Here is for a system that was so ahead of its time

[segafan]

The pc-engine was that system, think of all the years that have gone by and it still gathering popularity! All of the shmups are nothing less than magnificent {man i wish they would make a come back.)

[No_not_like_Quake]

Well, yeah I like the system very much but besides the cd rom add on, I don't see it as particularly ahead of it's time. It got trounced technically when the Megadrive was released in 1988, only a year later.

[professor ganson]

An 8 bit cpu in a 16 bit era. Not exactly groundbreaking. But one of the best systems ever, nevertheless. Those cards are still the coolest way to pack a game.

[Ganelon]

Well, if we're talking about the PCE CD as opposed to the normal PCE, then sure. I don't think the latter has anything going for it though.

The PC Engine CD was eventually trounced by the Super Famicom but the Mega Drive hardly made a dent. And the PCE CD was indeed ahead of its time. Think of the computers you saw back in 1988 and how many made use of CD-ROM drives (chances are pretty much nil until the early 90s). The PCE single-handedly revolutionized lengthy cutscenes and high quality music.

Now, in terms of shooters, I don't think it really did anything revolutionary. There are quite a few duds as well (same as most systems). Not sure if niche gamers are actually getting into it though since the demand seems to be down from a few years back. Still, I'm a huge fan of the PCE library.

[Ghegs]

Moved to OT.

[Ex-Cyber]

An 8 bit cpu in a 16 bit era. Not exactly groundbreaking.

Such a description really doesn't do justice to the HuC6280. It's arguably a good deal more innovative than the SNES's CPU.

[ED-057]

It got trounced technically when the Megadrive was released in 1988, only a year later.

The Megadrive had its advantages, sure, but the PCE remained competitive. So I would say the release of the PCE is more notable, because it had no competition. It beat all the existing 8-bitters in pretty much every measure, and was much cheaper than an Amiga or anything else of comparable power. It was the first system of its generation.

Maybe the early games for the PCE weren't revolutionary, but hardware-wise I'd say it had a clear lead.

[Lordstar]

An 8 bit cpu in a 16 bit era. Not exactly groundbreaking. But one of the best systems ever, nevertheless. Those cards are still the coolest way to pack a game.

the master system had cards. I dont think I ever saw one though the hole time i was playing them lol

[Ed Oscuro]

PCE released three years after the Famicom (NES), back when the NES was still getting off the ground in the U.S.

How they managed to mess that one up is beyond me. They waited two years to release it, and then it didn't have to go up against the NES but also the Genesis.

Sega started the card games, btw, with MyCard SG-1000 games.

[E. Randy Dupre]

Well, if we're talking about the PCE CD as opposed to the normal PCE, then sure. I don't think the latter has anything going for it though.

Can't agree with this. There are loads of great HuCard games, some obvious, some not.

[lgb]

I'd agree. 16-bit video games in 1987. 16-bit video games with Redbook audio in 1989. If the Genesis came out at the same time as the TurboGrafx, Sega would have been roadkill.

[Super Laydock]

Those cards are still the coolest way to pack a game.

the master system had cards. I dont think I ever saw one though the hole time i was playing them lol

MSX had them too.

[Turrican]

The PC Engine CD was eventually trounced by the Super Famicom but the Mega Drive hardly made a dent. And the PCE CD was indeed ahead of its time.

So we're going back to a similar situation... PCECD was a huge hit in Japan, while Megadrive was a huge hit in the US. Kinda like 360 and PS3 these days?

(and of course, Ninty manages to be a huge hit almost every time)

[neorichieb1971]

I bought a duo very late on and couldn't see what the fuss was about. But that was possibly because I was using a crappy composite output. All the CD games I bought were merely on CD for cutscenes and intros.

If I bought one today it would be for its aesthetics as its quite pleasing to the eye. Most people in the UK don't even know what one looks like. The cards are however, a very cool way to store a game and Street fighter championship edition was leagues ahead of the other versions at the time.

There was a super duo or something later released with about 16 games on it. I saw ghouls and ghosts on that and was immediately impressed in 1995 ish. But obviously by then the PS1 was in full swing. Like I said I was late to the game.

[Skykid]

while Megadrive was a huge hit in the US.

Huge in the UK and Europe too. Sonic 2 still holds a record for it's day of release I think.

[Turrican]

while Megadrive was a huge hit in the US.

Huge in the UK and Europe too. Sonic 2 still holds a record for it's day of release I think.

Yeah, sales-wise I think Genny is the overall winner of the 16bit war. It is possible that Super Famicom did catch it in a very late period (1996 and on) but for then no one cared anymore.

[indstr]

while Megadrive was a huge hit in the US.

Huge in the UK and Europe too. Sonic 2 still holds a record for it's day of release I think.

Yeah, sales-wise I think Genny is the overall winner of the 16bit war. It is possible that Super Famicom did catch it in a very late period (1996 and on) but for then no one cared anymore.

