Resigned to the fact that there's never going to be a cheap, good lightgun since Sinden is so costly (seriously, how was a Wii remote only 39.99 in 2006 but now because they've added a handgun grip, shifted the controls around and maybe made the camera better - though the remote's had good specs like super high 200+ Hz - it has to cost like 3x or 4x with rumble?), or much effort for VR lightgun games outside EmuVR (and rare games like Pistol Whip or Dead Second), so I dug out my Wii remotes and Dolphinbar and set it up with Dolphin to at least enjoy the shooters that don't rely on accuracy and have on-screen crosshair even in the arcades. I'm getting a Wii Zapper soon so that should make them a bit more fun too. Stuff like L.A. Machineguns and such, but I'll probably also play the games meant to be real lightgun games like Ghost Squad and The House of the Dead 2 & 3 in the same way in this and other emulators if I can get Wiimotes working, with crosshair on and the Zapper for SMG hip firing instead of my old pistol-like Sega Handcannon shell or trying to actually aim since the Wii remotes aren't nearly accurate enough for that (outside using your missed or on target shot effects as a crosshair guide). I guess I'll also replay some more Wii games like SMGalaxy, MPTrilogy and the Prince of Persia game. I've been using Dolphin anyway but only for GameCube and Classic Controller Wii games using my DS4.
I have the Zapper now and lightgun type stuff are definitely more fun with it than just with the Wii remote even if it's still far from a real lightgun. I already had a Sega Handcannon like I said but with the method's aiming deficiences I prefer to just "hip fire" with the Zapper and the crosshair on rather than pretend trying to aim properly (which is doable in the games with aiming calibration but not all Wii shooters have that and as soon as you move at all - even just as you sway your arms left and right to aim at different corners of the screen - it's no longer 1:1 so you compensate with the hit effects as temporary crosshair so might as well just go all in rather than pretend aim). The Handcannon also doesn't allow easy access to other controls so was only meant for games with basic shooting controls only, other rail shooters have additional controls which are more intuitive and in the lightgun spirit in the Zapper form factor instead of trying to push buttons on top of the remote with the Handcannon or holding the remote by itself without a shell or using the nunchuck off hand out of the shell.
I also discovered after all this time (since it wasn't really necessary, most great Wii and GC games performed great on their own) that there are
60fps codes for Dolphin and I just tried one with Darkside Chronicles and it works and definitely makes that game play way better (it was already decent fun vanilla though, mostly for the RE content novelty rather than as anything to really rival Sega's or Namco's shooters, it's not as tightly designed). Not all games are possible to mod like this but when it works to fix such a problematic title it's amazing. The House of the Dead: Overkill has such a code so I'm getting that again, I had avoided getting it at all for emulation since playing it on a real Wii the frame drops ruined the fun (as it doesn't hold a candle to arcade HOTD anyway).
Edit: Overkill's 60fps patch doesn't fully fix it, there are still stutters and problems and what not so it's far from the most polished game but oh well, more to play.
Ghost Squad has a code also but it's apparently got issues in some parts, though its creator was cool enough to make it so you can on the fly toggle it with in game controls, though I don't think I'll bother doing that myself and just play the game as it is. By the way, it's one of the very best lightgun games ever made, every genre fan should play it. It's also playable with TeknoParrot if you're so inclined but only for patreon subscribers at the moment so I dunno if it's any better there, though I do know it doesn't have all the unlock progression stuff you get on Wii as you play, but if you play the Evolution arcade version then everything is unlocked and selectable by default since it was the last version doing away with the arcade save system they had using cards or whatever. I'll be playing the Wii version for that progression stuff anyway and by the time I get bored or get 100% it may be available outside the patreon only TeknoParrot library to move there.
I also discovered this Wii lightgun shooter I had never heard of, Gunslingers. It looks worth a look after exhausting all the big names, I don't know if it falls flat after a while but it looks more well made than the average shovelware title for sure, at a glance, in terms of pacing, enemy patterns, polish and what not.
Now my next step is to figure out how to use the Wii controllers in emulators other than Dolphin and TeknoParrot, hopefully without the need for external software but if that's what I gotta go back to (I recall experimenting with Touchmore or something previously) then I will. I need to play the Dreamcast and Naomi lightgun games at the very least (Confidential Mission, Ninja Assault, Maze of Kings, etc.) so hopefully they can somehow work with RetroArch.
By the way, Rodea the Sky Soldier is a legit game and deserves to be part of Naka's pre-downfall legacy. Not AMAZING or without issues but it's legit good. A sequel could be amazing for sure (or if they had spent the years developing the WiiU & 3DS versions in improving this, maybe adding nunchuck for additional controls, camera controls, improved camera and I dunno, maybe remake the whole thing for WiiU rather than make a wholly different game.
Also for those who do have a Sinden lightgun or similar, some people have apparently made hacks for the Wii lightgun/rail shooter games to have perfect 1:1 aiming, the required borders and no crosshair (I'd guess that's optional, some are meant to have em even on arcade as I mentioned), that's pretty amazing.
www.xda-developers.com
yuzu-emu.org
www.macrumors.com
blog.ryujinx.org
github.com
