TurboGrafx-16
Encyclopedia
TurboGrafx-16, fully titled as TurboGrafx-16 Entertainment SuperSystem and known in Japan
as the , is a video game console
developed by Hudson Soft
and NEC
, released in Japan
on October 30, 1987, and in North America
on August 29, 1989.
The TurboGrafx-16 has an 8-bit CPU and a dual 16-bit GPU; and is capable of displaying 482 colors simultaneously, out of 512. With dimensions of 14 cm × 14 cm × 3.8 cm (5.5in × 5.5in × 1.5in), the NEC PC Engine holds the record for the world's smallest game console ever made. (Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition (2008))
In the United Kingdom
, Telegames
released a slightly altered version of the US model simply as the TurboGrafx around 1990 in extremely limited quantities. 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
).
In 2009, the TurboGrafx-16 was ranked as the 13th greatest video game console of all time by IGN
, citing a lack of third party support and the absence of a second controller port, and calling the console "straight-up underpowered".
(founded in 1973) and NEC
. NEC's interest in entering the lucrative video game market coincided with Hudson's failed attempt to sell designs for then-advanced graphics chips to Nintendo
, similar to Nintendo's later rejection of Sony's
designs for a Super Famicom CD attachment which evolved into the PlayStation.
The PC Engine is a very small video game console, due primarily to a very efficient three-chip architecture and its use of "HuCards" (Hudson Card; also referred to as "TurboChip" in North America and based on the BeeCard
technology Hudson piloted on the MSX
). The cards were about the size of a credit card (though slightly thicker), similar to the card format used by the Sega Master System
for budget games. However, unlike the Sega Master System (which also supported cartridges), the TurboGrafx-16 used HuCards exclusively. TG-16 featured an enhanced MOS Technology
65SC02
processor (dubbed the HuC6280
by Hudson) and a custom 16-bit graphics processor, as well as a custom video color encoder chip, all designed by Hudson. The 'HE System' logo found on the manual of every Japanese game stood for "Hudson Entertainment System".
The TurboGrafx-16 was the first console to have an optional CD module, allowing the standard benefits of the CD medium such as more storage, cheaper media costs, and redbook audio
. The efficient design, backing of many of Japan's major software producers, and the additional CD ROM capabilities gave the PC Engine a very wide variety of software, with several hundred games for both the HuCard and CD formats.
The PC Engine initially performed well in Japan, beating Nintendo
's Famicom
in sales soon after its release, with no fewer than twelve console models released from 1987 to 1993. Despite the system's early success, it started to lose ground to the Super Famicom. NEC made one final effort to resuscitate the system with the release of the Arcade Card expansion, bringing the total amount of RAM up to a then-massive 2048K. Some Arcade Card games were conversions of popular Neo Geo
titles. The expansion was never released in North America.
New games were released for the PC Engine up until 1999.
was the first Japanese console to have a built-in CD-ROM). This was the first time that CD-ROM
discs were used as a storage medium for video games.
The TurboGrafx-CD debuted on Aug. 1, 1990 at a prohibitive $399.99 (and did not include a pack-in game). Monster Lair (Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair) and Fighting Street (Street Fighter
) were the initial TurboGrafx-CD titles. Ys Book I & II
soon followed. However, the TurboGrafx-CD catalog grew at a very slow rate compared to the library of TurboChip (HuCard) titles.
The TurboGrafx-CD came packaged in a very large box, 85% of which was filled with protective styrofoam inserts. By some accounts, no other video game console (or peripheral) has been packaged in such an overkill manner. The TurboGrafx-CD did however come with a large plastic "carrying case" that could comfortably hold the TurboGrafx-16 base system, TurboGrafx-CD, all AC adapters, 2 – 3 controllers, and a few games.
Although the TurboGrafx-CD library was relatively small, American gamers could draw from a wide range of Japanese software since there was no region protection on TG-CD / PC Engine CD-ROM software. Many mail order (and some brick-and-mortar) import stores advertised Japanese PCE CD and HuCard titles in the video game publications of the era.
The explanation commonly given for this by NEC officials is that most U.S. conversions had been skill level reduced, and in some cases censored for what was considered inappropriate content. Because of that, they did not want the U.S. conversion to re-enter the Asian market and negatively impact the perception of a game. The poster child for censorship in this fashion was Kato-chan and Ken-chan
released as J.J. & Jeff
in the U.S. With some minor soldering skills, a change could be made to PC-Engines to disable this check.
The only Japanese games that could not be played on a U.S. system using one of these converters were the SuperGrafx titles which also required additional system hardware to run.
The first converter to market was an Asian-developed module labeled the Game Converter and marked with a model number of WH-301. The second converter, named the "Kisado", was created and initially sold by David Shadoff to members of the Turbo Mailing-List in pre-ordered batches before later being offered through on-line retailers.
For CD games, it was an entirely different situation. While there was no region-protection on CD games, there were several different CD formats: CD, Super CD (SCD) and, later, Arcade CD (ACD). TurboGrafx-CD, equipped with the original System Card (version 2.01), could play all Japanese and North American CD games. A TurboGrafx-CD, equipped with the updated Super System Card (version 3.01), could play all Japanese and North American SCD and CD format games. The Arcade System Card (for playing Arcade CD titles) had two versions, Pro and Duo.
The Arcade Card Pro was specifically for pre-Duo systems although it was compatible with all PC-Engine systems (including the SuperGrafx), it included both the SuperCD operating system and the extra memory found in the Duo systems. The Arcade Card Duo worked with Duo based systems exclusively as it featured only the Arcade enhancments. This allowed the Duo card to be sold at a lower price. All Japanese released system cards worked in U.S. systems with the use of a HuCard converter.
and early television ads touted the TG-16's superior graphics and sound. These early television ads featured a brief montage of the TG-16's launch titles: Blazing Lazers
, China Warrior
, Vigilante
, Alien Crush
, etc. The TG-16 was also in direct competition with the Sega Mega Drive, which had had its own New York/Los Angeles test-market launch two weeks prior, on August 14, renamed as the Sega Genesis. The Genesis launch was accompanied by an ad campaign mocking NEC's claim that the TurboGrafx-16 was the first 16-bit console.
Another problem for the TG-16 was its relatively limited hardware. The Genesis came with only one controller, but it provided a port for a second; the TG-16 only had one controller port. Players who wanted to take advantage of the simultaneous multiplayer modes in their games were required to buy the Turbo Tap (a multitap
accessory which permitted five controllers to be plugged into the system), in addition to the necessary extra controllers. The Genesis also benefited from a pack-in game bundle that included an impressive translation of the arcade game Altered Beast
(1989), which included big, bold sprites and colors as well as digital sound effects. In contrast, the TG-16's initial pack-in game was Keith Courage in Alpha Zones
(1989), a modest action platform game that did not show off the capabilities of the TG-16 in nearly the same way Altered Beast did for the Genesis (or Super Mario World
for the later SNES
).
In Japan the PC Engine outsold Sega's console. In North America and Europe the situation was reversed, with both Sega and Nintendo dominating the console market at the expense of NEC. Both Sega and NEC released CD peripherals (Mega-CD versus Turbo CD), color handhelds (Sega Game Gear versus TurboExpress
), and even "TV tuners" for their respective handheld systems.
In 1992, comic book-like ads featuring Johnny Turbo
were published by TTi. The ads mocked Sega, in particular the Mega-CD. However, by this point the TG-16 had been defeated by the Mega Drive in the marketplace, which was by then dominated by the battle between the Mega Drive and the Super Nintendo.
Despite this former rivalry, many TurboGrafx-16 games are currently available via Nintendo
's Virtual Console
service.
as its CPU. However, the overall speed of the hardware was comparable to contemporary 16-bit machines. Sometimes criticized as an inaccurate gauge of overall speed, NEC touted the TurboGrafx-16 as having a higher MIPS rating than both the Genesis and Super NES. While true, drawing direct comparisons between the TurboGrafx-16, Genesis, and Super NES CPUs is difficult due to differences in architecture, bit bandwidth, speed measurements in MHz
/MIPS, and the way those measurements are related to overall speed due to said architectural differences. There were many things the Genesis and Super NES CPUs did better from a programming standpoint than the TurboGrafx-16 CPU, and vice versa. NEC's marketing department played on the fact that the TurboGrafx-16 was designed with a dual 16-bit graphics chipset, and chose to view it as a hybrid system. This backfired on NEC in the North American market as more and more people learned the TurboGrafx-16 was, in reality, an 8-bit system.
The TurboGrafx-16 featured a 16-bit custom video color encoder chip, 16-bit video display controller
, and an 8-bit CPU with an integrated custom programmable sound generator
. This three chip architecture allowed for larger and more numerous sprites, an expanded color palette, more onscreen colors, and improved sound capabilities compared to other systems available in the 8-bit console market when it launched. This made it comparable to other systems in the 16-bit market. Yet it lacked hardware support for more than a single layer of background scrolling, whereas its 16-bit competition heavily featured multiple plane parallax scrolling
. This forced developers to code routines to simulate multiple background layers in software, or in some cases, make do with the single plane. NEC attempted to remedy this problem in the SuperGrafx
by including an additional video display controller
that allowed it to not only draw multiple plane backgrounds in hardware, but multiple sprite planes as well. Another area the TurboGrafx-16 had a notable disadvantage in was amount of work RAM. While the Genesis and Super NES featured 64KB and 128KB of work RAM respectively, the TurboGrafx-16 had only 8KB available for HuCard games. This meant there was less RAM available for temporary storage of variables and decompressed graphic data. As a result, self modifying code and/or code featuring storage of a numerous amount of variables was largely ruled out, and almost all decompression of graphic data needed to be done in real time, rather than stored in RAM. The SuperGrafx
was given additional work RAM for a total of 32KB. TurboGrafx CD-ROM games used the greatly expanded RAM capacity that was inherent to the hardware, and largely avoided most problems with RAM limitations.
In order to reach a low price point in the market, the original TurboGrafx-16 and PC-Engine systems only supported RF modulation for (monaural) audio/video and required an optional expansion add-on for anything more (the competition by comparison had built-in support for stereo audio, with composite video as well as s-video and RGB output). Later models of the TurboGrafx-16 provided built-in support for better audio/video capabilities without additional hardware.
s and publishers. One reason for this was that many larger software companies such as Konami
supported the PC Engine in Japan, but also produced games for Nintendo. Due to their exclusivity practises, many developers were compelled to pick the immensely popular NES over the upstart NEC console, resulting in a catch-22
for the TurboGrafx-16: most developers would only consider taking a risk on the TG-16 if it became more popular, and yet it could not accomplish this because only a handful of North American publishers would support it. As a result, most of the games published for the TG-16 were produced by NEC and Hudson Soft.
Another reason for the TG-16's lack of success in North America was the system's marketing. NEC of Japan's marketing campaign for the PC Engine was mainly targeted to the largest metropolitan areas in the country. This proved to be quite successful there, but when the same kind of marketing was used in the much larger North American market, it resulted in a lack of public awareness outside of the big cities. The TG-16 ended up being far more competitive and popular in certain local markets such as New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles, while in smaller and more spread-out areas, it garnered less success.
The TurboGrafx-16 was originally marketed in North America by NEC Home Electronics based in Wood Dale, Illinois
, a suburb of Chicago
. As the system's popularity fell, the platform was handed over to a new company called Turbo Technologies Incorporated (TTI), based in Los Angeles, California
. This company was composed mainly of former NEC Home Electronics and Hudson Soft employees, and it essentially took over all marketing and first-party software development for the struggling system.
By 1991, the Sega Genesis
had clearly surpassed the TurboGrafx-16, putting NEC's console in a distant fourth place in the video game market (Nintendo held the #2 and #3 places with the brand new SNES
and the aging but still popular NES
respectively). NEC, who was relatively new to the market, had an increasingly difficult time convincing consumers who already owned a Sega or Nintendo system to give the TG-16 a try. This may have been in part to the somewhat fractured brand identity of the various systems: in a mascot-heavy era of gaming, the TurboGrafx-16 was represented by Bonk, while the TurboDuo carried on its box a graphic of Air Zonk. Meanwhile, advertising comic books were inserted into copies of various gaming magazines, featuring characters such as the alter-ego of game developer Jonathan C. Brandstetter: Johnny Turbo
.
