The Official Turbografx 16 Thread!

[+GoldenWheels]

Ah, got it, thanks guys. Some kind of magazine insert then I guess? That's kind of cool if so, reminds me of the Nintendo Power controller overlays. Wonder if these are for a game or if those characters are Famitsu mascots. I'll try to take a photo of the other one I have.

[+GoldenWheels]

Huh, it was actually a Nectaris overlay. And before anyone says anything, I already cleaned the hell out of those controllers. The back of the Nectaris one...OMG. I could probably get a contact nicotine high from all the yellow. Ugh.

[CZroe]

Huh, it was actually a Nectaris overlay. And before anyone says anything, I already cleaned the hell out of those controllers. The back of the Nectaris one...OMG. I could probably get a contact nicotine high from all the yellow. Ugh.

Interesting that the Nectaris overlay relabels the buttons with their game-specific functions.

 

...and what a tease. Now I want to see that stick underneath. What is it and what is it for? I finally bought a Micomsoft XE-1 HE Pro that should be on its way to me now and I need a new stick to lust for.

 

 

[+GoldenWheels]

39 minutes ago, CZroe said:

Interesting that the Nectaris overlay relabels the buttons with their game-specific functions.

...and what a tease. Now I want to see that stick underneath. What is it and what is it for? I finally bought a Micomsoft XE-1 HE Pro that should be on it's way to me now and I need a new stick to lust for.

 

XE-1 is my go-to PC-E stick. They are tops!

 

The obscured controller is a Sharp Cyberstick, which with a Micomsoft XHE-3 adapter, works on PC Engine. It gives analog control for Space Harrier, Afterburner II, Operation Wolf, Forgotten Worlds, Thunder Blade, and Out Run. Apparently Space Fantasy Force too, but I don't have that one. I can't always get it to work with certain games though. Fun when it does!

 

[CZroe]

XE-1 is my go-to PC-E stick. They are tops!
 
The obscured controller is a Sharp Cyberstick, which with a Micomsoft XHE-3 adapter, works on PC Engine. It gives analog control for Space Harrier, Afterburner II, Operation Wolf, Forgotten Worlds, Thunder Blade, and Out Run. Apparently Space Fantasy Force too, but I don't have that one. I can't always get it to work with certain games though. Fun when it does!
 

*swoon*

Even better and more interesting than I thought. Looks like I've got some research to do. Thanks!

[Rhomaios]

That makes me wonder about a good stick for shooters. I have the Hori Fighting Stick, but I'm not really into PCE fighters. What are some other options?

[DragonGrafx-16]

Just use the fight stick...

[CZroe]

That makes me wonder about a good stick for shooters. I have the Hori Fighting Stick, but I'm not really into PCE fighters. What are some other options?

The Micomsoft XE-1 HE Pro is better-suited to shooters than fighters since it isn't a 6-button stick and GoldenWheels up there already called it his go-to PC Engine stick. Perhaps give it a look? My XE-1 HE Pro has been stuck in Atlanta for several days so I still haven't been able to try it yet but I have high expectations.

I've also got an NEC TurboStick en route but I expect that to perform more like the NES Advantage with rubber dome switches on everything, including the stick... yuck. I mean, I like the NES Advantage for what it is (classic) and play with it all the time but I would never consider that kind of stick "good" for anything particular like fighters of shooters. It's basically an over-sized D-Pad.

Speaking of the NES Advantage, the ASCII Stick Engine AS-7749-EG seems like the PC Engine version with the only notable difference being that it doesn't have latching turbo switches (no doubt, negated or built-in to the turbo speed dials). While it's supposed to be the PC Engine version of the Family Computer ASCII Stick Jr AS-7749-FC, the shaft even looks identical to the NES Advantage so I expect another rubber dome stick. That's disappointing since the ASCII Stick II Turbo AS-3399-FC is my favorite Famicom/NES stick out there and it uses genuine Seimitsu stick buttons switches. I know they made versions of it for other platforms like MSX/MSX2 but I don't see one for PCE. Easy recommendation if there were!

