TurboGrafx-16

"TG-16" redirects here. For the U.S. Air Force training glider, see DG Flugzeugbau DG-1000.
This article is about the video game console. For the upcoming Kanye West album of the same name, see Kanye West discography.
TurboGrafx-16


Western markets model (top) and the original Japanese system (bottom).
Manufacturer NEC Home Electronics
Hudson Soft
Type Home video game console
Generation Fourth generation
Release date

‹See Tfd›

  • JP: October 30, 1987[1]
  • NA: August 29, 1989
  • EU: November 22, 1989 (France), 1990
Discontinued

‹See Tfd›

  • JP: December 16, 1994
  • NA: May 1994
  • EU: Early 1993 (France)
Units sold Worldwide: 10 million[2]
United States: 2.5 million[2]
Media HuCard, CD-ROM (only with the CD-ROM² add-on)
CPU Hudson Soft HuC6280
Display Resolution:
- max. 565×242
- majority: 256×239
Colors:
- available: 512 (9-bit)
- onscreen: max. 482
(241 background, 241 sprite)
Dimensions 14 cm×14 cm×3.8 cm
(5.5 in×5.5 in×1.5 in)
Successor SuperGrafx

The TurboGrafx-16 Entertainment SuperSystem, known in Japan and in France as the PC Engine (PCエンジン Pī Shī Enjin), is a home video game console jointly developed by Hudson Soft and NEC Home Electronics, released in Japan on October 30, 1987, in the United States on August 29, 1989, and in France on November 22, 1989. It was the first console released in the 16-bit era, albeit still utilizing an 8-bit CPU. Originally intended to compete with the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), it ended up competing with the Sega Genesis, and later on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES).

The TurboGrafx-16 has an 8-bit CPU, a 16-bit video color encoder, and a 16-bit video display controller. The GPUs are capable of displaying 482 colors simultaneously, out of 512. With dimensions of 14 cm×14 cm×3.8 cm (5.5 in×5.5 in×1.5 in), the PC Engine once held the record for the world's smallest game console.[3]

In France, the system was released shortly after its American debut under its original Japanese name, PC Engine. In the United Kingdom, Telegames released a slightly altered version of the American model simply as the TurboGrafx in 1990 in extremely limited quantities.[4] This model was also released in Spain through selected retailers.[5] Although there was no full-scale PAL region release of the system, imported PC Engine consoles were largely available in France and Benelux through major retailers thanks to the unlicensed importer Sodipeng (Société de Distribution de la PC Engine, a subsidiary of Guillemot International).[6]

The TurboGrafx-16 failed to break into the North American market and sold poorly. However, in Japan the PC Engine was very successful. Two major revisions, the PC Engine SuperGrafx and the TurboDuo, were released in 1989 and 1991, respectively. The entire series was succeeded by the PC-FX in 1994, which was only released in Japan.

History

The TurboGrafx-16/PC Engine was the first video game console capable of playing CD-ROM games with an optional add-on.

The TurboGrafx-16 was a collaborative effort between the relatively young Hudson Soft (founded in 1973) and NEC Home Electronics. NEC's interest in entering the lucrative video game market coincided with Hudson's failed attempt to sell designs for then-advanced graphics chips to Nintendo.[7]

The TurboGrafx-16 was the first video game console to have a CD-ROM peripheral, and first device ever to use CD-ROM as a storage medium for video games.[8][9][10][11] NEC released the CD-ROM² (シーディーロムロム Shī Dī Romu Romu, officially pronounced "CD-ROM-ROM") in Japan on December 4, 1988,[1][12] and released the TurboGrafx-CD in the United States on August 1, 1990.

The TurboGrafx-CD had a launch price of $399.99, and did not include any bundled games.[13] Fighting Street and Monster Lair were the TurboGrafx-CD launch titles; Ys Book I & II soon followed.

