Messages

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: Core Grafx II will not turn on]

Have you tried cleaning the card slot?

Cleaning a Turbo Grafx Console.

I've purchased several "non-working" Turbo Grafx and PC Engine consoles, then fixed them this way and turned around and sold them with no complaints from the buyers.

[Off-Topic / Re: Science Fiction Book / Does anyone remember this?]

For anyone interested, the book was indeed called The Eighth Day and it was written by Brooke Leimas.

[Localizations, Games, Apps, Docs / Re: Street Fighter 2 Arcade card project]

This sounds like an interesting project. As usual, my technical understanding is inadequate to understand anything that Bonknuts is saying.

However, I would think that a project like this would be best done in phases.

As Street Fighter 2 Turbo has very few changes from Champion Edition, might it be a good target before looking at Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo (which has new levels and characters)?

[Off-Topic / Re: problem with a member here attempting to profit]

Yes, it's four or five years later.

However, this recently came up in other places and is a perfect example of why people avoid this community. You had one guy, Atreyu, (who has a kid to feed) who bought a few games from people and sold some of them for a profit of a few dollars. What this really amounts to is a collector accidentally getting more than one of a few Hucards and selling off the duplicates.

Then you had this other guy agree to accept money from him for a few items. Long story short, the other guy tears up the money order and spends hours posing action figures for a comic strip which he edits with photoshop, to make fun of Atreyu for (1) trusting him and (2) sending him money. This causes Atreyu (who lost the stub) the loss of all of the money he sent, and (assuming that the other guy didn't just tape up the money order and cash it), the money was lost. No one profited, but Atreyu lost money that could have put food in his child's mouth.

Then almost everyone on this thread agrees with the other guy that Atreyu is the bad guy here. No one seemed to think the fact that a grown man took the time to make a comic strip using photographs of his action figures to make fun of someone else was unacceptable. It was puerile and deranged.  This action was also a form of stealing. If I take $40 out of your wallet and tear it up, and can't spend it, I've still stolen $40.

The crime of Atreyu is "attempting to profit".  In the real world this is NOT a crime and is not unethical.

The non-crime of the other  guy is "taking money from the other person and destroying it". In the real world this IS a crime.


When I used to participate in these threads I was constantly mocked and attacked for just trying to participate in civil discussions about topics that interested me. I am not at all surprised that these people behaved this way because that has pretty much been my experience here.  Most of the people that jumped on the band wagon against Atreyu are still active here and they still act exactly the same.

[Localizations, Games, Apps, Docs / Re: HuCard games on CD]

Lol... touchy much? 

See it is that kind of thing that turns me off of this community. People are totally rude and disrespectful here.

This thread was supposed to be about the Super Hucard and people were trying to start flames, people were starting side conversations, people were being insulted.

If you don't like the idea of a Super Hucard, then just down don't download it off of the internet.

[Localizations, Games, Apps, Docs / Re: HuCard games on CD]

First of all, I didn't really think the "authorities" were going to come after anyone for fixing the compilation. I just said that to prevent a flame war as there were so many negative comments about this. Tom could have fixed every game on the compilation (or at least the major titles on it like Keith Courage, Galaga, Gradius, and Salamander), but thanks to this thread he was scared away from doing it.

Personally, I think it is ridiculous that people complained. Obviously, some people in here are selling Hucards in their eBay stores and don't the games on a CD-ROM so that Duo owners can play them without buying them. With the Turbo Everdrive out there now, that is an irrelevant concern.

[Off-Topic / Science Fiction Book / Does anyone remember this?]

Back in the 1990's I found a used book called "The Eighth Day". At least I think that was the title. I think it was written in the 1970's.

I MAY HAVE THE TITLE WRONG. So read my summary.

In the book there is this small town that visitors move into. It turns out that within the town are two new species of humans that will replace the human race (according to the story).

One species are super intelligent albinos (who are recluses) and the others (who are discovered near the end) are the rest of the people in the town who appear normal but all have exactly the same IQ and are a telepathically-linked hive mind.

The collective hive frames the albinos with various crimes, making them seem sinister. They also murder some of the albinos.

I have never been able to find a trace of this book anywhere and I can't remember the name of the author.

Has anyone heard of it?

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / According to Urban Dictionary.com the Turbo Grafx 16 is the Sega Master System.]

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Turbografx%2016

Someone literally copy pasted the specifications for the Sega Master System from Wikipedia directly into the Urban Dictionary article.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Flash carts for the pc engine/turbo]

How many volts and micro-farads should the cap be and where would it be placed?

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Flash carts for the pc engine/turbo]

Again, I'm somewhat new to the PCE technology - How much amperage is supplied by the cart slot?

Not sure, but at a minimum it would have to be enough to power an older EPROM chip.
If I read things correctly, that would be about 30 mA.
(from here: http://eshop.engineering.uiowa.edu/NI/pdfs/01/03/DS010329.pdf)

So, assuming you have (generously) 50 mA for the chip, that would allow you to -maybe- run 2 eeproms.
And, if they use a more modern (ie, lower current) flash chip, they -might- get away with running 4-5 devices at that load.

Personally, I believe the problem has to do with the 5V signals being under voltage due to the chips pulling (for just a bit) too much current. But I'm not sure about that, as my card works fine....
Would love to see some measurements of how much current -is- available on the 5V line, though

Do you think it is possible that it might be that there is rippling or noise on that +5 volt line on some systems?

On my Duo I can play most games on the card for a full minute before they corrupt and freeze.

And if it is rippling, might there be a way to remedy that?

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: The possibility of repro Instruction Booklets?]

Here is a video of a duplication I made of the booklet and spine to Keith Courage.  The video compares it to the original instruction booklet.

