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PC Engine/TG Appreciation and Collecting Thread, Because who needs a 2nd controller?
- Thread starter gryz
- Start date
Shin Johnpv
Member
I know I've read of some on assemblergames, on shmups and some where else. A lot of people saying it was messy, and had issues with region switches, or different video mods stopping working after a time. I don't have the links on hand, just what I came across when doing my research for my stuff. Wrapping that board in bubble wrap seems almost as bad as covering everything in hot glue.
A Black Falcon
Member
I highly doubt any of Keith Courage's mods are covered in hot glue and plastic wrap like that, he does good work... unlike what you see in those pictures.
Sure, it works... for how long?
A-Train is a very complicated simulation game, so of course the manual is thick. It's not a game to play in a language you don't understand, I would say... so just stick to the DOS PC version maybe. I got the PC version of A-Train (that Maxis released here) back in the '90s, and never did totally understand the game...
Yeah, Legend of the Valkyrie is a great game, easily one of my favorite topdown action games like that of its time. There are a few other good topdown action games on the TG16/PCE, such as Last Alert, Fray CD, Bloody Wolf, Kiki Kaikai, and such, but Valkyrie might be the best. It looks great and plays really well too.
Agent Unknown
Member
is assemblergames forum reliable ? apparently this is doujin's mod work and I don't know how old these photos are, and I've no idea if this looks great or what....
http://assemblergames.com/l/threads/noob-guide-turboed-2-x-doujindance-modded-pc-engine-duo-r.59339/
Yikes! Based on this I really dodged a bullet. Why would he put bubble wrap on part of the board?
Ban Puncher
Member
I've owned a Doujin Dance Duo-R for two and half years now and it hasn't missed a beat.
Have you opened it to see how it is done? Could be fun to see.
D.Lo
Member
Same here except RX and 3.5 years.
Yes I had a look once and it was exactly like that. Looks like decent work to me. The chip has some padding which makes sense since it's not screwed down.
Ban Puncher
Member
Schrödinger's Duo
Agent Unknown
Member
Glad to hear you guys are satisfied but I wouldn't want bubble wrap and/or hot glue used in my console mod.
Gamefan review of forgotten worlds
BTW guys you should try and import a copy of Blood Gear it's a pretty decent platform adventure/action RPG by Hudson Soft/Westone and RED. Knowing that Westone had a hand on this it does have a feel of Dragon's Curse with the platforming elements mixed with mechas. You defeat enemies, auto pick up gold and in Town parts the factory shops either refill your health or upgrade your mechs stats.
There are some tricky parts and some devilish encounters that could end up with the death of your character that could end up with reloading your game file but again the walkthough on youtube will help. Most of the music for a CD game is chip PSG which may surprise some but I really enjoyed it. Lots of manual weapon switching but it's kept simple as you are only allowed to carry a few anyway.
My main grips is some stages have some great scrolling but sadly most of the backgrounds are static.
Some japanese knowledge will help but there is a play guide on youtube
BTW guys you should try and import a copy of Blood Gear it's a pretty decent platform adventure/action RPG by Hudson Soft/Westone and RED. Knowing that Westone had a hand on this it does have a feel of Dragon's Curse with the platforming elements mixed with mechas. You defeat enemies, auto pick up gold and in Town parts the factory shops either refill your health or upgrade your mechs stats.
There are some tricky parts and some devilish encounters that could end up with the death of your character that could end up with reloading your game file but again the walkthough on youtube will help. Most of the music for a CD game is chip PSG which may surprise some but I really enjoyed it. Lots of manual weapon switching but it's kept simple as you are only allowed to carry a few anyway.
My main grips is some stages have some great scrolling but sadly most of the backgrounds are static.
Some japanese knowledge will help but there is a play guide on youtube
davidwhangchoi
Member
Gamefan review of forgotten worlds
Awesome review of Forgotten Worlds. I was just reading that earlier this evening. Do you happen to have Gamefan's Graveyard section on SuperGrafx Ghouls n Ghosts?
