The Official Turbografx 16 Thread!

[CZroe]

That's a damn shame, but at least the so called junk PCE cheapo ended up working so that's a good thing.

 

I really want to see some english speaking UGX-02 owners do some serious reviews of that thing covering the full feature set and menu of the beast, on top of what kind of cable kung fu is needed to pop it into a HDMI port before I'd consider plunking down that kind of insane scratch on it.

Between this and the Old Skool PGS controller issue, I’m really starting to get burned on early adopter stuff, but hey: now that I have a PC Engine, I finally have a use for that Old Skool controller’s TG16 to PCE/Duo adapter.

 

 

The small wire is just one of those male to female DuPont connectors I used to make this super-temporary test setup.

 

I know you can do better with time but I was surprised to see that the cheapest PCE/CG/CGII on eBay ($44.99) happened to be in the USA (MI). Even if one might pop up in Japan soon for cheaper I didn’t want to keep the UGX in limbo longer. Despite no controller or power supply, it wasn’t TOTALLY bare, since it did have a “F1 Circus ‘91” game. Perfect for testing and eliminates the need to switch the Turbo Everdrive to PCE mode. It was even lower risk since I could probably use one of the chips to repair a particular TG16 board if the PCE didn’t work and couldn’t be fixed easily.

 

I briefly considered setting the RF to CH6 like Displaced Gamers recently demonstrated with his Famicom before I just ordered another Ten No Koe 2. $13 from FL, but that’s primarily for doing another RGB/AV mod that plugs onto the back (DIY Turbo Booster+). Seller also had a $4 TG16 game I didn’t already own and that’s impulse-priced so those are en route now. Having a PCE also means I can use an Arcade Card without an import adapter, so I’m trying to get one of those to demonstrate with the UGX. I never expected a broken UGX-02 to trigger so many purchases but I’m not regretting any yet. Almost bought a $40 shipped IFU30 “briefcase” Interface Unit too, since I already have the CD drive for my Turbo CD dock... still might!

 

It’s shaping up to be a pretty comprehensive review!

 

DVI>HDMI is super simple. For all intents and purposes, DVI=HDMI after a simple dongle or DVI to HDMI cable. DVI to HDMI even carries digital audio. Unlike early OSSC units, analog audio output is there primarily for DVI displays that don’t do audio over DVI (like my Trinitrons XBR910). I have the digital audio mod for my early OSSC and I often forget it’s not HDMI since being DVI is ultimately of no consequence.

 

Lots of people already have dongles around that were originally included with old video cards/PCs but I prefer a full DVI to HDMI cable. Dongles typically extend the rigid protrusion from where your cables connect to your device, which can be accidentally levered off the port much more easily. Not good for an expensive device! Coming out sideways makes it even more awkward. Same advice for UltraHDMI users: A rigid mini HDMI Type-C cable puts your expensive and much-harder to replace UltraHDMI kit at risk!

 

Hopefully I’ll be able to demonstrate all this before long. I’ve been waiting for an English-perspective too... over a year! FBX and RetroRGB clearly missed a lot so it became one of those “might as well do it myself” situations.

Edited April 18, 2019 by CZroe

[+jeremiahjt]

Going off these two paragraphs, there are some games that save more to the TurboBooster+ et al. than you can get with a password. Is this correct? If this is correct, do you know what games fall into this category? And how much more data is saved, i.e. is it worth it?

Now, HuCard games kept getting made and developers had the same decision about password (free) versus SRAM ($$$) except now they had a third option: CD RAM (also free). Obviously, they couldn’t count on the CD hardware for a HuCard game or else they’d have made the game a CD game, so it needed to have a password too. This is where the “just saves a password” idea comes from... though the password can be super long and unwieldy and not transfer everything, like the huge Gold, Silver, and Bronze passwords for transferring your game without a link cable between Golden Sun and Golden Sun The Lost Age (GBA).

