How to build a SuperGun v1.0 (11/5/02) by tim@arcadecollecting.com *Disclaimer: Do not attempt this project if you are not comfortable dealing with deadly levels of live AC voltage. You can kill yourself doing this. If you do, don't come complaining to me afterwards. What is a SuperGun? A SuperGun is a device or "black box" that lets you play JAMMA arcade game PCBs (circuit boards) outside an arcade cabinet, usually on your TV, sometimes on an RGB monitor, and even possibly (but not cheaply) on a VGA monitor. A SuperGun can be broken down into five main components. Video Sound Power Controls Wiring Video ----- When building your own, the easiest thing to do is use a real arcade monitor. However, this is dangerous, because they are not enclosed by a case and if you touch the innards while its powered up (and sometimes even when its not), it can kill you dead. I do not recommend using an arcade monitor unless you plan to build some kind of enclosure for it. The next best thing is to find an old computer monitor that syncs down to 15.75 KHz horizontal sync, with analog RGB inputs. Old Amiga monitors will work, like the common 1084. Atari ST monitors will work but usually require a little effort because they accept separate horizontal and vertical sync inputs. The Apple Color RGB for the Apple IIgs will work. My favorite SuperGun monitor is the NEC Multisync 3D, because it accepts a wide range of signals, from Standard 15.75 KHz, to Medium 25 KHz, to High (VGA) 31.5 KHz. It takes both separate syncs, composite sync, and both negative and positive polarities. It will work with nearly any arcade board, including the medium-res boards and you can even use it with a Macintosh or a PC. If you're searching for a suitable monitor to use, there's huge list of monitors with their supported refresh rates at: http://www.monitorworld.com/monitors_home.html Tom McClintock scanned through that list and compiled a list of those that look like they should work: http://www.ionpool.net/arcade/tech/monitor_test_bench.pdf Look for models that list a ~15.75 KHz horizontal refresh rate with analog, not TTL (digital) inputs. I currently use a Sony PSOne (5") LCD monitor for most games, occasionally switching over to an NEC MultiSync 3D. Here's a picture of how I hooked up the Sony LCD. http://www.arcadecollecting.com/info/sonylcd.jpg Another popular option is to use a RGB->composite/s-video converter. This is a device that converts the 15.75 KHz sync and analog RGB video into either s-vhs or composite video suitable for display on a standard television. There is some signal degradation involved in the conversion process, so the image will not look as clean as a pure RGB/sync signal. James Rowan makes a very high quality converter that will give the best looking picture of any I've seen. http://www.jrok.com/hardware/RGB.html You can also buy an expensive scan converter to "upscan" the arcade PCB's 15.75 KHz signal to a computer monitor's 31.5 KHz inputs. Then, you can use any computer monitor. I've tried the XRGB-2 and it works great. These converters are a little more available lately since they're used to play console games, such as the PlayStation and PlayStation 2 on a computer monitor. Look for one that does not convert the s-video or composite video signal of the console. You want one that takes the console's RGB signal (much better picture quality that way anyway). The converters for the Dreamcast will not work. http://www.ncsx.net/www/2002/ncs020402/ncs0204.htm http://atarilabs.com/meat/2001/0120_XRGB2.shtml Sound ----- Most arcade boards have built-in sound amps, so all you need is an 8 ohm speaker. Don't use a 4 ohm because it might stress and eventually burn out your sound amp. The speaker's ohm rating will usually be marked but, if it's not, you can measure the resistance between the two terminals on the speaker with a volt meter set to measure ohms. Power ----- JAMMA boards require +5vdc, +12vdc and sometimes -5vdc. Standard switching power supplies made for arcade games are cheap and easy to work with. A good quality supply, like a Peter Chou, can be had in the $20-$25 range. They will have a row of terminals which should be clearly marked with their voltages. You can use a PC power supply if you must. I recommend a AT style supply over a newer ATX style, because the ATX's don't have an on/off switch. They are usually turned on and off by the PC's motherboard. Pinouts for both can be found here: http://www.gamesx.com/hwb/co_MotherboardPower.html http://www.hardwarebook.net/connector/power/atxpower.html You'll also need to deal with AC power going to the switching