dead souls
Member
Lovely system and I'm glad I own a Turbo Duo. Even the limited library we got in the US still had plenty of great games to play.
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The PC Engine is like an alternate reality
- Thread starter encephalon
- Start date
encephalon
Member
Is doujindance selling them again? I thought about it, but Ootake seems to work well enough I don't want one more piece of expensive hardware to have to ship when I move.
Gotta love localization...
I have never played it so I have to ask what is wrong with the generic names of the NPCs?
Also a translation project for Legend of Xanadu I and II and Anearth Fantasy Stories.
If you're using Ootake, you should consider switching to Mednafen. It's much better.
Most of the names in Emerald Dragon are Zoroastrian in origin. Just looking at their example shots, I see things like "Ulwan" which should be Urvan, and I see "Dulgwant" which should be Draugwand. I don't actually see very many names there that are correct.
There's a certain look to hu card games that no other system has. You can sometimes see Genesis looking games on the SNES and vice versa, but there's just a certain...look to base TG16 games that immediately denote that platform. Something in how it renders color maybe? I don't know.
Nitty_Grimes
Made a crappy phPBB forum once ... once.
I remember wanting one of these so badly when they first came out. I still had a C64 then and seeing the likes of Splatterhouse and Vigilante blew my mind back then.
Has a much larger on screen color palette than the other consoles
482 colors on-screen at once
Have you seen Nexzr?
https://youtu.be/u3om7UZTCZ4
Get goosebumps just from watching this, loved it so much and the technical stuff just pushed it into overdrive.
Laevateinn
Member
encephalon
Member
How much better? Ootake saves games to my harddrive for me. : p
PC-E gave me one of my favourite shmups ever in Soldier Blade. Just listen to the badass music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ln1PqO-geKg
Rondo of Blood is great too. Wish I knew more about the system and its games, bet there are a ton of games I'd love on there
Rondo of Blood is great too. Wish I knew more about the system and its games, bet there are a ton of games I'd love on there
Velocity:Design:Comfort
Banned
I know OP is focusing on the RPG and more cutting edge stuff, but considering just the games for this, I'm shocked it did so poorly. Bonk and Air Zonk alone are as good as any of the best Genesis or SNES titles not called Mario, Sonic, or FF.
Well, there's no doubt that Ootake is easier to use. Although Mednafen being integrated into Retroarch helps with that. It doesn't rip your games for you, though, you'd have to do that separately. I guess if you're not having any trouble with game compatibility then keep going with Ootake. There's some games that it doesn't play well though.
Mister Zimbu
Member
An old roommate left his Japanese PCE behind when he moved out years back. Just the beige version.
I've been meaning to set it up, but the lack of cables and the price of carts has always stopped me.
I've been meaning to set it up, but the lack of cables and the price of carts has always stopped me.
I need more turbo games... I haven't plugged that thing in in years lol... last thing I did with it was the composite out mod. It's hard to go back to it when a lot of games are re-released on virtual consoles and such.
Though, i was shocked at how responsive the controls were when testing it out again (compared to emulated and modern games), almost like it knew what I was going to do, it was freaky.
Though, i was shocked at how responsive the controls were when testing it out again (compared to emulated and modern games), almost like it knew what I was going to do, it was freaky.
If they'd released the 8-bit PC-Engine as is, not made it butt ugly, and not invited comparisons with the SNES and MegaDrive they would have done better.
Just gone look at this cool shit.
Sapiens
Member
The PC Engine was killed in the west by a number of factors.
1. Sega had the arcade presence to promote the MD/Genesis. The ports were good, not great, but that was enough to give the MD more cred.
2. Sega and NEC's early output (89/90) was probably honestly on par, but by 1991, with games like SoR, Sonic, Strider, GnG, Phantasy Star, and other really good Sega 1st party software available or coming out, and with no real TP or licensed software being supported on the TG16, the software gap was widening quickly).
3. Sega really focused on good sports games (not great), but had the good luck of EA reverse engineering the system and essentially forcing Sega to left EA self publish it's much, much better sports games. Once people played Madden and NHL, it was the end of the TG16.
