Um, just wondering why Superguns are called that? Cos really it's a Jamma Test Rig. And everyone that makes them has a variation like Ubergun etc. So, why Supergun??
I'm nearly positive it was named that after a comapny started producing jamma adaptors so that you could play the boards on a tv and use the unit as a sort of console with joystick ports and stuff.The company named the unit a name which happened to be a supergun and the nme stuck.When I fisrt saw these things in the very early nineties here in the UK they had the name supergun on them, very proffesional console like units.The unit's at this time were all the same, this was before every tom dick and harry made their own units for their stores, so I presume this name has just stuck after the company stopped producing them.Intrestingly my mate has an original unit.
Super Gun (yes, two words) is a product name, it was the first popular "test rig" in China. I don't know the company that created it (obscure to say the least.) I believe its actually from Taiwan. The Super Gun used Mega Drive controllers for input. This was in 1992. The reason why the name stuck was because this is what the Chinese market called it. In the early days, the North American/European console scene imported them and sold them as "Superguns" often with other hardware (my kind of hardware.) The reason why this all the sudden popped up in China was because the Chinese NEEDED to play SFII in all its CPS1 glory, in their homes.
Called a "Control Box" in Japan. While the name makes a bit more sense, it doesn't quite have that ring to it.
IMO, Japanese units were the best, e.g. Sigma stuff! Of course besides the original which had a MD pad decoder circuit... The UK/homemade SGs suck balls. Everyone now just sticks a couple of connectors together and calls it a Supergun.
I have a big metal slab type. Wish I had the time to make my own... I guess mine works just fine though.
My understanding of how the term "SuperGun" came to be was simply due to the fact that on or around 1991 or so, a Hong Kong company simply developed and marketed a console-esque Jamma test rig which they badged "SuperGun"...it was sold in the back pages of early issues of EGM and VG&CE through dealers like Japan Video and so forth. The actual "SuperGun" system came in a small plastic box and had Mega Drive-like controllers which plugged directly into the unit. Really, it was just a pre-made test rig which was made to appeal to the console owning market. Everything was pre-wired, controller ports were built in, etc. The same company later released a better version of the product called the "SuperGun II" From what I gather, other manufacturers and clones soon adopted the term "SuperGun" as a generic reference much like the way some people today associate Xerox with photocopies and Kleenex as tissues.
The Supergun II is made by a noname HK company. I'm nearly positive that the SG1 is Taiwanese, so there is little chance that they're related.
