Messages

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / For those who are still looking for brand new Duo pad....]

yes, I have no problem sharing info with you.

this is FedEx GROUND, which is the budget service. so i don't mind waiting a few extra days.  I hope, as DM Dan stated, this is NOT a situation where a fed ex employee is fond of adbsconding with video game merchandise (and reselling it on ebay).  wouldn't that be our luck?

RANT/ I recently ordered a flat screen LCD monitor from buy.com.  it was "lost" somehow.  normally, i wouldn't care about waiting, but buy.com made it sound like it was my fault and wouldn't let me re-order another monitor until fedex finished auditing the shipment.  almost 2 weeks after i was supposed to have received the monitor, i just cancelled my order. the us post office has never lost anything for me, ever.  i know it must happen with USPS, but fed ex and UPS have lost tons of packages of mine over the years (at least 8 over the last 15 years). that sucks.

I lost the complete VHS collection of degrassi junior high (1989 series, not the new crappy one) when my brother shipped it to me using fedex a year or two ago.  i still weep over the loss. /RANT

I've had far more trouble with FedEx than any other delivery services, Thursday has pretty much passed so it's now TWO days late. In 2001 Fed Ex lost a DirecTV reciever and Hub. While two other recievers and a dish all sent out the same day from the same facility arrived with no problems.

UPS is just bad about leaving stuff outside but I can't recall them having ever lost any of my packages, and the postal service is inconsistant but decent. I've never had any problems with DHL. FedEx is always the worst.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / For those who are still looking for brand new Duo pad....]

My controllers were shipped on Monday and was supposed to arrive on Wenesday, but... it didn't and the tracking hasn't been updated since Monday when it left New Jersey. FedEx is just terrible.

SAME HERE!  My expected arrival date is the 22nd.

Status: In transit    
Details: Apr 18, 2005
10:57 PM, Left origin, SOUTH HACKENSACK, NJ

Mine was expected to arrive yesterday though. Since looking today it appears they removed the expected arrival date from their tracking page for my order. That sure indicates to me that it's been lost.

 Ship date    
   Apr 18, 2005    
Reference    
   44841    
Delivery location    
   WHEATON, IL    
Service type    
   Home Delivery    
Pieces    
   1    
Weight    
   2.0 lbs.    
Status    
   In transit    
Date/Time    
Details    
Apr 18, 2005      10:57 PM

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / For those who are still looking for brand new Duo pad....]

thanks Liquid Snake.  My order (2 controllers) has already shipped and should be here in a few days.  I haven't had new controllers in.... forever!

the only sucky thing:  I emailed them twice about expanding my order (to include turbotap)... but they never responded and just shipped my order.

My controllers were shipped on Monday and was supposed to arrive on Wenesday, but... it didn't and the tracking hasn't been updated since Monday when it left New Jersey. FedEx is just terrible.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: New game coming for your TurboDuo system. :)]

This is the latest screenshot from the upcoming traditional RPG, Mysterious Song. It's a remake of the game of the same name which appeared for the PC a number of years ago. It is a SuperCD game and will be freely downloadable for burning onto your own CDRs or purchasable for a minimal cost (just enough to cover materials and shipping costs) and shipped to just about anywhere. The game is in English, but if there's enough requests, it may be translated to other languages (a French version is highly likely).

Will the purchasable copy by on CDRs as well? My Duo is one of the original 1992 launch systems and can read normal glass mastered discs flawlessly. However as many other people both here and the Turbo list have noted the first generation Duo's can barely read CDRs (even Verbatims burned at 1X in RAW mode).

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Censoring / Sanitizing North American Games]

Hi folks.  I am trying to think of a feature article to write for my upcoming website and I thought the topic of "sanitizing game content" is something that would appeal to folks in general (not just turbo fans).

YOUR MISSION: To expand the list of games for Part I & II below, and to correct any mistakes / omissions you see in this thread. Thanks in advance for your thoughtful comments.

PART ONE -- So, I'm trying to compile a list of all the Turbo games that were cleaned up during localization... but I don't think many games fall into this category:

1. Scatalogical Content.  Kato & Ken --> JJ & Jeff.  In K & K, farting was an offensive weapon... but for J & J it became "aerosal" from a can of spray paint. Piles of poop remained in the game, however, including some birds who poop on you (ASIDE: file this under "scatalogical pet peeve" -- instead of white, goopy bird poop, both versions simply re-used the generic "pile o' dog poop"... why couldn't Hudson give us more varieties of poop?)