Compounding the problem was that the vast majority of the titles that made the system so successful in Japan were produced for the CD-ROM
add-on. In the American market, this add-on was difficult to find outside of large cities, and it was widely considered to be overpriced (debuting at nearly $400). TTI tried to address this issue by releasing a combination system called the TurboDuo, as well as dropping the price of the CD add-on to around $150. Unfortunately, at $300, the cost of the TurboDuo was still too high for most American consumers, even when NEC took the bold step of including seven pack-in titles and a coupon book with the system. Despite all these efforts, the company failed to attract much of a mainstream audience.
Many of the CD games for the Turbo platform were well-received, but the cost of the add-on system was a strong deterrent to buyers, especially when the competition sold for considerably less. Some of the most popular Japanese releases, such as Castlevania: Rondo of Blood
, Ys IV: The Dawn of Ys
, Tengai Makyo II: Manjimaru
and Snatcher
, never made it to North American shelves (though the PC Engine version of Snatcher was converted over to the Sega CD
in North America, Europe & Australia, but never was released in Japan. Castlevania: Rondo of Blood was later released in North America and Europe as Castlevania Dracula X for the Super Nintendo, but the game suffered alterations. The game was also released years later on the Wii Virtual Console and fully translated as part of the Dracula X Chronicles on PSP).
While it occasionally featured extra pull-out material, its chief recognition among U.S. fans is the Hyper Catalog that was released in 1993; it featured an index of all of the Japanese published titles to date. The PC Engine Fan magazine also ran occasional specials, such as selling a second pressing of Magical Chase via mail-order after the original publisher went bankrupt almost immediately after releasing the shooter classic.
Near the end of 1992, a few employees from Kadokawa Shoten left the company, and gave birth to MediaWorks a new publishing company (now ASCII MediaWorks), and since a key member of the Marukatsu PC-Engine team joined in, and new PC-Engine magazine called ended up being one of their first publications.
The first issue, "February 1993", came out in December 1992, using the classic "Saddle-Stapling" binding technique, later on the magazine switched to perfect binding.
In its later days, Dengeki PC-Engine was turning its attention more and more to bishōjo game
s (made popular on Nec's machine by several titles, including Nec Avenue's Sotsugyō: Graduation, and Konami's Tokimeki Memorial
) and less to Nec's game consoles in general, something that together with Nec's fading popularity in the computer entertainment market, led the publishers to change its name to Dengeki G's Engine starting from June 1996, a magazine now covering bishōjo game
s for all platforms and no longer focused on Nec's machines.
A few additional name changes happened afterwards, first the "Engine" moniker was dropped in June 1997 (new title "Dengeki G's Magajiin") and finally in 2002, the Japanese transliterated word "Magajiin" was changed to "Magazine". Dengeki G's Magazine
is still published today.
published 14 bi-monthly issues of TurboPlay Magazine (June/July 1990 – August/September 1992) dedicated to covering TG-16 and TG-CD hardware and software. It was a spin-off publication of Video Games & Computer Entertainment
(VG&CE), a popular multi-platform gaming magazine of the late 1980s / early 1990s. Every issue of TurboPlay was 32 pages in length and a yearly subscription cost $9.95. An advertisement for TurboPlay was included with every TG-16 console.
L.F.P. published three bi-monthly issues of DUOWORLD magazine (July/August 1993 – November/December 1993) before it was canceled. DuoWorld was very similar in format to TurboPlay, but with a focus on the newly released TurboDuo console (i.e. TurboMail and TurboNews became DuoMail and DuoNews, respectively).
NEC also published a handful of newsletters (TurboEdge) and sent them to customers that sent in their TG-16 warranty cards or subscribed to TurboPlay. These newsletters were black and white, mostly text, and four to eight pages in length.
In addition to the advertising in 1990, TG-16, TG-CD, and TurboExpress were briefly covered on PBS' Computer Chronicles
(two episodes, including "Battle of the Consoles"). Later, when the TurboDuo was launched, it was featured in an episode on "CD-ROM and multimedia software".
Also, Video Power
, a video game show (live action gameshow with The Power Team cartoon) syndicated throughout the USA in the early 1990s, featured footage from video games at the end of many episodes. Blazing Lazers, Legendary Axe (and perhaps other titles) made it into two episodes. Video Power rarely featured TG-16 games (focusing on NES and Genesis, instead). In addition, the Nickelodeon game show Nick Arcade featured several TG-16 games in the Video Challenge portion of the show.
s and the Ys & Bonk
games. After the system died, NEC decided to concentrate on the Japanese market, where it has had much more success.
In 1994, NEC released a new console, the Japan-only PC-FX
, a 32-bit
system with a tower-like design; it enjoyed a small but steady stream of games until 1998, when NEC finally abandoned the video games industry. NEC would then partner with former rival Sega, providing a version of its PowerVR
2 Chipset for the Dreamcast.
There is a niche collector's market for TurboGrafx games and Japanese imports, mainly centered around the system's many arcade
port
s of shooters. Spurring this interest is the fact that Turbo ports from the arcade tended to be closer to the original than Sega Genesis
, Super NES
, or NES
versions, in terms of graphics and sound. Hudson Soft
also released some shooters which were exclusive to the Turbo, such as Super Air Zonk: Rockabilly-Paradise
, Gate of Thunder
, Soldier Blade
, Super Star Soldier
, and Star Parodia (Japan). The most famous North American shooter is probably Blazing Lazers (Gunhed in Japan) and was featured in all of the early television ads.
Several PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16 games are available for download on Nintendo
's Virtual Console
download service. More games among the "greatest hits" of the system are planned to be released at as-of-yet undetermined times; the exact number or titles of games selected for future release is still unknown. Since then several TG-16 games became available on the Virtual Console that were originally never released in America for the system.
On October 15, 2007, the game Gate of Thunder
was released on the Virtual Console in North America, marking the first TurboGrafx-CD game to be released on the North American Virtual Console.
As of July 15, 2009 four PC-Engine games have been released on the Japanese PlayStation Network for play on the PlayStation 3
and PSP
. The four games are Bomberman '94, New Adventure Island
, Sengoku Mahjong, and Devil's Crush
. The price for all four has been set at 600 Yen. Since then more games have been released on PSN.
At the 2011 GDC, Nintendo announced that TurboGrafx 16 and Game Gear games would be available for the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console.
is a variation of the standard PC-Engine hardware. This system is very nearly the same as the original PCE, except it has a duplicate set of video chips (and an extra chip to coordinate the two), four times as much RAM, twice as much video RAM, and a second layer/plane of scrolling. The CPU, sound, and color palette was not upgraded making the expensive price tag a big disadvantage to the system. NEC also decided not to include the extra two video chips in the all-in-one Duo replacement system, essentially killing off any chance of the Super Grafx continued support. Only five exclusive SuperGrafx games and two hybrid games (Darius Plus
and Darius Alpha took advantage of the extra video hardware if played on a SuperGrafx) were released, and the system fell into obscurity.
, but considerably larger), the CoreGrafx I and II, the Duo R and the Duo RX. Contrary to popular belief, the CoreGrafx is not a European version of the PC Engine. It is simply a reengineered version of the original (white) PC Engine with an AV output instead of the original model's RF output. The PC Engine and its derivatives were never officially sold in Europe, although many systems and most accessories and games were available as imports. The PC Engine and its games had been extensively covered by most major European video game magazines and were surprisingly popular.
, the North American version of the Japanese Duo. The system combined the TurboGrafx-16 and an enhanced version of the CD-ROM drive (the "Super CD-ROM²") into a single unit. The system could play audio CDs, CD+Gs, CD-ROM2 and Super CD games as well as standard HuCards. The Super System Card required for some games when using the original CD add-on as well as some of the Japanese variants of the TurboGrafx was built in to the Duo rather than requiring the card to be inserted at all times when playing CD games. The original pack-in for the Turbo Duo included the system, one control pad, an AC adapter, RCA cables, Ys Book I & II, a CD-ROM2 title, and a Super CD including Bonk's Adventure
, Bonk's Revenge
, Gate of Thunder
and a secret version of Bomberman
accessible via an easter egg. The system was also packaged with one random HuCard game which varied from system to system (Dungeon Explorer was the original HuCard pack-in for TurboDuo, although many titles were eventually used, such as IREM's Ninja Spirit and NAMCO's Final Lap Twin, and then eventually a random pick).
The TurboExpress was a portable version of the TurboGrafx, released in 1990 for $249.99 (the price was briefly raised to $299.99, soon dropped back to $249.99, and by 1992 it was $199.99). It was the most advanced handheld of its time and could play all the TG-16's HuCard games five years before the Sega Nomad
could do the same for Sega Genesis
games. Its Japanese equivalent was the PC Engine GT'. It had a 2.6 inches (66 mm) screen, the same as the original Game Boy
, whose keypad layout it was designed after (just like the TG-16 controller's keypad layout was similar to that of the Famicom
/NES
controller). It shared the capabilities of the TurboGrafx, giving it 512 available colors (9-bit RGB), stereo sound, and the same custom CPU at 7.16 MHz. The optional "TurboVision" TV tuner included RCA audio/video input, allowing the user to use TurboExpress as a video monitor. The "TurboLink" allowed two-player play. Falcon, a flight simulator, included a "head-to-head" dogfight mode that could only be accessed via TurboLink. However, very few TG-16 games offered co-op play modes especially designed with the TurboExpress in mind.
The TurboGrafx and Vistar units use a different controller port than the PC Engines, but adaptors are available and the protocol is the same. The TurboGrafx offers the same expansion connector pinout as the PC Engine, but has a slightly different shape so peripherals must be modified to fit.
The Super System Card provides 192 kB
of RAM, supplementing the built in 64K of DRAM found in the CD interface tray. The PC-Engine Duo/R/RX consoles have the Super System Card’s 192 KB of RAM plus the 64K of standard RAM and v3.00 BIOS software built in, and can play both CD-ROM² and Super CD-ROM² games without using any additional cards.
The Arcade Card Pro is designed for the original PC-Engine CD-ROM² and Super CD-ROM² peripherals, adding the 2304 KB of RAM required by Arcade CD-ROM² games. It could, of course, also play standard CD-ROM² and Super CD-ROM² games.
The Arcade Card Duo is for the PC-Engine Duo/R/RX consoles and adds 2048 KB RAM. Because the PC-Engine Duo series of systems have 256K of RAM built-in, this does not need to be provided and is why the Arcade Card Duo contained less RAM and was less expensive than the Pro version.
Note: Because the aforementioned consoles use the same BIOS revision as the Arcade Card Pro, it is not known (as a cost-saving measure) if the Arcade Card Duo includes the BIOS software itself, or if the existing built-in BIOS is used.
The various CD-ROM game types are:
While the standard CD-ROM² and Super CD-ROM² had RAM for data storage which was accessed directly, the Arcade CD-ROM² cards accessed the RAM in a slightly different way.
Both the Pro and Duo versions of the Arcade Card worked in the same way. Just as with the Super CD-ROM², up to 256 KB of the RAM was able to be accessed directly by the CPU. The other 2048 KB was accessed indirectly by four indirect self incrementing/decrementing address registers. These registers were mapped into memory hardware bank and also mapped into 4 special memory banks. Reading and writing sequential data was speed up and reduced cycle cost due to these new registers. This meant *far* data could be accessed with these four registers without having to map banks of memory into the CPU's logical address range, and could be transferred to VRAM ports faster and easier, as is evidenced by the many conversions of well-animated Neo Geo fighting games to the Arcade CD-ROM². The Arcade card was known to have existed in working prototype form as early as mid '92 from looking at (non public) source code files to Art of Fighting ACD port.
