I was mostly surprised because the pc engine was only marginally smaller, so I didnt expect the turbografx to be so big. But I suppose it does make sense.
I thinks it's mainly to do with the size of the motherboard. they've used the same board, with the same orientation on them both. That dictated how deep the TG-16 would be, and then the width is just to scale.
I feel like I'm missing something, so from the TG-16 Mini you're able to also access the PC Engine Mini menu? Or was that something you specifically had set up that's not a part of the system?
Im disappointed in the size and how its not smaller and more in line with the size reductions of the nes, snes and genesis minis. This one looks to only have about 20-30% reduction instead of 50-60% that it should have (at least)
The core grafx was the smallest console already... So except to put raspberry inside.... No possibility to reduce more motherboard without increasing a lot price sir.
I'm assuming they dont have them yet. Likely production was early when shutdowns in china started, so they took completed units and sent them to japan, because they had a smaller fill number.
Can't do that to me Steve. I love Japanese PC Engine games, the weirder the better..... But the first console that was mine and my brother's was a TurboGrafx 16 hooked up to small black and white tv in our room.
I was about 18 years old when the 16-bit era hit, but I had purchased everything BUT the TurboGrafx 16. I did later buy a used one around the late 1990's but then sold all of my retro stuff around 2006 because they looked so bad on large HDTV's, and I had a ton of newer consoles to stuff under there. Now I am much more excited about the TG mini because I didn't really play it that much compared to the other 16-bit consoles. I hate the size of it, but I do like the look.
Yeah, I as well got rid of most of my older games. I felt they were taking up a lot of space and not getting love anymore. I traded a big chunk of it and purchased a current Gen console at the time. Seems like a lot people who are emulating classic consoles have a similar story... we just didn't know what we had and now it's gone. Oddly enough the TurboGrafx16 is an 8-bit console. It was meant to compete with the Nintendo Entertainment System and SEGA Master System. All though it had a 16-bit video color encoder, and a 16-bit video display controller... it only had an 8-bit CPU. The PC Engine was released in 87 and the American TurboGrafx hit the scene in 89/90. They called it the TurboGrafx16 in hopes that it would encourage sales along side the Genesis and Super Nintendo.
@@brokensprites Thank You. I know all about the specs, 7.16 mhz 8 bit cpu, compared to Genesis it had better color, and larger sprites, but that was about it. Genesis had better cpu, more sprites, and I felt a little better sound. I owned a NeoGeo cart system for a long time, and even a supergun for a short time. (kept crashing and took up a ton of space) Looking back it's hilarious we nitpicked over such things when we have 8+ 64 bit CPU cores running about 500x the clockspeed, way more IPC, GPU's that are absolute monsters, enough RAM to hold a couple of DVDs, ect. lol
I appeciate that they added force gear and twinbee returns as hidden games on salamander, but from a historical standpoint, it doesn’t make sense, since those were mini games in tokimeki memorial, and are secret games for tokimeki memorial in the pc engine mini
I like the design of the TG-16 more. The PC Engine looks plain and lame. Plus with mods, you can add the games that were PC Engine exclusive and you got the Turbo switch controllers. So TG-16 > PC Engine imo.
@@tonyscimeca9534 believe it or not, neither. I was born after either was released and didnt really get into them until my early teens when I started with emulation. But I am located in Canada, so it would have been TG16
I was so hoping to get a Turbo mini but was forced to order the PCE... I received it a while ago and its OK but it really forces you to order a second controller WITH the turbo switches that I am accustomed to... also, the 2 extra games for the PCE are USELESS if you dont speak Japanese which you failed to mention, I could care less about Splatterhouse as that game is purely overhyped with poor play mechanics.... other than the PCE having better cosmetics Id rather have my TG16
I'm glad I'm not the only person who thinks that Splatterhouse is overrated! It's always reminded me of Altered Beast in that the concept and the visuals are great but the gameplay is janky and repetitive.
@@sjake8308 exactly... most of the people that have jumped on the Splatterhouse bandwagon have NEVER played it... it was my least played Hucard back in the day for good reason.... even the graphics were subpar at best
@@darrendavenport3334 To be honest, my experience of Splatterhouse was in the arcades (I never bothered with any of the home console versions). I remember my friends being really into it and I was the only one who thought it was a crap game with excellent presentation. I think where I disagree with you is that I think people do have genuine nostalgia for it because it was popular back in the day - my view was definitely the minority view at the time.
