10 Amazing NEC TurboGrafx-16 Facts

In this video I look at 10 amazing pieces of trivia about the NEC TurboGrafx-16, the western version of the popular PC Engine console.
Video Links:
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PC Engine Hu-Card Games: • Over 50 NEC PC Engine ...
Story of the European TurboGrafx: • The Story of the Europ...
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Sunteam TurboGrafx Book: • TurboGrafx-16 Pixellen...
Greatest of All-Time Playlist: • The 20 Greatest Consol...
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#pcengine #retrogaming #turbografx
#PCEngine #TurboGrafx #Facts

[@emmettturner9452]

I totally agree about it deserving to be called 16-bit. To the end users, being able to address more memory or perform 16-bit math wasn’t the benefit of 16-bit gaming. It was the ability to address more colors and more memory for richer-looking games with more content. More colors were accomplished by the 16-bit GPU and more ROM/RAM memory was accomplished by a built-in mapper for HuCards/TurboChips. For the intents and purposes of the consumer gaming market, it was functionally 16-bit. The move to Super CD-ROM² cemented this as it had even more RAM (Super System Card 3.0) and game media with darn near unlimited storage… and then there was Arcade CD-ROM² format for the exact same base hardware (Arcade Card Pro). It was just GOBS of addressable RAM for the time with a storage format that could actually use it. Even the Arcade CD-ROM² games were running on the same base hardware with more RAM that was addressed by the same 8-bit CPU that would have done it if they included that much RAM from the start.

[@retrogamestudios6688]

If the USA version looked like the Japan version it would have been so much more respected

[@NesNyt]

Got my pc engine NIB sealed for 400usd in Akihabara right before covid hit. . Love that exchange rate, to bad it wasnt Bratislava

[@rafaelgadret]

Thanks for the great video! I love the PC Engine!

[@joejacobsonwales]

Very interesting video, I have a mini but never got the original version, learned alot thanks!

[@TheLairdsLair]

Thanks for watching!

[@miremare9052]

In the early 2000's I owned a small independent video game shop in Warwickshire, I was lucky enough to visit Telegames on a couple of occasions and buy a number of official UK Turbografx unit with accessories and a small selection of game titles from them (for stock) at the time I am pretty sure they where on offer for about £80 (I retailed them for £120) I also imported a number of Panasonic Q's also (6) from good old Lik Sang, makes me wonder how many of today's gaming KZbinrs are playing on my old stock!

[@TheLairdsLair]

Great story that. I bought loads of stuff from Telegames over the years and always dreamed about visiting their shop, it was a bit too far away though sadly.

[@miremare9052]

@@TheLairdsLair It was a bit of a weird place from what I can remember, it was no frills standing in a small reception area at a hi counter top telling them what you wanted and watching them disappear behind the door into the warehouse out back (a bit like buying car parts) I bet they are still sitting on a lot of "retro" stock to this day.

[@TheLairdsLair]

I speak to Pete Mortimer (owner of Telegames) quite often and interviewed him a few times for articles. Telegames are still going but he's cleared out most of the old stock now and indeed I bought quite a lot of it from him. His main market now is selling new homebrew Atari Lynx and Jaguar games as well as the titles Telegames produced themselves for both consoles, which he actually builds himself.

[@miremare9052]

@@TheLairdsLair TG, have been around a long time (makes me feel old) If you haven't already I would be interested in your views on the Retro Freak as it never seems to get much coverage (apologies if you already have) I purchased one a number of years ago and for my money one of the best all in one retro units.

[@ElectronStarCollapse]

In recent months, I got my hands on a Core Grafx and a converter cartridge. I find every time you do a Turbo Grafx video, my library of games keeps growing.

[@TheLairdsLair]

Hahaha, sorry about that!

[@ElectronStarCollapse]

@@TheLairdsLair No need to be sorry. I enjoy the collection. I just need to be careful and not accidentally spend all my remaining money for the week, like I did when I bought Silent Debuggers.

[@dragokills6990]

PCE rocks! I've really got into it on my Abernic.

[@emmettturner9452]

The PCB you show actually demonstrates that the inside of the case is pretty full for the TG16. The PCB is shaped exactly the same as the top shell which it mounts into (upside-down). Admittedly, the rear cover bulks it up a bit but that isn’t part of the case and it doesn’t require taking it apart to see (you have to to even plug the power in). The case is T-shaped when you take off the rear cover and the PCB only deviates where the HuCard/TurboChip slot goes… just like the top case. It conforms perfectly. Granted, the board itself has some wasted space with unpopulated pads for a boot rom and some weird breakouts near the expansion slot but they don’t account for the size increase… not even with the larger controller and EXT ports. An engineer can see that the wing with the controller port is largely empty as well as the small one on the other corner that is just a screw hole and a ground plane. Wasteful board layout choices like that seem to be where all the space went. So, yeah: Wasted room on the board, not empty space in the case. Knowing the side of the PC Engine it seems weird that there isn’t a lot of empty space in the shell… but that doesn’t translate to their actually being a lot of empty space in the shell. As for the notch for TurboChips/HuCards: The HuCard slot was mounted remotely with a second, stacked, PCB in the PC Engine so it wouldn’t fit on that board either.

[@emmettturner9452]

“Knowing the si[z]e of the PC Engine” Oops. :)

[@Larry]

NEC were offered the exclusive console rights to Mortal Kombat, but turned them down saying they felt fighting games were a dying fad.

[@Chris-Courage]

We can see what NEC thought the future of gaming was by looking at the poopy PC-FX.

[@8bitmemorygamer807]

HuCard gang 👍🏽

[@dazsly]

They should of skipped America and gone to Europe first with the pc engine original.