PC Engine Mini games list,includes SAPPHIRE!

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Re: PC Engine Mini games list,includes SAPPHIRE!

Post by bigbadboaz »

Huh. All my Turbo pads had great diagonals - was really the one big improvement over the NES pad, where they were otherwise basically the same controller.
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Re: PC Engine Mini games list,includes SAPPHIRE!

Post by PC Engine Fan X! »

Ah shucks, sorry to hear that the PC Engine Mini and it's ilk (meaning the CoreGrafx mini & TG-16 mini.) have been delayed to a later date. Amazon has posted a tentative release date of 12/31/2020 for the TurboGrafx-16 mini console. Oh well, it's best to savor the real PCE hardware with it's no lag issues at hand for the time being.

On a related note with the real PCE hardware deal, a new discovery as of March 2020 of using an NEC CoreGrafx II with an add-on Super CD-Rom2 interface unit (has the usual 2,000 kb of Back Up RAM for game saving functionality as with the PC Engine Duo/Duo-R/Duo-RX consoles) along with an Arcade Card Duo (or Arcade Card Pro) + the CD-Rom2 STG title of Spriggan = sped up framerate for the opening intro and overall game engine. Of course, one can also use an NEC PC Engine Duo-RX + Arcade Card Duo with Spriggan = same results of sped up framerate for the opening intro and overall game engine. It's a given with the Arcade Card Duo upgrade does, indeed, have 16 megabits of RAM to boot up those slick Arcade CD-Rom2 titles including the sole Arcade CD-Rom2 STG of Ginga Fukei Densetu Sapphire. Priceless.

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Re: PC Engine Mini games list,includes SAPPHIRE!

Post by garrz32 »

PC Engine Fan X! wrote: On a related note with the real PCE hardware deal, a new discovery as of March 2020 of using an NEC CoreGrafx II with an add-on Super CD-Rom2 interface unit (has the usual 2,000 kb of Back Up RAM for game saving functionality as with the PC Engine Duo/Duo-R/Duo-RX consoles) along with an Arcade Card Duo (or Arcade Card Pro) + the CD-Rom2 STG title of Spriggan = sped up framerate for the opening intro and overall game engine. Of course, one can also use an NEC PC Engine Duo-RX + Arcade Card Duo with Spriggan = same results of sped up framerate for the opening intro and overall game engine. It's a given with the Arcade Card Duo upgrade does, indeed, have 16 megabits of RAM to boot up those slick Arcade CD-Rom2 titles including the sole Arcade CD-Rom2 STG of Ginga Fukei Densetu Sapphire. Priceless.

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That's brilliant :lol:
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Re: PC Engine Mini games list,includes SAPPHIRE!

Post by it290 »

I got my PCE Mini today. Yes, it may take 2 weeks to have dish soap shipped to your house in the US, but preorders from Amazon JP can be delivered to your door in four days flat, regardless. So far I'm pretty impressed with the little guy. Unsurprisingly it's not too much smaller than a regular PC Engine (maybe 75% of the size). The emulation is solid and the screen options aren't perfect but they're pretty good and better than we got with the Genesis Mini. This thing also has, by far, the coolest frontend of any of the mini systems thus far. Boot up a CD game and you'll be treated to a sweet animation of the System Card 3 being inserted into the unit, followed by an animation of the CD drive spinning up complete with 'CD spin up' sound effects. Also, the PCE games and the TG16 games each have their own console-specific UI and background music. Definitely recommend picking one of these up if you have any interest.
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Re: PC Engine Mini games list,includes SAPPHIRE!

Post by Fudoh »

followed by an animation of the CD drive spinning up complete with 'CD spin up' sound effects
so great. I'm enjoying this way more than anything else on the machine.

Scaling options aren't great though. 4:3 mode has shimmer on ALL games, only the more narrow 8:7 mode has shimmer free scrolling for games with 256px horizontal resolution.
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Re: PC Engine Mini games list,includes SAPPHIRE!

Post by Martinov »

I've got to ask the same dull question I always ask about mini consoles: is there any input lag?