@@sjake8308 well I was talking about the people now... I can tell by the comments most of the people have not had experience with either Splatter or the TG16 in general... its well known that the Turbo's strength was in its strong shooter library, period.... if it wasnt for games like Blazing Lazers and the Soldier series etc. I wouldn't have bought one... and even with the arcade Splatterhouse I knew very few people that liked it after the novelty wore off, most in my area played Final Fight....
I was wondering. I thought we had the english version of Rondo Of Blood in the Turbo graphx 16 side. It doesn't seem so. Now, on the PC engine side, does Rondo Of Blood have the option of english text?
I watched Mad Little Pixel's video about the hidden games, and you access them via Salamander/Life Force. These games are Twinbee, Force Gear, and Near-Arcade Versions of Fantasy Zone, Gradius, and Salamander/Life Force. Mine is coming in on the 13th. Next month, I should cancel the Controller and TurboTap, and buy them from Japan, like I did with the TurboGrafx-16 Mini.
The TG-16 was a decent looking system for its time (only with the dust cover on). It looks far better than the American Snes but not as good as the Genesis Model 1. The PC Engine always looked small and cheap until you added the Super CD ROM w/tray. Unfortunately, I think this is where the Turbo Grafx looks ridiculous. The CD ROM just doesn't look right on the back of the TG-16. It's not form factored and it is quite a bit thicker than the original TG-16. The Model 1 Genesis combined with the Model 1 Sega CD even today is still one of the sleekest consoles to ever hit US shores. However, things really began to change when NEC decided to combine the TG-16 and Super CD ROM into one unit. The Turbo Duo looks very nice indeed. As a kid growing up during the late 1980's and 1990's I went with the Genesis in '89 and Snes in '91. I wanted the Turbo Grafx to succeed but it wasn't to be. I didn't care for either the Super Grafx nor PC-FX's cases. I get what Nec was going for with the Super Grafx but a 6-cylinder engine...no. The PC-FX just looks like an PC workstation. I have an original TG-16 but not many games for it. I collect for everything but my best stuff is mostly Neo Geo, PlayStation, and Sega Saturn. At any rate, I can't wait to get my TG-16 Mini as I want to play Y's Books 1+2 so badly. Thank you for the amazing video!
As I am European guy, I love the PC engine.. and I hate the north American version. I guess NEC didn't take any risk : at that time, Americans think the bigger, the better.... And since Americans love "tanks" (remember the Super NES...) you got this horror... plus... plus the UGLY game covers ! yuk ! I don't know if the covers were made by the marketing director's son, but boy... really AWFUL US covers .....
This was the one Mini console they really should have tuned better for the enthusiast. I get that they're cheap nostalgia-riding novelties but it's a huge shame that input lag basically renders a few games unplayable. If you're a tinkerer keen to mod your $100 emubox just know that a functional MiSTer setup - while costing around double the price - gives you near-perfect PC Engine / Supergrafx that will play SO MUCH BETTER than anything these modded mini consoles will ever be capable of.
After it is hacked, I plan on buying two TG16s, so I can have at least 2 black TG16 controllers. Then, passing the 2nd console over to someone else. Looks like the white controllers are the only ones that can be purchased separately. I'll probably get two of those and the tab adapter for Bomberman 93, etc. I grew up on the North America version. Sold my OG one a few months ago. Wont buy this mini until it's hacked. So I can put every TG16 game on it. Already got every TG16 game on my Nes Classic. Would prefer for them to be on a TG16
My guess is that the PC Engine and TurboGrafx 16 minis are to scale with the originals, which is why the TG16 mini is so big. A real PC Engine is absolutely tiny, the smallest home console I can think of, but the TurboGrafx is a normal sized console for that time. Nintendo didn't make the NES and Famicom classics to scale. If they had, the NES classic would have also been pretty huge since a real NES is a lot bigger than a real Famicom. Konami probably made this choice because they know a much larger portion of the market for their mini consoles are collectors who may buy one from each region. Collectors who really appreciate care and detail, the kinds of people who bough those plastic clip-on Sega CDs and 32Xs for their Genesis minis, might like that a Turbografx 16 mini is as much bigger than a PC Engine mini as a Turbografx 16 is bigger than a PC Engine.
It obvious Konami didn’t care has much for the Turbografx-16 for one simple fact... The PCB form factor prevented the Turbografx-16 from really being a mini system. Had they build a rectangular board they could have made the TG-16 a real mini system.
