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TurboGrafx-16 / PC Engine
Check the dumping hardware overview for a list of known preservation hardware.
If you need help, please come chat with us on the VGPC or No-Intro discord servers.
Introduction
Important Notes
- Unopened games should have their ROM and save data dumped before attempting to play them. This avoids inadvertent modification of the data and helps preserve the game in its unused/“factory” state. Note in your submission whether the physical media was sealed and include a photo of the cart/packaging in its sealed state, if possible.
- You should clean the physical media's electrical contacts before trying to dump it, and dump it twice, checking if both dumps match using a file comparison tool or calculating the SHA256 of each file and comparing those values.
The specialized wafer-thin carts for the TurboGrafx-16 and PC Engine can be dumped with multiple different tools, some readily available although perhaps a bit expensive.
Methods
Method 1 - SSDS3
If you have an SSDS3, you can follow this method for dumping PC Engine HuCards / TurboGrafx TurboChips (archive link).
Method 2 - RetroFreak
See instructions here for NES / Famicom dumping using the RetroFreak, the same setup applies to dumping TurboGrafx-16 and PC Engine cards.
Method 3 - Tototek USB Tengu PC Engine Flash Cart and Dumper
This neat package (archive link) comes with both a dumper and a flash cart, and uses a super simple Windows application to show information about the cart, dump the cart, and flash the flash cart.