I believe Brooks makes a converter that will let you use any modern stick you want.

[+GoldenWheels]

I love the XE-1. You can rotate the buttons to a good angle, it has a 4 and 8 way lock, you have turbo sliders, the stick feels great. It even has a built in multitap. The only complaint I'd log is that for a stick, it's small. Probably about as wide as a NES Advantage but not as deep. It for sure FEELS small on my lap sometimes. From that perspective alone, you might not like it if you have big hands, and might prefer the Hori.

 

To me though, 6 buttons for PC-E is like...tits on a bull. I know, how will I play Street Fighter 2? I won't. XD

[+GoldLeader]

I have one of these and I think it's pretty nice, unlike the official one from back in the day, this one has microswitches!

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/BOXED-TURBOGRAFX-16-ACEMORE-SUPER-STICK-JOYSTICK-CONTROL-PAD-CONTROLLER/293248206702?hash=item4446f4876e:g:ZOgAAOSwiLdWB6Sh

 

[DragonGrafx-16]

10 minutes ago, GoldLeader said:

I have one of these and I think it's pretty nice, unlike the official one from back in the day, this one has microswitches!

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/BOXED-TURBOGRAFX-16-ACEMORE-SUPER-STICK-JOYSTICK-CONTROL-PAD-CONTROLLER/293248206702?hash=item4446f4876e:g:ZOgAAOSwiLdWB6Sh

 

I need one of those...

[CZroe]

Love that is still says A & B. I have a boxed "Explorer" joystick somewhere that was clearly adapted from NES to Genesis since one of the rectangular buttons from a column in the center became the Genesis A button with NES B & A becoming Genesis B & C. It's a weird one.

[CZroe]

Well, I got the XE-1 HE Pro in the mail today and it's a mixed bag. As a microswitch joystick it performs great but as a turbo controller, well, something is very wrong with mine. The listing promised that it had adjustable turbo and that's the part that doesn't work. Turbo is stuck at a slower-than-manual speed and you can't raise it even though the sliders appear intact and clean. The low speed turbo setting on a standard TurboPad is many times faster. Something seems wrong with the pots.

 

GoldenWheels is right that it's a bit small, which prompts me to recline and relax with it in a position where my hand is really resting on my leg. It's actually very comfortable but I get sloppy with my inputs and end up crouching a lot when I don't intend to. That can be easily fixed with the 4-way setting but I want my 8-directions, darn it!

 

Honestly, it's only a tiny bit more than I wanted to pay for a broken one but the seller did say it was working with adjustable turbo. Sent a message so maybe he'll offer a discount. I have to wonder if the slide potentiometers are failing in all of them by this point.

 

I like that the buttons can be completely rotated to reverse I & II in case the game does not support this. Also, since they are roman numerals, the captions are still correct.

 

Surprisingly the Select and Run buttons are also clicky though they don't quite feel like microswitches. I do wish they were larger and easier to discriminate when you need to feel for them. Since so many PC Engine games use them for action functions (Hence: AvenuePad 3) it would've been cool to have them on the rotating part with the other buttons but that may not have been possible considering the additional connections required.

[+GoldLeader]

On 12/27/2020 at 3:48 PM, CZroe said:

Love that is still says A & B. I have a boxed "Explorer" joystick somewhere that was clearly adapted from NES to Genesis since one of the rectangular buttons from a column in the center became the Genesis A button with NES B & A becoming Genesis B & C. It's a weird one.

Explorer Joysticks!  I like those!  I have 2 for Genesis and one for Famicom... 

 

[CZroe]

Explorer Joysticks!  I like those!  I have 2 for Genesis and one for Famicom...  [emoji4]

 

Didn't know they made a black one. They sure got some mileage out of that design!

[+GoldLeader]

10 hours ago, CZroe said:

Didn't know they made a black one. They sure got some mileage out of that design!

Yeah they did!  Seems like they could have retooled just enough to have a round button for the A on the Sega stuff though...

 

(Sorry to derail).

[CZroe]

Had a bit of a scare with my PC Engine IFU briefcase setup the other day. A future roommate was dropping some stuff off when my brother realized we still had some things in what was about to be the new guy's room.





