page_title: TurboGrafx-16
section_title: Technical specifications
hierarchical_section_title: TurboGrafx-16 / Technical specifications
caption_attribution_description: The underside of the motherboard to a TurboGrafx-16, a fourth generation video game console.
context_page_description: The TurboGrafx-16, known as the PC Engine in Japan and France, is a 16-bit fourth-generation home video game console designed by Hudson Soft and sold by NEC Home Electronics. It was released in Japan in 1987, and in North America in 1989. The Japanese model was imported and distributed in France in 1989, and the United Kingdom and Spain received a version based on the American model known as simply TurboGrafx. It was the first console released in the 16-bit era, although it used a modified 8-bit CPU. In Japan, the system was launched as a competitor to the Famicom, but the delayed United States release meant that it ended up competing with the Sega Genesis and later the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.
  The TurboGrafx-16 has an 8-bit CPU, a 16-bit video color encoder, and a 16-bit video display controller. The GPUs are capable of displaying 482 colors simultaneously, out of 512. With dimensions of just 14 cm × 14 cm × 3.8 cm, the Japanese PC Engine is the smallest major home game console ever made. Games were released on HuCard cartridges and later the CD-ROM optical format with the TurboGrafx-CD add-on.
context_section_description: The TurboGrafx-16 uses a Hudson Soft HuC6280 CPU—an 8-bit CPU modified with two 16-bit graphics processor—running at 7.6 MHz. It features 8 KB of RAM, 64 KB of Video RAM, and the ability to display 482 colors at once from a 512 palette. The sound hardware, built into the HuC6280 CPU, includes a PSG running at 3.58 MHz and a 5-10 bit stereo PCM.
  TurboGrafx-16 games use the HuCard ROM cartridge format, thin credit card-sized cards that insert into the front slot of the console. PC Engine HuCards feature 38 connector pins, while TurboGrafx-16 HuCards (alternatively referred to as "TurboChips") feature eight of these pins in reverse order as a region lockout method. The power switch on the console also acts as a lock that prevents HuCards from being removed while the system is powered on. The European release of the TurboGrafx-16 did not have its own PAL-formatted HuCards as a result of its limited release, with the system instead supporting standard HuCards and outputting a PAL 50 Hz video signal.
caption: Top view of the motherboard for the TurboGrafx-16.
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