Analogue just announced its latest console, the Analogue Duo. The company says that the system is region-free and "compatible with nearly every NEC system and game format ever made", including the TurboGrafx-16, PC Engine, SuperGrafx, TurboGrafx CD, PC Engine CD-ROM and Super Arcade CD-ROM. Like the company's other hardware, the Duo plays games from the original hardware rather than ROMs and is using a specialty hardware chip called an FPGA, which operates on a transistor level implementation of its functionality.

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The system features a cartridge slot and CD-ROM drive which supports Hucards, TurboChips, CD-ROM, SUPER CD-ROM and ARCADE CD-ROM. It also supports both wired and wireless controllers via Bluetooth or 2.4g.

More details on the console is available in the source link below. The Analogue Duo will release in 2020 in limited quantities and is priced at $199.

SOURCE

 

[Elrinth]

I am super excited about this being a lover of Pc-Engine games!

 

[wonkeytonk]

Analogue + Everdrive = Customer satisfaciton

 

[Foxi4]

All of Analogue's products use FPGA's AFAIK, that's basically their "design philosophy", to "preserve" retro consoles using modern hardware techniques vs emulation, which is real neat.

I vaguely remember some of the older units using harvested original hardware for a more authentic experience, but recently they've abandoned that approach since it's not scalable for obvious reasons.

they did mention that it's FPGA-based

Ah, I see it now, I must've skimmed past that part!

 

[ca032769]

Looking forward to adding this to sit along side my Super-NT & Mega-SG!!

 

[Deleted User]

As someone who has never cared about NEC, I can safely say that this is neat.

 

[godreborn]

As someone who has never cared about NEC, I can safely say that this is neat.

I'm a pretty big stargate fan, but I think I've noticed some NEC monitors in a couple of episodes.

 

[SuperDan]

Bum deal $$$ i had the PC Engine duo back In the 90's and actually bought the PC Engine Pocket... When Street Fighter 2 actually came out on cartridge the snes version came out way before but I was so pleased to have a Handheld version of SF2... Eventually ended up buying the 6 button gamepad like the arcade for my duo.. Man how we all loved SF2 in my area.... I miss them Daze... & all my old mates in London years ago happy times

 

[godreborn]

Bum deal $$$ i had the PC Engine duo back In the 90's and actually bought the PC Engine Pocket... When Street Fighter 2 actually came out on cartridge the snes version came out way before but I was so pleased to have a Handheld version of SF2... Eventually ended up buying the 6 button gamepad like the arcade for my duo.. Man how we all loved SF2 in my area.... I miss them Daze... & all my old mates in London years ago happy times

you should get either the turbo grafx or pc engine mini. aside from valis 2, I don't know of any other gems for the system that are not already on there. it has a lot of games including rondo of blood and ys book 1 and 2. oh, yeah, it doesn't have ys 4 either. I remember having a burn of that 'til I bought the real disc. both work in the normal cd attachment.

 

[SuperDan]

I remember bonks adventure was a blast so was bloody wolf.. A Rambo type game.. & R Type being on 2 cartridges.... don't see me playing them now I have them on pc ect.. I just loved back in the 90's I actually swapped my Atari Lynx..

 

[godreborn]

@SuperDan , here's my turbo grafx collection (minus the arcade card, which I think ys 4 requires) it was laying on top of the stash, but I'm not sure where it is now:

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oops, sailor moon's binder is upside down in the pic.

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now, it's right:

 

[AlexMCS]

@SuperDan , here's my turbo grafx collection (minus the arcade card, which I think ys 4 requires) it was laying on top of the stash, but I'm not sure where it is now:

View attachment 229508

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oops, sailor moon's binder is upside down in the pic.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

now, it's right:

View attachment 229509

How is that Sailor Moon game at the bottom? Never heard of it. I want your impressions.

 

[Ryccardo]

Obligatory stock comment that this has an optical drive AND a standard headphone jack

 

[StrayGuitarist]

I'm always glad to see consoles like this that don't use emulation. Analogue's series of FPGA recreations are great for preservation, and a much better option than trying to buy overpriced old hardware from resellers, in my opinion.

The only thing is that we only see these sort of consoles for platforms already seemingly thoroughly covered by other stuff. TG16, NES, SNES, Genesis.. Maybe it's just my childhood nostalgia, but I really want an N64 console like this, a hardware recreation, not a software emulator like the Hyperkin thing. If I was gonna use emulation, I'd just go use emulation.

It's unlikely to come to fruition due to the N64's hardware being so complex and so heavily shrouded by Nintendo, but with Mario 64's decompilation among other things, I'm hoping we can get enough insight into the hardware to figure out how to make that work.