One technique that was used by games pre-dating the Arcade Card upgrade was to store graphics data in the 64K audio RAM (used for ADPCM samples) that was present. This RAM could be directly populated by the CD-ROM hardware (it had a direct DMA channel from the CD controller) without CPU intervention, and the memory could be accessed in an indirect fashion, similar to the Arcade Card but at a much-much slower interface, allowing data stored in it to appear as a 64 KB stream of linear data that could be easily transferred to the system RAM.
NEC also manufactured a very large line of personal computers, one of which featured a single-speed CD ROM drive identical to the PC Engine version. They were designed to be interchangeable, which is why the PC Engine's IFU-30 CD ROM interface could be purchased without a CD ROM drive.
NEC developed a prototype adaptor that connected a PC through the HuCard slot, allowing the PC to control the PC Engine's CD ROM as it would any normal SCSI drive. Due to falling CD drive prices and the increasing undesirability of a single-speed SCSI drive, it was never released. It was however previewed in NEC's official US TurboDuo magazine.
The Pioneer LaserActive was a laserdisc
player with an expansion bay. One of the expansion modules released allowed it to play PC Engine titles (HuCards, CD-ROM2 and Super CD) as well as games released on laserdisc (LD-ROM2) that only worked on this setup. Eleven LD-ROM2 titles were released in Japan, though only three of them were released in North America.
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
as the , is a video game console
Video game console
A video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or customized computer system that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...
developed by Hudson Soft
Hudson Soft
, formally known as , is a majority-owned subsidiary of Konami Corporation is a Japanese electronic entertainment publisher headquartered in the Midtown Tower in Tokyo Midtown, Akasaka, Minato, Tokyo, Japan, with an additional office in the Hudson Building in Sapporo. It was founded on May 18, 1973...
and NEC
NEC
, a Japanese multinational IT company, has its headquarters in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. NEC, part of the Sumitomo Group, provides information technology and network solutions to business enterprises, communications services providers and government....
, released in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
on October 30, 1987, and in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
on August 29, 1989.
The TurboGrafx-16 has an 8-bit CPU and a dual 16-bit GPU; and is capable of displaying 482 colors simultaneously, out of 512. With dimensions of 14 cm × 14 cm × 3.8 cm (5.5in × 5.5in × 1.5in), the NEC PC Engine holds the record for the world's smallest game console ever made. (Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition (2008))
In the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, Telegames
Telegames
Telegames, Inc. is a North American video game company based in Gun Barrel City, Texas, with a sister operation based in England.Telegames was well known for supporting not just modern game systems but also classic game systems, after they've been abandoned by its manufacturer. Effective September...
released a slightly altered version of the US model simply as the TurboGrafx around 1990 in extremely limited quantities. Although there was no full-scale PAL region
PAL region
The PAL region is a television publication territory which covers most of Asia, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and most of Western Europe...
release of the system, imported PC Engine consoles were largely available in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and Benelux
Benelux
The Benelux is an economic union in Western Europe comprising three neighbouring countries, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. These countries are located in northwestern Europe between France and Germany...
through major retailers thanks to the unlicensed importer Sodipeng (Société de Distribution de la PC Engine, a subsidiary of Guillemot International
Ubisoft
Ubisoft Entertainment S.A. is a major French video game publisher and developer, with headquarters in Montreuil, France. The company has a worldwide presence with 25 studios in 17 countries and subsidiaries in 26 countries....
).
In 2009, the TurboGrafx-16 was ranked as the 13th greatest video game console of all time by IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
, citing a lack of third party support and the absence of a second controller port, and calling the console "straight-up underpowered".
PC Engine
The PC Engine was a collaborative effort between the relatively young Hudson SoftHudson Soft
, formally known as , is a majority-owned subsidiary of Konami Corporation is a Japanese electronic entertainment publisher headquartered in the Midtown Tower in Tokyo Midtown, Akasaka, Minato, Tokyo, Japan, with an additional office in the Hudson Building in Sapporo. It was founded on May 18, 1973...
(founded in 1973) and NEC
NEC
, a Japanese multinational IT company, has its headquarters in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. NEC, part of the Sumitomo Group, provides information technology and network solutions to business enterprises, communications services providers and government....
. NEC's interest in entering the lucrative video game market coincided with Hudson's failed attempt to sell designs for then-advanced graphics chips to Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
, similar to Nintendo's later rejection of Sony's
Sony
, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
designs for a Super Famicom CD attachment which evolved into the PlayStation.
The PC Engine is a very small video game console, due primarily to a very efficient three-chip architecture and its use of "HuCards" (Hudson Card; also referred to as "TurboChip" in North America and based on the BeeCard
BeeCard
A BeeCard is a memory card developed by Hudson Soft for use with MSX computers. BeeCards are the size of a credit card and were used for the commercial distribution of games, mostly by Hudson Soft themselves. The card contains an integrated circuit that is placed close to the connectors and...
technology Hudson piloted on the MSX
MSX
MSX was the name of a standardized home computer architecture in the 1980s conceived by Kazuhiko Nishi, then Vice-president at Microsoft Japan and Director at ASCII Corporation...
). The cards were about the size of a credit card (though slightly thicker), similar to the card format used by the Sega Master System
Sega Master System
The is a third-generation video game console that was manufactured and released by Sega in 1985 in Japan , 1986 in North America and 1987 in Europe....
for budget games. However, unlike the Sega Master System (which also supported cartridges), the TurboGrafx-16 used HuCards exclusively. TG-16 featured an enhanced MOS Technology
MOS Technology
MOS Technology, Inc., also known as CSG , was a semiconductor design and fabrication company based in Norristown, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is most famous for its 6502 microprocessor, and various designs for Commodore International's range of home computers.-History:MOS Technology, Inc...
65SC02
WDC 65C02
The Western Design Center WDC 65C02 microprocessor is an upgraded CMOS version of the popular NMOS-based MOS Technology 6502 8-bit CPU — the CMOS redesign being made by Bill Mensch of the Western Design Center...
processor (dubbed the HuC6280
Hudson Soft HuC6280
The HuC6280 8-bit microprocessor is Japanese company Hudson Soft's improved version of the WDC 65C02 CPU. The most notable product using the HuC6280 is NEC's TurboGrafx 16 video game console.-Description:...
by Hudson) and a custom 16-bit graphics processor, as well as a custom video color encoder chip, all designed by Hudson. The 'HE System' logo found on the manual of every Japanese game stood for "Hudson Entertainment System".
The TurboGrafx-16 was the first console to have an optional CD module, allowing the standard benefits of the CD medium such as more storage, cheaper media costs, and redbook audio
Red Book (audio CD standard)
Red Book is the standard for audio CDs . It is named after one of the Rainbow Books, a series of books that contain the technical specifications for all CD and CD-ROM formats.The first edition of the Red Book was released in 1980 by Philips and Sony; it was adopted by the Digital Audio Disc...
. The efficient design, backing of many of Japan's major software producers, and the additional CD ROM capabilities gave the PC Engine a very wide variety of software, with several hundred games for both the HuCard and CD formats.
The PC Engine initially performed well in Japan, beating Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
's Famicom
Nintendo Entertainment System
The Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America during 1985, in Europe during 1986 and Australia in 1987...
in sales soon after its release, with no fewer than twelve console models released from 1987 to 1993. Despite the system's early success, it started to lose ground to the Super Famicom. NEC made one final effort to resuscitate the system with the release of the Arcade Card expansion, bringing the total amount of RAM up to a then-massive 2048K. Some Arcade Card games were conversions of popular Neo Geo
Neo Geo (console)
The is a cartridge-based arcade and home video game system released on July 1, 1991 by Japanese game company SNK. Being in the Fourth generation of Gaming, it was the first console in the former Neo Geo family, which only lived through the 1990s...
titles. The expansion was never released in North America.
New games were released for the PC Engine up until 1999.
TurboGrafx-CD
In 1989, the TurboGrafx-16 was the first video game console to have a CD-ROM peripheral (following the PC-Engine Super CD-ROM² add-on in Japan, although the FM Towns MartyFM Towns Marty
The FM Towns Marty was a fifth-generation video game console released in 1993 by Fujitsu, exclusively for the Japanese market. It was the first 32-bit home video game system, and came complete with a built in CD-ROM drive and disk drive. It was based on the earlier FM Towns computer system Fujitsu...
was the first Japanese console to have a built-in CD-ROM). This was the first time that CD-ROM
CD-ROM
A CD-ROM is a pre-pressed compact disc that contains data accessible to, but not writable by, a computer for data storage and music playback. The 1985 “Yellow Book” standard developed by Sony and Philips adapted the format to hold any form of binary data....
discs were used as a storage medium for video games.
The TurboGrafx-CD debuted on Aug. 1, 1990 at a prohibitive $399.99 (and did not include a pack-in game). Monster Lair (Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair) and Fighting Street (Street Fighter
Street Fighter (video game)
is a 1987 arcade game developed by Capcom. It is the first competitive fighting game produced by the company and the inaugural game in the Street Fighter series...
) were the initial TurboGrafx-CD titles. Ys Book I & II
Ys I & II
is a Japanese computer role-playing game compilation consisting of enhanced remakes of the first two Ys games, released for the PC Engine CD-ROM by Nihon Falcom and Hudson Soft in 1989...
soon followed. However, the TurboGrafx-CD catalog grew at a very slow rate compared to the library of TurboChip (HuCard) titles.
The TurboGrafx-CD came packaged in a very large box, 85% of which was filled with protective styrofoam inserts. By some accounts, no other video game console (or peripheral) has been packaged in such an overkill manner. The TurboGrafx-CD did however come with a large plastic "carrying case" that could comfortably hold the TurboGrafx-16 base system, TurboGrafx-CD, all AC adapters, 2 – 3 controllers, and a few games.
Although the TurboGrafx-CD library was relatively small, American gamers could draw from a wide range of Japanese software since there was no region protection on TG-CD / PC Engine CD-ROM software. Many mail order (and some brick-and-mortar) import stores advertised Japanese PCE CD and HuCard titles in the video game publications of the era.
Region protection
With HuCards, a limited form of region protection was introduced between markets which for the most part was nothing more than running the HuCard's pinout connections in a different arrangement. There were two major after-market converters sold to address this problem, and both were sold predominantly for use in converting Japanese titles for play on a TG-16. In the Asian market, NEC went an extra step of adding a hardware level detection function to all PC-Engine systems that detected if a game was a U.S. release, and would then refuse to play it. The only known exception to this is the U.S. release of Klax which did not contain this flag.Fun TV with Kato-chan and Ken-chan
was a popular Japanese television variety show aired on Tokyo Broadcasting System around the mid-1980s. Starring Ken Shimura and Cha Kato, former members of the group The Drifters from Hachiji Dayo! Zen'in Shugo, the irreverent and satirical program would poke fun at contemporary society in Japan,...
released as J.J. & Jeff
J.J. & Jeff
J.J. & Jeff, known in Japan as , is a side scrolling platform game for the TurboGrafx-16. The Japanese version is loosely based on the then-popular comedy television show Fun TV with Kato-chan and Ken-chan which Vin Di Bona Productions used as its inspiration for the popular television show...
in the U.S. With some minor soldering skills, a change could be made to PC-Engines to disable this check.
The only Japanese games that could not be played on a U.S. system using one of these converters were the SuperGrafx titles which also required additional system hardware to run.
The first converter to market was an Asian-developed module labeled the Game Converter and marked with a model number of WH-301. The second converter, named the "Kisado", was created and initially sold by David Shadoff to members of the Turbo Mailing-List in pre-ordered batches before later being offered through on-line retailers.
For CD games, it was an entirely different situation. While there was no region-protection on CD games, there were several different CD formats: CD, Super CD (SCD) and, later, Arcade CD (ACD). TurboGrafx-CD, equipped with the original System Card (version 2.01), could play all Japanese and North American CD games. A TurboGrafx-CD, equipped with the updated Super System Card (version 3.01), could play all Japanese and North American SCD and CD format games. The Arcade System Card (for playing Arcade CD titles) had two versions, Pro and Duo.
