Play Galaxian 3 with a Sinden Lightgun on a Real PlayStation1




This is Galaxian³ running on a real PlayStation, from an authentic disc, with four Sinden Lightguns being used at the same time.

It is made possible by my new Green Analog firmware for the SindenPS PlayStation1 adapter.

The firmware was created for one very specific purpose: allowing Galaxian³ to be played with lightgun-style controls on original hardware.

Galaxian³ is a rail shooter, but it was not designed for a lightgun. Instead, it supports Sony’s original PlayStation Analog Joystick: an enormous twin-stick controller resembling a flightstick.

Sony’s later Dual Analog Controller could also impersonate the Analog Joystick using it's "green-light" mode, a feature dropped by the DualShock controller which replaced it.

The Green Analog firmware presents the SindenPS adapter as that same green-mode controller type. It translates the Sinden lightgun’s position into analogue-stick coordinates, so moving the gun moves the game’s crosshair.



The PlayStation version of Galaxian³ was released in Japan in April 1996, followed by its PAL-region counterpart that August. By then, Konami’s Hyper Blaster lightgun did exist for the PlayStation, but Namco didn't support it. Namco’s own G-Con 45 did not appear until 1997, with the release of Time Crisis. So the game was released without lightgun support.

There may also have been a practical problem with using the lightgun technology available at the time. Galaxian³ allows the player to hold the fire button for continuous fire. A traditional optical lightgun normally checks its position when a shot is fired, often accompanied by a bright screen or detection flash. Continuously tracking the player while the trigger was held might therefore have required constant repeated flashes, which would have been unbearable.

Whatever the original reason, Galaxian³ remained a shooting game without lightgun support.


About the Firmware

As far as I have been able to discover, there has never previously been a commercial accessory, unofficial patch or hardware adapter which allowed Galaxian³ to be played this way on a real PlayStation. So, this appears to be the first practical method of playing Galaxian³ with a lightgun device on original hardware.

My Green Analog firmware works with every existing SindenPS PlayStation1 adapter. It does not require any hardware alterations or additional components. You simply install the firmware onto the adapter in the usual way.

It works with both the PAL and Japanese versions of Galaxian³, and up to four adapters can be connected using a standard PlayStation multitap.

The original game supports four simultaneous players, so each player receives an independently controlled crosshair.

A single SindenPS Raspberry Pi can operate a maximum of two guns and two adapters. So for my four-player demonstration I needed to use two Raspberry Pis to run all four guns. Two of the guns are running through a Raspberry Pi 4, while the other two are using a Raspberry Pi 3.


Controls

I have tried to keep the controls as straightforward as possible.

  • Sinden Trigger : Fires weapon (PS1 R2)
  • Sinden Back-right : Add players on the Player Select screen and Pauses the game during gameplay(PS1 Start)
  • Sinden Back-Left : Hold 5 seconds to start calibration, press again to cancel.

Menu navigation

  • Sinden Pump : Hold to enable D-pad and lock virtual analog sticks to center (to prevent the position of the gun from moving the menu cursor or interfering with your navigation).
  • Sinden D-Pad : Navigate menu (only while pump is held)
  • Sinden Front Left and Right : Menu Select and Back, which is which depends on whether you are playing the PAL or Japanese release (PS1 Cross and Circle)

When several guns and adapters are connected, every player must hold their pump while someone is navigating the menus. Otherwise, the virtual stick from another player’s gun may continue to interfere with the menu controls.


Calibration

Provided that the Sinden lightgun itself is properly calibrated, you are playing with Galaxian³’s Widescreen display mode, and with the game window fitting neatly inside the Sinden border, the firmware should give good alignment without any additional adjustment.

However, your mileage may vary. You may also choose to play the game in its Normal display mode, which places the game inside a narrower, letterboxed area.  For those situations, the firmware includes its own three-point calibration system.

If you wish to calibrate, before starting, enter the game and wait until your player’s crosshair is visible and free to move.

The calibration system moves that crosshair to three known positions, so it cannot be performed from the title screen.

  • To begin calibration, hold the back-left button for five seconds.
  • The crosshair will first move to the centre of the screen. Aim the Sinden lightgun directly at the crosshair and pull the trigger.
  • The crosshair will then move towards the upper-left. Aim directly at it and pull the trigger again.
  • Finally, it will move towards the lower-right for a third calibration shot.

The firmware uses these three positions to calculate the centre, along with the separate horizontal and vertical scaling needed for that setup.

Once the third point has been accepted, the new calibration is automatically written to the non-volatile memory in the adapter’s Arduino. The adapter will therefore remember its calibration after the system has been switched off. It should not need to be performed again unless your display setup changes.

Pressing the back-left button again during the procedure will cancel it without replacing the existing calibration. It will also cancel automatically if any calibration point is left waiting for more than thirty seconds.



Conclusion

So, with four Sinden lightguns, four SindenPS PS1 adapters, two Raspberry Pis and a PlayStation multitap, Galaxian³ can finally be played as a proper four-player lightgun game on an original PlayStation.

It is an extremely specialised firmware, made for one extremely special game.

But for a rail shooter built around four independently controlled crosshairs, pointing a gun at the screen feels considerably more natural than steering them with a joystick.

This is my gift to the community.

If you are a SindenPS user, the firmware should be available to install directly onto your adapter from the SindenPS dashboard, once you have updated to the latest version.  My thanks go to th3drk0ne for making that possible.






I have other related works in progress, if you'd like to support me, there is a link to my ko-fi on the sidebar.  I also recommend supporting the3drk0ne for the work he put in to the SindenPS system.


Enjoy it, and happy shooting.


https://ko-fi.com/widge

https://github.com/th3drk0ne/sindenps