Basically, the top shelf in the closet had a lot of the consoles I didn't have room to have in the living room at the moment. My bro started moving them out and the new guy started "helping."

...and by "helping" I mean he dropped the twinFAMICOM and one of my fully populated PC Engine CD-ROM² System Interface Units a whole storey (top floor to bottom floor). D: Dude was just dropping off an air mattress so no idea why he felt compelled to help us clear the closet.

The power/AV panel was shifted on the IFU-30A Interface Unit and the casing was splitting open in a few places but the CD-ROM² drive and original white PC Engine console were fine. I was pretty worried about the IFU but after disassembling and reassembling it to get everything back where it was supposed to be it doesn't look like anything ever happened. It had basically just unsnapped at a few places. That thing is built like a tank!

Back in 2017 I had 3D printed a "Magnetic Head Protector" for my twinFAMI which I believe is supposed to protect the heads while being shipped/transported.



Thankfully, I had it installed while in storage. It had somehow popped out while the drive was still in the loaded position so I had eject a phantom disk to get it to accept a real one. Still works! *WHEW*

[+GoldenWheels]

Any of you fellows get one of those Columbus Circle LCD screen for the PC-e/core/core 2? I got one and....I really like it. There's obvious drawbacks (some jailbars, I don't think the sound is...great) but as a portable screen, it's good enough, and as power supply (it powers the system, which I hadn't realized) which can use a USB battery, it adds portability, and that portability pairs well with the HDMI out, which is decent.

 

Maybe it's because I went in with LOW expectations, but this thing impressed me, in spite of its flaws.

 

 

[CZroe]

Any of you fellows get one of those Columbus Circle LCD screen for the PC-e/core/core 2? I got one and....I really like it. There's obvious drawbacks (some jailbars, I don't think the sound is...great) but as a portable screen, it's good enough, and as power supply (it powers the system, which I hadn't realized) which can use a USB battery, it adds portability, and that portability pairs well with the HDMI out, which is decent.
 
Maybe it's because I went in with LOW expectations, but this thing impressed me, in spite of its flaws.
 
 

I've seen users who didn't know it could power the system so they still had their original power supply plugged in. Of course that means you have TWO power supplies connected to the same system, which can't be good. It really should block the power jack when imstalled, much like the CD-ROM² Interface Unit does. At least it lets you use a USB power bank.

I'd also like to know how the stereo AV output can possibly work without four poles but it very clearly has only three, like any stereo headphone jack. I can only see this working if it is actually mono or if they expect the TV and console to be tied to the same ground, which obviously can't happen when powering from a USB power bank.

I don't have one but I'm not terribly impressed by the build quality I see online. In Hijiquish's videos I see the video get super flaky when he touches the cable or moves the console. He also seemed to have trouble attaching it to some consoles. The flex ribbon is somewhat exposed between the two halves and the speaker grills look like they were designed by someone who just didn't give a crap.

Probably works better than an old Duo LCD or PC Engine LT, at least, but the scaler inside is just your average $15-$20 converter that doesn't properly support 240p (the console's native resolution). Expect issues and artifacts with 60hz effects like flashing for simulated translucency.

[+jgkspsx]

On 12/29/2020 at 12:30 AM, CZroe said:

Well, I got the XE-1 HE Pro in the mail today and it's a mixed bag.

...

I have to wonder if the slide potentiometers are failing in all of them by this point.

I can confirm that both pots on mine go easily from "listlessly drumming your fingers" speed to "you could probably use this as a 14.4 modem" speed. Quite a range!

[CZroe]

I can confirm that both pots on mine go easily from "listlessly drumming your fingers" speed to "you could probably use this as a 14.4 modeM" speed. Quite a range!