2. Nudity.  The infamous shower scene in Cosmic Fantasy 2... was anything really censored in this game besides the shower scene?

3. Religion. Anything? Perhaps something about the Crusades / Christianity was altered in Exile so as not to offend Christians?  The Templar Knights were real, historically (... but now I am wondering if it was Drac X that dealt with Templar Knights?)...

4. How about gory / bloody stuff?  Final Zone II and Last Alert (Red Alert) have some bloody cinemas... were they left intact?  

5. Violence Against Women:  In Final Zone II, Bowie slaps Momoko in the face HARD in one of the cinemas... This remained in the U.S. version, though...

6.  Promoting alcohol. Anything?  I've read how "drinking ale" in some RPGs was changed (for games on other systems, though I can't remember any further details now )

7. Promoting tobacco.  When I started thinking about sanitizing booze, I thought, "Hey, what about SMOKING?"  Final Lap Twin, for example, was going to be the original HuCard pack-in for the TurboDuo... but NEC didn't want the "Marboro" billboards in the game to be construed as "promoting smoking to minors".  Well, that's what TurboPlay magazine reported, for what its worth.

--------------------------
PART TWO: What Japan-only games have particualry bloody / naughty / misogynistic elements in them that would have been sanitzed for  North America (explain, in detail, please):

0. Nudity?.  Camera Man / Photograph Boy (the actual title escapes me at the moment) -- I remember a dude in a raincoat who "flashes" you (bonus points if you snap a picture of him at the crucial moment!).  anything else?  I vaguely recall naked women, but my brain might be playing tricks on me.

1. Scatological content. Toilet Kids -- vertical shooter with one theme: poop. even the spiders have arses and shoot poopy bullets at you.

2. Titilation/Sexualization of women. For example... Steam Hearts -- I need details, I don't own this game... Strip Fighter II... and many other games, I'm sure...

3. Sexuality. For example, Ai Cho Aniki (Super Big Brother) -- folks in the U.S. are so prudish that the overtly homoerotic theme would be a stumbling block.  

4. Race/ethnicity/national origin. Anything? Did any of the Japanese games have stereotyped racial / ethnic character designs, for example?

5. Nazis.  Download 2 has a bio-morphed HITLER monster as a final boss.  For some reason I think this might cause problems for a U.S. release.  At the very least, the Japanese cover art (which features hitler's visage) would have to be changed, methinks.

A good Turbo related situation that would fall under catagory 5 is Tengai Makyo: Manji Maru. For the uninitated a Manji is a good luck sign in Japan. Unfortunately, in Western culture a Manji is known as a swastika. As a result removing every single Manji from that game might have been one of the many hurdles that led to its being passed over for a US release.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / For those who are still looking for brand new Duo pad....]

The Hori pad looks nice, the Avenue pad 6 that I have has kind of a loose directional pad, it works but because it's somewhat flimsy compared to the standard Duo Pad.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / For those who are still looking for brand new Duo pad....]

word up, i hope i have the same luck... i just ordered two controllers myself.
normally i wouldn't order from a place like this... but i took a chance based on your recommendation.

thanks for the link!  i tried searching the site for other items... but the search sucked and so did the menus.

I found TurboExpress ($240).
And 2 HuCard games (Jack Nicklaus and something else... overpriced... but if they are brand new I guess it isn't too bad).

How did you find the DUO pads, anyway?  Did I miss an obvious category somewhere?

I just ordered two controllers myself. All I own personally is one regular Duo pad and an NEC avenue pad plus a white PC engine Duo Tap (which works fine with my US Duo) so I can use the extra controllers.

Added in edit: Not that I need it but I found a Duo Tap on their site
http://www.gameexpress.com/product_detail.cfm?UPC=092218000026 though the picture is of a Turbo Tap.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Turbo>Duo controller adaptor]

I thought there was some generic old keyboard convertor that worked, offhand I can't recall what it was. I tried googling it to no avail.

