14th June 2022, 8:40 AM
(This post was last modified: 14th June 2022, 8:58 AM by Dark Jaguar.)
I've finally got a system I've meant to get for a long time. The Turbografx, or PC Engine, sold pretty poorly in the U.S. but came in second behind the SNES in Japan, and had a rather surprisingly strong "import following" in Europe. You know it as that one system with the caveman mascot.
Well, I did a lot of research and concluded the best one for me (that's actually affordable) was the Japanese version with an interface unit and the CD-ROM expansion. The DUO consoles lock out various add-on devices, and the SuperGrafx is just ridiculously expensive (and had like... 7 games). And, on an artistic level, I simply prefer the sleek and unique look of the Japanese original and that "briefcase" that links it with the CD-Addon. It's a cute system, and competes with the Ouya as smallest console ever made (depending on which dimensions matter to you).
There were some caveats. I found a very cheap one online (I've found... alternatives to eBay when it comes to buying imports from Japan), but the CD-ROM unit was heavily yellowed. No problem, I have a retrobrite setup and just the right hair product that perfectly substitutes for retrobrite. It worked, but I neglected to remove a metal plate in one half of it. Did you know that retrobrite drastically rusts metal with just a few hour's exposure? Well I do, now! Alright, I remove the RF plate and soak it in some white vinegar for another day, scrub it with a sheet of aluminum foil, and it's rust-free again (if not as shiny). One last detail. I've become better and better at soldering over the past few years so there was one last mod. I added a region free mod that involved slicing through 8 cartridge connector slot pins and wiring them to a little board someone made. The board made the process FAR sleeker and easier, and it looks like it's supposed to be that way. I removed the RF adapter from the board to make room for the region switch which is right where the former "channel switch" was located. I won't miss the RF output, not least because it only worked on Japanese TVs. Further, the interface unit pulls it's own video out the back so I have composite just fine. I'll add a composite mod to the PC Engine itself later on.
Well, now I've got it, and there's an amazing collection of games on the thing. Of course, I have Bonks one and two, and am currently looking for a cheap way to get the third. I have Rondo of Blood, Splatterhouse, and a much cheerier game about rainbows and islands called Rainbow Islands: The Story of Bubble Bobble 2.
The console itself has only one controller port, but fortunately right at launch they had an official 5 player multitap, so literally every game supports it without the need for a switch. Unfortunately, the connector plug is different between regions. I'm using Japanese controllers which isn't an issue but I could always get the US multitap and just mod it's connector to the Japanese style if I needed to.
It doesn't matter which region you get, the controller cables are SHORT! Three feet... both the Famicom and the Super Famicom committed the same sin, but this one's unique in that it's true for the US as well. This one as well I could probably resolve by finding an extension cable and plugging the multitap into that.
Anyway, next up is Bomberman. NEC and Hudsonsoft cooperated to make this system, and it shows. Heck the custom chips inside (the same "base" design as the NES and SNES processors) all have the Hudson bee on them. I'm going to get that and really put the multitap to it's intended use: bombing runs.
Hmm... next up would be.. more Atari consoles (I'm thinking Jaguar and 7600), and... shudder... the Neo Geo. Don't misunderstand, the Neo Geo was an AMAZING console with modern (for the time) arcade level hardware and utterly massive cartridges that closed in on the gap between CD and cartridge storage space. It was also $650 in 1991 money, and the cartridges were incredibly expensive as well (and bigger than the boxes SNES and Genesis games came in). You didn't think you were getting TRUE 1:1 arcade level performance cheap did you? And that's why I shudder. That expense made the system bomb. SNK made all their money off their Neo Geo arcade cabinets (the games were literally just the arcade versions with a few slight alterations to account for the lack of DIP switches and coin slots, and so the home and arcade machines can actually run each other's games, with a BIOS mod), but the home console tanked. So it was super expensive at launch, and super rare due to poor sales. That makes them even more expensive today, including the games! If I'm going to get into collecting these, I will likely either get the home console and BIOS mod it or find an arcade machine and "consolify" it's innards with a different mod (and also the BIOS mod). In either case, I'll be collecting the rather dull looking arcade cartridges since those are far more plentiful and, as a result, far cheaper.
