Inside the PC Engine and TurboGrafx-16 Game Systems

[@eggmom_813]

The insane ramblings and singing between talking about what you're working on are why we watch these videos. Never change, Ben, never change.

[@bf0189]

Those Hudson branded chips are probably the cutest chips I've seen. Can't wait to see the X68000 videos! My favorite Japanese computer since it was so ahead of it's time in looks and graphics. So much Yamaha FM goodness in the games too! I'd love to see a collaboration video in the future when you have less projects with Joe from Gamesack fixing his precious Golden Axe: Revenge of the Death Adder PCB. No sound even though the game works great otherwise. It'd just be an all around interesting video especially since it would be quite a complex board and who doesn't like Golden Axe!

[@twicethemegapower3995]

"Hi! I'm Trent Reznor. You might recognize me from such projects as Nine Inch Nails and the Quake OST"

[@xnamkcor]

Don't forget Super Mario World.

[@thewolfin]

@@xnamkcor They're named after a brand of Japanese heaters apparently

[@MattiasKesti]

Wolfin Got a source for that? Reznor heaters are manufactured by Reznor HVAC, a Pennsylvania company founded by Trent's great-grandfather in 1888.

[@xnamkcor]

@@thewolfin Trent Reznor is a Japanese heater?

[@twicethemegapower3995]

Heaters gonna heat

[@ChrisKewl]

14:25 Shatner doing "Common People" from his album Has Been. Amazing. I actually liked the album Has Been. I mean obviously the original of "Common People" by Pulp is still better.

[@JohnnyWednesday]

You have not experienced Shatner until you have read him in the original Klingon

[@clohre]

I am only 36 and your constant movies references while going through your videos on explaining things make me so happy.

[@TravisFabel]

"cubits! Heck yeah!" **Drills directly into finger** (I'm working on my own electronic project stuff and half paying attention, and I look up just to see him drilling the hole with his hand right behind it there and I thought for a second that he really did hit his freaking finger)

[@nastybedazzler]

Back when I was young, maybe like 25 years ago, my pals dad owned a video rental store that rented consoles too and they had a Turbographx-16 that we took out once for a weekend to play. I've never played one since but I'll always remember how awesome of a console I thought it was. I remember playing Bonk and thinking it was the greatest thing ever. For like the last 10 years or so I've thought about buying one all the time and I'm sure it's something I'll end up doing eventually. It was just such a cool system and pretty underappreciated, and I've never even seen any around except for that one time.

[@thewolfin]

Bomberman 93

[@braddl9442]

This and Sega CD were my fav systems as a kid. I was like the only one that had them. I got my TG16 for 50 bucks with 8 games at a clearence sale at a toys are us with my XMAS money. Biggest mistake of my life was selling it later to get a PSone.

[@moonboogien8908]

Oof

[@spacecabbage]

F

[@MediocreTCG]

Sad days

[@instahawk8422]

That’s a definite oof sadly when i was younger i did the exact same thing so many people did but as kid and a teen you don’t think about it because you just want the next best thing as adults you can get them again and have the best thing as well. silly story i knew someone who had a ok console collection they spent a couple of thousand on the collection at the time they had a ps1 ps2 ps3 og xbox a 360 n64 limited edition with gold controller and a dreamcast with a lot of rare games and they sold the lot at a loss and that was after two months of collecting it and they were an adult they even had a decent paying job i outright said to them your an idiot

[@returnofbeaux]

This is an excellent video. Besides the editing, I also appreciate the retention of background noise. Your tinker videos have atmosphere.

[@ozm007]

Love how you do entertaining videos what a great soul and a super great sense of humour stay safe and happy man

[@chagalag]

I so miss watching you making things. I learned so much! You have a great way of explaining things.

[@ChrisKewl]

I love my PC Engine with the Terraonion Super SD System 3.

[@MrMegaManFan]

I love my TG-16 with the same. 😍

[@emmettturner9452]

I love mine with Upergrafx UGX-02. ;)

[@scubasteve31583]

Excellent video Ben, love this, and more importantly, I'm glad you had a good time with it!

