When I was in middle school, I was wicked into Super Scope games. When I went to summer camp for a week, upon return I found the batteries inside my SS leaked! It smelled like burnt iron. And of course it turns out there was a precaution to take the batteries out after playing. First and only time I had seen batteries going bad inside a device.
Funny you mention that...
I brought a SS about 2 years ago to replace the one I sold as a dumb ass kid.
Anyways I got it at a excellent price with box etc off Amazon of all places.
When I went to put batteries in turns out it had some left in it and they had exploded in the worst way I have ever seen!
Couldnt even get them out.
I had to strip it down and gently pry them out before spending around 2 hours cleaning it all out.
But it works great again now