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PC Engine/TG Appreciation and Collecting Thread, Because who needs a 2nd controller?

piggychan

Member

StevieWhite

Member
So, I installed an RGB AMP on my Japanese Duo (which will soon need a drive replacement, so I figured why not go whole hog)... and I think I fried it. I'm not sure what I did wrong... but I'm hopeful that I screwed up the wiring on the DIN or something. Oh well. Glad I finally gave it a shot - got over my fear of playing with solder.
 
So, I installed an RGB AMP on my Japanese Duo (which will soon need a drive replacement, so I figured why not go whole hog)... and I think I fried it. I'm not sure what I did wrong... but I'm hopeful that I screwed up the wiring on the DIN or something. Oh well. Glad I finally gave it a shot - got over my fear of playing with solder.
You fried the PCE or the amp?

Are you sure you connected everything correctly?
 

StevieWhite

Member
You fried the PCE or the amp?

Are you sure you connected everything correctly?

To be blunt, I am not sure I corrected everything correctly. It still powers on (CD drive chugs when I turn the switch). I'm confident I'll get to the bottom of it eventually, but it's gonna take me some time
 

piggychan

Member
Got some stuff in today;

Download
Be Ball
Parodius
Fushigi no Yume no Alice

Passed on a copy of Out Run but may go back for it.

great selection there.

Download is a very interesting shmup but I really wish there was an option to lower the volume of the sound fx >_>

Fushigi no Yume no Alice is a great adventure platformer by Face.

Parodius will always be a fave of mine. To me the pc engine version will always feel like some kind of commercial experiment where Konami really pushed the pc engine to see what it was capable of more so than any other publisher at that time. Mainly because it feels a little rushed here and there and some levels they stripped back on things while other levels they added extra stuff over the arcade.
This is one of those stages:
1X6rpp7.gif


The audio is another example where I love the pc engine sound fonts they created but the volume is very low compared to their previous pc engine games: Gradius and Salamander. That special stage has some exclusive bosses not found in any other parodius games and I feel because this was added they had to omit several stages as they were running out of space on those little HuCards.

Gradius - released for pc engine,Nov 15 1991, 2megabit.
Salamander - released for pc engine, December 6 1991, 2megabit.
Parodius Da! - released for pc engine, Febuary 21 1992, 8megabit.


Anyway I just got another another controller to add to my collection.

Avenue Pad 3
It feels very light and the d-pad is very loose and springy. I do however like the size but due to the Brexit shit I had to pay import tax where before I know I would have gotten away with it due to shitty currency rates now.
 
I know many here aren't a fan of PCEworks and I don't blame you but the stuff he puts out looks like it is quality. Does he ever put his stuff on sale? I'm not expecting it to be cheap but $120 for a repro 3 pack seems excessive.
 
I know many here aren't a fan of PCEworks and I don't blame you but the stuff he puts out looks like it is quality. Does he ever put his stuff on sale? I'm not expecting it to be cheap but $120 for a repro 3 pack seems excessive.

Now you know why "many here aren't a fan of PCEworks". ;-)
 

piggychan

Member
I know many here aren't a fan of PCEworks and I don't blame you but the stuff he puts out looks like it is quality. Does he ever put his stuff on sale? I'm not expecting it to be cheap but $120 for a repro 3 pack seems excessive.

there is an iso of forcegear floating around on someones dropbox if you are interested.

forcegear is a hidden caravan shoot em up within Tokimeki Memorial game.

am I able to post iso links here?
 

D.Lo

Member
I'm normally against repros, but as a huge Konami and Sega fan I could not help myself and got the ones of the unreleased games (Force Gear, Twinbee, Space Fantasy Zone). I own Tokimeki Memorial so I already own the first two, and the latter was unreleased.
 
So, I am in the middle of failure at RGB modding my IFU lol, so in the meanwhile I've been using the IFU AC adapter to power my Core system. The voltage is correct, so I am assuming it's fine. And do people in the US use the JP power supplies without issue? Reading conflicting things
 
So, I am in the middle of failure at RGB modding my IFU lol, so in the meanwhile I've been using the IFU AC adapter to power my Core system. The voltage is correct, so I am assuming it's fine. And do people in the US use the JP power supplies without issue? Reading conflicting things

The US voltage standard is 120 V. The Japanese standard is 100 V. These are pretty close and you can't really expect it to hit that target 100 % of the time especially in areas with older copper or far from the nearest substation. Because of this, typically device manufacturers design their power supplies to be able to work within a tolerable range so for a lot of things your Japanese equipment will work just fine.