 

[Rahkeesh]

I remember, around the time the Super Analogur NT came around, and you had that one facepalm inducer known as Mike Matei and Ryan (y'know, James Rolfe could go solo and no one would bat an eye) saying that emulation has to do with electrons, and a certain author of a certain SNES emulator said that, while the Super Analogue NT is a good option for those looking for the "legit" experience, it can't quite achieve the same accuracy as what can be replicated in software, hence my inquiries injury into these kinds of devices and how "accurate" they can be if given the maximum effort?

There are some absurdly accurate software emulators for certain platforms but latency remains a challenge. Even on powerful hardware, there's so many ways for a multitasking OS to mildly screw up the timing. Getting that timing perfect is primarily what makes the FPGA consoles "feel" so authentic and play the best even if they don't always look and sound the best. Its also easier to program because you can just run processes in actual parallel rather than having to simulate them acting in parallel.

I have been impressed with Retroarch's run-ahead 1 frame to reduce internal/emulated input lag, which compensates pretty well for the visual lag on a decent monitor, especially if combined with freesync/g-sync support since few consoles ran at exactly 60 hz. However that only works on some cores, ones which are less accurate than high-end stuff like Higan, and audio still lags behind significantly (several frames) because buffering is needed to avoid pops and breaks. Still the one big sticking point on me with FPGA is that there is typically a lack of headroom to do save states, and I just don't want to sit down for hours at a time playing through some of these old games in one go.

 

[the_randomizer]

Never owned a TG-16 or any of its variants, and CD FPGA console is cool

 

[Deleted User]

All of Analogue's products use FPGA's AFAIK, that's basically their "design philosophy", to "preserve" retro consoles using modern hardware techniques vs emulation, which is real neat.

if i remember correctly, their n64 attempt is emulation

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

if i remember correctly, their n64 attempt is emulation

There is no Analogue N64.

 

[Silent_Gunner]

if i remember correctly, their n64 attempt is emulation

So they'll be hitting a ceiling as to how far they can use just the FPGA for emulation as far as the N64's concerned? Or is anything past the SNES/Genesis generation of consoles like this in regards to the MiSTeR's capabilities?

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

There are some absurdly accurate software emulators for certain platforms but latency remains a challenge. Even on powerful hardware, there's so many ways for a multitasking OS to mildly screw up the timing. Getting that timing perfect is primarily what makes the FPGA consoles "feel" so authentic and play the best even if they don't always look and sound the best. Its also easier to program because you can just run processes in actual parallel rather than having to simulate them acting in parallel.

I have been impressed with Retroarch's run-ahead 1 frame to reduce internal/emulated input lag, which compensates pretty well for the visual lag on a decent monitor, especially if combined with freesync/g-sync support since few consoles ran at exactly 60 hz. However that only works on some cores, ones which are less accurate than high-end stuff like Higan, and audio still lags behind significantly (several frames) because buffering is needed to avoid pops and breaks. Still the one big sticking point on me with FPGA is that there is typically a lack of headroom to do save states, and I just don't want to sit down for hours at a time playing through some of these old games in one go.

Not even the MiSTeR has save states? I only ask about the MiSTeR simply bc I'm curious about these systems vs. what a multi-console "emulator" has on offer in comparison.

 

[Deleted User]

So they'll be hitting a ceiling as to how far they can use just the FPGA for emulation as far as the N64's concerned? Or is anything past the SNES/Genesis generation of consoles like this in regards to the MiSTeR's capabilities?

i feel it's the former, i just remember i saw it on an MVG video

 

[Deleted member 668561]

Id love to do this kinda thing for a living,

Reminds me of my 2600 clone experiment, with a 6502, tia, 6532, ay-3-8910, atmega8515, and 64k of ram, 32k +128bytes mapped the cpu, other 32k ported via the 8910, use the avr as a coprocessor, if utilidzed, it will handle the tia, the avr would run at 21.47727 mhz, 6x the tia clockspeed (for me tis 3.579545mhz), and 18x faster than the cpu, which runs 1/3 of the tia speed so everything still can easily be synchronized, its a very experimental computer, its at a point now were its better to ditch native 2600 compatibility, but one would still easily be able to port the existing 2600 codebase......

All the parts execpt the tia are still made, if i were to actually sell this (working), depends how cheap i can get 2 layer pcbs for, i aint etching and drilling all that, and spare tia chips,
I could possibly get assembled units with a bom of $50-$80usd per unit, just for the board, you may or may not get a case tho, too bad!, You at least would have svideo and composite built in tho..