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Rumor: PC Engine Mini Pre-Orders Are Faring Very Poorly

Bullet Club

Bullet Club

Member
Rumor: PC Engine Mini Pre-Orders Are Faring Very Poorly

An unnamed Konami executive has spoken to Business Journal about the sales of PC Engine Mini in Japan.

According to this unnamed Konami executive, pre-orders for the PC Engine Mini are currently faring very badly on Amazon Japan. Amazon Japan is the only retailer that’s carrying stock for this, as part of an exclusive deal between Konami and Amazon Japan. The reason behind this is to prevent price cuts by brick-and-mortar retailers.

The lack of price cuts and Amazon’s exclusivity for the PC Engine Mini could have also contributed to the lukewarm sales.

The Konami executive added that due to the poor sales, they will “definitely” distribute to brick-and-mortar retailers in Japan in the near future.

Source: Nintendo Soup

No word on pre-orders in other regions, but seeing how Japan was the place the system was most popular, they probably aren't doing much better.

I'd get one if EB in Australia sold the UK version.
 
DunDunDunpachi

DunDunDunpachi

Patient MembeR
The system is ostensibly aimed at 30+ yr old dads and at the handful of zoomers who play old games and post videos about it on YouTube. It's a miracle it got greenlit in the first place but I'm not gonna complain. 30+ yr old dad already put his moolah down :goog_cool:

Hopefully it sells by word of mouth.
 
R

Rock And Roll

Member
Can't get one in Canada without going through Amazon US. I don't want to pay extra for exchange, shipping and import taxes even though I really want one of these.
 
Ban Puncher

Ban Puncher

Member
I would have ordered one but Amazon JP does not want my Australian dollerydoos.


PuXhRvM.gif
 
McCheese

McCheese

Member
PC Engine / SuperGrafx is one of the MiSTer cores that doesn't need the SD Ram add-on board, so for the same price as this emulation box ($99) you can literally pick up just the FPGA board, copy some files onto an SD card, and boom - you have a cycle accurate PC Engine clone that supports everything, including CD titles, and can be upgraded in future to support other systems.

I feel like the maturity of the FPGA scene now makes these "mini" consoles redundant to the more serious retro game enthusiasts.
 
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StreetsofBeige

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Do the Sega and Nintendo minis do well in Japan?

If yes, I can see PC Engine perhaps doing well too. But T-16 everywhere else was a disaster. There is no way it's going to sell well.

When SNES came out in 1991 or 1992, I think T-16 already disappeared from stores.

When you read forums about favourite retro systems and games, how many people bring up Bonks Adventure or Legendary Axe? At best, you get some gamers talking about Castlevania or some CD games, and that's it.

Konami's exclusive deal with Amazon to prevent retail stores from discounting doesn't even make sense unless:

1. Konami is forcing themselves to help pay for discounts. If not, who cares if someone wants to blow out sales at $80?

2. They got their hands tied with some Amazon corporate deal or got threatened by the buyer at Amazon head office. And Amazon told them they better not sell the minis to other retailers or else they'll fuck them over not buying Konami games

3. Suppliers typically want as much distribution as possible as long as it fits the brand. And stores like WM and Best Buy should be fair places to sell gaming gear too. A company purposely gimping hardware sales to one online store is weird. Don't be surprised if WM and Best Buy take out revenge on Konami in the future when Konami needs help selling their products
 
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G

Gargus

Banned
The problem is 2 fold.

1 being its 100 bucks and that's a bit steep for what it is. The price relegates it to out of reach for a lot of gamers who are interested but not really into it. For the big emulator people no way they would pay 100 for it even for nostalgia sake. Its 20 to 30 dollars too high for not even coming with a 2nd controller..

Not all of the games are in English. Especially snatcher, that's the one game so many people would buy it for alone. The single most sought after game on that thing and it's in fucking japanese. Also doesnt help they have 2 versions of some games on there also counting towards the total.