[@Napper198]

I'm working for a company that manufactures big and weird connectors like the one used for expansion. One of the things we do during manufacturing is test every singe pin for continuity so we can make sure they're actually in the housing (you'd be surprised) and to do that on a industrial scale you have to test all pins at once (sometimes even multiple connectors at once.) To connnect the test adapters to the computer that does the testing we use 15 pin sub D cables since those are the most cost effective. Much to my discontent as it means I have to change over up to 24 sub D cables with their thumb screws when it comes to servicing the adapers or change over of product. Meanwhile our own company offers the perfect connector for this type of application (50+ pins, zero insertion force, one hand locking, pins protected while disconnected) but it's too expensive to use ourselves

[@JC-qu5lv]

Love my SuperGrafx and getting one of the homebrews for RGB out of the expansion port is amazing. Love this tear down!

[@dazaspc]

That was hilarious removing the protective plastic on the label.

[@evilnememsis]

Here in Canada I sold them at Radio Shack when I worked there many many moons back. Never really took off here. Nintendo and Sega were the go to consoles in my area. Thanks for the video Sir Ben!!

[@emmettturner9452]

The reason they used a separate chip for encoding analog was to keep the digital output from the VDC available to be combined with an expansion. This was utilized with the Supergrafx, where they added a second VDC along with a muxing chip that muxes the output from both VDCs before it goes to the VCE (color encoder AKA "DAC"). The digital output from the first VDC is available on all PC Engines, which can be used for a direct digital adapter like Upergrafx UGX-02, which gives you DVI/HDMI video which never existed as analog.

[@HokusaiXL]

The PC Engine / TurboGrafx16 is region locked, but GameTechUS makes a super easy to install region switch mod, as all the region lockout is several pins flipped on the HuCard.

[@chanelnumba_5]

Rockin’! Love love love the old console ventures Ben! 🤘🏻

[@GadgetUK164]

Great video =D Audio comes out of the 6280 (which is primarily the CPU) btw ;) One benefit of the huge US version - heat dissipation is much better! Less chance of one of the main ASICs dieing imo. The 6260 (DAC) does not change between regions, but can be switched using one of the pins going into it. The region "protection" is litterally just the cart databus bits flipped around into a different order.

[@BenHeckHacks]

Ah good to know.

[@rick420buzz]

I remember reading, many many moons ago, that the RF shielding is one of the main reasons why the Turbografx-16 was bigger than the PC Engine.

[@braddl9442]

They had to Comply with USA standards of RF shielding. We were way more strict then other countries in those days.

[@KuraIthys]

@@braddl9442 I can only imagine. They relaxed it in the early 80's, which you can see with the tank-like construction of an Atari 800 vs the much flimsier (relatively speaking) 800XL... But that doesn't mean they didn't still impose some serious shielding requirements... Still get a laugh out of the late era C64's and their metalised cardboard 'shielding' though... XD

[@saeklin]

I don't recall if you mentioned the issue or not, but the composite signal coming from the expansion port is apparently not safe to "break out" without some kind of additional processing. I guess cheap third party composite connectors don't clean the signal and so have the potential to damage either the console or the tv. I'm no expert, but its worth looking into if anyone is thinking of trying this mod.

[@guspaz]

Or just use something like the dbgrafx booster ttp (also sold as the "engine block av") which plugs into the rear connector and gets you composite, s-video, RGB, and component (via HDRV cables). There's a full RGB signal going to the rear connector, so any sort of video mod on the TG16/PCE is kind of pointless unless you're going to be plugging the CD drive into the expansion port. There is also technically a connection to the video bus through which you can construct a pure digital video signal, and there are expansion boxes that do that, but they're extremely expensive.

[@waynedrew7074]

Please do another food review. You did a fantastic job.

[@marcosgarcia8018]

"I need to finish my existing projects" I feel that

[@TVsMrNeil]

The expansion port is ridiculous, but it's allowed aftermarket developers to make all-in-one add-ons that upgrade to HDMI and play ROM and CD images.