I found the one with Granzort and Aldynes.
1941:
Nice Japanese ad for Ghouls 'n ghosts.
Agent Unknown
Member
Thanks to piggychan and AmyS for posting the rad Gamefan scans, what issue #s are those from respectively?
I think it was from December 92.
https://archive.org/stream/Gamefan_Volume_01_Issue_02_December_1992#page/n7/mode/2up
Also I am on the fence about Cosmic Fantasy 2. It somehow just lacks any sort of charm to wow me. I like the cut scenes and that's about it.
Shin Johnpv
Member
Looks like the dude who makes the Rhea and GDEMU is working on one for the PC Engine Duo. Kind of a double edge sword since his shit is so hard to get.
https://gdemu.wordpress.com/2016/07/16/aint-no-rest-for-the-wicked/
https://gdemu.wordpress.com/2016/07/16/aint-no-rest-for-the-wicked/
I think it is only for those with the original IFU briefcase set up but I could be wrong here..
Shin Johnpv
Member
Yeah someone corrected me on that on facebook, I didn't realize that so sorry everyone.
Agent Unknown
Member
Popped in New Adventure Island last night and had a blast, I've always thought it was an underrated gem in the series and a ton of fun with big detailed sprites, nice use of color and the occasional parallax it sports in some stages is solid (especially in the first underground lava stage which has some really nice multilayer scrolling). I'm surprised at how hard it still is, you really have to rush to stay alive and some of the enemy placement is pretty devious, it would make a great game for speed runners to tackle.
Edit: Beat New Adventure Island tonight, wow that was hard, used a ton of credits. It would be pretty hard to 1CC that game. Playing some Liquid Kids/Mizanbaku Adventure now, looks and feels almost arcade perfect (I hear the Saturn version by Ving is the definitive home port?), gotta love challenging Taito platformers featuring cute animal heroes.
Thanks, I really need to get some of those Gamefans from the early '90s (the less outrageously pricy ones anyways). I'll never forget seeing a deluxe spread on Bonk III in a '93 issue of Gamefan ("Woooow! The giant Bonk character models are soooooo big and 'toon like!"), it was part of what pushed my brother and I to save our allowances and get a $50 TG-16 from Waldensoftware that year (Keith Courage & Ordyne bundle), a year later we got our Duo on clearance from the same store for only $99 (the one I just had recapped and modded).
I think I'm going to get it, even if it's kind of bland it still looks fun and it doesn't take much to please me RPG wise.
Edit: Beat New Adventure Island tonight, wow that was hard, used a ton of credits. It would be pretty hard to 1CC that game. Playing some Liquid Kids/Mizanbaku Adventure now, looks and feels almost arcade perfect (I hear the Saturn version by Ving is the definitive home port?), gotta love challenging Taito platformers featuring cute animal heroes.
Thanks, I really need to get some of those Gamefans from the early '90s (the less outrageously pricy ones anyways). I'll never forget seeing a deluxe spread on Bonk III in a '93 issue of Gamefan ("Woooow! The giant Bonk character models are soooooo big and 'toon like!"), it was part of what pushed my brother and I to save our allowances and get a $50 TG-16 from Waldensoftware that year (Keith Courage & Ordyne bundle), a year later we got our Duo on clearance from the same store for only $99 (the one I just had recapped and modded).
I think I'm going to get it, even if it's kind of bland it still looks fun and it doesn't take much to please me RPG wise.
Shin Johnpv
Member
In case you don't have one already I'm going to recommend a Turbo everdrive. Its seriously one of the best investments you can make if you have a TG/PCE. Plus as far as Everdrives go it's one of the least expensive ones.
Agent Unknown
Member
I'm definitely planning on getting an Everdrive for the few odd games I'll never be able to own like the U.S. version of Magical Chase and for homebrew titles. Playing Liquid Kids last night and also digging out my copy of New Zealand Story reminded me there is a homebrew PCE port of Bubble Bobble that's been in the works for a few years:
https://youtu.be/73KirCdSgTc
Seriously can't believe Bubble Bobble was never officially ported to PCE, based on the homebrew WIP above it surely would have been perfect.
