+-^CrossBow^- Posted March 23, 2022 Share Posted March 23, 2022 Not sure the current costs, but I would look at getting a TurboDuo JPN console and then have it region modded so it can play either region hucards. The CD portion is not region protected so you are good there. But to get it looking good on a modern display, you would need to spend more to have it RGB bypassed and a means to play RGB scaled/converted to play on modern displays. So again, when you add it all up it would still be expensive. And that doesn't even start to include the cost for some of those games hehe... 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Pendleton Posted March 23, 2022 Share Posted March 23, 2022 (edited) For the price of a PC Engine DUO variant + RGB mod (+ capacitor replacement if needed), I think it's going to be about the same price or cheaper to get a beat-up CoreGrafx and the SHDS3. Instant RGB mod with HDMI output without the need of the OSSC or RetroTINK or anything like that (only 3x output, though) and it can play all of the HuCARD and CD games from the SD card, even the SuperGrafx games, with no SuperGrafx required. You can make your own discs for CD games on a PC Engine DUO, but with the Everdrive no longer available, you'll go bankrupt buying HuCARD games. SHDS3 is really expensive, though... I guess that no matter what you choose to go with, PC Engine is damn expensive to get into unless you get the PC Engine mini. Edited March 23, 2022 by Steven Pendleton 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
str0m Posted March 23, 2022 Share Posted March 23, 2022 It's a shame there's never been a hack for the Mini as that would sufficie for a lot of people. I have one and quite like it although there are a number of pointless games on it ie the ones with JP text which are unplayable if you can't read it. Mostly great though. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Pendleton Posted March 23, 2022 Share Posted March 23, 2022 (edited) 35 minutes ago, str0m said: It's a shame there's never been a hack for the Mini as that would sufficie for a lot of people. I have one and quite like it although there are a number of pointless games on it ie the ones with JP text which are unplayable if you can't read it. Mostly great though. It got hacked a while ago. You can add games to it or something like that. I do question some of the game choices, though; The Kung Fu is a weird choice (although I have heard that people who were there at launch like it, if you were not alive then, like me, you probably won't care lol), both Japanese and US releases of Ys are included on both the Japanese and international systems for some reason, I don't think we really need both Bomberman '93 and '94, Power Golf is not great, Moto Roader is the worst racing game I have ever played, and despite having Space Harrier there, Konami decided to be cheap and put Victory Run on there instead of just getting Out Run while they were already talking to Sega. PC Engine Snatcher is supposed to be the best version of Snatcher, though I haven't played the PC Engine version yet. TokiMemo was a great choice, even if the Saturn version is the best version, but I really wish they'd put its international replacement, Salamander, on the PC Engine mini in Japan as well, as PC Engine Salamander is better than the arcade version and the near-arcade version on the TurboGrafx mini and CoreGrafx mini is likely the single best version of the game to date. Unfortunately, I haven't seen the ROMs for any of these new near-arcade games anywhere, so the only way to play them so far is on the mini. Edited March 23, 2022 by Steven Pendleton 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+jgkspsx Posted March 23, 2022 Share Posted March 23, 2022 3 hours ago, Steven Pendleton said: despite having Space Harrier there, Konami decided to be cheap and put Victory Run on there instead of just getting Out Run while they were already talking to Sega. Hey, Victory Run is an entirely different kind of game than Outrun. It’s about endurance and strategy. I’m glad they included it. OP, I see you’re opposed to emulation, but a PC Engine Mini has REALLY GOOD emulation and comes with easily $8000+ worth (at eBay prices) of games. It looks great on the big screen. Unless you have a giant bank account I would avoid trying to start a physical collection with everything (hucard+cd) at once. There are virtually no good deals anymore. That said, I have a lot of doubles for sale for well less than eBay in the marketplace. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Pendleton Posted March 23, 2022 Share Posted March 23, 2022 1 minute ago, jgkspsx said: Hey, Victory Run is an entirely different kind of game than Outrun. It’s about endurance and strategy. I’m glad they included it. Yeah, it's different, but... I'd rather have Out Run if I had a choice between the two of them, and that's not really my pro-Sega bias. Not a bad game, but not what I would prefer to have... although with better than arcade-perfect Out Run on Switch at $7.99, I suppose I can't complain too much. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+jgkspsx Posted March 23, 2022 Share Posted March 23, 2022 It’s great on PC Engine, admittedly. There isn’t really a definitive home port except modern emulators. Shame it didn’t come to 32X. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitarmas Posted March 23, 2022 Author Share Posted March 23, 2022 I've been watching YouTube videos on the Analogue Pocket. It seems to get pretty good reviews. It also has its down sides. Like the cart port. It seems to be loose. Also the dock has a static sound to it when you remove the Pocket. It seems like a good deal though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+jgkspsx Posted March 23, 2022 Share Posted March 23, 2022 The d pad on my Pocket has a big problem with stray diagonals. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Pendleton Posted March 23, 2022 Share Posted March 23, 2022 (edited) 11 minutes ago, jgkspsx said: There isn’t really a definitive home port except modern emulators. Saturn 10 minutes ago, guitarmas said: I've been watching YouTube videos on the Analogue Pocket. It seems to get pretty good reviews. It also has its down sides. Like the cart port. It seems to be loose. Also the dock has a static sound to it when you remove the Pocket. It seems like a good deal though. I've never heard that static sound in my Dock. Cart port is actually quite grippy, as well. Build quality is solid overall aside from the d-pad, which is literal trash, although some find the buttons feel a bit cheap as hell. It does have compatibility problems with the Everdrive GB X7, although nobody seems to know why. Edited March 23, 2022 by Steven Pendleton 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
youxia Posted March 23, 2022 Share Posted March 23, 2022 I love PC Engine so recently got a real one (Japanese) even though I can run the roms on MiSTer. With some sort of flashcart & Composite extender from Ali it was all quite cheap, and the original PCE one is impossibly cute. Smallest console ever? 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Pendleton Posted March 23, 2022 Share Posted March 23, 2022 1 minute ago, youxia said: Smallest console ever? Vita TV 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
str0m Posted March 23, 2022 Share Posted March 23, 2022 4 hours ago, Steven Pendleton said: It got hacked a while ago. You can add games to it or something like that. I don't think it was ever made public though and a quick google doesn't show anything available. Agree about Moto Roader, wtf! 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Austin Posted March 23, 2022 Share Posted March 23, 2022 5 hours ago, Steven Pendleton said: It got hacked a while ago. You can add games to it or something like that. Nope. The hack was never released. The devs have been pretty hush about it too. I don't really understand what's going on. I'd love to hack my PCE Mini. It's got a great interface and the controllers are excellent. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Pendleton Posted March 23, 2022 Share Posted March 23, 2022 27 minutes ago, str0m said: I don't think it was ever made public though and a quick google doesn't show anything available. Agree about Moto Roader, wtf! 10 minutes ago, Austin said: Nope. The hack was never released. The devs have been pretty hush about it too. I don't really understand what's going on. I'd love to hack my PCE Mini. It's got a great interface and the controllers are excellent. Was it not released? What the hell... Well, that kind of limits the mini's viability by a decent amount, but it still has some damn fine games on it, and it's still decently representative of the system's library as a whole. I wouldn't say it's the best mini console library (that actually looks to be the Astro City Mini V, which has an incredible selection of games), but it should likely do for most players. I'd choose the CoreGrafx mini over the PC Engine mini if you don't know Japanese for sure, though... and I'd honestly probably still recommend it even if you do. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitarmas Posted March 23, 2022 Author Share Posted March 23, 2022 I would like to get a Turbo mini. I've just seen YouTube videos about it. It seem pretty cool except there's some controller lag. That's a deal breaker for me. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Austin Posted March 23, 2022 Share Posted March 23, 2022 15 minutes ago, guitarmas said: I would like to get a Turbo mini. I've just seen YouTube videos about it. It seem pretty cool except there's some controller lag. That's a deal breaker for me. The latency varies from game to game. For the most part it's very solid. The worst examples, like Lords of Thunder, are still more than playable. IMO, it's the best Mini available with a huge lineup and good variety of games.. and lots of shooters. It's a great way to get your Turbo/PCE fix, then if you decide you want to experiment with more games in its library, you can look into other options. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NE146 Posted March 23, 2022 Share Posted March 23, 2022 Everyone is talking like the Minis as if they're easily available. I might be wrong, but the last I checked the only one that seems to be readily in stock is the PC Engine Mini and that's pretty much only in Amazon.jp. For the Coregrafx who knows... unless you want to get a (probably used) one on ebay for double or triple the original price. That said, they're all the same "hardware" with more or less the same game selection for the MOST part so in my mind they're all pretty much equal... if only the PCE Mini came with a pad with turbo buttons though... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roots.genoa Posted March 23, 2022 Share Posted March 23, 2022 About the Analogue Pocket, I never really understood the "issue" with the cart port. Looks perfectly fine to me. About the d-pad, I didn't have any problems until recently, playing Batman TAS. Because when you hit up, Batman strikes a (kinda ridiculous) pose to fire his grappling gun. And when you do, you can't jump. And since you sometimes press a slight diagonal while going left or right, you may freeze and it can be annoying. That being said, one could argue it's the game's fault here, and it didn't prevent me from beating it anyway (with a lot of savestates, though, the second half is really hard). And the d-pad is still far superior to Xbox 360 controller's. That one would register wrong directions constantly. And yet some people still think it's the best controller ever. ?