[@Howema]

i would love to see Ben look at a Neo Geo CD or CDZ system, they use multiple daughter boards and are quite well labeled including telling you how to region mod the system.

[@bruce11121314]

Loving the more casual style so much. A real techy Bob Ross vibe :D

[@phillip5245]

That Trent Reznor story reminds me of when I met Dr. Martin Luther the King in 1962 in Memphis, Tennessee. I was walkin' down the street minding my own business, just walking on. Feelin' good. I walk around the corner, a man walks up, hit me in my chest, right? I fall on the ground, right? And I look up and it's Dr. Martin Luther King. I said, 'Dr. King?' and he said, 'Oops, I thought you were somebody else'.

[@erniesdeck7550]

You talking about The broiler in your oven got me thinking.....I need a new spatula!! Spatula city here I come.

[@cognetic]

Yes! Please keep the projects coming!

[@williamsanborn9195]

Ben, to answer your question about whether the PC Engine was popular in PAL regions, it kind of wasn't. It was released in France in 1989 and in both the UK and Spain in 1990, but they were discontinued after around 4 and 3 years on the market in each region, in 1993. Also, the Hu-Cards are, in fact, region-locked. You'd have to play an American TurboGrafx-16 game on an American TurboGrafx-16 and a PC-Engine game on a PC-Engine.

[@Wineman3383]

Dude looking at the footage doesn't make you a hack that's using the tools at hand. Thanks for your videos brother.

[@dbnpoldermans4120]

Love the bees on the chips inside the pc-engine

[@tehMati]

A HALCYON? I've been fascinated by that since Hbomberguy's video! Can't wait.

[@Henchman1977]

"HI, I'm Trent Reznor! You may remember me from such bands as Nine Inch Nails!"

[@zolwikwkurwik]

I would love to see Ben commenting on voultars "it needs to be preety" mod jobs. Ben's a Legend.

[@reptilez13]

Well it's a bit different when your selling it, which is much of what context Voultar stuff is in - fixing terrible eBay sellers glue jobs it's a bit different when it's your buddy or your own, which he's mentioned

[@soyunbonus]

It's great to see Ben enjoying what he's doing!

[@ryux]

Whenever I feel down I come to see a Ben Heck Video... and what do you know.. I start singing

[@Semaze]

[Drake no]: Watching Ben for the tech [Drake yes]: Watching Ben for the bizarre commentary

[@LucasHartmann]

I was modelling a 3D printable case and kinda watching this video, and the "glamour line" comment was perfectly timed. Integrated it on my design, print, sand, paint, ... That horrible seam now looks nice and intentional! LOL.

[@fantom0369]

I was that weird kid, I always thought the PC Engine was way cooler to look at. smaller, sleeker. giving it a black/grey shell and selling it as the TurboGrafx-16 I think would have sold more of them. but I guess we will never know

[@mjaerkens]

I got a reply from Ben on my email once. Makes me feel pretty special after this.

[@doctorx0079]

I have some Gundam Wing stuff that's twenty years old now . . .

[@HuntersMoon78]

CD-ROM drive is called the CD-ROM ROM - check RMC's video on the PC-Engine

[@TheRestartPoint]

You can buy an RGB & Composite & L/R audio output board that plugs into the I/O port for about $20 from China

[@notsillyone]

Did that philips head screw driver at 3:30 your using come from your dads set of tools? My dad had the same one, it was the best one in his kit. I was never able to find one as good. Dad recently decided to hand down his tools to me and that screw driver was still in his kit. It’s now the first one I go to when I need a philips head

[@StarlancerAstro]

The best system for Shmups, still have mine from new, love me some blazing lasers

[@TurnipDaBeet]

PCEngine/TG16 does have region locking, but it's not too hard to get around. Think it's the center 8 pins on the HuCard slot are reversed between JP and US units, and for JP units you have to tie a pin from the processor to ground. Should be able to get detailed info easily with a google search. Can't wait to see the portable ;)

[@figueroaj3ify]

Thank you for sharing your curiosity and knowledge with us (www). May I suggest on making a home console out of a Nintendo Switch without the LCD, within a classic Nintendo home console case of the past. I was hoping Nintendo themselves would provide a cheap home console version but I past out while holding breathe and when I came to, I decided to bring this idea up to the wise men among us to decide if this idea is worth the time. It's a long shot. Keep up the sharing Mr. Heck. ;-)

[@Crackalacking_Z]

Neither were released in Europe. We had to import ... and yes, I'm still salty about it.