With higher quality paper it would have been difficult to distinguish for the original.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Flash carts for the pc engine/turbo]

You just tried to invalidate my statement, but ended up agreeing with me.  Are you sure you meant to do that?

No, I wasn't trying to invalidate his statement. I was agreeing with him. When I said "picky" I meant "picky" at random, not by region. I hope this isn't going to turn into another one of those things where someone wants to win an argument when there was not one to begin with.

When I have recommended people get an American Turbo Grafx unit for the device I was suggesting this because these are the cheapest NEC consoles and the least likely to have been modified by previous owners. I bought one for $15 just a few days ago.  I was not suggesting that only the American Turbo Grafx did not have this problem. The thing is, if you buy an American Turbo Grafx on eBay and it doesn't work with the card, you can easily sell it and buy another one until you find one that works. This is not the case with the Duo, which is quite expensive.

When I said the Neo Team flash device was primitive, I meant that it was primitive in comparison to the Everdrive which can support more memory and interchangeable flash cards. The Neo Team flash devices also do not work on all NEC systems. 16 Megabytes of flash memory is incredibly primitive by today's standards. The Everdrive is far superior to the Neo Team PC Engine flash device (and works on all standard Genesis/Megadrives as far as I know). Isn't that why you are all so enthusiastic that one will be released?

Whether we like it or not, there are less NEC Consoles out there than there are SNES, Genesis, Nintendos and their clones (which are still being made). This means that our beloved PC Engine will not get priority treatment over these other consoles. Again, this is just a reality we have to deal with.  I'm not saying it will never happen, I'm just telling you guys not to get your hopes up and not to hold your breath.

You don't know Krikzz very well.  He is rarely ever "enthusiastic".  Nowhere did he say he wouldn't start working on it until summer of 2012.  He said "PCE release around summer 2012-ish".  But right now, the Mega Everdrive is his priority.  He's not looking to sell millions and millions.  I'm sure he'd sell more than enough to make up for the cost of designing one.  With your broken logic, the other PCE flashcards simply shouldn't exist, so "profit and demand" and comparisons to how much the Mega Drive sold worldwide are 100% irrelevant.

I didn't state that I knew him. I took his statement of a 2012 release to be an implication that serious development would not take place before 2012. The amount of consoles existing in the world which users would be buying these devices for is quite relevant because not only does the developer have more incentive to make those devices instead of devices for more obscure consoles, but he also has to support those devices that he has already sold. That is WHY the Mega Everdrive is the higher priority.

He is not all about profit, but profit is a factor. It isn't black or white.

[Localizations, Games, Apps, Docs / Re: HuCard games on CD]

On second thought, I'm being dumb.

there is small chance it could be traced back to one of the people who hacked the rom images and we don't want that.

You said it. lol

Gee, how did I know you were going to quote that?

[Localizations, Games, Apps, Docs / Re: HuCard games on CD]

On second thought, I'm being dumb. As it stands the Super Hucard compilation is fun, but if one were to complete it with a lot of this stuff for sale on the virtual consoles there is small chance it could be traced back to one of the people who hacked the rom images and we don't want that. Most people don't realize that there are actually a ton of games on it that work perfect as they are hidden among piles of games that glitch, freeze, or won't start at all.  As it is, you have Legendary Axe I, Legendary Axe II (the Japanese version), R-Type, JJ & Jeff, and Dragon Spirit. Really, that is enough for a great time. It would be nice if Gradius, Paranoia, and Salamander worked (they don't), but these are not difficult games to find anyway.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Flash carts for the pc engine/turbo]

The guy who made the Everdrive said so on his site and I even asked him details about it.  He's working on the super-spectacular version of the Genesis Everdrive first, though (run games straight off of the SD card or some such without copying first, FM support for SMS games maybe, online support for multiplayer games, etc).

My understanding is that the developer is the Ukrainian KRIKzz. I looked up the status of any PC Engine project and sure enough he does say that he has a concept for one. However, he indicates that (1) it is basically a low priority, (2) that he only has a PCB at this time, and (3) that any serious development will not occur before the summer of 2012. He did not seem too enthusiastic in his posts and I was not entirely sure if he was even serious when I read his responses.

Profit and demand are factors here.  This is why I would guess we will probably never see an Atari Jaguar flash device. I would be really annoyed if a Jag Everdrive came out before a PC Engine Everdrive came out though. LOL.

Here would be a source:
http://www.assemblergames.com/forums/showpost.php?p=537657&postcount=293
http://www.assemblergames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=31764&page=6

However, several different sites are all saying the Turbo Everdrive is coming out anytime now, except of course KRIKzz' own site.

[Localizations, Games, Apps, Docs / Re: HuCard games on CD]

Agreed.

The SuperHuCard disc as it exists today is a nice proof-of-concept, but serves little other purpose as far as I'm concerned.

People keep saying "it's only a proof of concept". It is more than that as in it's current state there are a dozen fairly decent games that work perfectly on the disc. If all 256kb Turbo Grafx games (these are mainly the oldest and cheesiest) can be altered and put on a CD it could only serve to generate interest in the PC Engine and Duo Consoles. Anyone can play these games on an emulator, but this CD makes you want to play them on a real console, which means you would have to own a real CD playing console. The more people that have consoles, the more interest there is going to be in all of the other Duo games, and that includes real homebrew projects.

Not sure why so many people want to kill development on this thing.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Flash carts for the pc engine/turbo]

I would be willing to wait for the everdrive, maybe there will be a bulk deal for it like the neoflash?

Where is this rumor of a PC Engine Everdrive coming from? Can we get a source? There were only something like 12.5 million PC Engine / Turbo's sold world wide, while there were 40 million Genesis / Megadrives sold worldwide and new Mega Drive knock-offs still being made.  Point being there are at least several million working Mega Drive's out there still being used, creating a significant market. That advantage is not shared by the PC Engine.