Really looking forward to (eventually) getting mine from Amazon UK.
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Re: PC Engine Mini games list,includes SAPPHIRE!

Post by it290 »

I haven't done any sort of actual testing, but I think there is perhaps a small bit of noticeable lag. I played through most of Dracula X tonight and although I'm probably a bit rusty, it's a game I've played through many times over and my performance just felt a tad off compared to playing on real hardware with the OSSC. I played through some Sapphire right after, which is a game I am not good at, and definitely felt like I would have done a bit better on the real thing.

Completely unscientific of course. I'm guessing it's about on par with the other minis that have hit the market.

Regarding the controller, it's pretty nice. The dpad and buttons both feel a bit more responsive than real pads; that could just be an age thing, but they feel a lot better to me. No turbo switches on the JP pads of course which kind of sucks but we should be getting those with the eventual Western releases and the Hori turbo pads.

Definitely agreed with Fudoh on the scaling options though. The shimmer is a bummer. I also would have liked an independent CDDA volume option but perhaps that's asking a bit much for a device like this. Overall this won't have you setting your real hardware or even decent emulation/FPGA solution aside, but it's a nice toy and at least as good as any of the other minis released so far.

Funny thing about the size though — if you put it next to the MD Mini it gives the impression that the PCE was almost as big as an MD Model 1 :lol:
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Re: PC Engine Mini games list,includes SAPPHIRE!

Post by it290 »

Great news: (at least) two hidden games on the PCE Mini, Twinbee and Force Gear.

https://www.retrorgb.com/force-gear-twi ... -mini.html
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Re: PC Engine Mini games list,includes SAPPHIRE!

Post by Marc »

it290 wrote: Funny thing about the size though — if you put it next to the MD Mini it gives the impression that the PCE was almost as big as an MD Model 1 :lol:
Jesus! That's properly mini. :shock:
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Re: PC Engine Mini games list,includes SAPPHIRE!

Post by BulletMagnet »

it290 wrote:Great news: (at least) two hidden games on the PCE Mini, Twinbee and Force Gear.

https://www.retrorgb.com/force-gear-twi ... -mini.html
Cool little bonuses, too bad they're probably only on the JP edition. Though the note about Ninja Gaiden has me holding out false hope that they hid a translated version of Snatcher in there...
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Re: PC Engine Mini games list,includes SAPPHIRE!

Post by PC Engine Fan X! »

A couple of questions in regards to Konami's PCE Mini hardware:

1.) How's the PCE Mini's gamepad in terms of overall functionality and gameplay compared to the original PCE gamepad setup?

2.) Are the diagonal inputs on the PCE Mini's gamepad up to par?

I understand it's Konami whom is handling the sales of the PCE Mini with Hori handling the manufacturing side of it and with M2 doing the emulation of it as well. If you think about it with Ginga Fukei Densetsu Sapphire, it's a stellar STG title with five stages sprinkled with some cool rendered mid-stage bosses and end-stage bosses to fight also.

Makes me wonder when the TurboGrafx-16 Mini will get a proper retail release -- only time will tell when that's to be sold at a later date, of course.

The real reason why NEC went with the larger TurboGrafx-16 console setup is, they thought that Americans wanted a bigger console (the thinking was with a smaller console layout with the original "all white colored" PCE console setup that it would be regarded as inferior to the competition -- i.e. the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo). The PCE and the Core Grafx I and II consoles are quite hefty with their overall dimunitive size and packed to the brim with internal hardware, indeed -- it's a given in this day of age.

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Re: PC Engine Mini games list,includes SAPPHIRE!

Post by it290 »

PCEFX!, there's discussion on the pads in the Hardware forum so I won't repeat myself here, but reviews on the pad seem to be mixed. I think it's pretty excellent, Fudoh doesn't like his. Diagonals are totally fine IMO.

& BulletMagnet, I don't think there's any chance on Snatcher unfortunately, especially since Rondo is not translated even though the work for that has already been done. No way they'd port the Sega CD English release over to the PCECD for this little gadget, unfortunately. Ninja Gaiden English mode already existed on the original HuCard, so that one isn't a surprise.
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Re: PC Engine Mini games list,includes SAPPHIRE!

