Mayflash Dolphinbar

Recommended watching: Batocera Nation's excellent light gun tutorial for Batocera. Part 2.

Some games are played using a peripheral that you could aim at the screen called a light gun. Arcade machines would use some sort of specialized tracking technology to “see” where the gun is pointed at, home consoles would use time-synced flashed of the CRT display when the gun is shoot to determine if the target was “hit” which is impossible to utilize on modern LCD screens.

Fortunately, by the powers of modern technology we don't actually require use of the original equipment in order to play these games when they are emulated.

Most emulators have employed the use of the most common peripheral available to computers to emulate the lightgun hardware: the computer mouse. For this reason, Batocera will simply use the system's cursor (however it may be controlled) for lightgun hardware emulation by default.

One of the most infamous examples of this is using a Wiimote to emulate a mouse via a DolphinBar.

When using a specialized peripheral to emulate a lightgun on a system, it is recommended to still have a traditional modern controller or keyboard on hand to keep consistent access to Batocera's hotkey shortcuts, such as to exit the game.

A DolphinBar is a Bluetooth sensor that can connect a Wiimote to a computer, and has specialized modes that allow it to control the mouse. Conveniently, it also has two IR lamps, which is what the Wiimote actually uses for its motion tracking (the same as the original Wii). An infamous one is the Mayflash W010 bar; not that expensive (about 20€/$20) and easy to use.

First, connect the USB cable from the Mayflash bar to your computer. Ensure that the power switch on the back of the unit is turned on.

A blue LED will light up on the top of the unit when powered on.

Set the TOP/BOTTOM as appropriate to the position the Mayflash bar will be placed in relation to the display. For best results, use the TOP option.

1. Press the left SYNC button to put the Mayflash bar into syncing mode.
2. Press the red SYNC button inside the battery compartment of the Wiimote.

The Wiimote should almost immediately sync to the Mayflash bar. This will be remembered between reboots.

Alternatively, if you only want to use the Wiimote on a particular DolphinBar temporarily and don't want to override the information about the first bar you synced to (such as if you play regular Wii games as well in Mode 4), you can use the temporary mode instead:

1. Press the left SYNC button to put the Mayflash bar into syncing mode.
2. Press the buttons 1 and 2 on your Wiimote
3. The bar led stops flashing and on the Wiimote led 1 and 2 or 1 and 4 are now fixed on

You are ready to play, nothing more to do.

The Mayflash bar features four different modes. Tap the MODE button on the top of the unit to cycle between them. For most systems, we will only be interested in two of these modes: MODE 1 and MODE 2, which both send the Wiimote's pointer as mouse signals to the computer.

• Intended for using just a Wiimote without a Nunchuk.
• There are two modes, indicated by LEDs 1 + 2 or LEDs 1 + 3 lighting up.
• You can switch mode with [HOME] + D-pad Down

Trigger = joystick_button[0,left]
A = joystick_button[0,right]
Home = keyboard[0,lwin]
plus = ?
minus = ?
1 = pgup
2 = pgdn

• Intended for using a Wiimote with a Nunchuk.
• LEDs 1 + 4 light up.
• The Nunchuk offers more buttons that can be bound for the system.

Trigger = joystick_button[0,1]
A = joystick_button[0,2]
Home = keyboard[0,lwin]
plus = enter
minus = esc
1 = ?
2 = ?

If you use the DolphinBar in MODE 3, it allows you to use a Wiimote, Wiimote + Nunchuk, or a Wii Classic Controller as a normal GameCube gamepad that you can configure in Batocera like any other pad. Mode 3 will work with all other emulators and can save you if you don't have any other controller.

But, the Wiimote, Wiimote + Nunchuk, and Classic Controller have all different button assignments, even for things that seem obvious like the D-pad. If you plug or unplug a different device, you'll have to make adjustments to your controller configuration stored in Batocera because they have all the same name HJZ Mayflash Wiimote PC Adapter.

This is the Wii-specific mode. It allows Dolphin to directly interface with the Wiimotes, but also requires another controller for ES navigation.

1. Press the right button to choose MODE 4.
2. Launch any Wii game from ES using a traditional controller.
   • To permanently pair the Wiimote:
   1. On the Wiimote, hold down the red sync button inside of the battery compartment. The LEDs will begin flashing.
   • To only temporarily pair the Wiimote:
   1. On the Wiimote, hold down buttons [1] + [2]. The LEDs will begin flashing.
3. Wait until the LEDs stop flashing. Once they do, the Wiimote is connected to the emulated Wii system.

The DolphinBar emulates a Mouse and a Keyboard as a PC Remote Controller. There is a fundamental problem with mouse emulation on a DolphinBar: jitter. It doesn't matter how far or close to the sensor bar you are, the cursor is always shaking, and there is no method to solve it. But the Mayflash make a really good work to reduce this problem.

Applies to most 2D arcade games.

At start only the movement and the first shot button are configured. If you want to use the Second Shot, you must open the Libretro menu with SELECT+B, go to options, and them ENABLE to Show MAME Menu. Then you will be able to use it to configure another Wiimote button in second shot.

You can also try to configure other buttons to Insert Coin and game Start.

Applies to NES games, such as Duck Hunt.

To use it on this emulator, open the Libretro menu and verify these settings:

Options

• Zapper Mode: mouse
• Show Cross Air: True

Controls

• User 1 Device Type: Auto

The jitter is more important on FCEUMM than MAME. You can see the cross always shaking, but it's still playable.

If you choose for Zapper Mode to Lightgun the jitter will disappear, it's really impressive, but it will be impossible to shot with any Wiimote button.

Applies to Sega Master System and Megadrive/Genesis games.

Show the crosshair by enabling the option in ADVANCED SYSTEM OPTIONS → SHOW CROSSHAIR.

Applies to SNES games.

Show the crosshair by enabling the option in ADVANCED SYSTEM OPTIONS → SHOW CROSSHAIR.

Applies to Sega Saturn games.

Applies to Sega Model 2 games (the first 3D arcade lightgun games).

Applies to Sega Model 3 games.

Applies to Sega Dreamcast and NAOMI and Sammy Atomiswave.

Applies to Sega Dreamcast and NAOMI and Sammy Atomiswave.

Applies to Nintendo Wii games.

If using a DolphinBar for Wii lightgun games, well the good news is that you don't have to actually be emulating a mouse; you can actually use the Wiimotes as they were meant to be. In order to enable this: