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Hanae Kramer
Hanae Kurihara Kramer is an associate professor in the School of Communication and Information (SCI) at the University of Hawaiʻi on the Mānoa campus. Kramer is a specialist on intercultural and cross-cultural exchange.
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Scott Kramer
Scott Kramer is a historian of Japan who has published peer-reviewed articles in English- and Japanese-language journals.
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Wayne Buente
Wayne Buente is a professor in the communication program in the School of Communication & Information at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. His research examines the interplay between society and ICTs (information and communication technologies).
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Abstract
The rapid life cycle of arcade games created large inventories of unprofitable arcade equipment in the early 1980s. Finding alternative uses for this equipment became a priority for arcade proprietors and suppliers, who began selling arcade-game PCBs (printed circuit boards) to the general public at swap meets and through mail-order advertisements placed in popular magazines. Electronic hobbyists made devices, today known as superguns in the English-speaking world, to play surplus arcade games on home television sets. By 1986 commercially manufactured superguns were being sold to Japanese gamers. Within a few short years, these arcade-at-home devices appeared in Europe, North America, and elsewhere. Taking a historical and cross-cultural approach, this article provides a brief explanation of the supergun device and details its arrival into various countries during the 1980s and 1990s. It also presents some of the motivations of people who joined the ranks of supergun owners and explains how they used arcade hardware in ways that video game manufacturers never anticipated. This article investigates a global gaming subculture that has yet to be studied.