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How to play TurboGrafx / PC Engine games under Windows? (Theron's Quest)

What is a TurboGrafx / PC Engine? Check the Wikipedia article about TurboGrafx.

With Mednafen emulator

Follow these instructions:

  1. Download Theron's Quest for TurboGrafx / PC Engine.
  2. Download this emulator: Mednafen.
  3. Download the TurboGrafx / PC Engine CD System Card 3.0 ROM image included in the OpenEmu BIOS Pack.
  4. Decompress the game, the emulator and the BIOS archives.
  5. Copy the ROM file syscard3.pce in the 'firmware' folder of Mednafen (create the folder if it does not exist, or run mednafen.exe once to create the folder structure).
  6. In Windows Explorer, drag and drop the game image file (*.cue or *.ccd) onto the mednafen.exe file to start emulation. You may also run the emulator from the command line: mednafen.exe <Full path to the game CD image>
  7. The keyboard controls are described here: https://mednafen.github.io/documentation/pce.html#Section_default_keys

With Ootake emulator

Follow these instructions:

  1. Download Theron's Quest for TurboGrafx / PC Engine.
  2. Decompress the archive and run "Decode.bat". It will decompress the Ogg Vorbis audio files to standard .wav files.
  3. Download this PC Engine emulator for Windows: Ootake.
  4. Download the TurboGrafx / PC Engine CD System Card 3.0 ROM image included in the OpenEmu BIOS Pack.
  5. Install Ootake and decompress the System Card 3.0 ROM somewhere on your hard disk (file syscard3.pce).
  6. You have two ways to play the game: you can burn the CD image to a CD-R or CD-RW and play the game from your real CD-ROM drive, or you can use DAEMON Tools (recommended method), which is a CD-ROM emulator for Windows. This free utility will create a virtual CD-ROM drive in which you will be able to "insert" a CD image (many formats supported). Using this tool, you can try the game without having to burn a real CD.
  7. If you use Daemon Tools, when you mount an image select the .cue file, not the .iso file.
  8. Once you inserted the CD in your CD-ROM drive (either real or virtual), start Ootake from your Start Menu. Click the '"CD-ROM" Game' button on the first screen. An error message will be displayed because the System Card file is missing and you can then browse and select the file syscard3.pce you decompressed earlier.

Notes:

  • Click anywhere in the emulated screen area to pause the emulator and display the menu.
  • If you have several CD-ROM drives, you must select the one where you inserted the CD in the 'CD-ROM' menu.
  • You cannot play this game with a mouse. In the Input menu, there is a 'Mouse' option, however Theron's Quest was not compatible with a mouse input device on the original console, only with a Pad.
  • With the emulator, you can use a real Pad connected to you PC or use your keyboard instead. In the 'Input' menu, select 'Configure Pad #1...' to change the keyboard keys you want to associate with the buttons on the original Pad.
    Original console pad buttons Default key in emulator Game Controls
    Direction keys Up/Down/Left/Right Arrows Cursor movement
    Run Return Switch between Dungeon and Information screens
    Select Tab
    Button I N Pick up / drop / throw items
    Button II Space bar Cancel. Hold this key while pressing a direction key for simplified movement in the dungeon.

    Please check page 5 of the TurboGrafx Manual (on Theron's Quest for TurboGrafx / PC Engine) to see how the original Pad is used by the game.

  • Backup RAM management: When the console starts (while on the "PC Engine SUPER CD-ROM² SYSTEM" screen, before running the game), press 'Select' to enter the "BACKUP RAM" tool where you can delete a saved file or format the backup RAM.

With an Online emulator

You can play online here: