Looking to build a supergun

I've never done anything like this before but after seeing one in action the other day I'm interested in making one for Street Fighter III 3rd strike (which is CPS3). If someone could give me a few links and also if it would be possible give me an estimated price for everything I will need that would be great. This is just an interest :thumbsup:

 

Buy PS2 or Xbox, buy a decent joystick, buy SF3 3S on that, save lots of money...

Seriously 3rd Strike still goes for several hundreds of dollars (over $400 from the cheapest of the arcade dealers in Japan and around that on Ebay) plus you have the suicide battery in the cartridge which can be replaced but if done wrong turns your arcade board into a nice paper weight.

Most Superguns are overpriced boxes with not much more then a PSU, some wire, a couple of connectors and maybe a video driver board if you live in the States and have no SCART. Making a Supergun requires no more then 50 pounds in parts (if you go for new parts) and a joystick.

Arcade boards can be pretty expensive and they can break and repairing them can be more then what you paid for the board originally.

Still on the positive side it's a lot cooler then having a sad old PC in the corner playing illegal games.

 

http://www.chadsarcade.co.uk/oldsite/Supergun/supergunIndex.htm

Also try http://cps2shock.retrogames.com

The main items you need are a good JAMMA harness with everything wired up for you, a power source like a PC Power Supply, and a Video output. If you are in Europe or you are lucky and have a RGB TV/Monitor you just wire it up like anything else. Otherwise goto www.jrok.com or lookup neobitz and get a RGB encoder to output a NTSC video signal in something like S-Video or Component. Then just wire it all together. But it's not that easy, because you'll want what you build to look decent.

One of the main decisions you need to make is what your unit should be like, which includes deciding if you want integrated controls or detachable, house the game board inside or outside, general shape, etc.

I find leaving boards outside unprotected unappealing for anything other than something like CPS2 (which has plastic encasing) since they have no protection generally and are just bare pcbs. One thing to consider is building a fairly large box to house the board and all the components you need and attaching controllers to a d-sub style port. Or you could make like a control panel or half cabinet and integrate the controls so you have everything in one sort of. There's alot of options so you gotta get a feel for what you want.

A barebones Supergun can be assembled in a few minutes if you have the parts you need. You could probably build your SG (complete with everything you need) for 150$ to 200$. It's hard to total everything up and give any exact numbers. Just read up on how it all works alot.

I have the wood in the garage still and I'm trying to think how I'll construct my casing. I'm figuring it'll look somewhat like a chest type box, very big like an Xbox on alot of steroids. The main reason I'd build it so big is to house even very space consuming games like Mortal Kombat 2 which has a seperate daughterboard and such.

It is quite a project and you get back what you put into it. So just try to figure out what you need and what you want to get from it and it shouldn't be too hard to figure out what you need to do to get there.

As Jamtexsaid, most premade superguns are overpriced considering you could build it yourself for less. The main costs in building the SG are the power supply and video encoder. Everything else isn't as significant. Also I wouldn't advise you make a SuperGun unless you intend on buying a few of your favorite games. And find out how much the games you want tend to go for. Street Fighter 3 currently is pretty overpriced last I checked, however it's possible after emulation that prices will go down.

 

Wow it is a lot to do and sounds like it will take some time but then again I have the whole of the summer. I will look a lot more into it on the links you have provided MottZilla and I thanks you both for the information. I already have 3s for the xbox 360 but with the only arcade stick the DOA one which is already hard to get and costs a lot I thought it would be more fun and I would get more out of it to make a supergun of 3s and also this way I could get others. Since I live in Europe 3s was not included in the SFA collection for some reason so all we get is xbox version which is still not arcade perfect and has next to no arcade sticks.

 

yeah the XBOX 3rd strike is Arcade perfect. (PS2 isn't too shabby either)

the Dreamcast Version isn't quite arcade perfect, the soundtrack is arrange only the music doesn't blend between rounds and there are some VERY minor graphical glitches.

 

Well since you live in Europe getting a Supergun together will be alot easier. You can just wire the RGB output to a SCART RGB connector and use the input on your TV. That's alot cheaper than buying a video encoder like you have to if you live in the US.

Still, take a look at what game boards will cost you. They are the primary concern above all else. There's not much point in building a Supergun if you can't get the games you want. Many games are quite common and can be aqquired cheap, some are a bit more pricey, some are pretty insanely priced. And again, arcade board collecting is NOT a cheap hobby. You can easily spend alot of money. Sometimes you get lucky though and spend very little.

One thing you should consider as an alternative is one of those X-Arcade control panels for your game consoles and PC. Or alternatively building just your own arcade controls. That's a big part of the Supergun experience for most people. To play the arcade games with arcade controls opposed to gamepads. You can get that on a console for not much.

If you really want just the arcade controls, you just need to build a box that's nice to mount your joystick and buttons on, and then just wire it up to a sacrificial controller's PCB board. I actually did that to make my own PC Arcade stick. I used an old PS1 3rd party controller and soldered wires to the PCB and wired it to the arcade switches and I had my own controller for alot less than what you pay elsewhere and it is very durable and nice.

 

Very true, but video encoders are dead cheap. When I built mine (so I could output Pacman into my new rotateable TFT :icon_bigg) it cost under £5 in parts. Paying $140 or whatever-it-is-now for a J-ROK one is insanity.

Stone

 

I'm still looking in to it since I have a friend who has a few cabs (one with 3s) and he showed me a place to get the PCB for near 250 pounds I think (still expensive) but Warzard or red earth if you live outside Japan is just under 100 pounds so that could be a good start. Will the sg work with a HDTV fine also?

 

What kind of HDTV? If your HDTV can handle something like a Super Nintendo or a PlayStation with RGB output, the SuperGun should be fine.

Stone, what are you talking about? I know you could build your own video encoder board if you really want to track down a single IC chip, then solder all the components required onto a board and such. But that is a pain in the ass and I'm not sure you save all that much money and you get an inferior end product. Plus you live in the UK, why would you need a video encoder? SCART RGB would be all you need I'd think.

And JROK's encoder last time I checked for the Component, SVideo, Composite model it was something like 80USD and less for the one with just composite and svideo.

Besides, it doesn't matter if you have a TV with RGB input, something we were never blessed with over here.

 

Its a Samsung HDTV and it runs the old playstation and even the N64 fine. After checking out a site that sells superguns for a heavy 199 pounds I have decided to make my own I will be starting I think in a few weeks time when I come back off holiday. If you could provide any more tuts or useful links that would be great. Also would it be possible to make the arcade stick port USB because I would want to use my Virtua Stick High Grade

 

USB? I think not, not unless you are skilled at building and programming microcontrollers... However you could open the stick up and wire up the buttons to the places you need, you may need to put a switch on the ground so the stick doesnt interfere with the joystick, failing that just buy a standard stick and wire it up as you see fit.

The 200 quid one from Raven Games? They have built some shockingly bad (pun intended) superguns in the past, when using 240V guys it helps to use insulators and covers over the exposed metal parts so if say one of the wires in the unit comes loose from piss poor soldering then the person won't get 240Vs through them and a burn from the evaporated wire which wasn't any good for carrying the 15Amps that the 5V line carries let alone 240V... I saw one and laughed.... Raven then had the cheek to say 'You invalidated the warrenty by opening the machine up'....

With the SG you probably want to think about what you want, no point added lots of features if you aren't going to use them. Things like RGB controls are a waste of time.

 

Took me all of a day to do (going slowly) and the IC is available as a free sample 'Inferior' is a pretty strong word to use to describe something you've never seen.

I already said that, so I could plug it into my TFT.

He's stopped scalping so much, then. When he only did the composite/s-video one it was a proper pisstake...

Stone

 

Oh my friend said he brought one from there seven years ago and his was fine. I wouldn't have thought opening it up would void the warranty since its home made guess they were just having none of it :wall: I will just make my own arcade stick with it then since I use my VHG stick with my PS3 for VF 5 and Tekken 5 DR. Thanks for the information again Edit. One of my friends heard about me wanting to make a supergun and said theres a good auction on ebay and sent me the link which is here. Can any of you tell me if its worth the buy? Thanks http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/MAK-Supergun-...goryZ187QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

It's nicely built but it suffers from problems.

The JAMMA connector is on the unit, which means that you are going to suffer problems with connecting the unit to the board and if you dont then the board or the unit will need to rest on something to stop the board from flexing... BAD DESIGN! You could build a JAMMA extention loom but thats a lot of work.

It doesn't seem to offer support for 5 or 6 button joysticks.

External PSUs are good but normally they are under rated, fine for playing most JAMMA boards but I've seen PSUs go up in smoke if you use something like an MVS 6 slot... The 5V line should support around 15Amps.