[@AnotherUser1000]

Nice work. But the close-up of that power regulator, tells me that the console needs a re-cap, as well. Greetings from Greece!

[@kind2311]

lol the dude kept that protective plastic on it for 30 years......

[@green64]

europe had the PC engine named as "TurboGrafx" (no 16) just in france and Spain for some years, but they cancel the PAL version pretty early.

[@arcadesunday4592]

Awesome fix. 14'30": William Shatner's, er, "take?" on Jarvis Cockers very well known and well influencal hit, Common People. Questionable work, Shatner. Regardless, a super entertaining video (per usual). Thanks Ben!

[@5kogur]

Looking forward to seeing that Halcyon!

[@bkucenski]

The most valuable game I own is Jack Bros in box with manual for the Virtual Boy. I had a lot more games but was dumb and sold many of them years ago when they were worth around $50 like Waterworld. That's now a $500 game. I had bought about all of them used from Blockbuster for less than $10 each.

[@BenHeckHacks]

You could buy a lot of pure dirt with $500! I recall when KB Toys was blowing out VB systems for $25 not even 8 months after launch

[@bkucenski]

@@BenHeckHacks I had two of those systems. Since I got one so cheap I took it apart, removed all the extra weight and put an elastic band on it so I could wear it. Unfortunately, I got rid of those as well after they stopped working. I'm glad VR has more colors and more pixels now. Nintendo is a great company because they're willing to take risks with graphics quality for a unique and affordable gaming experience. And more often than not, it pays off.

[@Okurka.]

10 years ago a guy paid 10,000 Bitcoins for two pizzas.

[@ChrisKewl]

17:45 The Commodore 64 has stupid soldered in shields too for the bottom as well. I hate them so much. I usually just put them back into their case unsoldered when done.

[@Okurka.]

The European versions don't.

[@NCISCherno]

Gabe Newell must have worked at Capcom in the early 90s. Three is a difficult concept.

[@reptilez13]

Oh and there is a PC Engine portable, but it's 4-800$ now and called the PC Engine GT. There's an LT too I forget what mode of transport that is for lol

[@xnonsuchx]

I was wondering about the cut on Ben's thumb. Then as I watched him disassemble, I realized he would likely always have cuts on his hands. ;-)

[@jeff15]

Excellent video. Give me moreeeeee !!!! Thanks for sharing.

[@leesmithsworkshop]

I had an import PC Engine with RGB mod in the UK.

[@abzer0gaming]

I wish I knew about the TurboGrafx sooner in my life.

[@CecilTheDarkKnight234]

I remember seeing some ads in sears and toy's r us catalogs but I never really thought about the system that much.. Also it didn't help I was only 6-7 at the time and every kid in 90/91 wanted a genesis/mega drive or a snes.

[@BadKarma714]

Oak island isn’t that the islander trying to get the treasure from when it goes from the Templars or something.

[@BunkerAnon]

Templar, Pirates and whomever else they throw in.

[@returnofbeaux]

The separate ram hooded over the engine is an automotive reference, whether or not it's intentional.

[@FalbertForester]

For pre-1975 systems, it was not uncommon to have the RAM be on one or more separate boards from the CPU, especially in minicomputers and card-cage-and-backplane type computers.

[@StarlancerAstro]

They are not locked but the data bus on the hucards are flopped from TG16 to PCE, though it’s not hard to make a circuit to make the switch, my PCE can play either with a flip of a switch.

[@emmettturner9452]

I found Atari's twisted tabs almost impossible to release on my 5200 and 800XL. You can straighten them all you want and they still snag snug.

