We stopped by the G’AIM’E booth to check out the dramatic improvements to their 30th Anniversary Time Crisis plug-and-play system.
Arcade nostalgia is alive and well on the PAX East show floor. Among the massive displays and sprawling indie setups, the unmistakable click-clack of arcade lightguns and the nostalgic shouts of “ACTION!” drew us right back to the G’AIM’E booth.
The company has partnered with Bandai Namco to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the legendary arcade shooter Time Crisis. To mark the occasion, they have developed a dedicated, plug-and-play mini-console equipped with revolutionary lightgun technology. We had the chance to get a closer look at the hardware, and it is shaping up to be an absolute dream come true for retro shooter fans.
No Sensor Bars, Just AI: The G’AIM’E Tech
The biggest hurdle for modern lightgun gaming has always been the death of CRT televisions. Traditional light guns simply do not work on modern LCD or OLED displays without a lot of frustrating workarounds.
To solve this, Tassei Denki created the G’AIM’E system. Instead of forcing players to mount ugly infrared sensor bars or rely on distracting white borders running around the edge of the screen, the G’AIM’E gun houses an HD camera right inside the barrel. This camera uses a trained AI Neural Processing Unit to recognize the television screen’s geometric shape and pixel patterns.
You simply plug the mini-console into your TV via HDMI, calibrate the gun by shooting the corners of the screen, and you are instantly transported back to 1995.
From Gamescom to PAX East: A Dramatic Improvement
This wasn’t our first run-in with the hardware. I actually sat down for a more intimate one-on-one session with the developers at GDC a couple of weeks ago to see how the tech was progressing. However, for PAX East, we had our team member Dustin step up to the arcade pedal.
Dustin was actually the very first person on our team to test out the early prototypes of the G’AIM’E hardware last year at Gamescom. After spending some time blasting through the Time Crisis stages on the Boston show floor—and checking out the booth’s ongoing “G’AIM’E World Championship 2026” leaderboard—his takeaway mirrored my exact thoughts from GDC: the technology has improved dramatically over the last year.
The tracking is significantly smoother, the recoil feedback feels fantastic, and the overall responsiveness of the AI camera calibration is leaps and bounds ahead of the early builds. The classic blue-and-pink arcade-style shells also look phenomenal in person.
Looking Ahead: Full Reviews Coming Soon
While testing the guns in a crowded convention center is a blast, the true test of this hardware will be how it performs in a standard living room environment.
The G’AIM’E bundles are expected to pack in the original Time Crisis, alongside other Bandai Namco classics like Point Blank and Steel Gunner 1 & 2 (depending on whether you pick up the Premium or Ultimate tier). We are hoping to get a one-on-one session with the light guns and the pedal peripheral at home soon, so we can deliver a comprehensive review of each included game title.
Until then, if you are at PAX East this weekend, do yourself a favor and stop by the G’AIM’E booth. Richard Miller isn’t going to save the President’s daughter by himself.
