[img width=600 height=600]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v136/cisco678/turbo-everdrive-v24_zpsaard9u5d.jpg[/img]When I was thinking of collecting goals for 2017, I wanted to spend more time playing and gaining a better understanding of each console's library than collecting . There are a lot of games that I would like to try, but don't want to spend hundreds of dollars on. I also like the idea of a video game jukebox where I don't have to keep swapping out carts. I could always emulate, but I want to play on the original hardware. I am still a collector and buy my games, but I wanted a tool that could expand what the console was capable of. I decided I wanted to buy some of the EverDrive family by
Krikzz. After some research, I purchased a Turbo EverDrive recently and put it through it's paces.
I bought my Turbo EverDrive from
Stone Age Gamer, as they are an officially licensed distributor and are located in Salem, OH, which is a lot closer than having it shipped from Krikzz's store in the Ukraine. They carry revision 2.5 of the Turbo EverDrive, which has a slight redesign since revision 2.4 and is supposed to work better with the SuperGrafx than previous revisions. I highly recommend Stone Age Gamer as they kept me informed of what was happening from ordering to shipping, and I was able to convert unused Amazon gift cards into store credit. When ordering my Turbo EverDrive, I was presented with several customization options. These included: a shell ($11), label ($0), protective sleeve ($5) and SD card ($varies). I highly recommend the shell as it protects the PCB and makes the EverDrive look nicer. The TG-16/PCE has a built-in reset by pressing select and start on the controller. This necessitates a reset button on the EverDrive. The shell covers the small reset button and makes it easier to reset to the EverDrive's main menu. I didn't order a micro SD card, as the entire TG-16/PCE library, plus extras takes up a little less then 2GB and you can find low capacity micro SD cards cheaply just about anywhere. After I ordered my EverDrive, I promptly received an e-mail stating that my order had been received. A couple days later, I received shipping notification, and thanks to USPS Priority shipping, I had the EverDrive on my doorstop by the end of the week.
[img width=600 height=450]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v136/cisco678/2eaeeb56-1fc7-45af-9ed9-68ae2ce4ebeb_zpsirksvh6y.jpg[/img]
The PCB isn't thicker than a HuCard but comes out a little taller due to the shell Getting the EverDrive up and running was a simple process. I had previously Googled the Smoke Monster ROM pack for the Turbo EverDrive as the ROMs in the pack are verified to work on an EverDrive. A lot of the ROMs I found online contained extra information in the header, which would cause problems when run on an original console. Next, I formatted my SanDisk 4GB micro SD card as FAT32 and copied over the folders. A quick check on Krikzz's download page revealed that I already had the latest firmware revision (
http://krikzz.com/pub/sup...rt/turbo-everdrive/v2/os/). I placed the micro SD card into the slot on the EverDrive, flipped the region switch to PC Engine, and powered on my system.
[img width=600 height=450]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v136/cisco678/IMG_2179_zpsxsw7t6ue.jpg[/img]
Navigation is easy and allows one to find what they are looking for quickly Upon power-up, a menu lists the folder structure and games. Navigating the menu system is easy using the controller. The d-pad is used for scrolling through the menu and pages, the 2-button is forward and confirm, and the 1 button is back and cancel. The select button loads whatever game was last loaded into memory and the start button loads whatever game is highlighted in to memory. Loading games in to memory is fast and takes only a couple of seconds. The ROMs on the EverDrive are not region locked. This means you can play PC Engine games on a TG-16 or vice versa. During my testing, I tried several games and didn't run in to any compatibility issues.
[img width=600 height=450]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v136/cisco678/IMG_2177_zpsheyfrufi.jpg[/img]
It's great to be able to try out some of the pricier games in the library One of the biggest draws of the EverDrive for me is it's ability to play homebrew and fan translations. I've been interested in playing
Gekibo: Gekisha Boy in English and it's as odd as I thought it would be. The Turbo EverDrive can also act as a System 1, 2, or 3 card. This will allow non-Duo owners to use the Turbo EverDrive to play CD games. It should be noted that you can only play HuCard ROMs off the EverDrive. It will not play any CD images. Duo owners have the System 1, 2, and 3 system cards built in and using the EverDrive as a system card will cause damage to the EverDrive, Duo, or both.
[img width=600 height=450]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v136/cisco678/240p_zpswpbspjmo.jpg[/img]
The 240p test suite is great for lag tests and calibration I'm very happy with my Turbo EverDrive purchase. I can play any game I want without having to search my game room for it and I have access to homebrew and fan translations. If there's any feature I would wish for, it would be something similar to the Tennokoe bank. This would allow the backing up of game saves as the backup/save memory is pitifully small. I highly recommend the Turbo EverDrive as a tool to expand your PCE/TG-16 game playing and expand your knowledge of the console's library.
[img width=600 height=450]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v136/cisco678/IMG_2176_zpsyeb15xsj.jpg[/img]
Knight Rider has an English translation
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Thanks for sharing, this looks super interesting! I didn't know about these but now that I do I can see myself ordering several of them. It would be great to access a big library of games on original hardware. Where did you end up getting the ROM pack from? Did they have packs for other consoles?
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@zophar53: The Rom packs all come from the same guy called smokemonster. Just Google smokemonster or smokemonster Rompack or smoke monster (name of console) and you should find what you are looking for. It's great to be able to power on a system pick a game and start playing.
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@Addicted: Awesome, thanks again. I've been researching and am getting more and more excited at getting one (or many lol) of these. I really like the customization options available. I'm in Ohio as well and it's nice to hear you had a pretty good experience with Stone Age Gamer.
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Nice article! I plan on getting everdrives for most of my cartridge based consoles due to the advantages you outlined.
To be sure, you mentioned that you can't use the everdrive on a TurboDuo, causing damage. Does that mean it can only be used with a regular Turbo Grafx 16/PC Engine?
I only have a PC Engine Duo currently, but would definitely get a TurboGrafx-16 to run an Everdrive.
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@Gamer4Lyfe: Sorry for the confusion. The Turbo Everdrive will work fine on a Duo. The problem lies with the system cards used for the CD portion. TLDR: Don't use the CD system card ROM images on a DUO and you won't have any issues. You can play any game without issues.
The Turbo Everdrive can be used as a substitute for versions 1,2 and 3 of the CD/system cards. These cards are a necessity to run the CD drive on non DUO systems but if used on a DUO causes fighting between the internal rom of the DUO and the ones on the everdrive.
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How does the amazon trick work? I've got a stash of amazon cards that I haven't found a use for yet. Maybe this is it!
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@Goodwill_Gamer: All Amazon gift card exchange information can be found at:
https://www.stoneagegamer.com/amazon-gift-card.html
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@Addicted, thank you for clearing that up!
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The Turbo Everdrive is my favorite of the four I have - mainly because it's "set it and forget it", nothing to mess with saves-wise, and works great on my PC Engine Duo-R.
The library is really manageable also - I have folders for US and JP and then homebrews.
Good post.
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