Gamescom: G'AIM'E is a triumph for arcade fans everywhere

Try explaining to zoomers or anyone younger what an arcade was, and how much it used to matter, and chances are all you'll get in return are blank stares. As with all good things, like video rental stores and movie theaters without smartphones, the arcade went the way of the dodo in the early 2000s.

For those of us who grew up with them, arcades were the destination to try out wacky new concept titles and big, bold team games that required mammoth controllers you couldn't possibly have at home. Whether it was racing games with actual cockpits or entire Taiko drums, you could find it in the arcade.

Years later, we've got simulators at home that could compete with the best arcade setup. Dancing mats are still alive and kicking. Yet the classic lightgun, champion of titles like Time Crisis and House of the Dead, remains a novelty many desire, yet none have offered. Until now.

At Gamescom, I got a chance to try out the return of Time Crisis, brought to us by Tassei Denki's delightfully named G'AIM'E, and I can finally say that our lightgun enthusiasm has finally been answered properly.

How does it work?

Lightgun games died out with the CRT television. If you're asking what a CRT TV is, please stop, you're making me feel old. But also, it's short for cathode-ray tube, meaning one of those huge and bulky units you can see in old movies.

Lightguns had built-in sensors that detect light on the screen, which, in turn, determines if you hit the target you're aiming at. That's a rough and unscientific way of explaining it, at least. CRT's emit electron beams from the cathode-ray tubes, which hits the screen and then proceeds to move downward in horizontal rows until it creates an image.

To date, many retro gamers swear by CRT TVs as being superior to the experience. Many old-school games include CRT approximations in their visual settings to re-create the experience more accurately.

Which brings us to this day. LCD and LED televisions work completely differently from CRT, meaning old-school lightguns don't work on them the way they used to with older technology. Simply put, LCD, LED, and OLED display all the pixels at the same time, so the lightgun can't calculate where you're aiming at any given moment.

Here's where G'AIM'E comes in. Their innovation is to step over the screen entirely and have everything work through a TV box that utilizes a high-resolution camera and AI to calculate where the lightgun is in relation to the screen. Thanks to this, the system is entirely plug-and-play, and doesn't require the lighting conditions older versions used to.

At the demo presentation, I got to try out Time Crisis, a childhood favorite of mine, complete with the pedal and gun just as I remember them. Naturally, the pedal isn't the giant metal slab from arcades, but it does the job admirably. There's a satisfying "thunk" every time I pressed down on it, and the superbly designed lightgun emulates old-school arcade pleasures wonderfully.

The gameplay loop is unchanged, and Tassei Denki has gone to great lengths to preserve the original experience as best as possible. It remains as simple and addictive to play as ever. Press the pedal to emerge from cover and fire at enemies, release the pedal to hide and recharge. It's fast-paced, tactical, and timeless.

You can set the recoil on or off directly from the gun itself, and the haptic engine does a great job of adding oomph to the experience. After a few rounds, I couldn't dream of playing without it.

The European version of the game comes in a vibrantly colored teal and orange combo, which is just on the right side of kitch to be cool. Japanese editions, due to legal restrictions, come in a more subdued black and orange.

I was shown the early versions of the packaging for all three tiers of retail editions. They are: Basic, Premium, and Ultimate. The latter, true to its name, includes everything you could want out of the set, with two guns (though weirdly only one pedal?), and a variety of collector's items alongside the four games: Time Crisis, Point Blank, and Steel Gunner 1 and 2.

G'AIM'E has currently finished its run on Kickstarter, though you can still join in for available rewards. It will come to consumer markets later in 2025.

Some questions still remain, though. It's unclear whether or not the system can run other lightgun titles in the future, or how it will be updated with sequels. If, and I hope this is the case, Tassei Denki can license out other titles to work with their superb device, this will be the essential purchase for arcade and retro enthusiasts for all ages.

For now, it's already a must-have for Time Crisis fans. I for one can't wait to spend endless hours with the classic title, this time without wasting my entire allowance in a single day.