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

[wraggster]

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.

http://console-history.dcemu.co.uk/dcemupcengine.jpg


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.

Thanks again to Dark Watcher for his info above.

Now heres our question to you - Whats the greatest PC Engine Game Ever ?

Check out PCENGINEFX.com (http://www.pcenginefx.com/main/) for info on all things PCEngine Related.

More DCEmu Console History Can Be Found Here (http://console-history.dcemu.co.uk/)

Previous History Topics:

Atari2600 a History & Whats the greatest Atari2600 Game Ever ? (http://console-history.dcemu.co.uk/dcemu-asks-atari2600-a-history-amp-whats-the-greatest-atari2600-game-ever--83210.html)
Playstation2 a History & Whats the greatest PS2 Game Ever ? (http://console-history.dcemu.co.uk/dcemu-asks-playstation2-a-history-amp-whats-the-greatest-ps2-game-ever--83125.html)
Nintendo 64 a History & Whats the greatest Nintendo 64 Game Ever ? (http://console-history.dcemu.co.uk/dcemu-asks-nintendo-64-a-history-amp-whats-the-greatest-nintendo-64-game-ever--83028.html)
Nintendo Gamecube a History & Whats the greatest Gamecube Game Ever ? (http://console-history.dcemu.co.uk/dcemu-asks-nintendo-gamecube-a-history-amp-whats-the-greatest-gamecube-game-ever--82866.html)
Sega Genesis/Megadrive a History & Whats the greatest Game Ever ? (http://console-history.dcemu.co.uk/dcemu-asks-sega-genesis-megadrive-a-history-amp-whats-the-greatest-game-ever--82817.html)
Sony Playstation a History & Whats the greatest PSone Game Ever ? (http://console-history.dcemu.co.uk/dcemu-asks-sony-playstation-a-history-amp-whats-the-greatest-psone-game-ever--82560.html)
Sega Dreamcast a History & Whats the greatest Dreamcast Game Ever ? (http://console-history.dcemu.co.uk/dcemu-asks-sega-dreamcast-a-history-amp-whats-the-greatest-dreamcast-game-ever--81958.html)
Nintendo NES / Famicom a History & Whats the greatest NES Game Ever ? (http://console-history.dcemu.co.uk/dcemu-asks-nintendo-nes-famicom-a-history-amp-whats-the-greatest-nes-game-ever--81428.html)
Snes a History & Whats the greatest Snes Game Ever ? (http://console-history.dcemu.co.uk/dcemu-asks-snes-a-history-amp-whats-the-greatest-snes-game-ever--80855.html)

[wraggster]

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

[kojiro7]

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]

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]

either final soldier or neutopia 2

[Dull Blade]

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]

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]

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 :D

[Veskgar]

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.

[robman84]

Bomberman '93. Probably the best Bomberman ever.

[motomono]

Best R-Type arcade convertion, by far. Add the great Castlevania title also. And Galaga. Great console.

[OV3RFiEND]

For the HuCards:

Neutopia
Neutopia II
Double Explorer
Alien Crush
Bomberman Series

Super-CD²

Dracula X - Rondo of Blood
Nekketsu Koukou Dodgeball Bu Soccer PC
Exile
Double Explorer II


i still own a CoreGrafx and and a Turbografx, but i never had the cd-addon, i played them via emu.
the cd-addons are still fu*king expensive on ebay....

[JKKDARK]

Bomberman, but I didn't play many games.

[alexh]

The Super CD-ROM² version of Shadow of the Beast by DMA designs (people behind lemmings) is arguably the best version of this classic game.

It had great studio remixed CDDA music, added FMV animations between areas, a bigger main sprite with much better collision detection, 2 retrys to make the gameplay less infuriating.

[geise69]

Ahhh...finally! My favorite system that I own! I was wondering when this topic would finally pop up! Now I had a TG-16 with the CD add on when it first came out, but sold it for the Turbo Duo on release day. The sticker on the bottom of my Duo still has the manufacturing date of September 1992. All Duo's have this sticker haha (with a different date) unless someone removed it. Anyways my favorite TG-16 game of all time is Ys Book I&II. Yeah it's a cd game. It's a game that I can pick up, love, and beat over and over again and it never gets old. To me that is probably my most favorite game of all time. Anyways I'll make a pointless list of Hu Card games and super cd games I love as well. BTW these are all games that I own. This is the only system besides my Saturn that I can really brag about my collection. I own way more than what's in this list, but these are my main favorites.

Hu Card:
Parodius (amazing how close it was to the arcade)
Air Zonk
Super Star Soldier
Bomberman 1
Bomberman 93
Nutopia 1&2
Override
R-Type
Side Arms

CD and SCD:
Ys Book I&II (of course)
Ys III
Ys IV
Spriggan
Ginga Fukei Densetsu Sapphire
Lords/Winds of Thunder
Gate of Thunder
Rayxanber II
Valis II-IV
Valis The Phantasm Soldier
Tengai Makyo II
Dracula-X =D (got it for xmas in 93, lucky me)

[osgeld]

military madness

[SSaxdude]

Even though I've only played PCE games on emulators, I really liked Bomberman 93, Galaga 90, Splatterhouse, and Bonk's Adventure.

[matt2k]

The little system that could.

Bomberman 94 (Best one ever. Japanese release only.)
Double Dragon 2
Art of Fighting (Neo Geo perfect conversion...scarry)
Strider Hiryu (Extra Stages, cinemas, wonderful soundtrack)
All 80+ Shmups! (This was a shooters console.)
Dracula X Rhondo of Blood (of course)
R-type Complete (cinemas, wonderful soundtrack)

The games of this system are just wow!!

This system had many conversions of games from other systems, but with the cd format, they just upgraded them with better soundtracks and cinema scenes. (Don't touch Golden Axe. I don't know what they were smoking during that one.)

[pibs]

My favs are Bonks adventure and some baseball game can't recall the name of it.

[VampDude]

Bomberman '93 and Galaga '90 which I have on Virtual Console due to not owning the actual PC Engine (Turbografx) console itself.