Support NeoGAF

[baphomet]

dang that's a lot of money

Yea, mine was right at $300 shipped with no box.

 

[Azzurri]

You could always buy a 2nd one to mod (lol).

I did choose to mod my late era NES instead of my original, bumpy 1986 NES which is still alive and kicking.

I wanted an S-video mod for my model 1 Genesis, but it's so beautiful I hesitated.

I understand.

Lol I think I'm going to do that honestly.

I just had my snes mini modded and probably pick another one up later. But those are much cheaper than us turbo duos

 

[Mercutio]

Well I found a us turbo duo for 300. Bought it just needs cap replaced. I also need the box, but I'll find that later.


Minot to sure if I want to rgb mod it though. Part of me doesn't want to lose its original collectors item.

Man. You could have gotten a CIB Duo R for that price. I will never understand anyone buying a Turbo Duo. Heck, the regular Japanese Duo is EXACTLY the same as the Turbo Duo, and those go for under $100 on YAJ. You could buy a Japanese Duo, have it recapped, and have RGB / Region switches added for under $300.

Heck, the capacitors on that thing might have done serious non-replacable damage to the board too. It isn't always like "recap fixes it 100%!" So I guess you're a gambling man?

 

[Azzurri]

Man. You could have gotten a CIB Duo R for that price. I will never understand anyone buying a Turbo Duo. Heck, the regular Japanese Duo is EXACTLY the same as the Turbo Duo, and those go for under $100 on YAJ. You could buy a Japanese Duo, have it recapped, and have RGB / Region switches added for under $300.

Heck, the capacitors on that thing might have done serious non-replacable damage to the board too. It isn't always like "recap fixes it 100%!" So I guess you're a gambling man?

I do love gambling, Lol.

Lady offered a 7 day refund so when I take it in to get recapped I'll see, but I don't think it has done damage that can't be fixed.

Also, I just really want a US Duo, there's something about it I love.

Now if anyone would like to sell me a US Duo Box that would be even better

 

[Yes Boss!]

Hell yes, after checking ebay every day for a week, I finally snagged one of DD's Duos:
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/201166162243?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

Wanted one that did not have much yellowing and included the original controller. Mission accomplished.

Now onto the PC Engine game buying Madness...

Yep, Military Madness!

 

[Mercutio]

Now if anyone would like to sell me a US Duo Box that would be even better

For the right price, I'd be happy to draw Air Zonk on my PCE Duo R box!

 

[Azzurri]

It's Biuriful!

It's in mini condition, I'm surprised how good of shape it's in. Now, I'm off to get it recapped. Still debating if I want it RGB modded.

 

[Agent Unknown]

Warp zone

Thanks, maybe I should consider sending them both my Duo and Express to be recapped and modded. Is there any way to tell whether or not they can be saved though?

 

[Azzurri]

Thanks, maybe I should consider sending them both my Duo and Express to be recapped and modded. Is there any way to tell whether or not they can be saved though?

You would probably have to open and check your self before hand?

Picked up Dragon Slayer and YS III at at Warp Zone. Thought I got a good deal, $100 for Dragon Slayer, and $68 for YS III. I checked Ebay and the prices seem to be $30+ higher on there for each.

 

[A Black Falcon]

It's Biuriful!

It's in mini condition, I'm surprised how good of shape it's in. Now, I'm off to get it recapped. Still debating if I want it RGB modded.

This picture reminds me of another one of the reasons why the US Turbo CD is the best model, in addition to it looking the most interesting -- it's the only CD system with the brick in the middle of the cord, instead of on the plug! As far as I know neither the Duo nor any of the Japanese systems have that, while the us TG16 and Turbo CD do.

 

[Mzo]

No, the brick is right at the end. It's probably the biggest brick of all time on top of it.

 

[Azzurri]

No, the brick is right at the end. It's probably the biggest brick of all time on top of it.

Oh it's HUGE.

 

[A Black Falcon]

No, the brick is right at the end. It's probably the biggest brick of all time on top of it.

What are you talking about? I own a Turbo CD, with its original NEC power supply. The brick is in the middle. The same goes for my TG16 NEC power supply. The Turbo CD brick is indeed large, it'd be quite unpleasant as a plug-end brick...

 

[D.Lo]

PC Engine Duo brick is at the end, maybe that's what he meant.

And it is huge and is awful. It was particularly awful for me in Australia, as I then needed to run it through a step down, which also needed to be run through a plug shape adapter (no-one makes small 110/240V stepdown converters with AU plug shape it seems).

