Well there have been a few Japan-based consoles back then - Nintendo NES / SNES, Sega Mega Drive (Sega Genesis in USA) and Sega Master System, SNK Neo Geo, Atari 2600. Although I remember NES having a pistol controller for a few exclusive games made for it, I'm not sure of the other systems didn't have some equivalents as well, also you didn't specifically mention a pistol controller anyway.
It is a bit too vague of a description on details, I'm afraid. Maybe you remember some more?
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