encephalon
Member
Maybe you knew it by the Turbographx. I didn't know it by either. I discovered the PC Engine a few years ago and was surprised by what I saw. Behold, the PC Engine in all its glory:
A card based system limited to two face buttons that featured a later disc add on that is more or less the inspiration for this thread. Before Final Fantasy VII on PS1, before Lunar on Sega CD, PC Engine games featured limited voice work and cutscenes.
You might have heard of Ys. Or maybe Legend of Heroes (Kiseki). Or perhaps SNATCHER. Maybe Castlevania Rondo of Blood. These were more than just precursors to the many opening videos that would play upon booting PS1 games. Games featured crude animated cutscenes mid-game. They are, of course, very primitive, but somehow I find them incredible given what games looked like on the SNES at the time. What would the SFC/SNES library look like if the CD Drive went through? What could have dramatic events in games like Final Fantasy VI looked like if companies like Square were given that extra inch of freedom? Often FFVII is portrayed as a game that changed the industry, popularizing frequent cutscenes and a push for more visible storytelling. But if anything, FFVII was inevitable. A single game in a industry that made use of cutscenes when given the chance.
I picked up a number of (physical copies of) PC Engine games recently and played through Falcom's early Legend of Heroes games via emulator. The second game features voiced cutscenes at the end of each chapter (for the record, I don't recommend the game, but I do think it's interesting).
Even the PC Engine version of Shin Megami Tensei features limited voicework in the beginning of the game.
And recently I've started up Kaze no Xanadu, which features a lengthy voiced prologue complete with a crude, but somehow impressive dramatic opening with limited animation.
This game released two months before Final Fantasy VI.
And these games appear to be just a few of many.
A card based system limited to two face buttons that featured a later disc add on that is more or less the inspiration for this thread. Before Final Fantasy VII on PS1, before Lunar on Sega CD, PC Engine games featured limited voice work and cutscenes.
You might have heard of Ys. Or maybe Legend of Heroes (Kiseki). Or perhaps SNATCHER. Maybe Castlevania Rondo of Blood. These were more than just precursors to the many opening videos that would play upon booting PS1 games. Games featured crude animated cutscenes mid-game. They are, of course, very primitive, but somehow I find them incredible given what games looked like on the SNES at the time. What would the SFC/SNES library look like if the CD Drive went through? What could have dramatic events in games like Final Fantasy VI looked like if companies like Square were given that extra inch of freedom? Often FFVII is portrayed as a game that changed the industry, popularizing frequent cutscenes and a push for more visible storytelling. But if anything, FFVII was inevitable. A single game in a industry that made use of cutscenes when given the chance.
I picked up a number of (physical copies of) PC Engine games recently and played through Falcom's early Legend of Heroes games via emulator. The second game features voiced cutscenes at the end of each chapter (for the record, I don't recommend the game, but I do think it's interesting).
Even the PC Engine version of Shin Megami Tensei features limited voicework in the beginning of the game.
And recently I've started up Kaze no Xanadu, which features a lengthy voiced prologue complete with a crude, but somehow impressive dramatic opening with limited animation.
This game released two months before Final Fantasy VI.
And these games appear to be just a few of many.