Agent Unknown
Member
Anyone fellow RGB modded Duo owner where use one of these SCART to HDMI adapters?
http://m.ebay.com/itm/272072670332?_mwBanner=1
Was recommended to me by Keith Courage, so I'm sure it's a good option but are there any pros or cons to these? Any input lag? How about crispness and color quality? Playing with s-video on my modded unit for about a month now and picture looks great but it's time to start taking advantage of that SCART cable.
http://m.ebay.com/itm/272072670332?_mwBanner=1
Was recommended to me by Keith Courage, so I'm sure it's a good option but are there any pros or cons to these? Any input lag? How about crispness and color quality? Playing with s-video on my modded unit for about a month now and picture looks great but it's time to start taking advantage of that SCART cable.
it's appeared again!
If you got experience with yahoo jp auctions and you have unlimited funds to ship outside of japan...
http://page4.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/d199566436
its that pc engine VGA monitor with speaker combo!
If you got experience with yahoo jp auctions and you have unlimited funds to ship outside of japan...
http://page4.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/d199566436
its that pc engine VGA monitor with speaker combo!
D.Lo
Member
It's generally regarded as pretty crap. It's one of the better of the cheapo converters, but there's a reason people spend all the big bucks on XRGBs and now OSSCs - the cheap ones suck.Anyone fellow RGB modded Duo owner where use one of these SCART to HDMI adapters?
http://m.ebay.com/itm/272072670332?_mwBanner=1
Was recommended to me by Keith Courage, so I'm sure it's a good option but are there any pros or cons to these? Any input lag? How about crispness and color quality? Playing with s-video on my modded unit for about a month now and picture looks great but it's time to start taking advantage of that SCART cable.
It will treat the 240p as 480i (so nasty blur when the screen scrolls) add several frames of lag, and will force 16:9.
It's covered on Fudoh's site: http://retrogaming.hazard-city.de
RoryDropkick
Member
He recommended one to me too. I told him I was using a Sync Strike on my capture card and he didn't know what it was. I had to send him a link.
Agent Unknown
Member
I love Japanese TVs and computer hardware with built in consoles.
Ugh, yeah that sounds bad, thanks for the warning.
Edit: I assume there is no major difference/advantage to having an XRGB Mino other than size, right?
Agent Unknown
Member
I read VG&CE casually a lot at the news stands back in the day and they always gave snobby reviews to Turbo games (their Dynastic Hero review was abysmally and childishly worded as were s lot of reviews back then). To say that Air Zonk is only worth a rental or a look by casual players is so insultingly off base it's unreal. Gamepro usually gave good, enthusiastic reviews to Turbo games, I still have my Gamepro/Swatpro review of Bonk's Revrnge somewhere (it got an almost perfect score IIRC), if I ever find it I'll take pics and post them. I have no idea though how both the Gamepro review and VG&CE could rate Air Zonk's sound so low, it has one of the best and most richest soundtracks of any Hucard out there, it's right up there with Magical Chase.
Thanks, I'll keep that in mind.
Thanks, I'll keep that in mind.
I really loved that first EGM look at Air Zonk (titled Bonk III Panic Cyborg) from the May 1992 issue (#34),
EGM Air Zonk review
EGM Best Game of the Year (TurboGrafx-16)
I wonder why the CD sequel (Super Air Zonk: Rockabilly-Paradise) was so much worse than the brilliant 4mb HuCard / TurboChip original? And I'm just going by what I've seen of it in videos, not just the following articles / reviews.
EGM Air Zonk review
EGM Best Game of the Year (TurboGrafx-16)
I wonder why the CD sequel (Super Air Zonk: Rockabilly-Paradise) was so much worse than the brilliant 4mb HuCard / TurboChip original? And I'm just going by what I've seen of it in videos, not just the following articles / reviews.
