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

 

[Deleted User]

There is no Analogue N64.

i meant the prototype they showed at some event

 

[SuperDan]

@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.

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now, it's right:

View attachment 229509

Very nice indeed.. When I lived in Japan for a short while.. My girlfriend at the time japanese girl... Took me to a 2nd hand shop tiny little one. And in the corner was a. Small. Box absolutely loaded with NEC PC engine cartridges which I bought for about $40... And she had the handheld pc engine for around $70.. To me at the time I was frigging loving it... I remember playing Splatter house and Side Arms all day lool.. PC engine games was so Good d back then.. I see in your collection Vigilante.... Almost forgot about that bad boy... !

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

i meant the prototype they showed at some event

You sure you don't mean the Hyperkin clone? Because that's emulation for sure.

Analogue has never shown off any N64 console of their own as far as I'm aware.

 

[Deleted User]

You sure you don't mean the Hyperkin clone? Because that's emulation for sure.

Analogue has never shown off any N64 console of their own as far as I'm aware.

probably, my memory has been always wonky

 

[kineticUk]

@Silent_Gunner I don’t own a MiSTer but I have been keeping an eye on development for a few years (and own a couple of Analogue consoles).

The MiSTer hardware itself is very good, more powerful FPGA than those used in the Analogue consoles for example and capable of emulating a low spec 486pc (someone is currently trying to squeeze a PS1 core into the FPGA). As far as gaming hardware goes that’s around about where the ceiling is theoretically.

The MiSTer DE10 nano hardware is only cheap because it’s subsidised by Intel who want to promote FPGA development to engineers, students etc.

Arcade cores are very interesting/promising, there are early arcade games eg. Arkanoid, Dig Dug, classics like Ghosts n Goblins, CPS1 games, NeoGeo and more. Some excellent stuff.

There are computer cores eg. Amiga, Atari, MSX, PC etc. The Amiga is based on a project (MIST) which has been around for some time, since before the MiSTer project was started.

There are handheld console cores and a lot more.

The strength of the MiSTer imo is in its open source nature and community, talented developers supporting users playing, testing, reporting, etc.

FPGA implementations usually have lower latency than software emulators running on PC or consoles. Hardware is quite often prototyped on FPGA boards (chip design etc) so they’re naturally a good fit for emulation of older consoles, computers etc. It’s not automatically better than software emulation (Analogue’s ‘no emulation’ claims are just marketing bs) but when well designed... There are some very accurate consoles/cores which maybe the best way to play, next to bsnes grade emulation and original hardware.

MiSTer is leading when it comes to FPGA console core accuracy (and value by far)...
PCE core is supposed to be superb, MD/GEN core with cycle accurate 68000 and practically perfect sound emulation designed/tested using mdfourier,
SNES core with excellent compatibility (Super FX, SA-1, etc) and very accurate sound emulation again designed/tested using mdfourier.

byuu’s bsnes is still the benchmark/reference SNES (latency depends on the PC).

Super Nt’s sound was recently tested and (spoiler) wasn’t ‘Reference Quality’. It wasn’t as good as MiSTer, bsnes or even Snes9x https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=emb_title&time_continue=1243&v=V3yWXVAZgO0

The Mike Matei electrons thing was funny but there’s a lot of misunderstanding plus nonsense being pushed by Analogue and fanboys.

Main issue with Analogue apart from the bs is the support/updates. They knock software emulation in their marketing but release console/core, claim it’s already perfection and move onto the next thing. They should support too because Super Nt has bugs, Mega Sg has bugs.

MiSTer is always being improved and updated.

Analogue’s consoles are beautiful though, I love the design/aesthetics and they’re better than most if not all the other clone consoles.

 

[Pokemon_Tea_Sea_Jee]

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.

weve already been through that on this forums.
fpga IS emulation.

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

weve already been through that on this forums.
fpga IS emulation.

