1992 · Shooter

Menacer

Sega exclusive

The Menacer 6-Game Cartridge is a cartridge containing six light gun games for use with the Sega Menacer. The Menacer came bundled with this cartridge, and predictably it is not compatible with any other Mega Drive peripheral.

Released: 1 February 1992
Platforms: Sega Genesis
Genres: Shooter
Developers: —
Publishers: —
Perspective: First person

About

The Menacer is a light gun peripheral released by Sega in 1992 for its Sega Genesis and Sega CD video game consoles. It was created in response to Nintendo's Super Scope and as Sega's successor to the Master System Light Phaser. The gun is built from three detachable parts (pistol, shoulder stock, sights), and communicates with the television via an infrared sensor. The Menacer was announced at the May 1992 Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago and was released later that year.

The gun was bundled with a pack-in six-game cartridge of mostly shooting gallery games. Sega also released a Menacer bundle with T2: The Arcade Game.

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Development

The Menacer was produced in response to the Nintendo Super Scope released several months earlier, though Sega intended to support the peripheral as more than a clone. These two peripherals brought arcade light gun game ports to home consoles. The Menacer is the successor to the Master System's Light Phaser.

Mac Senour, a producer at Sega, was responsible for the peripheral and its six-game cartridge as the company's "hardware boy". He designed the six minigames based on Sega's previous intellectual property and licenses—such as ToeJam & Earl—under the instruction to avoid shooting games. His prototypes included games based on Joe Montana (Joe Montana Wide Receiver Training Camp) and David Robinson, but when presented, the company asked for more shooting games and scrapped all license-based games (besides ToeJam & Earl, whose license was free) due to their added cost. His "reverse Blockout game" prototype was the only other title carried to the final cartridge.

Reception

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's Andy Pargh said the Menacer was "definitely a winner" in comparison to the Super Scope. Toronto Star's 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.