Agent Unknown
Member
I held both the EGM issues and Gamepro above in my hands as my 15 year old self eagerly awaited being able to get a copy of Super Air Zonk from Turbo Zone Direct that summer. I always thought the EGM review scores for SAZ were too harsh, although I totally agree it was disappointing and watered down compared to the first game I still enjoyed it, but man is Air Zonk 1 heads and shoulders above SAZ in every way (duller graphics, almost zero parallax, power ups and Buddy system were all completely gimped). Gamepro review is more spot on and balanced despite the game's shortcomings. But yeah, those magazine scans bring back sooooo many memories. Summer '94 was a good time.
A Black Falcon
Member
"2nd quarter '94" release? I thought Super Air Zonk released in the US in later '93 though... it was a June '93 release in Japan.
Also, it's kind of off topic, but Sonic the Hedgehog 2 for the GG... Portable Game of the Year for 1992? In what kind of insane world would THAT terrible game deserve any kind of award? In the same year as Mario Land 2, Mega Man III, Wave Race, and Kirby's Dream Land on the Game Boy, they give portable GOTY to a terrible, broken game which looks nice in screenshots. Wha... Or even on the Game Gear, while most of Sega's 'GG releases in '92 were not amazing, GG Shinobi II is good for sure.
On another note, I got some import games from Japan again recently, including some for the TG16 & TCD (well, PCE, but same thing). I beat Dragon Egg already, because it's very short and easy, but it's fun enough that I might want to write more about that one...
Also, it's kind of off topic, but Sonic the Hedgehog 2 for the GG... Portable Game of the Year for 1992? In what kind of insane world would THAT terrible game deserve any kind of award? In the same year as Mario Land 2, Mega Man III, Wave Race, and Kirby's Dream Land on the Game Boy, they give portable GOTY to a terrible, broken game which looks nice in screenshots. Wha... Or even on the Game Gear, while most of Sega's 'GG releases in '92 were not amazing, GG Shinobi II is good for sure.
On another note, I got some import games from Japan again recently, including some for the TG16 & TCD (well, PCE, but same thing). I beat Dragon Egg already, because it's very short and easy, but it's fun enough that I might want to write more about that one...
Agent Unknown
Member
Super Air Zonk released around July '94 in America. It was the big finale and last hurrah of Duo titles in the U.S. starting with Dynastic Hero (May or June), SAZ (pretty sure that was released late July), Might and Magic III (not sure on the date, never got it), Godzilla (which was definitely around October '94, was a killer app for my brother and I being die hard Godzilla fans), and Syd Mead's Terraforming (not sure if that one was before or after Godzilla, bought Terraforming much later).
A Black Falcon
Member
... I'd forgotten about Super Air Zonk maybe being one of the games not released until 1994. But yeah, it is on that list: http://www.pcenginefx.com/forums/index.php?topic=11038.msg206449#msg206449
The games in question, for a reminder, with dates based on speculation / what we know:
- Might & Magic III - Probably released December '93
- Terraforming - Probably released late '93 or early '94
- The Dynastic Hero - Probably released Q1 or Q2 '94
- Godzilla - October '94?
- Super Air Zonk - September '94?
- Might & Magic III - November '94?
- Bonk III CD - December '94? (TZD mail-order only release)
On the other hand, I still find it quite interesting that I have never seen a picture of any Turbo CD game with a manual, box, or ingame date saying "1994" on it. Were ALL games printed by late 1993, and TTI just hadn't managed to release some of them yet when they started falling apart in early '94? I can't imagine them printing games in '94 for the first time with the wrong year on them...
Backing that idea up is this list of product numbers:
http://www.pcenginefx.com/forums/index.php?topic=12918.msg354830#msg354830
Note how some games that are known to have released in '93, such as Madden, Dungeon Master, Might & Magic III, and Beyond Shadowgate have numbers larger than games that that post linked above (citing the TZD guy) claims didn't release until '94.
