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The Official Turbografx 16 Thread!


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On 7/12/2019 at 8:39 PM, CatPix said:

PC-Engine Splatterhouse has the gore. 

It does not.  I think the only things the PC Engine version has over the US release is the religious symbols like the crosses and the altar (inexplicably removed to become a completely empty hallway in the TG16 version)  

 

But neither version had the background graphics gore of the arcade game. Just saying. :)

 

image1.thumb.jpg.f3defb698f002a08091e1be6b2b79d75.jpg

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I completed Shape Shifter today. I'd be curious to hear other people's thoughts on that game as there is not much about it online. No playthroughs on youtube either.  It was one I played with a friend growing up and I had good memories of it, but I don't remember getting that far. I think we got to the shark part, right after the cat statue boss, but that was it.

 

I like the graphics and music. The game has some charm to it, however, I find it brutal to play now as it has so many cheap deaths and poor hit boxes along with limited lives. The final 3 form boss is extremely tedious and I had to resort to the unlimited lives cheat code to finish it.

 

On another note, my Turbo Duo was unable to play any of the dialog towards the end. It was getting hung up and I had to open the top to get the game to continue. I'm wondering if the laser is starting to go. The system was fully recapped about 4-5 years ago. I tried 2 different ISO sets and several different burn speeds and they all crapped out around the same spot (though not always exactly the same spot) - around the final boss pre-fight dialog. I haven't played the Duo in a while so I'll have to try some more games to test it. My guess is that it happens with data that is located towards the outside of the disc.

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I'm kind of softening up to this as it wasn't clear to me a week ago that it is now, that ultimately the 50 games really isn't that but more around the 44-45 game mark as you have the regional duplicates.  Basically in the end you're paying for the same hardware in a different plastic wrapper basically, one that's twice as long and a bit deeper too and fairly 80s ugly, then you have the PCE/CG style, just a little flattened cube at half the width and far less eye catching.  Given you have stuff like the insanely expensive Sapphire on there covering Arcade Card, Drac X, Gradius II, Panic Bomber, Ys 1+2, and other gems of the CD/SCD style there's some expensive variety before even hitting the hucards.  Sure there are some really stupid holes considering the age grade the thing gets as it is with what is there, but who knows where they'll take it in the end.  I'd like to see a DF style inspection and tear down on this to see what it really is all about inside.

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On 7/5/2019 at 4:56 PM, CZroe said:


Interesting since this looks like it has an audio amp too.

If you still can’t find it:
Voultar’s RGB bypass board/amp works with every PC Engine or TurboGrafx but doesn’t handle audio. I was going to build my own audio amp earlier this year but then Mobius Strip Tech released one for free. He has also released boards for installing a Genesis miniDIN in place of the RF modulator so you can wire it all up without cutting the case.

I plan to do several before I sell off my extra consoles in the future. If I have any extra boards I’ll let you know.

 

Does Voultar’s RGB bypass board/amp allow me to hook up my CD-ROM to the TG-16?

 

Basically what I'm asking is that I want my TG-16 to have RGB SCART, but I want to keep my CD-ROM attached. Every cable that I've seen plugs into the expansion port, so you can't hook it up and your CD-ROM at the same time. Someone needs to work on a bridge adapter, something that plugs into the TG-16 port, then you put the CD-ROM into that. What are my options if I want RGB with the CD-ROM still hooked up?

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Does Voultar’s RGB bypass board/amp allow me to hook up my CD-ROM to the TG-16?
 
Basically what I'm asking is that I want my TG-16 to have RGB SCART, but I want to keep my CD-ROM attached. Every cable that I've seen plugs into the expansion port, so you can't hook it up and your CD-ROM at the same time. Someone needs to work on a bridge adapter, something that plugs into the TG-16 port, then you put the CD-ROM into that. What are my options if I want RGB with the CD-ROM still hooked up?
If you RGB-mod the console with Voultar's internal RGB mod it will work just fine with the CD add-on. Most people like to replace the RF output with a Genesis-style 9-pin mini-DIN. Because you can get properly-amplified and mixed stereo output from the CD dock, there's no problem with Voultar's amp not having an audio amp.
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31 minutes ago, CZroe said:
43 minutes ago, Zap! said:
 
Does Voultar’s RGB bypass board/amp allow me to hook up my CD-ROM to the TG-16?
 
Basically what I'm asking is that I want my TG-16 to have RGB SCART, but I want to keep my CD-ROM attached. Every cable that I've seen plugs into the expansion port, so you can't hook it up and your CD-ROM at the same time. Someone needs to work on a bridge adapter, something that plugs into the TG-16 port, then you put the CD-ROM into that. What are my options if I want RGB with the CD-ROM still hooked up?

If you RGB-mod the console with Voultar's internal RGB mod it will work just fine with the CD add-on. Most people like to replace the RF output with a Genesis-style 9-pin mini-DIN. Because you can get properly-amplified and mixed stereo output from the CD dock, there's no problem with Voultar's amp not having an audio amp.

That's awesome. Do you have a direct link? On his site, I only see a Turbo Duo/R/RX & Supergrafx RGB Kit.