I got my TG16 mini about a week ago. Nobody mentions how the d-pad kind sucks when doing continuous movement and have to rock/picot it. It's way too sensitive. Also, playing Ghouls N Ghosts is harder because it over detects diagonals, so if you are moving right but you finger slips to down+right, you'll just stop moving. Try it and see what I mean.
Since it’ll probably be hacked I’d go with the TG16 since it comes with the turbo controllers but I do wish it was smaller so it would fit in with my other mini consoles.
What I’m wondering about is...mods! People have had this (in one form or another) in their hands for MONTHS now yet still no mod! C’mon, bring on the mods already!
I prefer TurboGrafx 16 over PC Engine. you can tell it was designed for an American audience it has a cooler sounding name and it looks cooler. Yes it's bigger unfortunately but it still looks like something cool and less like a white toy.
Why did they bother censoring Splatterhouse if they’re gonna slap an M rating anyway? Kinda disappointing along with lack of English language translation. :/
I had the original turbo grafix 16 console a year before it was released to the public crrazy story nobody believes me. I liked splatter house i forgot the race car game name where u upgrade vehicle. I would share my story only in private it is crazy. Thats corny i had the uncensored splatter house why they changed it
The size ruins it for me. Doesn't "fit" into my mini collection. I waited for the smaller Atari x console before buying because of the monstrous ugly prior versions.
Same here, canceled my pre-order and just stuck with the PC Engine mini, which I received and fits in nicely with everything else on the shelf. And same here with the old Atari 2600 minis as well, thanks for mentioning the Atari X, had no idea it existed (just knew the ugly ones with big yellow buttons), looked it up and will add that one as well, looks nice. It's funny how even AtGames realized the importance of the size of these things as collecting is an incentive to many, but Konami did not.
@@hellbillymods45 I think maybe konami backed themselves into a corner. The footprint of the pcengine mini board required the tg16 mini be that size. I lol'd when I saw the other half is hollow.
Can you please give me your opinion on which you’d prefer out of the PC engine mini and the Core Grafx mini. I definitely will be getting one out of those two but would also like your opinion.
what more and better games do you get on the pc engine mini? I found a games list and the pc engine mini only has 2 more games, and they are japanese games, so not sure I'd even be able to play them as I don't speak/read japanese.
If you watch the overview video at the end where they show the console being handled it did look like it was going to be huge and I’m glad it’s as big as it is... no confirmation here on my end though, probably because I didn’t place my order until January... I just pray it gets confirmed in the next couple of days! I’m so ready for this thing it’s not even funny, this was suppose to be my birthday present from my pops back on March 23 which I would have probably received it just in time, then this fiasco virus had to ruin that.
the last menu option for 'display setting' isn't core grafx, it's turbo express/pc gt (the portable version of the turbo grafx-16/pc engine) that nec released.
Correct, it was called the "Turbo Express" The maker of this video must have never had one in the past. I was expecting to see a comparison to the actual console with controllers when the size comment was made.
Ok subscibed! Hopefully the hack becomes available soon! I want as many TurboGrafx and CD games as I can get on my mini, this was my favorite system growing up!
Excellent video but the only difference between the tg16 and pce versions of Splatterhouse are the mask and the religious imagery. There's no difference in the level of gore. There were other versions with more gore such as the arcade and fm towns marty versions but the tg16 and pce versions are the same as far as the gore is concerned.
There is almost no information anywhere online about whether we can avoid buying the expansive extra controllers (update: 1 video) and the multitap sold by konami on amazon japan. In other words, will generic usb hub and or 3rd party wired usb controllers work with these 3 minis (PCE or TG16 or CG)? On my TG16 mini, I tried 3 different wired USB controllers (sega genesis mini 6 button and 3 button controllers and playstation classic controller) and they did NOT work. I also tried a targus 4 port usb 2.0 hub with the TG16 mini controller and it also didn't work. It seems konami/hori has done this to force purchase of their expensive peripherals, but it would be helpful to know if some other 3rd party personals (wired, not wireless) would work before ordering expensive peripherals from Konami on amazon Japan. Please try out any peripherals you have and post here or anywhere online and or provide links here to any information on this. I can't believe the units have been reviewed by many and yet nobody has mentioned anything about this. It would be a video that would get lots of views ;) The one video (3 days ago) which tests 4 other controllers is helpful but the hori controller that does work is actually more expensive than buying the Konami pc engine mini controller from amazon Japan, after duty/shipping costs, the difference in price is very little so would prefer to get the pc engine controller. Would be helpful if more other usb controllers were tested. And, we need people testing usb hubs and sharing results please.