So, either the games were finished in '93 but not all shipped that year, or they shipped multiple times in both '93 and '94, or people at TTI just decided to paste "1993" on all releases in 1994 for whatever reason... but the end result is that we still have no good idea when some games released. Maybe that post is right and those four games really didn't release until late 1994, and yes I do believe that that it likely (and for Bonk 3 CD pretty much certain), but I'd like better proof for TG16/CD release dates in general... but it doesn't seem to exist, as it's been years and there still isn't any. Frustrating.
Agent Unknown
Member
^^^^
I'd assume the '93 date on those games means they were simply finished and/or released by that point in Japan or maybe a combination of TTI already having them for awhile and sitting on them for whatever reason per their usual ineptitude and incompetence. There's no way the late-life titles released here in '93 otherwise magazines such as EGM and Gamepro wouldn't have waited until '94 to review them. Also, maybe it's because I was in the Midwest, but that last batch of titles was impossible to get in stores both here and in a neighboring state, not sure if it was because TTI was flat lining at that point and not even the few software specific retailers who carried Turbo products didn't want more dead shelf space but TZD was the only way I could get any of those games at that point. Our Waldensoftware store still carried Turbo games and systems up until at least 2nd quarter '94 but no items from before '94 and I know because I went to that store and bugged them regularly as it was the only store in town that carried anything TG-16 related, not even the rental stores in my hometown had Turbo games.
I'd assume the '93 date on those games means they were simply finished and/or released by that point in Japan or maybe a combination of TTI already having them for awhile and sitting on them for whatever reason per their usual ineptitude and incompetence. There's no way the late-life titles released here in '93 otherwise magazines such as EGM and Gamepro wouldn't have waited until '94 to review them. Also, maybe it's because I was in the Midwest, but that last batch of titles was impossible to get in stores both here and in a neighboring state, not sure if it was because TTI was flat lining at that point and not even the few software specific retailers who carried Turbo products didn't want more dead shelf space but TZD was the only way I could get any of those games at that point. Our Waldensoftware store still carried Turbo games and systems up until at least 2nd quarter '94 but no items from before '94 and I know because I went to that store and bugged them regularly as it was the only store in town that carried anything TG-16 related, not even the rental stores in my hometown had Turbo games.
A Black Falcon
Member
It's not your first thought -- while most of those games are indeed 1993 releases in Japan, The Dynastic Hero is a March '94 release there, and is dated as such on the Japanese game title screen and box. They changed those dates to 1993 in the US version for some reason. This is something I've always found quite interesting, and there isn't an explanation for it I can think of...
Now, it is true that TTI went bankrupt at some point in '94 (not sure when?), so their ineptitude and failing finances were surely a factor in why all the games were not released on schedule, but still it's weird stuff. I'm sure TTI did start making copies of at least some of those games in '93, until their bad finances because of the Duo's failure to sell caught up to them, but most of the time the dates printed as release dates on a games' packaging and title screen are fairly reliable! That those magazines didn't review Super Air Zonk until '94 does suggest the game didn't release sooner though, yeah. Is it similar for the others, if they mentioned them? But still, I'd love it if someone found some more conclusive proof for all this somewhere...
Here in Maine the only place I actually remember seeing TG16 stuff was at Toys R Us, and that wasn't a store we had in my town; here, I don't remember any stores carrying it, though they could have at some point of course. NEC never had distribution as good as Nintendo for sure, or Sega at least once the Genesis took off.
