Post by FM-77AV on Jan 29, 2004 7:46:44 GMT -5
Secret 1:
The insides of a HuCard aren't as exciting as you may have thought. The 'business end' of a HuCard consists of a super-thin PCB with two (or more) glop-top chips on it, flipped upside down and glued in place. The rest of the card is just to make it larger and allow space for pretty labels. Some cards have a raised section where the label is printed. These allow the PCB to be larger and encroach on the label space. Without this raised bubble platform the label space is greatly diminished, and we can't have that. In some rare cases HuCards may have batteries inside - the Tennokoe Bank and Populous are two with batteries - but normally it's to allow more space for more ROM or RAM chips, like Street Fighter or the Arcade Card Pro.
Secret 2:
The PC Engine LT is three years older than the Hitachi HiSaturn Navi, but it has a screen that is easier to see and offers almost 50% higher resolution than the Navi. ~144,000 pixels on the LT, but only ~80,000 on the Navi.
Secret 3:
Neither the LT nor the GT can display all the pixels created by the PCE. The LT comes really close, but the poor GT can display less than half. This isn't really noticable except where you're required to read on the GT screen - high-contrast white letters on a black background become very colourful indeed as the red, green and blue sub-pixels try to display all the detail required. Still kicks the GBA's ass though.
Secret 4:
All three PC Engine core systems (PCE, Core Grafx, Core Grafx 2) can be used as CD racks. A maximum of five CDs may be stored safely on these systems. You can also store other things, like SmartMedia cards, or Pringles chips.
Secret 5:
There's no copy protection on PCE CDs, the high cost of CD writing at the time was protection enough. Over $3,000 for a machine to write your own CDs, and no drag-n-drop software to churn out the data. Death to software pirates, by the way.
Secret 6:
All but one pin required to connect a CD ROM to a PC Engine is present in the cartridge port. You could almost connect a CD ROM to a GT or Express this way. Almost.
Secret 7:
There are enough pins on the back of a PC Engine Shuttle to connect it to a CD ROM system. Why this ability was removed remains a mystery to this day.
Secret 8:
The PC Engine has only three main chips in it: The CPU + sound, graphics processor, and video encoder. The only other chips are RAM and an audio amp. Compare this to the Genesis or Super Nintendo, both of which had more than six chips in addition to the RAM + amp.
Secret 9:
There are 13 pins on the PCE's expansion bus that were never used in expansion hardware. What are they for? Secret military applications? SuperGrafx upgrades? Factory-level troubleshooting? Probably none of these.
Secret 10:
The Hudson division responsible for creating the PC Engine chipset is still in business, and is still designing hardware.
Secret 11:
The Kisado adaptor was not made in Japan, it was made by a Canadian who cleaned out the entire supply of connectors from a sewing machine manufacturer - connectors that just happened to be identical to the HuCard connector in the TurboGrafx + PC Engine.
Secret 12:
The SuperGrafx is the same as PC Engine, except it has a duplicate set of video chips and four times as much RAM. Since the CPU wasn't upgraded most developers were unable to utilize the extra graphics capability; the CPU just couldn't keep up.
Secret 13:
Before there were HuCard, Hudson released a line of software on the MSX using a patented media called the BeeCard. Slightly thinner, and with fewer pins, but identical in size and appearance. Have a look to the right for two Bomberman games, one MSX, one PC Engine.
Secret 14:
Japanese games don't check what region the hardware is from, but American games do. There are several US-released games that don't do this check, however. This is why only an adaptor is needed to run JP games on the US system, but a JP system has to be modified to play US games AND it needs the adaptor.
Secret 15:
There was a PAL version of the TurboGrafx released. It looked the same as the US version, but it was grey instead of black, and received basically no support. The few games that were released (And it's actually unclear if there was ever more than the pack-in released) are the same as the US games - Card, code and packaging. Since the Hudson chipset didn't support PAL video the PAL-TG16 had another video encoder to convert RGB to PAL, and the system outputs AV instead of RF. It uses a connector very different from the AV port found on the CoreGrafx series.
Secret 16:
The PC Engine is the smallest home console ever released, and everyone agrees the design is pure sex. Dissenters must hang. Pocket sized and expandable the small size is one reason it's so loved by collectors and nostalgic players. Tiny system, tiny games.
Secret 17:
Several clones were discovered in Ancient China. It's not known whether they had licensed or stolen Hudson/NEC chips inside, or if they used glop-tops like most Famicom clones, or if they were somehow reverse engineered duplicates.
Secret 18:
Most Sega conversions are agreed to be better on the PC Engine than on Sega's own MegaDrive.
Secret 19:
Bonk's Adventure in Japan was called PC Genjin, a play on words - it rhymes with PC Engine, and means Primitive Man. The shmup sequel was called PC Denjin, which means Electric Man.
Secret 20:
There was a Korean version of the PC Engine released, and it looks a lot like a modern cable modem or network hub. It was officially licensed from NEC. It's not known how many games were released in this region.
