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140-446: The GX4000 is a video game console that was manufactured by Amstrad . It was the company's short-lived attempt to enter the games console market. The console was released in Europe in 1990 and was an upgraded design based on the then still-popular CPC technology. The GX4000 shared hardware architecture with Amstrad's CPC Plus computer line, which was released concurrently. This allowed

280-538: A HuC6270 video display controller and a HuC6260 video color encoder. It includes 8 KB of RAM , 64 KB of Video RAM , and the ability to display 482 colors at once from a 512-color palette . The sound hardware, built into the CPU, includes a programmable sound generator running at 3.58 MHz and a 5-10 bit stereo PCM. TurboGrafx-16 games use the HuCard ROM cartridge format, thin credit card-sized cards that insert into

420-505: A mouse and keyboard devices. Some older consoles such as 1988 Sega Genesis aka Mega Drive and 1993 3DO Interactive Multiplayer , supported optional mice, both with special mice made for them, but the 3DO mouse like that console was a flop, and the mouse for the Sega had very limited game support. The Sega also supported the optional Menacer , a wireless infrared light gun, and such were at one point popular for games. It also support BatterUP ,

560-519: A Hudson Soft game unknown to western gamers, proved costly as Sega packed-in a port of the hit arcade title Altered Beast with the Genesis. NEC's American operations in Chicago were also overhyped about its potential and quickly produced 750,000 units, far above actual demand. This was very profitable for Hudson Soft as NEC paid Hudson Soft royalties for every console produced, whether sold or not. By 1990, it

700-460: A baseball bat-shaped controller. A controller may be attached through a wired connection onto the console itself, or in some unique cases like the Famicom hardwired to the console, or with a wireless connection. Controllers require power, either provided by the console via the wired connection, or from batteries or a rechargeable battery pack for wireless connections. Controllers are nominally built into

840-604: A cult following, with a number of unauthorized PC Engine imports available along with NTSC -to- PAL adapters in the United Kingdom during the late 1980s. In 1989, a British company called Mention manufactured an adapted PAL version called the PC Engine Plus. However, the system was not officially supported by NEC. From November 1989 to 1993, PC Engine consoles as well as some add-ons were imported from Japan by French importer Sodipeng ( Société de Distribution de la PC Engine ),

980-484: A dual 16-bit graphics processing unit (GPU) chipset consisting of a video display controller (VDC) and video color encoder. The GPUs are capable of displaying 482 colors simultaneously, out of 512. With dimensions of just 14 cm × 14 cm × 3.8 cm (5.5 in × 5.5 in × 1.5 in), the Japanese PC Engine is the smallest major home game console ever made. Games were released on HuCard cartridges and later

1120-460: A fee to Microsoft to register one intent to do so. Since the release of the Nintendo Famicom / Nintendo Entertainment System, most video game console manufacturers employ a strict licensing scheme that limit what games can be developed for it. Developers and their publishers must pay a fee, typically based on royalty per unit sold, back to the manufacturer. The cost varies by manufacturer but

1260-494: A few exceptions such as the PlayStation TV and OnLive Game System , are Android -based digital media players that are bundled with gamepads and marketed as gaming devices. Such microconsoles can be connected to the television to play video games downloaded from an application store such as Google Play . Handheld game consoles are devices that typically include a built-in screen and game controller in their case, and contain

1400-421: A five–seven year cycle called a generation, with consoles made with similar technical capabilities or made around the same time period grouped into one generation. The industry has developed a razor and blades model : manufacturers often sell consoles at low prices, sometimes at a loss, while primarily making a profit from the licensing fees for each game sold. Planned obsolescence then draws consumers into buying

1540-471: A handheld unit, though some newer ones allow for separate wireless controllers to also be used. While the first game consoles were dedicated game systems, with the games programmed into the console's hardware, the Fairchild Channel F introduced the ability to store games in a form separate from the console's internal circuitry, thus allowing the consumer to purchase new games to play on the system. Since

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1680-402: A licensing agreement to gain access to the console's proprietary storage format for the media as well as to use the console and manufacturer's logos and branding for the game's packaging, paid back through royalties on sales. In the transition to digital distribution, where now the console manufacturer runs digital storefronts for games, license fees apply to registering a game for distribution on

1820-597: A number of TurboGrafx-16 (TurboChip/HuCARD), TurboGrafx-CD (CD-ROM²) and Turbo Duo (Super CD-ROM²) games were released on Nintendo's Virtual Console download service for the Wii , and later the Wii U , and Nintendo 3DS , including several that were originally never released outside Japan. In 2011, ten TurboGrafx-16 games were released on the PlayStation Network for play on the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable in

1960-480: A permanent location connected to a television or other display devices and controlled with a separate game controller, or handheld consoles , which include their own display unit and controller functions built into the unit and which can be played anywhere. Hybrid consoles combine elements of both home and handheld consoles. Video game consoles are a specialized form of a home computer geared towards video game playing, designed with affordability and accessibility to

2100-457: A port of Street Fighter II: Champion Edition . A large portion of the TurboGrafx-16's library is made up of horizontal and vertical-scrolling shooters. Examples include Konami 's Gradius and Salamander , Hudson 's Super Star Soldier and Soldier Blade , Namco 's Galaga '88 , Irem 's R-Type , and Taito 's Darius Alpha , Darius Plus and Super Darius . The console

2240-564: A rechargeable battery or battery compartment. This allows the unit to be carried around and played anywhere, in contrast to a home game console. Examples include the Game Boy , the PlayStation Portable , and the Nintendo 3DS . Hybrid video game consoles are devices that can be used either as a handheld or as a home console. They have either a wired connection or docking station that connects

2380-497: A result of its limited release, with the system instead supporting standard HuCards and outputting a PAL 50 Hz video signal. In Japan, the PC Engine was originally sold with a standard controller known simply as the Pad. It has a rectangular shape with a directional pad, two action buttons numbered "I" and "II", and two rubber "Select" and "Run" buttons, matching the number of buttons on

2520-514: A rotating basis. Examples of such services include the Xbox network , PlayStation Network , and Nintendo Switch Online . Certain consoles saw various add-ons or accessories that were designed to attach to the existing console to extend its functionality. The best example of this was through the various CD-ROM add-ons for consoles of the fourth generation such as the TurboGrafx CD, Atari Jaguar CD , and