The alternative if you didn’t have CD hardware was a huge and unwieldy password that may not even have everything. This, understandably, annoyed some players. Those who didn’t have CD hardware still wanted to use the “Voice From Heaven” functions, so we got the Ten No Koe 2 docking hardware, which docks with the back of a PC Engine and replicates the CD dock’s backup RAM without the rest of the CD hardware... only now the memory is powered by AA batteries instead of a super capacitor.

[Tanooki]

Actually these days $45 for a PCE anything without an optical drive is quite good. The Japanese got tired of US flippers making money off them it appears as in the last year they had gone from that to like double that price almost for the systems, at least for verified units, not lucky gets off of their JUNK classification listings.

 

 

I'll be curious to see where this goes and eventually with a working UGX2. I've considered that briefcase device before but I just can't make myself pop for it and the CD unit. I know it's a good move if I wanted to get into DISCs, but they're so damned expensive unless you just want a bunch of lousy burns, but at that rate the UGX02 starts again making more sense adding it all up. NEC stuff just got so toxic price wise outside of just Japanese HuCards so that's where I've stayed and I'm around 27+ of them at this moment, the majority complete.

[DragonGrafx-16]

I got mine for $50 imported from Japan.... tested as working. Only it did not come with a any accessories.

[CZroe]

Going off these two paragraphs, there are some games that save more to the TurboBooster+ et al. than you can get with a password. Is this correct? If this is correct, do you know what games fall into this category? And how much more data is saved, i.e. is it worth it?

It’s really just musing... thinking about the impacts it would have to have had. Like, more complex save data is inevitable for the games that would benefit most from backup RAM... and yet the games still have to support passwords. That creates a number of constraints even with the backup RAM.

 

There are definitely examples of HuCard titles doing stuff like letting you put in your own stats and then using a password checksum if you didn’t have backup RAM (Susa-no-Oh Densetsu). Letting you rename your character every time by not including it in the password/checksum makes sense too, though I don’t know if that game even let you name characters. Heck, many games probably stuck to default names just to reduce password complexity. You can see how such considerations can affect a lot more development decisions than whether or not the player can name characters.

 

There could be examples of HuCard titles with varying levels of save detail like Golden Sun but most card titles that use the backup RAM for more than scores and such are untranslated Japanese RPGs. The language barrier make it something I can only muse about, since searching for such info in English isn’t very useful and I can’t just familiarize myself with all those games.

 

Actually these days $45 for a PCE anything without an optical drive is quite good. The Japanese got tired of US flippers making money off them it appears as in the last year they had gone from that to like double that price almost for the systems, at least for verified units, not lucky gets off of their JUNK classification listings.

 

 

I'll be curious to see where this goes and eventually with a working UGX2. I've considered that briefcase device before but I just can't make myself pop for it and the CD unit. I know it's a good move if I wanted to get into DISCs, but they're so damned expensive unless you just want a bunch of lousy burns, but at that rate the UGX02 starts again making more sense adding it all up. NEC stuff just got so toxic price wise outside of just Japanese HuCards so that's where I've stayed and I'm around 27+ of them at this moment, the majority complete.

Good ol’ supply and demand. PCE stuff is getting harder to find in Japan these days as a direct result of the rest of the world’s late interest.

 

I have the CD dock thanks to a good trade just before the SSDSys3 was announced. There was no cheaper option at the time than refurbishing a junk CD-ROM², and that dock only cost me a Turbo Everdrive (about $86 to replace). Still, I probably would not have even looked for one if I knew there were at least two ODE options coming at the time. The other one came in a crazy good deal almost exactly a year later:

Note the pretty good deal on a boxed system in January too. Dude even threw in a copy of Victory Run! Not sure how I even found that one (spelling) but I FINALLY got a rear cover I can model and 3D print replacements for the other consoles.

