| smbhax [sys=PCE; cat=Hardware; reg=JPN] |
| | | There were tons of different PC Engine (aka TurboGrafx) consoles, but this is one of the handier ones, being able to play everything except SuperGrafx games (although you need to get an "Arcade Card Duo" if you want to play any of the Arcade games (they aren't really that worth it, though). Oh, well, it also can't play US HuCard games, unless you get an adapter thingy. US CD-ROM games it can do just fine, though. There's a HuCard slot on the left, and a Super CD-ROM drive on the right. Pretty slick, really, and the curved white system looks pretty sleek, even if it isn't stackable.
PC Engines had built-in memory, and this one is no exception: it can hold saves for uh a couple dozen games. Apparently, as long as you power it on at least once every few months, the saves will stay there indefinitely. You can't really transfer them or back them up, unless maybe you get one of those third-party memory doohickies, but oh well.
HuCards are kind of like thick credit-card sized things. Very neat, and cartridge-like right down to the no-load-times. The CD-ROM-based games can of course store much more data, but the Duo was processor and memory-limited enough that it couldn't really make much use of this storage space, aside from using excellent Redbook audio music tracks in the games. As a nice side effect, this means that you can listen to many of the soundtracks simply by sticking the game CD-ROM in your CD player.
The big power light in top, above the DUO-R logo, only comes on if you're running a CD-ROM game. This freaks me out every once in a while when I switch the system on with a HuCard game in there (if you have both a HuCard game and a CD-ROM game in, the HuCard game is loaded) and forget that I need to switch my A/V box over to the Duo's setting, because I tend to think that if the light isn't on, the system is broken. Silly me! Although I have to say that it is weird how, if you power up with no HuCard game and a CD-ROM in the system, you have to push Start to get the game to load. And if you want to get to the memory save management screen you push some other button, but I forget which one that is at the moment. Maybe Select.
The Duo has only one controller port, which is annoying, particularly because the official five-port multitap just dangles down limply and feels like its weight is going to pull it out.
The stock pad looks like the buttons are too low to be comfortable, but it actually works quite well--I even find it more comfortable than an NES pad. The Duo pads are white and have six action buttons. Their cords are a little too short, but you can buy third-party extension cables. Curiously, the cable connections look just like computer PS/2 jacks.
The system's video output quality, through bog-standard A/V composite cables, leaves a lot to be desired, with nasty color bleeding and just weird static noise around high-contrast edges. Some folks have come up with a way to mod it to S-video, which would be nice, if I knew anyone I trusted to do that.
In action, the hardware can pump along some pretty impressive stuff, considering its age. Arcade-style vertical or horizontal shooters did particularly well on the system. You can look up the tech specs for yourself, but the PCE could pump way more colors and sprites, especially large sprites, than its great rival, the Famicom (aka NES), and it could do it without the Famicom's trademark sprite flickering. Heck, it made a nearly-believable go at Neo-Geo level with some of its Arcade Card games, but there the memory limitations hamper its ability to do large, colorful, and highly-animated sprites.
Still, it kicks ass. If you like older 2D games, particularly shooters or platformers, it's well worth checking out. |
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| | | Download added: acadaptor.jpg (13844 bytes)
"The Duo-R's AC adaptor."
I'm hooking my video directly into my new projector these days rather than running it through an upscan converter like I used to have to do, and it looks pretty decent--better than I remember it looking, although I still see a weird flashy pixel here or there.
As far as I know, you can use the Duo-R's native power source/plug in a US wall jack just fine; at any rate, that's what I've always done with mine--no power converter or anything--and it hasn't had a problem yet. |
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| | | The boot menu (start the console with no HuCard inserted, press Select at the console title screen) lets you edit or format the internal RAM save game storage:
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| | | ^ I should note that my Duo-R has just been modified with RGB video out, so it's much more crisp now than the old composite video out.
Modded by RetroFools--they also replaced the Duo-R's capacitors (which apparently can go bad and/or cause discolored bars across the screen?), and fixed the controller port, which had come loose or something and was causing the console to act as if all the controller's buttons were being pressed at once, unless you kept firm downward pressure on the controller's plug. |
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| smbhax 14:55:09 08/02/22 [sys=PCCD] |
| | | The Duo-R plays Super CD-ROM² games. The "ROM²" is pronounced as "rom rom":
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| | | | (That ad was for the CD-ROM², not the Super CD-ROM².) |
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| | | My all-too-tiny list of PCE games I like that also have relatively small amounts of flashing stuff:
Double Dragon II: The Revenge (entry 505)
Nekketsu Koukou Dodge Ball Bu: PC Bangaihen (entry 447)
Pomping World (entry 458)
Riot Zone / Crest of Wolf (entry 460 / entry 466) |
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| | | Auction: https://www.ebay.com/itm/146178190815
I'm selling my used RGB-out PC Engine Duo-R, with its original box. I had it recapped, RGB'd, and the controller port fixed--it had been a little loose and unreliable--about five years ago. Have barely used the unit since--it's just been sitting in my cupboard. : ) I tested it just before boxing it up and found it to be fully functional and working perfectly!
The PC Engine Duo-R is a Japanese video game console and CANNOT PLAY U.S. TurboGrafx "TurboChip" games. It CAN play Japanese HuCard games, Japanese PC Engine CD-ROM² and Super CD-ROM² games, and US TurboGrafx-CD and TurboDuo CD-based games.
For sale are these seven items together:
- Recapped NEC PC Engine Duo-R console with "VER 3.00" BIOS and RGB out
- NEC PAD-129 "AC Adaptor" power brick (for Duo-R)
- NEC beige 2-button control pad for Duo-R
- PCE / TurboGrafx-16 RGB Euroscart CSYNC video cable for the RGB video-out
- the original PC Engine composite video cable (untested, not sure it's even compatible with the RGB-modded video port!)
- original PC Engine Duo-R box with Styrofoam inserts
- Brook "P3/P4 to MD/Gen/PCE Controller Adapter" (supports various PS3 and PS4 controllers on the PC Engine; note: it DOESN'T work in a PC Engine multitap)
Please note that the paint brushes seen in the background of some of the photos are NOT included. : )
And since recording the video showing my save files in the BIOS "Backup RAM" display, I have tested and formatted the Backup RAM--so those old save files are not included!
The Duo-R's exterior has some light scratches and discoloration. The control pad is yellowed. Everything works well, but I did not test the turbo switches on the control pad, so I'm not sure about those.
The cables/adaptor/adapters are fully working, except possibly the old composite video cable, which I was not able to test (and which may not even be compatible with the new RGB-modded video-out port--not sure about that!).
The box has wear along the edges and corners, and four small dents on one of the sides. All box flaps are intact. The two original Styrofoam packing inserts have some wear on their interior dividers. |
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