It isnt a total loss but konami kind of fucked up on this. I still have a pre order in because this will help fill the hole left from years ago when I sold most of my collection. And I want to support these things because I love the mini consoles. Nes, SNES, genesis were all great. Playstation was cool but they miss fired on its game library. Even the c64 mini was cool.
 
TLZ

TLZ

Banned
Bullet Club said:
Rumor: PC Engine Mini Pre-Orders Are Faring Very Poorly

An unnamed Konami executive has spoken to Business Journal about the sales of PC Engine Mini in Japan.

According to this unnamed Konami executive, pre-orders for the PC Engine Mini are currently faring very badly on Amazon Japan. Amazon Japan is the only retailer that’s carrying stock for this, as part of an exclusive deal between Konami and Amazon Japan. The reason behind this is to prevent price cuts by brick-and-mortar retailers.

The lack of price cuts and Amazon’s exclusivity for the PC Engine Mini could have also contributed to the lukewarm sales.

The Konami executive added that due to the poor sales, they will “definitely” distribute to brick-and-mortar retailers in Japan in the near future.

Source: Nintendo Soup

No word on pre-orders in other regions, but seeing how Japan was the place the system was most popular, they probably aren't doing much better.

I'd get one if EB in Australia sold the UK version.
Click to expand...
I'm waiting for play-asia to open pre-orders. I also have one on pre-order at Amazon US as backup.
 
StreetsofBeige

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Gargus said:
The problem is 2 fold.

1 being its 100 bucks and that's a bit steep for what it is. The price relegates it to out of reach for a lot of gamers who are interested but not really into it. For the big emulator people no way they would pay 100 for it even for nostalgia sake. Its 20 to 30 dollars too high for not even coming with a 2nd controller..

Not all of the games are in English. Especially snatcher, that's the one game so many people would buy it for alone. The single most sought after game on that thing and it's in fucking japanese. Also doesnt help they have 2 versions of some games on there also counting towards the total.

It isnt a total loss but konami kind of fucked up on this. I still have a pre order in because this will help fill the hole left from years ago when I sold most of my collection. And I want to support these things because I love the mini consoles. Nes, SNES, genesis were all great. Playstation was cool but they miss fired on its game library. Even the c64 mini was cool.
Click to expand...
I don't know how many units all these minis sell, but every one of them near launch has them being dumped for 30% off or more. Can't be a good sign.

Anyone willing to pay full price, just wait a month or two. Will be $30 off. I think the only one that wasn't sold at a big price drop was that first NES mini.
 
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TLZ

TLZ

Banned
McCheese said:
PC Engine / SuperGrafx is one of the MiSTer cores that doesn't need the SD Ram add-on board, so for the same price as this emulation box ($99) you can literally pick up just the FPGA board, copy some files onto an SD card, and boom - you have a cycle accurate PC Engine clone that supports everything, including CD titles, and can be upgraded in future to support other systems.

I feel like the maturity of the FPGA scene now makes these "mini" consoles redundant to the more serious retro game enthusiasts.
Click to expand...
Where can I order one?
 
CJY

CJY

Banned
Don't see the point of these classic mini consoles at all anymore. Now, if it was FPGA-based, then we're talking.

I wonder if the the licence holders will eventually release FPGA versions of all the classic consoles. Or perhaps ASIC versions, as they're meant to emulate just single systems.

Classic console for ~$100, or a MiSTer for $130, it's a no-brainer.
 
darkangel-212559

darkangel-212559

Banned
I have great memories of playing the PC Engine when I was a kid, however I shall wait for the inevitable sale on Amazon UK seeing as they won't be selling that well.
 
Fox Mulder

Fox Mulder

Member
I preordered one in July, but not shocked if it sells like shit. Only Nintendo has hit gold with these. The tg16 was a niche console, this mini is $100, and they announced it like a year before release.
 
Psajdak

Psajdak

Banned
Anyone interested would have already gotten themselves the original hardware.

Konami should really return to their Metal Gear, Suikoden, and Silent Hill, if they wanna mean anything anymore.
 
D

Dazrael

Member
The mini console bubble has already burst in my opinion. In fact I think it was only ever relevant with the Nintendo machines, even Sega missed the boat with it.

