Namco Arcade Lightgun compatiblity

[shanki]

Hey guys I recently acquired an Italian universal cabinet with Point Blank and two Original Namco Light guns.

The pink light gun doesn't work at all and the blue lightgun works apart from the recoil but the shell is in very poor condition.

Original parts are very expensive so I've been looking around on AliExpress. I did find some guns but they are for Time Crisis 4. I'd need the guns for Time Crisis 1-3 and Point Blank.

This leads me to my very simple question: Is the Time Crisis 4 light gun compatible with the Time Crisis 1-3 and Point Blank light guns?
Are there any other alternatives for replacing the guns? I don't wanna put any emulation/usb stuff in just trying to get a replacement for the original hardware.

I'm sure this question has been answered somewhere already but I scoured the Light gun sub for quite some time and couldn't come up with an answer.

Anyway thanks guys in case you're wondering what that Italian cab looks like I can post some photos later on.

Cheers,
shanki

[JayBee]

Hey guys I recently acquired an Italian universal cabinet with Point Blank and two Original Namco Light guns.

The pink light gun doesn't work at all and the blue lightgun works apart from the recoil but the shell is in very poor condition.

Original parts are very expensive so I've been looking around on AliExpress. I did find some guns but they are for Time Crisis 4. I'd need the guns for Time Crisis 1-3 and Point Blank.

This leads me to my very simple question: Is the Time Crisis 4 light gun compatible with the Time Crisis 1-3 and Point Blank light guns?
Are there any other alternatives for replacing the guns? I don't wanna put any emulation/usb stuff in just trying to get a replacement for the original hardware.

I'm sure this question has been answered somewhere already but I scoured the Light gun sub for quite some time and couldn't come up with an answer.

Anyway thanks guys in case you're wondering what that Italian cab looks like I can post some photos later on.

Cheers,
shanki

I believe the TC4 gun use IR tech, not CRT tech, so it won't be compatible.
But then the TC4 in aliexpress don't have any sensor/pcb included, so it won't matter anyway.
You might be able to put your namco guts inside a TC4 if the dimensions fit. If you can one of the guns apart to measure the dimensions I can check my TC4 and tell you if it would be a good fit.

For the non working gun, is the trigger still working or both aim and trigger are dead?
If both aren't working, I'd suggest checking the wires continuity.
If only the aiming isn't working, you might get a cheaper gun sensor somewhere to replace the dead one.

[shanki]

I almost suspected it wouldn't be that easy. I was under the impression that offer on Aliexpress for around 103$ was a complete replacement with all the guts included, but in that case it's not a good deal at all, there's a set of minty fresh original shells for 99 Euros on ebay right now. Either way a lot of money just for plastic... Guess I'll keep looking for a good deal for the blue gun only.

The gun sensor isn't that expensive and chances are as you said it just needs a new microswitch or has a loose wire, as I think it might just be the trigger.

What would be nice to know is if I could use that solenoid for TC4 on the Point Blank gun, i'll take some photos and measurements of that.

Edit: I had another look at that offer: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001599914124.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.0.0.46f338f8webt7o&algo_pvid=5fca7751-3b76-4d92-81b3-3193f8ba006a&algo_expid=5fca7751-3b76-4d92-81b3-3193f8ba006a-2&btsid=0bb0623616175375152813950e80e2&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_,searchweb201603_

It says for CGA in the title. Can you make sense of this offer?

Edit2: it seems I'm SOL on that offer. I read somewhere that it's possible to use HAPP Guns for Point Blank though. But I'm not sure it would be the same experience. The Namco guns are notorious for their recoil that wouldn't be the same with the HAPP guns.. I'm torn on what I should do

[keeleon]

Did you ever happen to find a solution for this?  I'm in the same boat with needing a replacement gun for a Time Crisis 1, and the cheapest with recoil it seems I can find is about $400, with their being a non recoil version for about $100.  Would be nice if there was a good 3rd party alternative, but I guess this stuff is so old it's not worth making them cheap.

[TapeWormInYourGut]

There are Namco knockoffs that are currently being sold for $200. They have the text "NAMED" on the side instead of "NAMCO", but feel really good. I bought them 8 or so years ago from this supplier.

https://www.arcadespareparts.com/arcade_parts/shooting_parts.html

I modded mine with Aimtraks and then put GUN4IRs in them, so I've never used them on an arcade. They're listed as direct replacements so I assume they're compatible. This isn't my video, but shows what they look like (except without the LED buttons on the sides or camera sticking out the front).