Play Japanese System Cards in TG16 CD unit?

[Madtapes]

I recently purchased a TurboGrafx 16 CD unit and have come to the realization that in order to play the majority of the games I want I'm going to have to upgrade from my 2.0 system card. I thought that would be an easy task, but as im sure you all know I can't seem to get one for less than $180. Obviously this is'nt a very practical move considering the fact that a man can get an entire PC Engine + CD unit with an arcade card for slightly less than that. I've read a few tutorials (mostly found through this sight!) on how to mod a TG16 to play Jap hucards, but I'm curious as to wether or not such mods would work for system cards. I don't see why they wouldn't but I figure that I had better check with the experts before I start hacking consoles apart.

Also, I'm curious about what is the easiest way to convert a tg16 to play Jap cards is. The last tutorial I looked at seemed to involve the instalation of a chip of some sort. Is the chip simply for region switching? and if so, can I get by without it? I'm hoping to just be able to switch the connectors as I somehow find myself in the position of having two extra tg16's so it would be easier to just convert one into a dedicated jap machine.


-thanks for any help

[SignOfZeta]

Yeah, a system card is the same as a game. If it works for one, it works for all.

You could just hardwire a TG-16 to be JPN all the time, but it would require almost the same amount of work as D-Lite's switching IC (the chip you were probably talking about) so I'd just go that route.

[Turbo D]

The chip isn't necessary. You can mod it with an 8-pole switch. The chip  allows you to use a small unnoticeable switch.

[SignOfZeta]

It isn't necessary, but its vastly preferable. Those eight pole switches are huge, ugly, and hard to find. They also won't fit in smaller systems like a GT, or a Core very easily, if at all.

[kokuryu]

Definitely go with D-Lite's modifications - if you dont want to do it yourself, find someone who can use the soldering practice to do it for you. Pick yourself up an Arcade Card Pro.  The AC Pro works on almost every system out there, so go for it.  I can use mine with my TG-16 CD system by plugging it into my Purple Barney converter.  I can also plug it right into my PCE Duo and run Arcade games on that as well.