Though everyone here would like a PC Engine Everdrive I can't see there being enough of a market for a professional developer to create and distribute one. I would imagine that is the reason the primitive Neo Team Flash cards are so expensive, to compensate for low demand.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Neo Flash cart doesn't work with my new TG16]

What does it do when it doesn't work? Does it just not boot, or does it just work like shit? Mine basically acts like a dead HuCard.

On my Duo it will load the menu and load most games. You then play the game and after about 30 seconds to 1 minute the graphics just fall apart and eventually everything freezes. It also seems to actually corrupt the information on the flash drive. When I would take it back to my PC to reflash sometimes my PC could not read the data on the card until I formatted it again.  On the my $15 Turbo Grafx the exact same game plays fine. I played all the way to level four on Legendary Axe II with no problems.  Each time I reflash the PC reads the card just fine.

Here is an example of the problems on the Duo with the flash card:

I have a lot less knowledge of how these consoles work electrically than most of you guys do. I would love to know more about where this +5 volt rail is located and a method of supplementing it with power. I'd love to test that out and see if it really works. The most sophisticated thing I've ever done is recap a few Dell motherboards, computer power supplies, and a few DVD players.  So I know my way around enough not to be electrocuted and that is about it.

However, I just remembered something and thought I should point this out...

The Turbo Grafx is using the original AC Adapter which is 10.5 V and 730 mA, the Duo is using an AC adapter that is 10 V and 2000 mA.  That might not mean anything but there is a difference of half a volt there.  I know this has pretty well been ruled out, but just so I can witness it myself I might see if I get different behavior on the Turbo Grafx with a different AC adapter.

Okay. Tried 9 volt, 12 volt, 10 volt AC adapters. All with mA over the original Turbo Grafx range. No difference with the flash card on the Turbo Grafx. It always works. It must be internal to the Duo and Turbo Grafx.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Neo Flash cart doesn't work with my new TG16]

thats what im talking about
even just hooking a capacitor across the card slot +5 pin to ground would likely solve it
it could be a weak 5V regulator as well, also fixable

Could someone put up a diagram that shows where this +5v line is in relation to the card slot?

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Neo Flash cart doesn't work with my new TG16]

Wouldn't it be easier to, say, alter the hucard by putting a 5 volt battery on that line?

But then you'll have to change the battery, and if it kicks the bucket while you're playing, you might be screwed.

Umm... wouldn't that just crash the game making you have to change out the battery? Why would it destroy your system if the 5 volt battery died?

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Flash carts for the pc engine/turbo]

Everdrive is the ONLY way to go.  Seriously, every other Flash-type device for any system should be ashamed for being so shitty in comparison.  You'll see.  According to the man who makes it, he says it will be compatible with both the PCE and the Turbo.  So you won't need an expensive converter to use it on your TurboGrafx-16 and it will work natively on the PCE.

The NeoFlash is compatible with both systems.

Neo Flash is very picky with the systems it will work with. It is basically the luck of the draw. My Japanese Duo won't work with it (games load but crash and freeze within minutes), but a cheap beat up Turbo Grafx I purchased from ebay for $15 works with it perfectly. It requires a stronger +5 volt line in the Hucard slot than is necessary to play official games. Some systems have it, some do not.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: The possibility of repro Instruction Booklets?]

Anyone do this? I know that there are some loose hueys I have that I would love to have instructions booklets with. Hell, even if it said "Repro" at the bottom of every pace. These aren't to sell, I just want them to be "Complete" on a shelf look so I don't have loose Hu Cards lying all over the place! I'd especially love to have one for Military Madness!

I've made reproduction instruction booklets to Bonk I, Bonk II, Air Zonk, Dungeon Explorer, and Cyber-Core.

There is simple trick to it.

I'll put up a link to video here in a second to show the quality.

The pages are exactly the same, except that because I'm using cheap paper I do not print the page on the back of the cover as it would bleed through.
For Dungeon Explorer (which has 13 pages) I create several images

Page_1_front (Cover and Back)
Page_1_back (Thank You Page and Page 13 Warranty)
    *one way to avoid bleed through is to print the "Thank You" and "Warranty" pages of the booklet at higher brightness, especially the colored bars at the top of the page.
    Alternatively, to avoid printing on the back of the cover and having text bleed through you can do this:
    Alternate_Page_0 (cover and back)
    Alternate_Page_1_front (Thank You & NEC 90 Day Limited Warranty with page number removed) - this is an extra page to avoid printing on the back of the cover
    Alternate_Page_1_back (Thank & NEC 90 D but with Warranty marked as page 13 & gray borders)
Page_2_front (page 12 and Page 1, with a faint gray border around and in the middle where the fold goes)
Page_2_back (Page 2 and Page 11, with no borders)
Page_3_front (Page 10 and Page 3, with faint gray border around and in middle)
Page_3_back (Page 4 and Page 9, with no borders)
Page_4_front (Page 8 and Page 5, with faint gray borders)
Page_4_back (Page 6 and Page 7, with no borders)

You print out Page 1 front, flip the paper over and print out Page 1 back on the back. You then cut along the gray border of the side of the page that has the gray border and fold along the gray line in the center.

After you have printed out all pages, you fold each page separately. Then put them in a book and open to the center most page (in this case containing Page 6 and Page 4). You poke two holes (with a thin sewing needle) for your bottom staple, then two holes for your top stable. You then take staples and insert them through the spine so that the poke through the book. Then fold the staples in.

You then have a reproduction of the instruction booklet.  If you did it carefully, everything should line up and the quality should be very decent.

Oh, and height of pages is 4.78 inches in photo shop under "print with preview". You will need to print as landscape.