2660-492: A second HuC6270A (VDC), a HuC6202 (VDP) that combines the output of the two VDCs, four times as much RAM, twice as much video RAM, and a second layer/plane of scrolling. It also uses the revised HuC6280A CPU, but the sound and color palette were not upgraded, making the expensive price tag a big disadvantage to the system. As a result, only five exclusive SuperGrafx games and two hybrid games ( Darius Plus and Darius Alpha were released as standard HuCards which took advantage of

2800-418: A side effect). The Virtual Cushion , released in 1992, allows players to feel the impact of enemy attacks through sound vibrations. Many peripherals were produced for both the TurboGrafx-16 and PC Engine. The TurboStick is a tabletop joystick designed to replicate the standard control layout of arcade games from the era. Other similar joystick controllers were produced by third-party manufacturers, such as

2940-454: A single chip, otherwise known as a system on a chip (SoC), which is a further reduction in size and cost. In addition, consoles tend to focus on components that give the unit high game performance, such as the CPU and GPU, and as a tradeoff to keep their prices in expected ranges, use less memory and storage space compared to typical personal computers. In comparison to the early years of the industry, where most consoles were made directly by

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3080-615: A slot for a memory backup unit, which is required for certain games. The RF output used on the original PC Engine was also replaced with an A/V port for the Shuttle. The PC Engine Shuttle was also distributed in South Korea. It was released in 1990 by Daewoo Electronics. The PC Engine GT is a portable version of the PC Engine, released in Japan on December 1, 1990, and then in the United States as

3220-471: A sought-after feature across many consoles that followed. Backward compatibility functionality has included direct support for previous console games on the newer consoles such as within the Xbox console family, the distribution of emulated games such as Nintendo 's Virtual Console , or using cloud gaming services for these older games as with the PlayStation Now service. Consoles may be shipped in

3360-435: A special incentive for its fans. Pack-in games are typically first-party games, often featuring the console's primary mascot characters . The more recent console generations have also seen multiple versions of the same base console system either offered at launch or presented as a mid-generation refresh. In some cases, these simply replace some parts of the hardware with cheaper or more efficient parts, or otherwise streamline

3500-568: A subsidiary of Guillemot International . This came after considerable enthusiasm in the French press. The PC Engine was largely available in France and Benelux through major retailers. It came with French language instructions and also an AV cable to enable its compatibility with SECAM television sets. After seeing the TurboGrafx-16 falter in America, NEC decided to cancel their European releases. Units for

3640-518: A switch to function as either the Select or Run button, as many games had begun to use one of those for in-game commands. The Avenue Pad 6 was released in 1993 in conjunction with the PC Engine port of Street Fighter II: Champion Edition , adding four action buttons numbered "III" through "VI"; unlike the three-button pad, these buttons did not duplicate existing buttons, and instead added new functionalities in compatible titles. Another six-button controller,

3780-705: A third-party company, released by Sharp in April 1989 for ¥99,800. It is a hybrid system that can run PC Engine games and X1 computer software. Pioneer Corporation 's LaserActive supports an add-on module which allows the use of PC Engine games (HuCard, CD-ROM² and Super CD-ROM²) as well as new "LD-ROM²" titles that work only on this device. NEC also released their own LaserActive unit (NEC PCE-LD1) and PC Engine add-on module, under an OEM license. A total of eleven LD-ROM titles were produced, with only three of them released in North America. Outside North America and Japan,

3920-492: A tradition in Japan, and this had already proven successful in arcade games like Pac-Man . Mario was used to serve as an identity for the NES as a humor-filled, playful console. Mario caught on quickly when the NES released in the West, and when the next generation of consoles arrived, other manufacturers pushed their own mascots to the forefront of their marketing, most notably Sega with

4060-481: A variation of buttons to perform other in-game actions such as jumping or interacting with the game world. Though controllers have become more featured over the years, they still provide less control over a game compared to personal computers or mobile gaming. The type of controller available to a game can fundamentally change the style of how a console game will or can be played. However, this has also inspired changes in game design to create games that accommodate for

4200-454: A variety of configurations, but typically will include one base configuration that include the console, one controller, and sometimes a pack-in game . Manufacturers may offer alternate stock keeping unit (SKUs) options that include additional controllers and accessories or different pack-in games. Special console editions may feature unique cases or faceplates with art dedicated to a specific video game or series and are bundled with that game as

4340-534: Is a model of the console in a laptop form, released on December 13, 1991, in Japan, retailing at ¥99,800. The LT does not require a television display (and does not have any AV output) as it has a built-in flip-up screen and speakers, just as a laptop would have, but, unlike the GT, the LT runs on a power supply. Its expensive price meant that few units were produced compared to other models. The LT has full expansion port capability, so

Amstrad GX4000 - Misplaced Pages Continue

4480-419: Is also known for its platformers and role-playing games; Victor Entertainment 's The Legendary Axe won numerous awards and is seen among the TurboGrafx-16's definitive titles. Ys I & II , a compilation of two games from Nihon Falcom 's Ys series, was particularly successful in Japan. Cosmic Fantasy 2 was an RPG ported from Japan to the United States that earned Electronic Gaming Magazine RPG of

4620-461: Is an updated model of the PC Engine, released in Japan on December 8, 1989. It has the same form factor as the original PC Engine, but it changes the color scheme from white and red to black and blue and replaces the original's radio frequency -output connector with a composite video AV port. It also used a revised CPU, the HuC6280A, which supposedly fixed some minor audio issues. A recolored version of

4760-453: Is legal, Nintendo is recognized to be highly protective of any attempts to emulate its systems and has taken early legal actions to shut down such projects. To help support older games and console transitions, manufacturers started to support backward compatibility on consoles in the same family. Sony was the first to do this on a home console with the PlayStation 2 which was able to play original PlayStation content, and subsequently became

4900-605: Is similar to popular 8-bit gamepads of the time such as those for the Master System and Nintendo Entertainment System , as well as that for the TurboGrafx-16 . It contains only two buttons on the actual pad with the pause button located on the console itself, and uses the prevailing de facto standard Atari-style 9-pin connector . Analog Joysticks The GX4000 supports the use of analog controllers through its specific IBM standard analog controller port ( game port ). The controller

