PCEngine / TG16 / Turbo Duo Buyers guide

Well you have decided that maybe the PcEngine is for you. Where do you start? What games do you get first? Where can you get the best prices? We will try to answer these questions in this article for you. I have been collecting for the TG16/PcEngine since 1991 and believe me the prices were far worse back in those days. It’s a goodtime to get into the PcEngine/Tg16. I currently own a TG16 with the CD attachment and an Arcade Card Pro with a Chopsado converter. I also own a Core Grafx II to play Japanese Hu-cards.

Which system to buy? There are quite few variations out there for the PcEngine/TG16. Lets start with what came out in US: the Tubrografx 16 (TG16), CD attachment for the Turbografx 16, and the Turbo Duo. If you go this route just about the only place to get one is ebay or combing the TG16 sales thread at pcenginefx.com. You can expect to shell out quite a few dollars going this route. A TG16 with all the hookups, controllers and power supply should run you about 40.00 to 70.00 dollars. If you really want the CD attachment, which I recommend getting for building the collection, you will be looking at more. You will probably do best on ebay looking for everything in one bulk sale. A TG16 with CD-ROM and all the hookups will cost you somewhere between 150.00 and 250.00 dollars depending on the condition of the system for sale and if any games are included.

Also with this configuration there are a couple different CD-ROM cards you will need to purchase. There is the 2.0 card which should come with system. It plays the first generation titles dubbed "CD-ROM2", such as Cosmic Fantasy II, Vasteel, Exile, L-Dis, and Spriggan. Then there is the Super System 3.0 card. You will really need to get one of these to play Super CD-ROM titles such as Lords of Thunder, Flash Hiders, or Dracula X. Finally, I find it’s best to just go for the throat and buy the CD-ROM Arcade Card Pro which handled stuff like Art of Fighting, Fatal Fury Special, and World Heroes 2. This card will enable you to play almost every CD-ROM2, Super CD-ROM2, and Arcade Card CD title, other then Altered Beast CD and the Game Express CD titles. It’s well worth the pickup.

You will need a Japanese to US converter to use the Arcade Card pro in your unit. The converter runs about 100.00 to 150.00 USD. However, there is a guy on pcenginefx.com that makes a homebrew converter called the chopsado and if your nice to him he will make you one to use the cards in your system. I would pay him something for this service of course just to be nice. His name is Chop5 in the pcefx forums and he hooked me up with one of these and it works great!

Now, the Turbo Duo. This system is highly sought after and sellers know it. You will be looking at spending 150.00 to 400.00 USD to purchase this system depending on completeness and condition. It comes with the CD-ROM 3.0 card function built in which will allow you to play CD-ROM2 and SUPER CD-ROM2 titles without anything additional. You would only need the Arcade Card Duo to play Arcade Card games. Again, just like the Arcade Card Pro, a converter will be needed to use a Arcade Card Duo on a Turbo Duo system.

There are also a few members on the pcenginefx.com forums that do mods to the systems so Hucards from both regions can be played at the push of a button/switch.
Now onto Japanese systems. Is your head spinning yet? One thing nice about owning a Japanese complete system is that the US released CDs will work with no modification. However, for the Hucards you can only play Japanese titles unless your console has been modifed to do otherwise. There are a lot of different kinds of PC Engines out there that we will take a look at.

The PC Engine can be found for about 40.00 to 60.00 dollars but also look for high shipping cost from Japan for the system ($25 - $35). Core Grafx I is the next generation of the PC Engine. It has gray with blue logos. You can get one of these for about 40.00 dollars also before shipping. Then there is the Core Grafx II, the next next generation of PC Engine. It’s gray with orange logos. The Core Grafx II will again cost you about 40.00 dollars before shipping.