Post by BulletMagnet »

Yeah, that was just my inner optimist escaping from his cell again, gonna have to reinforce those bars. :P
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Re: PC Engine Mini games list,includes SAPPHIRE!

Post by Zeether »

BulletMagnet wrote:
it290 wrote:Great news: (at least) two hidden games on the PCE Mini, Twinbee and Force Gear.

https://www.retrorgb.com/force-gear-twi ... -mini.html
Cool little bonuses, too bad they're probably only on the JP edition. Though the note about Ninja Gaiden has me holding out false hope that they hid a translated version of Snatcher in there...
They're going to be on the TG16 mini too: https://twitter.com/gosokkyu/status/1245295151833964544
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Re: PC Engine Mini games list,includes SAPPHIRE!

Post by BulletMagnet »

Zeether wrote:They're going to be on the TG16 mini too: https://twitter.com/gosokkyu/status/1245295151833964544
Dangit, and now he's running amok again! :P

Seriously though, kudos to the devs for sneaking them in, that's an unexpected bit of happy news. :)
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Re: PC Engine Mini games list,includes SAPPHIRE!

Post by SAM »

BulletMagnet wrote:
it290 wrote:Great news: (at least) two hidden games on the PCE Mini, Twinbee and Force Gear.

https://www.retrorgb.com/force-gear-twi ... -mini.html
Cool little bonuses, too bad they're probably only on the JP edition. Though the note about Ninja Gaiden has me holding out false hope that they hid a translated version of Snatcher in there...
Good news!!! I just tested on my Core Grafx Mini (European version of PC-Egine Mini), Twinbee and Force Gear are available as hidden games in it too.

To access to Twinbee, press Select three times at Salamander; while press Select two times for Force Gear.

By the way, anyone know what is the difference in the alternative version of Gradius in there?
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Re: PC Engine Mini games list,includes SAPPHIRE!

Post by Jonpachi »

I got my TurboGrafx mini yesterday, and this thing RIPS. This is easily the best mini console so far. There's so many good games I can't even stop to focus and really dig into any one title. The attention to detail is just stellar, and with the TurboGrafx version they even recreated the gigantic AV "boot" that used to go on the back, which you can actually remove to insert the HDMI and power cables. I even like the controller, though I did order two of those wireless Saturn pads, as Limited Run has them for only $20 atmo.

This is really first-world-problems, but with so many games on there (the most of any mini console) it's what NOT there that I find confusing. Why Alien Crush but no Devil's Crush? Bonk 1 and 2 but no Bonk 3? All those shmups and no Magical Chase? Ah well, still a killer list on there.
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Re: PC Engine Mini games list,includes SAPPHIRE!

Post by Fudoh »

though I did order two of those wireless Saturn pads, as Limited Run has them for only $20 atmo.
LRG has the Bluetooth versions, for which you need a matching dongle and I don't know if a BT dongle is available for the PCE Mini yet. The 2.4GHz Retrobit controllers on the other hand come with a USB dongle included and those seek to work on the Mini.
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Re: PC Engine Mini games list,includes SAPPHIRE!

Post by Martinov »

Jonpachi wrote:Why Alien Crush but no Devil's Crush?
I did notice someone on Twitter speculating that the satanic iconography may well have had something to do with it. But who knows? I wish it was on there too - and perhaps it will be, when you-know-what becomes possible.
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Re: PC Engine Mini games list,includes SAPPHIRE!

Post by Jonpachi »

Fudoh wrote:
though I did order two of those wireless Saturn pads, as Limited Run has them for only $20 atmo.
LRG has the Bluetooth versions, for which you need a matching dongle and I don't know if a BT dongle is available for the PCE Mini yet. The 2.4GHz Retrobit controllers on the other hand come with a USB dongle included and those seek to work on the Mini.
Yep! I watched a Youtube video on it. They do work with a USB dongle on the TG mini.
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Re: PC Engine Mini games list,includes SAPPHIRE!

