Analogue is a company that has been creating updated versions of your favorite video game systems for quite some time now. Their latest creation is the Analogue duo, a TurboGrafx-16 clone and it is available now for pre-order.
For those of you not familiar with it, the TurboGrafx-16, known as PC Engine outside of North America, was a video game console that come out in the late 80’s by Hudson Soft and NEC. Technically this was the first 16-bit video game system with a release in October 1987 in Japan and a little later in North America. It is not as well known as the other 16-bit video game systems of the time, notably the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo. It came about as NEC, a Japanese computer company, was looking to enter into the video game industry and Hudson Soft had failed at selling Nintendo their designs for advanced graphics chips and teamed up with NEC. The TurboGrafx-16 stopped being produced in 1994 in North America but have no fear for you collectors out there. Analogue is bring it back!
Analogue is servicing your TurboGrafx-16 needs with its new Duo system. It features an HuCard slot (games were produced on these as well as CD-ROM) and CD-ROM drive so it is compatible with all game formats. The system is also compatible with the original hardware and accessories which it pretty damn cool. The system has been completely engineered in FPGA and does not use emulation for the games. It has built in both Bluetooth and 2.4g for wireless controllers, so you wont need a receive to connect. Analogue states: “We’re preserving history with FPGA hardware. Duo is designed with unparalleled compatibility. The core functionality of each system is engineered directly into an Altera Cyclone V, a sophisticated FPGA. We spent thousands of hours engineering each system via FPGA for absolute accuracy. Unlike the knock off and emulation systems that riddle the market today, you’ll be experiencing the entire NEC era free of compromises. Duo is designed to preserve video game history, with the respect it deserves.”
I must say, color me impressed for sure. I do want to get my hands on one of these systems. I will be submitting a pre-order shortly, if you want to pre-order yourself you can do so by clicking here. I always wanted a TurboGrafx-16 as a kid and only one of my friends had one, but I was never able to get it. Now with the Analogue Duo, I can finally get my TurboGrafx-16 system to add to my ever growing collection of game systems. Will you be getting one? Let us know in the comments below or hit us up on our Twitter account by clicking here. As always stay tuned to Culture Splat for more content coming your way!
