Laser Ghost

Laser Ghost from 1990 is one of the lesser-known but distinctive and atmospherically interesting light-gun titles from Sega, which at the time was experimenting with various themes for its growing line of light-gun shooter machines. The player takes on the role of a ghost hunter and, using a light gun, faces waves of phantoms, monsters, and other supernatural enemies who appear across horror-themed environments, from old mansions to graveyards and abandoned churches where strange forces linger.

The game builds on the classic principle of the genre – enemies appear on screen at set points, and the player must hit them before they manage to attack, with gradually increasing speed and growing numbers of opponents keeping the tension up from start to finish and forcing the player to react almost instinctively. The atmosphere is completed by dark graphics, spooky backgrounds, and sound effects that turn the machine into a small horror attraction in the middle of an otherwise colorful arcade full of vivid themes and flashing lights.

Although Laser Ghost never achieved the popularity of more famous light-gun series, such as Sega's police or war shooters of the time, it remains an interesting example of how, already by the late 1980s, the genre was seeking its own thematic identity beyond the usual action clichés, reaching for horror atmosphere as a source of tension and appeal for passersby, whom the unusual spooky theme managed to stop in their tracks.

Why play it: The horror take on the classic light-gun shooter offers an atmosphere that few machines in the genre attempted at the time.