Yes, I'm a big noob when It comes to superguns and I'll probably have more questions as time goes on. Thank you so much to anyone who can help me out! Mak Japan sells 3 superguns (control boxes) on their website, and I am leaning towards the Sigma Raijin over the Blast City & Sigma AV7000. Is that a good choice? Is Mak Japan my cheapest option for obtaining a new Japanese supergun online (besides eBay)? I'm from United States btw. Each supergun includes a Standard JAMMA harness, but what is the purpose of the harness? Mak Japan advertises 3 peripheral parts for the Sigma Raijin, and I don’t know if I should purchase the RGB15pin cable, RGB21pin cable, or S-Video Cable? Will the Sigma Raijin support all PCBs or just JAMMA PCBs? If I purchase a JAMMA PCB or JAMMA PCB Kit, they simply plug into the supergun? After I purchase the supergun, pcb, and cable, is that all I need (already have TV)?
1. I've never dealt with Mak Japan or bought a Sigma unit, so I can't comment on that one. 2. Again, no comment. 3. The purpose is to connect to the arcade PCB. 4. It depends on what kind of display you're using. If you're using a TV that supports SCART or Japanese RGB, then you should probably go with the 21-pin RGB cable. Note that since it's a Japanese device, it probably uses Japanese 21-pin RGB - so if your display uses SCART, you'll need an adapter. If your display doesn't support RGB, you should probably go with S-video - assuming it supports that. I would imagine they have a composite option too, if your display doesn't have an S-video input. 5. If it has only a JAMMA harness, then it will only support JAMMA PCBs, yes. 6. Yes. 7. Assuming the supergun has all the essential parts - adapter, PSU, controller ports, audio/video outputs, then that should be all you need. I think Sigma units usually include controllers. If not, you might need to buy those separately.
Why Japanese? Others are just as good, and won't cost a ridiculous amount in shipping. Mak are probably the only seller left for a new unit in Japan. ANY device like this is essentially an arcade machine you connect to your TV. So yes, they're JAMMA and only JAMMA. Like most arcade machines, you might be able to use a harness to play SOME other games, but don't expect every game board to work. You need to find out whether there's a JAMMA harness (adapter) for that specific board. Some manufacturers used there own standards prior to the JAMMA spec that will work with a harness (Neo Geo, Konami etc.) - don't expect anything newer than JAMMA to work, though.
some non jamma boards can be made to work via jamma, depending on the board, either via an adapter or just by rewiring the harness
1. All are good choices, depending on your needs. 2. To connect the arcade board to your supergun. 3. What TV do you have or plan to use? Buy the one pluging in your TV. 4. JAMMA out of the box, JVS through an I/O adapter (common and easy to get) and non-JAMMA usually are covered through adapters, so you should most games, excepted some which used special peripherals, of course. 5. Yes. 6. Yes.
Technically arcade boards who behave near enough to TV specs don't need a video encoder, but chances are you want one. RGB ready TVs aren't common here. Keep in mind as implied above, most RGB cables and converters/selectors readily available to the US are SCART, not Japanese.
