PAL PC Engine / TurboGrafx

I am tempted to get a PAL PC Engine / TurboGrafx, but there is one thing that has been holding me back from doing so, and that is, the lack of a 60hz mod.

Anyone here is a PAL PC Engine owner? How bad are games in 60hz? Big border? Obvious slowdown? Or it is something which is barely noticable?

 

I've got a PAL TurboGrafx and to be honest it's not that bad. The main problem is obviously the software issue, if you're not able to do a region mod yourself it's a pain in the arse using a converter that sticks out at the front of the console.

Another issue I have is that my 48'' Samsung LCD HATES it with a passion via RF, I can only play it on my 28'' SONY CRT so you ay also want to look at either an A/V mod or full RGB conversion, just make sure that if you're using an LED or LCD yourself that you'll also not encounter the same issues as me.

 

Why would you want a PAL system? There is no real PAL system as I recall. Just get either a US or JP console. These days there is no reason to use PAL50 (for TG16).

 

To my knowledge 100% of the TurboGrafx software library was designed and intended for 60hz markets. I'm not aware of a single title that didn't get an NTSC release or runs too fast due to conversion from PAL.

 

There is a PAL system, but I don't think there were any games released particularly for the PAL market. Even the games that were bundled with the PAL consoles (like Blazing Lazers (sic!) aka Gunhed) were just US versions and the console itself was compatible only with US TG16 HuCards. Therefore people (and very few people I might add) ended up playing games designed for the US 60Hz-market in 50Hz on their officially "converted" US-consoles.

If you're not a collector, there's no need to own one of those things. It limits you in every way possible (the US library on its own isn't the most feasible as opposed to the gigantic Japanese software variety, and then you've got the 50Hz problem as the icing on the cake). I know it's tempting because NOS systems sell for low prices (and I bought one exactly for that reason), but if you want to play games it's not worth to be considered.

I'll conclude by saying what everyone always says when there's a thread like this (I've lost count of how many "PAL TG16 = great?" I've seen ) and recommend you a Japanese Duo-R or RX.

 

Obviously I would pick up 60hz over 50hz anyday, the only real reason I am (was?) interested in the PAL system is that it is relatively cheap and is New Old Stock. But I have been persuaded to stay clear =)

 

So buy it for the shelfs, and a DUO for your TV-set. Picobello

 

Guys,

Does anyone know the history of the PAL TG16?

I remember the 'grey import' pages of magazines at the time 'begging' NEC to bring the PCE to the UK, but it never happened, I am pretty sure NEC even took out an advert warning buyers of import systems that NEC UK would not touch them if anything went wrong.

Fast forward 20 years, and there seem to be loads of these PAL TG16 units, but where the hell did they come from? Was there a PCE release in Europe somewhere? I think Telegames ended up with lots of this stock, maybe they did the conversions, I just don't know!

If they did a PAL unit, why not release it in volume in the UK, or are they dated after a time it would have been pointless releasing into the UK market as maybe SNES was released, or Mega Drive had a massive userbase?

Very curious!
Thanks,
Paul

 

From Wikipedia, not sure how accurate this is:

In the United Kingdom, Telegames released a slightly altered version of the US model simply as the TurboGrafx around 1990 in extremely limited quantities.[2] Although there was no full-scale PAL region release of the system, imported PC Engine consoles were largely available in France and Benelux through major retailers thanks to the unlicensed importer Sodipeng (Société de Distribution de la PC Engine, a subsidiary of Guillemot International).[3]

 

It seems to have had a limited release in Continental Europe by an Austrian distributor. I think NEC wanted to keep the UK for itself, but cancelled their European plans before officially releasing it there.

Zero #14 (Cover-Dec 1990):


The warning about buying import PC Engines was made quite a bit earlier, actually prior to even the US TG-16 release. It seems to be NEC UK washing their hands of support for import consoles, rather than an attempt to stop import sales prior to an official launch.