power supply. While it's not necessary to use an AC filter, fuses and an on/off switch, it's a good idea for safety. You can either buy a new three prong AC power cord or buy a three prong extension cord and cut off the female end. Controls -------- Any switch based controls will work. It's nice to use real arcade sticks and buttons mounted in a box of some sort, but you don't have to. I personally use a nice, small Sega Genesis 2 controller. Wiring ------ By far, the easiest thing to do is to buy a pre-made JAMMA harness to connect to all your components. It consists of a dual 28 pin (56 total), .156" spacing connector, with wires already connected to all the required pins. A good one will be labeled but if you're making your own, the pinouts are below. Putting it all together ----------------------- Once you have all the parts you want to use picked out, you need to put it all together. Some folks like to put it all in a wooden box with the controls on top, the power supply inside, and the JAMMA harness sticking out the side to connect to the JAMMA boards. What shape it takes is all very much up to you. I'll cover the technical parts and leave any carpentry, woodworking, etc., to you. I like to start with the power supply, since that's what's needed for all the other stuff to work. The standard wire colors for JAMMA are red for +5v, yellow for +12v, black for ground and -5v varies a lot. Here is the JAMMA pinout: ( JAMMA 56P STANDARD ) ( REV: 1.0 ) PARTS SOLDER ---------------|--------------- GND 1|1 GND GND 2|2 GND +5V 3|3 +5V +5V 4|4 +5V -5V 5|5 -5V +12V 6|6 +12V KEY 7|7 KEY COUNTER 1 8|8 COUNTER 2 C LOCKOUT 1 9|9 C LOCKOUT 2 SPEAKER 10|10 SPEAKER 11|11 RED 12|12 GREEN BLUE 13|13 SYNC GRD 14|14 SERVICE SW TEST SW 15|15 SLAM SW COIN 1 16|16 COIN 2 1P START 17|17 2P START 1P UP 18|18 2P UP 1P DOWN 19|19 2P DOWN 1P LEFT 20|20 2P LEFT 1P RIGHT 21|21 2P RIGHT 1P FIRE 1 22|22 2P FIRE 1 1P FIRE 2 23|23 2P FIRE 2 1P FIRE 3 24|24 2P FIRE 3 25|25 26|26 GND 27|27 GND GND 28|28 GND First connect six of the ground wires (P1, P2, P28, S1, S2, S28 (P=parts side, S=solder side)) to the ground terminals on the power supply. There are usually two ground terminals on the supply. Next connect four +5 wires to the +5 terminal on the power supply. Then connect the two -5 wires to the -5 terminal and finally the two +12 wires to the +12 terminal. Now DC power for your SuperGun is wired, you can take care of AC power. Your three prong AC power cord will have three wires. Usually black, white and green. The black wire is usualy hot, the white is neutral and the green is ground. The wire colors are not always the same, though, so if you're in doubt as to which is which, you should use your volt meter to measure ohms to the tips of the prong. When you measure from the wire to the prong, the two that are connected will give nearly 0 resistance... usually .001-.003 ohms. The round center prong will be ground. First, run the hot wire to a 250v, 3amp fuse (using a fuse holder is a good idea). Then, connect the neutral and hot lines to the AC line filter. Connect the ground wire to the case of the AC line filter. From there, wire the hot wire to an on/off switch rated high enough to carry 120 volts. Run the ground wire from the case of the AC line filter to the case of the switch (not the 2nd terminal of the switch!). The neutral wire can go directly from the AC line filter to the switching power supply and the hot wire can go to the switching power supply from the on/off switch. There will be two terminals on the switching power supply marked AC. It does not matter which AC wire you connect to which. Connect the ground wire from the on/off switch case to the terminal marked FG or Earth Ground on the switching power supply. If you are using a real arcade monitor, you should use a power distribution terminal after the on/off switch to split the AC wires, sending one pair to the switching power supply and the other pair to an isolation transformer. Do not connect a real arcade monitor to straight AC from the wall without an isolation transformer. If you do, you'll be creating the potential for 120 volts AC between the frame of the monitor and ground. Anything that bridges the two will get 120 volts of current run through it. That could be the chassis of the monitor, blowing it up real nice, or it could be your body, and that's just no fun. Do not feed AC power to the switching power supply out of the isolation transformer either. Running both the switching power supply and the monitor off the isolation transformer will be too much of a load and will burn it out. Some ASCII art: ____ _____ ___ | switching power supply| G|O-----------|J|-| | G|O-----------|A|-| G | +5|O-----------|M|-| A | -5|O-----------|M|-| M |+12|O-----------|A|-| E hot ___________ On/off | | | |-| |-----------FUSE----O| |O-----/ -----O|AC | Vid ----|H|-| Plug |ground | | | | |A|-| P =D----|-------------------+| AC line |+------------O|FG | Cntl----|R|-| C |neutral | filter | | | |N|-| B |-------------------O| |O------------O|AC | |.