Agent Unknown
Member
^^^^
I don't know how much more conclusive you can get than a person living through that time like we did and the magazines only reviewing what can be purchased, ha. The Dynastic Hero being dated as 1993 is a weird one (didn't realize that was actually a '94 title in Japan), but probably just an odd mistake, TTI was both incompetent, disorganized and at the whim of NEC Japan's stupidity. I used to call TZD a lot one and one time over 20 years ago during one of my phone calls I was actually told about TTI's Japanese rep passing on Mortal Kombat because "Americans are tired of fighting games" was the insanely dumb reasoning given by the rep according to the head guy at TZD. His battle stories about TTI were crazy, he said both NEC and their Japanese rep (who he called "nothing but a drone") seemed like they could have cared less if the Turbo was successful here. Then many years later when I read the Mortal Kombat Super CD story online I immediately flashed back to that phone call. We loved our TG-16 and our Duo but thank goodness we also owned an NES, GB and a Game Gear too. At one point in '94 we almost got a Genesis but eventually got a SNES in 94/95. Our new SNES + our Duo made for a non stop rush of 16-but goodness.
I don't know how much more conclusive you can get than a person living through that time like we did and the magazines only reviewing what can be purchased, ha. The Dynastic Hero being dated as 1993 is a weird one (didn't realize that was actually a '94 title in Japan), but probably just an odd mistake, TTI was both incompetent, disorganized and at the whim of NEC Japan's stupidity. I used to call TZD a lot one and one time over 20 years ago during one of my phone calls I was actually told about TTI's Japanese rep passing on Mortal Kombat because "Americans are tired of fighting games" was the insanely dumb reasoning given by the rep according to the head guy at TZD. His battle stories about TTI were crazy, he said both NEC and their Japanese rep (who he called "nothing but a drone") seemed like they could have cared less if the Turbo was successful here. Then many years later when I read the Mortal Kombat Super CD story online I immediately flashed back to that phone call. We loved our TG-16 and our Duo but thank goodness we also owned an NES, GB and a Game Gear too. At one point in '94 we almost got a Genesis but eventually got a SNES in 94/95. Our new SNES + our Duo made for a non stop rush of 16-but goodness.
This guy is offering reproduction HuCards of many low memory games.
Bar81
Member
I'm not into repros but that's pretty impressive what they've been able to do. Also, they look like repros and are cleanly marked. The cases are a nice touch as well. The attention to detail is impressive - note the little padding on the cases to keep the hucard in place.
This...might actually change alot! And dual region too? Man, I still want Coryoon and Magical Chase...
And then without making my system region free, I could say...pick Neutopia english version, but on a PC engine JP region card?
Yes you can! You can also get the TG and unaltered PCE versions on one HuCard and it'll run on an unmodified PC Engine/PCE Duo. I feel it's good cause you can get a decent sized collection if you can't fork over the price of a PC/Turbo Everdrive. They can also reproduce translated HuCard roms.
They can't yet do the high capacity games (Are there any other than SFIICE?), and the CD Bios cards (JEEZ The Arcade and Super CD cards ramped up like whoa compared to two years ago!). Speaking of the Bios Cards, can you use the Everdrive for CDR2/SCD games?
just CD games as I was able to load the the first bios ROM to play the hidden Dracula X mini game
sixteen-bit
Member
So one PC Engine game made the best of Gen 4 top 25 list in Street Fighter II.
but PCE got SF2 CE
It counts all the SF2 SKUs.
Shin Johnpv
Member
Just to give you some info, the Turbo Everdrive is only 80 bucks. These repros if I remember right run at least 40 bucks each. No trying to say anything bad about these repros (as they are super awesome) but you can get an everdrive for the cost of two of them.
Yes you can use the Everdrive as a System 3.0 (and 1.0 and 2.0) card, there is however a modified bios for it. Which is for people using them on Duo systems. Since the Everdrive has the added ram, that would already be on the system, they can fight for who gets the data and it can be a bad thing over time. The modified version for people with Duo/Duo-R/Xs modifies the bios to not use the ram on the everdrive.
If you're using an add on CD then you use the Bios straight unmodified.
Also to note that the Everdrive doesn't have enough extra Ram on it to run as the Arcade Card, so the Arcade card games won't run on it.
So one PC Engine game made the best of Gen 4 top 25 list in Street Fighter II.
I voted for Rondo!