The TurboGrafx-series was the first video game console ever to have a contemporaneous fully self-contained portable counterpart, the Turbo Express, that contained identical hardware and played identical game software (utilizing HuCard format game software).

NEC/Turbo Technologies later released the TurboDuo, which combined the CD-ROM and TurboGrafx-16 into one unit.

The TurboGrafx-16 was released in the New York City and Los Angeles test market in late August 1989. Initially, the TurboGrafx-16 was marketed as a direct competitor to the NES and early television ads touted the TG-16's superior graphics and sound. These ads featured a brief montage of the TG-16's launch titles: Blazing Lazers, China Warrior, Vigilante, Alien Crush, etc. The TG-16 was also in direct competition with the Sega Genesis, which had had its own New York/Los Angeles test-market launch two weeks prior, on August 14.[14] The Genesis launch was accompanied by an ad campaign mocking NEC's claim that the TurboGrafx-16 was the first 16-bit console.

NEC claimed that it had sold 750,000 TG-16 consoles in the United States, and 500,000 CD-ROM units worldwide, by March 1991.[15] That year NEC released the PC Engine Duo in Japan, a model which could play HuCards and CD-ROM² discs, making it the first game console with an integrated CD-ROM drive. The console was licensed to Turbo Technologies Incorporated, who released it in North America in 1992 as the TurboDuo. In addition to standard CD-ROM² format discs, the Duo could also play games in the newly introduced Super CD-ROM² format due to its greater RAM size (the TurboGrafx-16 and its CD player could support this new format only through the use of a separately available upgrade, the Super System Card, which TTI sold via mail order). The unit came into competition with the Sega CD, which was released almost immediately after. Turbo Technologies ran comic book ads featuring Johnny Turbo. The ads mocked Sega, and emphasized that though the TurboDuo and Sega CD had the same retail price, the TurboDuo was a standalone platform and included five pack-in games, whereas Sega CD buyers needed to purchase separately sold games and a Genesis console before they could use the system.

However, the North American console gaming market continued to be dominated by the Super NES and Genesis rather than the new CD-based consoles. In May 1994 Turbo Technologies announced that it was dropping support for the Duo, though it would continue to offer repairs for existing units and provide ongoing software releases through independent companies in the USA and Canada.[16]

The final commercialized release for the PC Engine was Dead of the Brain Part 1 & 2 on June 3, 1999.[17]

Variations

Several variations and related products of the PC Engine were released throughout the 1990s.

First-party models
CoreGrafx with CD-ROM² and interface unit
PC Engine Duo RX
PC-Engine LT
CoreGrafx II with Super CD-ROM²

The TurboGrafx-CD, released as the CD-ROM² System (シーディーロムロムシステム Shī Dī Romu Romu Shisutemu, pronounced "CD-ROM-ROM") in Japan on December 4, 1988,[1] is an add-on console which, when attached to a standard TurboGrafx-16, can play CD games and audio CDs. It was followed by the Super CD-ROM² System (スーパーシーディーロムロムシステム Sūpā Shī Dī Romu Romu), which was released in Japan on December 13, 1991[1] as both: an add-on unit for the PC Engine with built-in BIOS, and as a Super System Card (スーパーシステムカード Sūpā Shisutemu Kādo) for the original CD-ROM² System, which adds 192KB of RAM required to play titles in Super CD-ROM² format. Certain games in Japan were released in a third disc format, the Arcade CD-ROM² (アーケードシーディーロムロム Ākēdo Shī Dī Romu Romu) (released in Japan on March 12, 1994),[1] requiring the use of an Arcade Card (アーケードカード Ākēdo Kādo). The Arcade Card was available in a "Pro" version designed solely for the original CD-ROM² System, and a "Duo" version that worked with the Super CD-ROM² System and all PC Engine Duo models (both adding a total of 2MB of RAM). These are not compatible with the TurboGrafx-16, nor with the TurboDuo, without an adapter.

