SuperCD-ROM² is nothing more than a RAM expansion over the original CD-ROM. If you had a PC Engine or TurboGrafx-16 you needed to have the ver. 2.0 CD-ROM HuCard in the HuCard slot in order to play games that were compatible with the CD-ROM system. If you had those cards, you could play CD-ROM titles but not SuperCD-ROM² or Arcade CD-ROM² titles.
If you wanted to play SuperCD-ROM² titles, you needed to get the SuperCD-ROM² ver. 3.0 system HuCard.
The Turbo Duo came with that version and the extra RAM built-in so you didn’t need any extra HuCards to play those games.
After that came a further RAM upgrade in the Arcade Card. There was a version for the PC-Engine (Arcade Card Pro) and a version for the PC-Engine Duo (Arcade Card Duo).
Lastly there was the Game Express Card, which I think was made by a third party and was required to play special Game Express games.
No games were exclusive to any iteration of the system.
If you wanted to talk about exclusives than you could talk about the SuperGrafx which might have had 1 or 2.
I know this but @Ranmori listed it as a separate entity so I had to ask to find out if they knew something I didn’t.
Just wanted to add that the TurboGrafx family of systems are very dear to me. I owned a TurboGrafx-16 as well as a TurboDuo. I used to borrow my friend’s TurboGrafx-CD which had the 2.0 System Card.
I had another friend who introduced me to the system who had a brother working NEC.
I used to pine over all of the accessories that I could never afford on a secondary school student’s salary that were listed in various mail-order company’s ads in Electronic Gaming Monthly.
I used to dream about owning a copy of Street Fighter II Champion Edition with the adapter which allowed the US Systems to play Japanese Games and I wished I could have had an Arcade Card along with one of those adapters for my TurboDuo along with a couple six button pads and a PC-Engine Tap and some Arcade CD games. Everything was just way too expensive.
I even owned 2 copies of Lords of Thunder and still have my second one along with some games my friend purchased for me in the 90’s. That second copy of Lords of Thunder was one of the first things I bought when I started working and got my Amazon Account. It was to replace my first copy which was mysteriously misplaced (most likely stolen) which put an abrupt end to one of the most exciting and joyous times in gaming in my life. I had mastered Gate of Thunder and was almost to the point of mastering Lords of Thunder when it went missing.
We can take it for granted now but to experience those games in the 90’s on a Commodore 1702 monitor was a truly mind blowing experience!
Well, it does appear that the TurboDuo was the 1st available device that was compatible with the Super CD-ROM2 format, so was exclusive for a short time.
NEC is not the only company to do these kind of upgrades. Apple released a host of upgrades for their various systems and would then release a “New” device that was just pre-configured with all the upgrades. They did this up until the very end of the PowerPC systems.
NEC was very innovative, with systems like the Sharp X1 Twin and the 15inch PC-KD863G monitor, which both had integrated PC-Engine support.
I think I will put the NEC PC-KD863G on my list for a future project as well. It has at least as much value as the NEC TurboExpress and the PSOne with the integrated LCD.
Do you also have the Pioneer LaserActive and it’s various modules there as well?
This would only be true if the Super CD-ROM² System 3.0 Card was released after the TurboDuo. I never got the impression that it was. Was it?
According to Wikipedia:
"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 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 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.
Arcade Card
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: 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 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."
The PC Engine Duo is an attempt to “simplify” the complex nature of the PC Engine and its growing number of add-ons. It is essentially a PC Engine and Super CD-ROM² (at this point not yet released separately) rolled into one unit - a means to play HuCard, CD-ROM² and Super CD-ROM² software without the need for extra purchases.
Specifically.
(at this point not yet released separately)
BTW. I checked MAME support for the Pioneer LaserActive and it has limited support for running SegaCD titles.
Not any real good reason to include it in the MAME list at all.
Another BTW. The TurboDuo, with a HuCard adapter, was the only way to play Arcade CD-ROM² outside of Japan. Maybe that was the info @Ranmori was trying to convey.
I don’t know, that is just the information available. The article you edited into your previous post states that a North American console could use an adapter, but it doesn’t say which console.
I think it has to do with the fact that you can’t used the Super System card and the Arcade card at the same time.
Edit: missed the info about the Arcade Card Pro, so I really can’t say one way or the other.
If you had a TurboGrafx-CD you have to put whatever system card is required in the card slot for it to play the CD-ROM games. Only the TurboDuo came with the SuperCD-ROM² 3.0 built in. It still had a HuCard Slot, where you could put the Arcade Card Duo along with Japanese to US HuCard adapter to play Arcade Card games.
A TurboGrafx-CD would have just needed the same Japanese to US HuCard adapter and the Arcade Card Pro and they could do exactly the same thing as the Duo.
It even says it in the Wikipedia exerpt I shared.
This was actually a rhetorical question because I knew I was correct the first time.
- Single-speed CD-ROM drive, managed by a NEC microcontroller and using the SCSI-I interface.
Interface tray:
- ADPCM chip with variable speed input clock, and 64K DRAM for audio sample storage. Only one channel of 4-bit audio was supported.
- 64K DRAM for storage of program code and data loaded off the CD-ROM. The RAM could be supplemented by using different System Cards, and some later systems had additional RAM built-in.