Well, I did a lot of research and concluded the best one for me (that's actually affordable) was the Japanese version with an interface unit and the CD-ROM expansion. The DUO consoles lock out various add-on devices, and the SuperGrafx is just ridiculously expensive (and had like... 7 games). And, on an artistic level, I simply prefer the sleek and unique look of the Japanese original and that "briefcase" that links it with the CD-Addon. It's a cute system, and competes with the Ouya as smallest console ever made (depending on which dimensions matter to you).
There were some caveats. I found a very cheap one online (I've found... alternatives to eBay when it comes to buying imports from Japan), but the CD-ROM unit was heavily yellowed. No problem, I have a retrobrite setup and just the right hair product that perfectly substitutes for retrobrite. It worked, but I neglected to remove a metal plate in one half of it. Did you know that retrobrite drastically rusts metal with just a few hour's exposure? Well I do, now! Alright, I remove the RF plate and soak it in some white vinegar for another day, scrub it with a sheet of aluminum foil, and it's rust-free again (if not as shiny). One last detail. I've become better and better at soldering over the past few years so there was one last mod. I added a region free mod that involved slicing through 8 cartridge connector slot pins and wiring them to a little board someone made. The board made the process FAR sleeker and easier, and it looks like it's supposed to be that way. I removed the RF adapter from the board to make room for the region switch which is right where the former "channel switch" was located. I won't miss the RF output, not least because it only worked on Japanese TVs. Further, the interface unit pulls it's own video out the back so I have composite just fine. I'll add a composite mod to the PC Engine itself later on.
Well, now I've got it, and there's an amazing collection of games on the thing. Of course, I have Bonks one and two, and am currently looking for a cheap way to get the third. I have Rondo of Blood, Splatterhouse, and a much cheerier game about rainbows and islands called Rainbow Islands: The Story of Bubble Bobble 2.
The console itself has only one controller port, but fortunately right at launch they had an official 5 player multitap, so literally every game supports it without the need for a switch. Unfortunately, the connector plug is different between regions. I'm using Japanese controllers which isn't an issue but I could always get the US multitap and just mod it's connector to the Japanese style if I needed to.
It doesn't matter which region you get, the controller cables are SHORT! Three feet... both the Famicom and the Super Famicom committed the same sin, but this one's unique in that it's true for the US as well. This one as well I could probably resolve by finding an extension cable and plugging the multitap into that.
Anyway, next up is Bomberman. NEC and Hudsonsoft cooperated to make this system, and it shows. Heck the custom chips inside (the same "base" design as the NES and SNES processors) all have the Hudson bee on them. I'm going to get that and really put the multitap to it's intended use: bombing runs.
Hmm... next up would be.. more Atari consoles (I'm thinking Jaguar and 7600), and... shudder... the Neo Geo. Don't misunderstand, the Neo Geo was an AMAZING console with modern (for the time) arcade level hardware and utterly massive cartridges that closed in on the gap between CD and cartridge storage space. It was also $650 in 1991 money, and the cartridges were incredibly expensive as well (and bigger than the boxes SNES and Genesis games came in). You didn't think you were getting TRUE 1:1 arcade level performance cheap did you? And that's why I shudder. That expense made the system bomb. SNK made all their money off their Neo Geo arcade cabinets (the games were literally just the arcade versions with a few slight alterations to account for the lack of DIP switches and coin slots, and so the home and arcade machines can actually run each other's games, with a BIOS mod), but the home console tanked. So it was super expensive at launch, and super rare due to poor sales. That makes them even more expensive today, including the games! If I'm going to get into collecting these, I will likely either get the home console and BIOS mod it or find an arcade machine and "consolify" it's innards with a different mod (and also the BIOS mod). In either case, I'll be collecting the rather dull looking arcade cartridges since those are far more plentiful and, as a result, far cheaper.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)