CVG #93 (Cover-Aug 1989):


By July 1991 NEC UK was no longer planning to release it as they considered it too expensive for the UK market. Lots of articles from then considered PC-Engine to have been officially released in France, but I think this was probably an incorrect assumption caused by the availability of the console in major chains. I also think there may have even been some TV commercials in France. This was probably down to Sodipeng mentioned in the post above.

Games-X #11 (Cover-July 4th, 1991)

 

Very nice post, and interesting read. Thanks! It is a real pity PC Engine was never given a chance in Europe.

 

Thanks to Nintendo the PC Engine never had much chance outside of Japan as I recall.

 

Hi all,

I know you can find these informations quite everywhere, but here is my personal take...
Several years ago, when I first heard of the PAL version (see more details in my old website here: http://faberp.tripod.com/tev.htm) I tried to contact NEC Europe to have more informations but I never got a reply from them.
In the end, being a console collector and a big PCE fan, I decided to buy one brand new system some months later I wrote that web page.
The system came in two boxes: one, the same you can see on the first picture of the page, for the console itself and another one (quite simple in the look and monochromatic) for the quite big AC adaptor.
The console is quite similar to the US Turbografx-16 but it has a different logo with blue/red stripes, a different name (just Turbografx without the 16) and a different color (it is dark gray instead of black).
If I recall correctly, on the box and in the instruction booklet there are no copyright notes referring to NEC Europe but the unit is clearly PAL and works quite well with my old TV set. Obviously, I prefer to use my modified Japan and US units to play games using the SCART connection but I bought the system for my collection and not to play games on it.
The game that came with the console was clearly a US card just dropped in the box of the system and the unit is able to play all my other US games. The same can be said for the instruction booklet of the console itself: the logo and the color pattern are taken the US version and not from the European one. All these elements helped me having an idea of what happened...
Because in the end, while the console, the box, the booklets etc. are clearly official, you can feel that something is "wrong" and I always thought that the setup I bought was simply not complete.
My opinion is that NEC was ready to launch the system in Europe and the first small production run was completed. Then, seeing the system wasn't selling well in the US and already thinking of stopping selling the unit even there, all plans were scrapped.
Years later NEC, probably to empty their stockrooms and getting some money back, packed the first PAL production run with US games and instruction booklets, and sold everything to an unidentified wholesale retailer. That's why it finally reached the market.
I know for sure the PAL system was sold by retailers in Spain, Germany (I bought mine there) and UK but as far as I could understand at the time I was investigating, the source was the same for all retailers.

Cheers,

Fabrizio

 

Does this say anything interesting?



I also find the Accessories box interesting in that it has a Continental European AC adapter "HES-ACA-12". This seems to be the only type of "Accessories box" I can find on the internet, there doesn't seem to be any documentation of one including a British style AC adapter. The only other "HEC-ACA-XX" AC adapters that show up are 120V ones. So it's strange that the box is in English even if it was never intended for English speaking countries.

There are lots of these on Ebay from Germany and Spain, but none from UK, so I'm not convinced this was ever properly released in UK.

 

As said, I don't think it was ever properly released anywhere. For sure some UK retailers sold the PAL Turbografx: back at the time when I bought it I found it available from two different online stores, one from UK and one from Germany. I bought it from Germany just because it was cheaper.

Fabrizio

 

I picked up my NOS TG16 two weeks ago in The Netherlands, a retro webshop owner bought an old stock and still has them in his store now. It's the version described above with the dark grey console and 2 boxes, where one box holds the adapter etc

 

Really? Which store is this?

 

don't know if i can post store links here so pm me if you want the adress

 

In the early 90's, I remember to have seen at least one advertisement of such NEC Turbografx model in a Spanish video-game magazine. I still may keep that magazine. Indeed, there were reviews of a few games.

 

There seem to be quite a lot of unsold PAL-Turbos out there, they are always available NIB. I just never could bring myself to cough up 60 Euros for one, as there aren´t too many US Turbocards I care for. PC Engine generally does not have very much to offer for my taste.