PC Engine Duo |
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| Manufacturer | NEC and Hudson Soft |
|---|---|
| Generation | Fourth generation |
| Release date | October 1992 |
| Introductory price | $299.99 |
| Discontinued | December 1995 |
| Media | TurboChip, CD-ROM |
| CPU | 8-bit HuC6280A clocked at either 3.58 or 7.16MHz |
| Memory | 8KB Work RAM, 64KB Video RAM, 192KB additional memory (System 3.0) |
| Display | 256×224, 512×224, 512×240 screen resolutions. 512 available colours, 481 on-screen colours. |
| Input | Gamepad |
The TurboDuo was a video game console released in the United States. It was released on October 10, 1992 by 'Turbo Technologies Incorporated', a Los Angeles-based corporation consisting of NEC and Hudson Soft 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 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 and TurboGrafx-CD hardware, plus the Super System BIOS + extra 192k RAM built-in to the motherboard. The TurboDuo was capable of playing standard audio CDs, CD+Gs, TurboGrafx TurboChips, 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.
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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 (a TurboGrafx-CD title), a SuperCD disc including Bonk's Adventure, Bonk's Revenge, Gate of Thunder and a secret version of Bomberman accessible via an easter egg 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 was the original TurboChip pack-in for TurboDuo, although many titles were eventually used, such as IREM's Ninja Spirit and NAMCO's Final Lap Twin 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.
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.
The company used advertisements with a character named Johnny Turbo to market the TurboDuo.[1] Jonathan J. Burtenshaw, who wrote an essay appearing in the Classic Gaming section of the Gamespy website, described the advertising campaign as seeming "petty" and "overly confrontational." Burtenshaw believed that the campaign contributed to the demise of the gaming system.[2]
See also: List of PC Engine emulators
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