It's an 8 pin din connector for both controller but the TG16 uses a larger one than others. If TZD no longer has them though I don't see much hope in finding them now.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Anyone played Dragon Slayer? I have a few questions]

Just to follow up on the voice acting...

I think the voice acting is pretty bad, but not quite as bad as Final Zone II, which I think might be the worst (Last Alert's was bad too, but not as bad as everyone claims. It just had some really cheesy dialog). I think Logan's voice actor is pretty good himself, but the thing is that it easily sounds like a 30-year old man and Logan is NOT a 30-year old man ! Also that green haired chick had a really bad voice actor.

For god sakes there are lines like "A fine Marnin to you Ma Lard" being done with incredibly fake accents. The dub is just horrendous the only game I can think of that's comparably bad on any platform (Last Alert included) is Castle Shikigami 2 for PS2.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / turbo points]

Hey I'll buy that Lords of Thunder shirt off you . I saw an auction on Ebay a couple years back selling a big Duo collection and it had some sweet extra stuff like a Devil's Crush and Bloody Wolf shirt. I also saw another auction for  a awesome Spatter House mug with a TG16 logo on it and another mug of some game I forgot with the TG16 logo on it. I think it was Bloody Wolf, but not sure.

I remember NEC home electronics (pre TTI) had a catalog with shirts, posters and a lot of other stuff in it. It was very cool, I wouldn't imagine anyone here might still have a copy of that catalog?

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Cosmic Fantasy 2 Ranting]

Hey Dan,  do you know what the situation is with WD right now?  I've been trying to get in contact with someone there, but am having trouble doing so.

Thanks!

Check your PMs on here.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Cosmic Fantasy 2 Ranting]

Actually, yeah.  If you're into Working Designs' stuff, I did this article around the same time: https://web.archive.org/web/20080511185541/http://www.gamingworldx.com/features/TheHistoryofWorkingDesigns.shtml

Heh, I know something like a half dozen former WD employees so the history is pretty much known to me. Neat article though, I'd not seen it.

Added in edit: The other label was called Spaz, they released Raystorm, RayCrisis, Elemental Gearbolt, Thunderforce V, Silhoutte Mirage among others.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Cosmic Fantasy 2 Ranting]

I actually got the chance to interview Victor Ireland from Working Designs a few years back.  I talked about Turbo stuff with him and, specifically, Cosmic Fantasy 2.  This was back when WD was working on their Arc the Lad compilation for the PSone.  Being a fan of Cosmic Fantasy 2, I asked him what the chances were of WD doing a Cosmic Fantasy compilation consisting of all the Cosmic Fantasy games.  He said that if the demand were high enough he would definitely consider trying to make it happen.

So...start writing your emails to Working Designs!

As much as I'd like that to happen the series is dead in Japan and someone would need to actually make that collection for it to be released in Japan first for WD to do it. Second and perhaps most importantly WD is not doing that well, Growslanser hasn't been a massive hit and I've heard rumors (though I myself can't substanciate them) that they closed their office in Redding and are operating Working Designs out of Victor Irelands house.

On a side note when you did your interview with Vic (I'm guessing this would have been around E3 2001 or 2000) did he give you one of those neat Arc the Lad watches?

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Hi Guys!]

Haha, major pros go to you for showing a Turbo Express to Gamestop!

It was a blast.  Even the guy working there that said he had a TurboGrafx didn't recognize it.  One kid who was shopping there looked at it and said "why don't you get a Nintendo DS?"
 

Heh, Gamestop, EB and GameCrazy employees really don't know much about games. That's not to say "ALL" employees of said gaming retailers don't, but very few do. In any event good luck with getting it cleaned out. And when you do watch out because the TE is the black hole of double A batteries (far worse than a Lynx or Game Gear).

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Hi Guys!]

I took the TE into a Gamestop last night to see if they had anything I could use to clean it, NOBODY there know what it was.

Anyways, thanks for the suggestions.  After hours of trying, I finally just shipped it back to the guy who sold it to me.  Hopefully he can fix it, or maybe refund some money.  Bleh.

The only thing that came to mine was those old(Maybe on ebay you can find the DOCs brand) NES cartridge cleaners. You might be able to use that to clean it.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Hi Guys!]

Hey, I used to work for Funco too!  At the corporate headquarters before they sold to GameStop.

