Many years ago I passed up on getting the TurboGrafx-16. Since then I have always been interested in the system. I have had fun playing it's games on emulators but I like original hardware. I have been thinking about buying one but I am getting confused with all the different systems. Examples: TurboGrafx-16, PC Engine, Turbo Duo, Core Grafx, Super Grafx. Can someone explain all this to me or give me a link that would help. What system is preferred. I live in the USA if that matters.
PC-Engine line is the Japanese one, Turbo is the Non-Japanese one. Supergrafx is a backwards compatible Japanese one. These were expandable with a CD-ROM module and the combined version are called PC Engine Duo and Turbo Duo. There are also hand held versions of the base systems. The Hucards are not pin compatible for the Japanese and non Japanese versions but the CD games are not region locked. The Supergrafx games won't work on PC Engines but the other way around works fine. There are Hucard adapters and there are also Hucard flash cards so your best bet is probably importing a Duo from Japan if you can't find a cheap Duo in America. The downside is that the NEC consoles are notorious for having bad capacitors so you might need them to be replaced.
id recommend just getting a PC Engine Duo with a Turbo-Everdrive. the turbo-everdrive has a region switch on it, so it will work on both region systems. it also seems like PC Engine Duos usually end up costing less than the TurboDuo, even though they are the same thing.
I'd suggest unless that PC Engine Duo has been refurbished it'd be better to get the Duo-R/RX instead.
There is an ODE for the PC Engine in development, same guy that made the Rhea for the Sega Saturn and the GDEmu for the Dreamcast. From my understanding it will not be compatible with "Duo" systems. How are the lasers for the Duo systems? Are there replacement laser assemblies available? I was planning on getting a Turbo Everdrive.
If you're looking for a full sweep, I recommend a Duo-R or Duo-RX and then either getting a everdrive or getting a region switch installed if you must play original USA HuCards. If not, a fully boxed PC-Engine can be had for a reasonable price and you can just use a Everdrive or install a region switch in it. If you do go PC-Encine, try to avoid the white units as they are RF out only (with out having to mod or buy an extra device for Composite). All other models of PC-E support Composite. I personally own a PC-Engine (3rd model) and love it. I kept with the original over the Duo because I mainly wanted to explore the HuCard library first before fully diving into the CD library. Except that the SuperGrafx is horribly expensive even when loose. Not to mention the price of getting a CD-ROM2. =P Still a crying shame the SuperGrafx got so few games. 1941 & Ghouls 'n Ghosts practically justify owning the system.
Only SuperGrafx game I don't have is that 1941 and it's way too expensive for me. never said it's cheap. It's just that to cover entire PC Engine libraries that's the only way to go - even with Turbo Everdrive and burned CD-R copies
Sadly that is one of the few games you might want to buy now because it's never gonna get any cheaper =P
that was what I thought.. But at this stage I'm content with what I have and no plan to spend big on video games anymore
As far as needing to mod or buy extra stuff for a white PC Engine duo to have composite out, thats false. you can literally attach RCA cables straight to specific pins on the expansion slot and give it composite. http://blog.gameblipsreviews.com/2015/turbografx-16-avcomposite-diy-cable/
think it involves bit more than that. when I had my SuperGrafx S-Video mod'd about a decade ago it wasn't that simple according to the modder
Do you happen to know if the board itself has anything for chroma or luma? If so, tapping into that wouldnt be too difficult.
The answer is supposed to be yes from what I have read on pcenginefx board as well as some others that mirrored the info but requires a few components to make an amplifier. Are you dead set on a DIY solution? The RGB and sync lines are accessible from the EXT port so you can get a ready made solution like JROK's video encoder that can output component, S-VIDEO and composite. Just a thought.
To get S-Video from a PC-Engine you have to use the RGB output to encode the Chroma & Luma signals. There is no spot to just tap for these signals. S-Video modded systems should contain some kind of encoder like what you can find inside many other consoles that take RGB from the video hardware and encode it into NTSC or PAL video standards. As Stevo suggested if you are using a PC-Engine or TG16 you could tap the expansion port for its RGB and run that into a JROK or similar RGB encoder board to get S-Video or Component. If you want to play CD games it'll get more complicated. DUO units are often modified to output S-Video, RGB, and sometimes Component video.