The SuperGrafx (released in Japan on December 8, 1989)[1] is a variation of the standard PC-Engine hardware. This system is nearly identical to the original PC Engine, except it has a second HuC6270A (VDC), a HuC6202 (VDP) to combine the output of the two VDCs, four times as much RAM, twice as much video RAM, and a second layer/plane of scrolling. The CPU, sound, and color palette were not upgraded, making the expensive price tag a big disadvantage to the system. NEC also decided to not include the extra two video chips in the all-in-one Duo replacement system. Only five exclusive SuperGrafx games and two hybrid games (Darius Plus and Darius Alpha took advantage of the extra video hardware if played on a SuperGrafx) were released, and the system fell into obscurity.

Other members of the PC Engine family include the Shuttle (released in Japan on November 22, 1989),[1] the LT (a laptop version similar to the Game Boy Advance SP, but considerably larger; released in Japan on December 13, 1991, which was the same day the Super CD-ROM² System was released),[1] the CoreGrafx (released in Japan on December 8, 1989; the same day the SuperGrafx was released)[1] and CoreGrafx II (released in Japan on June 21, 1991),[1] the Duo R (released in Japan on March 25, 1993)[1] and the Duo RX (released in Japan on June 25, 1994).[1] The PC Engine was officially released in Europe as the TurboGrafx, although it received a very limited release.

The TurboExpress was a fully portable version of the console, and also had an optional TV tuner accessory.

The TurboExpress is a portable version of the TurboGrafx, released in North America in 1991 for $249.99 (the price was briefly raised to $299.99, soon dropped back to $249.99, and by 1992 it was $199.99). It was the most advanced handheld of its time and could play all the TG-16's HuCard games five years before the Genesis Nomad could do the same for Genesis cartridges. Its Japanese equivalent is the PC Engine GT, which was released in Japan on December 1, 1990.[1] It has a 2.6-inch (66 mm) backlit, active-matrix color LCD screen, the most advanced on the market for a portable video game unit at the time. The screen contributed to its high price and short battery life, however. Its keypad layout is similar to that of the original Game Boy, with the unique addition of two "turbo switches" that engage two levels of semi-automatic high-speed controller button re-triggering to assist the player. It shares the capabilities of the TurboGrafx, giving it 512 available colors (9-bit RGB), stereo sound, and the same custom CPU at 7.15909 MHz. The optional "TurboVision" TV tuner included RCA audio/video input, allowing the user to use TurboExpress as a video monitor. The "TurboLink" allowed two-player play. Falcon, a flight simulator, included a "head-to-head" dogfight mode that could only be accessed via TurboLink. However, very few games offered co-op play modes especially designed with the TurboExpress in mind.

NEC Home Electronics released the PC Engine Duo in Japan on September 21, 1991,[1] which combined the PC Engine and the Super CD-ROM² into a single unit. The system can play audio CDs, CD+Gs, CD-ROM² and Super CD-ROM² games as well as standard HuCards. It was launched for the North American market as the TurboDuo in 1992. The American version of Duo was originally bundled with one control pad, an AC adapter, RCA cables, Ys Book I & II (a CD-ROM² title), and a Super CD-ROM² including Bonk's Adventure, Bonk's Revenge, Gate of Thunder and a secret version of Bomberman accessible via an easter egg. The system was also packaged with one random HuCard game which varied from system to system (Dungeon Explorer was the original HuCard pack-in for TurboDuo, although many titles were eventually used, such as Irem's Ninja Spirit and Namco's Final Lap Twin, and then eventually a random pick). The Super System Card required for Super CD-ROM² format games when using the TurboGrafx-CD add-on was built into the Duo, rather than requiring the card to be inserted at all times when playing a Super CD title.