I’d be very surprised if the PC Engine Mini does well, even in Japan.
 
Starlight Lotice

Starlight Lotice

Member
I can see why it isn't getting much attention.

- Amazon Exclusive where the Japanese always give bad reviews.
- Price is quite high
- Half the games are English Only with some being duplicate games.
- They didn't add Linda Cube, Emerald Dragon and Magical Chase. 3 of the most wanted games on the system
- Some poor choices of games probably enhanced the decision to nor buy (i.e: Poorer ports of Fantasy Zone and Space Harrier, some of the games popular in America are not popular in Japan).

Konami should have let M2 do the region switching like SEGA did and made the price of the console a little bit cheaper and actually listened to the fans on what games they wanted. It is ridiculous how they duplicated games on the system when it wasn't necessary.
 
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Impotaku

Impotaku

Member
Not fussed if it sells well or not, as long as it's released. Been dreaming of a PC engine mini for years, always loved the PCE but there's no way i'm prepared to put up with the bullshit of getting the original hardware working on modern displays or the fact that the game prices have gone mental. Like with the famicom, super famicom and megadrive i'm happy to have a nice curated selection of games on each of them after they all got hacked i'm hoping for the same with the PCE
 
Starlight Lotice

Starlight Lotice

Member
I still paid for the Mini in Advance as it is a literal Unicorn in the UK and kickstarted the Import Scene here so it has some significance. Google the "PC Engine is the same size as a packet of Crisps" to see what I mean! "pie_tears_joy:

I would love to see it hacked as well.
 
thicc_girls_are_teh_best

thicc_girls_are_teh_best

Member
I might consider picking one up if it's cheap enough. As is I've barely had time for my Genesis mini tbh (family members have played it moreso than myself. Granted, they're kids so they have the time), and that's a system I actually have a childhood with.

TG16, unfortunately, I don't have any nostalgia with it like the Genesis, and I never got into it later on in high-school like with the SNES. Part of that's on me, I guess. Most exposure I've had to a genuine system was when a friend of the family (RIP btw) brought one over and played Ninja Spirit.

It was pretty cool but by the time I was able to get a game console TG16 was practically gone from store shelves.
 
StreetsofBeige

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Dazrael said:
The mini console bubble has already burst in my opinion. In fact I think it was only ever relevant with the Nintendo machines, even Sega missed the boat with it.

I’d be very surprised if the PC Engine Mini does well, even in Japan.
Click to expand...
I think you're right.

And let's face it, the people buying up NES and SNES minis aren;t young people. It's probably people who are a good 35 or 50 years old who grew up playing those old ass games, but have not had a place to play them since then (unless they wanted to do the PC emulator route). Those old simpler games are much different than now. Whereas many of the games in recent gens all play similar but have better graphics.

And when looking back at those old gens, most of the classics come from Nintendo systems. Hardly anyone brings up PC Engine/T-16. And despite Genesis being popular too, there doesn't not seem to be that retro interest to play Sonic, EA Sports, and 16-bit arcade ports compared to playing Mario, Zelda, FF or Konami classics.

If you're someone who really enjoyed arcade gaming back then (which Sega had lots of ports), if you're going to play it now, you'll probably just play the MAME version instead of a Genesis downport.
 
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thicc_girls_are_teh_best

thicc_girls_are_teh_best

Member
StreetsofBeige said:
I think you're right.

And let's face it, the people buying up NES and SNES minis aren;t young people. It's probably people who are a good 35 or 50 years old who grew up playing those old ass games, but have not had a place to play them since then (unless they wanted to do the PC emulator route). Those old simpler games are much different than now. Whereas many of the games in recent gens all play similar but have better graphics.

And when looking back at those old gens, most of the classics come from Nintendo systems. Hardly anyone brings up PC Engine/T-16. And despite Genesis being popular too, there doesn't not seem to be that retro interest to play Sonic, EA Sports, and 16-bit arcade ports compared to playing Mario, Zelda, FF or Konami classics.