Heh, Funco employee abound on a retro game site. What a coincidence. Anyway, that's how I got started many years ago with various jobs in the games industry, eventually getting into the media (online, then print) then other things. In any event I kind of miss Funco, the old games and platforms they supported are all but completely dropped from Gamestop

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / European TurboGrafx]

Man that's awesome. I kind of want to get that for not only a European Turbo Grafx, but also for the converter.

They don't ship outside the UK. Also the dollar is very week in its exhange rate to British Pounds right now.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Hi Guys!]

while i have often blown "hot breath" on stuff (i.e. NES carts, you dirty minds)... you shouldn't really add moisture to your carts / consoles.  Instead, use 100% alcohol (isopropyl, i think) with some sort of applicator (lint free... check out radio shack, or similar store, for foam or pads that you can safely shove in an out of the tiny TE HuCard slot).  Q-tips are fine, usually, but sometimes fibers rip off and get stuck, which is annoying with tiny cartridge slots on TE / TG-16 console.

You should look for stuff that folks would normally clean cassette tape heads / assembly with...

Now, for cleaning HuCards themselves... well, that's much easier.  Q-tip + alcohol.

Being a former Funcoland employee (for those of you who ever bought used systems at Funcoland in their heyday would know what I am talking about since we were forced to peddle cleaning kits) I should probably mention that the need for cleaning kits on systems that don't begin with Nintendo Entertainment System is minimal. As far as breathing most breathe on carts or the inside, that's typically not a big deal provided you don't let dust build up around the slots and allow it to corrode or you don't have the system stored in an incredibly wet and humid area.

Blowing isn't really that bad for it , it clears dust. Just don't spit or sneeze into your system and make sure if possible you dry it probably and quickly if using alcohol.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / TE Pins]

My Turbo Express has done that occasionally but blowing on the inside usually solves it. I'm not sure of any other way to clean it offhand. Those old style NES cleaning kits with the long plastic/cloth strips might be effective if you can still find them.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / European TurboGrafx]

Was it possible for anyone to get their hands on one? I remember reading about the European Turbo Grafx 16 before and there was a picture of the box. I did not know much about it besides that. If someone doesn't mind helping me here, was there a release date for the system in Europe and why wasn't it released in Europe?

My understanding is that it was test marketed briefly in Southern England (London Area) during the 1990 Holiday season and then pulled off the market. The system looks just like a US TurboGrafx but the logo and colors are different on the label, it also does not have the "16" in the title. I saw them for sale online a while back as well, now I kind of wished I picked one up for collector value.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / European TurboGrafx]

Does anyone here own the famed European TurboGrafx? If so do the controllers have that same weird color scheme as the system logo does?

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: questions about Tengai Makyo 2 (Ziria: Far East of Eden]

I remember back in the early 1990s, I read a preview for a PC Engine CD-ROM or Super CD-ROM RPG called 'Far East of Eden 2'.   It was in one of the TurboGrafx magazines. the thing that stood out about it was the size of the adventure. I remember reading it had thousands of overhead map screens. hundreds of enemies, dozens of bosses, tons of music and it was said to be one of the most expensive games ever made.  


oh YES! I found the article!  It's from the April/May 1992 TurboPlay
(from the same people that did VideoGames & Computer Entertainment)



God Forever Bless the TurboGrafx-16 Preservation Society and their TurboPlay Magazine Archives!  (every page of every single videogame magazine ever printed should be archived like this!!!!)

guys, I still know next to nothing about the Tenjai Makyo series.  no doubt I have the spelling wrong and even the title of this 2nd game in the series wrong, but I am just going by the above magazine article, nothing else.

So my questions to anyone out there with knowledge about
Tengai Makyo 2  aka Ziria: Far East of Eden 2,  was the game in fact *that* large, and did it have everything that the article above says, like 20,000 overhead screens, 300 enemies, 48 bosses, 90 minutes of animation, 24 CD music tracks, 80+ chip-generated music tracks, and was it the most expensive game ever made for its time ???

overall was it as impressive as that old preview makes it out to be?

....I also know understand that this game was remade for Playstation2.