To elaborate, typically computers-like devices work using 3, 5, 12, and/or 20 V lines. A very simple description of how this is done is a step-down transformer converts the alternating current from the wall (120 or 100 V) to a smaller voltage and a rectifying circuit turns it into a DC signal usually slightly above the desired voltage to operate your device. This DC voltage is then brought down to the appropriate level using a voltage regulator which converts extra power into heat.

02311x01.png


If your device isn't well-designed or is sensitive, it's possible that over time there will be too much heat and your equipment won't work as well. That's why I bought a US-Japan converter and a power strip for my Japanese computers. For my consoles, I just let them run using my US power. None of them draw enough power for it to be a big issue but I might be slightly lowering the life.
 
The US voltage standard is 120 V. The Japanese standard is 100 V. These are pretty close and you can't really expect it to hit that target 100 % of the time especially in areas with older copper or far from the nearest substation. Because of this, typically device manufacturers design their power supplies to be able to work within a tolerable range so for a lot of things your Japanese equipment will work just fine.

Isn't that "tolerable range" typically +/- 10% though?
 
I have a Japanese Duo, I use a US Genesis 1 power adapter with an adapter from console5.com to change the polarity on the plug.
If you're using any Duo system a PSone or PS2 slim AC adapter are perfect choices as they are way more efficient (less heat waste) then any Genesis adapter. The PS2 slim brick is even mid-cord so it doesn't take up so much space at the outlet.
 
Isn't that "tolerable range" typically +/- 10% though?

You're right. I think most things are designed with a 10 % tolerance in mind. This would be outside of the standard tolerance.

I've seen a lot of equipment that is rated for 100 to 120 V though so I wouldn't be surprised if it's common practice to design things to handle both. Whether that was the case the 80s and early 90s is another story. That said, I'll just take my chances when playing anything that consumes as little power as a your typical retro console. The PC Engine IFU power supply is ~13 W. I doubt a little extra heat will cause much trouble.

This discussion is making me want to open my systems up and see if there's much difference in voltage between when it's plugged into US power and after being connected to a 120 -> 100 V transformer. I don't have any way to test the heat beyond my fingers so that's about all I can do.

I'm no expert though. The last time I did something on a professional level with circuits and hardware was with my senior project when I was working as an intern for the power company in undergrad 8 years ago. So, take what I say with a grain of salt.
 
Hmm... All very interesting. So if one was to convert to using US power supplies for their JP consoles, is the only concern to check to make sure the voltage output and polarity matches (and of course that it is feeding it enough mAh)?
 
Hmm... All very interesting. So if one was to convert to using US power supplies for their JP consoles, is the only concern to check to make sure the voltage output and polarity matches (and of course that it is feeding it enough mAh)?
In the PC engine itself everything is +5volts. What you put into the DC jack is converted down to that using a 7805 chip, which needs at least 7 volts. So anything from 7 to 12 ish volts input should be fine, as long as polarity and size match. Oh and be careful that it's actually DC and not AC as some old systems stupidly did AC input via barrels jack.

It's better to use OEM Sega/Sony/NEC parts though as the cheap generic China stuff can be of very poor quality, like anywhere from introduces noise to the image output to fire hazard.
 
In the PC engine itself everything is +5volts. What you put into the DC jack is converted down to that using a 7805 chip, which needs at least 7 volts. So anything from 7 to 12 ish volts input should be fine, as long as polarity and size match. Oh and be careful that it's actually DC and not AC as some old systems stupidly did AC input via barrels jack.

It's better to use OEM Sega/Sony/NEC parts though as the cheap generic China stuff can be of very poor quality, like anywhere from introduces noise to the image output to fire hazard.


