WTB: Turbo Duo -- where to find?

[agbulls]

I've been considering buying a Turbo Duo ever since I sold my Tg16 with CD attachment about 4 years ago. Ebay doesn't have any either. Note that I'm not interested in a japanese unit as I want to play U.S hu cards. I'd expect to pay $175 or so for a nice, working unit. Any ideas?

[theoakwoody]

No idea outside of Craigslist or eBay but hopefully someone here can help.

By the way, many here will tell you just to get a Japanese unit and mod it or get a convertor but you'll save a lot of money and headaches sticking to your plan. You seem to know what your doing just my opinion. The older these machines get the more finicky the boards are with nods and such.

[agbulls]

I did consider at one point getting a JP Duo with a Kisado card, but really have no interest in that route at this point. Rather, I want a US system that I can drop US hucards into along with having the flexibility and easy of playing cd based games from any region. Seems simple enough, but finding a US machine is incredibly hard. Hopefully someone here can help.

[Parodius Duh!]

just get a jp system and mod it, then you can play japanese hu cards as well, which there are like a million more games released in japan...

[agbulls]

who can mod a jp duo?

[Greg2600]

There are several TurboDuo's on ebay right now. It's not a cheap system, that's for sure.

[Aussie2B]

Get a PC Engine Duo-R/RX and a US TurboGrafx-16. That's probably cheaper than modding the Japanese system, and it'll likely be cheaper than any other option. And you'll have access to every type of game (other than SuperGrafx, but who cares). Trust me, if you like the system, you'll want Japanese HuCards. There are so many great games that only came out in Japan, many of which are completely English-friendly. I actually think the US HuCard library is kinda lame. All these excellent games left behind in Japan, and yet they bring over junk like JJ & Jeff and Keith Courage.

[theclaw]

I suggest a pre-modded Japanese system. There are ones with both region switch and RGB. By the time you pay for postage+labor, or a TG16, it isn't much difference. Converters alone don't help the JP>US direction anyway. You'd still have to mod for most US cards to run.

Composite does NOT do the console's 2D graphics power justice. Seriously. Spending the price of any decent CD-equipped model, only to settle for that, is a major exercise in half measures. Its best games need every bit of sharpness they can get.

[Emperor Megas]

eBay and Criagslist as the only advice I can give you. With that said, I honestly think the best solution is this:

I suggest a pre-modded Japanese system. There are ones with both region switch and RGB. By the time you pay for postage+labor, or a TG16, it isn't much difference. Converters alone don't help the JP>US direction anyway. You'd still have to mod for most US cards to run.

Composite does NOT do the console's 2D graphics power justice. Seriously. Spending the price of any decent CD-equipped model, only to settle for that, is a major exercise in half measures. Its best games need every bit of sharpness they can get.

HOWEVER, the most convenient/practical solution is probably this:

Get a PC Engine Duo-R/RX and a US TurboGrafx-16. That's probably cheaper than modding the Japanese system, and it'll likely be cheaper than any other option. And you'll have access to every type of game (other than SuperGrafx, but who cares). Trust me, if you like the system, you'll want Japanese HuCards. There are so many great games that only came out in Japan, many of which are completely English-friendly. I actually think the US HuCard library is kinda lame. All these excellent games left behind in Japan, and yet they bring over junk like JJ & Jeff and Keith Courage.

I don't like jumping through hoops, so I've go the second route.

[XYXZYZ]

You must also keep in mind that the black Duo systems (Turbo or PC Engine) are notorious for sound and laser failure- cross your fingers every time you turn one on, they're like ticking time bombs. The PC Engine Duo R Doesn't have those reliability issues.

And unless you hold out for a great deal, generally $175 isn't going to cut it. You should be prepared to drop around $300 to get into NEC CD systems. (Or if you're like me, $200 for a Duo, and another $275 for a Duo RX to replace it when it dies)

[Rickstilwell1]

I paid $300 for mine on ebay in 2007. If anything on it ever goes out, I'm getting it repaired.

[agbulls]

Alright, so I'm talking more like $300. Sounds like the recommendation is to get a PC Engine Duo-R, as they don't break as often. Since that's the case, where can I find one and have it modded?

[sheath]

The least expensive, most reliable solution to getting back into the DUO is importing an DUO/R. These are more reliable and have better output quality than the Turbo DUO.

I don't know anybody personally who could MOD the Card port for region switching, but I know it can be done for cheap because my DUO/R has the functionality.

I have had a lot of good transactions with Hit-Japan on ebay, but I would get it modded locally, just hit the tech forum and see if you can get any leads.

[Damaramu]

Check out the PCEngineFX forums and look up BlueBMW or thesteve. Both are good guys and will mod your PC Engine or DUO R/X for you. I did hear that BlueBMW was backed up on other projects at the moment, and he had recommended thesteve to me.

[sheath]

I am handy with a soldering iron. If somebody can point me to a tutorial I can potentially do the modification myself. I'll poke around on PCEngineFX to see if there are any and get back.

-edit-

This thread seems to be a good lead, I would want more info personally before attempting a mod myself.

http://www.pcenginefx.com/forums/index.php?topic=8738.0

[Ze_ro]

Alright, so I'm talking more like $300. Sounds like the recommendation is to get a PC Engine Duo-R, as they don't break as often. Since that's the case, where can I find one and have it modded?

When I saw this thread, I was all ready to come in and recommend buying a pre-modded system, but I see you've already been talked into it. Don't even bother thinking about an adapter like the Kisado. They're way too expensive for what they are.

Modded Duo-R's show up on eBay once in a while. Just be patient and keep your eyes open.

--Zero

[icbrkr]

My PC Engine Duo went out and about $5 at Radio Shack and 20 mins was all it took to repair it.

http://www.pcenginefx.com/forums/index.php?topic=960.0 gives you a pretty good idea what to do.

[Gameguy]

You must also keep in mind that the black Duo systems (Turbo or PC Engine) are notorious for sound and laser failure- cross your fingers every time you turn one on, they're like ticking time bombs. The PC Engine Duo R Doesn't have those reliability issues.

If you ever get a system you pretty much have to replace the capacitors so the sound will work properly, it's just something to consider as basic maintenance for those systems. Once they've been changed they should be fine. I still think they're more reliable than current gen systems.

[retroman]

good luck if thats all that you want to spend...i have had mine since it came out and will never get rid of it, best of luck to ya

[Tron 2.0]

I'd suggest getting a duo-r or rx they are far more common and don't suffer from the sound issue that the,turboduo does.Also if you don't like the fact the hucards being region locked the system can have a region switch put in.Another thing 'there are people over at pcenginefx.com that sell duos and offer the service for putting a region switch in.