For a 9 page instruction booklet it is like this:
Page_1_front - (cover and back)
Page_1_back - (Thank You and Page 9 Warranty)
    alternate Page_0_front (cover and back)    
    alternate Page_1_front (Thank You & NEC 90 Day Limited Warranty) - this is an extra page to avoid printing on back of cover
    alternate Page_1_back (Thank You & NEC Warranty page 9 & gray border) - this is an extra page to avoid printing on back cover
Page_2_front - (Page 1 & Page 8 with gray border)
Page_2_back - (Page 2 & Page 7 with no border)
Page_3_front - (Page 3 & Page 6 with gray border)
Page_3_back - (Page 4 & Page 5 with no border)

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Neo Flash cart doesn't work with my new TG16]

I've had a Neoflash 64 mb flash cart since they first came out, and it works perfectly fine in my Japanese Duo R or my US Turbo Express. I recently acquired a Turbografx 16 at long last, but the cart doesn't work on it. The menu comes up, but when you select the game it either freezes immediately, or will play the game with really odd issues, like garbled graphics or simply being in slow motion. I can then take the same card and toss it in my Express and all games work perfectly.

I did some searching, and I found where nat said that the card sometimes has issues with power consumption if the AC adapter wasn't putting out enough juice, and sure enough I was using a Sega AC adapter since I don't have the original TG16 plug. I randomly found a universal AC adapter today that can output up to 12V, 1300 ma, which exceeds that of the original AC adapter. I tried it, and it works fine with the system, but still no luck with the flash cart.

Anyone have any ideas? This isn't a big deal since I can always use the Duo instead, but it's irritating.

I had the opposite problem. My Japanese Duo does not work with the flash card, but a $15 Turbo Grafx from eBay (the seller thought it was dead) works with it fine.  The Duo has no problems playing real Hucards though.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: Genesis 6 button pad to PC Engine Pad]

Update: here is a link to a somewhat related project:
http://www.raphnet.net/electronique/tgfx16_usb/index_en.php
/schematictgfx.png
Naturally, it is quite a bit different than what we are trying to do, but it has a bit more information.

I seem to remember something about how the Genesis and PCE 6 button pads functioned in almost the same way, but I don't remember the details.

As Duo R said though, unless you are trapped on in island somewhere with limited resources I just don't see the point in this. I mean, there is a Hori Commander for $43 BIN on eBay right now, and that's the best pad you can get.

Oh, I have a six button pad. I also modified my NEC Avenue Pad so that the directional pad is more accurate (it was simple). However, you can get 6 button Genesis Pads on eBay for like $2. Honestly, if someone could figure out a set of instructions and materials to do this it could be marginally profitable for some people who sell modified console peripherals on eBay.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: Genesis 6 button pad to PC Engine Pad]

U simply cannot just swap wiring, you need to change out the internals to get this to work. Meaning you need the ICs from PC Avenue 6 swapped in and wired up. I would suggest converting a 2 button NES controller first then attempting a 6 button.

See my website for instructions on how to convert a NES to PCE.

I thought it would be something complex like that. But people were swearing to me on this other website (unless I misunderstood them) that you could just change the wiring.

That is a fantastic guide, but its not exactly what I'm talking about and a project like that would not be feasible for most people.

Definitely interesting though.

If someone ever does accomplish this it would be wonderful if they would publish a step by step guide detailing exactly which wires go where and which model IC's were selected.

I really wish I actually had time to work on a project like that. It would be nice.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: So whats the deal with the arcade card?]

My whole point was that development stopped on the Arcade Card games because the Duo was no longer in production as of 1994. Whether or not NEC Avenue is exactly the same as NEC Interchannel and the existence of the PCFX system is immaterial. Developers were not going to create a significant number of titles for a platform that was no longer being manufactured. It is a very simple point.

That doesn't mean there were absolutely NO GAMES made for the arcade card (or the Duo) after that point, it means there were not a significant amount.
    
    Battlefield '94 In Super Battle Dream
    Fire Pro Female Wrestling
    Garou Densetsu 2 (Fatal Fury 2)
    Garou Densetsu Special (Fatal Fury Special)
    Ginga Fukei Densetsu Sapphire
    Jong Shin Densetsu
    Kabuki Itouryodan
    Mad Stalker Full Metal Force
    Madou Monogatari I Honou no Sotsuenji
    Ryuuko No Ken (Art of Fighting)
    Strider Hiryuu
    World Heroes 2

Most of these were released right around 1993 or 1994.  The Duo stopped being manufactures in Japan around 1994.

NEC Avenue and NEC Interchannel were unrelated and the PC-FX wasn't a console?!?  Man, where do these people come from?  

That is not remotely similar to what I was saying and is taken completely out of context.

Before we chime in and rag on what person A supposedly said about something, look at what person A actually wrote and not what person B says that person A wrote.

And yes, I do revise my posts for punctuation, grammar, or other writing mistakes. That doesn't mean I'm being deceptive or changing the substance of what I've said after I have said it. It means that I am trying to be understood in polite conversation.

Peace everybody.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Genesis 6 button pad to PC Engine Pad]

Forgive me if a topic of this nature has already been posted, as I did a search and could not find one.

On a thread in another website a user had a question about converting the Genesis 6 button Pad to be used on a PC Engine. I didn't think it was feasible, but several other members chimed in to tell me that I was wrong. But they did not leave instructions as to how this could be accomplished.

resistance is not the issue
the nec systems are the only ones (im aware of) that use 4 lines out and 2 in on the controllers.
meaning most others must be rewired considerably to convert.

copy the logic, rewire the pad and yes (just allot of work)

So, you are saying that the amount of power supplied to the control pad is not a factor? Interesting.

In a few minutes I'm going to put up a high quality image of the PCB of a Genesis 6 button Pad and a NEC Avenue 6 PAD.