Now I run a Duo RX with a standard Mega Drive 2 adapter, so much better.

 

[Teknoman]

It's Biuriful!

It's in mini condition, I'm surprised how good of shape it's in. Now, I'm off to get it recapped. Still debating if I want it RGB modded.

Im tempted to say the system still looks pretty darn good composite...but i've never seen an RGB modded PC engine game in action. Of course every other system looks awesome...so...hmm...

 

[A Black Falcon]

PC Engine Duo brick is at the end, maybe that's what he meant.

And it is huge and is awful. It was particularly awful for me in Australia, as I then needed to run it through a step down, which also needed to be run through a plug shape adapter (no-one makes small 110/240V stepdown converters with AU plug shape it seems).

Now I run a Duo RX with a standard Mega Drive 2 adapter, so much better.

Oh, I see. That's what I was trying to say, as far as I know the TG16 and Turbo CD are the only models with the brick in the middle. Don't even the Japanese PCE and PCE CD have the brick on the plug?

 

[IrishNinja]

that is indeed a great looking duo, congrats Azzurri!

 

[Celine]

Now I run a Duo RX with a standard Mega Drive 2 adapter, so much better.

Oh yeah, best solution.
I got a MD2 compatible adapter that convert from 2200V to 110 for my japanese Duo R.

 

[Mzo]

Yeah, I thought we were talking about Azzuri's pic. That's cool about the Turbo CD, I've never seen one in person.

I wonder why so many old consoles used those horrible giant plugs at the end?

 

[Azzurri]

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

Great article on Gamasutra about the rise and fall of the Turbografx.

Man, it's pretty sad how horrible NEC managed the TG16 in the USA.

 

[mltplkxr]

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

Great article on Gamasutra about the rise and fall of the Turbografx.

Man, it's pretty sad how horrible NEC managed the TG16 in the USA.

Great read.

"Turbo Zone Direct had Duos for at least 10 years," Brandstetter says.

;_;

 

[A Black Falcon]

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

Great article on Gamasutra about the rise and fall of the Turbografx.

Man, it's pretty sad how horrible NEC managed the TG16 in the USA.

Great article! It has a few issues -- it's annoying that it mentions the 8-bit CPU without saying that it was a fast and powerful 8-bit CPU and actually in terms of CPU power the TG16 can hold its own against the SNES for sure -- but it is a good article.

What this article does best, probably, is really hammer home the point about how unbelievably badly NEC and Hudson mismanaged the system outside of Japan. It doesn't even mention all of their mistakes, either! I mean, the article doesn't get to the stupid limited rollout, where NEC decided to only sell the TG16 in a few major markets in the US at first. There's a lot in the article I hadn't heard before, though. Unbelievably incompetent mismanagement, some of the worst the industry has seen.

I do question the point that we missed out on so many great games, though. I mean, yeah, we did... on CD. But on HuCard? On HuCard we got a not too bad limited selection of titles. Yeah, there are obvious big ones that were skipped, and plenty of smaller titles that would have been great to see here, but it's the CD system where the worst of the missed games shows... and of course, to get more CD games, you'd have to actually sell CD systems here, something that never happened. 40,000 sales (evenly split between CD addon drives and Duos) according to Vic Ireland is abysmal. Of course it's also possible that more Turbo Duos were made than that and that the excess stock was what TZD was selling over the next decade. Who knows how many they had though, surely not more than some number of thousands?

The constant stream of games that Japan never let the US release made the situation worse, of course. How are you supposed to convince people to buy the Duo in '92-'94 when NEC/Hudson won't let you bring over Rondo of Blood or Street Fighter II, blocks you from releasing World Heroes and King of the Monsters 2 (but takes your Arcade Card idea and releases their own SNK ports in Japan instead :lol: ), and blocks Mortal Kombat for TG16 as well? As the article says, in that situation of course you have no chance.

Still, I find it weird that they actually took until Summer CES to give up on TTi, considering that they hadn't had a retail release since 1993, and there were only two games released in '94, Godzilla and The Dynastic Hero... that's a long time to wait while releasing nothing and not really being in stores.


Oh, one mistake --- it claims that that Lords of Thunder video is "early". Lords of Thunder released in mid '93, so that's not early. That's in the middle of TTi's very short life.

One other thing -- it says that the Turbo CD released at the end of '89. For several years now, people on PCEFX have been saying that this isn't true, and that it probably didn't actually release until sometime in mid 1990. Do the NEC people interviewed in this article actually confirm that they did indeed ship the Turbo CD at the end of '89, or is the article just assuming that it released then because that was the previous date that had always been seen around the net?