[@dan_loup]

the 8bit CPU of the PC Engine was actually quite powerful as hell due the combination of high clock rates and high IPC, as in it could execute twice the number of instructions per second of the sega genesis, but they were 8bit instructions. So if the game was doing a lot of 8bit math, like positioning sprites onscreen, settuping registers etc, the PC Engine would trounce the genesis, but if it's a "smarter" game, like one with a lot of physics and 3D graphics or AI that use a lot of pointer mangling, then the genesis claws back the victory. Meanwhile the snes just sit, watch and does mode 7 things to distract you from it's quite crap CPU.

[@BenHeckHacks]

So the PC Engine had a pipelined CPU?

[@dan_loup]

@@BenHeckHacks not completely pipelined, it's still the 6502 but it has a minimum of 2 cycles per instruction, while the 68000 has a minimum of 4 cycles. Of course, most instructions on both takes more than that, but it's still a faster average on the 6502.

[@comedyflu]

I would definitely watch you make a PC Engine Portable. **sighs** (I'll wait patiently)

[@braddl9442]

But the Turbo Express already existed.

[@DrForrester2001]

But the TurboExpress is already a thing.

[@RisingRevengeance]

@@DrForrester2001 Yeah but good luck finding one

[@moonboogien8908]

@@RisingRevengeance haha I got one... But time has not been good for the screen. Allot of them end up like mine.

[@RisingRevengeance]

@@moonboogien8908 Grats, even a busted one is worth a fair bit nowadays.

[@doctorx0079]

Look at the little PC Engine! It's so cute! 😍

[@DEFGI]

14:27 this is how I’d imagine it if William Shatner covered this song

[@Shundi12]

I didn't know what Ben was talking about until I started recognising some of the lyrics :)

[@phillip5245]

He did:- kzbin.info/www/bejne/l5rRqn5sm72eq5I

[@Naedlus]

Oh, those moments when you pause the video to listen to "Time in a Bottle" and "Tank!"

[@bluecar5556]

Am I hearing things? Did Ben just say he's bringing the Halcyon by RDI video systems console to the bench??? I'm looking for the light switch to make sure this isn't a dream.

[@nybrand]

Would have been great to see an expansion cart composite mod. So the owner could flex it

[@InifintyLefty]

I have always wanted a pc engine but they are super expensive and I don't want the mini but seeing inside of it was super awesome

[@BenHeckHacks]

Hm they're not that bad, you shouldn't have to spend over $100 on one, tops. They are region locked though.

[@StevenIngram]

You know, it's funny. I suffer from the same tendency to umm... I call it channel surfing memories. Where I sing random snippets of songs or say random quotes while working, but they last for about the duration you'd hesitate on a channel when surfing the dial. Of course I tend to pepper in old Norelco commercials ("Give 'em a blade close shave, or put a shine on their shoes!"). hehehehe Oh, and I'm compelled to occasionally say, "Hey, man, is that freedom rock? Well turn it up, man!" :D

[@tails64dsntchannel8]

Super curious about the DS Demo Unit

[@JohnnyWednesday]

I didn't realize that "Common People" was a hit in the states - the Atlantic shrunk a little with your high-brow interpretation.

[@TheRestartPoint]

I think Blur / Oasis / Pulp enjoyed reasonable popularity over there for a while. The 2nd British invasion!

[@KorgmasterKlax]

He's quoting the William Shatner reading of it. We got plenty of Blur and Oasis here but not Pulp really.

[@valentine_puppy]

What States? Oh you mean The United States of America.

[@killab138]

Would you be willing to do s-video mod on a TG16? Maybe RGB?

[@davidegalliussi1979]

..or a vga in 480p 😉

[@BushidoBrownSama]

Does a tg16's ramdac/encoder support those output formats

[@yorgle]

I was this many years old when I made the association between 'HuCard' and "Hudson Soft"... I'd always pronounced it as "Hue Card"... so it never clicked. :}

[@TN_AU]

Im a simple man, when I see a Ben Heck notification, I click, thumbs up and watch.

