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Internet Message Format | 1992-12-27 | 15.4 KB

Xref: bloom-picayune.mit.edu rec.games.video:41171 news.answers:4003 Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!micro-heart-of-gold.mit.edu!wupost!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!dziuxsolim.rutgers.edu!gandalf.rutgers.edu!pearl From: pearl@gandalf.rutgers.edu (Starbuck) Newsgroups: rec.games.video,news.answers Subject: Turbo-Grafx 16 Frequently Asked Questions Keywords: monthly informative posting Message-ID: <Nov.12.16.34.39.1992.19644@gandalf.rutgers.edu> Date: 12 Nov 92 21:34:39 GMT Followup-To: rec.games.video Organization: the Worlds Welfare Work Association, Rutgers Anime division Lines: 394 Approved: news-answers-request@mit.edu Archive-name: turbo-grafx/faq ====================== TurboGrafx 16 FAQ List ====================== Edited by Steve Pearl Last modified 92.10.13 This is a monthly posting for owners (and would be owners) of the TurboGrafx16 video game system. Changes/Additions since the previous posting: - Updated upcoming releases - Updated Manga-Chan information Information needed: - Will the Macintosh/CD interface work with the vanilla CD Player or just the Duo. - Are there any Hardware capability improvements in the Duo vs an expanded TG16? - How does one become a developer? Please send all additions/corrections/comments to: Internet: pearl@remus.rutgers.edu or Steve Pearl CI$: >internet: pearl@remus.rutgers.edu 359 Lloyd Rd GEnie: S.PEARL6 Aberdeen, NJ 07747-1826 o What is Turbo Technologies and what happened to NEC? NEC joined forces with Hudson-Soft (perhaps the largest game producer in the world!) to form a new company called Turbo Technologies. This new company will be responsible for marketing all of NEC's hardware and software. Turbo Technologies has already started to make changes in the way they are marketing the TG-16, including significantly lowering the prices on all the major hardware and announcing new and exciting new products. o What is Turbo Technologies address & phone number? 21330 Superior Street Chatsworth, CA 91311-4334 1-708-860-7952 (Information about the TG16 Hardware or Product Service) 1-900-FUN-TG16 (Game Tips) o Why a TG16? Aren't the other game systems (SNES, Genesis) better? -CD games available now. As most gamers who use other systems will soon find out, a CD-Rom unit is *the* item to get. It allows greater speed & graphics capability, more memory, and much better and more detailed games. Most cartridge games are measured in MegaBits (2 or 3 Megabit games). CD Games are measured in Megabytes. 650 Megabytes! This is equivalent to over 4000 Megabits! CD quality sound is included as well as fully animated intermission sequences. And the TG16 has it NOW! Along with a huge library of games! The CD Rom player is detachable (acts just like a portable CD player), plays regular CDs *AND* CD+G, and will be able to be used as a CD-ROM drive for other computers (Macs, PCs) in the future. - Inexpensive games Many of the games for the TG16 are retailing for around $20. A far cry from the $60+ that games for other systems seem to hover at. - Up to 5 players The TG16, with the addition of an inexpensive Turbo-tap, allows up to 5 people to play some of the games. You haven't had real fun until you've played 5 person Bomberman! - Compatability with Turbo Express The handheld game system with the best graphics (Turbo Express) is also 100% compatible with the regular TG16 cartridges. And a PC Engine adapter gets you access to 100's more games! - Plenty of Japanese Games The PC Engine (The Japanese version of the TG16) has more games available for it then any other system. How does this effect you? Easy! You can play the Japanese Hu-Card with the use of an adapter and the Japanese CD games don't even require that! - Into Japanese Animation? The PC Engine has the most Japanese Animation related games available for ANY system. Three "Ranma 1/2" CD games, a Macross CD game with original art by Haruhiko Mikimoto, Gunbuster!, Silent Mobius, Nadia, Yamato (Star Blazers), even Lodoss Wars! Believe me, I maintain the Anime related Videogame list and it was for those anime games that I bought my TG16. (See the Electronic Resources section) o So what does Turbo Technologies have planned for us? Plenty! At the recent Summer '92 CES they had several major announcements: They announced the Duo. For $299 you got a Duo (Tg16 + built-in CD Player) plus Ys I&II plus a disc with Bonks Adventure & Bonk's Revenge, Gates of Thunder on CD and a Ninja Spirit Hu-Card as well as a coupon book worth $50 for 10 games. (And you didn't even need to wait for a Law Suit like Nintendo owners! :-) They also announced the Super System Card for the regular TG16 CD System. For $95, you get the Super System card, as well as the Bonk/Gates CD and coupon book that come with the Duo! An inexpensive way to upgrade your TG16 CD system to the power of a Duo! Several Price cuts were announced as well: TG16 Console $69 CD Player $149 Turbo Express $199 Perhaps the most exciting news for us Computer users was the announcement that Turbo Technologies will be making an interface card to allow a Macintosh (and other computers, presumably) to use the TG16-CD as a CD Rom unit. (But not surprising when you consider that NEC produces most of the industry's CD Rom units anyway! o Hardware capabilities (Adapted from the regular rec.games.video FAQ edited by Ken Arromdee with corrections from other netters) _______________________ | | TG-16 | |---------------------- |Bits (CPU)| 8 + 8 | |Bits (Gx) | 16 | |CPU | Hu6280 | |APU (Aud) | | |MHz | 3.6 3.6| |Graphics | 256 x 216| | -2nd mode|512 x 262*| |Colors | 482/512*| |Sprites | 64 | | - size |3 different | |sizes with| | |1 size |_ | |programmable) |Audio | 6-lyr |- |RAM | 8K+64Kgx| |----------+----------+ |CD CPU/MHz|no CD=64K | (TG16 only) |CD RAM | SCD=256K | (TG16 only) | | NEC | (TG16 only) |----------+----------+ (TG16 only) |ScreenSize| 2.6" | (Turbo Express Only) |_____________________+ o Hardware/Game release schedule [Can anyone help with this??] Hardware: 10/92 TurboGrafx Duo 11/92 Super System Card Games: Upcoming Releases: (From the Club Turbo mailing) New Adv Island Sep 1P Action HuCard Order/Griffon Sep 1P RPG HuCard Soldier Blade Sep 1P Shooter HuCard Dead Moon Oct 1P Shooter HuCard Air Zonk Oct 1P Action HuCard Ghost Manor Oct 1P Action HuCard Shape Shifter Oct 1P Adv Super CD-ROM Prince of Persia Oct 1P Action " Shadow of Beast Nov 1P Action Super CD-ROM Dragon Slayer Nov 1P RPG " Loom Nov 1P RPG " Forgotten Worlds Nov 1P Shooter " Hit the Ice Nov 4P Sports HuCard Chase H.Q. Nov 1P HuCard Exile Dec 1P RPG CD-Rom Somer Assault Dec 1P HuCard Time Cruise Dec 1P Pinball HuCard Shockman Dec 2P Shooter HuCard Samurai Ghost Dec 1P Action HuCard Darkwing Duck Dec 1P HuCard Buster Bros Jan 2P Action CD-ROM Camp California Jan 1P Action Super CD-Rom Magical Chase Jan 1P Shooter HuCard Lords Of Thunder Feb 1P Shooter Super CD-Rom Legend of Tonma Feb 2P Action HuCard Dungeon Explorer2 Mar 5P RPG Super CD-Rom Riot City Mar 1P Action Super CD-Rom World Sports Mar 5P Sports HuCard Bomberman '93 Mar 5P Action HuCard o Which American Gaming magazines provide the best coverage of the TG16 gaming scene? Most of the major gaming magazines provide lack-luster coverage for the TG16, mainly because not much has been happening as of late. However, in light of the recent announcements from Turbo Technologies made at the Summer '92 CES, there will probably be much better coverage in the future. Until more happens in the TG16 arena, it is difficult to say which magazine provides the best coverage. You may wish to check out the magazines on a month-by-month basis. Popular gaming magazines include "Videogame & Computer Entertainment", "Electronic Gaming Monthly", and "Game Pro". o Are there any Turbo only magazines available? Yes. There are two magazines currently available. The first is called TurboPlay and is published Bi-Monthly by L.F.P. Inc. Single issues are $1.95 and a one year (6 issue) subscription is $9. A coupon for a free sample issue is published in Video Games & Computer Entertainment magazine. (Same publisher!) Their address is: L.F.P. Inc 9171 Wilshire Blvd. Suite 300 Beverly Hills, CA 90210 (Ack! I know the Zip Code for Beverly Hills by heart! :-) A second magazine which has just been started is called Turbo Force and is going to focus on Multimedia & CD games. o Are there multi-game cartridges/CDs available for the TG16? Aside from the Turbo Duo pack-in game containing Bonks I, II, and gates Of Thunder there is a multi-game sports CD available in Japan. o What is the access time and transfer rate on the SCSI Turbo Duo CDROM? [Waiting for TTI to send me the data] o Sources for games: According to a recent ad by Turbo Technologies, the following places sell the TG16: Toys R Us, Babbages, Electronic's Boutique, The Good Guys, McDuffs, Software /etc, Video Concepts, Walden Software, and through the Sears Catalog. Other known retailers include Chips & Bits, and Totally Turbo [P.O. Box 2335 Libertyville, Ilinois 60198 Phone: 1-800-368-0054] o What is the Super CD? The Super CD is the CD player with a Super CD System card. This card has a revised BIOS (Operating system) and more memory, thus allowing faster and better games. Some games from Japan are Super CD only. Others take advantage of the extra memory with more levels and intermissions. o Would the Duo be Super CD Rom compatible? Yes o Will NEC/TT release a Super System Card upgrade like they did in Japan? Yes. It will retail for $95 and contain the Super System card as well as the same multi-game CD that will be packaged with the Duo. It will be also available without the CD for $65. o Can a Japanese Super System Card be used with an American TG16 & CD-Rom if a PCE- >TG16 adaptor is used? Yes, but I have heard that some of the cards are "touchy" about the adapters and may not work all the time. o What is a PC Engine? (edited from the regular