Bacteria's already stepped up
his game considerably with his recent
IntoPlay portable PSone mod, but he's now truly won our hearts with his latest DIY build: a portable TurboGrafx-16. Like a redder, more bulbous TurboExpress, this one uses an official 5.4-inch Sony PSone screen for a display (and speakers), packs a built-in battery that's said to last three hours between recharges, and includes plenty of nice touches like a region free switch for American and Japanese games and a pair of turbo switches for the action buttons. Of course, like most such mods, this is a one-of-a-kind creation, but you can check out the complete build process at the link below, and get a glimpse of it in action in the video after the break.
Read - ModRetro, IntoGrafx - Bacteria's portable TurboGrafx games system
Read - Bacteria's site, IntoGrafx build
posted July 29th 2009 5:41PM
this is badass
I am appalled by the horridness of that piece of shit Bacteria device.
I'd rather just buy a Turbo Express on Ebay.
I saw it and almost threw up. What a hideous design.
back at with?
Isn't that his portable PSone shell flipped upside down?
I had a Turbo Express, no dead pixels, TV tuner 90+ games, TV system etc.
Sold it. Hated myself for it. Emulation helps but it's just not the same.
gimme some bonks adventure!
Actually, I'd always wanted NEC to make an updated PC Engine GT, with all the advantages of today's low-power 'tronics.
Talk about making something that already exist...can't be cooler then my old school Turbo Graphics Express w/ tv tuner.
someone should build a portable sega nomad.
Isn't the nomad portable as is? I know mine surely was.
joke
head
PC-Engine where so futuristic compared to everyone else..
Even today they HU-Cards are futuristic.
IntoGrafx: Funny shape, great build IMHO.
Bacteria is known as a royal jackass within the community, he basically tries to turn this whole hobby into a profit source for him while actively pissing everyone off in the community. I suggest if you're interested in this kind of stuff, visit forums.benheck.com and check out all the awesome support you'll get for building your own design, rather than putting money in this guy's pocket by buying one of his kits.
I don't know where you got your information about Bacteria and I doubt you've ever personally dealt with him. A lot of harsh things have been said of him in the Ben Heck community and some people started an anti-bacteria campaign. Many of us made an exodus over to the ModRetro forums around that time and we were happy to bring Bacteria with us. Yes, he does sell kits to help beginners should they so choose to purchase them, but he will also help beginners who want to do it from scratch without paying him. Ask him questions on his website or at the ModRetro forums and he'll be happy to answer, as will the rest of the community. So please, refrain from speaking on someone's character when you know little-to-nothing on the real story.
Now as for the portable, this is another Masterpiece, Bac. Love the red and black color theme, and its very clean and professional-looking as I've come to expect from you're work. I'd take that over the Turboexpress any day.
Hey. I think that's the point - he has tried to "divide and conquer" the community. When he offers help, it is usually by way of posting links to his personal site. That was the same deal with "ModRetro" which is basically a rip-off site which really has nothing of value. The community has been around long before Bacteria came in to it, and it's pretty closely knit and welcoming of absolutely anyone with an interest in console modding. This divide and conquer strategy is thus a cancer on the otherwise excellent community.
I will quit running my mouth against those couple of splinter-cells. If anyone is interested in this stuff, benheck is the One True online community for it. Don't be conned out of your money! It is so much fun to dive into the community and build your own system from scratch.
My, what an uninformed person you seem to be! First off, Bacteria did not try to "divide" the community, ModRetro was started without him, and he joined several days after it was made. He in no way tried to split anything up, so please, stfu till you have the correct facts.
Second, you say he "Tried to turn his hobby into a profit source", then re-direct people to the benheck forums? Laughable! BenHeck sold out long ago, and has made FAR more money off his "hobby" than Bacteria ever will. Bacteria only sold TWO of those case kits , you know (In fact, they are not for sale anymore because of low sales), yet Ben sells a few sheets of cut out plastic for more money, with less work, and you are able to back Ben and criticize Bacteria with a straight face? Ben has been selling far less useful kits for years, so I see no point in your attack on the cases Bacteria sells. And you say it is far more fun to design your own, and thus defend benheck? What do you have to say for his outdated, chock full of errors book that continues to be sold? Honestly, Ben SELLS instructions to make portables, and SELLS cases! How exactly is Bacteria any different?
Finally, though Bacteria was not the maker, you seem uninformed on the reason ModRetro was made. On modretro, any completed project you post entitles you to half of the ad revenue from that thread. In contrast, on the benheck forums, every penny goes straight into the pocket of Ben himself.
In short, Ben makes FAR more money than Bacteria, makes money selling kits even more useless and overpriced than the ones Bacteria USED to make. And who cares if you dislike Bacteria personally? He did not make modretro, and he does not pay the bills. If you don't want to get "conned out of your money", then maybe you can swing on over to modretro where YOU can get some of the ad money, instead of "rather than putting money in this guy's pocket" (Benheck, of course). If you want to slam something, the first step is to actually pick points you can DEFEND, instead of acting like a hypocrite and pointing people to a person who is far worse on all the charges you bring fourth (profiteering, selling out, acting like an ass, etc.)
Hey Palmer. What you just said (especially the ad profit thing which is silly) sounds a lot like marketing shenanigans, but that's all right. To each his own! I just want to get the info out there so people have some background info before they dive into console modding. Sometimes jumping into a big community it's hard to figure out where the central source of knowledge is in. I didn't mean to upset you.