The Arcade Card Pro was specifically for pre-Duo systems although it was compatible with all PC-Engine systems (including the SuperGrafx), it included both the SuperCD operating system and the extra memory found in the Duo systems. The Arcade Card Duo worked with Duo based systems exclusively as it featured only the Arcade enhancments. This allowed the Duo card to be sold at a lower price. All Japanese released system cards worked in U.S. systems with the use of a HuCard converter.
Rivalry with Nintendo and Sega
In North America, the TurboGrafx-16 was first released in late August 1989, in New York and Los Angeles. Initially, the TurboGrafx-16 was marketed as a direct competitor to the NESNintendo Entertainment System
The Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America during 1985, in Europe during 1986 and Australia in 1987...
and early television ads touted the TG-16's superior graphics and sound. These early television ads featured a brief montage of the TG-16's launch titles: Blazing Lazers
Blazing Lazers
Blazing Lazers, known in Japan as , is a shoot 'em up video game developed by Hudson Soft and Compile. It was released in Japan on for the PC Engine, and it was released in North America in November 1989 for the TurboGrafx-16. It was later released on the Wii's Virtual Console in North America on...
, China Warrior
China Warrior
China Warrior, known in Japan as , is a horizontal beat'em up video game created in 1987 by Hudson Soft for the TurboGrafx-16. The game was ported to mobile phones and the Hudson Channel for the PS2 exclusively in Japan with redone graphics, audio and gameplay...
, Vigilante
Vigilante (video game)
is a beat 'em up arcade game developed and published by Irem in Japan and Europe and published in North America by Data East. It is a spin-off of Irem's beat 'em up arcade game, Kung-Fu Master.-Plot:The game takes place in downtown New York City...
, Alien Crush
Alien Crush
Alien Crush is a pinball video game developed by NAXAT Soft for the TurboGrafx-16/PC Engine. It was released in 1988. It was later re-released on the Wii Virtual Console and on the PlayStation Network....
, etc. The TG-16 was also in direct competition with the Sega Mega Drive, which had had its own New York/Los Angeles test-market launch two weeks prior, on August 14, renamed as the Sega Genesis. The Genesis launch was accompanied by an ad campaign mocking NEC's claim that the TurboGrafx-16 was the first 16-bit console.
Another problem for the TG-16 was its relatively limited hardware. The Genesis came with only one controller, but it provided a port for a second; the TG-16 only had one controller port. Players who wanted to take advantage of the simultaneous multiplayer modes in their games were required to buy the Turbo Tap (a multitap
Multitap
A multitap is a video game console peripheral that increases the number of controller ports available to the player, allowing additional controllers to be used in play...
accessory which permitted five controllers to be plugged into the system), in addition to the necessary extra controllers. The Genesis also benefited from a pack-in game bundle that included an impressive translation of the arcade game Altered Beast
Altered Beast
Altered Beast is a 1988 beat 'em up arcade game developed and manufactured by Sega. The game is set in Ancient Greece, and follows a centurion who is resurrected by Zeus to rescue his daughter Athena, and to do so become able to turn into beasts such as the werewolf with usage of power-ups...
(1989), which included big, bold sprites and colors as well as digital sound effects. In contrast, the TG-16's initial pack-in game was Keith Courage in Alpha Zones
Keith Courage in Alpha Zones
Keith Courage in Alpha Zones is multiplatform video game by Hudson Soft that was released for the TurboGrafx-16 and the Nintendo Entertainment System...
(1989), a modest action platform game that did not show off the capabilities of the TG-16 in nearly the same way Altered Beast did for the Genesis (or Super Mario World
Super Mario World
, subtitled Super Mario Bros. 4 for its original Japanese release, is a platform video game developed and published by Nintendo as a pack-in launch title for the Super Famicom/Super Nintendo Entertainment System , and is the fourth game in the Super Mario series...
for the later SNES
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the , or SFC for short...
).
In Japan the PC Engine outsold Sega's console. In North America and Europe the situation was reversed, with both Sega and Nintendo dominating the console market at the expense of NEC. Both Sega and NEC released CD peripherals (Mega-CD versus Turbo CD), color handhelds (Sega Game Gear versus TurboExpress
TurboExpress
The TurboExpress or PC Engine GT in Japan was a portable version of the TurboGrafx-16/PC Engine , released by NEC in 1990 for $249.99 .It was the most advanced handheld of its time and could play all the TurboGrafx-16's games The TurboExpress or PC Engine GT (Game Tank) in Japan was a portable...
), and even "TV tuners" for their respective handheld systems.
In 1992, comic book-like ads featuring Johnny Turbo
Johnny Turbo
Johnny Turbo is a fictional superhero character created to advertise the Turbo Duo, a hybrid of the Turbografx-16 console and its add-on, the TurboGrafx CD, in North America. The character was conceived by Turbo Technologies Inc...
were published by TTi. The ads mocked Sega, in particular the Mega-CD. However, by this point the TG-16 had been defeated by the Mega Drive in the marketplace, which was by then dominated by the battle between the Mega Drive and the Super Nintendo.
Despite this former rivalry, many TurboGrafx-16 games are currently available via Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
's Virtual Console
Virtual console
A virtual console – also known as a virtual terminal – is a conceptual combination of the keyboard and display for a computer user interface. It is a feature of some operating systems such as UnixWare, Linux, and BSD, in which the system console of the computer can be used to switch between...
service.
Limitations in the 16-bit era
Although marketed as a next generation "16-bit" console, the TurboGrafx-16 was built around an 8-bit microprocessorMicroprocessor
A microprocessor incorporates the functions of a computer's central processing unit on a single integrated circuit, or at most a few integrated circuits. It is a multipurpose, programmable device that accepts digital data as input, processes it according to instructions stored in its memory, and...
as its CPU. However, the overall speed of the hardware was comparable to contemporary 16-bit machines. Sometimes criticized as an inaccurate gauge of overall speed, NEC touted the TurboGrafx-16 as having a higher MIPS rating than both the Genesis and Super NES. While true, drawing direct comparisons between the TurboGrafx-16, Genesis, and Super NES CPUs is difficult due to differences in architecture, bit bandwidth, speed measurements in MHz
Hertz
The hertz is the SI unit of frequency defined as the number of cycles per second of a periodic phenomenon. One of its most common uses is the description of the sine wave, particularly those used in radio and audio applications....
/MIPS, and the way those measurements are related to overall speed due to said architectural differences. There were many things the Genesis and Super NES CPUs did better from a programming standpoint than the TurboGrafx-16 CPU, and vice versa. NEC's marketing department played on the fact that the TurboGrafx-16 was designed with a dual 16-bit graphics chipset, and chose to view it as a hybrid system. This backfired on NEC in the North American market as more and more people learned the TurboGrafx-16 was, in reality, an 8-bit system.
The TurboGrafx-16 featured a 16-bit custom video color encoder chip, 16-bit video display controller
Video Display Controller
A Video Display Controller or VDC is an integrated circuit which is the main component in a video signal generator, a device responsible for the production of a TV video signal in a computing or game system...
, and an 8-bit CPU with an integrated custom programmable sound generator
Programmable sound generator
A Programmable Sound Generator is a sound chip that generates sound waves by synthesizing multiple basic waveforms, and often some kind of noise generator, and combining and mixing these waveforms into a complex waveform, then shaping the amplitude of the resulting waveform using...
. This three chip architecture allowed for larger and more numerous sprites, an expanded color palette, more onscreen colors, and improved sound capabilities compared to other systems available in the 8-bit console market when it launched. This made it comparable to other systems in the 16-bit market. Yet it lacked hardware support for more than a single layer of background scrolling, whereas its 16-bit competition heavily featured multiple plane parallax scrolling
Parallax scrolling
Parallax scrolling is a special scrolling technique in computer graphics, popularized in the 1982 arcade game Moon Patrol. In this pseudo-3D technique, background images move by the camera slower than foreground images, creating an illusion of depth in a 2D video game and adding to the immersion...
. This forced developers to code routines to simulate multiple background layers in software, or in some cases, make do with the single plane. NEC attempted to remedy this problem in the SuperGrafx
SuperGrafx
The SuperGrafx video game console is an upgraded version of NEC's popular PC Engine system. At first it was known as the PC-Engine 2—which was purported to be a true 16-bit system with improved graphics and audio capabilities, not expected to see release until 1990...
by including an additional video display controller
Video Display Controller
A Video Display Controller or VDC is an integrated circuit which is the main component in a video signal generator, a device responsible for the production of a TV video signal in a computing or game system...
that allowed it to not only draw multiple plane backgrounds in hardware, but multiple sprite planes as well. Another area the TurboGrafx-16 had a notable disadvantage in was amount of work RAM. While the Genesis and Super NES featured 64KB and 128KB of work RAM respectively, the TurboGrafx-16 had only 8KB available for HuCard games. This meant there was less RAM available for temporary storage of variables and decompressed graphic data. As a result, self modifying code and/or code featuring storage of a numerous amount of variables was largely ruled out, and almost all decompression of graphic data needed to be done in real time, rather than stored in RAM. The SuperGrafx
SuperGrafx
The SuperGrafx video game console is an upgraded version of NEC's popular PC Engine system. At first it was known as the PC-Engine 2—which was purported to be a true 16-bit system with improved graphics and audio capabilities, not expected to see release until 1990...
was given additional work RAM for a total of 32KB. TurboGrafx CD-ROM games used the greatly expanded RAM capacity that was inherent to the hardware, and largely avoided most problems with RAM limitations.
In order to reach a low price point in the market, the original TurboGrafx-16 and PC-Engine systems only supported RF modulation for (monaural) audio/video and required an optional expansion add-on for anything more (the competition by comparison had built-in support for stereo audio, with composite video as well as s-video and RGB output). Later models of the TurboGrafx-16 provided built-in support for better audio/video capabilities without additional hardware.
Struggles in North America
Initially, the TurboGrafx-16 sold well in North America, but it generally suffered from a lack of support from third-party software developerSoftware developer
A software developer is a person concerned with facets of the software development process. Their work includes researching, designing, developing, and testing software. A software developer may take part in design, computer programming, or software project management...
s and publishers. One reason for this was that many larger software companies such as Konami
Konami
is a Japanese leading developer and publisher of numerous popular and strong-selling toys, trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, slot machines, arcade cabinets and video games...
supported the PC Engine in Japan, but also produced games for Nintendo. Due to their exclusivity practises, many developers were compelled to pick the immensely popular NES over the upstart NEC console, resulting in a catch-22
Catch-22 (logic)
A Catch-22, coined by Joseph Heller in his novel Catch-22, is a logical paradox arising from a situation in which an individual needs something that can only be acquired with an action that will lead him to that very situation he is already in; therefore, the acquisition of this thing becomes...
for the TurboGrafx-16: most developers would only consider taking a risk on the TG-16 if it became more popular, and yet it could not accomplish this because only a handful of North American publishers would support it. As a result, most of the games published for the TG-16 were produced by NEC and Hudson Soft.
Another reason for the TG-16's lack of success in North America was the system's marketing. NEC of Japan's marketing campaign for the PC Engine was mainly targeted to the largest metropolitan areas in the country. This proved to be quite successful there, but when the same kind of marketing was used in the much larger North American market, it resulted in a lack of public awareness outside of the big cities. The TG-16 ended up being far more competitive and popular in certain local markets such as New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles, while in smaller and more spread-out areas, it garnered less success.
The TurboGrafx-16 was originally marketed in North America by NEC Home Electronics based in Wood Dale, Illinois
Wood Dale, Illinois
Wood Dale is a city in DuPage County, Illinois, United States. The population was 13,535 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Wood Dale is located at .According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all of it land.-Demographics:...
, a suburb of Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
. As the system's popularity fell, the platform was handed over to a new company called Turbo Technologies Incorporated (TTI), based in Los Angeles, California
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
. This company was composed mainly of former NEC Home Electronics and Hudson Soft employees, and it essentially took over all marketing and first-party software development for the struggling system.