 

Anyway, those dock deals are the only reason I already have PC Engine CD-ROM² drives I can switch to an IFU, so they’re the only reason I could justify getting one. Obviously, I don’t plan to keep all this but I like to add value first (RGB mods, controller adapters, replacement covers, etc) and I’ve been very slow at that! No one’s going to pay extra for this kind of AV mod You probably couldn’t justify it the same way so, in your case, I’d definitely do what you’re doing and look for an ODE solution first... unless you happen to get an awesome deal on a working CD-ROM² drive.

 

I’m still hunting for an unsalvageable CD-ROM² drive to salvage IC108 (NEC D78C14GF 585) for my NEC CDR-35D. That’s all it needs to operate like a PC Engine CDR-30A-01 or HES-CDR-01

Looks just like a wrong-color Turbo-CD! PCE CD-ROM² drive has the disc window at the front of the lid instead of across the top. I strongly suspected the ROM built into that programmable MCU was the only difference and the creator of Rikki & Vikki recently confirmed that for me on Twitter ( @tailchao ).

[CZroe]

I got mine for $50 imported from Japan.... tested as working. Only it did not come with a any accessories.

Yep. That’s what everyone said was the going rate back when the SSDSys3 launched over a year ago. They almost immediately jumped to $80+ for tested-functional ones not sold as “junk.”

[CatPix]

Speaking of retro HuCards... what the heck are these?

 

 

They don’t even try to look legit. One of them says it’s an unofficial development thing, kinda like Bung backup hardware... but it’s clearly made from a real HuCard. That copy of Raiden has no artwork and still says Nichibutsu on the bottom (should say Hudson Group Hudson Soft). At $60 plus shipping, it isn’t cheap... not even relative to a loose original (~$20 difference).

 

With no case/inserts, no manual, no sleeve, no art, wrong text... I can’t imagine that anyone who wouldn’t be satisfied with a flash cart would be satisfied with that... effort. $20 more would net the real thing. I doubt something like that would satisfy people who want to point to that game on their shelf and take comfort knowing they “have” it.

 

The other question I have is “how?” How did they “rewrite” a HuCard? Don’t the originals use COB production methods? There shouldn’t be a place to solder on replacement flash/EEPROMs. If this is easier to do than I thought, I’d like to know so I can internally rewire a few Japanese System Cards.

 

Now, thanks to Deunan, I have seen inside a Super System Card and it doesn’t seem to use the extra bulk for anything at all...

 

Everything that makes it a Super System Card fits within the profile of a standard HuCard. You can definitely see the epoxy blobs from COB manufacturing. Replacing those with a chip of your own would be a nightmare. Where would you even begin?! Of course, they epoxied the other chips too.

 

It's possible that what you see here is a later model.

Hudson/Nec sold regular PC-Engines up to the end of the PC-Engine line in 1996, also there was still the possibility that early buyers would want to upgrade to CD-ROM, so evenrything was sold up to 1996. It doesn't sounds too far stretched to imagine that between the Super System Card of 1991 and the one of 1996 they cut corners by using cheaper and smaller components, therefore eliminating the need to use the large shell. But they probably kept using it so customers wouldn't be confused.

For pirate Hu-cards, I have seen a few. Some are like regular Hu-cards, but made with less quality (hard to see on picture), the most notable and common being the PC-Card :

Some were made in small quantities, usually for Asian PC-Engine and never sold on the Japanese market.

Those tend to use regular and old ROM chips and require a massive shell.

That dark brown PC shown on your pic and for the Hu-card for sale is suspicious. I'm under the impression that this kind of PCB appeared only in the mid-90's. It would be surprising to find many Hu-card games using it, given that by 1995, production of Hu-card and PC-Engine games in general stalled.

To me, those Hu-cards for sale are probably reproduction sold as rewritable hu-cards, but I could be wrong of course.

Edited April 18, 2019 by CatPix

[CZroe]

 

It's possible that what you see here is a later model.

