Présentation :

The PC Engine, known as TurboGrafx-16 in the United States, is an 8-bit video game console manufactured by NEC Corporation and first appeared in 1987 in Japan. Outside of Japan and the United States, the console has been relatively privately owned with little or no distribution.

In advance of its time, the PC-Engine has an 8-bit central processor and a 16-bit graphics processor, so it is generally considered a fourth-generation console. It is also the first console in history to have, from December 1988, an optional CD-ROM drive. It has the particularity to have been declined in many models and to propose 4 formats of different games: HuCard, CD-ROM² Super CD-ROM and Arcade CD-ROM.

The PC-Engine was distributed in France from 1990 by SODIPENG [1], through the CoreGrafX model, which included a technical modification and a box called "AudioVideoPlus" to allow it to provide a RGB signal absent Japanese models.

historique :

Result of the collaboration between the publisher Hudson Soft and the manufacturer of electronic equipment NEC, the PC-Engine appears in 1987 in Japan, then a few years later in the United States renamed TurboGrafx-16 - in reference to its graphics processor 16- bit.

As a competitor to Nintendo's NES and Sega's Master System, which was ahead of the game technically and sometimes even in terms of sales in Japan, the PC-Engine, a simple 8-bit console, was more often compared to the 16-bit Super Nintendo and Sega Megadrive as the quality of its games was great. But finally she knew her success mainly in Japan because lack of good distribution her career in the rest of the world remained marginal.

It was declined in no less than twelve versions (relookings) until 1994 including the famous, and now collector's item, PC-Engine GT, second portable console backlit color screen.

Spécifications Techniques :

• CPU : Hu6280 (MOS 6502c derived) clock at  7.6 Mhz
• RAM : 8 KB
• GPU :HuC6260 16-bit and HuC6270A 16-bit
• Video RAM : 64 KB
• Colors : 256 from 512 (sprites excluded)
• Résolution : 256x212, 320x256 et 512x256 (non official) pixels
• Sprite number : 64 - 16x16 pixel sprites can be displayed simultaneously on the same scan line
• Sprites have their own 256 color palettes on 512
• Sound: 6 programmable stereo PSG channels
• or 3 FM channels (2 PSG operators for 1 FM channel)
• Support: HuCard credit card format and CD-ROM drive (CD-ROM or Super CD-ROM) optional