5040-458: Is universally accepted, one breakdown of generations, showing representative consoles, of each is shown below. Home video game consoles are meant to be connected to a television or other type of monitor, with power supplied through an outlet. This requires the unit to be used in a fixed location, typically at home in one's living room. Separate game controllers, connected through wired or wireless connections, are used to provide input to

5180-456: The Arcade CD-ROM² standard. By this point, support for both the TurboGrafx-16 and Turbo Duo was already waning in North America; thus, no North American version of either Arcade Card was produced, though a Japanese Arcade Card can still be used on a North American console through a HuCard converter. Many variations and related products of the PC Engine were released. The PC Engine CoreGrafx

5320-800: The Arcade Card Duo , designed for PC Engine consoles already equipped with the Super CD-ROM² System, and the Arcade Card Pro , a model for the original CD-ROM² System that combines the functionalities of the Super System Card and Arcade Card Duo into one. The first games for this add-on were ports of the Neo-Geo fighting games Fatal Fury 2 and Art of Fighting . Ports of World Heroes 2 and Fatal Fury Special were later released for this card, along with several original games released under

5460-613: The Bally Astrocade and APF-M1000 using tape drives, as well as the Disk System for the Nintendo Famicom, and the Nintendo 64DD for the Nintendo 64, but these had limited applications, as magnetic media was more fragile and volatile than game cartridges. In addition to built-in internal storage, newer consoles often give the consumer the ability to use external storage media to save game date, downloaded games, or other media files from

5600-561: The CD-ROM optical format with the TurboGrafx-CD add-on. The "16" in its North American name and the marketing of the console as a 16-bit platform despite having an 8-bit CPU was criticized by some as deceptive. In Japan, the PC Engine was very successful. It gained strong third-party support and eventually became the Super Famicom 's main rival. However, the TurboGrafx-16 failed to break into

5740-686: The CNIT Centre in Paris in August 1990. The system was launched a month later in four countries, Britain, France, Spain, and Italy, priced at £99.99 in Britain and 990F in France; software was priced at £25 for most games. The racing game Burnin' Rubber , a power pack, and two controllers were bundled with the machine. Initial reviews of the console were favourable, with CVG calling it a "neat looking and technically impressive console that has an awful lot of potential at

Amstrad GX4000 - Misplaced Pages Continue

5880-535: The Famicom's primary controller (as well as a standard NES controller). Another controller known as the TurboPad was also launched separately with the console, which added two "Turbo" switches for the I and II buttons with three speed settings. The switches allow for a single button press to register multiple inputs at once (for instance, this allows for rapid fire in scrolling shooters). The TurboPad became standard-issue with

6020-463: The MSX computer. Nintendo liked this concept, as it had the ability to store full games and overwrite existing ones. However, as the technology for it was expensive, and that they would have to pay royalties for each card sold, Nintendo instead decided to pass on Hudson Soft's proposal. This eventually led to the partnership between Hudson Soft and NEC. The two companies successfully teamed up to then develop

6160-522: The Magnavox Odyssey and the home console version of Pong , and more recently have been used for retro style consoles such as the NES Classic Edition and Sega Genesis Mini . Dedicated consoles were very popular in the first generation until they were gradually replaced by second generation that use ROM cartridges . The fourth generation gradually merged with optical media . During

6300-542: The Microvision in 1979 and Game & Watch in 1980, and the concept was fully realized by the Game Boy in 1989. Both home and handheld consoles have become more advanced following global changes in technology. These technological shifts include improved electronic and computer chip manufacturing to increase computational power at lower costs and size, the introduction of 3D graphics and hardware-based graphic processors for real-time rendering, digital communications such as

6440-507: The NES Classic Edition , Sega Genesis Mini and also handheld retro consoles such as the Nintendo Game & Watch color screen series. Early console hardware was designed as customized printed circuit boards (PCB)s, selecting existing integrated circuit chips that performed known functions, or programmable chips like erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM) chips that could perform certain functions. Persistent computer memory

6580-679: The Sega CD . Other examples of add-ons include the 32X for the Sega Genesis intended to allow owners of the aging console to play newer games but has several technical faults, and the Game Boy Player for the GameCube to allow it to play Game Boy games. Consumers can often purchase a range of accessories for consoles outside of the above categories. These can include: Console or game development kits are specialized hardware units that typically include

6720-728: The TurboDuo , was launched in October 1992. Two updated variants were released in Japan: the PC Engine Duo-R on March 25, 1993, and the PC Engine Duo-RX on June 25, 1994. The changes were mostly cosmetic, but the RX included a new 6-button controller. The PC-KD863G is a CRT monitor with built-in PC Engine console, released on September 27, 1988, in Japan for ¥138,000. Following NEC's PCs' naming scheme,

6860-456: The TurboExpress . It can play only HuCard games. It has a 2.6-inch (66 mm) backlit, active-matrix color LCD screen, the most advanced on the market for a portable video game unit at the time. The screen contributed to its high price and short battery life, however, which hurt its performance in the market. It also has a TV tuner adapter as well as a two-player link cable. The PC Engine LT

7000-523: The Xbox One family, Microsoft released the mid-generation Xbox One X as a higher performance console, the Xbox One S as the lower-cost base console, and a special Xbox One S All-Digital Edition revision that removed the optical drive on the basis that users could download all games digitally, offered at even a lower cost than the Xbox One S. In these cases, developers can often optimize games to work better on

7140-505: The "TurboGrafx-16", a name representing its graphical speed and strength and its 16-bit GPU . They also completely redesigned the hardware into a large, black casing. This lengthy redesign process and NEC's questions about the system's viability in the United States delayed the TurboGrafx-16's debut. The TurboGrafx-16 (branded as the TurboGrafx-16 Entertainment SuperSystem on the packaging and promotional material)

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7280-611: The 1970s and 1980s were about US$ 200−300 , and with the introduction of the ROM cartridge, each game averaged about US$ 30−40 . Over time the launch price of base consoles units has generally risen to about US$ 400−500 , with the average game costing US$ 60 . Exceptionally, the period of transition from ROM cartridges to optical media in the early 1990s saw several consoles with high price points exceeding US$ 400 and going as high as US$ 700 . Resultingly, sales of these first optical media consoles were generally poor. When adjusted for inflation,