Third-party models

The X1 Twin is a combination of X1 computer and PC Engine. It plays HuCards only. The PC-KD863G, a computer (RGB) monitor with a built-in PC Engine, likewise plays only HuCards. Pioneer Corporation's Pioneer LaserActive supports an add-on module which allows the use of PC Engine games (HuCard, CD-ROM² and Super CD-ROM²) as well as new "LD-ROM²" titles that work only on this device. NEC also released their own LaserActive unit and PC Engine add-on module, under an OEM license.[18] A total of eleven LD-ROM2 titles were produced, with only three of them released in North America.

The TurboGrafx-16 was released in South Korea by a third party under the name Vistar 16.[19]

Various PC Engine Shuttle clones exist, with varying levels of compatibility with original PC-Engine games. One of the more common types is the "PC Boy".

The PC Engine was never officially released in continental Europe, but some companies imported them and made SCART conversions on a moderate scale. In France, Sodipeng imported Japanese systems and added an RGB Cable called "AudioVideo Plus Cable". This mod improved the original video signal quality extensively and made the consoles work with SECAM televisions. In Germany, several importers sold converted PC Engines with PAL RF as well as RGB output. The connectors and pinouts used for the latter were frequently compatible with the Amiga video port, with two unconnected pins used for the audio channels.

Peripheral compatibility

The TurboGrafx-16 had only one controller port, so any simultaneous multiplayer games required the TurboTap accessory.

All PC Engine systems support the same controller peripherals, including pads, joysticks and multitaps. Except for the Vistar, Shuttle, GT, and systems with built-in CD-ROM drives, all PC Engine units shared the same expansion connector, which allowed for the use of devices such as the CD-ROM unit, battery backup and AV output.

The TurboGrafx and Vistar units use a different controller port than the PC Engines, but adaptors are available and the protocol is the same. The TurboGrafx offers the same expansion connector pinout as the PC Engine, but has a slightly different shape so peripherals must be modified to fit.

The Arcade Card Pro is designed for the original CD-ROM² System add-on, adding the 2304 kB of RAM required by Arcade CD-ROM² games. The Arcade Card Duo is for the Super CD-ROM² System and the PC-Engine Duo/R/RX consoles and adds 2048 kB RAM, since those systems already have 256K of RAM built-in.

The various CD-ROM game types are:

Video formats

All PC Engine hardware outputs video in NTSC format, including the European TurboGrafx; it generates a PAL-compatible video signal by using a chroma encoder chip not found in any other system in the series.

Technical specifications

The TurboGrafx-16 ran off an 8-bit CPU, but had a 16-bit graphics processor.

The PC Engine is a relatively compact video game console, owing to an efficient three-chip architecture and its use of small ROM cartridges called HuCards (Turbo Chips in North America). Hudson Soft developed the HuCard (Hudson Card) from the Bee Card technology it piloted on the MSX. HuCards are about the size of a credit card, but slightly thicker. They are very similar to the My Card format utilized for certain games released on the SG-1000/SC-3000 and the Mark III/Master System. The largest Japanese HuCard games were up to 20 Mbit in size. All PC Engine consoles can play standard HuCards, including the PC Engine SuperGrafx (which has its small library of exclusive HuCards).

With the exception of the budget-priced PC Engine Shuttle, the portable PC Engine GT and the PC-KD863G monitor, every PC Engine console is also capable of playing CD-ROM² discs, provided the console is equipped with the required CD-ROM drive and System Card. The SuperGrafx and PC Engine LT both required additional adapters to work on the original CD-ROM² System and Super CD-ROM² respectively, whereas the Duo consoles had the CD-ROM drive and Super System Card integrated into them (as did the Super CD-ROM² player). Some unlicensed CD games by Games Express can only run on Duo consoles, due to their games requiring both a special System Card packaged with the games and the 256 kB of RAM built into the Duo.

The console's CPU is a Hudson Soft HuC6280 8-bit microprocessor operating at 1.79 MHz and 7.16 MHz. It features integrated bank-switching hardware (driving a 21-bit external address bus from a 6502-compatible 16-bit address bus), an integrated general-purpose I/O port, a timer, block transfer instructions, and dedicated move instructions for communicating with the HuC6270A VDC. Its 16-bit graphics processor and video color encoder chip were also developed by Hudson Soft.[20] It holds 8 kB of work RAM and 64 kB of video RAM.

