PC Engine, TurboGrafx question

[okusenman]

:shrug: I'm not very familiar with Turbgrafix / PC Engine. I'm interested in getting some import games and domestic/US games and was wondering which version of the system to get. I believe a majority of them are region free but I'm not 100% sure if that is the case or which ones are. If anyone can help me by recommending which version of the system to get so that I can play import, domestic and possibly hu cards that would be great. Thank you :pray:

[GaijinPunch]

CDs are not region encoded, but the Hucards are. There's one good converter for Hucards, but you'll have better luck finding a three legged ballerina than that, so forget about that.

You should decide what region Hucards you'll play more of, and get a Turbo Duo for that system. If you're dying to play Hucards in the other region, then get a PC-Engine or TurboGrafx, which should be much cheaper.

[kendrick]

It's also important to note that if the consoles in question are unmodified, a convertor is not always sufficient to play games from the other region. The US consoles will play JPN-region games with the convertor, but the JPN-region consoles perform a region check and won't play US games. Among collectors, the PC-Engine hardware is more popular (because they're pretty and square) and so a mod has been documented to allow US games to be played on it.

Or, you could do what I do and just get one console from each region and not bother with all the modding. :)

[okusenman]

Aren't there different types of PC Engines (Duo, Rx, etc)? Should I forget about the Turbo Duo? If you could be more specific it would help me out greatly. Thanks!

[mdmx]

check Aron's website for a console overview:
http://pcenginefx.com/main/nec_compatibility_guide.html

[okusenman]

Cool, thank you! I'll post again if I have any more questions :)

[GaijinPunch]

Duo-R or RX are the more preferred. There's not much difference between the two. Either of these plus an Arcade Card will allow you to play all Japanese CD and card games. I was always under the impression there was no region coding for any CDs (of any unit). I own a whopping zero NTSC-U games though, so don't listen to me.

[Jamtex]

Personally i still prefer the original Duo mainly as it has a headphone socket, the R removes this and replaces it will slighly better plastic casing and the RX comes with a 6 button pad and a slightly different colour scheme to the R... Although the original PC Engine with the CD-ROM2 unit does look like sex. :)

[GaijinPunch]

Although the original PC Engine with the CD-ROM2 unit does look like sex. :)

Yeah... prison sex with 3 dudes and a broomstick. Duo-R or RX please.

I hear the black Duo's have the worst reliability. No experience though.

[andoba]

Why would someone want a US PC Engine? What's the point? Less games, uglier, less cool (because I say so :D), and more expensive.

Get a Japanese DUO R.

[kendrick]

The US console will play JPN-region Hucards with only a convertor and no modification. All units with CD drives will play games from all regions. There's more to preference here than just aesthetics.

I have one of almost every American iteration of the hardware, and I can attest to the high failure rate of the American Turbo Duo hardware. The capacitors in them come from that batch of old PCB-mount components that were prone to failure, which is what also causes Game Gear screen failure and some Super Nintendo board failures. Japanese Duo-R hardware are marginally more reliable, although in all cases it's best practice just to pull off all the caps and replace them with electrolytic equivalents.

[GaijinPunch]

Then what does this mean?


It's also important to note that if the consoles in question are unmodified, a convertor is not always sufficient to play games from the other region.

Some unit requires a mod plus a converter?


Japanese Duo-R hardware are marginally more reliable,

I guess I'm one of the weird ones that's never had any of the several I've come into contact with go out. In fact, the one Duo-R that "died" on me was working fine, and is now in the hands of Calpis for a very fair price. Not sure what the hell I did wrong, but he said it worked out of the box.

[ASSEMbler]

Get a duo r/rx the pce cd units are picky with cdr, so people think they are broken when all it needs is real discs or tweaking of the pots.

[okusenman]

thanks for the advice everyone, I really appreciate it! Another question....

Does the Jpn system play US hucards without an adaptor/mods?

[Calpis]

No, to do that you need both the same adapter used for playing PCE on TGX, and you need to do an internal mod (1 wire). The internal mod is necessary because TGX games have software protection and check the region of the machine, while PCE games do not.

[okusenman]

I see. However disc games are still region free correct? Are there any good US hucard games?

[Calpis]

I've never seen a disc game with the same protection as US hucards, but it's entirely possible for a CD game to.

Personally I don't think there are any good US hucards, to my knowledge there are no TGX exclusives and by your forum handle I assume you're not a stranger to Japanese. If I'm wrong, worse case is you couldn't play some bad RPGs in English without the mod and adapter, but more importantly you would not need a adapter for important hucards like Tennokoe 2 and Arcade Card.

[kendrick]

Some unit requires a mod plus a converter?


As Calpis has stated, yes. If you want to play US HuCards on a JPN system, you need an internal mod and a way to move some of the contact pin signals, either with a convertor or another four-way switch inside.

I'm not entirely sour on the US-region games the way Calpis is, although he's correct that there are no western exclusives. I happen to prefer the US versions of some RPGs, particularly the ones that Working Designs released. Of course, they're vastly outnumbered by the Japanese-region games that are available.

[okusenman]

I can play games with katakana and hiragana but when it comes to Kanji i'm at a loss. Looks like I'll be looking for a Jpn PC Engine duo r or rx and forget about looking for any US hucard games. At least I'll be able to play some US cd games (no mod needed) for some rpgs. Thanks for the help everyone.

Now I guess my next question is what game titles do you recommend getting? Anything for Jpn or US cd releases and Jpn hu card only games.

If you still have more ideas or thoughts please continue to share them here!

[GaijinPunch]

As Calpis has stated, yes. If you want to play US HuCards on a JPN system, you need an internal mod and a way to move some of the contact pin signals, either with a convertor or another four-way switch inside.

I don't think this is the most common combo... hence why I've not heard of it. I think at one point (not now though) the prices of the units were similar, but you had a nice $50-$60 shipping tag on a Japanese unit. So, a converter + a US unit was the desired one. Now, Duo-R's and RXs + shipping can be had cheaper than a US Duo (if memory serves).

[dj898]

D-Lite used to offer mod service and he did my SGX which runs both regions and has the S-Video output...

Back to the topic I also have RX MIB and imho white Duo is sexier than the black one... ^ ^

About the converter I used to have purple box thingy but sold it to a chap and believe still have the driver(?) board type though can't remember where I put the thing...

[WarHampster]

If you're looking for jp hucards, the bomberman game is pretty good (if you like that sort of game)