7420-459: The American market and directed its U.S. operations to develop the system for the new audience. NEC Technologies boss Keith Schaefer formed a team to test the system. They found out that there was a lack of enthusiasm in its name "PC Engine" and also felt its small size was not very suitable to American consumers who would generally prefer a larger and "futuristic" design. They decided to call the system

7560-688: The Arcade Pad 6, was released by NEC Home Electronics in 1994, replacing the TurboPad as the bundled controller of the PC Engine Duo-RX (the last model of the console). A total of 686 commercial games were released for the TurboGrafx-16. In North America, the system featured Keith Courage in Alpha Zones as a pack-in game, a conversion of the PC Engine title Mashin Eiyuuden Wataru. The PC Engine console received strong third-party support in Japan, while

7700-569: The CD-ROM² unit is compatible with the LT the same way as it is with the original PC Engine and CoreGrafx. However, the LT requires an adapter to use the enhanced Super CD-ROM² unit. NEC Home Electronics released the PC Engine Duo in Japan on September 21, 1991, which combined the PC Engine and Super CD-ROM² unit into a single console. The system can play HuCards, audio CDs, CD+Gs, standard CD-ROM² games and Super CD-ROM² games. The North American version,

7840-480: The Channel F, nearly all game consoles have featured the ability to purchase and swap games through some form, through those forms have changes with improvements in technology. While magnetic storage , such as tape drives and floppy disks , had been popular for software distribution with early personal computers in the 1980s and 1990s, this format did not see much use in console system. There were some attempts, such as

7980-477: The Coleco Telstar , which led other third-party manufacturers, using inexpensive General Instruments processor chips, to make their own home consoles which flooded the market by 1977. The video game crash of 1983 was fueled by multiple factors including competition from lower-cost personal computers, but unregulated competition was also a factor, as numerous third-party game developers, attempting to follow on

8120-465: The European markets were already produced, which were essentially US models modified to run on PAL television sets. NEC sold this stock to distributors; in the United Kingdom, Telegames released the console in 1990 in extremely limited quantities. By March 1991, NEC claimed that it had sold 750,000 TurboGrafx-16 consoles in the United States and 500,000 CD-ROM units worldwide. In an effort to relaunch

8260-557: The GX4000, of which 13 are enhanced versions of previously released games on the Amstrad CPC, 8 are released for Amstrad GX4000 only but not for Amstrad CPC and 4 are direct ports from the Amstrad CPC. Video game console A video game console is an electronic device that outputs a video signal or image to display a video game that can be played with a game controller . These may be home consoles , which are generally placed in

8400-443: The GX4000. The majority of games were made by UK- and French-based companies such as Ocean , Titus , and Loriciels . Notable games were the pack-in game, Burnin' Rubber , as well as RoboCop 2 , Pang , Plotting , Navy Seals and Switchblade . Many more games were initially announced, such as Toki , Kick Off 2 , and Out Run , but later cancelled when the system failed to sell. [1] There were 27 games on

8540-461: The Internet, wireless networking and Bluetooth, and larger and denser media formats as well as digital distribution. Following the same type of Moore's law progression, home consoles are grouped into generations; each lasting approximately five years. Consoles within each generation share similar specifications and features, such as processor word size . While no one grouping of consoles by generation

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8680-531: The North American market and was a commercial failure, which has been blamed on the delayed release and inferior marketing. In Europe, the Japanese models were grey market imported, modified, and distributed in France and the United Kingdom beginning in 1988, but an official PAL model (named simply "TurboGrafx" without the "16") planned for 1990 was cancelled following the disappointing North American launch with

8820-459: The North American region. In 2010, Hudson released an iPhone application entitled "TurboGrafx-16 GameBox" which allowed users to buy and play a number of select Turbo Grafx games via in-app purchases . The 2012 JRPG Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory features a character, known as Peashy, that pays homage to the console. In 2016, rapper Kanye West 's 8th solo album was initially announced to be titled "Turbo Grafx 16". The album, however,

8960-569: The PC Engine the first video game console to use CD-ROM as a storage media. The add-on consisted of two devices – the CD player itself and the interface unit, which connects the CD player to the console and provides a unified power supply and output for both. It was later released as the TurboGrafx-CD in the United States in November 1989, with a remodeled interface unit in order to suit the different shape of

9100-598: The PC Engine. The system made its debut in the Japanese market on October 30, 1987, and it was a tremendous success. The PC Engine had an elegant, "eye-catching" design, and it was very small compared to its rivals. The PC Engine sold 500,000 units in its first week of release. The CD-ROM expansion was a major success for the CD-ROM format, selling 60,000 units in its first five months of release in Japan. By 1989, NEC had sold over 1.2 million consoles and more than 80,000 CD-ROM units in Japan. In 1988, NEC decided to expand to

9240-578: The PC-KD863G was designed to eliminate the need to buy a separate television set and a console. It output its signals in RGB , so it was clearer at the time than the console which was still limited to RF and composite . However, it has no BUS expansion port, which made it incompatible with the CD-ROM² System and memory backup add-ons. The X1-Twin was the first licensed PC Engine-compatible hardware manufactured by

9380-419: The Python 4 by QuickShot and the Stick Engine by ASCII Corporation . The TurboBooster attached to the back of the system and allowed it to output composite video and stereo audio. Hudson released the Ten no Koe 2 in Japan, which enabled the ability to save progress in compatible HuCard titles. In 1991, NEC Avenue released the Avenue Pad 3, which added a third action button labelled "III" that could be assigned via

9520-399: The Super-CD-ROM² unit, an updated version of the add-on released on December 13, which combines the CD-ROM drive, interface unit and Super System Card into one device. On March 12, 1994, NEC introduced a third upgrade known as the Arcade Card ( アーケードカード , Ākēdo Kādo ) , which increases the amount of onboard RAM of the Super CD-ROM² System to 2MB. This upgrade was released in two models:

9660-652: The TurboGrafx-16 console struggled to gain the attention of other developers. Hudson brought over many of its popular franchises, such as Bomberman , Bonk , and Adventure Island , to the system with graphically impressive follow-ups. Hudson also designed and published several original titles, such as Air Zonk and Dungeon Explorer . Compile published Alien Crush and Devil's Crush , two well-received virtual pinball games. Namco contributed several high-quality conversions of its arcade games, such as Valkyrie no Densetsu , Pac-Land , Galaga '88 , Final Lap Twin , and Splatterhouse , as did Capcom with

