Turbo Express

Portable gaming power at its best!

Where does power come from?

Perhaps we can say that it comes from the socket in our walls, how about the electric companies, maybe fear gives us power.
Whatever the case may be, NEC created a powerful beast known as the Turbo Grafx-16. Somehow NEC later took this same system and compressed it into an ultra cool device which was equally as powerful called the Turbo Express!

From the front to back, the Turbo Express is
made from pure genius design. Notice that there
are turbo switches built right into the Turbo
Express. At the top is a very sturdy green
power-switch/game protector. The addition to the
side is a portable TV tuner designed to help you get
the most out of the Ultimate portable video game
system. The TV tuner can successfully hook up to an
external antenna (where is a satelite dish?) and it
has an AV add-on..perfect for hooking up a VCR or
even another video game system to! This TV has a
manual tuner and color adjustments.

In the back view of the Turbo Express,
notice the battery door. It runs
on 6 batteries with a maximum life
of 3 hours. The game labels face
outward..I wonder how they did that?
Also a small black rope attaches to the
upper right hand corner of the Turbo
Express so that you may attach it to your
wrist so you can not accidentaly drop it .

On the side (top to bottom)
the expansion ports are:
An AC/DC 9V power supply socket
a headphone jack,
a volume control,
and a brightness control
This is the Turbo Express
without the TV attachment. The TV
hooks up to an 8-pin port on the
right side. At the bottom of the
Turbo Express is a multi-player
port.

This is the box of the excellent Turbo Express (click on the picture). Think of it as a controller with a super sharp, active matrix LCD monitor. With the Turbo Express, you can go on the road and actually play all Turbo games that you may own. I have put over 300 hours into my old Express, and it is still going strong! The Active Matrix LCD screen is so sharp and fast that you can actually play some of the fastest shooter games, and still see the tiny shots whiz past you! I have beaten a number of games for the first time on the Express since I am out at work or on the road so often. When compared to your computer monitor, the Turbo Express is actually sharper, and you can still play it in the sunlight!

There is no other portable system like the Turbo Express! Everyone should have one. The Turbo Express is not only for gaming freaks, because it has also become a status item in the workplace!

The mad rush..

When originally released back in the early '90s the Turbo Express started out at a whopping $300. At this time, the demand was so high that you were lucky to buy one. Shops would get 12 in at a time, and have them sold off in a matter of 3 hours (I was there! I saw it all!). Lists of people wanting a Turbo Express were very long, and additions were being added all of the time. I was lucky enough to get my hands on one at this time, and I immediately bought it. TV tuners were almost as non-existent as the Turbo Express itself! The strange thing about the TV tuner is that stores would be selling them, and not the actual Turbo Express itself! I actually had to bring my Turbo Express into a store and try out the TV tuner because no one knew what it was.

~Fact File~

NEC Turbo Express

Sega Game Gear

Nintendo Game Boy

Atari Lynx

Date of release in America

4th Quarter 1991

4th Quarter 1991

4th Quarter 1989

1990

Bits

16

8

8

16

Processor

Custom 6502 (NEC)

Z-80 (Motorola)

Z-80

65C02

Processor Speed

7.6 MHZ

3.58 MHZ

2.14 MHZ

4 MHZ

Display

Active matrix Color LCD

Passive matrix color LCD

Passive matrix B&W LCD

Passive matrix color LCD

Display Resolution

400x270

160x146

120x140

160x102

Maximum Colors Displayed

512

32

4 (grays)

16

Colors Available

512

4096

4 (grays)

4096

Sound Channels

6

2

2

6

Major Add-Ons

TV

TV

--

--

Original Price

$300

$150

$100

$170

Maximum Sprite Size

64

64

N/A

128

Game Formats
Turbo Grafx, Turbo Express & PC-Engine (requires converter) Game Gear & Master System (requires converter) Game Boy Lynx


On the side (top to bottom) the expansion ports are: An AC/DC 9V power supply socket a headphone jack, a volume control, and a brightness control	This is the Turbo Express without the TV attachment. The TV hooks up to an 8-pin port on the right side. At the bottom of the Turbo Express is a multi-player port.

~Fact File~	NEC Turbo Express	Sega Game Gear	Nintendo Game Boy	Atari Lynx
Date of release in America	4th Quarter 1991	4th Quarter 1991	4th Quarter 1989	1990
Bits	16	8	8	16
Processor	Custom 6502 (NEC)	Z-80 (Motorola)	Z-80	65C02
Processor Speed	7.6 MHZ	3.58 MHZ	2.14 MHZ	4 MHZ
Display	Active matrix Color LCD	Passive matrix color LCD	Passive matrix B&W LCD	Passive matrix color LCD
Display Resolution	400x270	160x146	120x140	160x102
Maximum Colors Displayed	512	32	4 (grays)	16
Colors Available	512	4096	4 (grays)	4096
Sound Channels	6	2	2	6
Major Add-Ons	TV	TV	--	--
Original Price	$300	$150	$100	$170
Maximum Sprite Size	64	64	N/A	128
Game Formats	Turbo Grafx, Turbo Express & PC-Engine (requires converter)	Game Gear & Master System (requires converter)	Game Boy	Lynx