PC engine?

What system is this exactly? I have never really known when I see games for this.:-(

 

Same thing as a Turbo Grafix 16, but the Japanese version. Also theres like 50 different types they came out with in Japan, ones with CD drives, ones that had upgraded electronics. Seems like the list goes on and on.

It was huge in Japan so you can find tons of Japanese games but American games are much harder to come by.

 

Well, I'm surprised you see games for it at all in Texas...unless you mean on the internet.

PC Engine is the Japanese Counterpart to Turbo Grafx 16. Or rather...Turbo Grafx is the MUCH less popular US conterpart to the wildly popular Japanese PC Engine.

PC Engine is a fantabulously neato little system with an awesome library of games that I totally recommend checking out. It's games aren't straight up compatible with Turbo Grafx games (a convertor or mod is required to plan PC Engine Games on a TG16...and a converter AND a mod is required to play US games on a PC Engine).

Got it?

Edit: Ack! Handles beat me to it!

 

Bummer. I remember seeing it when I was a child at Toys r Us and it had Bonks Adventure. From what I can remember, non of my friends even knew what it was. Everyone wanted Genesis with Streets of Rage.

 

Ah I understand. It's just too bad that most of the games would probably be in Japanese being that it was very popular over there and that would be the only thing easy to find.

I just get confused sometimes because I only know the US titles for these systems.

 

If you like shooters its a must have system. My no1 for sure.

 

Japanese isn't really a problem. Most games are pretty simple, so a bit of guesswork generally works. Remember these are older games, so they're more likely to be mario style platformers, schmups etc. which require little in the way of text


Really is a great system to get into. Good fun, some very nice games (particularly if you're into late 80's arcade games) and not too expensive to collect for. Start with a coregrafx which will play games on HuCards (like card games for the Master System) and outputs composite A/V. You can then get a CD unit in the future if you fancy more games, but there are plenty on HuCard alone.

 

Yeah, Steaster is right, I didn't mean to imply that the system is inaccessbible.

I speak no Japanese and I own one myself. Quite a blast!

 

Seems cool, but I honestly can not afford to collect other systems at the moment. If I did start to collect another, I would be completely broke. I collect PS I & II games at the moment. I may get a PSP and start to collect those as well.

I spend my money on:

7 inches
LPs
Video Games
Food

These are the things I live for. :nod:

 

If you're lucky and make a habit of visiting thrift stores and pawn shops, you may run across a TurboGrafx-16. If the price is reasonable (no more than $35, in my opinion, with $20 being a better deal) I highly recommend you get it. While the US didn't get half of the titles that were released in Japan, we still got quite a few of the worthwhile ones.

I also need to mention that the PC Engine and Turbografx HuCard games are in NO way compatable with each other; i.e. don't buy a TurboGrafx and expect to play PC Engine games on it. The excpetion of course would be if you were willing to purchase an extremely spendy adaptor and do a little soldering inside your console. But a PC Engine Coregrafx or Shuttle system is cheap enough, so it's really not worth the bother.

 

I think it's worth noting that i have never seen a TG-16 with my own eyes. Not in the stores when they were new, not at any of my friends houses when I was younger, not at any second hand shops now. Distribution seems to have been rather regional...

That being said, i've always wanted one.

 

I got really lucky. I found mine in pretty damn spiffy shape, with Keith Courage, Final Lap Twin, and Air Zonk for the stunning total of $17 at the old Salvation Army store here.

 

I managed to get a Turbo express years ago when it was offered in my Mom's GTE catalog (before they were verizon.) Didn't get the console system until a few years ago. Definitely a great system, but it seems the US games are a little hard to come by, even in used game shops. Not counting Ebay of course.

 

You guys are lucky an incarnation of the PCE was actually released in the States**. I remember going into Telegames 13+ years ago and drooling over the PCE LT in the glass cabinet. IIRC, it was about £600 or something daft. I was lucky enough to be in the store the day they got their first batch of import Duos too.

I don't know how much a second hand Duo would go for in the US, but then you'd be able to play Japanese CD games. I'd be more worried about the lack of CD games, than not being able to play import Hus.

**Ok, there is the magical mystical rare PAL PCE, but I've never seen one. It may have only been released in Spain? But TG is the only place I've ever seen a PAL AES or CD, so if they didn't have a PAL PCE back then, god knows who did!

 

I picked up a TG-16 off ebay for like 20 bucks with a game, 2 controllers, and the multiport adapter thing I need a good game for it though to appreciate it lol

 

Hmm...try Blazing Lazers (Lame Name, Good Game), Super Star Soldier, Bonk, Military Madness...

My knowledge of the US library isn't so good...

 

Don't worry, most of the US library isn't very good to begin with. Then again I've only got about 8 games for the system.

Military Madness is definitely a must have, along with Alien/Devil's crush, Legendary Axe, and the only home console version of Street Fighter 1 (fighting street for the CD rom)

 

The sad thing about the system, is that it is a costly one to collect for if you really want to get a lot of the good games. There are good cheapies for $20 (even on the import side) but there's several $70-$100 games too! Sylphia, Sapphire, and Dracula X combined is like $500 of games.

 

Anyone care to elaborate what the "spendy adaptor" and the soldering TG16 for PCengine play entails?

 

You do NOT need to do any soldering on a TG-16 to get it to play PC Engine HuCard games. A simple adapter is all you need.

If you won't have the adapter and want to install a switch, it's possible to do it without a chip because the "lockout" protection on the US model is simply a pin swap.

The best adapter to get is the Kisado (in terms of reliability) but there are plenty of cheap adapters out there that will still work.

As for CD games, 99% of them are completely region free. There are less than 10 (IIRC) CD games that will require an adapter and/or JPN system card to run (not including the Arcade CD games as the Arcade card never shipped in the US).

Probably the best way to get into the system is with a US TurboDuo, though if you're really hardcore the JPN PC Engine DuoRX is the optimal choice. Street Fighter 2 plays nicely on the included 6 button pad!

-hl718