Usa power cable for Supergrafx? Also what controller to use?

[Wolf_]

I just ordered a Super Grafx to use with my Super Sd System 3 and it has a Japanese power cable I can't use in America so I was wondering if anyone knew if there was like a RetroDc product I could buy that I could just plug into the outlet and the console and have it work?

If not how would you suggest I go about setting this thing up?

Also which controller is best to use for PC engine stuff and fits in the SuperGrafx port?

[ShootTheCore]

You can use the Japanese adapter in America just fine. I have for years and years with no problems.

[Wolf_]

You can use the Japanese adapter in America just fine. I have for years and years with no problems.

Are you sure that isn't over/under charging your console? The listing specifically told me not to do that. While it might not melt or something I can't imagine that would be healthy for it.

[mickcris]

Many of us have used Japanese power supplies in the USA for a long time. They just output slightly higher voltage when plugged into 120v vs 100v. The 7805 in your console can handle the slightly higher voltage. The voltage from your wall probably measures between 110v - 120v. If you are still worried, get a Genesis model 1 power supply (or equivalent) and put one of these on the end:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Adapter-6-3x3- ... 2041862568

you can find the specs of the power supply here:
https://gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=rep ... ersupplies

[ShootTheCore]

Are you sure that isn't over/under charging your console? The listing specifically told me not to do that. While it might not melt or something I can't imagine that would be healthy for it.

Yep, I'm sure. I've ran the following Japanese consoles with their stock Japanese power adapters plugged straight into the wall for many years with no problems:

Nintendo Famicom
NEC SuperGrafx
NEC PC-FX
SNK Neo Geo AES
SNK Neo Geo CDZ
Sony PlayStation 2 Slim

Like mickcris said, the power the console receives from the power adapter is still within acceptable specs for what the 7805 internal voltage regulator can handle.

[DirkSwizzler]

I use a Pwr+ for most of my consoles and it works fine. Ste from HD Retrovision checked it out with his oscilloscope and says it's low noise. And my own unscientific visual inspection hasn't shown any visual noise.

Sometimes you need a passive polarity inverter, and sometimes a tip adapter. Both can be grabbed from aliexpress for super cheap. They work really really well.

[Wolf_]

I use a Pwr+ for most of my consoles and it works fine. Ste from HD Retrovision checked it out with his oscilloscope and says it's low noise. And my own unscientific visual inspection hasn't shown any visual noise.

Sometimes you need a passive polarity inverter, and sometimes a tip adapter. Both can be grabbed from aliexpress for super cheap. They work really really well.

Would I need a polarity inverter or tip adapter to get it working with a Super Grafx?

[DirkSwizzler]

I use a Pwr+ for most of my consoles and it works fine. Ste from HD Retrovision checked it out with his oscilloscope and says it's low noise. And my own unscientific visual inspection hasn't shown any visual noise.

Sometimes you need a passive polarity inverter, and sometimes a tip adapter. Both can be grabbed from aliexpress for super cheap. They work really really well.

Would I need a polarity inverter or tip adapter to get it working with a Super Grafx?

The linked adapter is center positive. I don't know off the top of my head what polarity the supergrafx expects. And my supergrafx is like 6 feet away from my couch. That's too far.

[Wolf_]

I use a Pwr+ for most of my consoles and it works fine. Ste from HD Retrovision checked it out with his oscilloscope and says it's low noise. And my own unscientific visual inspection hasn't shown any visual noise.

Sometimes you need a passive polarity inverter, and sometimes a tip adapter. Both can be grabbed from aliexpress for super cheap. They work really really well.

Would I need a polarity inverter or tip adapter to get it working with a Super Grafx?

The linked adapter is center positive. I don't know off the top of my head what polarity the supergrafx expects. And my supergrafx is like 6 feet away from my couch. That's too far.

According to this: https://gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=rep ... ersupplies it is negative polarity so I'm guessing that means center negative.

[DirkSwizzler]

I was having trouble finding the polarity reversing cables I got. I thought I got them on aliexpress just because I have a giant wad of them. But apparently not.

