SNES Guide – Everything About the Super Scope Light Gun

To paraphrase 19^th Century British playwright Oscar Wilde, the Super NES Super Scope was awesome. Even if he never said that, he should have. Because it was.

Sadly, the Super Scope has been lost to the cruel march of time, which means it’s also been lost to a generation of gamers who grew up with millions of polygons per second rather than 16 bits total.

Yes, to many this “accessory” is a relic, but it is one that needs to be dug up and revisited. The below excavation serves to bring some facts to light that validate the aforementioned awesomeness of the Super Scope.

The hardware was impressive (for ’92)

Out of the box, it was a 2 ½-foot long light gun with a shoulder mount and attachable scope complete with eyepiece.

• It had a wireless receiver that plugged directly into the SNES controller port, and the multiple firing buttons meant you could use it as a machine gun as well as a bazooka.
• More on that feature below.

The Super NES Super Scope was a bazooka!

In reality, it was a plastic light gun, but when you’re 12 years old and locking in on a boss-enemy super tank, for all intents and purposes it is a bazooka. Still feel like arguing? Here’s the closer: it was compatible with a game called “Bazooka Blitzkrieg.”

So if the Super Scope wasn’t a bazooka, then why were you using it as a bazooka in a game called “Bazooka Blitzkrieg”? Checkmate.

The Super NES Super Scope was wireless before wireless was a thing

As far as I know, back in the late ‘80s/early ‘90s the only wireless anything were radios, that giant cell phone from “Wall Street,” and this Nintendo bazooka. The wireless feature meant that, in theory, you could shoulder mount the Super Scope and perch yourself atop any vantage point in the living room to dispatch off your pixelated foes.

So what if the physics of line of sight wouldn’t allow you to literally “stand anywhere” and use it? The technology was still decent (far better than that of Nintendo’s train wreck Virtual Boy), and you were indeed unencumbered by wires as you used the device.

The Super NES Super Scope had more games than “Bazooka Blitzkrieg”

Unfortunately, not many more. One of the major knocks against the Super Scope was that it was only compatible with a paltry 12 games. Many of those were obscure, and some wouldn’t accommodate the light gun at all except for a few brief mini-games.

Those who did own a Super Scope mostly played the titles on the included Super Scope 6 in 1 game cartridge. None of the games rose above basic puzzles or shooting down missiles and airplanes. But it was fun, and there was a high replay value.

List of Super NES Super Scope Games:

1. Battle Clash
2. Bazooka Blitzkrieg
3. The Hunt For Red October (it is used for bonus games)
4. Lamborghini American Challenge (it accesses a different game mode)
5. Metal Combat: Falcon's Revenge
6. Operation Thunderbolt
7. Revolution X
8. Super Scope 6
9. T2: The Arcade Game
10. Tin Star
11. X-Zone
12. Yoshi's Safari

How to Hook up the Super NES Super Scope:

1. Add 6AA Batteries to the back of the Gun
2. Plug the receiver / sensor into the player two port on your Super Nintendo Console
3. Adjust the Eye Scope
4. Insert a Compatible Game
5. Now you're Ready to Play

It was energy efficient

• Okay, that’s not true. Another drawback was that the Super NES Super Scope drained batteries like it was getting paid to do so.
• Not only did it take 6 AA batteries to use, after four continuous hours of play, those brand-new batteries would be emptied.
• Come to think of it, maybe they should have tabled the whole “wireless” concept after all.

It was also a laser!

• Don’t believe me? Check out the climatic scene from 1993’s Super Mario Bros, where Dennis Hopper’s King Koopa fires up his modified Nintendo Super Scope. Looks like a laser to me.

How the Super Scope Compared to Other Light Guns

While the NES Zapper was a simple, wired pistol that became a household icon with Duck Hunt, the Super Scope went bigger; literally. Measuring over two feet long with a shoulder mount, it turned light gun gaming into a bazooka-style experience.

By contrast, Sega’s Menacer (released for the Genesis in 1992) was modular and lightweight, but never gained much traction due to its awkward setup and even fewer compatible games.

Compared to these, the Super Scope was ambitious, wireless, and flashy, but its size and limited support made it less practical than its competitors.

Why the SNES Super Scope Failed

• Only about 12 compatible games, many of which were just mini-game compilations.
• Six AA batteries drained quickly, lasting just a few hours of play.
• The oversized, bazooka-style design was uncomfortable for long sessions.
• Like all light guns, it only worked on CRT televisions, making it obsolete as tech advanced.

Ultimately, Nintendo’s bazooka-sized gamble couldn’t match the staying power of the NES Zapper, and it faded into retro gaming history as more of a novelty than a must-have accessory.

The Retro Wrap Up & The Super Ninendo Super Scope:

So that’s it, all the reasons the Nintendo Super Scope has earned its “awesome” moniker. At the very least, it beats the Power Glove any day of the week.  Want to take your retro light zapper knowledge ever further, check out why light blasters are Not HD Compatible.

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