 

https://voultar.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=53

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So I guess I'm out of luck right now CZroe?
No, that's the right one. He says it's designed for those because they have an audio amp that his board does not provide, but it works with all PCE consoles for RGBS.

Your setup doesn't need the audio amp because you can get properly amplified audio from the CD dock.

That said, it might make more sense to mod the CD dock with a
his IFURGB just so that the whole mod is part of the dock instead. People just drill a hole to panel-mount a DIN8 on the dock for that one so they can use the same cables they'd use for a Duo or CoreGrafx RGB mod.
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  • 2 weeks later...

I'd love to get this but I think I would prefer the Japanese version, the original PC Engine form factor. Is the mini actually any smaller than the original console? I'm not super familiar with it and haven't seen any side-by-side comparisons, but at a glance it looks like a similar size. I've played so few PCE/TG-16 games, but it has always held an almost mythic status in my mind. When I was a kid, circa '88, I had a friend who could somehow occasionally get Japanese gaming magazines, and we saw PC Engine games in it and marveled at the screenshots and tried to translate words and phrases to make sense of it.

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9 hours ago, Zoyous said:

I see them. Wow, that is truly remarkable! I can only guess the TG-16 redesign was due to a "bigger is better" notion in the West.

Yup and the stupid concept is carried over with the US version of this HDMI update as it's a little deeper, a little higher, and twice the width.  A real empty shelled space pig.  I'm going to if I buy one, get a core grafx style unit.  I'm sure they having all the same games likely will have some region switch in the menu you can toggle, though if not, it's still better than the US alternative.

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I think it was really all bigger=better.

 

NEC Japan had directed its U.S. branch to sell the PC Engine, so in Chicago, NEC Technologies boss Keith Schaefer put together a launch team. Schaefer, along with Ken Wirt and Bob Faber, had joined the company after having fled Atari's home computer division. "At the time we went to NEC, we didn't have any idea about doing video game stuff anymore," Wirt says. 

 

....

 

The company made the decision to redesign the PC Engine's casing for its introduction to the U.S. Compared to other consoles of the era, the PC Engine was tiny, thanks to its well-engineered internals and the credit card sized HuCARD format. However, "there was a feeling" that American consumers wanted something bigger -- and something more futuristic, Wirt says.

 

.....

Another former NEC staffer, who came on much later in the system's lifespan, has a different take: "Their idea was a dumb American stereotype: Bigger is better. That's all it is," says John Brandstetter, who joined NEC in 1991. O'Keefe (who worked for Atari in Japan prior to NEC) chalks the redesign up to "Atari mind-think," comparing it to the disastrous Atari 5200, which the company's marketers felt needed to be physically larger than its hit 2600 console to be successful (which it wasn't.)

"They wanted this to be big. They wanted to get into the living room, and this was a great opportunity to do so. They had already done so in Japan," says Greiner. The PC Engine's success made NEC complacent; the size of the opportunity masked its dangers.

 

https://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/225466/stalled_engine_the_turbografx16_.php

 

On the plus side, the Turbob doesn't have a constantly breaking hinged lid to a worthless controller storage area.

 

 

 

 

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That's a great article about the TG16. I knew of the PCE in Japan since I regularly traveled through on my way home back to Guam from college, and as such I eagerly bought the TG16 at launch as an early adopter. So I was fully aware of the physical differences between two at the height of their popularity... And I have to say that at the time (88/89?) my feeling was the PCE was too tiny! So maybe there was a hint of truth to that strategy for US consumers. :lol: 

 

Today I do think the PCE design is nicer. But do I think it's only with the "looking back with 20/20 vision' glasses, and 4 decades of console experience under our belt that it's obvious. ?

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55 minutes ago, NE146 said:

That's a great article about the TG16. I knew of the PCE in Japan since I regularly traveled through on my way home back to Guam from college, and as such I eagerly bought the TG16 at launch as an early adopter. So I was fully aware of the physical differences between two at the height of their popularity... And I have to say that at the time (88/89?) my feeling was the PCE was too tiny! So maybe there was a hint of truth to that strategy for US consumers. :lol: 

 

Today I do think the PCE design is nicer. But do I think it's only with the "looking back with 20/20 vision' glasses, and 4 decades of console experience under our belt that it's obvious. ?

Haha I think the black and orange TG is actually pretty sexay in any case. Even after finding out about all differing models overseas (love that shuttle!), I still like it.

 

I don't think anything really changes much no matter what happens back then, but it is kind of crazy to think that "Atari think" from the 5200 era is part of the reason the Turbo ended up a distant third. It likely could have been a much close third!

 

 

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Normally not a fan of oversized computers/game systems for the sake of it, I too like the design and look of the TG-16. By the time you added the CD ROM unit though, it was a beast. Hell, the box alone that the CD unit came in was ridiculous!  ?

 

Original PC Engine with its "briefcase" and CD drive mounted to the left was brilliant that way. Easily one of my favorite looking systems of all time. It's just 'smart'.

 

The size of the TG-16 could be forgiven if only they included the Turbo-Tap inside of it. In other words, the thing should have included 4-6 controller ports to begin with. Lord knows, the case could have easily accommodated them all.   ;)

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