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Post by venommacbeth on Jan 28, 2012 4:49:41 GMT
I'll start this off by saying, for those of you that don't know, I'm a big shoot-em-up collector. For each of my retro game consoles (NES, SNES, Atari 2600, PS1, SMS, and Genesis) I've been collecting shmups to beef up my game library.
I happened to read up on the NEC Turbografx-16/PC Engine console; I read that it was called by some "the shooter king." So, needless to say, I've been interested in getting one. I did a little research & this is the current list of video games I'd want to own for it:
Raiden Gradius Salamander R-Type Soldier Blade Blazing Lazers Fantasy Zone Outrun Aero Blasters Afterburner II
So those are the pros...now for the cons. For starters, the Turbografx-16 is a somewhat pricey console. Prices for complete ones are usually up in the $70-$80 range.
Also, there are games I want that are Japanese-only, thus I'd be unable to play them on a US Turbografx, and vice-versa. I've read about mods you can do, but honestly I don't wanna drop that much money on a game console that I'm gonna end up hacking up in the name of playing out-of-region games, especially with my lack of electronics experience. Having said that, I'm wondering if it would be more cost-effective to get both a Turbografx-16 and a PC Engine. Although, needless to say, that is a big chunk of money.
My questions to you all are these: Should I or should I not get this console? If I should, how much should I realistically expect to pay for it? (I know ebay and amazon gouge on prices sometimes.) If I did get one of these consoles, how would I best solve the region-encoding problems?
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Post by frankfjs on Jan 28, 2012 6:59:52 GMT
I have a PC Engine console and I love it, very addictive console with a great range of games.
I don't bother at all with US releases or hardware, I just stick with Japanese. Japanese gear is usually more readily available, cheaper, sexier, games have much better artwork and there are tons of exclusive releases.
Prices are all over the place. You can grab a loose console and controller for around $50 with shipping, a boxed one for $80-$100 and the CD based consoles shoot up to the $200-$300 mark. It's worth owning a CD system as there are a ton of great games, but the hardware is expensive.
Region modding isn't a big deal. CD games are region free, and to region mod the console for HuCards is only a matter of grounding one contact. You can also buy adapters but they are crazy overpriced.
If you want to do it on the cheap, look out for a Japanese Core Grafx console. Just get it with the controller and video cable, you can use a Master System power supply. This console is tiny, so cheap to ship (especially without the PSU) and it has composite output. You miss out on the CD based games though, and it will only play Japanese games unless modded. You can get a separate CD attachment for it, but these are rather pricey and often unreliable. If you really want to expand to the CD range of games you're better off getting a Duo console from the start.
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Post by playgeneration on Jan 28, 2012 8:55:51 GMT
I wouldn't bother with a Turbo Grafx, as there aren't any US exclusive games I can think of that are much good, whereas plenty of Japanese exclusives that are awesome. Since your in NTSC land anyway, you don't have the problem of needing to modify a PC Engine console, it will be plug and play for you. PC Engine games are cheap enough to buy, even from Japan, and you may well be able to buy them from inland. They were heavily imported in the 90's, in the UK at least so are cheaper than Turbo Grafx games. Whether you should buy a CD system depends on how into the system you are likely to get. There are a ton of PC Engine card games that are worth buying, so its not like you'd be hugely missing out without a CD console. I'd go for a Core Grafx PC Engine, as said above, since they have composite output as standard. The original white PC Engine is RF only - but as said since your in a NTSC area, that's a picture quality issue not one of getting it to work on your TV. If you are interested in a CD system be careful, the DUO consoles are seemingly pretty much guaranteed to have sound problems due to faulty capacitors. While its not too hard to fix them, I've only just found out about the exact problematic parts to fix mine, they are surface mounted (the board has different components on each side) so its quite fiddly to do. I would add Dragon Spirit and Jackie Chan to your list of games, they are my favorites so far.
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Post by DU0 on Jan 28, 2012 10:01:09 GMT
I'd get it just to play Akumajo Dracula X: Chi no Rondo. I know, not a shmup and all, but one of the most unique pieces of challenging gameplay you'll find anywhere. And I mean "challenging", not "unfair", like Castlevania III.
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Post by venommacbeth on Jan 28, 2012 12:47:02 GMT
I'd get it just to play Akumajo Dracula X: Chi no Rondo. I know, not a shmup and all, but one of the most unique pieces of challenging gameplay you'll find anywhere. And I mean "challenging", not "unfair", like Castlevania III. I do like games other than shmups occasionally, ya know. I'm actually disappointingly unfamiliar with the Castlevania series...I shall have to look into that, and the game you mentioned.
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Post by Transatlantic Foe on Jan 28, 2012 15:29:30 GMT
Most of the games you've listed can be had on other consoles. There were Genesis versions of Raiden and Aero Blasters (as Air Buster). Raiden was pretty well done and Air Buster almost arcade perfect.
You mention shmups but don't mention whether you have a Saturn. If you haven't already I'd turn some serious attention that way because, though Western shmups are rare, there is a huge range of Japanese releases which you can play with an Action Replay cart. A couple never received ports on anything else (like the incredible Batsugun) and for the most part the games are affordable (around the £20-30 mark).
For shmups, I'd recommend a Saturn over a PC Engine as a next stop.
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Post by theycallmeknuckles on Jan 28, 2012 18:11:15 GMT
A pc engine would be the way to go I think because the US versions of shooters can get very expensive because they're pretty hard to find. The JAP versions are usually cheaper. I have a PAL model and a Jap Core Grafx. I bought the latter cheap without the power supply because I constantly run into Japanese games and I'm not going to pay 80+ dollars for an adapter...