A library of support routines and start-up code (BIOS) was provided in several forms, either built in to a particular console or as standalone ‘System Cards’. The known revisions are:
v1.00 - First release (HuCard, came with the PC-Engine CD-ROM interface unit)v2.00 - Upgrade (HuCard, sold separately)v2.10 - Upgrade (HuCard, sold separately) - bug fix?v3.00 - Final release (built into several products and available as a HuCard - see below)The corresponding CD-ROM products were:
PC-Engine Interface Unit (IFU-30), came with System Card (CD-ROM² System, v1.00) (has 64K RAM)System Card (CD-ROM² System, v1.00) (standalone, available as a replacement for the above)System Card (CD-ROM² System, v2.00)System Card (CD-ROM² System, v2.10)Super System Card (Super CD-ROM² System, v3.00) (Has additional 192K RAM)Arcade Card Pro (Arcade CD-ROM², v3.00) (Has additional 192K RAM and 2048K RAM)Arcade Card Duo (Arcade CD-ROM², v3.00) (Has additional 2048K RAM)Super CD-ROM² System (Super CD-ROM² System, v3.00) (Has 256K RAM)PC-Engine Duo (Super CD-ROM² System, v3.00) (Has 256K RAM)PC-Engine Duo R (Super CD-ROM² System, v3.00) (Has 256K RAM)PC-Engine Duo RX (Super CD-ROM² System, v3.00) (Has 256K RAM)RAU-30 (Extension cable for the SuperGrafx to fit into the IFU-30 tray)The PC-Engine Interface Unit has 64K RAM and a v1.00 System Card. Later the v2.00 and v2.10 System Cards were released, with no additional hardware (only software changes). It will play CD-ROM² games directly, and needs the Super System Card or Arcade Card Pro for Super CD-ROM² or Arcade CD-ROM² games.
The Super System Card adds 192K RAM for a total of 256K available. The Super CD-ROM² System and PC-Engine Duo/R/RX consoles have the entire 256K built-in along with v3.00 of the System Card software, and can play both CD-ROM² and Super CD-ROM² games without using any additional cards.
The Arcade Card Pro is for the original PC-Engine Interface Unit, adding the 192K RAM required by Super CD-ROM² games and the 2048K RAM and additional support hardware used by Arcade CD-ROM² games.
The Arcade Card Duo is for the Super CD-ROM² System and PC-Engine Duo/R/RX consoles, which adds the 2048K RAM and additional support hardware. Because these systems have 256K of RAM built-in, this does not need to be provided and is why the Arcade Card duo was less expensive than the Pro version.
Note: Because the aforementioned consoles use the same BIOS revision as the Arcade Card Pro, it isn’t known (as a cost-saving measure) if the Arcade Card Duo includes the BIOS software itself, or if the existing built-in BIOS is used.
The various CD-ROM game types are:
CD-ROM² (pronounced CD-ROM-ROM) : Standard CD-ROM game.Super CD-ROM² : Requires a compatible system or upgrade card.Arcade CD-ROM² : Requires an upgrade card.While the Super CD-ROM² games only had additional RAM for storage, the Arcade CD-ROM² cards added a number of additional ways the RAM could be accessed (sequential, non-sequential) by the CPU.
For earlier systems, the conventional 64K or 256K RAM was split into 8K banks and mostly used for program storage, transferring it to the 64K of video RAM available was unwieldy.
The Arcade Card upgrade solved this problem by having it’s extra 2048K RAM made indirectly accessible, to easily map to the PC-Engine CPU’s instructions to rapidly copy data from the Arcade Card to the video RAM. The entire RAM could be then accessed as a linear stream of data instead of broken up into segments.
This was primarily used to store and stream large sprites to video RAM; as evidenced by many conversions of the well-animated Neo Geo fighting games to the Arcade CD-ROM² format. Of course for other games, it provided many more frames of animation, reduced load times, and the general convenience of additional storage. Note that this RAM cannot be used for program execution due to the way it is made accessible to the CPU.
One technique that was used by games pre-dating the Arcade Card upgrade was to store graphics data in the 64K audio RAM (used for ADPCM samples) that was present. This RAM could be directly populated by the CD-ROM hardware (it had a direct DMA channel from the CD controller) without CPU intervention, and the memory could be accessed in an indirect format similar to the Arcade Card, allowing data stored in it to appear as a 64K stream of linear data that could be easily transferred to video RAM.
Other facts:
NEC manufactured a very large line of personal computers, one of which featured a single-speed CD ROM drive identical to the PC Engine version. They were designed to be interchangeable, which is why the PC Engine’s IFU-30 CD ROM interface could be purchased without a CD ROM drive.NEC developed a prototype adaptor that connected a PC through the HuCard slot, allowing the PC to control the PC Engine’s CD ROM as it would any normal SCSI drive. Due to falling CD drive prices and the increasing undesirability of a single-speed SCSI drive, it was never released. It was however previewed in NEC’s official US TurboDuo magazine."
I think this was the route that I was going to have to go if I had wanted to delve into the Arcade CD-ROM2 games, since I had the original unit with the CD addon.
Some of the information seems to have been inaccurate. I’m sorry.
It is said that Super CD-ROM2 can be used by inserting a card into CD-ROM2, but is that equivalent to raising the performance of CD-ROM2?
I am amazed by this specification…
HE is a subsidiary of NEC called “NEC Home Electronics”. It is a company that started with PC-6001 and was dissolved at the end of PC-FX.
I don’t think we should continue discussing SuperCD-ROM² stuff on @Duimon’s graphics thread. Perhaps we can start new thread and have all our questions about this wonderful hardware discussed and answered there?
It seems that some ignorance on my part has caused some confusion, so I’ll end the discussion on Super CD-ROM2. it’s my fault.
I have had a bitter experience in the past when I got quite confused about PC-Engine.
Since there are only four games available, I will be doing four graphics/presets with the cartridge label for each. (Much like the decals for the Vectrex.)
Naturally, I tried the LCD-GRID preset first but didn’t like how it looked. I am using the GDV with some Opposite Direction Multiplier to tighten up the display. I have no idea if it looks like the original but it is more playable. (This is painful to play because of intentional flickering.)
(There are too many details hidden by the screen.)
