DCEmu Asks - PC Engine a History & Whats the greatest PC Engine Game Ever ?

***wraggster*** · January 4th, 2008, 22:54

Continuing our network wide feature for just about every console thats emulated and that we own, in time it can be used as a reference point for people to look at what games are the very best on each system

Firstly heres a look at each system and a description to remind you of the history of the console.

Turbografx 16 / PC Engine
On October 30, 1987 the first 16-Bit home videogame console was released in Japan by NEC. The PC Engine was clearly a "next generation" system with it's amazing specs, and wallet sized card games called "HuCards".

The PC Engine was immensely popular in Japan, outselling the Famicom by a significant margin. Two years after its Japanese introduction, NEC announced plans to bring the PC Engine overseas. NEC dubbed the US release Turbografx-16, and prepared to dominate both Nintendo and Sega as they did in Japan.

In 1988, NEC took gaming to the next level. They were the first to use the immense storage capability of Compact Disk. NEC's CD-ROM add-on device was called Turbografx CD or TG-CD (PC Engine CD in Japan). It retailed for an expensive $399.

The console was redesigned several times in Japan (for example the Coregrafx released in 1989 and Coregrafx II in 1991).

In 1989, NEC decided to redesign the console, and upgrade it with more RAM. This new design called Supergrafx was sold in Japan only, and created to compete against the threat of Nintendo's Super Famicom console. NEC stopped distributing Supergrafx when they saw their PC Engine was still selling well. Only 5 games were made to take advantage of the upgraded Supergrafx, and it played all PC Engine games as well as use the CD add-on.

So how is it that a company that produced such state of the art gaming go almost unnoticed by the American gamers? So many factors contributed, but most stems from NEC's lack of marketing. Perhaps their success in Japan made them think the system would sell itself. Whereas you could find commercials and advertisements for Sega and Nintendo, you could not find any for Turbografx.

NEC was also introducing games, titles, and characters that American players simply weren?t familiar with, and many truly excellent games were either ignored outright, or subject to Nintendo's "exclusive licensing" policy that was in effect at the time. The gist of this policy was, if a game was already available on NES, then game companies could not produce any versions for any other game system. Although this policy was later ruled illegal, it hurt the TurboGrafx a lot in the early stages of its life.

Hudson Soft, the primary producer of PC Engine software, was also producing games for the huge NES market. Releasing a game on TurboGrafx exclusively (as they would have to do) would restrict its potential sales (as the NES had a greater installed user base).

Even the Turbografx CD with it's amazing potential was marketed poorly. Not only was this item priced at a ridiculous $399, but only two games were even released for it during its first six months of existence. Neither TG-CD game, "Fighting Street" nor "Monster Lair", came anywhere close to taking advantage of the system?s capabilities.

Soon after... word began to spread that the TG-16 was not a "true" 16-bit system, as its CPU was only 8-bit. (The system used two 8-bit processors).

These factors caused the Turbografx to have a small impact in the US. NEC seemed to only focus on their Japanese market. Japan saw many quality games, console redesigns, and accessories. This helped the system to remain successful in Japan for quite some time.

FACT: NEC used the "Hucard" technology to produce "System Cards" that boosted the consoles RAM thus providing better quality graphics. The Arcade Card Pro card in particular added 16 megabits of RAM, and was used to play arcade quality games such as Fatal Fury and other SNK hits. Sadly the card was never released outside of Japan. This would also explain why Supergrafx was discontinued.

***wraggster*** · January 4th, 2008, 22:55

Only game i really ever played on PC Engine emulators were Bomberman and Wrestling games, a console that sadly i never owned.

**kojiro7** · January 4th, 2008, 23:13

Its a console I never owned but had played almost all games on emulators
Best games include New Adventure Island,Neutopia 1,2,Legendary Axe 1,2,Street fighter 2(it was almost like Megadrive version)

**mookz** · January 4th, 2008, 23:55

For the HuCards - Soldier Blade, Final Soldier, GunHed (Blazing Lasers) , Parodius, Twinbee, Galaga '89 ('90), and Street Fighter II CE.

For the SuperCD's - Terraforming, Macross 2036, Roxamber 2, and Gates of Thunder.

Never really played the Arcade CD's, but from what I remember, they were pretty close to the arcade originals.

**rokobungi** · January 5th, 2008, 02:12

either final soldier or neutopia 2

**Dull Blade** · January 5th, 2008, 02:22

I never owned one of these myself, but if I could find one for a decent price, I'd pick one up.

anyways I've only really played bomberman on it, and it was pretty good. I also read some wear there was a PC enigne that supported upto 10 players and HD graphics back in 93, I think there was a video of it somewhere on youtube.

**Eyedunno** · January 5th, 2008, 06:39

Benkei Gaiden is all I can think of. I even bought a used HU card of it, and I don't even have the system. :P

**wolfpack** · January 5th, 2008, 07:33

my dad has a turbografx-16 along with the cd addon and my favorite has to be It Came From the Desert for the Turbo-grafx cd

**Veskgar** · January 5th, 2008, 09:00

For Hu-Card:

1.) Nectaris (Military Madness)
2.) Blazing Lazers (vertical shmup)
3.) Bloody Wolf
4.) R-Type
5.) Splatterhouse
6.) Alien Crush (Pinball game)
7.) Neutopia
8.) Dragon Spirit (vertical shmup)

The PC-Engine or TurboGrafx 16 has always drawn me to it for whatever reason. Sure its no Super Nintendo, but there is a draw to the console and those amazing little Hu-Cards. I remember for the longest time wanting a Turbo Express. A handheld that was beyond its time when it was released. But the sucker was like $300.00 I believe so I never got one. Now, thanks to Hue emulator, I can enjoy and preserve the nostalgia these games provide on the PSP.

The games that work well, work REALLY well. A lot of rare gems that you'll find on no other platform.