By 1991, the Sega Genesis
Sega Mega Drive
The Sega Genesis is a fourth-generation video game console developed and produced by Sega. It was originally released in Japan in 1988 as , then in North America in 1989 as Sega Genesis, and in Europe, Australia and other PAL regions in 1990 as Mega Drive. The reason for the two names is that...
had clearly surpassed the TurboGrafx-16, putting NEC's console in a distant fourth place in the video game market (Nintendo held the #2 and #3 places with the brand new SNES
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the , or SFC for short...
and the aging but still popular NES
Nintendo Entertainment System
The Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America during 1985, in Europe during 1986 and Australia in 1987...
respectively). NEC, who was relatively new to the market, had an increasingly difficult time convincing consumers who already owned a Sega or Nintendo system to give the TG-16 a try. This may have been in part to the somewhat fractured brand identity of the various systems: in a mascot-heavy era of gaming, the TurboGrafx-16 was represented by Bonk, while the TurboDuo carried on its box a graphic of Air Zonk. Meanwhile, advertising comic books were inserted into copies of various gaming magazines, featuring characters such as the alter-ego of game developer Jonathan C. Brandstetter: Johnny Turbo
Johnny Turbo
Johnny Turbo is a fictional superhero character created to advertise the Turbo Duo, a hybrid of the Turbografx-16 console and its add-on, the TurboGrafx CD, in North America. The character was conceived by Turbo Technologies Inc...
.
Compounding the problem was that the vast majority of the titles that made the system so successful in Japan were produced for the CD-ROM
CD-ROM
A CD-ROM is a pre-pressed compact disc that contains data accessible to, but not writable by, a computer for data storage and music playback. The 1985 “Yellow Book” standard developed by Sony and Philips adapted the format to hold any form of binary data....
add-on. In the American market, this add-on was difficult to find outside of large cities, and it was widely considered to be overpriced (debuting at nearly $400). TTI tried to address this issue by releasing a combination system called the TurboDuo, as well as dropping the price of the CD add-on to around $150. Unfortunately, at $300, the cost of the TurboDuo was still too high for most American consumers, even when NEC took the bold step of including seven pack-in titles and a coupon book with the system. Despite all these efforts, the company failed to attract much of a mainstream audience.
Castlevania: Rondo of Blood
Castlevania: Rondo of Blood, known in Japan as is a platform video game developed by Konami for the PC Engine. The tenth installment of the Castlevania video game series and a 2D side-scroller, it acts as a middleground between the earlier, typically linear Castlevania games and the later...
, Ys IV: The Dawn of Ys
Ys IV: The Dawn of Ys
is an action role-playing game developed for the TurboGrafx-CD, and is the fourth game in the Ys video game series. Ys series creators Nihon Falcom Corporation licensed its development to Hudson Soft....
, Tengai Makyo II: Manjimaru
Tengai Makyo II: Manjimaru
is a role-playing video game and the second game in the Tengai Makyō series. It was first released in 1992 for the PC-Engine Super CD-ROM² by Hudson Soft and developed by Red Entertainment. It was remade in 2003 by Hudson for the Nintendo GameCube and PlayStation 2, and a later version was released...
and Snatcher
Snatcher
is a cyberpunk-themed graphic adventure game produced by Konami, originally released in Japan for the NEC PC-8801 and MSX 2 computer platforms in 1988. It was followed by a CD-ROM-based remake released for the PC Engine video game console in 1992, which was subsequently ported and localized into...
, never made it to North American shelves (though the PC Engine version of Snatcher was converted over to the Sega CD
Sega Mega-CD
The is an add-on device for the Mega Drive video game console, designed and produced by Sega and released in Japan, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. The device was also released in North America under the name Sega CD, for the Sega Genesis...
in North America, Europe & Australia, but never was released in Japan. Castlevania: Rondo of Blood was later released in North America and Europe as Castlevania Dracula X for the Super Nintendo, but the game suffered alterations. The game was also released years later on the Wii Virtual Console and fully translated as part of the Dracula X Chronicles on PSP).
PC Engine FAN
The longest running NEC publication was sold in Japan under the name PC-Engine Fan Magazine and exclusively dedicated to NEC systems, beating out rival mags Gekkan PC Engine (Shogakukan) and Marukatsu PC Engine (Kadokawa Shoten) to the market by a month in late 1988. Published by Tokuma Shoten, the magazine started out as a separate department of Family Computer Magazine, Tokuma’s flagship console publication; the “FAN” name was also used by sister titles MSX FAN and Mega Drive FAN.While it occasionally featured extra pull-out material, its chief recognition among U.S. fans is the Hyper Catalog that was released in 1993; it featured an index of all of the Japanese published titles to date. The PC Engine Fan magazine also ran occasional specials, such as selling a second pressing of Magical Chase via mail-order after the original publisher went bankrupt almost immediately after releasing the shooter classic.
Near the end of 1992, a few employees from Kadokawa Shoten left the company, and gave birth to MediaWorks a new publishing company (now ASCII MediaWorks), and since a key member of the Marukatsu PC-Engine team joined in, and new PC-Engine magazine called ended up being one of their first publications.
The first issue, "February 1993", came out in December 1992, using the classic "Saddle-Stapling" binding technique, later on the magazine switched to perfect binding.
In its later days, Dengeki PC-Engine was turning its attention more and more to bishōjo game
Bishojo game
A , or , is "a type of Japanese video game centered on interactions with attractive anime-style girls". These games are a sub-genre of dating sims targeted towards a male audience....
s (made popular on Nec's machine by several titles, including Nec Avenue's Sotsugyō: Graduation, and Konami's Tokimeki Memorial
Tokimeki Memorial
is a popular dating simulation series by Konami. It consists of 6 main games in addition to a large number of spin-offs. The games are notable in the dating sim genre for being highly nonlinear. Their nickname amongst their fans is the contraction TokiMemo....
) and less to Nec's game consoles in general, something that together with Nec's fading popularity in the computer entertainment market, led the publishers to change its name to Dengeki G's Engine starting from June 1996, a magazine now covering bishōjo game
Bishojo game
A , or , is "a type of Japanese video game centered on interactions with attractive anime-style girls". These games are a sub-genre of dating sims targeted towards a male audience....
s for all platforms and no longer focused on Nec's machines.
A few additional name changes happened afterwards, first the "Engine" moniker was dropped in June 1997 (new title "Dengeki G's Magajiin") and finally in 2002, the Japanese transliterated word "Magajiin" was changed to "Magazine". Dengeki G's Magazine
Dengeki G's Magazine
is a Japanese magazine published by ASCII Media Works and sold monthly on the thirtieth that primarily contains information on bishōjo games, but also includes an entire section on anime based on bishōjo games, and serializes manga and light novels based on such games. The "G's" in the title...
is still published today.
Turboplay
Larry Flynt PublicationsLarry Flynt Publications
Larry Flynt Publications, or LFP, Inc., runs the adult entertainment empire founded by Larry Flynt. Founded in 1976, two years after Flynt began publishing Hustler magazine, LFP was originally to serve as the parent company of this magazine....
published 14 bi-monthly issues of TurboPlay Magazine (June/July 1990 – August/September 1992) dedicated to covering TG-16 and TG-CD hardware and software. It was a spin-off publication of Video Games & Computer Entertainment
Video Games & Computer Entertainment
VideoGames & Computer Entertainment was an American magazine dedicated to covering video games on computers, home consoles and arcades...
(VG&CE), a popular multi-platform gaming magazine of the late 1980s / early 1990s. Every issue of TurboPlay was 32 pages in length and a yearly subscription cost $9.95. An advertisement for TurboPlay was included with every TG-16 console.
Other Magazines
Sendai published four quarterly issues of TURBOFORCE magazine (September 1992 – Spring 1993). TTi had editorial control over TURBOFORCE and used it to promote the launch of the new TurboDuo console. Unlike TurboPlay and DuoWorld, TURBOFORCE was devoid of critical game reviews.L.F.P. published three bi-monthly issues of DUOWORLD magazine (July/August 1993 – November/December 1993) before it was canceled. DuoWorld was very similar in format to TurboPlay, but with a focus on the newly released TurboDuo console (i.e. TurboMail and TurboNews became DuoMail and DuoNews, respectively).
NEC also published a handful of newsletters (TurboEdge) and sent them to customers that sent in their TG-16 warranty cards or subscribed to TurboPlay. These newsletters were black and white, mostly text, and four to eight pages in length.
TG-16 on TV
During TG-16's 1989 launch, short TV ads appeared across North America. This advertising campaign would expand and become more extensive in 1990, with NEC promoting Bonk as the next big thing in video games.In addition to the advertising in 1990, TG-16, TG-CD, and TurboExpress were briefly covered on PBS' Computer Chronicles
Computer Chronicles
The Computer Chronicles was a US television series, broadcast during 1981-2002 on Public Broadcasting Service public television, which documented the rise of the personal computer from its infancy to the immense market at the turn of the century...
(two episodes, including "Battle of the Consoles"). Later, when the TurboDuo was launched, it was featured in an episode on "CD-ROM and multimedia software".
Also, Video Power
Video Power
Video Power is an American television series that aired in two different formats from 1990-1992 in syndication. Both formats revolved around video games, and actor Stivi Paskoski presided over both series playing video game master Johnny Arcade.Allen J...
, a video game show (live action gameshow with The Power Team cartoon) syndicated throughout the USA in the early 1990s, featured footage from video games at the end of many episodes. Blazing Lazers, Legendary Axe (and perhaps other titles) made it into two episodes. Video Power rarely featured TG-16 games (focusing on NES and Genesis, instead). In addition, the Nickelodeon game show Nick Arcade featured several TG-16 games in the Video Challenge portion of the show.
Legacy
Today, the TurboGrafx-16 is mainly known for its much-vaunted shoot 'em upShoot 'em up
Shoot 'em up is a subgenre of shooter video games. In a shoot 'em up, the player controls a lone character, often in a spacecraft or aircraft, shooting large numbers of enemies while dodging their attacks. The genre in turn encompasses various types or subgenres and critics differ on exactly what...
s and the Ys & Bonk
Bonk (video game)
Bonk is a video game character from NEC's TurboGrafx-16 console. Known in Japan as "PC-Genjin" and as "BC Kid" in PAL territories, Bonk was a mascot for NEC's console, though some Bonk games eventually saw releases on other consoles as well. A large-headed, bald caveman, his favored form of attack...
games. After the system died, NEC decided to concentrate on the Japanese market, where it has had much more success.
In 1994, NEC released a new console, the Japan-only PC-FX
PC-FX
The is a video game console released in Japan on December 23, 1994 by NEC Corporation. It is the 32-bit successor to NEC's PC Engine ....
, a 32-bit
32-bit
The range of integer values that can be stored in 32 bits is 0 through 4,294,967,295. Hence, a processor with 32-bit memory addresses can directly access 4 GB of byte-addressable memory....
system with a tower-like design; it enjoyed a small but steady stream of games until 1998, when NEC finally abandoned the video games industry. NEC would then partner with former rival Sega, providing a version of its PowerVR
PowerVR
PowerVR is a division of Imagination Technologies that develops hardware and software for 2D and 3D rendering, and for video encoding, decoding, associated image processing and Direct X, OpenGL ES, OpenVG, and OpenCL acceleration....
2 Chipset for the Dreamcast.
There is a niche collector's market for TurboGrafx games and Japanese imports, mainly centered around the system's many arcade
Arcade game
An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...
port
Porting
In computer science, porting is the process of adapting software so that an executable program can be created for a computing environment that is different from the one for which it was originally designed...
s of shooters. Spurring this interest is the fact that Turbo ports from the arcade tended to be closer to the original than Sega Genesis
Sega Mega Drive
The Sega Genesis is a fourth-generation video game console developed and produced by Sega. It was originally released in Japan in 1988 as , then in North America in 1989 as Sega Genesis, and in Europe, Australia and other PAL regions in 1990 as Mega Drive. The reason for the two names is that...