Tengai Makyo 2 Manji Maru (Ziria is not part of the title, the original Tengai Makyo was known as "Tengai Makyo: Ziria" the adding of the Ziria to that preview is incorrect.) is a fantastic game but is a little bit dated. It's a HUGE game (not Dragon Warrior 7 size mind you but bigger than most traditional RPGs). As far as 90 minutes of animation, I think that's a bit of an exageration but it has quite a lot for a single CD release. The game is also the best selling Super CD ever.

As far as it being re-made goes there was a Game Cube version made and it was shortly thereafter ported to PS2 (apparently the PS2 version has loading problems and freezes from what I've been able to determine). The remake has a lot lower encounter rate and is a much much easier game which is both good and bad. The good is in the sense that the story moves along a lot quicker, the bad is that the game is a lot easier and a lot quicker to complete.

Overall Tengai Makyo 2: Manji Maru is one of the best traditional RPGs of its day and is still better than most traditional RPGs released today (but then again this era has had a severe drop in the quality of classic style RPGs released, but I shall leave that rant out for another time). It's definitely worth picking up if you own a Duo but it is a game made in 1992 and it's it requires quite a bit Japanese (though if you use a guide you can play through it without it). It's one of my favorite all time titles on the platform. Also if you're interested I wrote a to-be completed sometime later walkthrough of the game cube remake (I have no immediate plans to finish it due to a lack of time and interest from players).

Added in edit: Also worth noting is that there is still a trailer of the Game Cube version floating around, IM me if you want to see it.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Odd Turbo/PCE peripherals?]

Since there was a thread a while back regarding third party controllers does anyone own any odd or unusual Turbo/PCE peripherals. I'm thinking mostly of third party stuff. Any ideas offhand? Anything strange you've seen?

One example I've seen is a PSone/PS2 to Duo controller convertor. Anyone else have any odd examples.

[Buy/Sell/Trade / Die Hard]

In the early 90s as GameFan magazine (at that time called Die Hard Game Fan) took off a DieHard Game Club opened here in the Chicago area. Due to a lawsuit with Sears over the trademarked name "Die Hard" which Sears used on a number of products (such as batteries). This particcular store was a franchise from the main Die Hard's in California. Most of those closed around 1996 or so (and in their place opened "Game Cave" but that's another story entirely) however the Chicagoland based Die Hard Franchise simply removed the "Die Hard" from their name and continued to operate as "Game Club" (I believe most if not all of the other franchises in the Die Hard chain closed once they became Game Cave) until 2003 or so when the slowing import market finally forced them to close their doors. They were the last store that was part of the Die Hard chain.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / A quick overview]

I'd have to itemize everything (some games especially a lot of older less played Loose HuCards)

Systems:
Turbo Duo
Turbo Express
TurboGrafx 16 (no back panel and I don't have any controllers for it, it's presently in a box out of use).

US Games
AeroBlasters
Alien Crush
Blazing Lasers
Bonks Adventure
Bonks Revenge
Bomberman
Bomberman 93
Cadash
China Warrior
Cosmic Fantasy 2 ( CD)
Dragon Slayer (SCD)
Dragon Spirit
Dungeon Explorer
Final Lap Twin
Gate of Thunder (SCD)
JJ and Jeff
Lords of Thunder (SCD)
Keith Courage in Alpha Zones
*Legendary Axe
Neutopia
Ninja Spirit
Pac Land
R-Type
*Splatterhouse
Soldier Blade
Super Star Soldier
Super Volleyball
TV Sports Basketbal
World Court Tennis
World Series Baseball
Ys Book I and II (CD)

I might be missing a few. I have a small handful of imports (all CDs as I do not own any sort of convertor) among the more notable Tengai Makyo Ziria, Tengai Makyo Manji Maru, Tengai Makyo Kabuki Gaiden, Dragon Slayer II (mostly RPGs).

*Games I realize I own so added in edit

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Tengai Makyo Bomberman? Has anyone heard of this?]

I haven't seen it, or heard of it until just now. I took a look over ebay (but not Yahoo! Japan auctions)

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / No it was released.]

It wasnt actually released, it was known as "Hi-Ten" bomberman, running in wide screen.

There have been uber threads on this over @ http://www.assemblergames.com/

Cant quite remember the conclusions, though it is on PC Engine hardware, some magazines suggested modified or even PC-FX hardware.

This is the game I am reffering to.


Back

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Tengai Makyo Bomberman? Has anyone heard of this?]