4. NEC/TTi simply not prioritizing games people would have cared about (or unable to care about). By the time some really heavy hitting software was coming out in 93 (SF2CE, DracX) it likely wasn't financially viable for NEC/TTi to obtain rights, translate software.
5. Post 93, with no games like Mortal Kombat, FIFA, Madden, Sonic, Mario, etc - people didn't see the system as viable.
6. And finally, for the entire lifespan of the TG16 and MD as competitors, Sega always had far superior marketing.
The CD-ROM was a revelation at the time. I remember Ys getting all 10/10s in EGM when it was released (as did Ninja Spirit), but that system in general was something I was very jealous of at the time when I had instead chosen the Genesis at the time (was still in early HS, so no job, at the mercy of my parents 
).
Seeing R-Type on the TG-16 after having only really played it at home on the SMS was also one of those moments where I was like, damn, wish I'd had one.
I would eventually get one later in the mid-'90s. Fantastic system!
Edit: The Genesis was actually doing some really cool cinematic stuff very early on, like the ending to Target Earth/Assault Suit Leynos (which barely anyone saw at the time): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyPGlyGq7BE
).Seeing R-Type on the TG-16 after having only really played it at home on the SMS was also one of those moments where I was like, damn, wish I'd had one.
I would eventually get one later in the mid-'90s. Fantastic system!
Edit: The Genesis was actually doing some really cool cinematic stuff very early on, like the ending to Target Earth/Assault Suit Leynos (which barely anyone saw at the time): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyPGlyGq7BE
Laurel_McFang
Member
The TG-16 was amazing. Air Zonk omg. Never got into the cd addons.
WaterAstro
Member
I preferred it over NES back in the day.
/realconsolewarrior
/realconsolewarrior
Baron Von Beans
Member
When I was younger, my bro and I traded in our Sega Genesis to a funcoland to get this, with a few games. I loved it. I was extremely lucky, too, as a local game rental shop actually had games for it available. Every time we would rent a game, the clerk was always like, "now, this is for the TURBO..um...GRAFFIX 16, yea, are you sure you want this?" Since apparently lots of people accidentally rented them, thinking they were SNES or Genesis games. I remember a shoot em up of sorts, with a red or yellow ship. That game was boss. I loved that system, and I walls wanted the turboexpress so I could take it all with me.
Edit- jut realized turbografix beat the Switch for console gaming on the go by like 20 years
Edit- jut realized turbografix beat the Switch for console gaming on the go by like 20 years
The PC Engine is far more common in Europe (especially France) than in the US since it was officially distributed for far longer since they were just giving us the japanese release with a piece of white paper thrown in wih basic instructions in french
Laevateinn
Member
When I was younger, my bro and I traded in our Sega Genesis to a funcoland to get this, with a few games. I loved it. I was extremely lucky, too, as a local game rental shop actually had games for it available. Every time we would rent a game, the clerk was always like, "now, this is for the TURBO..um...GRAFFIX 16, yea, are you sure you want this?" Since apparently lots of people accidentally rented them, thinking they were SNES or Genesis games. I remember a shoot em up of sorts, with a red or yellow ship. That game was boss. I loved that system, and I walls wanted the turboduo so I could take it all with me.
Edit- jut realized turbografix beat the Switch for console gaming on the go by like 20 years
I used to get that shit with the Saturn. Fuck you and let me play my Saturn in peace.
Yeah, 80s and early 90s anime was the sweet spot for me. Having a single, almost invisible dot for a nose bothers me.
This style is my favorite:
Agent Unknown
Member
Amazing system, got my TG-16 in '93 and then my Turbo Duo a year later in 1994. Have a large library of both TG-16 and PC Engine games. Talk about the glory days of Hudson Soft.
JoshuaJSlone
Member
Those game cards were really interesting, and I don't think there was anything with a very similar form factor until DS, right? With the smaller size, did those cards have significantly different production costs? Capacities? I'm curious why this less bulky medium didn't take off.
^ Sega Master System had cards too, but with almost cripplingly low storage capacity (32KB).