, Super NES
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the , or SFC for short...
, or NES
Nintendo Entertainment System
The Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America during 1985, in Europe during 1986 and Australia in 1987...
versions, in terms of graphics and sound. Hudson Soft
Hudson Soft
, formally known as , is a majority-owned subsidiary of Konami Corporation is a Japanese electronic entertainment publisher headquartered in the Midtown Tower in Tokyo Midtown, Akasaka, Minato, Tokyo, Japan, with an additional office in the Hudson Building in Sapporo. It was founded on May 18, 1973...
also released some shooters which were exclusive to the Turbo, such as Super Air Zonk: Rockabilly-Paradise
Super Air Zonk: Rockabilly-Paradise
Super Air Zonk: Rockabilly-Paradise is a horizontal scrolling shooter developed by Dual and published by Hudson Soft...
, Gate of Thunder
Gate of Thunder
Gate of Thunder is a scrolling shooter by Hudson Soft and Red Entertainment for the PC Engine CD-ROM originally released in 1992. It was also a pack-in game for the TurboDuo in North America. It was released on the Wii Virtual Console on October 15, 2007 in North America and on December 4, 2007 in...
, Soldier Blade
Soldier Blade
Soldier Blade is a scrolling shooter video game released for the TurboGrafx-16 system . It is the fourth game in the Star Soldier series and the last one for TurboGrafx-16...
, Super Star Soldier
Super Star Soldier
Super Star Soldier is a scrolling shooter video game released in 1990 for the TurboGrafx-16 system. It is the sequel to Star Soldier, and part of a vertical-scrolling shooter series by Hudson Soft. According to the company, many people believed Super Star Soldiers graphics were the best of any...
, and Star Parodia (Japan). The most famous North American shooter is probably Blazing Lazers (Gunhed in Japan) and was featured in all of the early television ads.
Several PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16 games are available for download on Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
's Virtual Console
Virtual console
A virtual console – also known as a virtual terminal – is a conceptual combination of the keyboard and display for a computer user interface. It is a feature of some operating systems such as UnixWare, Linux, and BSD, in which the system console of the computer can be used to switch between...
download service. More games among the "greatest hits" of the system are planned to be released at as-of-yet undetermined times; the exact number or titles of games selected for future release is still unknown. Since then several TG-16 games became available on the Virtual Console that were originally never released in America for the system.
On October 15, 2007, the game Gate of Thunder
Gate of Thunder
Gate of Thunder is a scrolling shooter by Hudson Soft and Red Entertainment for the PC Engine CD-ROM originally released in 1992. It was also a pack-in game for the TurboDuo in North America. It was released on the Wii Virtual Console on October 15, 2007 in North America and on December 4, 2007 in...
was released on the Virtual Console in North America, marking the first TurboGrafx-CD game to be released on the North American Virtual Console.
As of July 15, 2009 four PC-Engine games have been released on the Japanese PlayStation Network for play on the PlayStation 3
PlayStation 3
The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
and PSP
PlayStation Portable
The is a handheld game console manufactured and marketed by Sony Corporation Development of the console was announced during E3 2003, and it was unveiled on , 2004, at a Sony press conference before E3 2004...
. The four games are Bomberman '94, New Adventure Island
New Adventure Island
is a side-scrolling platform game by Hudson Soft originally released for the TurboGrafx-16 in and later re-released for the Wii Virtual Console service in and the PlayStation Network in...
, Sengoku Mahjong, and Devil's Crush
Devil's Crush
Devil's Crush is a pinball video game developed by NAXAT Soft for the TurboGrafx-16. The second installment in the Crush Pinball series after Alien Crush, the game has an eerie occult theme with skulls, skeletons, and demons. It was later followed by Jaki Crush and Alien Crush Returns...
. The price for all four has been set at 600 Yen. Since then more games have been released on PSN.
At the 2011 GDC, Nintendo announced that TurboGrafx 16 and Game Gear games would be available for the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console.
SuperGrafx
The SuperGrafxSuperGrafx
The SuperGrafx video game console is an upgraded version of NEC's popular PC Engine system. At first it was known as the PC-Engine 2—which was purported to be a true 16-bit system with improved graphics and audio capabilities, not expected to see release until 1990...
is a variation of the standard PC-Engine hardware. This system is very nearly the same as the original PCE, except it has a duplicate set of video chips (and an extra chip to coordinate the two), four times as much RAM, twice as much video RAM, and a second layer/plane of scrolling. The CPU, sound, and color palette was not upgraded making the expensive price tag a big disadvantage to the system. NEC also decided not to include the extra two video chips in the all-in-one Duo replacement system, essentially killing off any chance of the Super Grafx continued support. Only five exclusive SuperGrafx games and two hybrid games (Darius Plus
Darius (arcade game)
is a shoot 'em up arcade game released by Taito in 1986. It is the first game in the Darius series. It is known for using a unique three-screen arcade cabinet setup, non-linear level design and multiple endings.-Gameplay:...
and Darius Alpha took advantage of the extra video hardware if played on a SuperGrafx) were released, and the system fell into obscurity.
Minor variations
Other members of the PC Engine family include the Shuttle, the LT (a laptop version similar to the Game Boy Advance SPGame Boy Advance SP
The , released in February 2003, is an upgraded version of Nintendo's Game Boy Advance. The "SP" in Game Boy Advance SP stands for Special. The SP was marketed at US$99.99 at launch. In September 2004, Nintendo lowered the price to US$79.99...
, but considerably larger), the CoreGrafx I and II, the Duo R and the Duo RX. Contrary to popular belief, the CoreGrafx is not a European version of the PC Engine. It is simply a reengineered version of the original (white) PC Engine with an AV output instead of the original model's RF output. The PC Engine and its derivatives were never officially sold in Europe, although many systems and most accessories and games were available as imports. The PC Engine and its games had been extensively covered by most major European video game magazines and were surprisingly popular.
TurboDuo
In 1992 TTI (Turbo Technologies Inc.) released the TurboDuoTurboDuo
The TurboDuo was a video game console released in the United States. It was released on October 10, 1992 by 'Turbo Technologies Incorporated', a Los Angeles-based corporation consisting of NEC and Hudson Soft employees, established to market NEC consoles in North America after NEC Home Electronics...
, the North American version of the Japanese Duo. The system combined the TurboGrafx-16 and an enhanced version of the CD-ROM drive (the "Super CD-ROM²") into a single unit. The system could play audio CDs, CD+Gs, CD-ROM2 and Super CD games as well as standard HuCards. The Super System Card required for some games when using the original CD add-on as well as some of the Japanese variants of the TurboGrafx was built in to the Duo rather than requiring the card to be inserted at all times when playing CD games. The original pack-in for the Turbo Duo included the system, one control pad, an AC adapter, RCA cables, Ys Book I & II, a CD-ROM2 title, and a Super CD including Bonk's Adventure
Bonk's Adventure
Bonk's Adventure is a 2D platform video game developed by Red Company and Atlus and released in 1990 for the TurboGrafx-16. In Japan it was released as PC Genjin in 1989, a play on the Japanese name for the system, 'PC Engine'. The game was re-released for the TurboGrafx-16 in the U.S. in 1992 on...
, Bonk's Revenge
Bonk's Revenge
Bonk's Revenge is a 2D platformer originally for the TurboGrafx 16 console, created in 1991 by the Red Company for Hudson and Turbo Technologies, and licensed by NEC. The game was re-released for the TurboGrafx-16 in 1992 on the Gate of Thunder 4-in-1 game CD-ROM...
, Gate of Thunder
Gate of Thunder
Gate of Thunder is a scrolling shooter by Hudson Soft and Red Entertainment for the PC Engine CD-ROM originally released in 1992. It was also a pack-in game for the TurboDuo in North America. It was released on the Wii Virtual Console on October 15, 2007 in North America and on December 4, 2007 in...
and a secret version of Bomberman
Bomberman
Bomberman is a strategic, maze-based computer and video game franchise originally developed by Hudson Soft. The original game was published in 1983 and new games in the series are still being published to this day. Today, the commercially successful Bomberman is featured in over 70 different games...
accessible via an easter egg. The system was also packaged with one random HuCard game which varied from system to system (Dungeon Explorer was the original HuCard pack-in for TurboDuo, although many titles were eventually used, such as IREM's Ninja Spirit and NAMCO's Final Lap Twin, and then eventually a random pick).
TurboExpress
Sega Nomad
The Sega Nomad was a handheld game console sold for the North American consumer market which played Mega Drive/Genesis game cartridges. The system was similar to the Japanese Sega Mega Jet, but featured a built-in color screen; the Mega Jet needed a separate monitor...
could do the same for Sega Genesis
Sega Mega Drive
The Sega Genesis is a fourth-generation video game console developed and produced by Sega. It was originally released in Japan in 1988 as , then in North America in 1989 as Sega Genesis, and in Europe, Australia and other PAL regions in 1990 as Mega Drive. The reason for the two names is that...
games. Its Japanese equivalent was the PC Engine GT'. It had a 2.6 inches (66 mm) screen, the same as the original Game Boy
Game Boy
The , is an 8-bit handheld video game device developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on , in North America in , and in Europe on...
, whose keypad layout it was designed after (just like the TG-16 controller's keypad layout was similar to that of the Famicom
Nintendo Entertainment System
The Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America during 1985, in Europe during 1986 and Australia in 1987...
/NES
Nintendo Entertainment System
The Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America during 1985, in Europe during 1986 and Australia in 1987...
controller). It shared the capabilities of the TurboGrafx, giving it 512 available colors (9-bit RGB), stereo sound, and the same custom CPU at 7.16 MHz. The optional "TurboVision" TV tuner included RCA audio/video input, allowing the user to use TurboExpress as a video monitor. The "TurboLink" allowed two-player play. Falcon, a flight simulator, included a "head-to-head" dogfight mode that could only be accessed via TurboLink. However, very few TG-16 games offered co-op play modes especially designed with the TurboExpress in mind.
Stand-alone systems
- PC Engine (1987)
- White, only RF output
- PC Engine Shuttle (1989)
- UFO-shaped system, unique expansion port (no CD option), AV output
- PC Engine SuperGrafxSuperGrafxThe SuperGrafx video game console is an upgraded version of NEC's popular PC Engine system. At first it was known as the PC-Engine 2—which was purported to be a true 16-bit system with improved graphics and audio capabilities, not expected to see release until 1990...
(1989)- The only PC Engine unit to contain enhanced HuCard functionality. Only five games were released for it. (Two regular PC Engine releases, Darius Plus and Darius Alpha, were enhanced to utilize the extra sprite capability of the SuperGrafx.)
- PC Engine CoreGrafx (1989)
- Dark grey, blue label, AV output
- PC Engine CoreGrafx II (1991)
- Light grey, orange label, AV output, Identical in function to the CoreGrafx
CD-ROM accessories
- PC Engine CD-ROM² (1988)
- White "briefcase" design matching the style of the original PC Engine. A special adaptor, named RAU-30, is required to connect it to the SuperGrafx.
- PC Engine Super CD-ROM² (1991)
- A handsome grey-colored CD attachment system add-on, with built-in SystemCard 3.0 to play all Super CD-ROM² games in addition to CD-ROM² game formats. It can be connected directly to the rear pinouts of the original white PC Engine, the PC Engine CoreGrafx, CoreGrafx2, and lastly the SuperGrafx. For the SuperGrafx, this is a much more efficient way to add CD-Rom expansion to it compared to the RAU-30 route. However, this add-on tend to be much more difficult to find.
Portable systems
- PC Engine GT (1990)
- Portable system, identical in shape and function to the US-released TurboExpressTurboExpressThe TurboExpress or PC Engine GT in Japan was a portable version of the TurboGrafx-16/PC Engine , released by NEC in 1990 for $249.99 .It was the most advanced handheld of its time and could play all the TurboGrafx-16's games The TurboExpress or PC Engine GT (Game Tank) in Japan was a portable...
