Meet the Maker: Uncle Rick, the Light Gun Man Who Freed Builds From Drive Letters

Remember when every build you downloaded had to live on drive D, or Z, or it simply would not start? Uncle Rick does. He is the light gun specialist behind a run of free builds carrying the Uncle Rick name, from his Sinden LaunchBox builds to RickBat Lite, and he says one of his early builds helped get rid of the drive letter problem for good.

Off the internet he is 43 and lives in Oklahoma. He runs the tkssitch YouTube channel (he admits he has been “slacking lately”), he is one of the admin team behind the Lunatics groups, and he takes this hobby very seriously indeed. Three words? “Driven, focused, quality.”

There is 2 types of people in this hobby. Those that play, and those that create.

Uncle Rick

We asked Rick for a headline quote and he told us: “I can’t think of anything, you pick something.” So we did. That line is from his tips for beginners, and it is our favourite thing anyone has sent us.

How it started

What got you into the game?
Probably videos from ETA Prime and Retro Ralph.

What have you made?
Where to begin.

• Uncle Rick’s LaunchBox, 2 versions (you can find his 93GB BigBox Sinden build and the earlier 30GB BigBox light gun build here)
• RetroBat Rick’s Arcade / Netplay (his netplay build on our site: Retro Lunatics RetroBat v7.1)
• Hypseus Singe LaunchBox
• And the current one, RickBat Lite

The build that changed things

Your favourite thing you’ve made, and why?

Probably my 1st iteration of Uncle Rick Sinden LaunchBox. That really cemented a few things. And a few 1sts. Shows a build doesn’t need to be terabytes big to be great, that build still gets recommended among Sinden users. 1st to automate Sinden lightguns and to run full control of UI from the gun itself. Freedom from drive letters. Everyone at that time still needed a build to be on D or Z. Now it’s industry standard.

Uncle Rick

Controlling the whole menu from the gun itself is one of those things that sounds small until you have tried to find a mouse in a dark games room with a Sinden in your hand.

What do you love about what you do?
The challenge. One thing I pride myself on is not piggybacking off of other builds. And looking at how my builds run, and with the last one running the RickBat Tool, there is features not found and cannot be reproduced anywhere else.

A moment you’ll never forget?
Probably Jasen Baker hitting me up in the DMs. The man is one of the OGs, and I won’t go into details of our conversation but it was one of mutual respect, and kinda a bit of mentorship on how to navigate the emulation world.

What’s next: plug and play PCs

This is the big one. Rick is moving into making ready-made PCs:

Moving into producing low spec but high emulation premade PC. Will be true plug n play for lightguns, wheel n pedal, arcade, netplay etc… also will contain a version of RickBat tool called RickBat and will bring in features that won’t be found anywhere else. Will use the Batocera front end. And if that kicks off, no telling beyond that.

Uncle Rick

His dream build goes right back to where he started: “My true love, virtual pinball. That is actually how I started by modding an AtGames pinball machine. All bells and whistles as those ones from Australia without the getting scammed part.” We laughed. Then we nodded.

Tips for new builders

Rick’s answer here is the best advice we have had all year, so here it is in full.

Treat the hobby with respect. What I mean is don’t assume you already know everything because of a 5 min video, or degree or using AI. This is its own beast. AI gets more things wrong than right, we have many computer engineers that still need help installing a ROM, and these 5 min videos can take an entire day. Leave your pride and arrogance by the door and start by learning the basics and build a good foundation. Also the real fun is the journey, the learning. And find out what you are, there is 2 types of people in this hobby. Those that play, and those that create. And if you can’t put an emulator and ROM together to play, that’s fine. People like myself love that sh*t and there will be a build on Arcade Punks for you. No building required, download and play.

Uncle Rick

Off the clock

In the real world his job deals with casino regulations, and he has set up a lot of Discord servers along the way. His favourite things: “Heavy metal for life. Early arcade beat ’em ups. Late night country drives listening to sad country songs and drinking music. Going to concerts, and just too much more to name.”

Shout-outs

Rick’s list is long, and every name on it has a story.

• Peter Drady, one of the original founders of Light Gun Lunatics: “If it wasn’t for him bringing me back into the fold, I may not be in the hobby today.”
• The other admins from Light Gun Lunatics and the other Lunatics groups: Silverbullet, BygDick and the rest of the team.
• The founder of the Lunatics: “Without this man none of us would have ever crossed paths and spurred up the level of light guns as it is today.”
• Light gun OG Jasen Baker, the guru who gave Rick advice on finding his way in the emulation world.
• “The man that never sleeps and just continues to constantly elevate the bar of lightgun gaming”.
• And last, Darren “Dr of Love” Payne: “Big supporter from my original YouTube videos. Back when I was doing everything from a 30 dollar Android phone. If not for him I would’ve stopped YouTube a long time ago. Back when no one was watching but basically him. I figure as long as I have 1 watching I’ll keep making videos for him. Now I have a 2000 plus sub following.”

That last one is a lovely reminder: one viewer is enough to keep going.

A word for the Punks

Rick signed off with this, and we will take it: “Know the Lunatics appreciate your work, big props to you. By end of day it’s just video games. Have fun and enjoy.”

Our take

Uncle Rick is a creator through and through: no shortcuts, no borrowing, just builds that do things nobody else’s do. If you are a player rather than a creator, that is fine by him. Grab RickBat Lite, pick up your gun and have fun.

Are you a player or a creator? Tell us in the comments.