The Official Turbografx 16 Thread!

[Andromeda Stardust]

 

What's the big red button for? Fire extinguisher?

It controls the gain on the flux capacitor. Allows my NES to travel backwards in time...

 

j/k. It's a 10k volume pot that allows me to adjust the gain on the Powerpak expansion audio pin. Instead of simply using a 47k resistor, I've got a grounded audio pot allowing me to tweak the expansion audio level from zero to really loud. Expansion audio sounds perfectly balanced to the NES sound at about the two thirds position.

[Treg]

Hi there. Rather than starting a new thread, I hope posting here will be more appropriate. I have a Hucard question that I can't seem to find any answer to on google search, so I was hoping maybe anyone on this forum might have some insight.

 

I'm wondering if touching the black part of the Hucard can somehow damage the game or rom in some way? The reason I ask is I've recently played Air Zonk and there seems to be a number of glitches that pop up every so often while playing. I've had the game since I was a kid when it first came out and I don't remember noticing these before. I was thinking maybe I handled it wrong in some way years ago and now the game is wonky?

 

If you're familiar with Air Zonk here are a couple glitch examples. There was a time where I would get a certain weapon and when the fire button is pressed it only showed Zonk's animation for said weapon... but nothing coming out. But only that weapon! If you had anything else it was fine. Also there were times where you would collect the power-up to bring out your helper character and then nothing happens, they don't come out. Perhaps this is normal for every copy? Maybe I need to clean the contacts on the card? I think there was some warning about touching the black part of the Hucard would damage the game in manuals, but I can't find any detailed info about it or just how much truth there is to that.

 

Any help would be appreciated! Thanks.

Edited June 21, 2016 by Treg

[CatPix]

The back part on the Hu-card is merely a slab of tape glued over the ROM chips.

Touching it is like touching the white casing : does nothing.

 

Pressing on it might damage the glob-top ROMs, but that would require sheer pressure, not the pinch that a gamer normally do to grab a Hu-card.

 

 

Your game might need a cleaning. The contacts on the card mgiht look good by eyes, but they an be tarnished and oxyded enough that they don't correctly feed the signal to the system.

If they look like bronze colored, they probably need to be cleaned. Rubbign them with a bit of cardboard mgiht do the trick.

[Andromeda Stardust]

My Bonk II was pretty dirty. It failed to load, then when I got it to work, I made it to the stage two boss before it froze on me. I scrubbed the entire card with cotton balls and alcohol. Some sticky grease and finger prints on the card, including the pins, probably decades old pizza grease or something. Anyway with the card completely clean, never had any more issues. I got to the boss on stage four before getting my ass kicked. No glitches.

[Treg]

Your game might need a cleaning. The contacts on the card mgiht look good by eyes, but they an be tarnished and oxyded enough that they don't correctly feed the signal to the system.

If they look like bronze colored, they probably need to be cleaned. Rubbign them with a bit of cardboard mgiht do the trick.

 

Hm.. Cardboard huh? I also found a buying guide tip on ebay from 2006 saying to use a hi-polymer eraser. I've always used alcohol and a q-tip for cartridges, but I have never attempted to clean hucards so I'm a little cautious about it. Plus, the game is like super valuable these days. Hm.. What to do...?

 

I did take a look at the contacts on the card though. It looks like it might be a little bit dirty. I'm pretty sure it's the game that had the most use over the years.

Edited June 22, 2016 by Treg

[CatPix]

Yes, cardboard. It's silghty abrasive so it will remove oxydation and dirt, and is totally harmless for PCB. TRy it, you'll be surprised on how much dirt you'll remove with a bit for cardboard.

[Andromeda Stardust]

These just came in today from tg16pcemods.com...

 

Magical Chase, Bonk III, and Neutopia I+II

[Gentlegamer]

Please, don't start the collectard thing of posting photos of your buys with bootlegs.

[Andromeda Stardust]

What can I say? Turbokon of pcenginefx forums makes a slick product. These Huey repros are sandwiched PCB, look real but have a distinct non-plastic feel that's almost ceramic...

 

BTW, it's only "collectard" if you don't play them. Seriously anyone who has 3 grand laying around for Magical Chase isn't buying to play it...

[Gentlegamer]

It's collectard signaling when you spread out your stuff and post photos like that.

[7800fan]

It may be "bootleg" but it does not look like original so it can't be passed on eBay by dishonest seller claiming they are original worth over $500.

 

As long as it clearly looks like repro, and the original copyright owner hasn't been selling them for some years it's fine.

[Treg]

Yes, cardboard. It's silghty abrasive so it will remove oxydation and dirt, and is totally harmless for PCB. TRy it, you'll be surprised on how much dirt you'll remove with a bit for cardboard.