Anyways. HD Retrovision links these to reverse polarity: http://www.godlyke.com/power-all/power- ... umper-cord

Mine are all black and I always thought that was going to cause me trouble someday. So now I've got a second wad of polarity reversing cables on the way

[Xaranar]

It's not really a case of whether the 7805 can handle the extra voltage from the power supply, it's about whether the power supply itself can handle the extra voltage from the wall. The power supply will bridge rectify and smooth out the AC into DC at around 10V or whatever the spec is, regardless of its input. Personally, I would purchase a power supply that outputs the correct voltage, which for a 7805 can be anywhere from around 7V right up to 35V for some of them, but it is rated for your country's mains voltage, so 120V for you. Off topic, but I heard you guys stateside don't have electric kettles, is that true? I heard it is because your mains voltage is only 120V so it would take a small age to boil water that way, so you have to do it on the stove. Here in the UK, we have 240V mains, so we can use electric kettles, but it also hurts a lot more if you get a shock.

[Xaranar]

I was having trouble finding the polarity reversing cables I got. I thought I got them on aliexpress just because I have a giant wad of them. But apparently not.

Anyways. HD Retrovision links these to reverse polarity: http://www.godlyke.com/power-all/power- ... umper-cord

Mine are all black and I always thought that was going to cause me trouble someday. So now I've got a second wad of polarity reversing cables on the way

If you're any good with a soldering iron, you can reverse the polarity yourself. I've done it numerous times.

[DirkSwizzler]

If you're any good with a soldering iron, you can reverse the polarity yourself. I've done it numerous times.

I'm fair with a soldering iron. I do all my own mods. But I don't trust my ability to make good cables. They technically work fine. But I just don't trust a cable that even looks like it was hand assembled. So I need something with a clean manufacturing process to have any faith in it.

[thebigcheese]

If it's the standard plug size, guitar pedal PSUs work great, but they are all center negative. If you need to reverse polarity on an adapter you already have, those same companies have them readily available: https://www.amazon.com/Godlyke-Power-Al ... ty+reverse. However, as others have said, your Japanese PSU should work fine.

[thirdkind]

If you get tired of researching and would rather just buy something that works:

https://retrogamesupply.com/collections ... supergrafx

I use this one with a SG and SSDS3 on a PVM-20L5 (fully analog signal chain) and I've seen no A/V issues.

[Wolf_]

If you get tired of researching and would rather just buy something that works:

https://retrogamesupply.com/collections ... supergrafx

I use this one with a SG and SSDS3 on a PVM-20L5 (fully analog signal chain) and I've seen no A/V issues.

Thanks that's perfect! Btw what controller do you recommend using with it? This will be my first Super Grafx and I know that there are like 5 different controllers with different button layouts and turbo buttons and ect and some have different size plugs that only work on certain consoles just to be an extra pain in my ass.

Edit: Btw does the Super Sd system 3 have its own power source or does it just feed off the Super Grafx? Because they have a combo power cable that works for the Super Grafx and Super Cd rom and I'm wondering if that is what I should get for the SSD3?

[Kez]

The SSDS3 is powered from the console, no additional power cables required.

The SuperGrafx works with all PC Engine controllers, it is only the US TurboGrafx controllers that are a bit different, but adapters are available. In terms of which controller, it comes down to preference. If you play a lot of shmups then it's worth getting one with turbo, as not all of the games have autofire. The Micomsoft XE-1 is generally considered to be the best stick, but it doesn't come cheap.

My go-to controller is the avenue pad 3, as quite a lot of games use the select or run button for something that is nice to have alongside the other buttons. A few games benefit from 6 button controllers (mainly fighters - Street Fighter 2 being the main one but also some SNK ones).

[mvsfan]

it doesnt make any sense that they would make 2 different transformers for the same consoles power supply.

its most likey the same part no matter if its stamped 100v or 120v. i think they just do that to avoid confusion.

on the output side, they are all the same.

[thirdkind]

Thanks that's perfect! Btw what controller do you recommend using with it? This will be my first Super Grafx and I know that there are like 5 different controllers with different button layouts and turbo buttons and ect and some have different size plugs that only work on certain consoles just to be an extra pain in my ass.

Edit: Btw does the Super Sd system 3 have its own power source or does it just feed off the Super Grafx? Because they have a combo power cable that works for the Super Grafx and Super Cd rom and I'm wondering if that is what I should get for the SSD3?