Hudson/Nec sold regular PC-Engines up to the end of the PC-Engine line in 1996, also there was still the possibility that early buyers would want to upgrade to CD-ROM, so evenrything was sold up to 1996. It doesn't sounds too far stretched to imagine that between the Super System Card of 1991 and the one of 1996 they cut corners by using cheaper and smaller components, therefore eliminating the need to use the large shell. But they probably kept using it so customers wouldn't be confused.

For pirate Hu-cards, I have seen a few. Some are like regular Hu-cards, but made with less quality (hard to see on picture), the most notable and common being the PC-Card :

Some were made in small quantities, usually for Asian PC-Engine and never sold on the Japanese market.

Those tend to use regular and old ROM chips and require a massive shell.

That dark brown PC shown on your pic and for the Hu-card for sale is suspicious. I'm under the impression that this kind of PCB appeared only in the mid-90's. It would be surprising to find many Hu-card games using it, given that by 1995, production of Hu-card and PC-Engine games in general stalled.

To me, those Hu-cards for sale are probably reproduction sold as rewritable hu-cards, but I could be wrong of course.

The ones in the eBay pic are still on eBay if you want a closer look. They’ve been in my watch list for a couple months (seller: hit-japan; IIRC).

 

They are definitely made from real HuCards, hence the wrong logos on the bottom and the text sticker labels applied over the original artwork. It’s almost like they have literally written over original HuCards, as their wording also implies!

Edited April 18, 2019 by CZroe

[+GoldenWheels]

Saw one of the PCE 4 in 1 cards online a while back and it was RIDICULOUSLY priced. I'd really like to have that funky little weird thing.

 

Anyone got any experience with a Cyber Stick on a PCE via a x68000 Micomsoft adapter? I can get Operation Wolf and Afterburner II to go into analog mode...but not Out Run, Space Harrier, or Thunder Blade. Believe there might be a sixth analog game too I am forgetting)

[Rick Dangerous]

Apparently i left my TG 16 on for about 6 months....lol. It is currently in the shop getting the caps replaced and an LED power light installed. NOT doing that again....lol

[CZroe]

Apparently i left my TG 16 on for about 6 months....lol. It is currently in the shop getting the caps replaced and an LED power light installed. NOT doing that again....lol

Man, so many systems used the power switch position instead of an LED back then... Family Computer, PC Engine, Neo Geo AES. I kinda understand something as old as Atari 2600, but were LEDs in the ‘80s and early ‘90s really that expensive?!

[CatPix]

Reliability of 70's LED was discutable, so it's likely that some constructors feared about installing them.

Also, LED require either a spot to be fixed on the shell, or precise placement. See how Sega cheated with the SMS to have a LED with maximal tolerance to misplacement ;p

The original PC-E has a colored switch and a lock for the Hu-Card so you can see if the console is on or off. And there is a red sticker even, so it's really hard ti leave it running by mistake

[CZroe]

Reliability of 70's LED was discutable, so it's likely that some constructors feared about installing them.

Also, LED require either a spot to be fixed on the shell, or precise placement. See how Sega cheated with the SMS to have a LED with maximal tolerance to misplacement ;p

The original PC-E has a colored switch and a lock for the Hu-Card so you can see if the console is on or off. And there is a red sticker even, so it's really hard ti leave it running by mistake

Yeah, but TG16 has the exact same setup and it happened to him anyway.

 

If you have the Turbo-CD dock then you have one front-facing slide switch above another. One powers the dock and the other powers the console, but both have to move to the right and show a red sticker in order to power on. You are only supposed to flip the top one off (console) when you are done playing. The bottom one also physically blocks access to the pin lock that holds the console in place and it can’t move unless the pin lock is in the locked position. It will not power the console without the dock switch to the right. The drive lock also has to be engaged before it will power the console. The console’s power switches do nothing unless a total of FOUR locks/switches are engaged!

 

Surely, that kind of complexity costs more than some LEDs. Granted, LEDs won’t stop you from removing the console while powered through the dock or turning in the dock without the console fully seated, so the physical stuff is still important.

