Here at Vidgame.net, when we discuss the "Arcade" we like to use it in terms of the homefront. We are not talking about going to the arcade nor home arcades, but the ability to play any JAMMA designated board on your TV. These wonderful devices are known as SuperGuns, JAMMA test rigs, and other names throughout the globe. When it boils down to it, these systems are constructed with a power supply, JAMMA adapter, an RGB to NTSC convertor and a joystick or ports for removable joysticks. My personnal SuperGun is the Sigma Raijin, which I purchased from Nikke at Kaiten Games (now seemingly missing from the web). With the proper instructions and a minimum investment of about $150 USD anyone can build one. Prefabricated SuperGuns run about $300 USD. Other Superguns are available stateside from GW Trading and MAS Systems, which gather mixed reviews.

Now, to understand something about JAMMA. JAMMA is an arcade standard throughout the world. While not all manufacturers follow JAMMA, most do. JAMMA is an acronym for Japan Arcade Machine Manufacturers' Association. Through the use of JAMMA, arcade conversions of games were easy as 'plug and play'. Some game boards connected directly with the JAMMA while others connected with the motherboard for the game, as in most cases below. On the boards themselves is the male end of the Jamma connector. The female end of the JAMMA connector is found on the wiring. The connector is 56-way (28 matching pins) and may call for more for the games like Street Fighter that call for 6 buttons. Because of the necessity of extra buttons, Capcom had made an auxilary harness to match buttons 4-6 up to their boards. More about that can be learned on the Capcom page.

This is the JAMMA harness that you can buy from Kaiten Games. It comes pre-soldered to the kickboard (the green board). When you normally buy a JAMMA harness, it is a bunch of wires protruding from the blue plug. Nikke's harness also comes with a test button. By pressing this during play, you can access the game or motherboards service menus. Again, normal JAMMA harnesses do not have these. Towards the bottom of the kickboard, there are 2 unused contacts. They are not widely used for vintage arcade machines. These are where the Capcom CPS auxilary harness (buttons 5-6) would be soldered.

There are other ways to play specific games at home also. Neo Geo USA sells the Phantom-1 convertor that allows people to play SNK's MVS cartridges on the home Neo Geo AES systems. Otherwise, because of size comparisons, they are incompatible. They also do cartridge conversions making an individual MVS cartridge playable on a console. MAME also is preferred by some for arcade games to be played on a PC. The use of an arcade monitor for the purposes of MAME utilizes a series of cords and boards to output the PC signal to a large RGB monitor and allows use for joysticks and other controllers. From what I've heard, these are for the most part arcade perfect.