Though it introduced the TurboDuo, TTi had never had to manufacture more TurboGrafx-16 units; in fact, says Brandstetter, the last 100,000 to 200,000 U.S. consoles were unloaded on the Brazilian market, with their expansion ports disabled. The initial order NEC made in 1989 for 750,000 units never sold through to U.S. customers. As for the Duo? "Turbo Zone Direct had Duos for at least 10 years," Brandstetter says.

As far as I know, this is the first time I've ever seen actual TG16 sales numbers mentioned, so for this alone this article is fantastic! The Turbo CD numbers they cite are just those same ones from Vic Ireland as usual, and they never mention Turbo Duo numbers, but that TG16 number is new, I think, and plausible. I had believed the "900,000" number that was out there, but unfortunately it looks like that estimate was too high. Too bad...

At the conference, Hudson didn't generate much publisher interest in the TurboGrafx. But it did succeed in alienating Electronic Arts.

"Basically, there was a kind of weeding-out of developers who could actually participate in development of the first round of CD-ROM games," Greiner says. "We wanted the kind of emphatic push that we would get from somebody who really knew how to use that kind of space -- in other words, really great game developers."

In a meeting, Hudson staffers asked EA's team if it was up to the task of developing great CD-ROM games -- "we didn't think EA was that at the time, obviously, or otherwise we wouldn't have to ask them so deeply," says Greiner. "EA took offense to that -- they kind of walked out of the meeting and said, 'How dare you question us?'"

This is also pretty numbingly stupid, obviously.

 

[IrishNinja]

Great read.

;_;

yeah, always heartbreaking coming across that one. vic ireland told me he had a warehouse of WD swag for years too, ended up having to trash much of it...shit's crushing, but nobody was checking for this stuff for so long there.

 

[grendelrt]

My brother worked for nec, so I had a turbo growing up, I got the CD a couple years later. I remember calling tzd weekly about Dracula X and being told they were working on it. Growing up devils crush, military madness, dungeon Explorer, Gates of Thunder, Ys, etc was my golden age. Favorite system ever, so sad they blew it.

 

[Agent Unknown]

I'm getting ready to dig into that Gamasutra article. I chatted with the owner/manager/former TTI employee of TZD quite a few times on the phone over the years. His many stories of TTI's idiocy were something else, it's like the suits in Japan literally didn't care how they did in the U.S. He said they passed on a Turbo CD version of Mortal Kombat. He said the brass in Japan's response to them was "Americans are no longer interested in fighting games."

Thank goodness I still have my copies of Godzilla (best licensed Godzilla game ever) and Dynastic Hero. Last time I talked to him was early 2007 and he was bummed that Wii VC was already starting to make them irrelevant (since by then their selection was terrible of course).

You would probably have to open and check your self before hand?.

Ok. Was wondering if there was a more external indicator like as long as I get video display of some kind?

 

[IrishNinja]

My brother worked for nec, so I had a turbo growing up, I got the CD a couple years later. I remember calling tzd weekly about Dracula X and being told they were working on it. Growing up devils crush, military madness, dungeon Explorer, Gates of Thunder, Ys, etc was my golden age. Favorite system ever, so sad they blew it.

that's an awesome story - any idea how far long drac x was?

 

[A Black Falcon]

that's an awesome story - any idea how far long drac x was?

I would imagine that that actually meant "we're still trying to get Japan to actually listen to our calls that we need to release that game here".

 

[Agent Unknown]

This just came in the mail, Volume 1 of PC Engine Gamer from SunTeam of the PC Engine Software Bible (limited edition Star Parodier cover, standard cover is Ys), really high quality and even came with some sweet bookmarks:

 

[IrishNinja]

congrats man, it's such a great book...hoping for a volume 2 sometime!

 

[sixteen-bit]

layouts give me game fan vibes

 

[IrishNinja]

^exactly, that was a big plus for me too

 

[Azzurri]

That looks good, I was thinking of picking up a copy.

 

[Agent Unknown]

I started reading that Gamasutra article, on page 2 and I was blown away that they almost made R-TYPE the pack in game instead of Keith Courage?! Unbelievable. Like the article says, gearing the launch units towards arcade fans using an almost arcade perfect R-TYPE port like Sega did with Altered Beast could have given it a better boost early on and gotten it way more attention. But they thought Keith Courage would sell more because both boys and girls liked it in focus test groups (if that doesn't show how worthless focus test groups are I don't know what does). Uh...yeah. TG-16 was doomed from the start. Also didn't know Wataru was renamed to Keith Courage in order to kiss up to American NEC exec Keith Schaefer, bleh.