 

LOL! I know exactly what you mean and why:

http://imgur.com/a/grD2iFz

 

"A100KΩ" means it is a 100K-ohm potentiometer with a logarithmic "audio" taper when this type of thing would typically use a linear taper pot. Log is typically used for audio since sounds that are twice as loud are not actually perceived that way in our minds, which becomes exaggerated the louder a sound actually is. This requires a much more aggressive ramp for an adjustable amplification circuit once you pass the mid point. With a linear taper most people would swear that their volume is barely getting any louder past a certain point when it is measurably ramping just as fast. Point is, perception is king and people would not get the level of control they expect without using log taper for volume. Turning the volume dial all the way up may sound twice as loud as half way but it is measurably much louder.

 

For something like a turbo slider you should use lin pots since users expect the physical midpoint to have a turbo speed that is half way between the difference of the max and min settings/positions. I actually didn't believe Micomsoft would make that mistake and had to make my own makeshift wiper to confirm: Yes, they used a log taper slide pot. It's constructed such that you can get reverse audio taper or standard audio taper since is has four pins. I measured with my own sliding probe and it definitely ramps through the majority of the resistance range on one side.

 

Thanks for the feedback. At least we know the wipers didn't fall out of yours as seemingly happened to mine. These are 35mm long with something like 15-20mm travel (can't recall). Since these should never have been log pots I should be able to find something that works BETTER than the original.

 

So, yeah, I've been digging through component data sheets looking for a replacement and haven't found the perfect ones yet but I did find that they typically use A to mean Audio taper (logarithmic), B for Linear taper, and C for Reverse-Audio taper.

[+jgkspsx]

Fascinating! The top speed seems impossibly fast, but I have been able to find some reliable sweet spots.

[Steven Pendleton]

I really want to see the Columbus Circle screen on a SuperGrafx just to see how ridiculous it looks. I also wonder if it will fit on the LT so you can have 2 screens at once. Probably a really bad idea and I would never do it myself if I had an LT, but that doesn't prevent me from thinking it would look interesting if it's possible.

[CZroe]

I really want to see the Columbus Circle screen on a SuperGrafx just to see how ridiculous it looks. I also wonder if it will fit on the LT so you can have 2 screens at once. Probably a really bad idea and I would never do it myself if I had an LT, but that doesn't prevent me from thinking it would look interesting if it's possible.

Perhaps seeing it with a Print Booster will suffice? 

Just uploaded a couple hours ago:

 

SuperGrafx made the thumbnail in the second video but features in both.

[+GoldenWheels]

14 hours ago, CZroe said:

I've seen users who didn't know it could power the system so they still had their original power supply plugged in. Of course that means you have TWO power supplies connected to the same system, which can't be good. It really should block the power jack when imstalled, much like the CD-ROM² Interface Unit does. At least it lets you use a USB power bank.

I'd also like to know how the stereo AV output can possibly work without four poles but it very clearly has only three, like any stereo headphone jack. I can only see this working if it is actually mono or if they expect the TV and console to be tied to the same ground, which obviously can't happen when powering from a USB power bank.

I don't have one but I'm not terribly impressed by the build quality I see online. In Hijiquish's videos I see the video get super flaky when he touches the cable or moves the console. He also seemed to have trouble attaching it to some consoles. The flex ribbon is somewhat exposed between the two halves and the speaker grills look like they were designed by someone who just didn't give a crap.

Probably works better than an old Duo LCD or PC Engine LT, at least, but the scaler inside is just your average $15-$20 converter that doesn't properly support 240p (the console's native resolution). Expect issues and artifacts with 60hz effects like flashing for simulated translucency.

Yeah doubling up would not be good. I am sure nothing in the screen is designed to account for that.

 

I'm not sure why somebody would jiggle the cables while it was on, but I suppose that could certainly make for some flakiness. That'd probably be true of...all my systems. It's not a portable in the sense that you'd have it on while playing AND moving so...pretty much a non issue to me. Mine seems very snug and secure (HDMI popped in neatly and tightly).

 

I saw no flickering, artifacting, or flashing while playing Override or R-Type on my TV...the picture was rock solid. Maybe I'll try Bonk's Revenge on the big screen and see how the waterfalls look in stage 1. If anything, the picture is slightly soft. I'd suggest you see one in person if you can, I think you would be surprised.