Can you help with my next Hypseus game project?




Hi, I’m Widge. I’m the author of the Captain Power VHS Game simulator for Hypseus Singe, and I’ve also released other projects for Hypseus including the Video Driver VHS Game Simulator, Minesweeper, Space Rocks, and most recently, I co-authored the Hypseus version of Marbella Vice. I’ve also had a hand in contributing to improving some of the earlier lightgun game conversions for Hypseus. Everything I’ve been involved with and released so far has been completely free — no strings, no paywalls, no donation drives.


Right now, I’m working on a few different projects. But specifically, something that I’m really excited about is a simulation of the Video Challenger VHS game system. For those unfamiliar, Video Challenger was a VHS-based lightgun game system similar to Captain Power. It used video playback with special flashing patterns embedded into the footage that a sensor on the toy gun could detect — almost a home version of laserdisc-style gameplay, but much more obscure and limited.


The big challenge with this project is getting clean, usable footage. The flashes used by Video Challenger to register hits are very specific. To put it into context, the ActionMax system has one flashing pattern and distinguishes targets by whether they flash in sync or out of sync with a reference. Captain Power uses two different flashing patterns to distinguish between targets and enemy fire. Video Challenger uses three. Unfortunately, all of the recordings of Video Challenger tapes I’ve found online fail to preserve them properly. They were either recorded at the wrong framerate, poorly deinterlaced, or too heavily compressed to be useful.


Every Video Challenger video currently on the Internet Archive is unusable. The framerates are too low to capture the necessary flashing data, or the deinterlacing method used was not suitable and ruined the patterns. The single best quality recording I’ve seen online so far is a Sky Wars video on YouTube uploaded by “lostshark.” Their deinterlacing preserved the flash patterns and the source appears to be in good shape, but the framerate was set incorrectly, resulting in duplicate frames that interfere with target detection. The added bezel also obscures too much of the screen. I’ve reached out to lostshark in the hope that they still have the original tape and capture setup, but so far, I’ve had no response.


I’ve spent a lot of time experimenting with the best way to capture these tapes myself, and I’ve had success; Turtle Challenge, for example, came out great. But it hasn’t been easy. I’ve invested in hardware to make high-quality captures, and I’ve bought multiple original tapes—often at a premium. Unfortunately, some sellers have misrepresented the condition of their tapes, and what arrived was often degraded beyond use.


So, I'm asking for help. If you’ve enjoyed any of my past work, or you’d like to support this new project and others to come, there are a few ways you can help:


  1. If you happen to own any good-condition Video Challenger tapes, and if you have the means to digitize them well, please get in touch. I will advise you on how to digitise them, or consider donating the tapes to me so I can capture them.
  2. Share my videos and encourage others to subscribe to my YouTube channel. I’ve never pushed very hard for likes or subs, but put simply, YouTube doesn't pay me a single penny for any of my content. I just don't have enough subscribers to have that honour, and reaching YouTube’s monetization threshold would help to contribute towards ongoing costs and give me more freedom to work on future games.
  3. If you’d like to contribute financially, there’s a Ko-fi link on my profile. I’ve never asked for donations before, and I’m still not comfortable turning this into a pitch—but any support would be very welcome, and will go into equipment, material, and the continuation of my efforts to preserve this media and make some fun games.


At the end of the day, I do this because I love these games. I want to keep them alive, make them playable again, and share them with people who remember them or who never got the chance to play them at all. The harsh reality is that this material is dying. VHS tapes degrade, and soon, there may not be any usable footage left. If we want to preserve this part of gaming history, the time to act is now. I’m grateful for all the messages of thanks that I’ve received—even the ones that come bundled with requests for more games — and I ask if you’re able to help in any of the ways I’ve described, it would mean a lot.


One more thing I want to mention—because it’s become hard to ignore—is that some people have been bundling my work into paid image packs or pre-configured drive compilations, without asking, crediting, or contributing anything back. I can’t really stop that from happening, and I know some people just want a convenient way to get everything in one place.


But if you’re someone who’s paid for one of those packs, or if you’re distributing them, I’d just ask you to think about supporting the people who actually made the content possible. If a donation helps ease the conscience, or if you'd rather support the creators directly instead of the resellers, that support truly makes a difference.


However you choose to support my projects—whether that’s sharing a video, helping track down old tapes, or just sending a kind word—it all makes a difference. I’ll keep doing what I can, for as long as I can, because I genuinely enjoy it and believe it’s worth the effort. And if you’re here for the journey, then I’m glad to have you with me. Let’s keep this weird and wonderful slice of gaming history alive—together.


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https://www.youtube.com/@widge

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