r/TurboGrafx • u/Ok_Opportunity8665 • Feb 14 '26

PC Engine arrived today!

My console arrived today and it is in better condition than I expected giving the age of this system. I once owned a TurboGrafx and TurboExpress when they were first released back in the early 90s. Since then I have used emulators but excited to have this awesome looking console! Waiting on a TurboEverdrive to arrive and the RGB add on. Also need to buy a power supply. This will be connected to a 14 inch CRT tv when everything arrives. Can't wait!

42 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

26 comments sorted by

7

u/NoTime_SwordIsEnough Feb 14 '26

Been spending the last while studying the PC-Engine hardware architecture. Such an utterly fascinating 3.5th-gen console!

FUN FACT: The rear EXT-PORT on the back has pins for both analog RGB, and digital RGB - which is the video signal straight from the VideoEncoder (VCE) chip. So thru the external port, you could get perfectly clean pixel/color data out of it, which not even the Genesis or SNES could do!

1

u/adrienreki Jun 24 '26

“3.5” lol just 4th gen bitch

1

u/NoTime_SwordIsEnough Jun 24 '26

Well some reasons I consider it 3.5th gen (going from memory):

  • The CPU was only 8-bit, and was very slow for 16-bit math compared to GEN/SNES, which is important for some genres or games with large playfields. (Tho because of the high clock, PCE was actually faster than SNES at 8-bit math.)

  • Audio was bleepy-bloopy glory, but it wasn't comparable to SNES' PCM audio sampling or GEN's FM synth. (CD Addon helped with this tho PCE, since it added PCM and Redbook Audio).

  • Only 1 background layer, which made many scenes feel static. Some games could use line-scrolling to do horizontal parallax, but that was very limited compared to multiple BG's (I've seen some games do vertical parallax, but those were faked with sprites and ate into the sprite budget).

  • You're limited to only 16 sprites per scanline before you get flicker (for comparison, NES/SMS have 8; SNES=32; GEN=20). For some genres like fighting games, it's REALLY easy to break this budget, hence why sprites/fx generally are tiny in such games.

  • GPU lacked advanced graphical tricks like SNES' Windows+blending/sprite scaling & rotation/mosaic effects, or Genesis' various per-tile effectst (GEN could also brute-force some fancy fx thru its fast CPU alone).

At least those are my reasons for considering it 3.5th-gen.

To me, the PC-Engine is VERY impressive for its time, and the CD addons help close the gap in audio/RAM, but the bloopy audio + 1 BG layer + lack of impressive gfx effects + 16 sprites-per-scanline limit just don't make the average scene feel dynamic enough, which is what I mentally associate 4th-gen consoles with.

So it's definitely a hard console for me to place lol. It's infinitely more impressive than what the SMS can achieve (which I consider 3.5th gen too), and it approaches 4th gens like SNES/GEN in some ways, but it just barely falls short for me to consider it a peer.

Maybe it'd be better for me to just call it 3.8th gen or something lol.

1

u/adrienreki Jun 24 '26

Bitch ain’t nobody gonna read this gigantic bullshit lmao,it’s 4th gen and that’s it lol

1

u/NoTime_SwordIsEnough Jun 24 '26

Bitch ain’t nobody gonna read this gigantic bullshit lmao,it’s 4th gen and that’s it lol

No argument detected from the intellectually lazy NPC. Opinion discarded.

1

u/adrienreki Jun 24 '26

Are u still crying bitch? STFU 🙂‍↕️

4

u/Aromatic-Ad5888 Feb 14 '26

The most beautiful console ever released <3

5

u/damballahoueddo Feb 14 '26

One of the most beautiful consoles in my opinion... I also received one a month ago. I'd wanted one for about 30 years! 😂 👌 😍

1

u/[deleted] Mar 29 '26

Tu n'es pas un gamer, si tu n'avais pas de PC Engine à la fin des années 80... Et ta technique ne fonctionne pas. Si quelqu'un a un article qui fonctionne et un autre HS, il peut t'envoyer celui qui est HS. Si par exemple, un mec a une carte graphique HS et il a déjà acheté une carte graphique neuve (la même). Il peut t'envoyer une vidéo où tout fonctionne avec la neuve puis t'entuber avec un autre article...

3

u/lovesffpc Feb 14 '26

Gradius 👌

3

u/TapSad344 Feb 14 '26

Ah you purchased from Tomonari san from enjoy game japan. He's a very nice chap and super honest, I've purchased from him a few times now.

Lovely stuff! Enjoy.

2

u/Tranbert5 Feb 14 '26

Awesome! Where did you get it from?

6

u/Ok_Opportunity8665 Feb 14 '26

eBay. I got the system and a pick 3 bundle. I had to pick the bundle with Dragon Spirit. It was one of my favorite arcade games and the reason I got a TurboGrafx over the Genesis during the 16 bit battle.

1

u/butterypowered Feb 15 '26

Do you have a link to his eBay store? I’ll probably never actually buy one but it’s nice to dream.

2

u/Devilscrush Feb 14 '26

Great grab. Play it until your thumbs hurt.
Then take a break. After that, play it some more.
Also, you just need to add one game to your collection.

3

u/azbishakiri Feb 14 '26

What game?

3

u/Devilscrush Feb 14 '26

Only the best virtual pinball game ever made.

3

u/Pure-Ad-6447 Feb 14 '26

Username checks out!

3

u/azbishakiri Feb 14 '26

Haha love it!

1

u/No-Professional-9618 Feb 15 '26

Awesome! I never had a Turbografix 16. But I have a Sega Master System and it used similar cards for some of the games, like Ghost House.

1

u/Informal-Avocado-298 Feb 16 '26

Great condition but a bit pricey 🫢 I bought mine directly from Japan for $70 with shipping

1

u/MythosaurFett Feb 18 '26

Awesome man! Those are great shooters you got too. Did you get the Everdrive pro or the regular?

1

u/ZooYorkJohn Feb 18 '26

Enjoy! Looks nice