The cheeky buggers are charging you for listing it on Ebay as they sell the unit for €95 on their website.

 

Once again thanks for the help Jemtex and I was thinking the same to with the board just stuck out at the other end. Also the 5 or 6 button joysticks would be needed for the CPS3 games and more. I can't believe hes making you list it :lol: Oh well back to making my own :thumbsup:

 

What £199 will buy you in the UK



Comes with a 3rd party 6 button Megadrive controller. Just the one mind you, another one will cost you 30 pounds...

Features...
Fully compatible with ALL original Jamma Pcb's
I would hope that all Superguns would be compatable with JAMMA games...
Test, service & game select buttons (which are needed for Neo Geo Mvs carts etc.)
Are they? I've never used a Test or service button on a Neo Geo.. it would be more useful to have two credit buttons on the machine.
Quick connect harness is included to wire up to six button games like Street fighter 2 etc.
Probably because they can make money out of making looms for it, most sensible superguns have a 8 screw terminal block (3 extra buttons per player plus ground). What they provided is useless as you have to buy a terminal block to use it...
One and two player push start buttons
Two joystick / pad ports as standard
Credit switch button
These are features???
Three RGB control switches on the rear of the SuperGun (adjusts red, green and blue levels)
This isn't as useful as it sounds... the RGB levels are going to be fairly accurate anyway.
High quality arcade power supply.
Thanks for telling me, wouldn't want to buy a low quality arcade power supply...
* Solid picture no wavy lines (EC approved)
No, I have not idea either...
90 day warrantee
Good spelling not included...

The Power cable is hardwired, which is surprising as IEC connectors are easy enough to fit. Dito the SCART lead is hardwired too. >_<

What £150 will get you in Japan.



Big difference huh? Yes this is a Supergun and not just a controller. Comes with a JAMMA loom too, the only thing you need to buy is 21Pin RGB (Not SCART but could be rewired) Cable or an S-VHS cable... This is an extra £18...

Features...

Supports S-Video, RGB, Audio out. 6 button connector, Autofire switches. Nice brushed aluminium case.

You can see the rest...

What £150 will buy you in America




Features...

Again you can see most of them. Supports Composite, S-Video, Audio Outputs.


But the killer is this line...

:lol: :lol: :lol:


I know which one I'd rather buy, and it isnt the Raven one... Although I'm off to buy a Mahjong Loom (nice prewired job) and a Mahjong Controller so I can make myself a nice Mahjong Supergun. :thumbsup:

 

Amazing thanks so much for the in depth review and I've seen the other two you pointed out before and I was impressed with the one from Japan but maybe it would be better having the sticks separate instead of having it on the supergun? I was talking to my friend and he said he got 3s off his friend for 110 pounds so I hoping he may have another laying around for me Would you suggest making my own then instead of buying or is there a good place to buy them or get one custom made? Or even like I said build one from scratch because I've been looking at some guides and after looking I've decided that getting one that could use Neo Geo carts would be a bonus

That made me laugh so much I never noticed that before :lol:

 

Most decent superguns that are built by proper companies will have the 4th and 5th buttons wired up to the two spare lines after buttons 1,2 and 3.

The Jamma standard is only 3 buttons, Neo Geo uses an unused 4th line and a line for the select button.

More or less everything else uses a small connector for the extra buttons.

Making your own one can be fun as long as you can solder and have access to some decent tools (drill, small hacksaw, soldering iron, wire cuters, small file, crimp tool). The bits can be bought cheaply, you can use an arcade PSU or a PC PSU (as long as it will do 5V at least 12Amps and 12V at 2Amps). ATX PSUs can be used, just requires a small resister to fool the unit into being on.

If it sounds like too much hard work then look at getting one from Japan or the US.

I prefer the Japanese one as it has more a feeling or being at an arcade.

 

ATX needs a small resistor? Just tie the green to ground and use the back power switch. That's what the switch on the PC does anyway.

Building your own isn't hard but you get what you put into it. So a quick hack job isn't going to be pretty. If you buy one, you get what you pay for or something you pay for more than you get. If you're going to buy one you might want to find someone to make you one or else spend alot of money to get a japanese supergun like the sigma.

 

I'm gonna ask around to see if theres anyone who would be interested in making me one since I know a few people who are in the arcade scene so maybe they can help. If not I'm gonna do a lot of looking in to it in the next coming weeks to see what I will need to make one.