Looking at you Nintendo!
 

sharc

Neo Member
i'm just starting to collect pc-engine games, and something i'm noticing is that later hucard games with white case trays - soldier blade, new adventure island, etc - never seem to have the little foam pad that hucard games usually have. had they stopped including those by this point?
 

piggychan

Member
i'm just starting to collect pc-engine games, and something i'm noticing is that later hucard games with white case trays - soldier blade, new adventure island, etc - never seem to have the little foam pad that hucard games usually have. had they stopped including those by this point?


EDIT

I think around possibly either 90 or 91 they got rid of those foam pads and the plastic wallets began to change from smooth to textured. Another revision occurred roughly around 92 when the cases became clear and the plastic wallets had 2 holes. I should check my cases but I'm a lil' lazy at the moment >.<
 
Anyone seen Duo Rs needing capacitor replacement?

I looked at all of mine, they seem fine (not popped, no leaking fluid) and at least a few of them are rubycon branded but the rest don't seem to have any logo.
 
Just thought I'd ask here on the off-chance - let me know if there's a better thread for this! I'm based in the UK and brought back an original model PC Engine console from a trip to Japan a while back. I don't have the skills/confidence to RGB mod the console myself and am still struggling to find someone in the UK (or willing to ship to the UK) who'll provide the service for me. Currently I've got the console, controller and voltage step-down.

Closest I've come to a solution is maybe buying an IFU-30 Interface Unit that's RGB modded but that's fairly expensive or buying a mod kit but again, I'm crap at soldering. Any leads for people offering the service in the UK/EU would be really welcome!

(Apologies if this has been covered all ready - I've had a scan through the thread and searched but it's mostly been US-based).
 
I've got no personal experience with them since I'm in the US, but Voultar (a modder who I do have person experience with and is amazing, very very very high attention to detail) recommends https://twitter.com/Consoles4You for people outside the US and gave them really solid praise. I believe they're based out of Switzerland, so I don't know how helpful that is for you in the UK.
 
I've got no personal experience with them since I'm in the US, but Voultar (a modder who I do have person experience with and is amazing, very very very high attention to detail) recommends https://twitter.com/Consoles4You for people outside the US and gave them really solid praise. I believe they're based out of Switzerland, so I don't know how helpful that is for you in the UK.

Appreciate the heads-up - Switzerland wouldn't be too bad for postage actually. Their site unfortunately doesn't offer PC Engine mods but I'll definitely send them a message and see if they could help out or point me in the right direction. Thanks.
 

piggychan

Member
Are there any worthwhile games that use the 6-button pad other than Street Fighter 2?


Super CD/Arcade Games
--------------------
6 Advanced VG
6 Kakutou Haou Densetsu Algunos
6 Martial Champions
6 Ys 4
6 Mahjong Sword Princess Quest Gaiden
6 Princess Maker 2
6 Super Real Mahjong P ll + lll Custom
6 Fatal Fury 2
6 Fatal Fury Special
6 Art Of Fighting
6 Battlefield '94
6 Kabuki Itouryodan
6 Fire Pro Female Wrestling

Hucards
---------
6 Street Fighter 2 CE
6 Strip Fighter
 
Hoping to get some advice, I've kinda always wanted to own a PC Engine but only started looking at it more seriously recently and I'm totally overwhelmed. I should probably preface by saying that I'm in the UK and would want access to CD games, RGB output and not to have to use a step down power converter.

Coregrafx/Supergrafx/Super CD/Duo - Honestly don't know anything about any of these or their compatibility, they seem generally more troublesome to find?

Duo R - This seems to be the one mentioned most. From what I can tell it has a system card built-in so I don't need anything extra? Reliability reports say it's more reliable but then I saw a lot of mentions of capacitor problems (and I really don't want to get into re-capping, still can't find anyone in the UK who can re-cap my Mega Drive). There are RGB modded ones on eBay for around the £250 mark (which is quite painful), but then I saw pictures here of their work and... yeah.... I can't even seen to find any non-modded or properly modded ones for less than £300 which is out of my budget.

Original + CD - From what I can tell I would need a base unit, one of the white CD drives, a grey interface thing and an arcade card (which costs a fortune) to play everything? I have to admit this is the option I find most appealing purely on an aesthetic level and it seems way cheaper, but I saw a lot of reports of poor reliability. I don't mind replacing parts if they are easy to deal with, but not replacing capacitors. Also for RGB modding do you mod the base unit, or the interface?