[CZroe]

A little more on that possible fix for the Old Skool Pro Gamer Series TurboGrafx-16 / PC Engine / TurboDuo TurboPad replica controller... you know- this thing:

 

If you recall, it didn’t work with the TurboTap:

https://youtu.be/PidGLORq-bo

 

Rob Cooperstein was the guy who first mentioned this controller on Turbo-related Facebook groups. He works for the company and told me that it was a problem with their manufacturing partner using the wrong resistor values. Early samples with the right values were tested with the TurboTap and functioned properly.

 

Well, today I finally broke my warranty seal and looked inside. My assumption that they used a custom/programmable microcontroller was wrong. It turns out that they used a 74xx157 and 74xx163 just like a real DuoPad or TG16 / PCE controller. That means it should be easy to compare it to the schematics of a real controller and see exactly where they went wrong.

 

It looks like R1 and R2 are 330-ohm when they should be 47k as shown in the top-right of this schematic:

 

Rob Cooperstein confirmed this for me when I asked him about it:

There’s also a bit of news there about when to expect the revised controllers (as soon as next week).

 

I didn’t go back to the schematic after contacting Rob and read his “47” as “47-ohm” instead of “47k,” so I just spent way too much time barking up the wrong tree...

https://i.imgur.com/c6XbrlF.gifv

https://i.imgur.com/c6XbrlF.gifv

 

I improvised with three 150-ohm resistors in parallel to replace each since I haven’t been able to find my resistor kit after the move a few months ago. I thought it was going to work since these measure 49-ohm across and that’s close enough to 47-ohm... but not the 47k-ohm I should have been aiming for. DOH! I’m actually even further out of spec than I was.

 

Anyway, I think we’re really close. I’ll be digging in the storage unit tomorrow for my resistor kit!

Edited April 20, 2019 by CZroe

[CatPix]

Yeah, but TG16 has the exact same setup and it happened to him anyway.

 

If you have the Turbo-CD dock then you have one front-facing slide switch above another. One powers the dock and the other powers the console, but both have to move to the right and show a red sticker in order to power on. You are only supposed to flip the top one off (console) when you are done playing. The bottom one also physically blocks access to the pin lock that holds the console in place and it can’t move unless the pin lock is in the locked position. It will not power the console without the dock switch to the right. The drive lock also has to be engaged before it will power the console. The console’s power switches do nothing unless a total of FOUR locks/switches are engaged!

 

Surely, that kind of complexity costs more than some LEDs. Granted, LEDs won’t stop you from removing the console while powered through the dock or turning in the dock without the console fully seated, so the physical stuff is still important.

 

The thing is that those locks were added after the PC-Engine was created. But I agree with you, the complexity of that system is more costly than a LED, but heh, that's why the Duo existed

I have the IFU-30 dock, soulds like the TG16 use the same system as well? probably differently made since the CD-ROM juts out of the back but I see what you mean.

[CZroe]

 

The thing is that those locks were added after the PC-Engine was created. But I agree with you, the complexity of that system is more costly than a LED, but heh, that's why the Duo existed

I have the IFU-30 dock, soulds like the TG16 use the same system as well? probably differently made since the CD-ROM juts out of the back but I see what you mean.

They ultimately function the same except the TG-CD dock doesn’t override or block the TG16’s power switch and the TG16’s power switch remains the primary power switch (the rest are just safety switches tied to physical locking mechanisms). Edited April 20, 2019 by CZroe

[CatPix]

Oh, I didn't got that from your explanation ^^ that's one less complexity.

Well, then it works a bit differently; the dock can keep being powered to keep the save RAM powered and prevents removal of the accessories; but indeed to power either the PC-Engine or the CD-ROM you need to use the original console switch, the CD-ROM will boot if you use a System card.

[CZroe]

Oh, I didn't got that from your explanation ^^ that's one less complexity.

Well, then it works a bit differently; the dock can keep being powered to keep the save RAM powered and prevents removal of the accessories; but indeed to power either the PC-Engine or the CD-ROM you need to use the original console switch, the CD-ROM will boot if you use a System card.

