Menacer 6-game cartridge

• Illustration — Sega Genesis The gray, white, and red Menacer is a light gun peripheral for the Sega Genesis. The Menacer is built of three separable parts: a pistol, twin sights, and shoulder stock. (In the peripheral's branding, these parts were called the Master Module, Binocular Module, and Stabilizer Module, respectively.) The pistol has a double grip and fires the infrared beam with a trigger on the back grip. There are three buttons on the pistol's front grip: one pauses the game and the other two provide game-specific functions. Unlike the Super Scope, the Menacer has two infrared transmitters. The optional skeletal shoulder stock and binocular twin sights were designed to improve the aim. Digital Spy reported that the twin sights never worked as intended, and Sega Force wrote that the gun must be recalibrated when adding or removing the sights. Calibration is performed by aiming at a bullseye target to adjust the gun's sensitivity. The gun was designed to be reassembled to suit the player. The light gun's shots are controlled by its aim towards the television. It operates on batteries and works in conjunction with a sensor plugged into the second controller port and placed atop the television display. The sensor counts CRT television scan lines to detect the player's shots. Sega Force noticed that the controller acts erratically when used under fluorescent lighting. Sega recommended 8 feet of distance from the receiver, though the peripheral works between 4 and(-) from the television. Sega Force reported that the controller lasts about 18 hours on new batteries, though Will Smith of The Hawk Eye estimated fewer ("a matter of hours"). The Toronto Star wrote that the Menacer lasts 20 hours as opposed to the Super Scope's 50 to 140 hours. The Menacer has no power switch: it automatically activates when aimed at the television and turns off after 30 seconds without input. The Super Scope fully drains its batteries when left on. Menacer's Accu-Sight option puts crosshairs on the screen to eliminate the need to aim manually through the sights. The gun does not have a "turbo" mode for continuous fire, unlike the Super Scope.

Matthew Reynolds of Digital 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. Will Smith of The Hawk Eye concurred, calling the peripheral "a commercial and critical flop". The Menacer's original reviewers pinned the device's success on the strength of its developer support, and multiple reviewers cited the Menacer's lack of good games as the cause for its decline. Writing for the Chicago Tribune on the 1992 Consumer Electronics Show, Dennis Lynch saw the Super Scope and Menacer as a continuation of a Nintendo–Sega arms race and wrote that the peripheral's "Uzi attachment" was "just what every kid needs". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Andy Pargh said the Menacer was "definitely a winner" in comparison to the Super Scope. Toronto Star William Burrill wrote that the "Great Zapper War" would be decided by the strength of the light guns' supporting games. Multiple reviewers ultimately recommended that players wait for more games to be released before purchasing the Menacer. William Burrill of the Toronto Star said not to bother unless the player "absolutely love[s] target shooter games". Mean Machines Sega called the Menacer "an expensive novelty" until it had more games. The Herald Sun wrote in August 1993 that the Menacer looked to be "an expensive, limited-use fad". 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. Mean Machines Sega wrote that the gun's shades of gray clashed with the glossy black console. Several reviewers called the binocular scope addition unhelpful. Paul Mellerick of Mega found the manual sights an eyestrain and the gun "deadly accurate" as long as players used the Accu-Sight mode. Still, as of January 1993, Mega felt that the Menacer's future success was doubtless. Jaz of Mean 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 of Mean 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 mediocre launch 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. Multiple reviewers found the pack-in six-game cartridge games subpar and repetitive. Mean Machines Sega Gus wrote that the games were all too simple and easy. Of the pack, reviewers held Ready, Aim, Tomatoes! in the highest regard. Ray Barnholt of 1UP.com wrote that the Menacer's games were "duller" than its competitor Super Scope's already dull games, but Tomatoes! gave Sega's cartridge "some pittance of value". Mega rated the ToeJam & Earl spin-off at 62%, calling it "fun and strange" though "rather repetitive". 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. GamePro thought the game's colors were oversaturated. As for the other six-pack titles, Mega called Rockmans Zone "not a very inspiring game" for its slow pacing and "bland" graphics. Reviewers compared the game to Hogan's Alley and Empire City: 1931. Mega called Space Station Defender concept "incredibly daft". GamePro criticized Space Station Defender "washed-out and ugly" graphics and "obnoxious" audio. The magazine thought poorly of most of the cartridge's audio. Mega found Whack Ball easy and did not expect players to maintain interest in it for longer than an hour. Sega Visions compared Whack Ball to Arkanoid. Mega wrote that Front Line was programmed poorly with "the appearance of having never met up with a gamestester", calling it "truly awful". Electronic Gaming Monthly and GamePro compared the game to Operation Wolf. Sega Force rated Front 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, and Mega said the game was not worth loading even once, giving it their lowest rating of the bunch: 12%. 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." The magazine ultimately recommended against purchase until more games were released. Sega Force Paul Wooding considered Terminator 2 a "must" for Menacer owners, adding that it far surpassed the quality of the six-pack games. The magazine added that the gun registered shots faster than the controller, was more accurate, and worked well from a distance. Neil West of Mega wrote the Menacer works well with Terminator 2 in his review of the game. The Hawk Eye Will Smith wrote in 2010 that the six-game pack and Terminator 2 were the only Menacer games readily accessible. Ken Horowitz of Sega-16 wrote that none of the Menacer-compatible titles were exceptional, though Terminator and Body Count were standouts. He added that the Menacer's small library made collecting easier. Edward Fox of The Centre for Computing History has said that the museum's Menacer is his favorite piece in the collection when used with the Aura Interactor haptic suit.