There haven’t been all that many lightgun games for some time now, though occasionally you’ll get a new one come out here and there, but if you’re a Wii owner you’ve yet to have a reason to purchase any Wii gun accessories, as there just hasn’t been a game from the genre on the system yet. However, with the invention of Nintendo’s own lightgun peripheral, you just knew lightgun games were around the corner, and with those games companies who think they can make a better product than the officially sanctioned one. Well, Nyko is one such company to step-up and challenge the quality of Nintendo’s own product, offering up their own lightgun for Wii owners – the Perfect Shot. So does Nyko’s product live up to the name of ‘perfect’? Yep, pretty much.

We first tried out Nintendo’s own lightgun peripheral at this year’s E3, trying it out while playing a few minutes of Capcom’s Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles. The gun worked well, but for those who were expecting a gun looking similar to that of the original NES zapper, fans were left pretty disappointed at the new, too convoluted, Tommy Gun styled setup. The gun worked with the game, but it just didn’t feel that great in our hands. After being impressed with several of Nyko’s past products, we decided to checkout their new Perfect Shot, a lightgun peripheral looking to challenge Nintendo’s own, and which triumphantly stomps all over the original.

For fans looking for the more traditional NES zapper configuration, Nyko’s Perfect Shot is your best bet to date. Unlike the Tommy Gun looking Nintendo peripheral, Nyko’s Perfect Shot looks more like a Magnum or Beretta, making us want to hold the gun to the side like some sidewalk gangster. The predominate colors are a light baby blue and eggshell white, which match almost perfectly the Wii’s color scheme, so this product will look great among your Wii setup. It’s a bit strange to see an orange hinge at the end, however, but that’s more a nag than anything else, because in no way does the color affect the product.

Since the Wii remote and nunchuk is still the real thing you’re using in lightgun games, the Perfect Shot is more a casing than an actual product on its own. Given that the Wii’s remote and nunchuk play an important part, both would need to work perfectly with the Perfect Shot, and both happily fit easily into place, fitting like a glove. The Wii remote fits on the top of the Perfect Shot, sliding into the top and snapping into place so the nunchuk plug slips into one at the back of the Perfect Shot’s top, and so that the B-button rests on a trigger system inside the slide. Once the remote is plugged in, you then slip the orange hinge over the edge to secure the remote even more. Meanwhile, the nunchuk plugs into the bottom of the Perfect Shot’s chamber butt, which makes a connection from the Perfect Shot plug to the one on the remote.

The trigger system was a big problem many had with Nintendo’s on lightgun peripheral, saying that it didn’t feature enough feedback; for those with such complaints, you’ll be happy to know that Nyko’s Perfect Shot trigger works great, giving enough click and resistance to register properly so that you know when you’re squeezing off each shot, and though made of plastic it feels strong and sturdy and not cheap at all.

The nicest thing about the Perfect Shot is that it works great with lightgun games, and it feels extremely nice in your hand. We tested the Perfect Shot with Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles for a good side-by-side comparison of Nintendo’s version and Nyko’s own Perfect Shot. The aiming was spot-on and we were able to easily move the controller around, take aim, and pop a zombie’s head directly as it ran at us. The trigger system also worked wonderfully, as every intended shot rang loudly through our speakers as we pulled the trigger, and not once was there ever a stray shot that went off without our trigger pulling having triggered it. The only slight fault we can find with the Perfect Shot – when looking at it from every possible review angle – is that when everything is in its place and you’re holding it in your hand, the controller isn’t perfectly balanced, as it is a little top-heavy and front heavy, making the controller naturally want to tilt forward if you aren’t holding onto it; it’s a very minor issue and one that doesn’t affect the controls at all.

As soon as we saw the Perfect Shot by Nyko we were already in love with the peripheral, as it simply just looked cool. Once we took the gun out of its package and actually put it through its paces, we just found ourselves becoming even fonder of the product and enjoying the game we was using it on even more because of the product itself. There are two very minor nags, but not enough for us to not whole-heartedly recommend the Perfect Shot, and reward the peripheral with an equally befitting perfect rating.

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