/convertd.jpg

Maybe someone can then show how how (via photoshop) how to re-solder the connections for the Genesis 6 button pad.

Looking at the photos I can see that there are nine wires to each control pad.
Both control pads have a mode function to switch the pad back to a less than six button configuration.

On the Genesis side we have (from left to right)

Pin 1 - g_white
Pin 2 - g_blue
Pin 3 - g_gray
Pin 4 - g_yellow
Pin 5 - g_orange
Pin 6 - g_green
Pin 7 - g_red
Pin 8 - g_brown
Pin 9 - g_black

*Note that the NEC pad has the pins upside down.
On the NEC 6 button pad we have (from right to left)
We are not going to use this because NEC changed the wire colors.
Pin 1 - green
Pin 2 - gray
Pin 3 - red
Pin 4 - orange
Pin 5 - blue
Pin 6 - brown
Pin 7 - yellow
Pin 8 - purple
Pin 9 - black

However, on the original PC Engine Pad (which we would be using for raw materials) NEC changed the colors of the wires to the pins. The cables are interchangeable from a 6 button Pad and a 2 button pad. They simply unplug. You can actually unplug the cable on a 2 button PC Engine pad and plug that into a 6 button pad PCB and plug it into a Duo and that cable will work exactly like the original.

So, using the cable we will actually be using instead of the one from the Avenue Pad 6 we have different colored wires:
/trickyg.jpg
*Note that the NEC pad has the pins upside down.
On the NEC 6 button pad we have (from right to left)
Pin 1 - p_red
Pin 2 - p_white
Pin 3 - p_black
Pin 4 - p_yellow
Pin 5 - p_green
Pin 6 - p_blue
Pin 7 - p_brown
Pin 8 - p_gray
Pin 9 - p_black

So the question would be which wires on the Genesis control pad would connect to which wires on the PC Engine cable connected to the Duo or PC Engine Console?

A solution would look like this (this is a mock up):

Genesis Pad--------->PC Engine cable
Pin 1 - g_white ------- p_red \____splice
Pin 2 - g_blue ---------p_red /
Pin 3 - g_gray---------p_red
Pin 4 - g_yellow-------p_red
Pin 5 - g_orange------p_red\____splice
Pin 6 - g_green-------p_red/
Pin 7 - g_red---------p_red
Pin 8 - g_brown-------p_red
Pin 9 - g_black--------p_red

However, the colors would naturally not be the same.

It seems Steve also indicated that there was a difference in the lines and that they would need to be rewired ("4 lines out and 2 in"). So, I'm guessing that means some of these connections would need to be spliced together?

Can anyone offer a solution?

If not, I'm going to go back to my initial statement that it is possible but not feasible (practical for most people).

[Localizations, Games, Apps, Docs / Re: HuCard games on CD]

I have just been informed by Bonknuts that he has fixed Ankoku Densetsu (the Legendary Axe II Japanese) with a patch. Prior to his patch, the game would have corrupt graphics after the first level.

Using the level select cheat for stage select: I, II, I, II, II, I, II, I, I, I (at start menu), I have been able to verify that each level now appears to have completely intact graphics.

This is fantastic work!!! Thank you Bonknuts. I hope a few others will thank him for this as well. I'm leaving it up to him if he wants to post a link.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: So, why exactly do you like the Turbo Grafx/PC Engine/Turbo Duo?]

I liked the Turbo Grafx 16 because it had very good arcade ports, shooters, plat formers, and one of the best action RPG's on any of the 16-bit era consoles.

They definitely sold it at Target and Venture from what I recall. Toys R us had it, as did Babbages, Software Etc and Electronics Boutique

I'm not trying to be a jerk here, but I moved 20 times and lived in six different states during the 80's and 90's. I do not doubt the above quoted statement, but one needs to understand that an area near Chicago is a very large population center. You could find the Turbo Grafx in almost none of stores mentioned above in several different cities in Florida, Tennessee, Arkansas, Missouri, Texas, and Alaska (though Alaska is understandable). This is because the cities I lived in were not huge population centers like Chicago. The only exception to this is the Electronics Boutique in the Mall of Memphis, Tennessee that had few Turbo Grafx 16 consoles and about a dozen games in 1991. However, Memphis was a fairly large population center. Even there it was very difficult to find a good selection of Turbo Grafx software. Usually, if I found the Turbo Grafx, it was in a clearance bin and there were no games.

When it was launched, Turbo Grafx 16 was marketed and distributed primarily to a limited number of large cities and metropolitan areas in the United States, under the assumption that if it caught on demand would increase elsewhere.  This was not a good marketing strategy because in the 80's businesses were not integrated well enough to even know if there was demand for a console. They didn't have ERP systems or centralized databases back then. Sure, you would randomly come across a few units here and their in most cities, but in small stock and with little software support.

Although my friend's was purchased from Montgomery Ward, every other person I ever met in my youth who had one bought it (and the games) through the Sears or JC Penny catalog.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Hate last minute bidders on ebay.]

I've been using eBay for about 9 years. I don't put in the max amount that I want to pay for an item. I usually find about five to ten listings of the same item. I follow them through bookmarks on my browser (watch-list alerts the seller of demand in their control panel, so I don't use that). I put in a reasonable bid at the last minute and may raise the max by five to ten dollars. About a tenth of the time I win. That may seem like long odds, but if you do the arithmetic it isn't.

However, if I notice obvious bid shelling, sometimes I will actually bid considerably over what I would actually be willing to pay (but in small increments) just to see if the seller is dumb enough to keep bidding against me with his shells. I'm pretty sure that a few months ago a seller bidding against himself bid over $100 on a Phenom 9550 CPU. I bought the same CPU from another seller for about $46, but it was fun to mess with the guy was trying to rip me off. Due to eBay's exorbitant fees he wasted a nice chunk of change.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: So, why exactly do you like the Turbo Grafx/PC Engine/Turbo Duo?]

