The Menacer is a light gun peripheral released by Sega in 1992 for its Sega Genesis and Sega CD video game consoles, its successor to the Master System Light Phaser. Communicating with a television via an infrared sensor, the gun was bundled with a pack-in six-game cartridge of mostly shooting gallery games. Sega also released a Menacer bundle with Terminator 2: The Arcade Game. Mac Senour was responsible for the Menacer project and designed the six-game pack. He originally proposed non-shooting minigames based on existing Sega licenses, but most of the prototypes were abandoned due to high cost in favor of more shooting-type games. Sega did not plan another first-party release for the Menacer apart from the included multi-game cartridge. Compatible games were published through 1995. The Menacer is remembered as a critical and commercial flop. Critics found the six-game pack subpar and repetitive, and criticized the peripheral's lack of games. The ToeJam & Earl spinoff game was held in the highest regard, and reviewers also recommended the Terminator 2 game. A direct-to-TV light gun that includes the six-game Menacer pack was released in 2005. (Full article...)
Part of the Sega Genesis featured topic.