If you go the Japanese route and decide to get a cd-rom upgrade for your shiny new PC Engine or Core Grafx they can be hard to find if you didnt buy an all-in-one package. They may also be pretty costly at times. I would go with an all-in-one if you can. To get a near mint white Pc-Engine with a near mint IFU-30A briefcase cdrom unit seems to run about 170.00 to 225.00 USD at times. Same for the Core Grafx I or II and Super CD Rom 2 system package. I have seen some out there for about 180.00 to 225.00 USD more often then not. The IFU-30A will, like the Turbo CD, require a System card in order to play cd based titles. The Super Cd-Rom2 unit however does not, unless you desire to play Arcade Card titles, or Altered Beast Cd (which requires System 1.0 card), or the Game Express releases.
There is also the Supergrafx system, which can play the Supergrafx only Hu-Card titles along with the two Darius hybrid Hu-Card titles and normal Pc-Engine Hu-Cards. The Supergrafx can be used with the Super Cd-Rom2, or the IFU-30A. In order to use it with the IFU-30A, you will need a RAU-30 adapter, and a System 1, 2, or 3.0 Card, or a Arcade Card Pro.

Then there is the Japanese Pc-Engine Duo which is just the Japanese version of the Turbo Duo. Along with that is the later released and slightly more compact and reliable Duo-R. The Duo-R runs about 150.00 to 200.00 on Ebay typically. The Duo-RX is basically the same model as the Duo-R, but can fetch a tad more due to the white game pad it included.Like I said if you go with Ebay be patient and do not over bid on stuff sooner or later your patients will pay off. The cheapest is the older Pc-Engine Duo due to the fact it is older,more common, and less reliable. It can be had more often then not loose for around 100.00 to 120.00 USD.


You have your shiny new PC Engine and you don’t know much about the Japanese titles. You’re thinking "Which games do I buy first?". This would really depend of your preferences. The best place to get recommendation is to pop into the shoutbox at the pcenginefx.com forums main page and just ask. You should get some good recommendations between the two of those places. For some great game reviews head on over to Pc-Engine Hell linked here. Mike who runs the site has some great pics and right on reviews! There are some great cheapies and not so cheap games out there. Like most older systems there are rarer titles that can run you 100+ USD. 90% of the games can be bought for less then 30.00 dollars. Back in 1991 when I started to collect every game was 100+ from a Japanese import store I used to call once a week. Like I said, it’s a good time to get into a PC Engine.
As mentioned before, the best NEC console forum community is pcenginefx.com. It’s a wonderful site with tons of information on the consoles, games via the forums, and a vast and knowledgeable fan base.


Great sites for reviews and game recommendations:
PCEnginefx- http://www.pcenginefx.com
PCEnginefan- http://pcenginefan.blogspot.com/
PCEngineHell- http://home.comcast.net/~amakusa666/PC-ENGINE-HELL-main-page.htm
SuperPCEngineGrafx.com- http://www.superpcenginegrafx.com/
PCEngine Magazine- http://www.pcengineretro.co.cc/


Gamepics:
C-Games.info- http://www.c-games.info/index.php?id=004&platforma=PCE-CD
Videogame Museum- http://www.vgmuseum.com/tg16.htm





Sellers:
WolfGames- http://www.wolfgames.com/
Japan Game Stock- http://www.japangamestock.com/

Ebay Sellers:
Hit Japan- http://search.stores.ebay.com/Hit-Japan-Video-Games-and-Anime_pc-engine_W0QQsaselZ35910635QQsofpZ0
16Bit US seller- http://search.stores.ebay.com/Mad-Gear-Import-Video-Games_pc-engine_W0QQsaselZ13244319QQsofpZ0
Game Liquidation- http://search.stores.ebay.com/GAME-LIQUIDATION_pc-engine_W0QQsaselZ133261657QQsofpZ0Paletweb- http://search.stores.ebay.com/Paletweb_pc-engine_W0QQsaselZ40083774QQsofpZ0
Dream Stars Japan- http://stores.ebay.com/DREAM-STARS-JAPAN_W0QQ_trksidZp1638Q2em118Q2el1247

As for buying through message boards. If you trade or go through a message board make sure that you know the seller or are dealing with a seller/trader that has a good reputation. Don’t be afraid to ask around on sellers, and get opinions on games!

By Windancer, Nectarsis and PcEngineHell

Game Blast - PC Engine CD-ROMs

If this video doesn't get you pumped to run right out and buy a TG16 or pcengine.....Nothing will! :)

Surreal Software Studios Interview with Arkhan by Windancer

It's no secret that I've been jazzed about the upcomming release of insanity for the TG16 super cdrom. I took a little time and shot a few questions over to Arkhan at Surreal Software Studios. He was kind enough to take time out of his busy school schedule and work on insanity to shoot back at me. Anyway thanks much Arkhan! We appreciate you and the effort. For everyone else here ya go and enjoy.