I have fond memories of the Turbo Grafx from my early teens in the late 80's and early 90's.

In 1989 I received the Sega Genesis as a Christmas gift. The decision was made to purchase the Genesis over the Turbo Grafx 16 largely due to the terrible marketing of the Turbo Grafx 16 in America. The American re-design of the PC Engine also played a role. By 1991, the Turbo Grafx 16 was already having serious problems selling in the US and a friend received one for only $50 from Montgomery Ward.  The games he had were Keith Courage and Sidearms. Kieth Courage was an okay game, but Sidearms was quite fantastic and really impressed me. The next time I went out to a shopping mall I visited the Turbo Grafx 16 display and while the advertisements were poorly conceived and irritating, the games themselves looked very nice. This was especially true of Legendary Axe and Splatterhouse. The problem was, they did not actually have an Turbo Grafx consoles to sell, just a few left over games and they were the crap ones like the TV Sports series. However, I distinctly remember playing the Turbo Grafx demo unit (Legendary Axe was in it) and how I liked as much as the Genesis, except for the fact that my friend could not actually find any of the games for his Turbo. He pretty much had the same two or three games for an entire year.

Naturally, when I had enough money saved up to get a Turbo Grafx, you could no longer find them locally. Back in these days purchasing game systems or games through mail order was not smart. Companies like "The Ultimate Game Club" really were only good at the "taking  your money and spending it" aspect of the transaction. For all practical purposes, by 1992, you could not find Turbo Grafx 16 consoles or games ANYWHERE in most cities (I lived in six different states in the US). I read about the Turbo Duo in video game magazines and was very impressed with the graphics and game line up, but I never once saw one of these in a store (and I am talking about several different states in the US).  The game I was most looking forward to seeing was Street Fighter 2 Championship Edition and that was not even released in the United States.

Finally, as an adult in the late 90's I bought a Turbo Grafx and about six games from a video game store for about $50 and had a blast. Earlier this year I broke down and bought my first Japanse Duo. Fantastic system.

As an adult with some education in business and marketing I can understand why the Turbo Grafx 16 did not catch on in the United States. It isn't that Americans were too stupid to appreciate it. It isn't that the games were too hard.  In a nutshell, NEC of America made it difficult to buy with a late and bungled launch and horrible, confusing marketing. Although it had a lack of third party support, I firmly believe it had a solid chance in the beginning that was squandered early on.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: how to store loose hu cards]

Where do you get the plastic pages to put the cards in? I went looking for one the other day and could not find one. 20 years ago you could buy them at any department store for baseball cards and whatnot, but they are not as easy to find now.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Hate last minute bidders on ebay.]

You people are fucking stupid.

Oh wow.  I think I'm in the wrong forums.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: So whats the deal with the arcade card?]

My point was that the reason there were no (or very few) Arcade Card games being released, was that the Duo stopped production in 1994.

You might be right that there were no Duos produced after 1994 (I don't have any information either way), but there were certainly arcade card games produced into 1996, so I'm not really sure what you're getting after.

The fact that a handful of obscure titles slipped out past 1994 does not change the fact that software companies were not interested in developing games for a defunct platform. I'm sure we all understand this.

What's silly is claiming that NEC Avenue, a software development team, was responsible for marketing the Duo because the parent company is NEC Home Electronics.

Anyone who thinks I claimed this has misunderstood me. "Bankrupt" was the wrong term for me to use as it implies insolvency and a subdivision cannot be fiscally insolvent. I should have simply said they were not making enough money, so the brand was retired and the resources and personnel were used elsewhere.

Your 6 button pad doesn't have "NEC Avenue" written on it, it has "Avenue Pad 6" written on it.

Actually it has the NEC Avenue brand logo on it, because they produced and marketed it. It is also on the box. This is not difficult to verify. However, it does also say Avenue Pad 6.

Yes, what is your point? You've stated NEC Avenue was responsible for marketing the Duo, and that they went "bankrupt" in 1994 thus ceasing production of the Duo and arcade card games alike.

I never said they marketed the Duo. I said they marketed a lot of the later products. When the Duo was no longer being produced, NEC Avenue was functionally dissolved or reorganized into a completely different subdivision. After that point there was little to no more support for Arcade Card Products.

...is one of the most ridiculous things I've ever read.

You are the only one inventing "truth" here, unfortunately.

When one engages in a civil discussion, one usually avoids statements of this nature as they are unnecessary.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: So whats the deal with the arcade card?]

Someone has sadly led you up the garden path.

Hey, let's be nice.

There were no more Arcade card games after 1995 because there were no longer Duo's being produced as of 1994.

The division that produced the Duo console was dissolved in 1994 or early 1995. The Duo consoles themselves were not produced after 1994 (1993 in the states).

NEC Avenue was a subdivision of NEC (which designed and produced the DUO with Hudson), so naturally they were involved in the sale of DUO-related products, to suggest they were not is silly. My six button gamepad has NEC Avenue written right on it. It is not a software arcade port. It is a piece of hardware.

The NEC Avenue brand was retired in the mid 90's (because they didn't make enough money for NEC). Just like with any corporate subdivision, the personnel and resources were allocated somewhere else. The NEC Avenue brand was retired. Whether or not we consider NEC Interchannel to be the same subdivision is splitting semantic hairs and missing the point completely.

The PCFX 32-bit platform was not a console in the traditional sense; it was more of an attempt to create a multimedia center or computer. It didn't really fit into either category.

My whole point was that NO DUOS after 1994 = NO MORE ARCADE CARD GAMES.