9800-412: The TurboGrafx-16 console was released in South Korea by a third-party company, Haitai , under the name Vistar 16 . It was based on the American version but with a new curved design. Daewoo Electronics distributed the PC Engine Shuttle in the South Korean market as well. The TurboGrafx-16 uses a Hudson Soft HuC6280 CPU—an 8-bit CPU running at 7.16 MHz paired with two 16-bit graphics processors,

9940-429: The TurboGrafx-16 console. The TurboGrafx-CD had a launch price of $ 399.99 and did not include any bundled games. Fighting Street and Monster Lair were the TurboGrafx-CD launch titles; Ys Book I & II soon followed. In 1991, NEC introduced an upgraded version of the CD-ROM² System known as the Super CD-ROM² , which updates the BIOS to Version 3.0 and increases buffer RAM from 64 KB to 256 KB. This upgrade

10080-530: The TurboGrafx-16 in North America, as well as subsequent models of the PC Engine in Japan starting with the PC Engine Coregrafx, immediately phasing out the original PC Engine Pad. All PC Engine and TurboGrafx-16 consoles only have one controller port; in order to use multiple controllers on the same system and play multiplayer games, a separate peripheral, known in Japan as the MultiTap and in North America as

10220-498: The TurboTap, was required, which allowed up to five controllers to be plugged into the system. The Cordless Multitap was also available exclusively in Japan, sold as a set with a single Cordless Pad, with additional wireless controllers available separately. Due to using different diameter controller ports, PC Engine controllers and peripherals are not compatible with TurboGrafx-16 consoles and vice versa. The TurboDuo would revert to using

10360-559: The United States as of 1995 , and 1.92 million CD-ROM² units sold in Japan. The final licensed release for the PC Engine was Dead of the Brain Part 1 & 2 on June 3, 1999, on the Super CD-ROM² format. The CD-ROM² is an add-on attachment for the PC Engine that was released in Japan on December 4, 1988. The add-on allows the core versions of the console to play PC Engine games in CD-ROM format in addition to standard HuCards. This made

10500-473: The added power and it was quickly discontinued. The final model was discontinued in 1994. It was succeeded by the PC-FX , which was released only in Japan and was not successful. The PC Engine was created as a collaborative effort between Hudson Soft , who created video game software, and NEC , a company which was dominant in the Japanese personal computer market with their PC-88 and PC-98 platforms. NEC lacked

10640-658: The advent of the Atari Jaguar console. Mattel did not market its 1979 Intellivision system with bit width, although it used a 16-bit CPU. In 1994, NEC released a new console, the Japanese-exclusive PC-FX , a 32-bit system with a tower-like design. It was a commercial failure, leading NEC to abandon the video game industry. Emulation programs for the TurboGrafx-16 exist for several modern and retro operating systems and architectures. Popular and regularly updated programs include Mednafen and BizHawk. In 2006,

10780-519: The already-manufactured stock of systems liquidated via mail-order retailers. At least 17 distinct models of the console were made, including portable versions and those that integrated the CD-ROM add-on. An enhanced model, the PC Engine SuperGrafx , was rushed to market in 1989. It featured many performance enhancements and was intended to supersede the standard PC Engine. It failed to catch on—only six titles were released that took advantage of

10920-405: The company itself. Microsoft and Nintendo both use this approach to their consoles, while Sony maintains all production in-house with the exception of their component suppliers. Some of the commons elements that can be found within console hardware include: All game consoles require player input through a game controller to provide a method to move the player character in a specific direction and

11060-447: The company selling the console, many consoles of today are generally constructed through a value chain that includes component suppliers, such as AMD and NVidia for CPU and GPU functions, and contract manufacturers including electronics manufacturing services , factories which assemble those components into the final consoles such as Foxconn and Flextronics . Completed consoles are then usually tested, distributed, and repaired by

11200-552: The comparatively limited controls available on consoles. Controllers have come in a variety of styles over the history of consoles. Some common types include: Numerous other controller types exist, including those that support motion controls , touchscreen support on handhelds and some consoles, and specialized controllers for specific types of games, such as racing wheels for racing games , light guns for shooting games , and musical instrument controllers for rhythm games . Some newer consoles also include optional support for

11340-466: The console to install additional functionality, voiding the manufacturer's warranty. Plug-and-play consoles usually come with the console unit itself, one or more controllers, and the required components for power and video hookup. Many recent plug-and-play releases have been for distributing a number of retro games for a specific console platform. Examples of these include the Atari Flashback series ,

11480-538: The console unit to a television screen and fixed power source, and the potential to use a separate controller. However, they can also be used as a handheld. While prior handhelds like the Sega Nomad and PlayStation Portable , or home consoles such as the Wii U , have had these features, some consider the Nintendo Switch to be the first true hybrid console. Most consoles are considered programmable consoles and have

11620-457: The console's racing game library, stating that, compared to "all the popular consoles, the PC Engine is way out in front in terms of the range and quality of its race games." Reviewing the Turbo Duo model in 1993, GamePro gave it a "thumbs down". Though they praised the system's CD sound, graphics, and five-player capability, they criticized the outdated controller and the games library, saying

11760-399: The console's design for production going forward; the PlayStation 3 underwent several such hardware refreshes during its lifetime due to technological improvements such as significant reduction of the process node size for the CPU and GPU. In these cases, the hardware revision model will be marked on packaging so that consumers can verify which version they are acquiring. In other cases,

11900-427: The console's design, and will be sold at a high cost to the developer as part of keeping this confidentiality. Newer consoles that share features in common with personal computers may no longer use specialized dev kits, though developers are still expected to register and purchase access to software development kits from the manufacturer. For example, any consumer Xbox One can be used for game development after paying

12040-424: The console). Within a few weeks of the initial launch, the system could be bought at discounted prices, and by July 1991 some stores were selling it for as little as £29.99. Many GX4000 games were CPC games repackaged on cartridge with minor or no improvements, which led to consumer disinterest, with many users unwilling to pay £25 for a cartridge game they could buy for £3.99 on cassette instead. Amstrad lacked