It just came to my attention that a bomberman game was released for PC engine with the Tengai Makyo characters. Has anyone else heard of this or do you know how rare it is? On a side note Manj Maru, Kino, and a number of others are playable in the Saturn version of Bomberman but I never knew this existed until now.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Question About Ys Book I+II US Packaging.]

This site has quite a few cover/cd scans if you need any. Ys doesn't have much to it though, just a lot of black ink.

www.crazybanana.tk

There is a yellow strip that says Ys tm Book I & II on my copy that's above the black "CD GAME" part. That scan on the Pc engine cover site doesn't have the yellow strip on it.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Question About Ys Book I+II US Packaging.]

Thanks for the information.  Upon further inspection of a few items on Ebay, it would appear that I have the second version (has the words "Turbo Duo" on the CD).  This is just like the one in the second link:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=62053&item=8160153814&rd=1&ssPageName=WD1V
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=62053&item=8173613387&rd=1#ebayphotohosting

The only difference is that mine does not have the rear-case inlay that is shown.  Were most of the DUO pack-ins shipped in any cases at all, or were they those cheapo paper stock covers?

Yeah, an easy way to distinguish them is that the original TG CD version says TurboGrafx 16 CD on it and the Duo Pack in version says Turbo Duo on it.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Favorite Shooters?]

I've never beat Blazing Lazers/Gunhed on the default mode! I can nearly make it to the last level though. When you loose your weapon in that game, you're screwed.

Half the time I play through it I go through the whole game without being hit. I usually power up weapon III and shields as much as possible, if I hit something else I try to go  back to using weapon III. Just stick with that and you'll survive.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Favorite Shooters?]

What are everyones favorite shooters for the platform at the top of my list is Blazing Lazers/ Gunhead then Lords of Thunder, and Soldier Blade (which I prefer over Final Blade and Super Star Soldier). What does everyone else like?

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / SGFX Ghouls and Ghosts: Anyone Beat it?]

athena....was that a shooter?  how bout this one...Amagon for the nes....what a hard frustrating stinker..I can't believe my brain still wastes neurons remembering it....then i found some evidence that people stayed with it and finished..then I felt lame

Athena is a neat SNK adventure game, the character of Athena has actually become a mainstay with the King of the Fighters series. Athena also came out in arcades.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: MM3 one cd or 2?]

wondering...is MM3 a 2 disc game or one?  Mine only came with one But there is another place for a 2nd cd in the jewel case..anyone know anything?  Thanks!

I don't recall many if any multi-CD turbo games. A lot of games (ones with larger manuals) typically DID come with a two-CD case. As a result the game might look like it had two discs when it in reality had one.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Well...]

Well, they're a nice substitute/clone of Zelda 1. I can't possibly imagine anyone with all their senses in tact comparing either Neutopia favorably against Zelda 3 and up.

The Zelda series really evolved and evolved while Neutopia 1 and 2 are just nicer looking clones of Zelda 1 with more of a story and better graphics.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / problems with turbo duo]

I've emailed that guy a dozen times and never got a response.

A few years ago I called him and he was around, this was on a weekend, I don't know if he still operates.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Cosmic Fantasy 2 Ranting]

If i remember right,it was voted best RPG of 1992,in EGM,beating Final fantasy 2 on snes.I played through the game,loved it.Felt bad for Van,your right,he got screwed in the end,well,then again,if I remember right he went with Babs to be a space cadet or something didnt he????
Soem of the stuff like having a butter knife for a weapon wa skinda funny,and the coming soon cosmic fantasy3 ad in the game on soem wall.

The encounter rate in spots drove me nuts. Stil it's the most professionally domesticated RPG on the Duo (especially compared to Dragon Slayer the only other traditional RPG with voice acting in English). I always remember the computer Robear speaking with a crazy french accent. It was kind of funny but it was intentional... unlike other games.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Last I knew]

Last I knew RetroGames was still doing repairs, might want to call the guy and ask.  http://www.geocities.com/turbogaming/repairs.htm

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / DUO CD door fix]

It's not supposed to go "all the way up". It's just the design, another more serious problem is that Duo controllers don't fit tightly into the controller slot.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Well..]

Well, that's quite a bit of information but I'll give you a quick rundown.

