NES Zapper hacked to add 'absolutely terrifying' blue laser

Be careful when playing around with North Street Labs' NES Zapper, which the Portsmouth, Virginia-based "hackspace" modified with a high-powered blue laser — you'll burn your eye out, kid.

Be careful when playing around with North Street Labs' NES Zapper, which the Portsmouth, Virginia-based "hackspace" modified with a high-powered blue laser — you'll burn your eye out, kid.

North Street outlined its hacking process in painstaking detail on its website, with comprehensive instructions and photos for each step of the mod, along with a few videos. The hackers began with a standard-issue NES Zapper, removed everything but the original trigger mechanism and switch, and then got to work.

After cutting out and melting some of the internal plastic to make room for two lithium polymer batteries, manually mounting a 445nm blue laser diode, and designing a custom heat sink that would keep the laser beam aligned with the Zapper's stock "iron" sight, North Street began to realize that the modification would produce "a really serious laser," and decided to install a locking safety on the gun.

Upon completion, North Street tried out the laser — but not before putting on safety goggles. "After initial testing," the group reported, "this thing is absolutely terrifying."

North Street discovered that its laser wattage meter can't measure anything past 2W, so the Zapper's laser is at least that powerful. For reference, a typical laser pointer has an output of less than 5mW — which means that North Street's Zapper is at least 400 times stronger than your average office presentation tool. "It burns skin and objects instantly, and one TINY mistake will have you blind," said North Street. Watch the group burn some stuff with the Zapper in the video below.

Duck Hunt's dog better watch out.