 

Tried it. Couldn't tell any difference by looking at the contacts afterwards.. so not sure if it did anything. I don't think anything came off on the cardboard. But I put it in and played thru it and no glitches came up, sooo good..? I guess. I still haven't beat it in the 20 years that I've had it.. I know it's probably really freakin easy to most shooter gamers, but I suck at them. Hopefully it's not a coincidence and no glitches will come up next time.

Edited June 24, 2016 by Treg

[+Black_Tiger]

It may be "bootleg" but it does not look like original so it can't be passed on eBay by dishonest seller claiming they are original worth over $500.

 

As long as it clearly looks like repro, and the original copyright owner hasn't been selling them for some years it's fine.

Unfortunately, collectards see repros as being even rarer than originals and are paying much more for them.

[CatPix]

 

Tried it. Couldn't tell any difference by looking at the contacts afterwards.. so not sure if it did anything. I don't think anything came off on the cardboard. But I put it in and played thru it and no glitches came up, sooo good..? I guess. I still haven't beat it in the 20 years that I've had it.. I know it's probably really freakin easy to most shooter gamers, but I suck at them. Hopefully it's not a coincidence and no glitches will come up next time.

Surface oxydation can leave no color and only a slight trace on the cardboard, but sometime that's enough to move things up. It could be useful to do the same with the conenctor to improve the quality of the connection.

Do to that, you can try to slide cardboard in, but in a so cramped connector, it mgiht leave cardboard fluff in, so my preferred method is to use a cloth with crystal vinegar or rubbing alcohol on a card connector, and insert and pull it multiple time, and wipe the card conenctor to remove dirt that the connector will leave on the card. Do it about a dozen times. It's quite a blind process, but this cannot hurt at all. Doing it on a regular basis (like every motnh or every two month, depending on how ofter you use your console) can be seen as maintenance for your system.

Of course it also work on any cart console.

[Andromeda Stardust]

Unfortunately, collectards see repros as being even rarer than originals and are paying much more for them.

How is $45 for a repro of a $3000 game paying too much? I fail to see the logic in that. Of course the Everdrive is only twice as much, but there's something nice in holding a tangible object.

[Andromeda Stardust]

Yes, cardboard. It's silghty abrasive so it will remove oxydation and dirt, and is totally harmless for PCB. TRy it, you'll be surprised on how much dirt you'll remove with a bit for cardboard.

 

 

 

Tried it. Couldn't tell any difference by looking at the contacts afterwards.. so not sure if it did anything. I don't think anything came off on the cardboard. But I put it in and played thru it and no glitches came up, sooo good..? I guess. I still haven't beat it in the 20 years that I've had it.. I know it's probably really freakin easy to most shooter gamers, but I suck at them. Hopefully it's not a coincidence and no glitches will come up next time.

 

 

Surface oxydation can leave no color and only a slight trace on the cardboard, but sometime that's enough to move things up. It could be useful to do the same with the conenctor to improve the quality of the connection.

Do to that, you can try to slide cardboard in, but in a so cramped connector, it mgiht leave cardboard fluff in, so my preferred method is to use a cloth with crystal vinegar or rubbing alcohol on a card connector, and insert and pull it multiple time, and wipe the card conenctor to remove dirt that the connector will leave on the card. Do it about a dozen times. It's quite a blind process, but this cannot hurt at all. Doing it on a regular basis (like every motnh or every two month, depending on how ofter you use your console) can be seen as maintenance for your system.

Of course it also work on any cart console.

Isopropanol and cotton balls is all you need.

 

If there's heavy crust on the contacts, a pink pearl eraser might be in order, but it is generally unnecessary.

[+Black_Tiger]

How is $45 for a repro of a $3000 game paying too much? I fail to see the logic in that. Of course the Everdrive is only twice as much, but there's something nice in holding a tangible object.

There have been many more PC Engibe bootlegs around for much longer than those, although someone already tried flipping one for $1500.

 

PCEWorks/HudsonSoftofJapan/Anime4ever has been selling bootlegs for hundreds to thousands of dollars a piece for probably a decade now.

Edited June 25, 2016 by Black_Tiger

[7800fan]

The problem is people don't know how to Google "where to buy repro" and save a whopping $1,450. So sellers takes advantage of ignorant buyers. Nothing we can do about it but to snub the greedy seller.

[+Black_Tiger]

The problem is people don't know how to Google "where to buy repro" and save a whopping $1,450. So sellers takes advantage of ignorant buyers. Nothing we can do about it but to snub the greedy seller.

 

Many sellers and buyers of "limited edition" repros brag about knowing exactly what they're buying/selling.

 

Other times a seller will say something stupid like "2nd print". If you buy a copy of a bogus 2nd print run of something because you know so little about the subject that you're dropping thousands of dollars on, you're not a collector, you're a collectard.

[Andromeda Stardust]

The problem is people don't know how to Google "where to buy repro" and save a whopping $1,450. So sellers takes advantage of ignorant buyers. Nothing we can do about it but to snub the greedy seller.