12180-431: The console, retailing at ¥18,800. It was targeted primarily towards younger players with its spaceship-like design and came bundled with a TurboPad II controller, which is shaped differently from the other standard TurboPad controllers. The reduced price was made possible by removing the expansion port from the back, making it the first model of the console that was not compatible with the CD-ROM² add-on. However, it does have

12320-526: The console. Early iterations of external storage were achieved through the use of flash-based memory cards , first used by the Neo Geo but popularized with the PlayStation. Nintendo continues to support this approach with extending the storage capabilities of the 3DS and Switch, standardizing on the current SD card format. As consoles began incorporating the use of USB ports, support for USB external hard drives

12460-455: The consumer, all related to Moore's law of technological improvements. For the consoles of the 1980s to 1990s, these improvements were evident in the marketing in the late 1980s to 1990s during the "bit wars", where console manufacturers had focused on their console's processor's word size as a selling point. Consoles since the 2000s are more similar to personal computers, building in memory, storage features, and networking capabilities to avoid

12600-428: The display device. Even with more advanced integrated circuits (IC)s of the time, designers were limited to what could be done through the electrical process rather than through programming as normally associated with video game development . Improvements in console hardware followed with improvements in microprocessor technology and semiconductor device fabrication . Manufacturing processes have been able to reduce

12740-462: The early 1970s. Ralph H. Baer devised the concept of playing simple, spot-based games on a television screen in 1966, which later became the basis of the Magnavox Odyssey in 1972. Inspired by the table tennis game on the Odyssey, Nolan Bushnell , Ted Dabney , and Allan Alcorn at Atari, Inc. developed the first successful arcade game , Pong , and looked to develop that into a home version, which

12880-458: The extra video hardware if played on a SuperGrafx) were released, and the system was quickly discontinued. The SuperGrafx has the same expansion port as previous PC Engine consoles, but requires an adapter in order to utilize the original CD-ROM² System add-on, due to the SuperGrafx console's large size. The PC Engine Shuttle was released in Japan on November 22, 1989, as a less expensive model of

13020-444: The feature size on chips (typically measured in nanometers ), allowing more transistors and other components to fit on a chip, and at the same time increasing the circuit speeds and the potential frequency the chip can run at, as well as reducing thermal dissipation . Chips were able to be made on larger dies , further increasing the number of features and effective processing power. Random-access memory became more practical with

13160-407: The front slot of the console. PC Engine HuCards have 38 connector pins. TurboGrafx-16 HuCards (alternatively referred to as "TurboChips") reverse eight of these pins as a region lockout method. The power switch on the console also acts as a lock that prevents HuCards from being removed while the system is powered on. The European release of the TurboGrafx-16 did not have its own PAL-formatted HuCards as

13300-585: The game. Early examples include the Atari 2600 , the Nintendo Entertainment System , and the Sega Genesis ; newer examples include the Wii U , the PlayStation 5 , and the Xbox Series X . A microconsole is a home video game console that is typically powered by low-cost computing hardware, making the console lower-priced compared to other home consoles on the market. The majority of microconsoles, with

13440-604: The games and software needed to be delivered sooner; he also remarked that making the machine 16-bit would have helped. Resolution Colour Maximum onscreen colour counts can be increased in all Modes through the use of interrupts. Sprites Memory Audio IO Audio output, 2× Digital controller connectors, Analog controller port (IBM standard), Lightgun connector (RJ11), Audio and RGB Video output (8-pin DIN), Power supply socket from external PSU, Power supply socket from monitor. Standard controllers The GX4000 controller

13580-677: The general public in mind, but lacking in raw computing power and customization. Simplicity is achieved in part through the use of game cartridges or other simplified methods of distribution, easing the effort of launching a game. However, this leads to ubiquitous proprietary formats that create competition for market share. More recent consoles have shown further confluence with home computers, making it easy for developers to release games on multiple platforms. Further, modern consoles can serve as replacements for media players with capabilities to play films and music from optical media or streaming media services. Video game consoles are usually sold on

13720-405: The hardware changes create multiple lines within the same console family. The base console unit in all revisions share fundamental hardware, but options like internal storage space and RAM size may be different. Those systems with more storage and RAM would be marked as a higher performance variant available at a higher cost, while the original unit would remain as a budget option. For example, within

13860-423: The hardware lockout chips and sell without paying any royalties to Nintendo, such as by Atari in its subsidiary company Tengen . This licensing approach was similarly used by most other cartridge-based console manufacturers using lockout chip technology. With optical media, where the console manufacturer may not have direct control on the production of the media, the developer or publisher typically must establish

14000-460: The hardware of older consoles that allow games from that console to be run. The development of software emulators of console hardware is established to be legal, but there are unanswered legal questions surrounding copyrights , including acquiring a console's firmware and copies of a game's ROM image , which laws such as the United States' Digital Millennium Copyright Act make illegal save for certain archival purposes. Even though emulation itself

14140-409: The hardware, either by being programmed via the circuitry or set in the read-only flash memory of the console. Thus, the console's game library cannot be added to or changed directly by the user. The user can typically switch between games on dedicated consoles using hardware switches on the console, or through in-game menus. Dedicated consoles were common in the first generation of home consoles, such as

14280-402: The higher density of transistors per chip, but to address the correct blocks of memory , processors needed to be updated to use larger word sizes and allot for larger bandwidth in chip communications. All these improvements did increase the cost of manufacturing, but at a rate far less than the gains in overall processing power, which helped to make home computers and consoles inexpensive for

14420-473: The higher-performance console with patches to the retail version of the game. In the case of the Nintendo 3DS , the New Nintendo 3DS , featured upgraded memory and processors, with new games that could only be run on the upgraded units and cannot be run on an older base unit. There have also been a number of "slimmed-down" console options with significantly reduced hardware components that significantly reduced

14560-442: The later part of video game history, there have been specialized consoles using computing components to offer multiple games to players. Most of these plug directly into one's television, and thus are often called plug-and-play consoles. Most of them are also considered dedicated consoles since it is generally impossible to access the computing components by an average consumer, though tech-savvy consumers often have found ways to hack

14700-464: The limitations of the past. The confluence with personal computers eased software development for both computer and console games, allowing developers to target both platforms. However, consoles differ from computers as most of the hardware components are preselected and customized between the console manufacturer and hardware component provider to assure a consistent performance target for developers. Whereas personal computer motherboards are designed with

