PAL TurboGrafx + NTSC CD unit = ?

[kamiboy]

Mint means a complete good as new boxed unit to me, and when it comes to systems I insist on buying new, and if impossible, at least minty.

I never, ever, ever mod a system that I bought new or mint, dont even think about it. Down the line I usually buy a used loose unit to act as as my work horse and retire the minty unit as a backup system for posterity.

Maybe I'll pick up a loose Duo work horse when going to Japan next year, but that is on the back burner for now. The minty Turbo comes first.

The CD unit I was going to get was going to be my cheap solution for a work horse CD system until I could sneak a mint Turbo past that demmed cartel, but no dice. Those bastards are crafty.

[Breetai]

Yeah, I think I'm following you now.

Well, take my recommendation for a "work horse" system and go find yourself a minty Turboduo for show. A region-modded and even s-video modded Duo should set you back $300+, but that might be a direction you'd like to go. A good all-in-one system for playing on, and then get the minty Turboduo when you can.

I guess there's always the idea to find a Turbo-CD and Super CD card. We've already gone through the problems with it, but there are solutions.

The biggest fail in it is the middle of three plastic gears. It was made of cheaper plastic and becomes brittle over time to the point of breaking. Some of the guys at PCEngineFX have a solution for it where I think it was a certain brand of clock had the same size gear that it could be replaced with. I'm not 100% sure on it, but I think it was something like that. A pain in the ass, but it can be fixed if you are intent on it.

[BlueBMW]

Gotta chime in on this one

I can fully appreciate wanting to get a nice minty boxed US Duo for collection purposes. And to find one you'll have to be patient, very patient. They come up from time to time, sometimes for a decent price even, but they're quite rare. Beware of systems that are "new" in box, as even without use the capacitors still fail. No matter which Turbo Duo you get, it will need to be re-capped at some point.

That said, if you enjoy playing games, and can be patient on finding the mint Duo of your dreams, consider picking up a Japanese Duo R or RX in the meantime. Have it s-video and region modded and you'll have the ultimate system for playing 99% of the 800+ game turbo / pce library. Find an arcade card and you can add those 15 - 20 games to the list. There are so many great gems to be found on the PCE/Turbo that anyone who is a fan of the 16 bit era should consider it.

Once you do find your mint Duo, I cant really see you wanting to use it more than a few times for actual play out of fear of damaging / causing wear to it. Its for that reason alone that I hate stuff that's totally mint. Good to great condition.. perfect. But mint / new? No thanks

Best of luck locating your Duo. As breetai said, mint ones dont typically show up for sale on PCEFX that often, though you will find a lot more refurbished / good gamer systems for sale.

[kamiboy]

See gents, therein lies the catch. I dont want to pay 300+ for a work horse system, that is just asking too much.

That Doujidance guy on eBay is a pretty good source for modded loose Japanese Duos, but you have to be prepared to pay that much. The Duo situation is pretty ansurd if you think about it, even broken units go for over 100 regularly.

Also, you guys are making me nervous with all this fatalistic talk about caps. Surely it cannot be that bad.

[BlueBMW]

Its pretty much a universal problem as far as original Duo systems go... Really all of the retro games we all enjoy are getting to be 20+ years old now. Capacitors are typically given a 15 year or so lifespan. Some systems work fine with weak capacitors, others dont. In the case of the Duos, they used some early SMT capacitors that were prone to premature failure and leakage. So they're worse than most other systems that didn't use that style capacitor from that time period.

Duo R and RX systems havent shown capacitor issues yet. Though they're only a few years newer than the other systems so they may start to have problems in the future.

Unfortunately, all Turbo / PCE stuff is pricey compared to say SNES or Genesis. But dont let that deter you from getting into it. While I've spent WAY more than any other system on Turbo / PCE, I also get the most entertainment out of the turbo/pce stuff.

As far as $300+ on a workhorse...