Hey Ashley STFU
You sound like a fcking troll.
I don't know about Bac or Ben but your attitude is a fcking turn off. Either be productive or GTFO.
Not really upset, just wanted to get the facts out there as well. I will gladly admit that simply because of time, the BenHeck forums are a better source of information. It just seemed odd to me that someone would get mad at Bacteria for selling kits, then turning around to send people to the guy who sells the kits, and then sells the directions to assemble the kits separately. ;) And yes, the ad share thing is just an idea, but it is certainly a step in the right direction. No matter the "shenanigans", there are no real arguments against it beyond the main site creator making less money, which you and me seem to have co-existing stances on.
All in all, benheck and modretro can easily co-exist, different people will go to different places for different reasons.
Oh, and as long as we are getting the facts out there... If you want to go on a rampage about someone splitting the "scene", you can blame me, as I am the main admin of and the guy paying the hosting bill for ModRetro. ;) So if you take issue with that, please, take it up for private or public discussion, I welcome it; Just don't blame the wrong people.
I have to ask you guys.
Since when is making a profit a bad thing?
If you can do what you love and live off of it, I say, more power to you.
If you were really into graphics, wouldn't you buy a 360 or ps3? har har. JK.
TurboGrafx reminds me of 1991. It was better then. Oh the things we did!
Oh yeah. Those were the days. Playing Splatterhouse at my friends house. Man the TG-16 was the sht. Roms do the trick these days. Also, you just can't forget those great commercials.
Keith Courage and Bruce Lee were my favorites
The turbo Express was great, but anyone else here own/owned an Atari Lynx? Now THOSE were great, all about right AND left hand play!
Have one. no longer working... hasn't since 95-96 something like that. I cant seem to be able to toss it. My SEGA Game Gear is still working though.
Still have the Turbo Express w/tuner, Lynx II and Nomad. Turbo let you play all the home console games(US games library was very weak- with a converter you could play Japanese games as well!) very expensive. Lynx had great hardware did stuff the consoles couldn't even do at the time(hardware scaling and rotation) some fun games but mostly supported only by Atari so very few 3rd party games. Nomad was great but a little too late to the party and the battery pack was a monstrosity. AH THE 90's so much student loan money spent frivolously on video games! STILL PAYING IT OFF COMPOUNDED!!!
Still have my Lynx sitting at home next to my PSP.
Actually traded my original Game Boy w some games to get the Lynx used back when they were both still current systems. It doesn't work with batteries anymore, only via the DC Adapter, but I loved that system! Even bought a Lynx II back 7 years ago on eBay, but turned out defective, so I returned it.
Wish I was more technically inclined and I would have both still working now!
Like so many others in this thread, I just don't see the point.
The problem, of course, is that NEC made a portable TurboGrafx-16 in 1990. It played all of the games in the TG-16 library. If you're going to do something like this, at least thrown in the TurboCD. Bacteria, I have a NEC TurboCD that I'd be more than happy to donate. I don't have the data cable or power adapter for it, but those are just minor details. This thing has a bigger screen and thats about the only thing going for it.
Why in the hell didn't Topolsky write this post?
Someone's going to get fired for this one.
Bonk. The bosses in Bonk.
I think Ashley that you have been proven the jackass frankly. I never divided any community, that is ridiculous, I joined a far more friendlier forum, ModRetro when I was invited to join, and was honoured that I was asked to be an Admin on that excellent site too; truly honoured. The fact that others come to us from the BenHeck site is not down to me but the fact they voted with their feet for their own reasons and views.
Your posting in this topic Ashley is divisive and aggressive, which is a dent on your character not mine. Fortunately, people with knowledge on the subject have put you right. I think you might be bitter that I have directed all traffic to ModRetro and not BenHeck on this project, I am sure other people reading these posts will understand why, thanks to you tone. ModRetro is a far friendlier site to be on and has some excellent members.
For the record, not sold many of my kits you refer to, made about £200 loss in fact, so i'm not making any profit at all, I am quite happy with that though as it wasn't my reason for offering them in the first place - ego not profit. Ben in contrast makes a living off selling his book, promoting his projects, selling his cut bits of plastic, portables and forum profits! (I am just a hobbyist in contrast). I have had a few people asking me to take a commission to make them a system, I haven't accepted any for various reasons. You should also note that no-where have I offered anything for sale for the IntoGrafx at all - sorta makes your comments stupid, huh? Also I willingly give all my modding tips and guides away for free and have never charged anything for them: and give people advice and help whenever asked. So, rather than any profit, I don't do commissions, ran the kits sales at a big loss, give away my guides and help for free - do I need to elaborate further?
At least people here haven't said the usual comment of "why not use a PSP to emulate, dude"! ;)
There are always alternatives to systems, i've not played on the TurboExpress myself but I don't personally like playing games on a pokey screen, the PSone screen is nearly 4x the image size in contrast, and the buttons are placed exactly where I want them; these are good reasons to make your own systems (and others too).
One great thing though, everyone knows about the wonderful Nintendo consoles, however many don't know about the TurboGrafx. The TurboGrafx has some awesome games on it. Doing this project has hopefully helped to increase awareness for the system and encourage people who like to play console games to look into the system!