TurboDuo - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The TurboDuo was a video game console

Video game console

A video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or customized computer system that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...

released in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. It was released on October 10, 1992 by 'Turbo Technologies Incorporated', a Los Angeles

Los Ángeles

Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

-based corporation

Corporation

A corporation is created under the laws of a state as a separate legal entity that has privileges and liabilities that are distinct from those of its members. There are many different forms of corporations, most of which are used to conduct business. Early corporations were established by charter...

consisting of NEC

NEC

, a Japanese multinational IT company, has its headquarters in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. NEC, part of the Sumitomo Group, provides information technology and network solutions to business enterprises, communications services providers and government....

and Hudson Soft

Hudson Soft

, formally known as , is a majority-owned subsidiary of Konami Corporation is a Japanese electronic entertainment publisher headquartered in the Midtown Tower in Tokyo Midtown, Akasaka, Minato, Tokyo, Japan, with an additional office in the Hudson Building in Sapporo. It was founded on May 18, 1973...

employees, established to market NEC consoles in North America after NEC Home Electronics USA failed to effectively market the platform. The Duo was codeveloped by Hudson Soft

Hudson Soft

and NEC. The Japanese counterpart was the PC Engine Duo game console, which was released over a year earlier.

The TurboDuo is essentially a combination of TurboGrafx-16

TurboGrafx-16

TurboGrafx-16, fully titled as TurboGrafx-16 Entertainment SuperSystem and known in Japan as the , is a video game console developed by Hudson Soft and NEC, released in Japan on October 30, 1987, and in North America on August 29, 1989....

and TurboGrafx-CD hardware, plus the Super System BIOS + extra 192k RAM

Ram

-Animals:*Ram, an uncastrated male sheep*Ram cichlid, a species of freshwater fish endemic to Colombia and Venezuela-Military:*Battering ram*Ramming, a military tactic in which one vehicle runs into another...

built-in to the motherboard

Motherboard

In personal computers, a motherboard is the central printed circuit board in many modern computers and holds many of the crucial components of the system, providing connectors for other peripherals. The motherboard is sometimes alternatively known as the mainboard, system board, or, on Apple...

. The TurboDuo was capable of playing standard audio CDs, CD+G

CD+G

CD+G is an extension of the compact disc standard that can present low-resolution graphics alongside the audio data on the disc when played on a compatible device...

s, TurboGrafx TurboChips

HuCard

A HuCard is a memory card developed by Hudson Soft. It is the size of a credit card and is used with the NEC PC Engine and SuperGrafx video game consoles. HuCards contain an integrated circuit that is placed close to the connectors and protected by a thin plastic shield...

, Japanese and North American CD-ROM² (TurboGrafx-CD) and Super CD-ROM² titles. The system is able to play Japanese PC Engine HuCARDs with a third party HuCARD converter or modification. With a HuCARD converter plus a Japanese Arcade Card Duo, the system can also play Japanese Arcade CD-ROM² games.

TurboChip is simply the North American term for HuCARD.

Package

The system was released in October 1992 for $299.99. Realizing that the price was too steep for many consumers (the system's price was driven up by the then-high costs involved in CD-ROM drive production), TTI included a lavish set of pack-ins to add value to the console, which they valued at the cost of the unit. The original pack-ins for the Turbo Duo included the system, one control pad, an AC adapter, RCA cables, Ys Book I & II

Ys I & II

is a Japanese computer role-playing game compilation consisting of enhanced remakes of the first two Ys games, released for the PC Engine CD-ROM by Nihon Falcom and Hudson Soft in 1989...

(a TurboGrafx-CD title), a SuperCD disc including Bonk's Adventure

Bonk's Adventure

Bonk's Adventure is a 2D platform video game developed by Red Company and Atlus and released in 1990 for the TurboGrafx-16. In Japan it was released as PC Genjin in 1989, a play on the Japanese name for the system, 'PC Engine'. The game was re-released for the TurboGrafx-16 in the U.S. in 1992 on...

, Bonk's Revenge

Bonk's Revenge

Bonk's Revenge is a 2D platformer originally for the TurboGrafx 16 console, created in 1991 by the Red Company for Hudson and Turbo Technologies, and licensed by NEC. The game was re-released for the TurboGrafx-16 in 1992 on the Gate of Thunder 4-in-1 game CD-ROM...