[@spidermcgavenport8767]

I can't wait till you find a MSX Turbo R and a Sharp X68000!

[@instahawk8422]

Having a twenty year old battery and it still works and holds a charge is amazing compared to today an iPhone battery will lose six to ten percent of charge as soon as you unplug it and just check it for the time

[@tigheklory]

Daren't we follow them into the nebula sir, our shields would be useless!

[@Aeidotronics]

Trent Reznor loves games. I think he did the original Quake soundtrack(?) :)

[@BenHeckHacks]

Yes and sound FX

[@moosemaimer]

He did a nearly complete set of FX for Doom 3, but something contractual fell apart and they used a different set... if you dig around someone built them into a mod and they sound way better.

[@rick420buzz]

I'm still waiting for the Quake OST to hit vinyl.

[@brianoconnell6459]

An interesting thing I just found out, is that those unpopulated pads were intended for use by a tutorial explaining how to insert the HU card, that would fire up if you started the unit without one inserted. One guy modded his unit to run Bomberman 94: www.pcenginefans.com/forum/index.php?topic=23016.0

[@Stjaernljus]

Composite mod? Old school cool. RGB mod replacing the RF modulator with a DIN connector and then plugging it into an OSSC. the newer fancier way.

[@josebrisenojr2918]

Can you make a revision of the boards with HDMI and USB Hubs

[@fromthe90s21]

Do it! Make a portable out of that PC Engine !

[@MindMeetMaker]

Hi Ben was wondering if you have any pointers on fixing a sony psOne 5"LCD got your book and it details the fuses but bridging that didn't work, actually bridging them was causing a the psu to short so somethings blown but really appreciate any ideas what to check?

[@smartroadbiker]

I thought the RF Modulator combines the audio/video?

[@yumann]

You are quite a smart dude. Kudos

[@nikdog419]

I believe the PC Engine is still the world record holder for smallest home gaming console. A record Nintendo refuses to break out of respect to NEC, since NEC doesn't manufacture consoles anymore. (Reportedly Nintendo made the Wii slightly larger than the PCE on purpose) The PCE is region locked, the TG16 is not. They also have 2 different HuCard pinouts. The PCE region lock can be defeated, disabling one game. I have an official PC Engine GT (the handheld) with a broken LCD screen. It was gifted to me in the hopes I would replace the screen. I never found a replacement at the time, and it has just sat and collected dust. I can pass it forward to you if you'd like.

[@Hurricanelive]

Being in the military the Duo was where it was at, hundreds of great games both import and export, most were practically just simple side scrolling or shooters, and if it was rpgs you just had to click through dialog. I was a total completionist when it came to Duo superCd and Hucard collecting as well as Saturn. Duo and Saturn were my 90's jam, SNES just had like, Mario World, Zelda, Final Fight, Street Fighter 2 and Turbo, and Soulblader so it was a big skip coming from 80's NES days but for SF II it couldn't be beat when you had weekend long tournies with pals.

[@hunterzero2634]

It's funny how these old consoles have larger heatsinks for the voltage regulation than on any of the chips. How times have changed...

[@KuraIthys]

Out of curiosity I once looked up at what point X86 processors seemed to have gained heatsinks/cooling fans. I knew it began with 486 chips, but I was curious what the transition point was. Seems it's once the chip starts using 4 watts of power. At that point it needs some kind of cooling. Meanwhile, here I'm rocking a chip that has a 105 watt TDP, and actually uses about 140 watts if you get it going at it's maximum... XD Oh the days when even a high end PC was using a 200 watt power supply. XD

[@Okurka.]

@@KuraIthys Try running dual Itanium 2 MX2's at 260 watt TDP each.

[@Jagerbomber]

I wonder how many physical copies of the game FUEL there are that haven't since been destroyed. But probably plenty and it hasn't been all that long.

[@KJohansson]

Next episode: Ben heck builds a portable PC Engine.. ;)

[@emmettturner9452]

This is unamplified audio. It will be very noisy when you crank the volume. Your composite will also be the wrong levels. There is some concern with direct composite since you have no components to isolate it from external voltages.