“Then Crazy Learner’s Permit Girl gave me a ride to Babbages”
While everyone probably recognizes Analogue for their Game Boy clone, the Pocket, you don’t often hear people talk about their other devices. Which is a shame, as they have a few other high quality devices meant to stand in for the rapidly aging originals. And notably, their upcoming Duo is capable of playing the TurboGrafx/PC Engine library.
While the PC Engine was a popular system in its native Japan, its counterpart the TurboGrafx-16 did poorly in North America. That said, many excellent games were released for the system (it’s a shmup goldmine, to be honest, among other things). Later on, it even got a CD attachment (which was integral in some later hardware releases), which opened the door for actual cutscenes and voice acting, as well as CD quality music, on a console that was released in 1987.
Why does all that matter? Because Analogue’s Duo (a name that’s a nod to one of the PC Engine’s revisions which included a built in CD-ROM drive) does it all. It’s got the standard game card slot, as well as the CD-ROM drive with a motorized loading mechanism. It even has an an Altera Cyclone V FPGA chip to ensure the best possible approximation of the console’s functions. And, as expected, it comes with native HDMI output.
As for control options, it not only has a USB-C port, it also has Bluetooth and wireless 2.4GHz connectivity to support up to 4 players. It also has an original TurboGrafx-16 controller port, in case you have one laying around. And just in case you were wondering, it comes in two colors: TurboGrafx black and PC Engine White.
The Duo was originally slated for a 2021 release with a $200 price tag. But the pandemic did its usual number, so things were delayed until now. It’s now available for pre-order over on Analogue’s site for $250.
Source: Gizmodo
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