rec.games.video FAQ) PC ENGINE/COREGRAFX: Alhough they look different, they are essentially the same as Turbografx-16. Cartridge games are not compatible, but you can buy adapters for $20-30 through many mail order places (get a game magazine and check the ads). In theory there can be an adapter in the other direction, but I've never heard of any. CD-ROM games (and, according to rumor, Super CD-ROM games) are compatible without adapters; the Super CD-ROM expansion (3.0 card plus 256K memory) will also work in a TG-16 with adapter (in case you can't wait for the US version). Buying an adapter may well be worthwhile since the PC Engine is very popular in Japan, and many games released for it never reach the US. (So far. This may change.) Note: The CD-ROM2 is the counterpart of the CD, not the super-CD. SUPERGRAFX: No US counterpart. (The Supergrafx is an enhanced PC Engine and can play PC Engine games without modification, though of course these are hard to get in the US.) o PC Engine Magazines: There are three monthly magazines devoted to the PC Engine in Japan. They are: 1) Marukashi (Win!) PC Engine 2) PC Engine Fan 3) Gekkan (Monthly) PC Engine (Subtitled: Monthly magazine for Game Freaks) These magazines contain mostly Japanese text (although there is a surprising amount of English) and contain reviews, previews, full colour pictures on glossy paper. They can be purchased at most Japanese bookstores for about $7-$8 each. Some mail order Game businesses sell them for about $12-15 each. o How popular is the TG16/PCE in Japan? It seems to be very popular. The PC Engine has always been technologically innovative and has a huge library of game software. The fact that there are THREE monthly magazines devoted to this game system should say something. I would say that it is at least the second most popular system if not the first. o Where can I purchase Japanese games for the TG16? Just remember that you need an adapter for Hu Card games... (A more complete list is available in the Japanese Videogame Sources list. See the Electronic Resources section for more info) Die Hard -------- 19640 Ventura Blvd. Tarzana, CA 91356 Orders: 818-774-2000 Information/Customer Service: 818-774-2005 Gametronix ---------- 1606 Quarter Path Richmond, TX 77469 Orders: 713-341-6868 Game Dude --------- PO Box 8325EG Van Nuys, CA 91409 Orders: 818-764-2442 Game Express ------------ 11390 Ventura Blvd., Suite 1 North Hollywood, CA 91604 Orders: 818-760-4263 Marketing International ----------------------- 19 Milliken Blvd. Scarborough, Ontario Canada M1V 4A2 Orders: 416-321-6516 Manga-chan/Video Addict-chan ----------------- 1750 30th St. #312 Boulder CO 80301 [Manga-chan is a new mail-order shopping service that will export just about anything from Japan. They specialize in manga, anime, and TV games, but are willing to buy everything from the newest electronics to antique kimono. For more information, please contact (manga@oldcolo.com) or write to the above address. International orders are welcome.] o Can American games be played on a Japanese PC Engine? No. Although it would seem as if only an adapter to switch the pinouts is needed, there is a built in "protection" that prevents TG16 games from being played on a PCE. But since the price of the TG16 has come down to $70 retail (including 2 games and a turbopad), perhaps the answer is to purchase a TG16 for playing Turbochip (Hu-Card) games on. Not the best solution but certainly a workable one. o What about the Super CD-ROM and Duo for the TG-16? The Duo is currently available in the US. The Super System Card upgrade will be out in November/December. o Electronic Resources: Digital Games Review Digest: To subscribe, send mail to digital-games@ digital-games.intuitive.com. To obtain back issues, send mail to info@limbo.intuitive.com containing the lines "help" and "listall Digital.Games". Clarence Din's Review list: Clarence Din (din@grad1.cis.upenn.edu) maintains a collection of game reviews for TG16. They are usually posted every Friday but you can always email him for the current articles. Japanese mail order sources: Maintained by Steve Pearl (pearl@remus.rutgers.edu) Posted monthly. Available by email upon request. Anime related Video games: A list of Video games based on Japanese animated shows. Maintained by Steve Pearl (pearl@remus.rutgers.edu) Posted monthly. Available by email upon request. PC Engine Game Directory: A listing of all known PC Engine games with as much information on them as possible. Maintained by Steve Pearl (pearl@remus.rutgers.edu) Posted monthly. Available by email upon request. TG16 Cheats list: A listing of Cheats/Passwords/Hints for the TG16 and PC Engine. Maintained by Steve Pearl (pearl@remus.rutgers.edu) Posted monthly. Available by email upon request. [NOT FINISHED YET] TG16 Product/Price list: A listing of all current TG16 games and a survey of prices from various retail sources. Maintained by Steve Pearl (pearl@remus.rutgers.edu) Posted monthly. Available by email upon request.