Nintendo Electro Safari and Electro Bird targets (エレクトロ サファリ, エレクトロ バード 1970)

The Kôsenjû SP series of light-beam toys was introduced in a previous post. Today we will take a closer look at two of the targets in this series: Electro Safari (エレクトロ サファリ) and Electro Bird (エレクトロ バード). Depending on your taste, they are either the most flamboyant of the series or the most kitschy. In any case, they are a lot of fun. These targets are also another nice engineering feat by the Nintendo team, as you will find out below.

Electro Safari and Electro Bird - two targets from the Kôsenjû SP series

The targets cost ¥5,900 each, a require an Kôsenjû SP Gun or Riffle to be played (sold separately). The targets are quite big (55cm by 45 cm) and so, naturally, are the boxes. The box-art is well designed: it explains the purpose of the game very well, in an inviting way.

Let's take a look at the Electro Safari first.

Kôsenjû SP Electro Safari

Of the two, I like this design the most. That boy with his safari helmet on immediately gets you in the mood to shoot some prey.

The target is a framed wildlife scene, showing a wild animal popping through the lush vegetation. The white (plastic) frame may not be to everyone's taste, but the game definitely gives you the feeling you are on a safari.

Instruction taken from the manual: aim at target and shoot

You would hang the target on a wall, and take aim with either your Kôsenjû SP Gun or Riffle.

You can see the light sensitive sensor sitting just below the black panther. Hit it and the poor animal will plummet behind the scenery: dead, or at least badly wounded.

But hitting one animal is just the start. As soon as the panther disappeared, another animal appears. A lion!

Shoot the lion, and a cheetah is up next. You can already see it lurking behind the rock on the right. When you have successfully struck the cheetah, the black panther appears again (it apparently made a quick recovery), and the fun starts all over.

Kôsenjû SP Electro Bird

The second target, Kôsenjû SP Electro Bird, works similar, but this time it features three birds instead of cats.

The frame is identical to the Safari game, but here we have a rough mountain scene.

Surely you have become curious by now, about how this targets actually works. So let us take a peak inside. Hope this doesn't spoil the mystery for you. If it does, quickly look away.

It is a good thing toys from this age are simply screwed together, and can be easily taken apart. We have loosened the back from the frame, and removed the front to expose the innards. On the left, you see the backside of the scenery. The wiring to the sensor has been cleverly guided behind the painted tree branch to make it invisible from the front.

In left-bottom corner of the back plate we see the battery holder (the black box, which takes 2 C-cells and a 9 volt block) and right to this a motor which move the birds. Above the battery box sit the electronics which control the motor when a hit is detected by the sensor.

The birds are attached to a transparent disc, which moves 120 degrees counter-clockwise each time the target is successfully hit. This moves the next animal into view, keeping the rest of the mechanism hidden by the scenery. The birds aren't fixedly attached to the disc, but are mounted on axles that allow them to spin. When the disc turns, the birds stay level by a little lead weight at the bottom of the bird.

Underneath the bird on the left sits a clever mechanism which makes the bird spin when the disc is moved. This caused the dramatic tumbling-to-its-death effect.

To conclude this post, here you can see it in action.

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.