Is a supergun confusing to own?

I really want to be able to play some classic arcade games on my TV via a supergun, but I know absolutely nothing about arcade hardware. Words like Jamma, Jamma+, PCB, scart, and many other hardware related terms might as well be foreign. I've gone to hardmvs.com several times, but it just seems to confusing for me. Basically I just want to know the following:

1. Can I play WWF WrestleFest on a supergun?

2. Can I change the dip settings in a game?

3. How would a six button game work on a four button arcade stick? Or do they make six button sticks for superguns?

4. Are superguns reliable? I always read about arcade boards being fried along with other things. Is this common?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[ July 22, 2002: Message edited by: Earthquake ]</p>

1. Can I play WWF WrestleFest on a supergun?

Yes, you can. In fact I have a supergun with the Wrestlefest board and I can play it. You can even play 4 players together if you wire 2 more controllers to the board.

2. Can I change the dip settings in a game?

Yes, you can. Somewhere in the game's board there are some switches you can change to set options like the difficulty, etc. You need to have the manual of the board (on the net you can find them all) to know how do they work.

3. How would a six button game work on a four button arcade stick? Or do they make six button sticks for superguns?

It would work but you would need to renounce to 2 buttons in that case. To play a 6 button game properly obviously you need a 6 button controller, most superguns come with 6 buttons controllers. Anyway usually you have to wire 3 of that 6 buttons directly to the board via a kick harness.

4. Are superguns reliable? I always read about arcade boards being fried along with other things. Is this common?

If the supergun is well made and used properly yes, it's reliable. If not, anything could happen.

Well, now have a look at this links for more info about superguns:

<a href="http://www.massystems.com/" target="_blank">http://www.massystems.com/</a>
<a href="http://www.chads.arcade.btinternet.co.uk/Supergun/supergunIndex.htm" target="_blank">http://www.chads.arcade.btinternet.co.uk/Supergun/supergunIndex.htm</a>
<a href="http://www.arcadeheaven.co.uk/supergun.html" target="_blank">http://www.arcadeheaven.co.uk/supergun.html</a>
<a href="http://www.alamone.com/jamma.html" target="_blank">http://www.alamone.com/jamma.html</a>
<a href="http://www.gamesx.com/index2.htm" target="_blank">http://www.gamesx.com/index2.htm</a> (section arcade machines)
<a href="http://www.dameon.net/BBBB/plus.html" target="_blank">http://www.dameon.net/BBBB/plus.html</a> (JAMMA+ kick harness explanation)

If after reading all those links you still have concrete questions feel free to post here.

Personally having a supergun is very nice so I suggest you to get one! Good luck!

Thanks for the links Amano, but man, were they confusing ! From what I learned, it appears that every game that requires more than 2 or 3 buttons needs to be rewired to the supergun. Is this correct? Is it possible to order a supergun from massystems that comes with it's joysticks already ready to handle 6 button games? Also, let's say I order a supergun, would I have to order anything else for my arcade boards to work?

I'll explain it a bit...
JAMMA has only 3 buttons. The MVS (Neo Geo) uses 4 so the fourth one (D button) has a special wire to the JAMMA harness. However, the games that have 6 buttons (like Capcom fighters) usually need those 3 extra buttons to be wired to the board (not the supergun) in some connector (not the JAMMA) made on purpose for that. Check this link <a href="http://www.dameon.net/BBBB/plus.html" target="_blank">http://www.dameon.net/BBBB/plus.html</a> . What you need is this:

that goes to the game board (this one is for CPS2 games, others may be different) and you have to connect the other end to your controller somehow. In the case of the Supernova there's some connector for that, as they say: "JAMMA Ready with Auxiliary connector for easy access to additional Push Buttons ". Most superguns solve this problem in the same way.
So I guess that wire (the kick harness) is the only think you need to play 6-button boards in a Supergun, provided that its controllers are 6-buttons ready like the MAS.

By the way, there are other supergun manufacturers like the sigma, you should check and compare before buying.

In a supergun you can play almost any arcade game, as long as it's JAMMA. Check <a href="http://www.klov.com" target="_blank">www.klov.com</a> to see how many games are JAMMA (almost all of them). However in some cases you need special wires or adaptors, but they are very rare.

Thanks again for your help Amano! It will be a while before I get the hang of it though. There's just so many questions to ask! I went to klov.com and it seems that just about every game is Jamma compatible. So basically, whenever I buy a new PCB that supports more than 3 buttons, I have to solder some wires to the board to get the other buttons to work? I'm starting to wonder if a supergun is really worth the trouble. All I really want to do is play Killer Instinct and some other fighting games, but I don't even know what Jamma, Jamma+, or even jamma harness mean. Are there any newbies to the supergun world who can manage to get by?

I'm getting a Super Nova soon, and I pretty much sort of understand JAMMA. I know that games with 3 buttons or less do not need extra wiring, and old games can be played on it through adaptor hackery.

I still wonder how I'll play Mahjong Panic stadium on it, the keyboard has 32 or so buttons!

I use a Sigma AV 7000, and it supports 6 button right out of the box. Some harnesses require you to wire button 5 and six from the connector to the propriety board used in the Sigma. Very, very easy to do though.

Earthquake, if you have a look at the links you'll know what JAMMA and JAMMA harness is. About JAMMA+, it's ALL explained here <a href="http://www.dameon.net/BBBB/plus.html" target="_blank">http://www.dameon.net/BBBB/plus.html</a> so please do me a favor and thoroughsly read it as many as times as you need for it not to be "confusing".
First of all you don't need to solder anything to the board, that kick harness plugs and unplugs in a connector of the board easily, as explained in that link.

Earthquake, 6 months ago I was a newbie like you, but after some reading and internet searching I managed to understand it enough to be able to use a supergun. Is not as easy as an official console, so you'll have to sacrifice yourself a bit, but is worth it, believe me.

I kind of get what your saying now Amano. So a kick harness is just a cable that connects from the actual game PCB board to the control stick to allow the use of more than 3 buttons? While CPS2 games require a special kick harness specifically made for CPS2 boards? Do these harnesses come with the superguns? To give me a better idea of what I would need for a six button game to work correctly, could you give me an example? For instance, if I had a supergun and a Mortal Kombat 1 or 2 PCB, what exactly would I need or have to do in order to get the other 2 buttons to work? Sorry about all the questions Amano, but I can't say enough how much I appreciate your help.

[ July 23, 2002: Message edited by: Earthquake ]</p>