14840-414: The machine was "Bring the whole arcade into your home!" The GX4000 was not successful commercially. During its lifespan, software for the system was short in number and slow to arrive, consumer interest was low, and coverage from popular magazines of the time was slight, with some readers complaining about a lack of information regarding the machine ( Amstrad Action was one of the few magazines to support

14980-505: The market failure of the system, the designer, Cliff Lawson, claimed that the GX4000 was technically "at least as good" as the SNES, and that the machine faltered due to a lack of games and Amstrad not having the money to compete with Nintendo and Sega . When asked whether anything could have been done to make the machine a success, he replied that more money would have been required to give software houses more incentive to support Amstrad, and that

15120-555: The marketing power to compete with the producers of the Mega Drive (released in November 1990 in Europe) and eventually the Super NES . There were also problems with software manufacturing, with companies complaining that the duplication process took months instead of weeks, leading to little software available at launch, and some games being released late or cancelled entirely. When discussing

15260-419: The means for the player to switch between different games. Traditionally, this has been done by switching a physical game cartridge or game card or by using optical media . It is now common to download games through digital distribution and store them on internal or external digital storage devices. Some consoles are considered dedicated consoles , in which games available for the console are "baked" onto

15400-618: The median household income, based on the United States Census data for the console's launch year. Since the Nintendo Entertainment System, console pricing has stabilized on the razorblade model , where the consoles are sold at little to no profit for the manufacturer, but they gain revenue from each game sold due to console licensing fees and other value-added services around the console (such as Xbox Live ). Console manufacturers have even been known to take losses on

15540-534: The model, known as the PC Engine CoreGrafx II , was released on June 21, 1991. Aside from the different coloring (light grey and orange), it is nearly identical to the original CoreGrafx except that the CPU was changed back to the original HuC6280. The PC Engine SuperGrafx , released on the same day as the CoreGrafx in Japan, is an enhanced variation of the PC Engine hardware with updated specs. This model has

15680-571: The needed tools for free after validating the small development size and needs of the team. Similar licensing concepts apply for third-party accessory manufacturers. Consoles, like most consumer electronic devices, have limited lifespans. There is great interest in preservation of older console hardware for archival and historical purposes, as games from older consoles, as well as arcade and personal computers, remain of interest. Computer programmers and hackers have developed emulators that can be run on personal computers or other consoles that simulate

15820-417: The needs for allowing consumers to add their desired selection of hardware components, the fixed set of hardware for consoles enables console manufacturers to optimize the size and design of the motherboard and hardware, often integrating key hardware components into the motherboard circuitry itself. Often, multiple components, such as the central processing unit and graphics processing unit, can be combined into

15960-558: The next console generation. While numerous manufacturers have come and gone in the history of the console market, there have always been two or three dominant leaders in the market, with the current market led by Sony (with their PlayStation brand), Microsoft (with their Xbox brand), and Nintendo (currently producing the Switch console). Previous console developers include Sega , Atari , Coleco , Mattel , NEC , SNK , Fujitsu , and 3DO . The first video game consoles were produced in

16100-436: The price of consoles has generally followed a downward trend, from US$ 800−1,000 from the early generations down to US$ 500−600 for current consoles. This is typical for any computer technology, with the improvements in computing performance and capabilities outpacing the additional costs to achieve those gains. Further, within the United States, the price of consoles has generally remained consistent, being within 0.8% to 1% of

16240-547: The price they could sell the console to the consumer, but either leaving certain features off the console, such as the Wii Mini that lacked any online components compared to the Wii , or that required the consumer to purchase additional accessories and wiring if they did not already own it, such as the New-Style NES that was not bundled with the required RF hardware to connect to a television. Consoles when originally launched in

16380-470: The production of game cartridges with its lockout chips and optical media for its systems, and thus charges the developer or publisher for each copy it makes as an upfront fee. This also allows Nintendo to review the game's content prior to release and veto games it does not believe appropriate to include on its system. This had led to over 700 unlicensed games for the NES, and numerous others on other Nintendo cartridge-based systems that had found ways to bypass

16520-498: The sale of consoles at the start of a console's launch with expectation to recover with revenue sharing and later price recovery on the console as they switch to less expensive components and manufacturing processes without changing the retail price. Consoles have been generally designed to have a five-year product lifetime , though manufacturers have considered their entries in the more recent generations to have longer lifetimes of seven to potentially ten years. The competition within

16660-480: The same components as the console and additional chips and components to allow the unit to be connected to a computer or other monitoring device for debugging purposes. A console manufacturer will make the console's dev kit available to registered developers months ahead of the console's planned launch to give developers time to prepare their games for the new system. These initial kits will usually be offered under special confidentiality clauses to protect trade secrets of

16800-565: The same controller port that the PC Engine uses, resulting in new TurboDuo-branded versions of the TurboPad and TurboTap peripherals, known as the DuoPad and the DuoTap respectively, to be made. An official TurboGrafx-16/Duo Adapter was also produced, which was an extension cable that allowed any TurboGrafx-16 controller or peripheral to be connected into the TurboDuo console (as well as any PC Engine console as

16940-451: The same game on a different console for a period of two years. This served as one of the first means of securing console exclusivity for games that existed beyond technical limitation of console development. The Nintendo Entertainment System also brought the concept of a video game mascot as the representation of a console system as a means to sell and promote the unit, and for the NES was Mario . The use of mascots in businesses had been

17080-617: The storefront – again gaining access to the console's branding and logo – with the manufacturer taking its cut of each sale as its royalty. In both cases, this still gives console manufacturers the ability to review and reject games it believes unsuitable for the system and deny licensing rights. With the rise of indie game development , the major console manufacturers have all developed entry level routes for these smaller developers to be able to publish onto consoles at far lower costs and reduced royalty rates. Programs like Microsoft's ID@Xbox give developers most of

17220-664: The success of Activision in developing third-party games for the Atari 2600 and Intellivision, flooded the market with poor quality games, and made it difficult for even quality games to sell. Nintendo implemented a lockout chip, the Checking Integrated Circuit , on releasing the Nintendo Entertainment System in Western territories, as a means to control which games were published for the console. As part of their licensing agreements, Nintendo further prevented developers from releasing

