I bought a brand new US region TTI Turbo Duo back in November of 1994 when it was on clearance and it still works like a charm despite it's age (not to mention that it was the very last one that "The Good Guys" store had in stock at the time). It even came with an extended 4 year warranty that was to expire in November of 1998 -- never had to return it during that warranty period either as the console was solidly built anyways. The hardware is quite reliable (of course, your mileage will vary depending on where you get yours either new or more likely in second-hand condition). It's cool to be able to play both Japanese and USA region CD-Rom2, Super CD-Rom2 and Japanese region Arcade CD-Rom2 games (with an Arcade Card Duo upgrade) on a Turbo Duo console setup. Plus, it can play Japanese Hu-Card based games with the appropiate Hu-Card convertor or Kisado converter setup if so desired (this applies to the plain-vanilla unmodded Turbo Duo, of course). Both TTI and a few companies were planning to sell a bundled package deal with an Arcade Card Duo upgrade + two Arcade CD-Rom2 game titles but that never materialized for the 1993-1994 timeline for the Turbo Duo gaming platform. Sure, the mail-order company by the name of Turbo Zone Direct (TZD) sold such PCE Arcade CD-Rom2 games and the usual Arcade Card Duo & Arcade Card Pro upgrades to play 'em properly -- considering that they were based out of Southern California back in the mid-1990s.Nintendo Saturn wrote:Sometimes I daydream of getting a PC Engine just for Nexzr and Spriggan, but I don't think I will. The hardware is somewhat unreliable from what I've read.
If you go a step further, by picking up an Turbo Everdrive flash cart, you can play to your heart's content, all the Japanese Hu-Card based titles without the need to have the TurboGrafx-16 or Turbo Duo "region cart modded" (and vice versa with the PC Engine Duo/Duo-R-/DuoRX variant consoles). Up to a 32gb micro SDHC memory card is supported from the get-go...just load it up with your favorite various PCE & TG-16 game roms and give 'em a spin -- is 100% legal as it's real hardware running the code off of the game roms, indeed. In fact, this particular method is the cheapest way to play the uber-rare TTI version of Magical Chase without breaking the bank. It's cool to see what changes TTI did with the USA version of MC compared to it's original PCE counterpart of the same name.
If you can get ahold of a NEC produced PC Engine Duo-RX console variant + an NEC Arcade Card Duo, insert the Natsume produced CD-Rom2 game of Spriggan and notice that the opening intro and actual gameplay is sped up (compared to play it without an Arcade Card Duo inserted in the Hu-Card cartridge slot). There was no mention of it on the Japanese BBS back in the early to mid-1990s of this PCE easter egg with Spriggan though -- I discovered it by accident and it's a cool trick nevertheless. You can't do this with emulation, it's only doable with real hardware/software from the get-go.
PC Engine Fan X! ^_~
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