, Gate of Thunder

Gate of Thunder

Gate of Thunder is a scrolling shooter by Hudson Soft and Red Entertainment for the PC Engine CD-ROM originally released in 1992. It was also a pack-in game for the TurboDuo in North America. It was released on the Wii Virtual Console on October 15, 2007 in North America and on December 4, 2007 in...

and a secret version of Bomberman

Bomberman

Bomberman is a strategic, maze-based computer and video game franchise originally developed by Hudson Soft. The original game was published in 1983 and new games in the series are still being published to this day. Today, the commercially successful Bomberman is featured in over 70 different games...

accessible via an easter egg

Easter egg

Easter eggs are special eggs that are often given to celebrate Easter or springtime.The oldest tradition is to use dyed or painted chicken eggs, but a modern custom is to substitute chocolate eggs, or plastic eggs filled with confectionery such as jelly beans...

and finally a coupon book to save money on TurboDuo games and accessories. The system was also packaged with one random TurboChip game which varied from system to system (note: Actually, Dungeon Explorer

Dungeon Explorer

Dungeon Explorer is an action role-playing game released for the TurboGrafx-16/PC Engine in 1989. It centered around the quest of several heroes to find the Ora Stone for the former king of Oddesia. When the alien race that now rules the land invaded, the stone was hidden deep in the dungeons of...

was the original TurboChip pack-in for TurboDuo, although many titles were eventually used, such as IREM's Ninja Spirit

Ninja Spirit

Ninja Spirit, known in Japan as , is a 1988 platform arcade game developed and published by Irem.- Story :The game's hero, Moonlight , is a young ninja who lost his father to a mysterious half-man half-beast creature...

and NAMCO's Final Lap Twin

Final Lap Twin

Final Lap Twin is a combination racing/RPG game for the TurboGrafx 16 system. The protagonist is on a quest to live up to the reputation of his racing-champion dad. He travels over the map, meeting small-time racers, and must race his car to earn money that he spends on upgrading his car,...

and then, eventually, a random pick).

At the same time, the TurboGrafx-CD attachment for the TurboGrafx-16 was reduced in price to $150.00, and TTI offered the Super System Card (3.0 BIOS with 192k RAM, as found in the Duo) in order for existing TG-16+TGCD owners to play the new SuperCD games. The Super System Card was sold for $65 as a standalone product, or $95 as a bundle including the previously-mentioned multi-case CD. It did not come with Ys Book I and II as the Duo did, nor did it come with a bonus TurboChip game.

Sales

The Sega CD system was released in North America that same Holiday season. With Sega's marketing and advertising, it became a more popular platform in North America than the Turbo Duo. It was quickly relegated to the realm of the niche market. By late 1993 many discount retailers and large chain stores no longer carried the TurboDuo. Still software continued to be released to be bought via the growing number of video game specialty stores at the time. In December 1995 the last few TurboDuo titles were released, marking the end of the life for the platform.

Advertising

The company used advertisements with a character named Johnny Turbo

Johnny Turbo

Johnny Turbo is a fictional superhero character created to advertise the Turbo Duo, a hybrid of the Turbografx-16 console and its add-on, the TurboGrafx CD, in North America. The character was conceived by Turbo Technologies Inc...

to market the TurboDuo. Jonathan J. Burtenshaw, who wrote an essay appearing in the Classic Gaming section of the Gamespy

GameSpy

GameSpy Industries, Inc., known simply as GameSpy, is a division of IGN Entertainment, which operates a network of game websites and provides online video game-related services and software. GameSpy dates back to the 1996 release of an internet Quake server search program named QSpy. The current...

website, described the advertising campaign as seeming "petty" and "overly confrontational." Burtenshaw believed that the campaign contributed to the demise of the gaming system.

Technical specifications

CPU
Central processing unit
The central processing unit is the portion of a computer system that carries out the instructions of a computer program, to perform the basic arithmetical, logical, and input/output operations of the system. The CPU plays a role somewhat analogous to the brain in the computer. The term has been in...

: 8-bit HuC6280A
Hudson Soft HuC6280
The HuC6280 8-bit microprocessor is Japanese company Hudson Soft's improved version of the WDC 65C02 CPU. The most notable product using the HuC6280 is NEC's TurboGrafx 16 video game console.-Description:...

, a modified 65C02 running at 3.58 or 7.16 MHz (switchable by software). Features integrated bankswitching hardware (driving a 21-bit external address bus from a 6502-compatible 16-bit address bus), an integrated general-purpose I/O port, a timer, block transfer instructions, and dedicated move instructions for communicating with the HuC6270A
Hudson Soft HuC6270
HuC6270 is a video display controller developed and manufactured by Hudson Soft. The VDC was used in the PC Engine game console produced by NEC Corporation in 1987 and in the SuperGrafx and TurboGrafx 16 also developed by NEC....

VDC.
GPU
Graphics processing unit
A graphics processing unit or GPU is a specialized circuit designed to rapidly manipulate and alter memory in such a way so as to accelerate the building of images in a frame buffer intended for output to a display...