I like like a company and its products and wish things had been different, but I can't change history to support my bias.

If only NEC spent more time with the Arcade Card vs PC-FX things may have turned out different. Or better yet have a upgrade that made your PC engine into a PC-FX. Could have been interesting...

The Arcade Card was still limited by the capabilities of the Duo, which was at heart an 8-bit system. The biggest problem with the PCFX is that they eliminated features that would have made it competitive with Sony and Sega, but did not redesign it to then be more affordable than what Sony and Sega were producing at the time. They also couldn't seem to decide what the PCFX was supposed to be or who their market was.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Korean Vistar (Vistar-16): Does anyone here actually own one??]

Had a buddy look for one while in Korea and he couldn't find one to save his life.

How many were made? 
Has anyone ever seen one pop up on auction sites? 
Does anyone here own one?
Value?

nfggames.com/games/vistar/

They were American Turbo Grafx 16 planar boards put into new plastic cases. So were the games. Should work fine on an NTSC TV (correct me if I'm wrong). Good luck finding one.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Hate last minute bidders on ebay.]

Bid shelling is something else entirely. I despise sellers who do that. One way to minimize bid shelling it is to NEVER add an item to a watch list. Many sellers will start to bid against their own item using a shell once they notice it has watchers.  Just bookmark it in your browser.

I understand what you guys are saying, but if an item has less than 15 seconds on it, then I know for a fact that its the seller not wanting to sell it for that price I was willing to bid for. At any rate, going to avoid ebay like a plague now.

I've been buying and selling on ebay since '98 and the thought of sellers sniping their own auctions has never seemed very practical.  Neither have I seen much evidence to suggest it happens.  Maybe it used to be more common, but all of the jerks who don't know their games' worth just use BIN/BO these days.  

Seriously, a lot of people snipe.  Like Dan said, probably 25% of all bids on ebay happen in the last couple minutes.  A lot of sellers may gouge prices, but most people are still honest.  Also, judging from what my mom recently went through to get signed up, creating two accounts looks like it would be a pain in the butt these days.   Sellers who don't go the BIN route and are willing to wait seven days for an auction probably just want to sell their crap and get paid, not milk every last cent from the market.

For those just tuning in, here's a summary of sniping habits thus far:
*Supremo_Lagarto bids with <60 seconds left
*The item's seller bids with 15 seconds left
*BlueBMW bids with 8 seconds left
*vestcunt bids with 5 seconds left

Clearly, the secret to success is bidding with 4 seconds left!

Actually, if I suspect bid shelling I will keep bidding until the item's price is much higher than I would ever pay. That way the seller gets to pay a larger fee for winning his own item from himself. That doesn't mean I back out of the transaction if I win, it just means that the seller thinks I'm REALLY, REALLY interested and will hang himself.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: So whats the deal with the arcade card?]

Curious, I know it was made for Neo Geo ports and the ever so awesome Sapphire, but whats the story behind it? Why did NEC make so few games for it and what made them stop developing more games like Sapphire? Yeah I know they had another system (PC-FX), but come on, this thing could have easily competed with the likes of the next gen consoles at the time! Makes one wonder...

The division of NEC that sold the Duo basically went bankrupt shortly after the Arcade card was released. That is why there were no more games for it. End of story.

No doubt. With all the money they pumped into the KOF '95 port and Sapphire's real-time 3D engine, how could they make a profit?

Seriously, this is not a true statement.

I didn't say NEC went bankrupt, I said a small DIVISION of NEC (NEC Avenue). The Duo really was discontinued in 1994. Most of those games came out...

...in 1994.


Not a coincidence (companies don't design a lot of games for discontinued systems).

NEC itself is a huge company and has been for decades. They pulled the plug on the console division because it was no longer as profitable as their other divisions.


This is just reality.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: So whats the deal with the arcade card?]

Curious, I know it was made for Neo Geo ports and the ever so awesome Sapphire, but whats the story behind it? Why did NEC make so few games for it and what made them stop developing more games like Sapphire? Yeah I know they had another system (PC-FX), but come on, this thing could have easily competed with the likes of the next gen consoles at the time! Makes one wonder...

The division of NEC that sold the Duo basically went bankrupt shortly after the Arcade card was released. That is why there were no more games for it. End of story.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Legendary Axe 1 or 2?]

They are both fantastic.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Hate last minute bidders on ebay.]

Hey, I'm a last minute bidder!

Don't hate.

[Localizations, Games, Apps, Docs / Re: HuCard games on CD]

It would be interesting if someone was still working on SuperHucard and started to concentrate on games that cost a pretty penny (like Bomberman 93 and a few others). Just out of curiosity, has anyone looked at the setup on the demo of Bomberman 94? Might hold a clue or two on how to get bigger games to work with SuperHucard...

Unfortunately, Bomberman '94 is well over 256 kb. The way this works is that the games are loaded into the system memory, which means that only 256 kb games will work. This is why the Syper System 3 capability is needed for the compilation. It is using the 192 kb + onboard working memory. However, you would be surprised at how many Turbo Grafx games that you would think would be several megabytes are only 256 kb.  The code on each game has to be altered so that the game data is fished out of the CD and not the hucard, and that is the problem. Except for the games I listed, most of the games were not fixed this way and don't work.

As far as a Bomberman '94 demo (I didn't know it existed), that would have been reprogrammed to run as PC Engine Super CD game and would not have had the memory limitations of these hacked roms. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Seems to me you could work enough hours to buy all these games ten times over in the amount of time you'll be waiting for someone to get them working for you for free.