- Portable system, identical in shape and function to the US-released TurboExpress
- PC Engine LT (1991)
- Semi-portable system (no battery option) similar in size to a normal PC Engine or CoreGrafx. Uses a very large attached screen, and folds up like a laptop (hence the LT moniker)
Duo systems
- PC Engine Duo (1991)
- Combination PC Engine + CD ROM system + System 3.0 card, dark grey, has a CD door lock and headphone port
- PC Engine Duo R (1993)
- Same as the Duo, but white/beige with a more streamlined case style, and lacks the lock and headphone port.
- PC Engine Duo RX (1994)
- Same as the Duo R, slightly blue in colour. The only PCE packaged with a six-button pad.
Others
- X1 Twin
- Combination of Sharp X1Sharp X1The X1 is a series of home computer released by Sharp Corporation from 1982 to 1988. It was based on a Z80 CPU.Despite the fact that the Computer Division of Sharp Corporation had released the MZ series, suddenly the Television Division released a new computer series called the X1...
computer and PC Engine. Only played HuCards. An add-on card was available to provide PC-FXPC-FXThe is a video game console released in Japan on December 23, 1994 by NEC Corporation. It is the 32-bit successor to NEC's PC Engine ....
compatibility.
- Combination of Sharp X1
- Pioneer LaserActivePioneer LaserActiveThe Pioneer LaserActive was a short-lived Laserdisc-based game console released by Pioneer in 1993. In addition to LaserActive games, separately sold add-on modules expanded the hardware to include compatibility with the Sega Mega Drive/Sega Genesis and PC Engine/TurboGrafx 16 game cartridges and...
- Pioneer + NEC released a LaserdiscLaserdiscLaserDisc was a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium. Initially licensed, sold, and marketed as MCA DiscoVision in North America in 1978, the technology was previously referred to interally as Optical Videodisc System, Reflective Optical Videodisc, Laser Optical...
player with video game modules. One module allowed the use of PC Engine games (HuCard, CD-ROM2 and Super CD) as well as "LD-ROM2" titles released on laserdisc that only worked on this setup.
- Pioneer + NEC released a Laserdisc
- PC-KD863G
- A computer (RGB) monitor with PCE hardware pre-installed internally.
Other region variations
- TurboGrafx-CD - North American version of CD-ROM 2
- TurboExpressTurboExpressThe TurboExpress or PC Engine GT in Japan was a portable version of the TurboGrafx-16/PC Engine , released by NEC in 1990 for $249.99 .It was the most advanced handheld of its time and could play all the TurboGrafx-16's games The TurboExpress or PC Engine GT (Game Tank) in Japan was a portable...
- North American version of PC Engine GT - TurboDuoTurboDuoThe TurboDuo was a video game console released in the United States. It was released on October 10, 1992 by 'Turbo Technologies Incorporated', a Los Angeles-based corporation consisting of NEC and Hudson Soft employees, established to market NEC consoles in North America after NEC Home Electronics...
- North American version of PC Engine Duo - TurboGrafx - United Kingdom, PAL video output
- Vistar 16 - Korean
- Several clones
Unofficial variations
- Various PC Engine Shuttle clones exist, with varying levels of compatibility with original PC-Engine games. One of the more common types is the "PC Boy".
- New Tai Sang Corporation released bootleg HuCards which were sometimes patched to add features like invincibility. Unlike most bootlegs these closely resembled the original games in terms of packaging, even with color labels and manuals.
- The PC Engine was never officially released in EuropeEuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, but some companies imported them and made SCART conversions on a moderate scale. In France, a company known as Sodipeng imported Japanese systems and added an RGB Cable called "AudioVideo Plus Cable". This mod improved the original video signal quality extensively and made the consoles work with SECAM televisions. In Germany, several importers sold converted PC Engines with PAL RF as well as RGB output. The connectors and pinouts used for the latter were frequently compatible with the AmigaAmigaThe Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...
video port, with two unconnected pins used for the audio channels.
Unreleased hardware
- A modemModemA modem is a device that modulates an analog carrier signal to encode digital information, and also demodulates such a carrier signal to decode the transmitted information. The goal is to produce a signal that can be transmitted easily and decoded to reproduce the original digital data...
was developed but never released (some working prototypes are in circulation, though). - A SCSISCSISmall Computer System Interface is a set of standards for physically connecting and transferring data between computers and peripheral devices. The SCSI standards define commands, protocols, and electrical and optical interfaces. SCSI is most commonly used for hard disks and tape drives, but it...
interface for the Duo CD-ROM drive to be used by a PC existed in prototype form only. (it was featured in a TTi-published TurboGrafx-16 oriented magazine in the US and on Computer ChroniclesComputer ChroniclesThe Computer Chronicles was a US television series, broadcast during 1981-2002 on Public Broadcasting Service public television, which documented the rise of the personal computer from its infancy to the immense market at the turn of the century...
episode #1043)
Peripheral compatibility
All PC Engine systems support the same controller peripherals, including pads, joysticks and multitaps. Except for the Vistar, Shuttle, GT, and systems with built-in CD-ROM drives, all PC Engine units shared the same expansion connector, which allowed for the use of devices such as the CD-ROM unit, game saves and AV output. See the External Links (bottom) for details on this connector.The TurboGrafx and Vistar units use a different controller port than the PC Engines, but adaptors are available and the protocol is the same. The TurboGrafx offers the same expansion connector pinout as the PC Engine, but has a slightly different shape so peripherals must be modified to fit.
The Super System Card provides 192 kB
Kilobyte
The kilobyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information. Although the prefix kilo- means 1000, the term kilobyte and symbol KB have historically been used to refer to either 1024 bytes or 1000 bytes, dependent upon context, in the fields of computer science and information...
of RAM, supplementing the built in 64K of DRAM found in the CD interface tray. The PC-Engine Duo/R/RX consoles have the Super System Card’s 192 KB of RAM plus the 64K of standard RAM and v3.00 BIOS software built in, and can play both CD-ROM² and Super CD-ROM² games without using any additional cards.
The Arcade Card Pro is designed for the original PC-Engine CD-ROM² and Super CD-ROM² peripherals, adding the 2304 KB of RAM required by Arcade CD-ROM² games. It could, of course, also play standard CD-ROM² and Super CD-ROM² games.
The Arcade Card Duo is for the PC-Engine Duo/R/RX consoles and adds 2048 KB RAM. Because the PC-Engine Duo series of systems have 256K of RAM built-in, this does not need to be provided and is why the Arcade Card Duo contained less RAM and was less expensive than the Pro version.
Note: Because the aforementioned consoles use the same BIOS revision as the Arcade Card Pro, it is not known (as a cost-saving measure) if the Arcade Card Duo includes the BIOS software itself, or if the existing built-in BIOS is used.
The various CD-ROM game types are:
- CD-ROM² : Standard CD-ROM game.
- Super CD-ROM² : Requires a compatible system or upgrade card.
- Arcade CD-ROM² : Requires an upgrade card.
While the standard CD-ROM² and Super CD-ROM² had RAM for data storage which was accessed directly, the Arcade CD-ROM² cards accessed the RAM in a slightly different way.
Both the Pro and Duo versions of the Arcade Card worked in the same way. Just as with the Super CD-ROM², up to 256 KB of the RAM was able to be accessed directly by the CPU. The other 2048 KB was accessed indirectly by four indirect self incrementing/decrementing address registers. These registers were mapped into memory hardware bank and also mapped into 4 special memory banks. Reading and writing sequential data was speed up and reduced cycle cost due to these new registers. This meant *far* data could be accessed with these four registers without having to map banks of memory into the CPU's logical address range, and could be transferred to VRAM ports faster and easier, as is evidenced by the many conversions of well-animated Neo Geo fighting games to the Arcade CD-ROM². The Arcade card was known to have existed in working prototype form as early as mid '92 from looking at (non public) source code files to Art of Fighting ACD port.
One technique that was used by games pre-dating the Arcade Card upgrade was to store graphics data in the 64K audio RAM (used for ADPCM samples) that was present. This RAM could be directly populated by the CD-ROM hardware (it had a direct DMA channel from the CD controller) without CPU intervention, and the memory could be accessed in an indirect fashion, similar to the Arcade Card but at a much-much slower interface, allowing data stored in it to appear as a 64 KB stream of linear data that could be easily transferred to the system RAM.
NEC also manufactured a very large line of personal computers, one of which featured a single-speed CD ROM drive identical to the PC Engine version. They were designed to be interchangeable, which is why the PC Engine's IFU-30 CD ROM interface could be purchased without a CD ROM drive.
NEC developed a prototype adaptor that connected a PC through the HuCard slot, allowing the PC to control the PC Engine's CD ROM as it would any normal SCSI drive. Due to falling CD drive prices and the increasing undesirability of a single-speed SCSI drive, it was never released. It was however previewed in NEC's official US TurboDuo magazine.
The Pioneer LaserActive was a laserdisc
Laserdisc
LaserDisc was a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium. Initially licensed, sold, and marketed as MCA DiscoVision in North America in 1978, the technology was previously referred to interally as Optical Videodisc System, Reflective Optical Videodisc, Laser Optical...
player with an expansion bay. One of the expansion modules released allowed it to play PC Engine titles (HuCards, CD-ROM2 and Super CD) as well as games released on laserdisc (LD-ROM2) that only worked on this setup. Eleven LD-ROM2 titles were released in Japan, though only three of them were released in North America.
Video formats
All PC Engine hardware is natively NTSC, including the European version which creates PAL-compatible video with the use of a chroma encoder chip not found in any other system in the series.Technical specifications
- CPUCentral processing unitThe central processing unit is the portion of a computer system that carries out the instructions of a computer program, to perform the basic arithmetical, logical, and input/output operations of the system. The CPU plays a role somewhat analogous to the brain in the computer. The term has been in...
: 8-bit HuC6280AHudson Soft HuC6280The HuC6280 8-bit microprocessor is Japanese company Hudson Soft's improved version of the WDC 65C02 CPU. The most notable product using the HuC6280 is NEC's TurboGrafx 16 video game console.-Description:...
, a modified 65SC02 (a separate branch from the 65C02, of the original MOS 6502MOS Technology 6502The MOS Technology 6502 is an 8-bit microprocessor that was designed by Chuck Peddle and Bill Mensch for MOS Technology in 1975. When it was introduced, it was the least expensive full-featured microprocessor on the market by a considerable margin, costing less than one-sixth the price of...
) running at 1.79 or 7.16 MHz (switchable by software). Features integrated bankswitching hardware (driving a 21-bit external address bus from a 6502-compatible 16-bit address bus), an integrated general-purpose I/O port, a timer, block transfer instructions, and dedicated move instructions for communicating with the HuC6270AHudson Soft HuC6270HuC6270 is a video display controller developed and manufactured by Hudson Soft. The VDC was used in the PC Engine game console produced by NEC Corporation in 1987 and in the SuperGrafx and TurboGrafx 16 also developed by NEC....
VDC. - GPUGraphics processing unitA graphics processing unit or GPU is a specialized circuit designed to rapidly manipulate and alter memory in such a way so as to accelerate the building of images in a frame buffer intended for output to a display...
: A dual graphics processor setup. One 16-bit HuC6260 Video Color Encoder (VCE), and one 16-bit HuC6270AHudson Soft HuC6270HuC6270 is a video display controller developed and manufactured by Hudson Soft. The VDC was used in the PC Engine game console produced by NEC Corporation in 1987 and in the SuperGrafx and TurboGrafx 16 also developed by NEC....
Video Display Controller (VDC). The HuC6270AHudson Soft HuC6270HuC6270 is a video display controller developed and manufactured by Hudson Soft. The VDC was used in the PC Engine game console produced by NEC Corporation in 1987 and in the SuperGrafx and TurboGrafx 16 also developed by NEC....
featured Port-based I/O similar to the TMS99xx VDP family.
