PC Engine vs. TurboGrafx? Which is better?

[Joe Redifer]

it would be hard to imagine any 1980s Japanese design house putting out that huge blob of crap

1. SMS 2
2. NES 2
3. Mega Drive 2

All 80's systems designed in Japan that look faaaar worse than the TurboGrafx-16, even with the CD-ROM attached.  The SMS2 is just downright hideous!  The Turbo looks sleek, like a sports car.  I'm not sure why the Turbo gets so much hate.  It was definitely designed in Japan.  It is a near carbon copy of the PC Engine molding, just longer.

[Arkhan]

whats wrong with the turbo. 

ffs, its not very talll, its a little deep, but you can stack systems on top it since the game slides in the front.

lol

[ceti alpha]

it would be hard to imagine any 1980s Japanese design house putting out that huge blob of crap

1. SMS 2
2. NES 2
3. Mega Drive 2

All 80's systems designed in Japan that look faaaar worse than the TurboGrafx-16, even with the CD-ROM attached.  The SMS2 is just downright hideous!  The Turbo looks sleek, like a sports car.  I'm not sure why the Turbo gets so much hate.  It was definitely designed in Japan.  It is a near carbon copy of the PC Engine molding, just longer.

I think the reason the TG gets teased so much about its design is because the PCE design was so great. I'm guilty of making fun of the TG's design from time to time, but honestly, I agree that compared to a lot of consoles it looks great.

[termis]

TG16 is definitely not as cool as PCE (especially with briefcase setup), but it'll do.  The docking station is a bit goofy compared to the PCE/CD-ROM setup for sure, but as a stand-alone system, I think it looks better than most systems I can think of from top of my head.

I thought what they did to the Super Famicom -> US SNES was a lot more hideous.

[Arkhan]

Once the whole TG+CD is set up though, it looks like some cool ass monolith of epic proportions.

I stack little figures and stuff ontop the turbo part so theres always an epic battle atop my system

Currently, some Skaven ratmen are battling Empire scum for control of the Sys3 card.

Last week, dinosaurs were all up ons.

[Joe Redifer]

TurboGrafx + CD looks light years better than any PCE + Super CD-ROM.

[JapanTokei]

TurboGrafx + CD looks light years better than any PCE + Super CD-ROM.

no way brother!  PCE suit case + LT w/CD is #1, then the suitcase CD setup, followed by the SuperCD attachment.. then maybe TG-16CD.  The SuperCD+a Coregrafx I or II is sexy as fock.

these debates are fun indeed... but I think the consensus is still slight edge to PCE thus far!


off tangent - I just picked up Galaxy Galvan... I never heard of this game, it doesnt seem to float around that much so it's not overprinted for sure.. I read about it from the collection of PC Engine Monthly I picked up from Tokyo last week.. the game looks really cool so I decided to give it a try. 

http://i.ebayimg.com/09/!BdP8d+QBGk~$(KGrHqEH-DsEreR0u9tuBK4F7-ULEQ~~_12.JPG

I wanted a copy with Spine but that was going for 12,000 yen in Japan... so I settled for $49 off Ebay...

If this game kicks ass, then it's one more reason for the PCE!!
(though Beyond Shadowgate on TG definitely is a towering giant over many other good PCE games combined...)

[SignOfZeta]

1. SMS 2
2. NES 2
3. Mega Drive 2

All 80's systems designed in Japan that look faaaar worse than the TurboGrafx-16, even with the CD-ROM attached.  The SMS2 is just downright hideous!  The Turbo looks sleek, like a sports car.  I'm not sure why the Turbo gets so much hate.  It was definitely designed in Japan.  It is a near carbon copy of the PC Engine molding, just longer.

I like the NES2. I also kind of like the Genesis 2 (although not as much as the original, and certainly NOT the Sega CD2). Obviously the SMS2 is just a terrible, and terribly cheap, looking POS.

What exactly makes you think these designs were from Japan? I have little insight to the way the product design works and for sure these sorts of things were outsourced all over the place. Sega and Nintendo had a very international presence back then, I wouldn't be surprised if the SMS/Genisis/NES2s were from like...Frog Design, or IBM or someplace. Was the SMS2 even released in Japan?

The TG-16 does indeed look like a stretched PCE, and why it is stretched, why the internals are all full of kit instead of just air...did we ever figure that out? Either way, I think you are right that that NEC probably did do that design, but why is it big?

It certainly doesn't look like a sports car. One of the cardinal rules of sports car design is that it shouldn't be any bigger than it absolutely has to be. Lotus 7, Mazda Miata, Alpha Spyder. The TG-16 is much more like a Pontiac Aztek, esspecially with that stupid hollow cover on the back. And the CDROM2 set-up for it...what the hell? Could it be any stupider?

[Necromancer]

And the CDROM2 set-up for it...what the hell? Could it be any stupider?

Yes:

[Arkhan]

jaguar looks like a space ship

[ceti alpha]

jaguar looks like a space ship

These are the voyages of the starship Jaguar. It's five month mission, to boldly go nowhere.

[JapanTokei]

I think its obvious until VERY recently, American mass market's common mentality was "bigger is better".  It certainly was true back in 1989/1990.  Look at the Famicon's conversion to that shitty NES box.  If the TG-16 used the same sexy compact size as PCE, kids' neighbors would probably pick on the new owners of the compact TG-16 by saying "ohhh, your new machine is smit, it's so small, looks so weak, my NES is bigger.. go Nintendo Power!  or something dumb like that... " 

The TG-16 does indeed look like a stretched PCE, and why it is stretched, why the internals are all full of kit instead of just air...did we ever figure that out? Either way, I think you are right that that NEC probably did do that design, but why is it big?

It certainly doesn't look like a sports car. One of the cardinal rules of sports car design is that it shouldn't be any bigger than it absolutely has to be. Lotus 7, Mazda Miata, Alpha Spyder. The TG-16 is much more like a Pontiac Aztek, esspecially with that stupid hollow cover on the back. And the CDROM2 set-up for it...what the hell? Could it be any stupider?

[SignOfZeta]

Yes, but that doesn't explain why the TG-16's giant case is almost completely full of electronics.

[Arkhan]

footprint-on-shelf wise, the TG-16 isn't even a spacewhore.

If you put it on top a Genesis, an SNES, or a MASTER SYSTEM, its not really hoggin up all kindsa space.

and it's design still allows it to be UNDER another console, and still be 100% useful.

can't stack a sega on top an SNES if space is low

[Joe Redifer]

It is widely known throughout the entire US (ask anyone, they'll know) that the TurboGrafx-16 is larger to comply with FCC regulations of the time.  It spread shit out and added a more shielding because our RF frequencies cannot be tampered with, goddammit!  Heaven forbid that when you turn on your TG-16 your mom gets a little bit of static and/or snow on the TV in her room.  Or maybe your sister can't hear Guns N' Roses quite as clearly on the radio (or whoever was popular in those days... WHAM maybe?).

This could be the case for the Famicom vs the NES as well.  The Mega Drive was already supa-huge so it didn't need modification.  The Sega Mark III looked like a piece of rotted dog shit so they had to redesign the Sega Master System for the US to make it crazy awesome.  The FCC really relaxed their policies on this not long after all of that.  I don't recall any systems after the TG-16 that needed physical modification to come to the US.

I really don't think that the "bigger is better" attitude had anything to do with it.  The US controllers are often larger, but that is only because Japanese have tiny midget micro hands.