Yeah, power still runs through the dock to the TG16, you just don’t turn the TG16 on through the dock switches. Once all three dock interlocks are correct you use the console’s original power switch but if any of the dock’s switches are not correctly set then the console’s switch will do nothing (no power). I presume all the standby stuff in the dock is still on, it just cuts power to the console.

[CZroe]

Just came across this:

https://youtu.be/-7ZfsXQZAG8

 

I understand how it all works except for the Discman D-33. How the heck did he interface that?!

 

RAU-30 is normally used for interfacing the SuperGrafx with the IFU-30 and it’s only a tiny bit of plastic that would prevent it from connecting directly to a North American TurboGrafx. It’s either the same or easier with the PAL model depending on which connector it uses.

 

Edit: OK. Found a couple Spanish-language forum posts of his. From what I can tell he just took the top half of the D-33 and connected the cables to the lower half of a CDR-30A, much like moving the laser (common) except that he also moved the sled, spindle hub, motor, etc.

Edited April 20, 2019 by CZroe

[CZroe]

A little more on that possible fix for the Old Skool Pro Gamer Series TurboGrafx-16 / PC Engine / TurboDuo TurboPad replica controller... you know- this thing:

 

If you recall, it didn’t work with the TurboTap:

https://youtu.be/PidGLORq-bo

 

Rob Cooperstein was the guy who first mentioned this controller on Turbo-related Facebook groups. He works for the company and told me that it was a problem with their manufacturing partner using the wrong resistor values. Early samples with the right values were tested with the TurboTap and functioned properly.

 

Well, today I finally broke my warranty seal and looked inside. My assumption that they used a custom/programmable microcontroller was wrong. It turns out that they used a 74xx157 and 74xx163 just like a real DuoPad or TG16 / PCE controller. That means it should be easy to compare it to the schematics of a real controller and see exactly where they went wrong.

 

It looks like R1 and R2 are 330-ohm when they should be 47k as shown in the top-right of this schematic:

 

Rob Cooperstein confirmed this for me when I asked him about it:

There’s also a bit of news there about when to expect the revised controllers (as soon as next week).

 

I didn’t go back to the schematic after contacting Rob and read his “47” as “47-ohm” instead of “47k,” so I just spent way too much time barking up the wrong tree...

https://i.imgur.com/c6XbrlF.gifv

https://i.imgur.com/c6XbrlF.gifv

 

I improvised with three 150-ohm resistors in parallel to replace each since I haven’t been able to find my resistor kit after the move a few months ago. I thought it was going to work since these measure 49-ohm across and that’s close enough to 47-ohm... but not the 47k-ohm I should have been aiming for. DOH! I’m actually even further out of spec than I was.

 

Anyway, I think we’re really close. I’ll be digging in the storage unit tomorrow for my resistor kit!

I didn’t mention it last night because I’d hoped to get another but I ordered two more Old Skool controllers for $18.75 + shipping.

 

It wouldn’t let me order more than two supposedly because that was all that remained, but after I bought them the seller seemed to have 6 more. Weird.

 

It costs nearly $5 to ship one but seems to be fixed at $4 each when you get more than one. Since I wanted at least one more but didn’t want to pay full price for separate shipping, I sent the seller a message last night asking if I could add-on to my existing order. Instead of responding, they just jacked the price back up to MSRP this morning. More, actually, since Old Skool never charged shipping at the price.

 

Guess I should’ve shared that with you guys last night after all. I thought I should wait until I secure mine and because I hesitated no one else gets them for $18.75. Sorry!

 

Even with $4 shipping, that’s a much more agreeable price than $30. I was kinda hoping to see them prices at or under RetroBit Genesis controllers ($15) since they are less complex but they’re also more niche and that always factors. In that respect, $18.75 is pretty good.