 

[Mzo]

R-Type was a goddamn killer app back then.

YOU HAD ONE JOB

 

[Azzurri]

I wonder if someone will find a Warehouse full of Turbografx stuff?

I was reading on the PCenginefx forum that some guy found a warehouse full of Turbo Duo in Toronto.


It's always cool when we see old stock found in warehouses.

 

[Agent Unknown]

Just finished reading that Gamasutra article. Wow. Just wow. TTI finally had the right approach, the right attitude and the right people and tried to bring over the cream of the PCE's crop but NEC's Japanese management were stupidly hell bent on killing it by that time. If I were Brandstetter I think I would have lost it on those Japanese execs at some point.

 

[Azzurri]

Just finished reading that Gamasutra article. Wow. Just wow. TTI finally had the right approach, the right attitude and the right people and tried to bring over the cream of the PCE's crop but NEC's Japanese management were stupidly hell bent on killing it by that time. If I were Brandstetter I think I would have lost it on those Japanese execs at some point.

Yea, I just think it was too little too late, as the Japanese execs just didn't want to keep taking that huge loss; even though, Hudson Soft did use their funds to help TTI.

I did find it funny Hudson Soft made a killing off of turbografx failure in the US.

 

[grendelrt]

I would imagine that that actually meant "we're still trying to get Japan to actually listen to our calls that we need to release that game here".

Yeah this basically. He kept telling me they were working on getting over here, never happened =(

 

[Dicer]

I'm getting ready to dig into that Gamasutra article. I chatted with the owner/manager/former TTI employee of TZD quite a few times on the phone over the years. His many stories of TTI's idiocy were something else, it's like the suits in Japan literally didn't care how they did in the U.S. He said they passed on a Turbo CD version of Mortal Kombat. He said the brass in Japan's response to them was "Americans are no longer interested in fighting games."

As I heard it, not only CD but EXCLUSIVE...and yeah the brass line is the same I was told back in the day, so frustrating...

As for EA they were pompous even back then, insulting them was all too easy.

The End was just a sad tragic comedy of errors

 

[Agent Unknown]

Yea, I just think it was too little too late, as the Japanese execs just didn't want to keep taking that huge loss; even though, Hudson Soft did use their funds to help TTI.

I did find it funny Hudson Soft made a killing off of turbografx failure in the US.

Yeah, by 1992 when the Duo released it was way too late to catch up with Sega but if Brandstetter and TTI had been given the PCE lineup they wanted and the marketing they needed it surely could have carved out a moderate, profitable niche and paved the way for yet another system (but obviously the execs didn't want it, and I wonder if maybe this article also sheds possible light on why NEC chose such awful, MPEG focused hardware for the PC FX in order to deliberately kill that too because they were THAT lazy and desperate to give up on the PCE line?).

Another point in the article I found fascinating was that Cosmic Fantasy 2 had a 1:1 attach rate for the CD add on. So the potential for better sales was there, people were paying attention and waiting, it had a dedicated little following that could have been expanded at least. The right people will get it if you just give it to 'em. But yeah, this article confirms everything the guy at TZD ever expressed to me, he and Brandstetter must have gotten more than a few beers together.

Edit:

As I heard it, not only CD but EXCLUSIVE...and yeah the brass line is the same I was told back in the day, so frustrating...

As for EA they were pompous even back then, insulting them was all too easy.

The End was just a sad tragic comedy of errors

Wow, Mortal Kombat possibly could have been exclusive? Who/where'd you hear that from if you don't mind me asking?

And yeah, EA were unsurprisingly the usual arrogant pieces of crap they always are, leaving the room in a huff just because they were pointedly asked what they could bring to the table for CDROM development? And paying them just to be able to make that Madden game was indeed stupid. I have a copy of that game and it's awful.

 

[IrishNinja]

forget if it was discussed here or PCE, but that "americans not interested in fighting games" bit is often seen as a line used to justify not paying for the port, or much less the alleged offer of exclusive rights which at the time i can imagine would've been stupid-high, the game was hot as hell back then

 

[Dicer]

Edit:



Wow, Mortal Kombat possibly could have been exclusive? Who/where'd you hear that from if you don't mind me asking?