I think you'd be seriously wrong ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_be ... ideo_games

OK go look at how many games have sold over a million units for SNES. And then for Genesis. The top seller on Genesis has a paltry 6 million units.

[Turrican]

I think you'd be seriously wrong ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_be ... ideo_games

OK go look at how many games have sold over a million units for SNES. And then for Genesis. The top seller on Genesis has a paltry 6 million units.

Ah, you are right - in the end SNES ended up selling more units. Still, the two lifecycles don't exactly overlap and since much of the Snes success in terms of sales happened well into the 32bit era, the Genesis was perceived as the winner.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Turbo Technologies Incorporated really wanted to release the 20mb Hu-Card release of Street Fighter C.E. for the USA but didn't have the financial backing. And thus why the game appeared instead on the Genesis and the SNES back in the day.

Even Working Designs and TTI wanted to bring out the Arcade Card Duo upgrade and some Arcade Super CD-Rom2 fighting titles as a bundled packaged deal for USA Turbo Duo owners but that idea never materialized since TTI hit the rocks in late 1993 never to recover from it's monetary losses. And TTI could've easily chosen some killer apps gaming titles from the vast JPN PCE gaming collection for distribution in the USA but they did not do so. Some of the very last official TTI released SCD games were distributed by Turbo Zone Direct (TZD) themselves in 1994.

Plus, USA retailers got word that TTI was not going even be bringing the NEC 32-bit powered PC-FX console to the USA either (which lead to some very heavy discounting pricing of stale TG-16/Duo hardware and software for mere pennies on the dollar back in 1994 and into 1995). It was possible to buy such brand new TTI Super CD-Rom2 game titles for a mere five bucks a pop back in 1994 -- you just had to be at the right place at the right time to score on those crazy and cheap-ass gaming deals. ^_~

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Ed Oscuro]

Those cards are still the coolest way to pack a game.

the master system had cards. I dont think I ever saw one though the hole time i was playing them lol

MSX had them too.

Really? I can't think of any, plus it wouldn't have worked on a standard MSX without an adapter.

When was this? I bet the SG-1000 was still earlier in any case.

[Specineff]

Here. Middle of the page: http://www.msx.org/forumtopic5126p15.html

I think they did use an adapter all right. They look almost like PCE cards.

[Ed Oscuro]

Surprised Bandai didn't make it, heh.

Not terribly surprised that Hudson did, though. Even so, that explains a lot about the PC-Engine, pretty cool.

Like the idea of Star Soldier and Star Force on card.

[gameoverDude]

If the TG-16 were to live long enough in the US, then the Arcade Card could've been a fair boost. Imagine if NEC had gotten Super Street Fighter II on ACD, considering how well the SNK fighting games that made it there were done. The SNES version would've looked like roadkill, and it'd be a bit easier to get system owners to pay up $50 for a CD version rather than $70 a third time.

Shame Hudson Soft was tied up in Nintendo of America's licensing program. I wish they would've been free to collaborate with NEC USA from day one on marketing the TG-16. Releasing it sooner (i.e. 1988) would've been good for a head start on the competition. The CD system needed a better "killer app" than Fighting Street. FS could've easily been a 4 Megabit card game if not for the CD music.

Putting 2 controller ports in the TG-16 would've helped. Limiting initial marketing of the system to larger metropolitan areas (i.e. NYC, LA, and Chicago) was a major fuckup. It didn't do too badly in these places. It would've been interesting to see how things would've went in the USA if NEC had not used the same marketing method they did in Japan.

[sven666]

I think you'd be seriously wrong ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_be ... ideo_games

OK go look at how many games have sold over a million units for SNES. And then for Genesis. The top seller on Genesis has a paltry 6 million units.

kinda OT but is that figure for SMB for the NES really correct?

i find it hard to believe one game could make the sales of every other game for the system redundant in terms of financial success?

[Ghegs]

kinda OT but is that figure for SMB for the NES really correct?

They're probably counting all the carts that were packed with the system itself to that.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

If the TG-16 were to live long enough in the US, then the Arcade Card could've been a fair boost. Imagine if NEC had gotten Super Street Fighter II on ACD, considering how well the SNK fighting games that made it there were done. The SNES version would've looked like roadkill, and it'd be a bit easier to get system owners to pay up $50 for a CD version rather than $70 a third time.

Shame Hudson Soft was tied up in Nintendo of America's licensing program. I wish they would've been free to collaborate with NEC USA from day one on marketing the TG-16. Releasing it sooner (i.e. 1988) would've been good for a head start on the competition. The CD system needed a better "killer app" than Fighting Street. FS could've easily been a 4 Megabit card game if not for the CD music.

Putting 2 controller ports in the TG-16 would've helped. Limiting initial marketing of the system to larger metropolitan areas (i.e. NYC, LA, and Chicago) was a major fuckup. It didn't do too badly in these places. It would've been interesting to see how things would've went in the USA if NEC had not used the same marketing method they did in Japan.