Display

Resolution

Color

Sprites

Tiles

Audio capacity

Region protection

Common HuCard Converters

With HuCards, a limited form of region protection was introduced between markets which for the most part was nothing more than running some of the HuCard's pinout connections in a different arrangement. There were several major after-market converters sold to address this problem, and were sold predominantly for use in converting Japanese titles for play on a TG-16. In the Japanese market, NEC went further by adding a hardware level detection function to all PC Engine systems that detected if a game was a U.S. release, and would then refuse to play it. The only known exception to this is the U.S. release of Klax which did not contain this function. The explanation commonly given for this by NEC officials is that most U.S. conversions had the difficulty level reduced, and in some cases were censored for what was considered inappropriate content, and consequently, they did not want the U.S. conversion to re-enter the Asian market and negatively impact the perception of a game. With some minor soldering skills, a change could be made to PC Engines to disable this check.[23] The only Japanese games that could not be played on a U.S. system using one of these converters were the SuperGrafx titles which could only be played on a SuperGrafx.

There was no region protection on TurboGrafx-CD and CD-ROM² System games.

CD hardware technical specifications and information

Corresponding CD-ROM products

Arcade Card Duo (left) and Arcade Card Pro

Drive unit

Reception

In Japan, the PC Engine was very successful, and at one point was the top-selling console in the nation.[26] In North America and Europe the situation was reversed, with both Sega and Nintendo dominating the console market at the expense of NEC. Initially, the TurboGrafx-16 sold well in the U.S., but eventually it suffered from lack of support from third-party software developers and publishers.

In 1990, ACE magazine praised the console's racing game library, stating that, compared to "all the popular consoles, the PC Engine is way out in front in terms of the range and quality of its race games."[27] Reviewing the Turbo Duo model in 1993, GamePro gave it a "thumbs down". Though they praised the system's CD sound, graphics, and five-player capability, they criticized the outdated controller and the games library, saying the third party support was "almost nonexistent" and that most of the first party games were localizations of games better suited to the Japanese market.[28] In 2009, the TurboGrafx-16 was ranked the 13th greatest video game console of all time by IGN, citing "a solid catalog of games worth playing," but also a lack of third party support and the absence of a second controller port.[29]

Legacy

In 1994, NEC released a new console, the Japan-only PC-FX, a 32-bit system with a tower-like design; it enjoyed a small but steady stream of games until 1998, when NEC finally abandoned the video games industry. NEC would then partner with former rival Nintendo in making the CPU for the Nintendo 64 and Sega, providing a version of its PowerVR 2 Chipset for the Dreamcast.

A number of TurboGrafx-16 and TurboGrafx-CD games were released on Nintendo's Virtual Console download service for the Wii,[30] Wii U, and Nintendo 3DS, including several that were originally never released outside Japan.[31][32] In 2011, ten TurboGrafx-16 games were released on the PlayStation Network for play on the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable in the North American region.

In 2010 Hudson released an iPhone application entitled "TurboGrafx-16 GameBox" which allowed users to buy and play a number of select Turbo Grafx games via in-app purchases.[33]

In 2016, Kanye West announced his 8th solo album would be titled "Turbo Grafx 16".[34][35]