Thank you, you are the first person who worded this the way I would if I did all the research you did. Can we even get a 2nd controller when we buy it?
Bad thing about this is that it's available Dec 2020. I preordered this last year in July 2019 and it's constant delay and delay. Now with the pandemic going worldwide, it's ridiculous an estimate. The only way to get this early is to go on the Japanese Amazon. Why is this possible while the US Amazon doesn't have it or do they?
PC Engine Mini's two extra games are actually both Japan-only games with huge language barriers. They were both replaced by Salamander (known on the NES as Life Force) in the Turbografx-16 Mini, which would be easier to play and more interesting to Western gamers who don't understand Japanese. The two bonus games that were available via highlighting Tokimeki Memorial and pressing Select twice or one additional time (which are Force Gear and TwinBee, respectively) can now be obtained by doing so while highlighting Salamander.
I probably know the answer to this but is the PC-CD version of Snatcher in English on the TG16 Mini? This one is a real deal breaker for me if it is still in Japanese.
They seem to be sticking to official releases, and Snatcher only got a US release on Sega CD, it seems. At least you should be able to put an English version on there through hacking tools eventually.
Since it uses a USB port, would the Sega mini/PS Classic controllers work on this? The TG16 hori controllers will be a bit costly if I want to play 5 player Bomberman on this
i;m here bc michael b the game genie was just talking about you in his TG16 video! hello from London Ontario Canada! so awesome to see fellow Canadians on youtube! liked and subbed!
@@Restalgia - Yeah, Snatcher had some pretty gory death scenes in it and I believe that may have also been the one with nudity? I don't remember the home version of Splatterhouse being very heavily censored compared to the arcade version though...all that really stood out to me was the missing intro, that god awful red mask, and some crosses cut out towards the end.
Tokimeki Memorial and Tengai Makyou II are nearly unplayable for most people since they both are heavy in Japanese, so I find it funny how people praise the PC Engine Mini so much for having more games, yet Salamander is a completely playable shmup (with a near-arcade mode to boot). Also, the PCE/TG-16 port of Splatterhouse is quite lame anyway since the difficulty is lowered. Hell, I prefer the TG-16 version since it's actually aesthetically different than the arcade version and provides a fresh new coat of paint to the game. The Coregrafx/TG-16 Mini wins for sure in my book.
Despite liking the TurboGrafx-16 design more, once I learned of its size, I canceled my pre-order and just went with the PC Engine alone. I have all the other consoles lined up next to each other and it looks great, including the newly-acquired PC Engine mini. The TG-16 would disrupt that harmony, so sadly, I had to let it go. In my opinion, Sega and Sony were smarter by keeping their consoles similar in size to Nintendo's. Even Nintendo themselves rounded up the size difference between the Famicom and NES minis and made them closer in size than the actual consoles really are. But if you only have the PC Engine mini, then yeah, they look natural next to each other.
Do you have any idea of how long we are from a mod? I really just want to stick Retroarch on there to run the other PC Engine games. Thanks man, great video as always.
I'm hoping it will be as nice as Project Lunar for the Genesis/Mega Drive mini. That one makes adding games and artwork a cinch. Hakchi2 can be a pain where artwork is concerned.
They have them from Japan to US on eBay right now for $140/ free shipping. Just ordered one. Tried to put a link but it was MASSIVE. They also have the PC Engine Minis in stock as well for the same price.
yea but if you can mod it, then you can make the tg-16 the same in totality. But smaller form factor is nice, I have all the "minis" so room is becoming a problem. Either way, I already ordered a TG 16 from amazon Japan so that's what i'm going to have.
@Restalgia are you able to test to see if an original controller with a USB adapter works on this? I am highly curious. I own an original TG-16 annd a TurboDuo and would love to use my Hori Fighting Commander 6 button controller with this when I receive mine.
Splatterhouse was always gory especially when we got it here in the states the only thing censored was anything that showed religion like the church level and the color of his mask due to copyright here in the states with Friday the 13th.
@@Restalgia yeah graphically theres more detail detail to the Gore in the arcade, also this was a great video I love the turbografx but of course collecting for it is more of a chore compared to other systems lol so I definitely interested in picking this up :)
@@RewindVideoz haha yeah man, I actually wasnt ever into TG16 until I started playing around with emulation in my early teens. Honestly with the proper marketing I think this could have gone toe to toe with sega and snes. It was a legitimately greater console, with awesome games. I've got a core grafx review coming up soon too so keep an eye out for it.
