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Picture this: It’s summer 1998, and it’s the dog days of summer. You and your friends are tired of watching TV, so you decide to play outside for a little while. The only problem? The blazing sun is so harsh, and you’re looking for a little relief. Sadly, none of you have a pool, but you all have one toy that can cool everybody down while you run around: the Super Soaker.
If you grew up in the 1990s, you likely have fond memories of Super Soaker battles in the hot summer sun. The toy defined summer 1998 and still flies off the shelves today, with new versions being dreamed up all the time.
When we were kids, Super Soakers were one of the best water guns for summer, and they’ve become one of those ’90s nostalgic toys we’ll never forget. Now that we’re adults, it’s cool to hear about Super Soaker history and who invented it.
As part of our Parade Rewind series, we recently took a look back at the 25 most popular toys every kid wanted in the 1990s. Super Soakers were featured on the list, so we decided to do a deeper dive and explore what made the toy so iconic.
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The Neon Giant of Summer 1998: What Was the Ultimate Water Gun?
When it came to the best backyard water toys in the summer of 1998, the Super Soaker definitely reigned supreme. After the product hit the market in 1990, it quickly solidified its icon status. Throughout the decade, the product evolved and began to dominate the toy landscape.
According to the Strong National Museum of Play, Super Soakers had a “big impact on neighborhood play.”
“The small squirt guns of the past had required close-in work to engage the opposition. The long, drenching reach of Johnson’s invention requires a quick retreat from a soggy assault or a good chase, meaning that kids with Super Soakers do some serious sprinting,” the museum’s website reads.
Super Soakers were incredibly fun, but they were also somewhat educational.
“Calculating the distance to target and the physics of velocity and arc requires kids to use their brains. Contemplating strategies and tactics and puzzling out plans forces kids to analyze the best approaches to triumphal ends. And if kids get soaked in the process? It’s all good clean fun,” the museum’s website reports.
As pressurized blasters began to replace cheap, leaky squirt pistols in the ’90s, the Super Soaker rose in popularity. By 1998, the brand’s legendary CPS (Constant Pressure System) series ruled backyard battlefields.
Christopher Byrne, aka The Toy Guy, is a toy analyst, researcher and consultant. He tells Parade most water guns were single-pump action before the Super Soaker.
“When the pressure of pulling the trigger was exhausted, you had to pull it again. The streams weren’t that forceful, nor were they that big,” Byrne explains. “What the Super Soaker did was build the air compression into an entire chamber by repeated pumping of the handle, which allowed for a longer, more forceful stream of water. This made water battles more dramatic and more competitive, and the larger volume of water was incredible for kids.”
From Rocket Scientist to Backyard Legend: The Genius Behind the Super Soaker
Some of the best inventions are accidentally discovered. This was the case with the Super Soaker, which was invented by Lonnie Johnson, a nuclear engineer who worked at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory on the Galileo mission to Jupiter, per History.com.
Byrne tells Parade that Johnson stumbled upon the idea for the Super Soaker while developing a heat pump that could use pressurized water instead of freon for cooling.
“As it happened in some of his experiments, he was surprised by the force of water that came out of one of the tools he created. From that, he decided to see if the non-working heat pump could instead be a toy,” he shares.
According to the Strong National Museum of Play, Johnson hooked a nozzle up to his bathroom faucet while designing the pump. When water shot across the room, it sparked an idea for a “high-powered water blaster.”
“From PVC pipe and an empty soda bottle, he improvised a model he called the Power Drencher that featured an air pressure chamber and a water reservoir. Johnson later enlarged the tank and moved it to the top of the blaster, making the prototype look even more like a prop in a science fiction movie,” the museum’s website reads.
Smithsonian Magazine previously described Johnson’s original prototype, which was a ” far cry from the squirt gun available on store shelves.”
“The array of white PVC pipes and bulbous reservoir gave it a Star-Wars-ray-gun look. But as jury-rigged as it looked, the prototype could shoot: a compressed blast of water could carry up to nearly 40 feet,” the magazine shared.
According to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), Johnson first developed his idea for a collection of toy water guns in 1982. Four years later, Johnson secured a patent for his invention.
Flash forward to 1989, and he met with the Vice President of the toy company Larami Corporation.
