the supergrafx's weird port

[guyjin]

IIRC, there was some kind of expansion/controller port of some kind on the front of the SGX; was it ever used? what kind of peripherals were there?

[handygrafx]

I am no expert on the SuperGrafx, but, from the SuperGrafx Extreme website (or https://www.oocities.org/sgextreme/specs.html).

SPECIFICATIONS

THE NUMBERS

Keeping in mind that the SuperGrafx was releaseda decade ago, it could do some pretty amazingthings. This chart shows its benchmarks inseveral areas.

                                                                                                                                                                                                           

RELEASE DATE	1990
ORIGINAL PRICE	39,800 Yen
MAIN PROCESSORS	65618 & 6280 (a clone of the65c02)
CLOCK SPEED	7 Mhz
GRAPHICS BANDWIDTH	16-bit
VIDEO RAM	128 KB
MAMIMUM RESOLUTION	320x224
MAXIMUM COLORS	256 on screen out of 4096 total
MAXIMUM SPRITES	128
SOUND CHANNELS	6

HARDWARE FUNCTIONS

The SuperGrafx has several slots and ports that perform various functions. The following images explain where they are and what they do.

                                             

THE TOP OF THE SUPERGRAFX

When viewing the top of the SuperGrafx, there      are three major features that are visible. First is the card slot, right above the      logo. This is where the PC Engine and SuperGrafx HuCards are inserted. Next is the power switch. It is the green object to      the left of the card slot. Finally, notice the heat vents on either side of the console. They keep the SuperGrafx from overheating.

                                             

THE FRONT OF THE SUPERGRAFX

If you look at the SuperGrafx from the front,      there are two obvious items on the right hand side. The      one to the left is the S Exp port. As it turns out, this port never had      a use. The planned uses for it remain unknown. To the right ofthe S Exp is the controller port. This is where the      SuperGrafx controller plugs into the system. For multiplayer games, the multiplayer adapters would plug inhere as well.

                                             

THE BACK VIEW OF THE SUPERGRAFX

Taking a look at the back of the SuperGrafx, two things are visible. To the left, in shadow in      this picture, is the modeswitch. This switch determines whether the SuperGrafx      is in SuperGrafx or PC Engine mode. This makes a difference      when playing games like Darius Alpha and Darius Plus.      The second feature is the external bus. This port was      designed to allow the SuperGrafx to accept add-ons, such as the Super CD-ROM2.

Above pictures originally from EGM Number 8, March 1990,  page 53


the only major peripheral for the SuperGrafx other than the CD-ROM interface, was the "Power Console" controller. 
img208.echo.cx/img208/6954/sgxpowerconsole12km.jpg



not sure what port this used.  either the controller port or the S exp port on the front, because this Power Console controller slid over the SuperGrafx console

pics credited to:
Assembler / http://www.assemblergames.com
SuperGrafx Extreme / sgxextreme website
The Strange (and Rare) Videogame Pics Page

[RCduck7]

What game(s) does this power controller benefit from?
If it's only Battle ace and no pc engine games it may only be worth as a collectors item.

About the switch on the back with supergrafx/PC engine mode...

When i play PC engine games the colors seem to be a bit monochroom.
Is it because the switch is in supergrafx mode?
I can find it out on my next playing session but for now my supergrafx is tucked away.

[esteban]

I thought the awesomely huge controller (Power Console) was a prototype-only and never released commerically?

And, handygrafx, thanks for sourcing the EGM 1990 issue... I don't know if I have that issue and I'll add that to my list!  It helps tremendously!

[Keranu]

I'd sure love to try out that huge controller.

[Nutribrain]

If my memories serve me right, there has been one up for auction at YahooJapan. I can't remember what price it was going for...