: A dual graphics processor setup. One 16-bit HuC6260 Video Color Encoder (VCE), and one 16-bit HuC6270A
Hudson Soft HuC6270
HuC6270 is a video display controller developed and manufactured by Hudson Soft. The VDC was used in the PC Engine game console produced by NEC Corporation in 1987 and in the SuperGrafx and TurboGrafx 16 also developed by NEC....

Video Display Controller (VDC). The HuC6270A
Hudson Soft HuC6270
HuC6270 is a video display controller developed and manufactured by Hudson Soft. The VDC was used in the PC Engine game console produced by NEC Corporation in 1987 and in the SuperGrafx and TurboGrafx 16 also developed by NEC....

featured Port-based I/O similar to the TMS99xx VDP family.
Resolution:
- X (Horizontal) Resolution: variable, maximum of 512 (programmable in increments of 8 pixels)
- Y (Vertical) Resolution: variable, maximum of 240 (programmable in increments of 8 pixels)
- The vast majority of TurboGrafx-16 games use 256×224, though some games, such as Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective did use 512×224. Chris Covell's 'High-Resolution Slideshow' uses 512×240.
Color:
- Depth: 9 bit
- Colors available: 512
- Colors onscreen: Maximum of 481 (241 background, 240 sprite)
- Palettes: Maximum of 32 (16 for background tiles, 16 for sprites)
- Colors per palette: Maximum of 16
Sprites:
- Simultaneously displayable: 64
- Sizes: 16×16, 16×32, 32×16, 32×32, 32×64
- Palette: Each sprite can use up to 15 unique colors (one color must be reserved as transparent) via one of the 16 available sprite palettes.
- Layers: The HuC6270A
  Hudson Soft HuC6270
  HuC6270 is a video display controller developed and manufactured by Hudson Soft. The VDC was used in the PC Engine game console produced by NEC Corporation in 1987 and in the SuperGrafx and TurboGrafx 16 also developed by NEC....
  
  VDC was capable of displaying one sprite layer. Sprites could be placed either in front of or behind background tiles.
Tiles:
- Size: 8×8
- Palette: Each background tile can use up to 16 unique colors via one of the 16 available background palettes. The first color entry of each background palette must be the same across all background palettes.
- Layers: The HuC6270A
  Hudson Soft HuC6270
  HuC6270 is a video display controller developed and manufactured by Hudson Soft. The VDC was used in the PC Engine game console produced by NEC Corporation in 1987 and in the SuperGrafx and TurboGrafx 16 also developed by NEC....
  
  VDC was capable of displaying one background layer.
Memory:
- Work RAM: 8KB
- Video RAM: 64KB
- Additional 192KB of built in Memory (System 3.0)
Audio capacity:
- 6 PSG audio channels, programmable through the HuC6280A
  Hudson Soft HuC6280
  The HuC6280 8-bit microprocessor is Japanese company Hudson Soft's improved version of the WDC 65C02 CPU. The most notable product using the HuC6280 is NEC's TurboGrafx 16 video game console.-Description:...
  
  CPU
  Central processing unit
  The central processing unit is the portion of a computer system that carries out the instructions of a computer program, to perform the basic arithmetical, logical, and input/output operations of the system. The CPU plays a role somewhat analogous to the brain in the computer. The term has been in...
  
  .
- CD titles add Redbook CD-DA sound, and a single ADPCM channel to the existing sound capabilities of the TurboDuo.
Game Media:
- TurboChip (HuCARD
  HuCard
  A HuCard is a memory card developed by Hudson Soft. It is the size of a credit card and is used with the NEC PC Engine and SuperGrafx video game consoles. HuCards contain an integrated circuit that is placed close to the connectors and protected by a thin plastic shield...
  
  in Japan): A thin, card-like game media. The largest Japanese HuCard games were up to 20Mbit in size.
- Excluding the TurboExpress
  TurboExpress
  The TurboExpress or PC Engine GT in Japan was a portable version of the TurboGrafx-16/PC Engine , released by NEC in 1990 for $249.99 .It was the most advanced handheld of its time and could play all the TurboGrafx-16's games The TurboExpress or PC Engine GT (Game Tank) in Japan was a portable...
  
  (TurboChip only), all TurboGrafx-16 hardware could play the entire TurboChip library, and every CD system could play all the various CD format games - with the right system card and/or HuCARD adaptor.
- Interestingly, Japanese systems cannot play US TurboChips without a required internal modification. Some modifications allow Japanese systems to play US and Japanese cards right from the HuCARD port, other modifications require a HuCARD converter as well.

Emulation

External links