Secret 21:
A modem was under development for the PCE but it was never released. A prototype, looking a lot like an AV Booster with lumps on, was sold on Yahoo auctions in Japan in 1999 for Y30,500.
Secret 22:
The TurboGrafx-16 had two unused IC pads for a built-in game that never happened. One was a kind of switching controller for the other, which would house the actual game. It couldn't be a very advanced game though, the largest game possible would have been a mere 128k (1Mbit). Perhaps The Nu-Kote Kiosk (See secret 23) used this capacity?
Secret 23:
Nu-Kote, producers of paint or something, had a kiosk system installed in paint stores in America, which apparently ran on a TG-16 and some custom software. From one TurboLister's account, Nu-Kote basically forgot everything they ever knew when he tried to get more information on this system.
Secret 24:
The LaserActive LD player from Pioneer had a PC Engine / TurboGrafx module allowing the use of HuCard, CD + LD games. The Pioneer Service Guide repeatedly makes reference to a Test HuCard which performs special functions to aid in troubleshooting the system. Pioneer doesn't sell these any more.
Secret 25:
Contrary to popular belief the SuperGrafx version of Strider has never been confirmed to exist in any form whatsoever, except that it was possibly reused for an Arcade CD release. Now I know this rankles the True Believer, but think about it for a moment: There's no ROM image, there's no pictures of a proto HuCard, there's no screenshots, there's no interviews with anyone who's got one, there's nothing but a single screenshot no doubt lifted from the Arcade version when the SGX version was announced. Or perhaps it was only ever wishful thinking on the part of the Die Hard GameFan shop, which is the first place most people saw it.
Secret 26:
Speaking of rumour control, Edge Magazine erred when in a recent PCE Retrospective they claimed the rare Sapphire Arcade CD game was released only at a game show. It was a normal release like any other, except that the quantities were insanely limited.
Secret 27:
Many of NEC's pre-release ideas for the system's appearance and function were changed before release. From simple things like the shape of the d-pad to significant changes to the design of the CD ROM system, and cancellation of the modem + PC link (+ keyboard) modules.
Secret 28:
The 69-pin expansion bay on the back of the PC Engine and TurboGrafx systems is identical on both. But for a subtle difference in the shape of the connector's edges you can use all PCE accessories on the TG-16 and vice versa.
The insides of a HuCard aren't as exciting as you may have thought. The 'business end' of a HuCard consists of a super-thin PCB with two (or more) glop-top chips on it, flipped upside down and glued in place. The rest of the card is just to make it larger and allow space for pretty labels. Some cards have a raised section where the label is printed. These allow the PCB to be larger and encroach on the label space. Without this raised bubble platform the label space is greatly diminished, and we can't have that. In some rare cases HuCards may have batteries inside - the Tennokoe Bank and Populous are two with batteries - but normally it's to allow more space for more ROM or RAM chips, like Street Fighter or the Arcade Card Pro.
Secret 2:
The PC Engine LT is three years older than the Hitachi HiSaturn Navi, but it has a screen that is easier to see and offers almost 50% higher resolution than the Navi. ~144,000 pixels on the LT, but only ~80,000 on the Navi.
Secret 3:
Neither the LT nor the GT can display all the pixels created by the PCE. The LT comes really close, but the poor GT can display less than half. This isn't really noticable except where you're required to read on the GT screen - high-contrast white letters on a black background become very colourful indeed as the red, green and blue sub-pixels try to display all the detail required. Still kicks the GBA's ass though.
Secret 4:
All three PC Engine core systems (PCE, Core Grafx, Core Grafx 2) can be used as CD racks. A maximum of five CDs may be stored safely on these systems. You can also store other things, like SmartMedia cards, or Pringles chips.
Secret 5:
There's no copy protection on PCE CDs, the high cost of CD writing at the time was protection enough. Over $3,000 for a machine to write your own CDs, and no drag-n-drop software to churn out the data. Death to software pirates, by the way.
Secret 6:
All but one pin required to connect a CD ROM to a PC Engine is present in the cartridge port. You could almost connect a CD ROM to a GT or Express this way. Almost.
Secret 7:
There are enough pins on the back of a PC Engine Shuttle to connect it to a CD ROM system. Why this ability was removed remains a mystery to this day.
Secret 8:
The PC Engine has only three main chips in it: The CPU + sound, graphics processor, and video encoder. The only other chips are RAM and an audio amp. Compare this to the Genesis or Super Nintendo, both of which had more than six chips in addition to the RAM + amp.
Secret 9:
There are 13 pins on the PCE's expansion bus that were never used in expansion hardware. What are they for? Secret military applications? SuperGrafx upgrades? Factory-level troubleshooting? Probably none of these.
Secret 10:
The Hudson division responsible for creating the PC Engine chipset is still in business, and is still designing hardware.