 

Another thing I forgot to note: R1 and R2 are actually silk-screened with the wrong value (330-ohm), which means it was a little more than just an accidental component switcheroo. Someone got it wrong in schematics and board layouts. Not sure how the earlier ones tested fine with the TurboTap unless it was based on a different schematic/board.

 

Maybe it was less a production sample and more a breadboard prototype.

Edited April 20, 2019 by CZroe

[NE146]

Something purely for fun, and only on the emulation side of things but I found that it's easy enough to substitute the tunes from Military Madness (i just ripped them off youtube and converted to .wav) into the ripped CD of Neo Nectaris and getting rid of that god awful & plodding "orchestral" music soundtrack

 

Basically I just ripped an original CD using "TurboRip" then on the standard ripped tracks it generated, I simply replaced:

Player Turn - Advantage - Track 20
Player Turn - losing - Track 24
Enemy Turn - Advantage - Track 25
Enemy Turn - Losing - Track 21

And that's it.. I left the rest intact. It really lightens the game back up! Now I can play it feeling like normal as the "Military Madness Part 2" that I always wanted

[Punisher5.0]

I watched a pretty interesting video about Sega games on the PCE yesterday. I figured some of you might enjoy it. The guy is pretty straight forward.

 

 

[Tanooki]

Something purely for fun, and only on the emulation side of things but I found that it's easy enough to substitute the tunes from Military Madness (i just ripped them off youtube and converted to .wav) into the ripped CD of Neo Nectaris and getting rid of that god awful & plodding "orchestral" music soundtrack

 

Basically I just ripped an original CD using "TurboRip" then on the standard ripped tracks it generated, I simply replaced:

 

Player Turn - Advantage - Track 20

Player Turn - losing - Track 24

Enemy Turn - Advantage - Track 25

Enemy Turn - Losing - Track 21

 

And that's it.. I left the rest intact. It really lightens the game back up! Now I can play it feeling like normal as the "Military Madness Part 2" that I always wanted

Fascinating. I wonder if something similar of the sort could be done with the exotic freeware version Hudson did for WIndows in Japan. I've got the file, was a real huge pain to track down a year or two ago as the old site had dried up over a decade ago and the wayback machine wasn't having it on downloads. The Windows release does work in 64bit windows which is nice, just it's in Japanese which may turn some off.

 

PC version uses standard MIDI files though, so I imagine if you have some really nice sound fonts it could get interesting either way.

Edited April 21, 2019 by Tanooki

[NE146]

Fascinating. I wonder if something similar of the sort could be done with the exotic freeware version Hudson did for WIndows in Japan. I've got the file, was a real huge pain to track down a year or two ago as the old site had dried up over a decade ago and the wayback machine wasn't having it on downloads. The Windows release does work in 64bit windows which is nice, just it's in Japanese which may turn some off.

 

PC version uses standard MIDI files though, so I imagine if you have some really nice sound fonts it could get interesting either way.

You're talking the PC version of Nectaris? (I've attached it here if anyone wants it).. but yes, I believe you can substitute the MID files for whatever you want. The game itself also allows you to simply silence the music as well.

 

However, for me that's exactly the music that I wanted. So I wouldn't change it.. I'm not sure if you've ever played Neo Nectaris but it has a real odd orchestrated soundtrack to take advantage of the CD technology, but to me it just makes the whole game feel "odd" since it doesn't seem to match the mood. Getting the music from the original Military Madness/Nectaris did a lot to help me play it which was great because it is a worthy sequel with new units that are unique to the series. It also helps you can turn off the battle sequences

NECTARIS_PC.zip

[Tanooki]

I typically really dont like this type of game but the old PCE/TG game they windows ported which you linked is what I have too and its very nice. I just wish the menus were not in Japanese is all. I probably could fix the windows one you right click into as I used to hack stuff like that (90s Japanese FC emulators menus). Ive seen the GB one before and I know of the PS1 release but thats about it. I know it got around as there was this great site on the 90s/00s now offline that covered the franchise nicely.