I saw this hit the bay within minutes of it posting.  I still need controllers, which appear to be hard to come by.  Oh well.  I found a couple of guids on how to mod NES controllers to work with TG16.  I might actually try to mod one of those and see how that works.  I might even make an adapter cable at the end and add a switch on the controller so it can still be an NES controller too.

Anyway, here's the spoils!  I only have one TG16 game but I'm not unhappy.  The TG16 and the Neo Geo MVS have always been the two most "mysterious" video games systems from my childhood.  I'd always heard of them but never seen them.  I've seen one TG16 in my lifetime (saw one once in a thrift shop around 2002 and I wish I asked about it!) and I've NEVER seeen an MVS in person.

Anyway, here's to further falling into the rabbit hole of random gaming:

Dude nice! Nice shape too!

I've thought about getting a PC Engine controller mod for mine (They're easier to get than a TG-16 controller), mainly due to the control port being worn-out to the point where the controllers fall right out!

Nice find and I love the Turbografx I have a huge TG16 hardware collection.

As for controllers I would recommend getting a pc engine controller. Then get a cheap TG16 to pc egine adapter since the pc engine controller has a smaller port than the TG16. The advantage of this is it also acts as an extension cord because the original Turbo controller has a really short cord. PM me if you need some details and I may have a few doubles.

Sexy find man. HMU if you need a dust cover, controllers or any other accessories

I bought a lot around 1 week ago with 3 TG-16 systems that need a little work (bad RF jacks and such). One of them has the male DIN connector from a controller stuck pretty strong in the controller port. Seems to be the opposite of the problem you described  
 

See those deep marks on the RF switch and the console? I've learned that nearly all TG-16 consoles and accessories have little gouges and melted grooves on the system exactly like that. Probably from chemicals that leach out from the cords that get wrapped around these things in storage.

Wow I was wondering where those came from.  I have a turbo cd that has those same exact marks and I always wondered what the heck did they do to this system.  The dock is in great shape other than the few marks to the back.  I would get a cleaner dock but the dock matches the serial of my cd drive so want to keep them together.
 

lol, yeah my RF's are good. I think it's been recently recapped, but I might have it re-recapped because I don't know if I trust whoever worked on it last (I bought it second hand used, and there's melted burn marks on the case from a soldering iron)

I could be wrong, but I have noticed that the controller ports are what seems to be the system's own proprietary DIN connector as the positions of the pins seem to be slightly different than most connectors of that type.

The major problem is the fact that the system uses that type of connector to begin with, especially one that big/heavy. It's not a great connector to be continually connecting and reconnecting as the port seems to be easily wallered out IMO.

 

I meant to say the DIN was ripped from the controller and stuck in the port  

Anyway those melted marks are on all 4 of my TG-16s and both of the RF units I have. It's some kind of chemical in the cords that softens the plastic and melts grooves into it.

OP's has it too if you look closely.
 

Oh so that's what it is! So it's a chemical reaction all along? (So maybe mine hasn't been recapped then. lol) I just thought someone went crazy with the iron there. hahaha

Well, that's good to know when storing my TG-16!

 

Ginoscope is right. Don't go down the NES controller rabbit hole.

If you're asking for solicited advice, I have 2 ideas.
1: Buy an adapter from TG16 to PCE so you can use Japanese controllers, and jump straight into the Avenue 6 Pad.
2: Get a TG Everdrive as they're cheap and a 4GB card is more than you'll need.

The Avenue 6 pad if you care at all about #2 and getting the everdrive will allow you to play the very superior release of SF2CE on there, and there are numerous 3 button games made some which hit the US too so it's a must. And the Everdrive with just the board and a plate over the chips part of the board to protect it will be under $100, and with how most TG games cost about as much as that does anyway you'll save in no time. Have fun, experience the library.

Thanks and, yes, I appreciate the advice.  As I mentioned, the TG16 was always a mysterious, elusive device I'd heard, seen occassionally in magazines but I'd never experience.  Generally, I'm a hardware purest but this is the first time I've ever considered on my own getting an Everdrive since I have no emotional attachment to the device.  Magical Chase was probably one of the first games that caught my eye a couple years ago because I was curious what that gameplay was like for such a pricey game.  I know there's no way I'll ever pay for that one, but I'd like to experience it on a TG16 and if I get an Everdrive, I might as well load it down with the full library.

Same deal here. I came across a $15 TG16 at a flea market, then got the EverDrive (Thanksgiving sale price from krikzz.com).

Super SD System 3 from TeraOnion can do CD games and card games, but it's pricey and requires modification to fix some video quality issues. Also I don't like the way they responded to community feedback, so I will be looking at competing devices like UperGrafx.
 

There is a PCB design on OSHPARK that, when populated and connected to buttons/switches, gives you dual controllers without needing a tap. That seems to be ideal if you want to rig something up. I plan to wire it with a DIN plug and adapters for Neo Geo sticks.

I wish it supported three buttons, but I don't think I'd want six. I'm very unlikely to ever want to play Street Fighter that way and I'm kind of keen on the idea of using 4-button Neo Geo sticks since they don't need to be modified in any way (direct arcade switches to 15-pin D-sub).

Another thing I wish it had was a way to connect even more controllers. Like, another DIN jack or two on the adapter for connecting standard encoded controllers for 3 and 4 players. I tried to figure out how the multi tap works but it uses proprietary NEC chips that you can't get anywhere else. Obviously, someone seems to know how it all translates to off-the-shelf logic. Wish I could find his write-up!

It is a standard DIN-8 (8-pin DIN), but there are actually two standards for DIN-8: 262° and 270° (U-shaped and C-shaped). The difference is so slight that it’s possible to force one into another almost effortlessly. Only two pins have to flex to allow it.