Secret 11:
The Kisado adaptor was not made in Japan, it was made by a Canadian who cleaned out the entire supply of connectors from a sewing machine manufacturer - connectors that just happened to be identical to the HuCard connector in the TurboGrafx + PC Engine.
Secret 12:
The SuperGrafx is the same as PC Engine, except it has a duplicate set of video chips and four times as much RAM. Since the CPU wasn't upgraded most developers were unable to utilize the extra graphics capability; the CPU just couldn't keep up.
Secret 13:
Before there were HuCard, Hudson released a line of software on the MSX using a patented media called the BeeCard. Slightly thinner, and with fewer pins, but identical in size and appearance. Have a look to the right for two Bomberman games, one MSX, one PC Engine.
Secret 14:
Japanese games don't check what region the hardware is from, but American games do. There are several US-released games that don't do this check, however. This is why only an adaptor is needed to run JP games on the US system, but a JP system has to be modified to play US games AND it needs the adaptor.
Secret 15:
There was a PAL version of the TurboGrafx released. It looked the same as the US version, but it was grey instead of black, and received basically no support. The few games that were released (And it's actually unclear if there was ever more than the pack-in released) are the same as the US games - Card, code and packaging. Since the Hudson chipset didn't support PAL video the PAL-TG16 had another video encoder to convert RGB to PAL, and the system outputs AV instead of RF. It uses a connector very different from the AV port found on the CoreGrafx series.
Secret 16:
The PC Engine is the smallest home console ever released, and everyone agrees the design is pure sex. Dissenters must hang. Pocket sized and expandable the small size is one reason it's so loved by collectors and nostalgic players. Tiny system, tiny games.
Secret 17:
Several clones were discovered in Ancient China. It's not known whether they had licensed or stolen Hudson/NEC chips inside, or if they used glop-tops like most Famicom clones, or if they were somehow reverse engineered duplicates.
Secret 18:
Most Sega conversions are agreed to be better on the PC Engine than on Sega's own MegaDrive.
Secret 19:
Bonk's Adventure in Japan was called PC Genjin, a play on words - it rhymes with PC Engine, and means Primitive Man. The shmup sequel was called PC Denjin, which means Electric Man.
Secret 20:
There was a Korean version of the PC Engine released, and it looks a lot like a modern cable modem or network hub. It was officially licensed from NEC. It's not known how many games were released in this region.
Secret 21:
A modem was under development for the PCE but it was never released. A prototype, looking a lot like an AV Booster with lumps on, was sold on Yahoo auctions in Japan in 1999 for Y30,500.
Secret 22:
The TurboGrafx-16 had two unused IC pads for a built-in game that never happened. One was a kind of switching controller for the other, which would house the actual game. It couldn't be a very advanced game though, the largest game possible would have been a mere 128k (1Mbit). Perhaps The Nu-Kote Kiosk (See secret 23) used this capacity?
Secret 23:
Nu-Kote, producers of paint or something, had a kiosk system installed in paint stores in America, which apparently ran on a TG-16 and some custom software. From one TurboLister's account, Nu-Kote basically forgot everything they ever knew when he tried to get more information on this system.
Secret 24:
The LaserActive LD player from Pioneer had a PC Engine / TurboGrafx module allowing the use of HuCard, CD + LD games. The Pioneer Service Guide repeatedly makes reference to a Test HuCard which performs special functions to aid in troubleshooting the system. Pioneer doesn't sell these any more.
Secret 25:
Contrary to popular belief the SuperGrafx version of Strider has never been confirmed to exist in any form whatsoever, except that it was possibly reused for an Arcade CD release. Now I know this rankles the True Believer, but think about it for a moment: There's no ROM image, there's no pictures of a proto HuCard, there's no screenshots, there's no interviews with anyone who's got one, there's nothing but a single screenshot no doubt lifted from the Arcade version when the SGX version was announced. Or perhaps it was only ever wishful thinking on the part of the Die Hard GameFan shop, which is the first place most people saw it.
Secret 26:
Speaking of rumour control, Edge Magazine erred when in a recent PCE Retrospective they claimed the rare Sapphire Arcade CD game was released only at a game show. It was a normal release like any other, except that the quantities were insanely limited.
Secret 27:
Many of NEC's pre-release ideas for the system's appearance and function were changed before release. From simple things like the shape of the d-pad to significant changes to the design of the CD ROM system, and cancellation of the modem + PC link (+ keyboard) modules.
Secret 28:
The 69-pin expansion bay on the back of the PC Engine and TurboGrafx systems is identical on both. But for a subtle difference in the shape of the connector's edges you can use all PCE accessories on the TG-16 and vice versa.
i will have other chances at a fami, hopefully
I think I remember him telling me that he actually worked on it with another guy. But with the newer consoles came... this is more like a novelty item, isn't it?
There's a remake on GC and PS2 in Japan but the graphics looks better on the old one.
). I'm gonna buy Naruto 3 at lik-sang, free shipping 