And yeah, EA were unsurprisingly the usual arrogant pieces of crap they always are, leaving the room in a huff just because they were pointedly asked what they could bring to the table for CDROM development? And paying them just to be able to make that Madden game was indeed stupid. I have a copy of that game and it's awful.

I would speak with Jeremy Klein on the phone back then, told me all kinds of sad depressing things that were going on, The US guys were really trying to bring things to our shores, and Japan just wasn't having it.

And yeah the Madden game is kinda sad...those video clips, lol

 

[Agent Unknown]

^^^

Can you imagine if they'd paid for the exclusive MK rights though? It would have been the American equivalent of Dragon Quest. Get a Turbo Duo! It's the ONLY system with Mortal Kombat, AND it has shmups, arcade/SNK ports, and AAA RPGs, wow. Just imagine what could have been.

 

[sixteen-bit]

If Mortal Kombat went exclusive to TG16, the series wouldn't be around today.

 

[Dicer]

If Mortal Kombat went exclusive to TG16, the series wouldn't be around today.

Can't say that, even if the original had made the Duo, the sequels wouldn't have, but who knows now...

Who knows maybe we will get it made one day, as it is the community seems a bit lit up and excited about translations and new projects, I cannot wait for the current Bubble Bobble port.

 

[Agent Unknown]

Dicer: Was Jeremy Klein the manager/owner of TZD? Whoever it was he told me the Mortal Kombat story one time when I called back in the summer of '94 when the system was all but dead (and we were waiting for Godzilla, Dynastic Hero and the last handful of titles).

Yeah, Bubble Bobble homebrew port will be great. I always thought it was odd Taito gave PCE an excellent port of New Zealand Story but not Bubble Bobble.

 

[Dicer]

Dicer: Was Jeremy Klein the manager/owner of TZD? Whoever it was he told me the Mortal Kombat story one time when I called back in the summer of '94 when the system was all but dead (and we were waiting for Godzilla, Dynastic Hero and the last handful of titles).

Yeah, Bubble Bobble homebrew port will be great. I always thought it was odd Taito gave PCE an excellent port of New Zealand Story but not Bubble Bobble.

I'm not aware of his exact role over there at the time, he was also ding his skate stuff as well. I just know he was my go to contact (I was doing freelance magazine and some fanzine work back then, and I got to speak with Vic a few times back then as well, The whole group was passionate, and it musty have been heart breaking to see things go as they did.

This thread needs a time machine, lol

 

[Canadian Psycho]

I wonder if someone will find a Warehouse full of Turbografx stuff?

I was reading on the PCenginefx forum that some guy found a warehouse full of Turbo Duo in Toronto.


It's always cool when we see old stock found in warehouses.

Yes, that was me (I go by another pseudonym these days). Back in 2004, I barely missed a huge lot of American Turbo games + a Duo system that some poor mother was selling on ebay (their child died or something; might have been made up of course). Anyways, that lot featured all the great shooters and many a great imports as well IIRC. I barely missed winning it, and then I turned back and immediately impulse bought a brand new Turbo Duo from that guy in Toronto who had found a bunch of them (I think he was a former employee, but don't quote me on it).

Anyways, after looking at the prices for games (remember that was the summer of 2004), I got cold feet and decided to sell back the Duo (didn't lose a cent on the sale, didn't make any either). At the time, prices were much more affordable than today (yet I failed to realize it could get worse), but here I am today trying to secure the games I should have gotten ten years ago - obviously, most are double, triple or more than they were sold for at the time, lol...

 

[IrishNinja]

^damn psycho, that's some harsh shit!

I'm not aware of his exact role over there at the time, he was also ding his skate stuff as well. I just know he was my go to contact (I was doing freelance magazine and some fanzine work back then, and I got to speak with Vic a few times back then as well, The whole group was passionate, and it musty have been heart breaking to see things go as they did.

This thread needs a time machine, lol

oh man, didn't know about your background Dicer, that's awesome! what mags were you on?

i tried a thread on fanzines here years go, but the few ones i still have (mostly GEA, few In Between The Lines) i couldn't scan worth a crap at the time. i'd love to know more about em/find any i could, scanned or otherwise!

 

[Dicer]

^damn psycho, that's some harsh shit!



oh man, didn't know about your background Dicer, that's awesome! what mags were you on?

i tried a thread on fanzines here years go, but the few ones i still have (mostly GEA, few In Between The Lines) i couldn't scan worth a crap at the time. i'd love to know more about em/find any i could, scanned or otherwise!

The magazine stuff was local and not game related, sadly. I do have some fanzine stuff tucked away, once I go through boxes I can scan and post it up.