PAL development

[Bloufo]

Reminds me of Breetai

Yeah he loved everything Turbo related. Would definitely get a kick out of that.
Tragic how he went out. 

BTW, he went by the tag here of 'Firebomber7', right?

[xelement5x]

Ya, he was on chat as Breetai a lot too though.  Anyway, sorry.  Didn't mean to bring down the thread.

[Arkhan]

Ya, he was on chat as Breetai a lot too though.  Anyway, sorry.  Didn't mean to bring down the thread.

WAY TO GO, FAG.

[A Black Falcon]

It's pretty amusing that a European Turbografx works with a Japanese CD unit through a US base unit... good stuff.

It will still suck because it's Turrican though.

At least it's not Universal Soldier...

What about Universal Soldier (the Genesis game, I presume)?  It's a great port of a fantastic game!  Sure, it'd have been nice if the shmup levels hadn't been cut out of Turrican 2, but otherwise it's all there and done very well.  I don't care about the altered sprites, it's the same great game.  (Turrican 2 is a huge, huge improvement over the interesting but flawed first game... the first game is okay, but from 2 on the series is really, really good.)

[Damon Plus]

I have one and use it regularly. As I've only played in PAL format, I don't notice the games run slower or anything (just like I didn't notice back in the day with the Mega Drive, for example).

[Bonknuts]

I've never had a PAL TG unit, but I remember talking with someone who had access to one (Charles Macdonald). It's not a 'normal' PAL setup - it's all hack-ish. IIRC, you don't get the added benefit that most PAL systems get (additional cpu cycles per frame, because it's normally speed/tv_frame_rate = cpu resource per frame). I remember something about it being stalled for long period of time (cpu, for a number of scanlines). Anyway, hack-ish. That said, I always wanted one to do tests on.

 It technically has a z80 mcu on it (one more 8bit processor), but you don't have access to it because it's busy making a legal PAL video signal from a hacked up NTSC one. It's wackadoo.

[esteban]

I've never had a PAL TG unit, but I remember talking with someone who had access to one (Charles Macdonald). It's not a 'normal' PAL setup - it's all hack-ish. IIRC, you don't get the added benefit that most PAL systems get (additional cpu cycles per frame, because it's normally speed/tv_frame_rate = cpu resource per frame). I remember something about it being stalled for long period of time (cpu, for a number of scanlines). Anyway, hack-ish. That said, I always wanted one to do tests on.

 It technically has a z80 mcu on it (one more 8bit processor), but you don't have access to it because it's busy making a legal PAL video signal from a hacked up NTSC one. It's wackadoo.

Seems like an awful lot of work to get rid of TG-16 hardware.

[DragonmasterDan]

Seems like an awful lot of work to get rid of TG-16 hardware.

I'm not sure if I'm interpreting your statement correctly.

I read it as "This sounds like too much effort for NEC simply trying to dump unsold US TurboGrafx 16s on the Europeans".

The PAL TurboGrafx uses a different color casing, different AV connector among many other things.

These were not simply hacked together by NEC to get rid of extra TG16s lying around their warehouses. This is clearly a factory made, PAL specific design with NEC's name printed all over it, from the outside to the internals. Not a hackjob of any kind, and not done by a third party.

[esteban]

Seems like an awful lot of work to get rid of TG-16 hardware.

I'm not sure if I'm interpreting your statement correctly.

I read it as "This sounds like too much effort for NEC simply trying to dump unsold US TurboGrafx 16s on the Europeans".

The PAL TurboGrafx uses a different color casing, different AV connector among many other things.

These were not simply hacked together by NEC to get rid of extra TG16s lying around their warehouses. This is clearly a factory made, PAL specific design with NEC's name printed all over it, from the outside to the internals. Not a hackjob of any kind, and not done by a third party.

Yeah, I might be wrong. Or completely wrong.

You interpreted my statement properly, as I intended.



---------- My thoughts, elaborated --------------

I put PAL TG in the same category as the Vistar...it seems that both PAL TG and Vistar were attempts to find uses for key components of TG-16 hardware...as if the internal components were sitting in a stockpile, unused, with no upcoming orders...and an accountant says, "We should do something with all this stuff. It will be a loss, otherwise. Write up a proposal, let's figure out if we can make a profit with minimal additional expenditures."

Basically, an attempt to salvage...

Of course, I could be wrong (focusing on hardware)  when I should be thinking about the SOFTWARE! Maybe the real issue was a huge stockpile of NA HuCARD's!

If that was the case, I could see PAL and Vistar hardware in a completely new way. PAL and Vistar hardware might very well have represented a *risky gamble* that would have provided a modest hardware profit, at best, but ultimately payoff in the long-run if overstock NA HuCARD's were selling in Europe/South Korea.

--------------- Problems ---------------

Many of my assertions could be overreaching: I assume motivation was either salvaging overstocked hardware and/or overstocked software.

(1) what NA titles would appeal to Europe/SK? Were these the same titles that were overstocked?

(2) maybe PAL began as a SERIOUS endeavor, but later, market realities forced NEC to change plans.

(3) I am completely wrong on everything.






 

[DragonmasterDan]

---------- My thoughts, elaborated --------------

I put PAL TG in the same category as the Vistar...it seems that both PAL TG and Vistar were attempts to find uses for key components of TG-16 hardware...as if the internal components were sitting in a stockpile, unused, with no upcoming orders...and an accountant says, "We should do something with all this stuff. It will be a loss, otherwise. Write up a proposal, let's figure out if we can make a profit with minimal additional expenditures."

Basically, an attempt to salvage...

Of course, I could be wrong (focusing on hardware)  when I should be thinking about the SOFTWARE! Maybe the real issue was a huge stockpile of NA HuCARD's!

From what I could tell these were manufactured around 1990. By that time NEC was certainly disappointed with the TG's sales in North America. But by no means were they just looking to bulk unload or give up. As mentioned this is a completely different PCB revision motherboard, using some different chips. A different plastic casing not just for the system but the controller (same mold though), even a new logo for the PAL unit.

If that was the case, I could see PAL and Vistar hardware in a completely new way. PAL and Vistar hardware might very well have represented a *risky gamble* that would have provided a modest hardware profit, at best, but ultimately payoff in the long-run if overstock NA HuCARD's were selling in Europe/South Korea.

The Vistar seems to have hit the market around 1992, and is far more likely to have been an attempt to salvage or re-use unsold stock by selling it to a third party in Korea to market it locally.

--------------- Problems ---------------

Many of my assertions could be overreaching: I assume motivation was either salvaging overstocked hardware and/or overstocked software.

(1) what NA titles would appeal to Europe/SK? Were these the same titles that were overstocked?

(2) maybe PAL began as a SERIOUS endeavor, but later, market realities forced NEC to change plans.

(3) I am completely wrong on everything.

I'm pretty sure the PAL release started as a serious plan, they designed a new logo, they designed a PCB with a different crystal and different chips to use, they dropped the 16 from the systems name. They test marketed it and... it didn't do so well, so however many units they initially manufactured were all that would see the light of day and most of the unsold ones showed up years later as New Old Stock.




 

[YANDMAN]

pc engine cd always maes me think of  daft punk helmet

[esteban]

pc engine cd always maes me think of  daft punk helmet

Comrade, you have it reversed!



Daft Punk makes EVERYONE think of PCE