 

 

Many sellers and buyers of "limited edition" repros brag about knowing exactly what they're buying/selling.

 

Other times a seller will say something stupid like "2nd print". If you buy a copy of a bogus 2nd print run of something because you know so little about the subject that you're dropping thousands of dollars on, you're not a collector, you're a collectard.

Word. There was a Magical Chase (just like mine, white repro) in a jewel case with reproduction manual some asshat was trying to pass off for $1500 on eBay not long ago. There was a discussion about it on pcenginefx and folks tried to flag the auction. I don't know it it got pulled or some poor sap bought it thinking it was real. These new slick Hucard repros clearly state reproduction on the back of the card, and they are easy to distinguish on the front because there's no black area on the top of the card. They also feel very different when you hold them, like cold slick ceramic rather than warm plastic.

 

I wanted physical copies of Magical Chase, Bonk III, and the Neutopia Duology, and was not prepared to pay the hundreds or thousands these games sell for online. But I would never try to dupe anyone by reselling these as legit releases. There's a special place in Hades for people who try to scam over novice collectors with this repro crap.

[NE146]

On the subject of posting pics.. my mom just sent me whatever tg16 games of mine she could find.. just got them yesterday. It's been ages since I saw them..

 

 

It's missing a bunch though. Bonks Revenge, Legendary Axe 2, and sadly, Super Star soldier are among the missing. but better than nothing!

Edited June 27, 2016 by NE146

[7800fan]

Probably mixed in with some random CD stuff? The case do look the same at a glance since NEC copied CD design for Hucard and kept the CD standard same for CD games..

[CatPix]

For PC engine games, even the HuCard come in standard jewel cases ;D only the hucard tray is different... none of the two versions are very good. The latter one with the white hordler that use two little hooks to secure the hucard seelve is a bit better, but it's still not amazing.

[Andromeda Stardust]

For PC engine games, even the HuCard come in standard jewel cases ;D only the hucard tray is different... none of the two versions are very good. The latter one with the white hordler that use two little hooks to secure the hucard seelve is a bit better, but it's still not amazing.

I have noticed this too. Since starting to import Japan region games, I noticed some of them have ful color inserts underneath the tray like a standard jewel case. Others are like the Turbografx 16 cases with spine sticker and sometimes an additional circular decal on the back.

 

BTW, all my Japanese hucards either have white 3-piece jewel cases with rear inserts, or dark gray 2-piece jewel cases with no rear insert. Other notable differences, some Japanese games have holes punched in the Hucard sleeves. And Bomberman '94 comes in a standard white 3-piece jewel case, so presumably the late release Japanese Hucard games did not use cardboard boxes with plastic trays for holding games like most late release US Hucard games do.

 

For the record, all my games are complete CIC (Card in Case) except for the late release US Turbos that only came with cardboard box and plastic trays. Seems to be a fad now on eBay sellers who have a card + manual of late US games but missing the box it came with are affixing repro end labels on Hucard cases from cheap cannablized games, and selling them as "Card in Case" despite these titles were never available at retail in such a format. Slightly deceptive practice but it earns them more money as opposed to selling as loose with manual. Then there's the asshats that piece their games out because apparently the sum of the parts are worth more than the whole.

[CatPix]

From what I've read, latter US releases were handled by a different company that took in charge to export Turbo consoles, so it's probably around this point that they switched to cardboard sleeves to save money on a system that never really took off in the US.

 

In Japan, the sales were still solid enough that Hudson released the Arcade Card as late as 1994, so they had no reason to switch to cardboard cases.

Especially with NEC being (in Japan) a seller for various home stuff (like Sony and Philips) so they had plentiful of CD cases available; therefore no reason to cut down on Hu-card packaging.

Also unlike most US gamers, Japanese gamers are much more "hoarders".

If you got PC-Engine games, maybe you received some with a bit of folded paper with it?

If you did, and don't know what it's about, this paper bit was applied on the CD spine and held by the shrinkwrapping. Usually, this bit of paper would be lost as soon as you open the CD, but many Japanese gamers choose to slide it into the game box to keep it. It's a different mindset.

In this regard, switching to cheaper cardboard boxes could have been a bad move, even for an ageing system.

 

 

Spin cover loosely applied :

 

For the card sleeves, as I mentionned, the ones with holes goes into the white tray ones, that have two little hooks to secure the sleeve.

If you find a non-punched sleeve into a white case, it's probably because the original sleeve was lost, or swapped. Finding a sleeve with holes in a black plastic case mean the same, either swapping with a more recent sleeve, or someone bough a newer sleeve for his card.

 

About this, US card holder seems to feature a kind of tab that was glued on the side, that pin the card down? Or was this a kind of added thing seen in repros?

Edited June 28, 2016 by CatPix