patrol[38] | December 16, 1994[32] (Sega CD) |
Matthew Reynolds ofDigital Spy wrote that the Menacer was a poorly executed "flop" that is much less likely to be remembered than its Super Scope competitor, even though the latter did not fare much better. Reynolds added that the Menacer was hurt by the poor quality of the pack-in six-game cartridge and a lack of titles in support of the peripheral.[7] Will Smith ofThe Hawk Eye concurred, calling the peripheral "a commercial and critical flop".[11] The Menacer's original reviewers pinned the device's success on the strength of its developer support,[6][3][9] and multiple reviewers cited the Menacer's lack of good games as the cause for its decline.[7][29][39]
Writing for theChicago Tribune on the 1992 Consumer Electronics Show, Dennis Lynch saw the Super Scope and Menacer as a continuation of a Nintendo–Segaarms race and wrote that the peripheral's "Uzi attachment" was "just what every kid needs".[40]The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Andy Pargh said the Menacer was "definitely a winner" in comparison to the Super Scope.[41]Toronto Star's William Burrill wrote that the "Great Zapper War"[42] would be decided by the strength of the light guns' supporting games.[9][42] Multiple reviewers ultimately recommended that players wait for more games to be released before purchasing the Menacer.[6][3][9][10] William Burrill of theToronto Star said not to bother unless the player "absolutely love[s] target shooter games".[9]Mean Machines Sega called the Menacer "an expensive novelty" until it had more games.[3] TheHerald Sun wrote in August 1993 that the Menacer looked to be "an expensive, limited-usefad".[43]
GamePro considered the gun "well-designed" and "fairly good-looking", though they wrote that the gun's options buttons were inconvenient and that the Menacer's lengthy recalibrations before play sessions without Accu-Sight were tedious.[2]Mean Machines Sega wrote that the gun's shades of gray clashed with the glossy black console.[3] Several reviewers called the binocular scope addition unhelpful.[7][3] Paul Mellerick ofMega found the manual sights an eyestrain and the gun "deadly accurate" as long as players used the Accu-Sight mode.[10] Still, as of January 1993,Mega felt that the Menacer's future success was doubtless.[10] Jaz ofMean Machines Sega had low expectations for the Menacer, which he compared to the shortcomings of previous light guns: high price, short-lived novelty, and dearth of games. Gus ofMean Machines Sega wrote that "Sega hasn't learned the lessons" from the Super Scope's "fairly naff" release in the magazine's January 1993 Menacer review, calling the light gun a "samey-looking, samey-playing piece of hardware, with some redundant add-ons" with mediocrelaunch titles. He added that the Menacer was less tiring to use than the Super Scope, praised the Menacer's infrared, and criticized the gun's lack of available software.[3]
Multiple reviewers found the pack-in six-game cartridge games subpar[3][10][29][44] and repetitive.[6][3][10]Mean Machines Sega's Gus wrote that the games were all too simple and easy.[3] Of the pack, reviewers heldReady, Aim, Tomatoes! in the highest regard.[6][2][8][10][44] Ray Barnholt of1UP.com wrote that the Menacer's games were "duller" than its competitor Super Scope's already dull games, butTomatoes! gave Sega's cartridge "some pittance of value".[44]Mega rated theToeJam & Earl spin-off at 62%, calling it "fun and strange" though "rather repetitive".[10]Sega Force thought the game's graphics were the pack's best, and its audio to be of high quality, though the magazine also considered the game repetitive.[6]GamePro thought the game's colors wereoversaturated.[2]
As for the other six-pack titles,Mega calledRockman's Zone "not a very inspiring game" for its slow pacing and "bland" graphics.[10] Reviewers compared the game toHogan's Alley[2][3][9][45] andEmpire City: 1931.[3]Mega calledSpace Station Defender's concept "incredibly daft".[10]GamePro criticizedSpace Station Defender's "washed-out and ugly" graphics and "obnoxious" audio. The magazine thought poorly of most of the cartridge's audio.[2]Mega foundWhack Ball easy and did not expect players to maintain interest in it for longer than an hour.[10]Sega Visions comparedWhack Ball toArkanoid.[8]Mega wrote thatFront Line was programmed poorly with "the appearance of having never met up with a gamestester", calling it "truly awful".[10]Electronic Gaming Monthly[45] andGamePro compared the game toOperation Wolf.[1]Sega Force ratedFront Line lowest within the six-pack, with a score of 22%. The magazine wrote that the bug game,Pest Control, would make players bored after ten minutes,[6] andMega said the game was not worth loading even once, giving it their lowest rating of the bunch: 12%.[10]Sega Force wrote in February that the games were only fun for an hour and that the peripheral's success would depend on its future games, adding, "Without that [developer] support, it will die as surely as all other attempts at light guns have done."[6] The magazine ultimately recommended against purchase until more games were released.[6]
Sega Force's Paul Wooding consideredTerminator 2 a "must" for Menacer owners, adding that it far surpassed the quality of the six-pack games.[25] The magazine added that the gun registered shots faster than the controller, was more accurate, and worked well from a distance.[25] Neil West ofMega wrote the Menacer works well withTerminator 2 in his review of the game.[46]The Hawk Eye's Will Smith wrote in 2010 that the six-game pack andTerminator 2 were the only Menacer games readily accessible.[11] Ken Horowitz ofSega-16 wrote that none of the Menacer-compatible titles were exceptional, thoughTerminator andBody Count were standouts. He added that the Menacer's small library made collecting easier.[29] Edward Fox ofThe Centre for Computing History has said that the museum's Menacer is his favorite piece in the collection when used with theAura Interactorhaptic suit.[47]
The FRONT bottom button can be used to pause the game with the Menacer.
The FRONT bottom button can be used to pause the game with the Menacer.
Reload by shooting off screen (the Menacer box that sits above your TV must detect that the menacer has fired, so point in its direction).
Media related toSega Menacer at Wikimedia Commons
| Models |
| ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Accessories | |||||
| Online services |
| ||||
| Genesis games | |||||
| Related | |||||
| |||||
| Arcade systems |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Video game consoles | ||
| Portable devices | ||
| Dual systems | ||
| Licensed consoles | ||
| Online gaming services | ||
| Accessories | ||
| Amusement venues | ||
| Related | ||
