Two corrections, for anyone who cares...
-Actually, the SuperGrafx version is the only home port of 1941. The 194x series has seven games in it now (though one, 1943 Kai, is basically a modified version of 1943, not a fully original game -- though it definitely is different enough to list separately), and only the first two were on a lot of platforms; the next two were only on one home platform as well as the arcade, and the last two before this year's game were arcade only. In order, with all releases, 1942 (Arcade, NES, Game Boy Color, Spectrum, MSX, Amstrad CPC, Cellphone), 1943: The Battle of Midway (Arcade, NES, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, Spectrum, Amiga), 1943 Kai (Arcade, TurboGrafx-16), 1941: Counter Attack (Arcade, SuperGrafx), 19xx: The Battle Against Destiny (Arcade), 1944: The Loop Master (Arcade), and the recent 1942: Joint Strike (PS3/X360 download only).
The arcade version of 1942 is in Capcom Generations (PSX, Europe only), the arcade versions of 1942, 1943, and 1943 Kai are included in Capcom Classics Collection (PS2, Xbox), and CCC Remixed (PSP), and Capcom Generations 1 (PSX/Saturn, Japan only) and the arcade version of 1941 is in Capcom Classics Collection 2 (PS2, Xbox) and on PSP in CCC Reloaded (the PS2 collections were mentioned in the video, though because the guy misidentified 1941 as 1942, he said it was in CCC Vol.1, while 1941 is actually in CCC Vol.2 and CCC Remixed), but those are emulated arcade collections, not home ports, so they're somewhat different things.
-There is actually as seventh SuperGrafx game, Darius Alpha, which like Darius Plus is a TG-16 game with SuperGrafx enhanced graphics. It's extremely, extremely rare and expensive, and isn't a full game -- it's just a boss-rush only version of Darius Plus. It was a limited trial release or something like that, which is why it's so rare and expensive. So no, you didn't play every SuperGrafx game... but given the price of the last game and what it is (just play Darius Plus instead...), it's most probably not worth searching out.
DavidDayton said:
Hey... I have a 3DO -and- a Jaguar. I'd love a SuperGrafx... heck, I'd settle for just the CD attachment for the TG16.
Indeed, it'd be great to have one... for one thing, the system's design is really, really cool. How could a system that looks that cool not have done better?
I'd love to have a SuperGrafx with all six games.
I can see why it failed, though. The graphics just aren't much of a jump over TurboGrafx graphics. It's pretty much just a TG-16 with two graphics chips so it can do an additional background layer and a few other minor additions, and that wasn't nearly enough. Sure, I can see why they wanted a TG-16 with parallax -- the SNES and Genesis both have built-in hardware parallax scrolling, after all, so TG-16 games looked progressively more and more backwards with their near complete lack of it. The problem is, it just wasn't enough of an upgrade for people to consider it worth the money... but it is pretty cool looking.
Oh yeah, and it may only have five games (seven including dual-mode titles), but at least there are some pretty good ones... the only home port of 1941, Aldynes (which is a pretty good shmup, actually)... and the others too of course -- Battle Ace is a fine game of its type, Darius Alpha another fun shooter, Ghouls & Ghosts (Daimakaimura) good though hard and also available on Genesis... Super Ghouls & Ghosts is the third game in the series, not another version of this game; Ghosts & Goblins is first, Ghouls & Ghosts second, and Super Ghouls & Ghosts third.
On that note, here's a great video comparing the Genesis and SuperGrafx versions of Ghouls & Ghosts. It's very thorough and is worth watching.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fA4s5ft4suM
Plus, of course, the SuperGrafx plays all Japanese PC Engine HuCards (which is a lot of games!), and you can attach it to a PCE CD drive too to play TurboCD games, though no CD games have SuperGrafx-enhanced graphics. The PC Engine Super CD-ROM2 drive can attach directly to a SuperGrafx, but the original PC Engine CD-ROM2 drive needs an RAU-30 adapter cable to attach to the SuperGrafx. The only setup that can play every kind of TurboGrafx game -- Japan PC Engine, US TurboGrafx-16, Japan SuperGrafx, Turbo CD (System Cards 2.0 (CD-ROM2), 3.0 (Super CD-ROM2), and Arcade Card games) -- is a region-modded SuperGrafx attached to a Super CD-ROM2 or a CD-ROM2 via that connector cable.
Here's a site with reviews of all seven games:
http://www.defunctgames.com/showarchive.php?showtype=weekendrecapped&system=supergrafx
Shmups.com also has a review of Aldynes: (9/10, it is good if hard!)
http://shmups.classicgaming.gamespy.com/reviews/aldynes/index.html