|-| ___________ _____ ___ | ______ Do not apply power to the switching power supply without it being connected to a PCB. These supplies were designed to run with a load and if you run without one, they will smoke in a few minutes. Now that power is hooked up, you can connect video so you can see some kind of life from your setup. You'll need to find out the pinouts of the display or converter you're using. Wiring is pretty straight forward. The video pins on the JAMMA connector are red, green, blue, sync and ground (P12, P13, P14, S12, S13). Your monitor or converter will also have red, green, blue, sync and ground inputs. Connect them together. Next connect the speaker. The two terminals on the speaker connect to pins P10 and S10 on the JAMMA connector. Doesn't matter which is which. Next do the controls. For player one's controls, wire one ground from pin P27 of the JAMMA connector in series to one side of each button switch and joystick direction switch in a daisy chain fashion. Then run one wire from each input on the JAMMA connector to each switch on the button or joystick, including a button for coin and start. For player two's controls, repeat the process using a ground wire from pin S27 on the JAMMA connector. More ASCII art: Switches O------O------O-------O------O------O------O------O-------O-----+ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | UP| DOWN LEFT RIGHT BUT1 BUT2 BUT3 COIN START G | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | N O O O O O O O O O D | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | O O O O O O O O O O __________________________JAMMA HARNESS___________________________ You can also connect switches for test and service if you like. Test puts the game PCB in test mode if it has one. Service is usually for credits that don't trigger the coin counters. You probably didn't hook up the coin counters anyway... You can ignore the coin counter and coin lockout pins on the JAMMA connector. You'll notice that there are some unused pins on the JAMMA connector. On my setup, I used pins 11 for stereo speakers and pins 25 and 26 for extra buttons. Many games use more controls than the standard one stick, three buttons per player. In those cases, you'll have to make a seperate harness to handle those controls. Most common is fighting games like Street Fighter 2, Mortal Kombat, etc. These games have 5 or 6 buttons per player. There is an extra harness that runs from an auxiliary connector on the game's PCB to the extra buttons on the control panel. You'll need the manual or pinouts for your particular game to determine how to connect the additional controls. You can buy most all the parts you'll need from one guy... Bob Roberts. He is a treasure to the arcade gaming community. http://www.dameon.net/BBBB/parts.html You can get most all the tech info you'll need from one guy... Al Kossow. He's the grand daddy of arcade collecting. http://www.spies.com/arcade Some examples of people's SuperGuns: http://www.dameon.net/BBBB/jig.html http://www.dehydratedwater.org/supergun/control_mockupsm.jpg http://www.dehydratedwater.org/supergun/control1.jpg http://www.dehydratedwater.org/supergun/supergun_mockup_front1.jpg http://www3.sympatico.ca/ross/matthew/supergun/gunb1.jpg http://www.leopardcats.com/supergun/tempest_ext.jpg http://www.neogeoforlife.com/neogeohardware_files/supergun.jpg http://cps2shock.retrogames.com/graphics/jamma/jamma.jpg http://www.jabba.demon.co.uk/retroranch/supergun1.jpg http://www.arcadeflyers.com/strider/Images/VAGA_01.jpg http://www.chads.arcade.btinternet.co.uk/images/supergunfromback.jpg http://www.chads.arcade.btinternet.co.uk/images/supergun/barrysupergun.jpg http://web.njit.edu/~jal0737/GFX/Neo-Geo/Universal%20Sticks%20(final).jpg A not so great picture of mine: http://arcadecollecting.xmission.com/eBay/SuperBub.jpg Great references and places of info for this stuff: http://www.hardwarebook.net/ http://www.spies.com/arcade/ http://www.gamesx.com/ http://www.arcadecontrols.com/arcade.htm If you need to yell at me, email tim@arcadecollecting.com The original and most up to date version of this document can be found at: http://www.arcadecollecting.com/info/supergun.txt