The Turbografx never had a real release over here so both the US/EU as the JAP versions have pretty much an ebay-only market. But as you're in the states, it might be considerably easier (and cheaper) to pick up a US model / games. If you're content with buying nearly all of it online, go for the PC engine.
Blazing Lazers is one of the best shmups I've ever played on any system. The visuals are more than impressive, along with a great power-up system and creative level design. It was also a pack-in game so it's very common.
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Post by venommacbeth on Jan 28, 2012 20:12:05 GMT
A pc engine would be the way to go I think because the US versions of shooters can get very expensive because they're pretty hard to find. The JAP versions are usually cheaper. I have a PAL model and a Jap Core Grafx. I bought the latter cheap without the power supply because I constantly run into Japanese games and I'm not going to pay 80+ dollars for an adapter... The Turbografx never had a real release over here so both the US/EU as the JAP versions have pretty much an ebay-only market. But as you're in the states, it might be considerably easier (and cheaper) to pick up a US model / games. If you're content with buying nearly all of it online, go for the PC engine. Blazing Lazers is one of the best shmups I've ever played on any system. The visuals are more than impressive, along with a great power-up system and creative level design. It was also a pack-in game so it's very common. I'm thinking the PC Engine as well. If I want to play US games, I'll just do the region mod. I buy most of my video games online, anyway, and it seems the PC Engine is somewhat cheaper...maybe. Also, I'll get the satisfaction of owning the smallest home game console ever made! ;D Although, there are a few games I can't seem to find Japanese copies of for cheap! (ex. Raiden) @transatlantic Foe- I am aware that most of those games got other console releases; I own them! I own both the SNES and Genesis versions of Raiden Trad, the NES version of Fantasy Zone, and the Genesis versions of both OutRun and After Burner II. I kind of enjoy having the same game on multiple systems, just to compare them. Each system has different gameplay elements, so it's interesting to see how the games translate onto the console. As for the Sega Saturn....I haven't given it much though. I do know it's another console known for its shmups, but for some reason it just doesn't appeal to me...though I'm sure it will once I get all the 8-and 16-bit stuff I want out of the way, as well as the PS1 games I want.
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Post by jeremyduer290 on Jan 30, 2012 22:00:46 GMT
I own a turbo grafx and a cd player and a super system card, I'll be parting with it in the next few days so look for it on ebay. I have to say, in my experience, the turbo is just a souped up NES. The cd player is the same, although it adds easy listening soundtracks to all of the games. The Duo games go for the most money because I believe they had a limited print run, something like 1500 or less. It's not really worth it to collect now unless you find someone dumping their old turbo stuff, ebay is pretty much fixed in terms of price gouging and even the hardore collectors have taken up to the high price demands. Buyer be warned, the turbo is only for the most hardocre collectors as I was only able to rangle a few cd games in about 6 months of looking and it took longer for me to find all the system components. My 2 cents on the matter.
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Post by jeremyduer290 on Jan 30, 2012 22:19:39 GMT
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Post by andypandy380 on Jan 30, 2012 22:32:10 GMT
I got a weird European edition of the turbografx, as a console it all.seems a little backwards to me and it doesn't seem to work on my tv very well, some of the games are quite impressive, I own blazing layers and that's a definite purchase if you're into those OTT shooters
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Post by frankfjs on Jan 31, 2012 6:57:06 GMT
I got a weird European edition of the turbografx I think I know the one, they usually sell from the UK and are still available new. It's called a Turbo Grafx with no mention of 16 and is slightly different cosmetically to the US version. They output a PAL signal which may be why your TV doesn't like it.
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Post by theycallmeknuckles on Jan 31, 2012 9:35:46 GMT
I got a weird European edition of the turbografx I think I know the one, they usually sell from the UK and are still available new. It's called a Turbo Grafx with no mention of 16 and is slightly different cosmetically to the US version. They output a PAL signal which may be why your TV doesn't like it. yeah, it outputs a 50Hz signal instead of 60. They actually placed a chip between the processor and the actual output to lower the output signal. But because TGX16 games were never programmed to compensate for that loss, they actually run about 15% slower on a PAL machine. As legend goes; NEC was planning a major launch in PAL territory when everything fell through at the last minute. So several distributers ended up with warehouses full of them. That's why you can find more new ones than second hand ones nowadays. I have yet to test the 15% slowdown theory though. I haven't had the chance to pick up a JAP game to compare it to the TGX16 version running on PAL.
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Post by theycallmeknuckles on Jan 31, 2012 9:37:46 GMT
It's not really worth it to collect now unless you find someone dumping their old turbo stuff, ebay is pretty much fixed in terms of price gouging and even the hardore collectors have taken up to the high price demands. Buyer be warned, the turbo is only for the most hardocre collectors as I was only able to rangle a few cd games in about 6 months of looking and it took longer for me to find all the system components. My 2 cents on the matter. True, probably the most expensive 'mainstream' console on ebay. I got lucky on ebay a month ago. I bought 14 complete games. 5 or 6 in their carboard boxes like Final Soldier, Air Zonk and Neutopia. The others had their jewel cases. Bought the lot for €145. If I just sold my mint Air Zonk and Final Soldier, I would turn a profit I think. It's definitely not a budget-system
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Post by jeremyduer290 on Jan 31, 2012 18:10:08 GMT
Yes I agree completely. It's weird because I used to be able to buy lots of tg-16 games only a few years ago with like Raiden and Splatterhouse in them and then all of a sudden, the prices doubled or tripled. I always had the inside track on the turbo because my neighbor had one after the sms was released over here in the us and it blew me away as a 9 year old, now it seems cheesy in comparison, but still some good memories.
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