Post by Fudoh »

so which dongle do you plan on using? The only BT dongles that do the binding on a hardware level and then just report a X-Input controller to the host instead, are the 8bitdo ones.
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Re: PC Engine Mini games list,includes SAPPHIRE!

Post by Jonpachi »

Fudoh wrote:so which dongle do you plan on using? The only BT dongles that do the binding on a hardware level and then just report a X-Input controller to the host instead, are the 8bitdo ones.
Ah you may have been right. The video I saw was with the Retro-Bit Genesis controllers, which come with two different receivers. I looked into getting the receivers by themselves, but the price is high enough that I may as well just keep those Saturn controllers for the Switch and buy new ones to use on the TG mini.
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Re: PC Engine Mini games list,includes SAPPHIRE!

Post by Fudoh »

I looked into getting the receivers by themselves
you can't. At least not the 2.4GHz ones. And the BT ones are only available for the actual console connectors (e.g. Saturn or MD), since the Bluetooth controllers are meant for use with internal BT options. The exception are the 8bit BT Switch and Playstation Mini adapters, but I don't think anybody tested these on the PCE Mini yet.
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Re: PC Engine Mini games list,includes SAPPHIRE!

Post by bigbadboaz »

8bitdo's PCE-styled wireless pad also leaked, guys, though it's just one photo with no date or further info.
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Re: PC Engine Mini games list,includes SAPPHIRE!

Post by it290 »

I did notice someone on Twitter speculating that the satanic iconography may well have had something to do with it. But who knows? I wish it was on there too - and perhaps it will be, when you-know-what becomes possible.
Seems unlikely given that both Splatterhouse and Rondo are on here..
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Re: PC Engine Mini games list,includes SAPPHIRE!

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Ordered the Coregrafx one from Amazon.jp. Same hardware as MD Mini but more internal storage. Won't be too long to hack it and run Retroarch and call it a day. Only planning to run PCE and FC stuff on the box since I want to keep it simple.

Sucks about Lords of Thunder having input lag per people.
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Re: PC Engine Mini games list,includes SAPPHIRE!

Post by bigbadboaz »

You'll be able to fix that by swapping over to RetroArch anyway.

I'm doing exactly the same as you - TG16 and NES only. Seems fitting given the related CPUs and controllers. :)
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Re: PC Engine Mini games list,includes SAPPHIRE!

Post by Domino »

bigbadboaz wrote:You'll be able to fix that by swapping over to RetroArch anyway.

I'm doing exactly the same as you - TG16 and NES only. Seems fitting given the related CPUs and controllers. :)
Sounds like I am not the only one with this idea. :)

Yeah, due to the controllers and the "feel" of both platforms it would make sense to run both FC/NES and PCE/TG-16 in the same box. However, I know these SoC can run a lot of things, but I try to keep it simple.

Shouldn't be too long until the hacks flows like wine and OC is possible on these.
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Re: PC Engine Mini games list,includes SAPPHIRE!

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Finished up a quick 1CC of Spriggan yesterday, which I absolutely loved. Being a big MUSHA fan, it was great fun to get something more in the same style. Then I moved on to Spriggan Mark 2... and... what the hell? This game is just unplayable. The dialogue just won't stop, and when I do finally get to play the gameplay just seems like a mess. Maybe I'm missing something, but it all feels so twitchy and imprecise that I have no desire to work toward mastery. Such a shame, as the overall aesthetics are really nice, but hot damn did some designer go insane with the script. I would be frustrated with this much exposition in an jrpg, let alone a shmup.
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Re: PC Engine Mini games list,includes SAPPHIRE!

Post by bigbadboaz »

I have a $20 PS Classic, so I'll leave the other emulating to that one :D BTW, they found the 4GB flash in this Mini is only about half-utilized. Looks like there's space to add a LOT of stuff right on the console itself. Needless to say, the CD titles are apparently compressed.. so if we can use the same compression to add others, there could effectively be much more space than anyone would have hoped for.

Regarding Spriggan, I wish I could get into that one (also loved MUSHA to death). Is anyone else bothered by the lack of sound effects for your weapons? It takes away any sense of impact for me.
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