♂️ 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Pendleton Posted March 24, 2022 Share Posted March 24, 2022 4 hours ago, NE146 said: Everyone is talking like the Minis as if they're easily available. I might be wrong, but the last I checked the only one that seems to be readily in stock is the PC Engine Mini and that's pretty much only in Amazon.jp. For the Coregrafx who knows... unless you want to get a (probably used) one on ebay for double or triple the original price. That said, they're all the same "hardware" with more or less the same game selection for the MOST part so in my mind they're all pretty much equal... if only the PCE Mini came with a pad with turbo buttons though... They are easily available, though. Amazon Japan has the PC Engine mini and Amazon UK has the CoreGrafx mini, both at their regular prices. Amazon is the only store that ever stocked the Turbo/PC Engine/CoreGrafx mini, as far as I remember. Unfortunately, the controllers are really damn expensive since only third-party sellers seem to have them now and they are charging almost as much for the controller as Amazon is for the system. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roots.genoa Posted March 24, 2022 Share Posted March 24, 2022 The wireless one from 8BitDo is available, though. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Austin Posted March 24, 2022 Share Posted March 24, 2022 The PCE Mini is available on Amazon.co.jp and will ship to your doorstep in the USA. I've known several individuals that went this route and apparently they arrived super fast too: https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/PC-Engine/dp/B07QHNRVYV/ref=sr_1_1?crid=22Q22LZHVRKQ5&keywords=core%2Bgrafx%2Bmini&qid=1648127834&sprefix=core%2Bgrafx%2Bmini%2Caps%2C106&sr=8-1&th=1 No turbo functionality unfortunately, but you can nab a 2.4ghz 8bitdo controller for $25 that will solve that problem. I have one and really like it: https://www.amazon.com/8Bitdo-Wireless-Gamepad-CoreGrafx-TurboGrafx-16-Nintendo/dp/B0872QNPHK Like I said, it's a good entryway to the platform. Good user interface, save state functionality, big game lineup with a lot of the usual heavy-hitters, some fun hidden easter eggs, etc. Unfortunately, real hardware is going to be an expensive proposition. If money's not a concern I say go for it, but if it is, then you might want to really think it over. Even if you get an "affordable" PCE DUO system, it's going to need a cap kit at the very least. Can you do this yourself? If not, then that adds to the cost a decent bit. Want RGB or other mods? Even more money. Do you want to collect real physical games? Those are not cheap. Prefer to go the CDr route? DUO systems can be really fickle with CDr media, not to mention there's the process of burning games (time consuming). Do you want a flash cart? How about the matter of getting it to play on your HD display, which will need an upscaler (also not cheap if you don't want awful results!). This is at least a case of where I don't feel RGB is necessary (the DUO has one of the more solid composite signals out there), but you'll still want at least a RetroTINK 2X or 2X Pro for the upscale. If all of this is starting to sound daunting, set aside your pride and set up something cheap like a Raspberry Pi. It handles Turbo Grafx/PCE extremely well and you can get one of those 8bitdo controllers to work with it. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NE146 Posted March 24, 2022 Share Posted March 24, 2022 (edited) 14 hours ago, Steven Pendleton said: They are easily available, though. Amazon Japan has the PC Engine mini and Amazon UK has the CoreGrafx mini, both at their regular prices. Yeah as I said, the PC Engine Mini is the only one available.. i.e. from Amazon.jp. It’s how I got mine. However the Coregrafx Mini remains unavailable. Amazon UK shows them as unavailable same as every other time I looked. If you have a working link at retail price though, let me know so I can buy one and complete my collection ? Edited March 24, 2022 by NE146 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Pendleton Posted March 24, 2022 Share Posted March 24, 2022 2 minutes ago, NE146 said: Yeah as I said, the PC Engine Mini is the only one available.. i.e. from Amazon.jp. It’s how I got mine. However the Coregrafx Mini remains unavailable. Amazon UK shows them as unavailable same as every other time I looked. If you have a working link at retail price though, let me know so I can buy one and complete my collection ? https://www.amazon.co.uk/Konami-PC-Engine-CoreGrafx-Mini/dp/B07SLM7N9J/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3NAZ34AI6LNDR&keywords=coregrafx+mini&qid=1648139317&sprefix=coregrafx+min%2Caps%2C325&sr=8-1 This is what I'm seeing right now 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NE146 Posted March 24, 2022 Share Posted March 24, 2022 12 minutes ago, Steven Pendleton said: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Konami-PC-Engine-CoreGrafx-Mini/dp/B07SLM7N9J/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3NAZ34AI6LNDR&keywords=coregrafx+mini&qid=1648139317&sprefix=coregrafx+min%2Caps%2C325&sr=8-1 This is what I'm seeing right now Weird.. maybe it’s a regional thing because this is what I’m seeing when I click that. But that would explain a lot 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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