When the Sega Master System was launched in North America in 1986, it was bundled with a Light Phaser and multi-cart containing Safari Hunt. Over the next few years, around a dozen more games were released supporting the Light Phaser.
The Light Phaser's black plastic shell was designed to resemble a futuristic laser pistol. The same design was featured as a weapon in the Sega-backed anime series, Zillion. The all-black design was realistic enough that there were concerns that police might mistake it for a real gun; later versions were altered with hand-painted orange tips to identify them as a toy.