Resolution
- X (Horizontal) Resolution: variable, maximum of 565 (programmable to 282, 377 or 565 pixels, or as 5.37mhz, 7.159mhz, and 10.76mhz pixel dot clock) Taking into consideration overscan limitations of CRT televisions at the time, the horizontal resolutions were realistically limited to something a bit less than what the system was actually capable of. Consequently, most game developers limited their games to either 256, 336, or 512 pixels in display width for each of the three modes.
- Y (Vertical) Resolution: variable, maximum of 242 (programmable in increments of 1 scanline). It is possible to achieve an interlaced "mode" with a maximum vertical resolution of 484 scanlines by alternating between the two different vertical resolution modes used by the system. However, it is unknown, at this time, if this interlaced resolution is compliant with (and consequently displayed correctly on) NTSC televisions.
- The majority of TurboGrafx-16 games use 256×239, though some games, such as Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective did use 512×224. Chris Covell's 'High-Resolution Slideshow' uses 512×240.
Color
- Depth: 9 bit
- Colors available: 512
- Colors onscreen: Maximum of 482 (241 background, 241 sprite)
- Palettes: Maximum of 32 (16 for background tiles, 16 for sprites)
- Colors per palette: 16 per background palette (color entry #0 of each background palette must be the same), and 15 per sprite palette (plus transparent, which is displayed as an actual color in the overscan area of the screen)
Sprites
- Simultaneously displayable: 64 on-screen, 16 (256 sprite pixels) per scanline
- Sizes: 16×16, 16×32, 16×64, 32×16, 32×32, 32×64
- Palette: Each sprite can use up to 15 unique colors (one color must be reserved as transparent) via one of the 16 available sprite palettes.
- Layers: The HuC6270AHudson Soft HuC6270HuC6270 is a video display controller developed and manufactured by Hudson Soft. The VDC was used in the PC Engine game console produced by NEC Corporation in 1987 and in the SuperGrafx and TurboGrafx 16 also developed by NEC....
VDC was capable of displaying one sprite layer. Sprites could be placed either in front of or behind background tiles by manipulating a bit which caused indirect pixel color entry #0 of the background tile(s) to act as transparent.
Tiles
- Size: 8×8
- Palette: Each background tile can use up to 15 unique colors via one of the 16 available background palettes and 1 shared color (BG color #0) for a total of 16 colors per tile. The first color entry of each background subpalette is ignored. Instead, color #0's RGB value is shown in its place (the common/shared color). When a specific sprite is set to show behind the BG layer via the priority bit, all tiles that use relative color #0 (of 16) will not show BG color #0. But instead will show the sprite pixel (if not opaque).
- Layers: The HuC6270AHudson Soft HuC6270HuC6270 is a video display controller developed and manufactured by Hudson Soft. The VDC was used in the PC Engine game console produced by NEC Corporation in 1987 and in the SuperGrafx and TurboGrafx 16 also developed by NEC....
VDC was capable of displaying one background layer.
Audio capacity
- 6 Mini-Wavetable stereo audio channels, programmable through the HuC6280AHudson Soft HuC6280The HuC6280 8-bit microprocessor is Japanese company Hudson Soft's improved version of the WDC 65C02 CPU. The most notable product using the HuC6280 is NEC's TurboGrafx 16 video game console.-Description:...
CPU. - Each channel had a frequencyFrequencyFrequency is the number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit time. It is also referred to as temporal frequency.The period is the duration of one cycle in a repeating event, so the period is the reciprocal of the frequency...
of 3.58Mhz PCM sample clock (while not in D/A mode) with a bit depthAudio bit depthIn digital audio, bit depth describes the number of bits of information recorded for each sample. Bit depth directly corresponds to the resolution of each sample in a set of digital audio data...
of 5 bits. Each channel also was allotted 20 bytes (32×5 bits) of RAM for sample data. - The waveformWaveformWaveform means the shape and form of a signal such as a wave moving in a physical medium or an abstract representation.In many cases the medium in which the wave is being propagated does not permit a direct visual image of the form. In these cases, the term 'waveform' refers to the shape of a graph...
s were programmable so the composers were not limited to the standard selection of waveforms (square, sine, sawtooth, triangle, etc.). - The first two audio channels (1 and 2) were capable of LFOLow frequency oscillationLow-frequency oscillation is an electronic signal, which is usually below 20 Hz and creates a rhythmic pulse or sweep. This pulse or sweep is often used to modulate synthesizers, delay lines and other audio equipment in order to create effects used in the production of electronic music. Audio...
when channel #2 was used to modulate channel #1. This was used to achieve FMFrequency modulation synthesisA 220 Hz carrier tone modulated by a 440 Hz modulating tone with various choices of modulation index, β. The time domain signals are illustrated above, and the corresponding spectra are shown below ....
-like sound qualities. - The final two audio channels (5 and 6) were capable of NoiseWhite noiseWhite noise is a random signal with a flat power spectral density. In other words, the signal contains equal power within a fixed bandwidth at any center frequency...
generation. - Optional software enabled Direct D/ADigital-to-analog converterIn electronics, a digital-to-analog converter is a device that converts a digital code to an analog signal . An analog-to-digital converter performs the reverse operation...
which allows for sampled sound to be streamed into any of the six PCM audio channels. When a channel is in D/A mode the frequency is as fast as the CPU can stream bytes to the port, though in practicality it's limited to 6.99 kHz when using the TIMER interrupt with the smallest loop setting (1023 cpu cycles). Additionally, a programmer could use the scanline interrupt to generate a 15.7khz interrupt system to play samples. - Each channel has its own DAC and two layer attenuation device (two volume mechanism controls) allowing a combination of two channels in Direct D/A mode to be paired and play back 8-bit, 9-bit, or 10-bit linear PCM samples.
- Each channel has a 4bit left and 4bit right fine pan volume register for stereo volume control. The audio unit also contains a master 4bit/4bit pair fine pan volume control, used to set volume/stereo level for all channels as a whole.
- The addition of the CD-ROM peripheral adds CD-DA sound, and a single ADPCM channel to the existing sound capabilities of the TurboGrafx-16.
Game media
- HuCardHuCardA HuCard is a memory card developed by Hudson Soft. It is the size of a credit card and is used with the NEC PC Engine and SuperGrafx video game consoles. HuCards contain an integrated circuit that is placed close to the connectors and protected by a thin plastic shield...
(Turbo Chip in North America): A thin, card-like game medium. The largest Japanese HuCard games were up to 20 Mbit in size. The name was derived from Hudson Soft, the company who developed the game card technology. - CD: The PC Engine CD was the first home video game console to offer a CD-ROM accessory.
- With only one exception, the SuperGrafxSuperGrafxThe SuperGrafx video game console is an upgraded version of NEC's popular PC Engine system. At first it was known as the PC-Engine 2—which was purported to be a true 16-bit system with improved graphics and audio capabilities, not expected to see release until 1990...
, all PC Engine hardware could play the entire HuCard library, and every CD system could play all of the licensed CD games - with the right system card. Some unlicenced CD games by Games Express required a Duo system, due to their games requiring both a special system card packaged with the games and the 256KB of RAM built into the Duo.
CD hardware technical specifications and information
- Oki MSM5205 ADPCM chip with variable speed input clock, and 64 KBKilobyteThe kilobyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information. Although the prefix kilo- means 1000, the term kilobyte and symbol KB have historically been used to refer to either 1024 bytes or 1000 bytes, dependent upon context, in the fields of computer science and information...
DRAM for audio sample storage. Only one channel of 4-bit compressed audio (decompresses to 12-bit, top 10 bits output through DAC) was supported. - Programmable, timer controlled, electronic volume attenuator to fade-out the CD-DA and ADPCM audio channels together or individually.
- The PC-Engine CD-ROM interface tray has 64 KB of DRAM for storage of program code and data loaded from the CD.
- The "System Card" contains the BIOS program used to boot CD media and provides functions for software to access CD hardware through a standardized interface. Later System Cards had extra RAM and updates to the BIOS.
- The Duo series has the same BIOS ROM (v3.00) and RAM (256 KB total) as a PC-Engine system equipped with a Super System Card. The Duo implements the memory as a single 256 KB SRAM chip rather than the split 64 KB DRAM / 192 KB SRAM.
- The list of known CD-ROM BIOS revisions are:
- v1.00 - First release (HuCard, came with the PC-Engine CD-ROM interface unit)
- v2.00 - Upgrade (HuCard, sold separately)
- v2.10 - Upgrade (HuCard, sold separately) - bug fix?
- v3.00 - Final release (built into several products and available as a HuCard - see below)
- The list of known System Card releases are:
- System Card, v1.00 - First release. Came packaged with the original PC-Engine CD-ROM² System. Also available as a standalone purchase, in case the pack-in System Card was lost or damaged.
- System Card, v2.00 – BIOS update. The only difference between this and the original System Card is the BIOS code update to v2.00. Otherwise, it is the same.
- System, Card, v.2.10 – BIOS update. This may have been a bug fix for the System Card v2.00 BIOS code.
- Super System Card - 1.5 Mbit RAM (192 KB) – RAM upgrade and BIOS update. This expands the RAM available for the CD-ROM unit to 256 KB when including the existing built in DRAM. It also offers a final BIOS update to v3.00. The PC-Engine Duo (Turbo Duo in North America) had 256 KB of RAM and the same v3.00 BIOS built into the system. Games developed for this System Card bore the title ‘Super CD’, and could not be played using an older System Card.
- Arcade Card Pro - 17.5 Mbit RAM (2240 KB as 2 MB+192 KB) – RAM upgrade. This greatly expands the RAM available for the CD-ROM unit to 2240 KB. The BIOS revision was unchanged from v3.00. Games developed for this System Card bore the title ‘Arcade Card CD’, and could not be played using an older System Card. The Arcade Card Pro includes the extra 192 KB needed by the non Duo CD system. The 2 MB of RAM is accessed through ports or units of single 8 KB banks and is intended for graphics data storage rather than program code; its flexible addressing system allows for rapid transfer of data to VRAM.
- Arcade Card Duo – 16 Mbit RAM (2048 KB) – RAM upgrade. This greatly expands the RAM available for the PC-Engine Duo system to 2048 KB. The BIOS revision was unchanged from v3.00. Games developed for this System Card bore the title ‘Arcade Card CD’, and could not be played using an older System Card. This will only work on the Duo systems, as it does not include the extra memory built into the Duo system.
- Games Express Card – Bootleg system card. This was a bootleg System Card released by Games Express for play of unlicensed Games Express CD games. Only unlicensed Games Express games could be played on this System Card.
Corresponding CD-ROM products
| Arcade Card Duo (left) and Arcade Card Pro | |
- PC-Engine Interface Unit (IFU-30), came with System Card (CD-ROM² System, v1.00)
- System Card (CD-ROM² System, v1.00) (standalone, available as a replacement for the above)
- System Card (CD-ROM² System, v2.00)
- System Card (CD-ROM² System, v2.10)
- Super System Card (Super CD-ROM² System, v3.00)
- Arcade Card Pro (Arcade CD-ROM², v3.00)
- Arcade Card Duo (Arcade CD-ROM², v3.00)
- Super CD-ROM² System (Super CD-ROM² System, v3.00)
- PC-Engine Duo (Super CD-ROM² System, v3.00)
- PC-Engine Duo R (Super CD-ROM² System, v3.00)
- PC-Engine Duo RX (Super CD-ROM² System, v3.00)
- SuperGrafx ROM Adapter Unit (RAU-30), a cable with two large ends that allows connecting the SuperGrafx to the IFU-30
Drive unit
- Single-speed CD-ROM drive, managed by an NEC microcontroller and using the SCSI-I interface.
- Transfer rate of 150 kB/s.
Emulation
See also
- List of PC Engine gamesChronological list of PC Engine gamesThis is a list of games for the NEC PC Engine and Supergrafx video game systems, organised chronologically by release date. See List of TurboGrafx-16 games for titles released outside of Japan...
- List of TurboGrafx-16 games
- List of TurboGrafx-CD and PC Engine-CD games
External links
- Video of TurboGrafx-16 and PC Engine hardware and features from FamicomDojo.TV