I've never seen one of these before, but I feel like I must have one now. LOLI had one of these as well, PC-Engine LT:
I was well chuffed with it. Still got it.
Tarin02543
Member
What the hell, half of these systems I have never seen.
They were very hard to get. They had difficulty making a screen that big, so not many made it for sale. Was very impressive for its time.
zenspider
Member
Good to see another veteran of Console War II. I wanted a TG-16 so bad as a kid. Even the it was underpowered it seemed so much more advanced with HuCards and CD-ROM.
Sir_Crocodile
Member
For all the non Japanese readers/speakers out there a translation project has appeared for Emerald Dragon.
https://twitter.com/NightWolve1975/status/555595460602527745
I remember checking this last year and seeing it hadn't been updated since early 2015. Seems that's still the case?
I've been listening to Devil's Crush non-stop because of this thread haha
Well it's technically a totally different kind of synthesis. But as I mentioned, the Namco N106/163 chip did add a similar synth to those games. Sadly there weren't very many of those. It's a really popular chip in hobbyist compositions though. It gave us this excellent cover of Fillmore from Actraiser.
Laevateinn
Member
I saw one of these in Beep! in Akihabara. They wanted something like $2000 for it. It's pretty rare.
Baron Von Beans
Member
How cow, this is incredible. A precursor to the GBA SP! Like the other gaffer said, i must have oneI had one of these as well, PC-Engine LT:
I was well chuffed with it. Still got it.
Agent Unknown
Member
Also for anyone here thinking about getting into Turbografx-16 and PC Engine hardware and game collecting or if you just want more info on the games and systems from a lot of great folks, please be sure to check out the PC Engine/TG Appreciation and Collecting thread here: http://m.neogaf.com/showthread.php?t=543411
Thanks to the thread and ShinJonpv I was able to find someone to repair and mod my Turbo Duo last year (modder by name of Keith Courage, does amazing work), will probably be sending my Turbo Express to him to be fixed and modded at some point.
Thanks to the thread and ShinJonpv I was able to find someone to repair and mod my Turbo Duo last year (modder by name of Keith Courage, does amazing work), will probably be sending my Turbo Express to him to be fixed and modded at some point.
cyborgnumberblue
Member
I'll keep my eyes peeled, but they seem pretty pricey. I got the CoreGrafx II at a really good price, since it only came with the console and the SCART cable.
I am pretty sure that was the seller I was looking at, but he seems to move through his stock pretty fast.
An interface unit is about 35$. You can get a CD-Rom2 unit for around 50-60$.
This would be definitely cheaper than buying an RGB moded duo. Bonus is that the GDEmu guy is making something similar for the CDRom2 devices (and not the Duo/R/RX ones)
A Black Falcon
Member
Well, in Japan the TG16 (PCE) did well enough, particularly from '87 to '90, to be the second best selling console of the generation there... though it only narrowly outsold the Genesis and was completely blown away by the SNES once that system finally launched.
But why did it fail in the West? I'd say there are several reasons, but it all centers around two major categories:
1) NEC made so many major mistakes they make Sega look good. NEC US needlessly redesigned the system, which delayed it significantly; released a console that in Japan launched a full year before the Genesis AFTER that system here, and for a higher price; did minimal third-party outreach, which led to very weak third party support here; failed to localize many major titles for the system; decided to launch the system in major cities only at first, a good idea in Japan but not in the US where the population is more spread out, and failed to ever get good marketing nationwide; never actually really released the system in Europe, which was probably a big mistake; their attempts to counter the "TG16 isn't really 16-bit" thing failed; and more.
and
2) They had less of an opening in the West than they did in Japan because the NES released later here. In Japan the NES passed peak in terms of sales by '87, but that year is when the system finally hit it big in the US, and in Europe it was even later. As a result, the Japanese launch in late '87 was successful because the NES had been out for four years there and some people wanted something new. That period from then until the SNES launch in Japan in late '90 was NEC's peak of success. But in the West there wasn't much interest in new systems until at least '89 because in '87 many people were only just getting the NES, really cutting in to NEC's potential successful period.
