TurboDuo

TurboDuo

TurboDuo with gamepad
ManufacturerNEC Home Electronics, Hudson Soft
TypeHome video game console
GenerationFourth generation era
Release date
  • JP: September 21, 1991[1]
  • NA: October 10, 1992
Lifespan1991–1995
Introductory priceUS$299.99 (equivalent to $670 in 2023)
Discontinued
  • WW: December 1995
MediaTurboChip, CD-ROM
CPUHuC6280 @ 1.79 MHz or 7.16 MHz
Memory8KB work RAM, 64KB video RAM, 192KB additional memory (System 3.0)
Display256 × 224, 512 × 224, 512 × 240 screen resolutions. 512 available colors, 481 on-screen colors
GraphicsHuC6270 VDC, HuC6260 VCE
SoundHuC62806, PSG audio channels
InputGamepad
PredecessorTurboGrafx-16 (PC Engine)
TurboGrafx-CD (CD-ROM² System)
SuccessorPC-FX

The TurboDuo (later rebranded as simply the Duo) is a fourth-generation video game console developed by NEC Home Electronics and Hudson Soft for the North American market. It combines the capabilities of the TurboGrafx-16 and its CD-ROM drive add-on, the TurboGrafx-CD, into a single, redesigned unit. Initially test-marketed in Los Angeles in October 1992 before a nationwide rollout in May 1993,[2] TurboDuo is the localized version of the Japanese PC Engine Duo, which was released in September 1991.

Compared to TurboGrafx-16 and the TurboGrafx-CD, TurboDuo has an updated BIOS and 192 KB of additional RAM. The RAM increase and BIOS update afford the TurboDuo and PC Engine Duo compatibility with all CD-ROM² and Super CD-ROM² based software (Japanese and North American). Like the TurboGrafx-CD, the TurboDuo can read Compact Disc Digital Audio and CD+G discs. TurboDuo, however, cannot read PC Engine HuCards without modification or an adapter. With a HuCard adapter and an Arcade Card Duo, the TurboDuo can also read Arcade CD-ROM² games (which were sold only in Japan).

  1. ^ "PC-Engine".
  2. ^ Turbo Technologies, Inc (1993). "Letter from TTI".