If you're someone who really enjoyed arcade gaming back then (which Sega had lots of ports), if you're going to play it now, you'll probably just play the MAME version instead of a Genesis downport.
Click to expand...

It kinda depends on where you look. In Genesis's case (I'm sure some of this applies to PC-Engine as well), part of the problem's been with SEGA saturating the market not just with previous minis (the ATGames models), but also various consoles with ports of Genesis collections, going all the way back to PS2. Conversely, we never got ports of Nintendo's SNES games until the Wii really, and even then (hell, even now) they're pretty rare. Plus they don't generally do compilations. NES Classic and SNES Classic also benefited from the market not being saturated with previous mini consoles of them officially licensed through Nintendo.

But depending on where you look the other issue with Genesis is the perception it's just a Sonic and sports games machine, and SEGA has a hand in playing into that image unfortunately. In reality though the system has a lot of great games that aren't arcade ports. They're just relatively unknown compared to Final Fantasy or Mario, a lot of times because they came from smaller developers.

In an alternate universe SEGA would've kept some of their other Genesis-era IP around like they did Sonic, such as Ristar or Streets of Rage. But that obviously didn't happen in this one. As for the PC-Engine, it's got a good deal of non-arcade port games worth playing, but again they're likely pretty obscure. The Ys games, Bonk, some of the Valis games etc. Not as many as Genesis/MegaDrive in that regard, but still enough for a mini console.

And unlike SEGA, Konami/NEC didn't saturate the market beforehand with officially licensed minis of dubious quality (partly because they couldn't; I think Konami purchased the library only relatively recently right?) before finally getting it right. So theoretically on that note they should be doing very well with preorders particularly in Japan, but it sounds like Konami botched it up, unsurprisingly.
 
V

Vitacat

Member
McCheese said:
PC Engine / SuperGrafx is one of the MiSTer cores that doesn't need the SD Ram add-on board, so for the same price as this emulation box ($99) you can literally pick up just the FPGA board, copy some files onto an SD card, and boom - you have a cycle accurate PC Engine clone that supports everything, including CD titles, and can be upgraded in future to support other systems.

I feel like the maturity of the FPGA scene now makes these "mini" consoles redundant to the more serious retro game enthusiasts.
Click to expand...
Good points. I have a Genesis Mini running Project Lunar, and it's pretty cool. But I'm not sure about the PCE/TG16 Mini yet. I love the console, but the MiSTer is compelling. Do they still not have any attractive retro-console cases for it, though?
 
thicc_girls_are_teh_best

thicc_girls_are_teh_best

Member
V Vitacat How easy is it to install Project Lunar btw? Easier/simpler than, say, hacking a Wii, or in that ballpark? Other than hacking a Wii and doing some tricky driver installs for SSF on a PC to play Saturn games, that's about my extent with console modding.

Also does the overclocking feature work? They said the Genesis mini was underclocked but getting it to higher clock would fix some of the slowdown in sections of certain games where it happened.
 
TLZ

TLZ

Banned
thicc_girls_are_teh_best said:
V Vitacat How easy is it to install Project Lunar btw? Easier/simpler than, say, hacking a Wii, or in that ballpark? Other than hacking a Wii and doing some tricky driver installs for SSF on a PC to play Saturn games, that's about my extent with console modding.

Also does the overclocking feature work? They said the Genesis mini was underclocked but getting it to higher clock would fix some of the slowdown in sections of certain games where it happened.
Click to expand...
Extremely simple. I did it a few days ago. You just download the program, open it (or install and open, i got the portable version and just opened), then clicked on the first option in there (installing lunar project to genesis), connected the usb cable between laptop and genesis (has to be off), pressed reset button and and while keeping it pressed turned the genesis on, waited a couple seconds until the led blinked. And that's it, you'll see the program doing its thing on your screen :)

Project Lunar – How to install – ModMyClassic

modmyclassic.com modmyclassic.com

And there are a few youtubes to help.

Make sure you use a different usb cable, not the one that came with your genesis as it won't work for transfers.
 
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