As Kez said, you only need a single power supply since the SSDS3 draws power from the console. Also agree with him on the Avenue Pad 3 being the best all-around controller. The third button is useful for games that use the Run or Select button as an action button.

If you want a 6-button controller (only necessary for a few games), the Hori Commander is probably the best. I also like it for shooters because it has the best D-pad of all controllers I've tried. Note, however, that there's no 6-button controller that lets you map Run/Select like the Avenue Pad 3 does, so you might consider getting both.

tl;dr: Get an Avenue Pad 3 and Hori Commander 6-button and you'll be covered for everything.

[bigbadboaz]

Do people consider the Avenue Pad 6 inferior to the 3 somehow?

[Gara]

Do people consider the Avenue Pad 6 inferior to the 3 somehow?

The 3 button is far more useful. The 6 button has 2 modes. 2 button mode for standard games and 6 button mode for the few games that support it. No third option to make it run like a 3 button.

So if you were only going to get one the 3 button is far more useful. The 6 button is still nice for the 6 button games and the hori version had an excellent dpad. So many people get both

[PC Engine Fan X!]

The NEC Avenue Pad 6 is cool in that has built-in slo-mo functionality (on tap if so desired) that a standard PCE gamepad or even the NEC Avenue Pad 3 doesn't have.

NEC also made the Arcade Pad 6 controller as well: https://www.ebay.com/itm/NEC-PC-ENGINE- ... SwoG5Z-CvH

Here's the Hori Commander 6: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Hori-PC-Engine ... SwZ5hacSBa

-----------------------------------------
The PC Engine and TG-16 arcade sticks listed below are worth taking a look if trying to get ahold of a legendary Micomsoft XE-1 PC Engine arcade stick is out of your budgetary means:

Here's an TG-16 to PCE controller cable adapter: https://www.ebay.com/itm/CONVERT-TURBO- ... SwwE5WaxfW

and here's an PCE to TG-16 controller adapter: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Duo-Core-Super ... SwT5tWLIlH
-----------------------------------------

The Hori Fighting Stick PC is another cool PCE based arcade stick with six button support from the get-go: https://www.ebay.com/itm/PC-Engine-Hori ... Swp-RaUOhZ (It originally came with a MSRP of 7,800 yen back in the day.) I find that my PCE shmup scores getting higher & higher with this particular PCE arcade stick -- the actual joystick base itself is all metal for both halves that make up the entire build of it (and won't budge as it's quite hefty as it is.) The joystick seems to be a Seimitsu based one and it's quite responsive. The later released Hori Fighting sticks for the PSX & the SS used a plastic top base whereas the bottom base was metal. So Hori went all-out in manufacturing the Fighting Stick PC indeed and it shows.

Ascii made an arcade stick for the PC Engine platform as well: https://www.ebay.com/itm/NEC-PC-Engine- ... SwuxFYyIkL

Beeshu made an Utimate Superstick for the NEC TurboGrafx-16: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Tested-BEESHU- ... SwWHBaBd5z (Note that the arcade stick balltop is missing though -- but another one can sourced easily.)

NEC released an arcade stick for use with the TurboGrafx-16 console that has adjustable auto-fire via slider switches and even has built-in slo-mo functionality as well. (With a reverse TG-16 to PCE Duo controller cable adapter, it'll work just fine on any of the PCE consoles): https://www.ebay.com/itm/Official-NEC-T ... Sw0w5ZyxHR

Acemore made/sold a wireless arcade stick for the TG-16 console under the official Acemore wireless Freedom 16 arcade stick listed here: https://www.ebay.com/itm/TurboGrafx-16- ... SwcN1aXSfn I do recall that the American Toys-R-Us stores used to sell this particular wireless TG-16 arcade stick back in 1993-1994. You'd stick the appropriate batteries into the wireless joystick base itself and plug in the wireless sensor base into the TG-16's controller port. Easy as pie.

And here's NEC's arcade stick for use with the PC Engine, Supergrafx and Duo consoles: https://www.ebay.com/itm/PC-Engine-TURB ... SwVFlT-HTS This particular joystick is the one & only that NEC made for it's PC Engine console platform (considering that it's an official 1st-party arcade joystick indeed).

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~