Controllers - I saw some mention about these having different connections, plus there is the whole 2/3/6 button thing, should I just go for 6 to be safe? They seem expensive regardless.
 
Yeah the PC Engine hardware line is a mess. And you need a decent stack of cash to get a good set up going.

Get a Duo R or RX. They're more reliable and have full compatibility with CD games. There is also some "Arcade CD games" which you need a system card for but there aren't many of those games, most of the ones that need it aren't great, and an "Arcade Card Duo" is fairly cheap. RGB modding isn't very difficult work so if you buy one and find a good localish modder worth sending it to that might be not too pricey. You won't need a step down converter if you just have/get a PSOne or PS2Slim AC adapter and use that.

But honestly nothing about PC Engine is really cheap. There's no real way to short cut the hardware purchase. The "briefcase" set up (PC Engine regular/core/core2 + CD unit + interface unit) is cool looking and you might think you'd save a bit upfront but you will want to get it re-cap'd (time consuming work) plus you need a system card for the CD games. Another option is to use a Turbo Everdrive for the system card which you will probably want to get anyway.

Controllers are stupid expensive but a good 6-button is the HORI Fighting Commander if you want to go there. Tototek also sells a good adapter for PS1/2 controllers which is decently priced.

In getting my set up I paid 20,000 JPY for my Duo R recently that I still need to RGB mod + $20 for an RGB board I'm installing myself + $40 US for a fighting commander + an everdrive for $86 USD + multitap for $15 USD + Tennokoe Bank (memory card, not super needed) for $10 USD + some cheaper games for $20 USD total + some shipping costs (I avoided it on the system itself at least). I think that's over your budget (with your currency in the toilet it's not really a great time to be making purchases like this) but not by a massive amount.
 

piggychan

Member
Hoping to get some advice, I've kinda always wanted to own a PC Engine but only started looking at it more seriously recently and I'm totally overwhelmed. I should probably preface by saying that I'm in the UK and would want access to CD games, RGB output and not to have to use a step down power converter.

Coregrafx/Supergrafx/Super CD/Duo - Honestly don't know anything about any of these or their compatibility, they seem generally more troublesome to find?

Duo R - This seems to be the one mentioned most. From what I can tell it has a system card built-in so I don't need anything extra? Reliability reports say it's more reliable but then I saw a lot of mentions of capacitor problems (and I really don't want to get into re-capping, still can't find anyone in the UK who can re-cap my Mega Drive). There are RGB modded ones on eBay for around the £250 mark (which is quite painful), but then I saw pictures here of their work and... yeah.... I can't even seen to find any non-modded or properly modded ones for less than £300 which is out of my budget.

Original + CD - From what I can tell I would need a base unit, one of the white CD drives, a grey interface thing and an arcade card (which costs a fortune) to play everything? I have to admit this is the option I find most appealing purely on an aesthetic level and it seems way cheaper, but I saw a lot of reports of poor reliability. I don't mind replacing parts if they are easy to deal with, but not replacing capacitors. Also for RGB modding do you mod the base unit, or the interface?

Controllers - I saw some mention about these having different connections, plus there is the whole 2/3/6 button thing, should I just go for 6 to be safe? They seem expensive regardless.

don't think I can answer all your questions..

but for modding the briefcase set up You can RGB mod the pc engine console itself but if you are playing CD games the cd audlio will not play directly through the console only from the interface.
P1020917.jpg


If you want to play with the few NEO GEO ports on the briefcase setup then you will need an Arcade PRO card.


When NEC first released thir CD-Rom Add on it only came with the system card.

Basically the first system card came with 64k of RAM to load up game data
a few years later they released the Super System card and boosted the RAM to 256k.
The ARCADE PRO card is 2Megabytes of RAM plus 256k and only needed for the briefcase set up.
nw1DzRV.jpg


If you decided to go for the DUO /DUO-R/DUO-RX, They all come with built in 256k so do NOT need any super system card.

Because these have 256k of RAM built then you should go for the ARCADE card which is just the 2megabytes of RAM.

