Nintendo Electro Poker (エレクトロ ポーカー, 1971)

In a previous post, we looked at the Jumping Bottle light gun target. Now that made perfect sense: shooting at bottles, be it in a safe electronic toy format.

Today it is the turn of a slightly less obvious shooting target: Electro Poker.

The idea here is to combine playing a variant of poker with light gun shooting. A bit like an indoors biathlon.

Each time you hit the target, the five wheels holding pictures of various playing cards will start turning individually. After some time they stop and show a certain combination of cards, which then determines your score. Much like throwing dice in dice poker.

Nintendo Jumping Bottle (ジャンピングボトル, 1970)

One of the coolest targets in Nintendo's Kôsenjû SP (光線銃SP) series of light beam toys, is the so-called Jumping Bottle (ジャンピングボトル).

Gun practice often seems to involve shooting at cans and bottles, and this toy delivers just that, without the messy shattered glass.

The Jumping Bottle was sold as loose target, to be used together with a Kôsenjû SP Gun or Riffle sold separately, as well as in a set with a gun.

Jumping Bottle was the only Kôsenjû SP target that was available in such a set; all other targets (like Electro Safari and Electro Bird, and Electro Poker) were sold loose only.

The Jumping Bottle was released in 1970. The set shown here was called the Gun - Bottle Set (ガン・ボテル セット), and cost ¥3,480 at the time.

Nintendo Kôsenjû SP Gun - Bottle Set (1970)

Contrary to the idea given by the image on the front of the box, the set contains only a single bottle, not three.

beforemario turns one year

I just noticed that the one-year mark of this blog passed a couple of weeks ago. The first blog post was about the Nintendo Light-beam games Kousenjuu SP and Kousenjuu Custom (光線銃SP, 光線銃 カスツム). Over 75 posts followed since, covering over 150 different Nintendo games and toys!

Many readers provided encouragement and positive feedback, and I enjoyed spreading the knowledge about Nintendo's illustrious past.

What better way to celebrate the anniversary and to thank all you readers with another look at the Kousenjuu series. Below images are taken from a couple of Nintendo Leaflets from around 1974. They show the full series, except for the Jumping Bottle target and Custom Lion and Custom Gunman.

I am far from done, so here's to the second year!

Kousenjuu SP Gun

Kousenjuu SP Rifle

Kousenjuu SP Electro Roulette

Kousenjuu, Kōsenjū or Kosenjyu?

The Japanese name for the Nintendo light-gun series is 光線銃 SP, which means "light ray gun SP".

光線 --> light ray
銃 --> gun

But what is the correct romanization for these kanji? That should not be too difficult.

光線 is written "kōsen" or "kousen" if we write "ou" instead of the long "ō"

銃 is written "jū" or "juu" if we write "uu" instead of the long "ū"

Together this forms "Kousenjuu".

Nintendo however writes it as "Kosenjyu" on the guns.

Kosenjyu? Wait a minute. Is that correct?

Is this an error? Or an alternative romanization?

Who has more information about this?

For now I will stick with "Kousenjuu".

Nintendo Light-beam games Kôsenjû SP and Kôsenjû Custom (光線銃SP, 光線銃 カスタム 1970-1976)

At the start of the 70s, light-sensitive electronics (photoconductive cell or LDR - light-dependent resistor) were still fairly new. Manufacturers of these components were looking for new ways to apply them, thus extending their customer base. Sharp was one of the companies that produced them, and one of their sales staff, Masayuki Uemura, visited Nintendo and met with Gunpei Yokoi.

Not only did this meeting result in a series of new toys, but Mr. Uemura eventually moved over to Nintendo where he came to head up one of the hardware design groups.

The entire Kôsenjû SP series: gun, riffle and six different types of targets

Sharp’s LDR would be used in the light-beam series called Kôsenjû SP (光線銃SP): toy guns that emitted a short flash of light when 'fired' and targets equipped with a sensor that would register the light (when aimed correctly) and show the hit in various fashions.

The Kôsenjû SP Gun (ガン)

The Kôsenjû SP series was introduced in 1970

The SP gun had a white handle. The Custom gun handle is black.

The Kôsenjû SP Rifle featured a telescope and "pump action" to reload

When hit by the light-beam, the Jumping Bottle target would spring into two parts, held together by an electromagnet until hit by the light from the gun. Other targets included a roulette that would spin, a lion that would roar and wildlife scenes with exotic birds or animals of prey (Electro Bird and Electro Safari) collapsing upon each hit. All guns and targets are battery operated.

Kôsenjû SP targets Electro Roulette, Lion, Poker and Jumping Bottle

With this series, introduced in 1970, Nintendo created something for the entire family: to be enjoyed by children and adults together (well, fathers and their sons, probably).

Around this time, electronic games started to become mainstream, even though the retail prices were still considerable, ranging from ¥980 to ¥2,500 for gun and rifle, and between ¥2,500 and ¥5,900 for the individual targets. These prices notwithstanding, Nintendo had another blockbuster on its hands, selling into the hundreds of thousands of the various guns and targets.

These toys are amongst the first (if not the first) commercially available light-guns for home use, although less sophisticated than the subsequent video game light-guns that work together with a TV screen (the Magnavox Odyssey rifle being the first one of these, released in 1972).

The Kôsenjû Custom series: Custom Lever Action Rifle and Custom Target

A second series of light-gun toys was introduced in 1971, called Kôsenjû Custom (光線銃 カスタム), consisting of a very realistic looking rifle made from wood-like plastic and metal (Custom Lever Action Rifle, ¥14,000) and a new target (Custom Target, ¥7,800). These were clearly aimed at older children and adults.

The Custom series continued in '76 with Custom Gunman and Custom Lion

In 1976 the Kôsenjû Custom series was rejuvenated with two great new targets: Custom Gunman and Custom Lion. These were sold loose for ¥5,000, as well as in sets with target and gun for ¥7,500. As the name suggests, these feature a gunman or lion that would collapse dramatically when hit. After a short time lying dead, by means of a clever mechanism inside the toy, they would automatically spring back to life, ready to take the next shot.

For more information on the various items in the Kôsenjû series, check out the following posts: Electro Safari & Electro Bird, Jumping Bottle, Electro Poker, Custom Gunman and Custom Lion, Guns and Rifles and Custom Lever Action Rifle.