Emulation

Emulation programs for the TurboGrafx-16 exist for several modern and retro operating systems and architectures and are at varying levels of emulation ranging from beta stage, to near perfect emulation of all PC Engine and TurboGrafx-16 formats.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 http://www.pc-engine.co.uk/?section=systems
  2. 1 2 Blake Snow (May 4, 2007). "The 10 Worst-Selling Consoles of All Time". GamePro.com. Archived from the original on September 5, 2008. Retrieved May 28, 2007.
  3. ↑ Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition (2008)
  4. ↑ "Hudson Entertainment – Video Games, Mobile Games, Ringtones, and More!". Web.archive.org. June 19, 2008. Archived from the original on September 29, 2011. Retrieved July 5, 2011.
  5. ↑ "Nec PC Engine / Turbografx". September 1, 2000. Retrieved January 26, 2016.
  6. ↑ Pubs Sodipeng Pc-engine (1990–91) – Le Adra's Blog ! – GAMEBLOG.fr
  7. ↑ Video Game Trader Magazine (March 16, 2009). "Video Game Trader #3, March 2008". Videogametrader.com. Archived from the original on July 17, 2011. Retrieved July 5, 2011.
  8. ↑ http://magweasel.com/2009/07/21/i-love-the-pc-engine-fighting-street/
  9. ↑ http://www.giantbomb.com/no-ri-ko/3030-39939/
  10. ↑ Top 25 Videogame Consoles of All Time, IGN. Retrieved 2010-06-14.
  11. ↑ Mark J. P. Wolf (2008), The video game explosion: a history from PONG to Playstation and beyond, ABC-CLIO, p. 119, ISBN 0-313-33868-X, retrieved April 10, 2011
  12. ↑ "Turbo CD". GameFAQs. Retrieved May 14, 2012.
  13. ↑ "Toys R Us weekly ad". The Catoosa County News. December 5, 1990. Retrieved 2014-06-17.
  14. ↑ Steven L. Kent, The Ultimate History of Video Games, p. 413.
  15. ↑ "Celebrating Software". Computer Gaming World. June 1991. p. 64. Retrieved November 17, 2013.
  16. ↑ "At the Deadline". GamePro (60). IDG. July 1994. p. 172.
  17. ↑ "Dead of the Brain 1 & 2". Consolecity.com. June 3, 1996. Retrieved July 5, 2011.
  18. ↑ "International News". Electronic Gaming Monthly (54). EGM Media, LLC. January 1994. p. 94.
  19. ↑ Vistar 16
  20. ↑ "United States patent 5059955".
  21. 1 2 "Forums.MagicEngine.com". Forums.MagicEngine.com. Retrieved 2011-07-05.
  22. ↑ "forum". Pcenginefx.com. Retrieved July 5, 2011.
  23. ↑ "PC Engine Import Mod". GameSX. Retrieved January 11, 2014. The fix: On Japanese systems, connect pin 29 of the Hu6280 chip to [ground]. That's it.
  24. ↑ http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:G7O62_Ggt1sJ:archaicpixels.com/images/f/f8/MSM5205.pdf
  25. ↑ http://www.ysutopia.net/special/MSM5205.htm
  26. ↑ "What in the Name of Sam Hill is a PC Engine?". Electronic Gaming Monthly. Ziff Davis (70): 15. May 1995.
  27. ↑ ACE, issue 34 (July 1990), page 59
  28. ↑ "System Shopper". GamePro (53). IDG. December 1993. pp. 46–49.
  29. ↑ "TurboGrafx-16 is number 13". IGN. Retrieved July 5, 2011.
  30. ↑ "Hudson Entertainment – Video Games, Mobile Games, Ringtones, and More!". Hudsonent.com. Retrieved July 5, 2011.
  31. ↑ "IGN: GDC 06: Satoru Iwata Keynote". Wii.ign.com. March 23, 2006. Retrieved 2011-07-05.
  32. ↑ "Virtual Console: Sega and Hudson games are a go! – Nintendo Wii Fanboy". Revolution Fanboy. March 23, 2006. Archived from the original on December 1, 2008. Retrieved July 5, 2011.
  33. ↑ Cowan, Danny. "Hudson Releases TurboGrafx-16 GameBox Emulator For iOS". Gamasuitra. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
  34. ↑ "Kanye's Twitter".
  35. ↑ Byford, Sam. "Kanye West says his new album is called Turbo Grafx 16 and coming this summer". The Verge. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to PC Engine.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 12/1/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.