17360-477: The system in the North American market, in mid-1992 NEC and Hudson Soft transferred management of the system in North America to a new joint venture called Turbo Technologies Inc. and released the TurboDuo, an all-in-one unit that included the CD-ROM drive built in. However, the North American console gaming market continued to be dominated by the Genesis and Super NES , which was released in North America in August 1991. In May 1994, Turbo Technologies announced that it

17500-422: The system to be compatible with the majority of CPC Plus software. The GX4000 was Amstrad's first and only attempt at entering the console market. Although offering enhanced graphics capabilities, it failed to gain popularity in the market, and was quickly discontinued, selling 15,000 units in total. After months of speculation, the GX4000 was officially announced along with the 464 plus and 6128 plus computers at

17640-453: The third-party support was "almost nonexistent" and that most of the first party games were localizations of games better suited to the Japanese market. In 2009, the TurboGrafx-16 was ranked the 13th greatest video game console of all time by IGN , citing "a solid catalog of games worth playing," but also a lack of third-party support and the absence of a second controller port. The controversy over bit width marketing strategy reappeared with

17780-499: The use of Sonic the Hedgehog . The Nintendo and Sega rivalry that involved their mascot's flagship games served as part of the fourth console generation's "console wars". Since then, manufacturers have typically positioned their mascot and other first-party games as key titles in console bundles used to drive sales of consoles at launch or at key sales periods such as near Christmas. TurboGrafx-16 The console has an 8-bit CPU and

17920-482: The very low price of £99", but while impressed by the graphical capabilities, they criticised the audio and controllers. ACE magazine came to a similar conclusion, stating that the system "puts the other 8-bit offerings to shame bar the PC-Engine ". A marketing budget of £20 million was set aside for Europe, with the advertising focused on selling the GX4000 as a home alternative to playing arcade games . The tagline for

18060-514: The video game console market as subset of the video game industry is an area of interest to economics with its relatively modern history, its rapid growth to rival that of the film industry, and frequent changes compared to other sectors. Effects of unregulated competition on the market were twice seen early in the industry. The industry had its first crash in 1977 following the release of the Magnavox Odyssey, Atari's home versions of Pong and

18200-461: The vital experience in the video gaming industry and approached numerous video game studios for support. By pure coincidence, NEC's interest in entering the lucrative video game market coincided with Hudson's failed attempt to sell designs for then-advanced graphics chips to Nintendo ; In July 1985, Hudson Soft approached and pitched them a new add-on for the Famicom that played games using their patented Bee Cards , which they had experimented with on

18340-461: The year in 1993. In Japan, the PC Engine was very successful, and at one point it was the top-selling console in the nation. In North America and Europe, the situation was reversed, with both Sega and Nintendo dominating the console market at the expense of NEC. Initially, the TurboGrafx-16 sold well in the U.S., but eventually, it suffered from a lack of support from third-party software developers and publishers. In 1990, ACE magazine praised

18480-537: Was also added, such as with the Xbox 360. With Internet-enabled consoles, console manufacturers offer both free and paid-subscription services that provide value-added services atop the basic functions of the console. Free services generally offer user identity services and access to a digital storefront, while paid services allow players to play online games, interact with other uses through social networking, use cloud saves for supported games, and gain access to free titles on

18620-419: Was clear that the system was performing very poorly and NEC could not compete with Nintendo and Sega's marketing. In late 1989, NEC announced plans for a coin-op arcade video game version of the TurboGrafx-16. However, NEC cancelled the plans in early 1990. In Europe, the console is known by its original Japanese name PC Engine, rather than its American name TurboGrafx-16. PC Engine imports from Japan drew

18760-472: Was dropping support for the Duo, though it would continue to offer repairs for existing units and provide ongoing software releases through independent companies in the U.S. and Canada. In Japan, NEC had sold a total of 5.84 million PC Engine units as of 1995 and 1.92 million CD-ROM² units as of March 1996 . This adds up to a total of more than 6.59 million PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16 units sold in Japan and

18900-434: Was estimated to be about US$ 3−10 per unit in 2012. With additional fees, such as branding rights, this has generally worked out to be an industry-wide 30% royalty rate paid to the console manufacturer for every game sold. This is in addition to the cost of acquiring the dev kit to develop for the system. The licensing fee may be collected in a few different ways. In the case of Nintendo, the company generally has controlled

19040-587: Was eventually released in the New York City and Los Angeles test markets in late August 1989. However, this was two weeks after Sega of America released the Sega Genesis with a 16-bit CPU to test markets. Unlike NEC, Sega did not waste time redesigning the original Japanese Mega Drive system, making only slight aesthetic changes. The Genesis quickly eclipsed the TurboGrafx-16 after its American debut. NEC's decision to pack-in Keith Courage in Alpha Zones ,

19180-403: Was expensive, so dedicated consoles were generally limited to the use of processor registers for storage of the state of a game, thus limiting the complexities of such titles. Pong in both its arcade and home format, had a handful of logic and calculation chips that used the current input of the players' paddles and resisters storing the ball's position to update the game's state and send it to

19320-457: Was not widely supported by software. Lightguns The GX4000 supports the use of a lightgun through its dedicated RJ11 lightgun connector. Multiple 3rd party Lightguns were available, and official releases supported this peripheral. There were two games supporting the use of a lightgun on the GX4000 — Skeet Shoot and The Enforcer , both of which were distributed with a third-party gun. In all, nearly 30 games were produced and distributed for

19460-600: Was released in 1975. The first consoles were capable of playing only a very limited number of games built into the hardware. Programmable consoles using swappable ROM cartridges were introduced with the Fairchild Channel F in 1976, though popularized with the Atari 2600 released in 1977. Handheld consoles emerged from technology improvements in handheld electronic games as these shifted from mechanical to electronic/digital logic, and away from light-emitting diode (LED) indicators to liquid-crystal displays (LCD) that resembled video screens more closely. Early examples include

19600-501: Was released in several forms: the first was the PC Engine Duo on September 21, a new model of the console with a CD-ROM drive and upgraded BIOS/RAM already built into the system. This was followed by the Super System Card released on October 26, an upgrade for the existing CD-ROM² add-on that serves as a replacement to the original System Card. PC Engine owners who did not already own the original CD-ROM² add-on could instead opt for

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