In 1987 NEC (with a great deal of assistance from Hudson soft) released the PC Engine in the Japanese market. At the time the Famicom (Japanese NES) was far and away the dominant platform, while it took a bit of time to build up momentum the superior power of the PC-Engine started attracting developers. To cash in on the expanding success of the PC Engine, NEC made several variants of the system called CoreGrafx were developed with different colors and different configurations to attract more buyers as time went on. The PC Engine had fantastic potential and near arcade perfect versions of games like R-Type were being released, however there was one small problem, the PC Engine used HuCards (short for HUdson Cards since Hudson Soft was so heavily involved in the PC Engines development) which had limited space capability, to solve this problem and to allow this platform to grow  NEC launched the PC Engine CD-rom, an add-on system that would connect to the PC Engine. This allowed the amount of space available for game design to jump from at the time an average of 2 megabits (there is 8 megabits in a megabyte) to 650 (and eventualy 700 and CD technology improved) Megabytes. Literally increasing the space capacity several thousand times. This allowed for developers to add CD quality sound, moving animation and other features that were simply impossible with the limited Space of the HuCard. The PC Engine CD-ROM used a system card that slid into the HuCard slot for memory.

In addition to CD-ROM technology NEC also designed another system called SuperGrafx. The Supergrafx was a more powerful platform that was backwards compatible with the PC Engine, unfortunately people weren't interested in buying a new system so shortly after the original PC Engine was released and the platform died quickly leaving only six released tiitles to its name.

NEC then released several upgrade cards for the PC Engine CD that upgraded its RAM (system Cards 2.0 and 3.0 which is known as Super CD).

In the meantime by 1989 NEC launced the TurboGrafx 16 (an aesthetically redesigned PC Engine with a different pin layout)  in the United States. The system caught on fairly well and by its second year was quite popular fueled largely on the interest in the platforms mascot (Bonk), NEC then released a portable version of the PC Engine in both the US and Japan, known as the PC Engine GT in Japan and the Turbo Express in the US the expensive but fantastic quality handheld floundered due to its high cost.

In 1990 NEC test marketed the PC Engine in the UK as just "Turbo Grafx" sans the 16 that was part of the title of the system in North America. Apparently VERY VERY VERY few systems and games were produced. The European TurboGrafx was grey and opposed to black like the North American one, and the color of the sticker and logo was different.

That year NEC also released the Turbo Grafx 16 CD in North America with limited success due to its price and lack of software.

By 1992 NEC released a combination PC engine/ CD ROM 3.0 system called PC Engine Duo. This system saw a release in North Amerca as well as the Turbo Duo. In 1993 NEC released the Arcade card which added extra capability to the PC Engine, the Arcade card was planned for but was not released in North America. Another card called Game Express was designed and could only be played using a Duo since the card needed to be in the HuCard slot when playing CD games.

In 1994 NEC released the PC-FX which compared to its competitors the Playstation by Sony and Saturn by Sega was underpowered and lacking 3D capabilities. NEC was quickly relegated to a niche portion of the market limited almost exclusively to adult oriented titles and dating sims. The PC-FX died within 3 years of its release.

Does anyone else have any additions or corrections?

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Lens cleaning maybe?]

Maybe lens cleaning might help you, like try VERY gently wiping the lens with a q-tip.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / What typs of CDs are you trying to play.]

What types of CDs are you trying to play, as stevek mentioned CDRs and Turbo CD systems don't mesh very well. The TurboGrafx CD and TurboDuo are using 14 or so year old lasers that weren't as strong at reading as are ones in 9.99 imitation discmans you find at a discount store. Simply put they have a lot of difficulty reading CDRs, and even perfect copies made directly from my actual copies of games have trouble when burned at low speeds on quality media, whereas actual CDs made from a glass master work flawlessly. If your problem is with CDRs it's likely not actually a problem with the system, they're all like that (unless the system had a better replacement laser put in).

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Anyone played Dragon Slayer? I have a few questions]

The name of the world is Isrenasa on the US version.  The narrator mentions it in the begining.   Man the voice overs on that game were horrible, but I loved it.

The voice acting in that game is so terrible I actually made clips for a fairly large game site staff board when we were having a discussion regarding "Worst Voice Acting Ever in a legitimate console release" needless to say Dragon Slayer won hands down.