“He visited the company headquarters in Philadelphia with a new version of his toy gun with the water bottle on top of the device,” the USPTO wrote. “In front of the president of Larami, ‘I took it out and pumped it up and fired it across the room,’ said Johnson. The president was wowed. ‘It was like they had never seen a gun perform like that,’ said Johnson.”
When the first Super Soaker hit the market in 1990, it was originally called the Power Drencher, per the Strong National Museum of Play. Due to a trademark infringement claim, the name was changed.
According to the USPTO, the Super Soaker has earned more than $1 billion in sales since its initial release. In its first two years on the market, it was the bestselling toy in the United States.
Throughout his career, Johnson invented and received more than 200 patents for a range of inventions, including batteries, spacecraft and engines.
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The 1998 Arms Race: Why the CPS 2000 Was Almost Too Powerful
When the Super Soaker CPS 2000 was released in 1996, it revolutionized the world of water guns.
According to Wirecutter, the wildly popular model is “widely considered the most powerful mass-produced water gun in history.”
The CPS 2000 had a “50-foot range and a 30-ounce-per-second output.” They reported that the Super Soaker hasn’t released a more powerful version since the CPS 2000.
Byrne shares that the product’s name stood for “constant pressure system.”
“The 2000 allowed kids to empty an entire chamber of water (more than 3 liters) all at once,” he says.
However, it also had a powerful recoil.
“The force with which the water could come out could knock small kids over, or cause bruises. It was taken off shelves for that reason,” Byrne explains.
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Why Modern ‘Super Soakers’ Still Rule the Toy Aisles Today
Larami Corporation originally produced Super Soakers. However, Hasbro acquired Larami Corporation in 1995.
“After Hasbro acquired the Super Soaker, they continued to make a lot of innovations in it,” Byrne says. “Hasbro has continued to evolve and innovate with the brand. But they’ve also faced a lot of competition from companies like Zuru, which has done its own innovations, notably the Fast-Fill, which allowed kids to open the chamber and scoop water into it. Super Soaker copied that later.”
In 2010, the Super Soaker and Nerf brands came together for a Nerf-branded Super Soaker line that included four water blasters with technologies from both brands. To this day, the two brands are still partners.
These days, children have access to a wide range of toys that incorporate technology of the sort. However, Super Soakers are still wildly popular. Byrne believes this is because water guns are a form of social play, and what he describes as “allowed naughtiness.”
“In other words, it was a chance to get your friend wet without doing something ‘bad.’ Super Soakers have competition and active play built in,” he says. “There’s still nothing like a water battle. For competition, fun, ‘getting’ your friends and the sheer joy of being wet on a hot day.”
Related: 25 Popular Toys Every Kid Wanted in the 1960s
The Best Retro-Style Super Soakers You Can Buy Right Now
Feeling nostalgic? Consider picking up one of the Nerf Super Soaker retro designs below.
Nerf Super Soaker XP50-AP Water Blaster, $26.20 (originally $29.99) at Walmart
Walmart
Shop it at Walmart Shop It on AmazonMade of recycled plastic bottles, this water blaster’s tank can hold up to 24 fluid ounces of water. Similar to the original designs, the Nerf Super Soaker XP50-AP Water Blaster features a classic look and a distinctive pressure mechanism.
Nerf Super Soaker XP100-AP Water Blaster, $22.99 (originally $29.49) at Walmart
Walmart
Shop it at Walmart Shop It on AmazonWith its retro packaging and classic design, the Nerf Super Soaker XP100-AP Water Blaster is a fun nod to the Super Soakers of the ’90s. It has a removable tank that can quickly be refilled and can hold up to 42 fluid ounces.
Nerf Soa Super Soaker XP35, $9.99 at Target
Target
Shop it at TargetThe color palette of the Nerf Soa Super Soaker XP35 is giving us total ’90s vibes. The water blaster has a removable tank that can hold up to 9 fluid ounces of water and an air-pressurized continuous blast of water.
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Christopher Byrne, aka The Toy Guy, toy analyst, researcher and consultantHence then, the article about this toy defined summer 1998 and still flies off the shelves today was published today ( ) and is available on Parade ( Saudi Arabia ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
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