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The TurboGrafx-16 Entertainment SuperSystem, originally known in Japan and in France as the , is a home video game console joint-developed by Hudson Soft and NEC, released in Japan on October 30, 1987, in the United States on August 29, 1989, and in France on November 22, 1989. It was the first console released in the 16-bit era, albeit still utilizing an 8-bit CPU. Originally intended to compete with the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), it ended up competing against the likes of the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, Super Famicom/Super Nintendo, and even the Neo Geo AES. The TurboGrafx-16 has an 8-bit CPU and a dual 16-bit GPU; and is capable of displaying 482 colors simultaneously, out of 512. With dimensions of 14 cm×14 cm×3.8 cm (5.5 in×5.5 in×1.5 in), the NEC PC Engine once held the record for the world's smallest game console.〔''Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition'' (2008)〕 In France the system was released shortly after its American debut under its original Japanese name, PC Engine. In the United Kingdom, Telegames released a slightly altered version of the American model simply as the TurboGrafx in 1990 in extremely limited quantities. Although there was no full-scale PAL region release of the system, imported PC Engine consoles were largely available in France and Benelux through major retailers thanks to the unlicensed importer Sodipeng (''Société de Distribution de la PC Engine'', a subsidiary of Guillemot International).〔(Pubs Sodipeng Pc-engine (1990-91) - Le Adra's Blog ! - GAMEBLOG.fr )〕 The TurboGrafx-16 failed to break into the North American market and sold poorly. However in Japan the PC Engine was very successful, briefly outselling Super Famicom, and eventually being in a steady second place, ahead of the Sega Mega Drive. Two major revisions, the PC Engine SuperGrafx and the TurboDuo, were released in 1989 and 1991, respectively. The entire series was succeeded by the PC-FX in 1994, which was only released in Japan. ==History== The TurboGrafx-16 was a collaborative effort between the relatively young Hudson Soft (founded in 1973) and NEC. 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. The TurboGrafx-16 was the first video game console to have a CD-ROM peripheral, and first device ever to use CD-ROM as a storage medium for video games.〔http://magweasel.com/2009/07/21/i-love-the-pc-engine-fighting-street/〕〔http://www.giantbomb.com/no-ri-ko/3030-39939/〕〔(Top 25 Videogame Consoles of All Time ), IGN. Retrieved 2010-06-14.〕 NEC released the in Japan on December 4, 1988,〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.gamefaqs.com/turbocd/916397-turbo-cd/data )〕 and released the TurboGrafx-CD in the United States on August 1, 1990. NEC was also the first to market a game console with an integrated CD-ROM drive: the TurboDuo of 1991. 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. The TurboGrafx-series was the first video game console ever to have a contemporaneous fully self-contained portable counterpart, the Turbo Express, that contained identical hardware and played identical game software (utilizing HuCard format game software). The TurboGrafx-16 was released in the New York City and Los Angeles test market in late August 1989. Initially, the TurboGrafx-16 was marketed as a direct competitor to the NES and early television ads touted the TG-16's superior graphics and sound. These ads featured a brief montage of the TG-16's launch titles: ''Blazing Lazers'', ''China Warrior'', ''Vigilante'', ''Alien Crush'', etc. The TG-16 was also in direct competition with the Sega Genesis, which had had its own New York/Los Angeles test-market launch two weeks prior, on August 14.〔Steven L. Kent, ''The Ultimate History of Video Games'', p. 413.〕 The Genesis launch was accompanied by an ad campaign mocking NEC's claim that the TurboGrafx-16 was the first 16-bit console. NEC claimed that it had sold 750,000 TG-16 consoles in the United States, and 500,000 CD-ROM units worldwide, by March 1991. That year NEC released the PC Engine Duo, a model which could play both TurboGrafx-16 cards and CDs. The console was licensed to Turbo Technologies Incorporated, who released it in North America in 1992 as the TurboDuo. The unit came into competition with the Sega CD, which was released almost immediately after. Turbo Technologies ran comic book ads featuring Johnny Turbo. The ads mocked Sega, and emphasized that though the TurboDuo and Sega CD had the same retail price, the TurboDuo was a standalone console and included five pack-in games, whereas Sega CD buyers needed to purchase separately sold games and Sega Genesis units before they could use the system. However, the North American console gaming market continued to be dominated by the Super Nintendo and Genesis rather than the new CD-based consoles. In May 1994 Turbo Technologies announced that it 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 USA and Canada. New commercial titles were released for the PC Engine up until 1999. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「TurboGrafx-16」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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