1. I know you love to play. When did you start playing videogames and what systems do you currently own?

I started playing video games very young, at the age of 2 believe it or not. Started with NES and Genesis and moved up from there. The games I remember playing most were Ghosts and Goblins and Kid Icarus.

Currently, I own NES, Master System, Turbo Grafx/PCE, Genesis, Sega CD, Saturn, PSX, PS2, PS3, Xbox, Dreamcast.... and a bunch of handhelds, among things like Atari and Coleco too. There is just a ton of stuff.

2. When did you get into programming and how much do you like to program games?

I got into programming when I was 10. I first started messing with BASIC on a CoCo 3, and then moved onto QBASIC on a 286, and later got into C and C++, ....and Assembly, and all sorts of stuff now. I like programming games, it is far more fun to mess with things like games than it is to just crunch numbers and store data. I even end up sitting and thinking about how stuff is working while I am playing games. :)

3. Insanity is looking great so far I've got to play some and I like it! How many changes have been made from the game from the original .pce file?

I am glad you like it! Since that demo, the graphics have been upgraded to look alot more detailed.

Also, as you may be aware, the sound is coming along and is also forming into a standalone Music player for the PCE.

The other big thing that has changed since the demo is the optimizing. Slowdown is disappearing with every little tweak.

4. How many levels of play can we expect and will there be an ending to the game?

Level wise, it will increase incrementally just like the original to the effect of, the higher your score, the harder the game. I have plans for an ending. Whats a game without one!

5. The Pcengine community has been let down before. Lot's of announcements were made for projects that have just never came to be. Will we see insanity if there is enough interest for the project?

I don't want to let the community down at all, and even if everyone loses all interest, I still plan to see Insanity through til the end! even if it means I have a ton of pressed and sealed copies of the game sitting at my house for an eternity :)

6.Are you set as to what kind of music you will use? and....what kind of music do you think will work best with this type of game?

I want to use cd audio so as not to waste the whole pressed-to-CD aspect of the game. Putting a HuCard game on a CD with no extra flair sort of sucks. I am pretty adamant about having PSG and CD music both in the game, with the option to toggle the one you actually hear.

As for the type of music, I am going for driving "rave" music. Something that keeps things pumping while you are playing. It has to be catchy, but not annoying. Lush, ambient, and soothing music does not fit the mood. Neither does smooth jazz. Vasteel could pull that one off somehow, but I sure cant!

7. PCengine owners are always concerned with Packaging and artwork. What can we expect from the final release in regards to packaging and artwork?

It will be in a professional CD jewel case with artwork. It will be worthy of the PCE logo.

8. I know this one might give away a little bit but im going to ask it anyway. Can we expect any surprises like easter eggs in the game?

I haven't decided if I want to put any easter eggs. If I do decide to, I won't tell anyone anyways :) hah!

9. Will there be any boss fights added to insanity?

Boss fights are indeed something I have milled around a bit. I would like them, and hope I am able to work one in without it feeling "tacked on" or anything..

10. What Date are you shooting for a release of insanity?

Summer. As long as it's done before October so I can say the game took less than a year.

Anyway Arkhan I wont ask anymore at this time if anything else comes to me or you want to add anything feel free. take your time when you have the time would be great. I look forward to hearing you and to the release of insanity.

The only thing I want to add is that I hope everyone keeps their support up for the PCE community. It needs more homebrew. I think it sucks that a console as great as the PCE doesn't see as much homebrew as the other consoles of the time. This needs to change, and I intend to help.

Visit Surreal Software Studios for more info

"Dungeon Explorer 2" By Chris Bucci

Dungeon Explorer 2 is one of my Favorites of all Time. Chris Has Done a fabulous Video review on youtube I hope you enjoy it. Enough said.

Windancer

Nintendo brings me back!

I knew it would take a Nintendo system to bring me back to console gaming again, and boy has it! I picked up a copy of Dragon Quest V and I am LOVING IT! I have always been an RPG fan, and the PC Engine has a ton of great ones, but I love my Nintendo systems and pretty much the Wii and DS are the only modern systems I even play. I will have a write-up on DQV soon, but for now just take my word on it and GO BUY IT!!!!

-PC Engine Fan