It's emulation in the sense that it's directly emulating the specific hardware devices, sure, but that's a completely different ballpark from the standard software emulation everyone refers to when they say emulation

 

[Pokemon_Tea_Sea_Jee]

(uneducated)

https://archive.vn/0dokW

 

[Deleted User]

This is how Nintendo and SEGA should have done it. I'm impressed that a company has done what gamers wanted.

Congrats.

 

[the_randomizer]

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?

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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.

N64 is incredibly complex hardware, FPGA would be near impossible given how crazy difficult it is to understand. PSX would prob be the realistic ceiling.

 

[Rahkeesh]

I
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.

According to Smokemonster recently only the GBA core supports save states. So it has to be implemented on a core-by-core basis, and there probably isn't headroom for it in the more intense emulators like 486. None of the Analogue products support save states either to my knowledge, although some flashcarts you can use with them do.

Funnily enough the GBA core supposedly leaned heavily on existing software emulators so I'm not sure if its even a full hardware reproduction.

 

[codezer0]

For the price and as fully-featured as it is, this is a great way to stick it to the hoarders and scalpers for tg-16 stuff. Considering the entire HuCard romset takes up (relatively) little space (I think the whole such romset could even fit within the bounds of a single CD-R), this would be a great way to play that set of games as intended, on a more robust environment. A lot of those original TG-16/PCE systems are/were in dire need of re-capping, if not mods to even get to a usable state.

 

[the_randomizer]

i meant the prototype they showed at some event

That wasn't FPGA, but was some N64 clone console that used emulation. IIRC, it couldn't even emulate the Mario Kart64 jumbotron correctly.

 

[Minox]

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.

What are you on about? Analogue's consoles except for the first one that used original chips are all emulation of hardware. It's a different approach, but it is still emulation.

 

[Deleted User]

That wasn't FPGA, but was some N64 clone console that used emulation. IIRC, it couldn't even emulate the Mario Kart64 jumbotron correctly.

never said it was fpga, my original comment was that its not fpga

 

[vincentx77]

I'm curious about getting one of these things. The Turbografx is one of my favorite consoles, and I don't like having to drag my Duo out whenever I want to get my fix. That said, I'd like to know how accurate the FPGA programming is. The Beetle PCE-Accurate core does run fast enough on modern computers to use latency reduction effectively. That core is almost indistinguishable from the real thing. I'm also curious about jailbroken firmware, and whether or not disc based games will be playable off of sd cards. Like it or not, the drive on these things will break down one day, too. I had to have my original Duos serviced more than once over the years.

 

[StrayGuitarist]

What are you on about? Analogue's consoles except for the first one that used original chips are all emulation of hardware. It's a different approach, but it is still emulation.

Goodness, what am I on about? I was mistaken then.

 

[Minox]

never said it was fpga, my original comment was that its not fpga

Would that perhaps be the Hyperkin Ultra Retron? I believe that is the last clone console I heard of that had said issue.

 

[godreborn]

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

tbh, I don't recall. the turbo duo is in my closet atm, and I haven't played it in like 15 years. it's not part of my grandfather's collection, neither is ys 3 or 4. I inherited the collection after his death. the only games I remember well are blazing lazers, keith courage, legendary ax 1 and 2, and ys book 1 and 2. my grandfather beat keith courage and both legendary axes. he even made a walkthrough video for my cousin with keith courage. he never played ys book 1 and 2 without me as it might've been my first rpg. either that or dragon warrior which you got for free with a subscription to nintendo power.

if I can nab one of these analogue systems, I'll let you know what it's like. I'll probably even be willing to buy one at an inflated price in case I can't get one through normal means. I did add my email to their mailing list earlier. I need one of these especially having my entire game collection still intact. I might have to rebuy the arcade card. I don't even know what I did with the original hucard for older games like ys book 1 and 2. I had tales of rebirth and far east of eden on top of the stack. those two games are for the ps2.. anyway, the card was on top of there with them, but it's disappeared. both cards have.

 

[enarky]

Ooof! 199 USD! Damn! If this is jailbreakable and plays ISOs this might be the first Analogue product I'm actually interested in. I've been on the fence getting a SSDS3 for my PC-Engine for a while, but this is definitely cheaper.