Despite that though, when the TG16 finally released in the US, because of its very strong early lineup and NEC's size, a lot of people seem to have expected it to beat the Genesis... but then it didn't. It was competitive through the first year, but fell badly behind after that, both because Sega's games got better and the TG16 library in Japan thinned out as the system faded.
And that's really the issue -- sort of like imagining how Sega could have avoided its collapse in the mid '90s, trying to imagine how NEC/Hudson could have saved the TG16 in the West takes a LONG list of potential changes. First, I would say that they needed to release the TG16 in the West in Holiday 1988, probably with the Japanese case design; I like the US TG16's look, but it wasn't worth the long delay. Next you'd need to replace NEC with a competent company that wanted third party support from Western third party developers, tried to get games from Western studios who were mostly focused on computer games since they did not like Nintendo's restrictions (and in Japan NEC was known for having fewer restrictions than Nintendo for sure...), try to find a way to get their major third-party Japanese titles released in the US despite Nintendo's sometimes illegal efforts to hold their third parties only to Nintendo, launch the system nationwide in the US with better marketing, release the system officially in Europe with PAL games... and then probably the TG16/PCE would have done quite a bit better, at least in the 1988-1991 time period.
After that, though, regardless of strategy problems appear. First, the Super Nintendo CRUSHED the competition in Japan once it finally released, and that was inevitable. Sega and Tom Kalinske managed to fight them to a draw here in the West, but in Japan it wasn't close. Sega of Japan's eventual response to that was the Saturn, while NEC Japan's was to go in a more otaku-centric direction, focusing on the CD addon and games for that audience. Only a minority of the 3.92 million HuCard-only PC Engine owners bought a CD addon as well, though, so this limited their audience. Hudson saw this and around '92 started moving their major top-selling franchises, such as Bomberman, Bonk, their baseball series, and Momotarou Dentetsu over to the SNES instead of the PCE. The PCE got some stuff too from its creator until 1995, but it wasn't the major mascot titles. Hudson had supported the NES all along, yes, but their SNES support didn't really start until the PCE had clearly started declining.
Now, had the system sold significantly better in the West, could that have been avoided and kept Hudson focusing more on the PCE? Maybe, yeah, it would have made a difference. I definitely think the TG16 should have done better than it did here, and it's a great system. However, the SNES and Genesis are great systems too! Look, I like Bonk's Adventure, it is a pretty good game, but it's no match for Super Mario World and Sonic the Hedgehog, it just isn't, and platformers were king here then. Succeeding in the core of the 4th generation in the West, the 1991-1995 period, would have been difficult for the TG16 when you look at the kinds of games it was getting in Japan at that time; when platformers are the most popular genre and your system has fewer platformers than the other two, and none (on HuCard) that match the other system's best, that's a problem. Of course there is Rondo of Blood on CD, but that wouldn't have released until 1994 here, and as a CD title probably never would have had the sales of a cartridge game; Western audiences were more cautious about buying new hardware than the Japanese were. And the genre the system clearly is the best at that generation, shmups, never were quite as popular here as they were in Japan. Anime-style adventure games were barely even a thing at all here as well, of course, and JRPGs were number one there but a somewhat niche genre in the West that generation, and those are both huge parts of the CD library. (And anime-style games have an even bigger presence on the PC-FX, since NEC and Hudson thought that anime-FMV was what the industry wanted for a 5th-gen console...) Having more Western developer support would have helped a lot, and NEC could have gotten more than it had if it was willing to try for it, but Japanese-developed games were still the best selling games on consoles at that time and the kinds of games on the system in Japan in the '90s often don't match up to Western tastes at the time. The TG16's '87-'90 library fits in fine with audiences anywhere, but again, selling well for the first few years, before the generation really started selling big outside of Japan, would mean less here than it did there due to the time delays between when each region started buying new hardware.
So yeah, I have trouble imagining how the TG16 could have finished above third in the West that generation. It's easy to see it doing a lot better than the terrible numbers it sold, but beating Sega or Nintendo? I'm not so sure.
RedAssedApe
Banned
I remember bonk and splatterhouse.
Mostly Ys then because of the voiced cutscenes.
Mostly Ys then because of the voiced cutscenes.