Yeah, it would've interesting to see Hudson Soft collabrate with NECHE (USA branch of NEC of Japan) to properly distribute the Turbografx-16 console. I recall that it lauched with a MSRP of $189.99 USD and a mere ten bucks cheaper than the Genesis with it's launch price at $199.99 USD back in the summer of 1989.

You might recall that when NEC debuted their original PCE console, it too only had a single controller port. So the TG-16 was just following in the same footsteps of it's older brother. It was just another way for PCE/TG-16 console owners to spend more yen/dollars to buy into the multi-player aspect with a Tap controller accessory.

The TG-16 was distributed in the smaller cities such as Modesto, CA on launch day. It wasn't limited to just the bigger cities that you describe. Plus, when TTI made it's 2nd big move to Los Angeles from it's old corporate digs in Illinois back in 1992, TTI made sure that there was national distribution of it's Turbo Duo console on launch day. Of course, if you were willing to pony up the required $299.99 USD for one, then it'd be yours on day one.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Ganelon]

I don't see how the TurboGrafx-16 could have ever competed in the US. It never did good anywhere because the software was just too limiting. The only promising genre it offered were shooters and shooters just never really took off in the US home market.

The TG-16 never had a standout sidescroller that kids wanted at the time; as much fun as the Bonk games were, they still just looked (and indeed played IMO) like your 2nd tier NES games. Let's not even mention Keith Courage; people were supposed to move from Mega Man to this junk? If Sega didn't have its arcade hits, I doubt it would've gotten anywhere either.

I also don't think the Arcade Card would've done anything. Buying an expensive CD system and the Arcade Card for anything would've been overkill. If new hardware failed in technologically-savvy Japan, count on it doing many times worse here. Most people at the time didn't that much care for perfect ports; they accepted the limitations and certainly wouldn't have paid almost triple for almost the same game.

Now again, I have a fondness for the PCE-CD library. But you couldn't pay me $100k at the time to serve as its US marketing director. It seemed like such a hopeless job asking people to buy a system for some uninteresting looking games, pay an additional $400 for some better music and these "boring 'ol RPGs" on CD, and get them to understand what System Cards were.

In hindsight, the US TG-CD doesn't even sound as good as a Sega CD or 3DO. Bonk's Adventure and Ninja Spirit were probably the 2 biggest hopes for getting the system popular in the US but Mario and Ninja Gaiden dashed its hopes on one end and Sonic and Revenge of Shinobi crushed them on the other.

[Ed Oscuro]

Ninja Sprit is an alright game, but unless you're OCD highscore gamer then it's almost certain you'll like Revenge of Shinobiz better.

Actually, shit. I think all those games mentioned (Guydenz, Saigoo no Nindoo, and RoS) aren't ones I would keep coming back to year after year.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Back in February of 1990, NECHE wanted to distribute it's Turbografx-16 console hardware to the USA arcades and they hooked up with a 3rd-party PCB manufacturer to do so. It was customed designed PCE hardware with special Hu-Card carts that weren't compatible with the home console anyways with Jamma output and support for low-res 15.7 kHz RGB arcade monitors back in the day.

------------------------
Such a typical TG-16 arcade coin-op conversion kit consisted of the following:

*Full-sized Turbografx-16 marquee (it looked cool when backlit)

*Special PC Engine PCB with specialized Hu-Card slot setup

*One had to buy special seperate Hu-Cards games to work with this particular arcade PCE mobo direct from the 3rd-party PCB manufacturer -- only a couple of them were actually produced -- China Warrior & Blazing Lazers.

*A full sized USA spec'd arcade control panel (along with the requisite cool neon orange colored TG-16 stylized fonts and aestethics) with all the necessary hardware, buttons and a single digital 8-way based joystick to get it working properly

Insert a credit and you'd hear a loud chirp and see a green colored "Start" button flashing. Push it (it would continue to stay lit) and your TG-16 gaming session would start off normally. After a few minutes of gameplay, the game screen would "freeze up". During this time, you would add another credit to continue with your current gaming session. If you did not wish to continue, the screen would go back to playing it's regular attract screen mode and game demo sequence. What was comical was that the Blazing Lazers arcade conversion kit would say "Press Run Button" (during attract & demo modes) when there wasn't any Run button present but only the above mentioned Start one. A white sticker placed to right of the joystick on the control panel had directions on how to play it for the unassuming virgin arcade TG-16 gamer.
----------------------

I recall playing such an TG-16 Blazing Lazers coin-op conversion kit at a local arcade back in 1990. Interesting arcade game concept for it's time trying to promote the TG-16 hardware at the arcades but it, ultimately, failed big time.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Specineff]

The PCE is only interesting to me when it comes to CD games. I hate, HATE, *HATE* the "cardboardy" sound of some of its card games.