Two examples, one if not both are already sold, but just as examples:

well under $300: http://www.pcenginefx.com/forums/index. ... ic=11517.0

even more under $300, and fully refurbed: http://www.pcenginefx.com/forums/index. ... ic=11523.0

[Breetai]

See gents, therein lies the catch. I dont want to pay 300+ for a work horse system, that is just asking too much.

That Doujidance guy on eBay is a pretty good source for modded loose Japanese Duos, but you have to be prepared to pay that much. The Duo situation is pretty ansurd if you think about it, even broken units go for over 100 regularly.

Also, you guys are making me nervous with all this fatalistic talk about caps. Surely it cannot be that bad.

Now you've got PCEngineFX guys coming over to help out. That's two of us now.

So, you don't want to pay $300 or so for a "work horse" NEC system, but you want to have one? Sorry, but you really won't find a better deal for one without going to Japan yourself or getting VERY lucky.

Here is a link for you: http://www.multimods.com/.
A region-free PC Engine Duo with all caps replaced is $240 shipped. This is legit. Also, he doesn't have it advertised on his site, but I know for a fact that he often has US Duos and will region-mod them and replace the caps for you. This is about as good as it gets until you get your minty Duo. If you want a very nice CIB Duo-R/RX, he changes in the $350-400 range for it fully updated and ready to go.

A CIB Duo in very good condition in Japan is around $200-250 from your average retro game shop.

As for the caps... yes, it really is that bad. First the sound goes. After some time, the leakage ends up near the area where your power and video connects due to poor heat circulation in that area (this was fixed on the Duo-R/RX). Eventually, the motherboard will be damanged and you'll end up with total system failure. I'm not making it up. That is a flaw in the Duo and was corrected on the R/RX series. This is why cap replacements on Duos is a necessity, as it will buy you another 5-20 years without leakage (hopefully). The portable TG/PCE unit has the same problem, as does the Sega Game Gear.


You are wanting a rare version (mint Turboduo) of an already rare console in the US. $100 for a broken unit is not absurd if you consider supply/demand.



Listen to BlueBMW here. He knows his stuff and it a notorious hoarder of PC Engine/Turbografx hardware, as well as being very knowledgeable and I'm pretty sure he does mods and fixes caps as well. He is the man and makes me look like an amateur when it comes to NEC stuff. (I wrote my post before I saw his second one)



Hey Beems, if you still have the Turboduo and don't mind region modding it, I might be interested.

[BlueBMW]

Listen to BlueBMW here. He knows his stuff and it a notorious hoarder of PC Engine/Turbografx hardware, as well as being very knowledgeable and I'm pretty sure he does mods and fixes caps as well. He is the man and makes me look like an amateur when it comes to NEC stuff. (I wrote my post before I saw his second one)

So I'm a hoarder now? I just like hardware ... a LOT

Oh and tggodfrey snatched that duo up the very same moment I posted the thread...

[Breetai]

Listen to BlueBMW here. He knows his stuff and it a notorious hoarder of PC Engine/Turbografx hardware, as well as being very knowledgeable and I'm pretty sure he does mods and fixes caps as well. He is the man and makes me look like an amateur when it comes to NEC stuff. (I wrote my post before I saw his second one)

So I'm a hoarder now? I just like hardware ... a LOT

Oh and tggodfrey snatched that duo up the very same moment I posted the thread...

F$%#!!! A$$hole, he is. No matter, I don't think I'll have good income until September anyway. Even then, f'n spousal support isn't fun.

I used to have all the hardware (except an LA and LT), so I like hoarding a bit. I had three AES consoles at one time. That was fun.

[theclaw]

Now that I think of it, I haven't seen a PAL game compatibility list for TurboGrafx.

If it's like SNES some may have bugs. I'm pretty sure I heard of issues with Final Fantasy 6.

[ApolloBoy]

Now that I think of it, I haven't seen a PAL game compatibility list for TurboGrafx.

The PAL TurboGrafx has the exact same compatibility as the TG-16, just that it runs at 50 Hz.