There are a very limited number of games that support the Arcade cards.

games that ran on the first system card had the cd-rom logo
monsterlairfront.jpg


games that ran with the super CD-Rom had this logo
PA.14987.001.jpg


Games that ran on any of the ARCADE cards had this logo
FatalFury2-PCEngineCD.jpg




The biggest hiccup imo is the way NEC and Hudson Soft implemented their save game data system... it just gives me headaches...
The worst case scenario is when you load a game and it will warn you that their isn't enough BACK-UP RAM for saving data and the game could possibly delete all your save files....

Both the briefcase interface unit and all the Duo's have built in back-up RAM for saving game data but they are seriously limited. You can invest in a Ten No Koe card or Memory 128 but the problem with the Memory 128 is very few games support it. It requires 4 AA batteries which need to be changed around every 6 months. The Ten No Koe card is a lottery as they are powered by a battery.

The battery might be soldered.
9545660.jpg


http://nonta6913.blog.so-net.ne.jp/2007-09-29


As for the controllers I think the USA ones are not compatible with japanese consoles....

8ADE3780-3A94-4267-B646-5106165A0C1F.jpg


Well I hope I answered some of that correctly. Nothing worse than typing at 1.25am and not wearing your reading glasses...
 
Hoping to get some advice, I've kinda always wanted to own a PC Engine but only started looking at it more seriously recently and I'm totally overwhelmed. I should probably preface by saying that I'm in the UK and would want access to CD games, RGB output and not to have to use a step down power converter..

Hey - appreciate an update ITT or via PM on how you get on - I'm struggling finding stuff in the UK too so happy to share progress/leads along the way.

The responses to this are fantastic by the way, thanks so much for the info.
 
The TenNoKoe Bank cards definitely have soldered in batteries. They're 2320s if I remember right off the top of my head (I will double check when I get home). You can definitely replace them, but the problem is finding 2320's with solder tabs already in place, and in the right spot. I've only managed to find 2320's with Solder tabs ONCE, and they're not in the right spot. I've seen some people on other forums say that you can just put a scratch or two onto the battery and solder a tab onto it, but I've never tried that personally. I ended up putting in a slightly bigger battery that had the same output was just physically big, but it had the solder tabs in the right spot. So I can't put the top back on it and it looks ugly, but hey my gamesaves are backed up and I know the battery won't be dying any time soon. I also ended up buying some 2320s so I may, MAY attempt to solder some tabs on them at some point.
 
The TenNoKoe Bank cards definitely have soldered in batteries. They're 2320s if I remember right off the top of my head (I will double check when I get home). You can definitely replace them, but the problem is finding 2320's with solder tabs already in place, and in the right spot. I've only managed to find 2320's with Solder tabs ONCE, and they're not in the right spot. I've seen some people on other forums say that you can just put a scratch or two onto the battery and solder a tab onto it, but I've never tried that personally. I ended up putting in a slightly bigger battery that had the same output was just physically big, but it had the solder tabs in the right spot. So I can't put the top back on it and it looks ugly, but hey my gamesaves are backed up and I know the battery won't be dying any time soon. I also ended up buying some 2320s so I may, MAY attempt to solder some tabs on them at some point.

I put a 2032 in mine, same one I use for SNES games with pre-installed tabs. It'll last longer and they both put out 3V. The card bulges a bit like this and because it's originally held together by glue I used some tape to just hold it together. Ugly for sure but oh well.
 
Thanks for the the replies to my post, that's given me some food for thought. I think I'm going to have to be a bit more patient regarding this and see if any good Duo R deals come up, or maybe a well maintained base + CD combo. eBay generally seems like it'll be a bunk so I'll have a look further afield.

Hey - appreciate an update ITT or via PM on how you get on - I'm struggling finding stuff in the UK too so happy to share progress/leads along the way.

Will do. I do have an eye on one specific online store for repairs and modding in the UK, however I'd not heard of them before so I'm being cautious (considering getting my faulty Mega CD re-capped first to see how they are).
 

piggychan

Member
Thanks for the the replies to my post, that's given me some food for thought. I think I'm going to have to be a bit more patient regarding this and see if any good Duo R deals come up, or maybe a well maintained base + CD combo. eBay generally seems like it'll be a bunk so I'll have a look further afield.