Excluding the Japanese text games (which I have no interest in), I have most of these games. I already own all of the ones I'm actually interested in. I could also just as easily load every decent game in the compilation onto a flash card (these games are tiny). I would just like to see them run on CD.  Legendary Axe I is my favorite of all time (well, Dungeon Explorer might tie it). This one works perfectly on this compilation and I have no interest in selling my original Hucard, what-so-ever. I have the original case, instruction booklet, and the original cardboard box it came in. I also have a paid copy of the Magic Engine which emulates almost all of the Hucard games perfectly on any PC you can find in a dumpster. The thing that fascinates me is that this disc is a way to play the original code on the original hardware. (Note that in the photo below, all foreign games have custom English spines so that I can display them in alphabetical order).

/gamesk.jpg

[Localizations, Games, Apps, Docs / Re: HuCard games on CD]

The main one I would like to see working is Ankoku Densetsu (the Japanese version of Legendary Axe 2). That was one of the best side scrolling plat-formers on the system.

The first level works, but the second, third, fifth, and sixth levels have corrupt graphics, as if the game is attempting to take the graphics from the non-existent hucard instead of the CD-ROM on those levels.

[Localizations, Games, Apps, Docs / Re: HuCard games on CD]

The game on this collection that I would really like to see working is Ankoku Densetsu (Japanese version of Legendary Axe 2). All levels except 1,4, and 7 have corrupt graphics.

I looked over the Super Hucard fairly thoroughly.  I think it would be good to focus on first removing games that don't work, then possibly fixing a few of them.

These games work:
--Name of game------Directory-----Numerical Position--
    *NEW PATCH* Ankoku (Legendary Axe II Japanese / Ankoku Densetsu) ----------------1/E game 4
    Bikkuriman World (WonderBoy In Monster Land) -----------2/E Game 2
    Blodia (Timeball)------------------------------------------2/E Game 4
    ---note that the American version, Timeball, does not work.
    Boxy Boy-------------------------------------------------3/E Game 1
    China Warrior / Kung Fu----------------------------3/E Game 3
    as Kung Fu-----------------------------------------------:/E Game 1
    Columns-------------------------------------------------3/E Game 5
    Caravan Gunhed (Blazing Lazers Demo)--------------------4/E Game 1
    ---note that this game is repeated throughout the disc as Gunhed, but it isn't; it is just the time run demo.
    Deep Blue------------------------------------------------4/E Game 3
    Dragon Spirit---------------------------------------5/E Game 1
    Drop Rock------------------------------------------------5/E Game 3
    Hani in the Sky-------------------------------------------7/E Game 4
    Hot Blooded High School Dodgeball-------------------------7/E Game 6
    JJ & Jeff / Kato & Ken ------------------------------------8/E Game 2 & Game 4
    Shubibiman ----------------------------------------------9/E Game 6
    Legendary Axe / Makyo Densetsu--------------------:/E Game 4 & ;/E Game 1
    Maerchan Maze-------------------------------------------9/E Game 2
    World Stadium Baseball '91---------------------------------=/E Game 2
    World Stadium Baseball------------------------------------=/E Game 3
    Power Gate------------------------------------------------=/E Game 4
    Puzzle Boy------------------------------------------------->/E Game 1
    R-Type Part A-------------------------------------->/E Game 2
    R-Type Part B-------------------------------------->/E Game 3
    Skweek---------------------------------------------------@/E Game 1
    Son Son 2-------------------------------------------------@/E Game 5
    Space Invaders Plus----------------------------------------@/E Game 6
    Spin Pair---------------------------------------------------@A/E Game 1
    Super Volley Ball-------------------------------------------@A/E Game 3
    Titan-----------------------------------------------------@B/E Game 1
    Usa Basket Ball (Taking it to the Hoop) ---------------------@B/E Game 2
    ---note that the US version does not work
    World Class Baseball---------------------------------C/E Game 5
    Wonder Momo---------------------------------------------D/E Game 1
    Xevious---------------------------------------------------D/E Game 4
    Zipang-----------------------------------------------------E/E Game 1[/li][/list]

The following games seem to work, but crash during demonstration mode or do not recognize passwords:
    Alien Crush - also crashes upon Game Over
    Circus Ledo
    Winning Shot

I believe the following games work, but they feature heavy Japanese text:
    Artist Tool
    Double Dungeons (Japanese)
    Necromancer
    Maison Ikk
    Shada
    Mahjong Wars
    Outlive
    RyuuKyuu
    Shanghai
    Shoi Shoshinsha Muyou
    Stratego (Japanese)
    Tsuro Teruto No...
    Tsuppori
    Wai Wai Mahjong
    Victory Life

The following games will play a few levels and either crash or begin to show corrupt graphics:
    Dragon's Curse - freezes when entering a building
    Ankoku Densetsu (Legendary Axe 2 Japanese) - via level select code, levels 1, 4, and 7 are playable.
    *Ankoku Densetsu has been corrected in the new patch by the brilliant Bonknuts*
    Fantasy Zone
    Galaga 90 - freezes when you enter a warp, otherwise seems to play fine (this identical to Galaga 88)
    Galaga 88 - freezes when you enter a warp, otherwise seems to play fine
    Keith Courage English - levels 1-1, 1-2, and 2-1 are playable, all others corrupt
    Klax
    Kyu Tiger (Twin Cobra) - freezes when you hit pause
    Pac Land
    Takeda
    Takin' It to The Hoop
    Tatsu no Ko Fighter
    Victory Run

The following games will pretty much play exactly one level and after that level the game will either freeze or become completely corrupt graphically.
    Armed Formation F
    Paranoia (Psychosis Japanese)
    Salamander (Patched Version) - freezes after beating first level
    P47
    Mashin Eiyūden Wataru (Keith Courage Japanese)


All other games do not work.

Some notable games that will not even boot are:
    Gradius
    Crater Maze
    Legendary Axe II (US Version)
     Psycho Chaser