Both ports fit the same DIN-5 cables perfectly, which is why a Sega Genesis AV cable fits a Neo Geo and vice versa. Properly-made composite AV for both systems are only DIN-5 even though aftermarket cables often have vestigial pins in DIN-8 arrangements.
 

Thanks for the info. Also "Oof" on the bolded part. lol I'd hate to force to make it work.

I do need a new port though. Makes me wonder why they'd even go with those type of ports, they're so heavy-ended and seem to wear pretty easily due to the shear weight.

 

Indeed. The rigid part protrudes way too much which gives unwanted leverage and promotes accidental damage. I have the same problem with the vast majority of these new GameCube HDMI adapters. They typically protrude rigidly from the GC and then an HDMI cable’s connector protrudes rigidly from that, easily doubling how far the combined assembly’s rigid parts protrude. It's an accident waiting to happen!

It looks like these need small modifications to install but they are sold as replacements for the original controller port:
https://console5.com/store/din-8-...

https://console5.com/store/din-co...

Avenue Pad 6 is one of the best controllers around, its what I exclusively use.

Thanks for the links! They say that they're compatible, so that's good.

Weight within connector ports could equal to bad news alone, but I've heard the horror stories of those GC adapters because the way they stick out as well. Makes me wish they'd went with a box with just connector cables to alleviate the need to have a huge box jetting out the back. I mean, Hyperkin has HDMI cables for Wii, PS2 and XBOX like that - so something similar to that could help with a lot of those problems. Yeah, there'd be 2 connecting cables to attach, but that does beat having to worry about a dumb blocky weighty protuberance.


 

Unfortunately, it’s seriously effortless to “force” one into the other.

When connecting our Commodore 64 for the first time I gave my brother the power connector to plug in to the C64 while I was under the table plugging it into the wall. He asked me where it goes and I said “the only one it fits.” Ours was one of the case revisions which had no labels for the ports on the back. The power connector was actually on the side so he ended up plugging it into the Monitor/AV multi-out port.

Oops.

When I plugged the other end into the wall, the world lost another SID chip.   Yes, it fried the SID and I had to go on a year-long quest for a SwinSID Ultimate.

Historically I'm purist.  In the last couple of years I just don't have the means in funds or time to do it any more but I refuse to let price games keep me down so I slowly saved up and got kits for everything I have remaining that uses a cartridge of some sort except my Neo Geo as I'm happy where it is plus I have the multicart for it too.

I wanted back into this stuff I knew it from the period and in recent years about when I decided I had enough I did a lot of reserach and settled on the PC Engine family instead because the games cost considerably less, especially if you just want the card.  I still get the occasional game for it, but I got the everdrive for it last black friday sale and I don't regret it.  The library when you factor in Japan is plentiful and very much more than enough without the worries of optical, yet it's doable with the lock on CD drive or the briefcase looking choice too.  Even in that case, no need to buy those lame memory cards, the ED works for that too except for arcade card which I don't care about.  I know it's a compromise, but at least it's still legit games on legit hardware instead of emulating or worse.  The full library looking at smokemonster which factors in all the english translated Japanese gems is still under a value needed to burn to a standard CD, more than half the size less if you remove the non-sense collections option that overlaps games out of the A-Z sections.

Ichi has a point there but the TO device is only an option.  In Japan there is the upergrafx2 and that one goes digital instead of analog so you can output for DVI and HDMI.  It originally only did optical, but firmware updates since allowed it to match the TO device doing HuCards too.  I think it's probably about $50 more than the TO device converting cash values to our currency, but the trade off is bulletproofing against the death of old connections on TVs.


MrWunderful - Amen to that, once I got mine I rolled up my core grafx controller and put it away.  There are just enough 3 and 4 button games US/JP not to mention obviously 6 button street fighter that justifies doing it.  Everything works, and it's comfortable.

 

Well, well, well. Less than three minutes after my brother and I discussed making controllers for TG16, I went to a TG16 FB group to post a couple unrelated pictures and I see this:
https://www.oldskoolgames.com/pro...


“Unrelated pictures:”

https://i.imgur.com/rd4Wcj8.jpg...


https://i.imgur.com/VQHnped.jpg...

Obviously, I had controllers on the brain because I don't have nearly enough for all of these.  

Wow I never thought I'd see someone actually mass produce TG16 controllers. That gives a little hope that better things could happen yet. Between that one end, and seeing that released imagery on a Nomad modern copycat prototype it kind of makes you wonder just how far PCE fans will go compared to Sega to get better and re-released hardware and accessories. Oh I'd be happy to see a modern handheld for the PC Engine/TG16.

Their initial lot seem to be selling briskly too! It was already OOS on the site when I first looked, though a couple of the eBay listings were still showing very low stock (less than 10). Since I need so many I reached out to the guy who posted about it in the TurboTown group to see if I could get a discount but he doesn’t even have enough left to sell me!

There’s no sense discounting limited stock that’s going to sell out anyway at full price, so I went ahead and ordered one at full price (impatient!). He said they were expecting a larger replenishment shipment Jan 31, so hopefully I can get a bunch then and save a few bucks then.

Mine just shipped out today. In the FB group he was bragging that they feel and work as good as a brand-new original, but we’ll have to see about that.   It certainly looks close enough!

I thought about picking up one of these controllers but was going to wait and see what everyone else thinks about them. I was really surprised that they would make a third party TG16 controller.

I been really tempted to get the super sd system 3 but I have so many CD systems for the turbo it's not the highest priority. The device I really want is just the ODE for the briefcase or TG16 cd that GDEMU dude has been working on for some time. I own his Rhea and GDEMU and those are great devices even though his ordering process takes some homework and dedication to score a device.