Will do. I do have an eye on one specific online store for repairs and modding in the UK, however I'd not heard of them before so I'm being cautious (considering getting my faulty Mega CD re-capped first to see how they are).

Just to throw in more confusion..

You also have this set-up. The standalone super CD-Rom unit.

Super_CD-ROM2_Attached-med.jpg


It's also compatible with the pc-engines bigger bro the SuperGrafx. The supergrafx is kinda a soup-up pc engine designed really to take on the Genesis but failed. It has a few exclusive games which are incompatible with the regular pc engine. It is backwardly compatible with all pc engine software although I think you have to select a switch to play between the two.


You can also connect the supergafx to the original briefcase interface but you need to buy an additional connection.
Monster.jpg



Then there is also the various types of multi taps to add to any of the pc engine family.

img582501fb9787a_l.jpg


pc-engine-multitap-2.jpg


wireless multi tap
ee7b658b-7a42-4d2c-b69d-a585a6d0ce05.jpg


There is I found one game that seems to be incompatible with any multi tap!

Yokai Dochuki - it won't load up if any multi tap is connected!
Thumb_Yokai_Dochuki_-_1987_-_Namco_Limited.jpg
 
Thanks for the the replies to my post, that's given me some food for thought. I think I'm going to have to be a bit more patient regarding this and see if any good Duo R deals come up, or maybe a well maintained base + CD combo. eBay generally seems like it'll be a bunk so I'll have a look further afield.



Will do. I do have an eye on one specific online store for repairs and modding in the UK, however I'd not heard of them before so I'm being cautious (considering getting my faulty Mega CD re-capped first to see how they are).

A Duo R or base and CD-Combo would be ideal - I'd have gone for that myself if it wasn't for picking up the original console separately on holiday.

Never heard of that site but it looks promising - have you reached out? I've asked Console Goods before but they don't offer a mod service, just some parts.

I've managed to find an eBay (UK) seller willing to install an RGB mod for me for a decent price though that's happened before and they didn't follow through so fingers crossed. I'll ask the guy if he minds his email being given out and pass it on if so. If that falls through, think I'll make a trip to Retro Game Base in South London and see if they've got any tips.
 

Horseticuffs

Full werewolf off the buckle
I've always wanted a TG16, ever since reading about Bonk and Legendary Axe in the pages of VG&CE. It all looked so rad. Freaking JJ & Jeff? Hella crazy.

I'll admit that, though I'm occasionally stupid with my money, I can't bring myself to spend the crazy money for hardware and software to opt in. Right now I'm sticking to Ootake. I've been looking for a while for an emulator that worked well for this platform and this one sure does.

Only issue is with CD support. I just figure out what I'm doing wrong! That's neither here nor there though, I've found an in-browser emulator for pc-cd games. I couldn't BELIEVE I was playing the full, real Rondo of Blood in Chrome! Only downside is no controller support and I can't get GeForce experience to record it.

Ah well. I'm making a Let's Play of Splatterhouse for my YouTube channel and having a blast. It's not the same as owning that sexy hardware but, maybe, someday...

I know they'll likely not get any cheaper or more available.

Is there ever any chance that they'll add support for this system to like a Retron-like device?
 

Laws00

Member
I am interested in buying one of these things.

I have run into the problem.

I'm wondering if it would be better to get a Turbografx 16 or go and get a PC Engine?

I'm also interested in the CD unit.

Maybe I answered my own question but I take it I should get a PC engine/Duo
 

Horseticuffs

Full werewolf off the buckle
I am interested in buying one of these things.

I have run into the problem.

I'm wondering if it would be better to get a Turbografx 16 or go and get a PC Engine?

I'm also interested in the CD unit.

Maybe I answered my own question but I take it I should get a PC engine/Duo

I've been looking into this as well. Turbo Duo is for sure the way to go, but I understand that there's a certain version you want.

That's the damned rub about this amazing system. Everything is insanely expensive.
 

RagManX

Member
Looks like I need to find my packed-up duo and recap it. Thing hasn't been used in 15 years, but now I want to play me some Military Madness.
 
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