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PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16 and PC-FX Anthology

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When it comes to publishers of classic video gaming tomes, there is none better than the French Geeks-Line Publishing! With a stable full of awesome retro gaming anthologies, you can trust in these guys developing and delivering a high quality page turning book.

Their latest campaign on Kickstarter is for an anthology on the NEC gaming systems that wowed us back in the day, the PC-Engine and its many iterations, aliases and also, the PC-FX. Check out the PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16 and PC-FX Anthology Kickstarter now and if you are a fan of their books or the PC-Engine family of gaming systems, then this we’d highly recommend you jump on this right now!

image source: Kickstarter

If you are undecided, read our review of Geeks-Line’s PlayStation Anthology to see what you could expect with their upcoming PC-Engine/TurboGrafx-16 & PC-FX Anthology.

 

Prepare for Impact: PC-Engine Mini, CoreGrafx Mini and TurboGrafx-16 Mini are Coming!

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Konami has done a mic drop at E3 2019 by announcing that they are entering the Mini classic consoles arena with three variants:

  • PC-Engine Mini (Japan);
  • TurboGrafx-16 Mini (US/Can); and the
  • PC-Engine CoreGrafx (Europe/RoW)

This is huge news, as it means Konami is going to go toe-to-toe with Nintendo and their SNES and NES Classic Minis and also Sega with their Mega Drive Classic Mini (due later this year). The three-way mini console war has been ignited!


source: Konami

Anyway, back on topic, they also revealed 6 titles to tickle our nostalgia, with lots more to come. We are loving the initial games by the way! Oh yeah, it also looks like the Japanese variant (PC-Engine Mini) will have a different lineup of games than the West variants – see below.

TurboGrafx-16 Mini & PC-Engine CoreGrafx Mini Games (announced so far)

PC-Engine Mini Games (announced so far)

Other details worth mentioning are that there will be a MultiTap released for 5-way gaming tussles (will be sold separately), save state functions – so you can play from where you left off and of course, the Minis will have various display modes (yay to scanlines!) to ensure you get the full nostalgic fix!

There were no release dates or pricing details at the announcement, so be sure to hit us up on Twitter and Facebook as more news comes to hand. We are damn excited!

image source: Konami

 

PC-Engine Duo Monitor

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Forget the PC-Engine LT, apparently there is the PC-Engine Duo Monitor! Yep, you read that right!

NEC engineers weren’t just sitting around high-fiving each other once they released the LT version, oh no, they wanted to create something similar for the dual CD/HuCard console – enter the PC Engine Duo Monitor!

These monitors are so rare, you will have a very hard time finding one and when you do, you will have to negotiate on selling a limb (or two) and a kidney – yes, these things are very very expensive!

source: eBay

 

Celebrating the PC-Engine

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PCengine_celebration_TitleYesterday we celebrated the Japanese release of the Mega Drive, today, it’s NEC’s little pocket rocket, the PC-Engine’s turn to bask in the glory of its awesomeness. On this day (October 30) in 1987, a little white unassuming console, the size of a chip packet, burst onto the Japanese market and caused an immediate stir. Within its compact size was an 8-bit (CPU) heart with twin 16-bit (GPUs) eyes, which resulted in beautiful looking games that were equally packed with great sound and gameplay. It’s games came on cute little cards called HuCards (Hudson Cards) or Turbo Chips in North America.

The PC-Engine enjoyed a stack of great arcade conversions with Namco(t) leading the charge. There were great platformers (PC Genjin/Bonk’s Adventure, Legend Of Hero Tonma) and even greater shoot’em ups (R-Type, GunHed, Gradius) – the console certainly had the major gaming genres covered with games that would appeal to even the most ardent of gamers.

NEC/Hudson Soft may have stumbled when attempting to release the PC-Engine outside of Japan, but the compact console definitely packed a punch that gave both Sega and Nintendo a scare in the late 80s in Japan. If you haven’t experienced gaming on a PC-Engine, then check out our genealogy and take your pick – you will not be disappointed!

image source: Wikia

 

Ten Of The Best Games: PC-Engine

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Yet Another Best Games List!

I am often asked to list my favourite games for different systems. Such queries have led to the creation of my “Ten Of The Best Games” series.

The first cab off the rank is NEC’s PC-Engine. I am sure there will be an uproar about certain games being left off the list, but hey, that is the beauty of gaming, we all have our own tastes.

Here are the ten best games to play on the PC-Engine (TurboGrafx-16):

PCE_Bomber_Man_93 Title: Bomberman’93
AKA: –
Genre: Action
Rating: 91%
PCE_PC_Kid Title: PC Genjin
AKA: PC Kid / Bonk’s Adventure
Genre: Platform
Rating: 90%
PCE_RType1 Title: R-Type
AKA: –
Genre: Shoot’em up
Rating: 93%
PCE_NewAdventureIsland_Takahashi_Meijin Title: New Adventure Island
AKA:
Genre: Platform
Rating: 93%
PCE_Battle_Lode_Runner Title: Battle Lode Runner
AKA: –
Genre: Puzzle
Rating: 89%
PCE_Devil_Crash Title: Devil Crash
AKA: Devil’s Crush
Genre: Pinball
Rating: 93%
PCE_Galaga_88 Title: Galaga ’88
AKA: Galaga ’90
Genre: Shoot’em up
Rating: 90%
PCE_Ultimate_Tiger Title: Kyukyoku Tiger
AKA: Ultimate Tiger/Twin Cobra/Tiger Heli
Genre: Shoot’em up
Rating: 91%
PCE_Super_Star_Soldier Title: Super Star Soldier
AKA: –
Genre: Shoot’em up
Rating: 90%
PCE_Don_Doko_Don Title: Don Doko Don
AKA: –
Genre: Platform
Rating: 90%

Notable mentions that would make any top PC-Engine games list:

° Gomola Speed ° Street Fighter II: Champion Edition
° Splatterhouse ° Bloody Wolf
° Dungeon Explorer ° KLAX
° The Legend of Hero Tonma ° Legend Of Valkyrie
° Lode Runner ° Momotaro Katsugeki (aka: Peachboy)
° Out Run ° Parasol Stars
° Parodius ° 1943 KAI
° Raiden ° Shinobi
° Soldier Blade ° Space Harrier
° Ninja Spirit ° Ys Book I & II [CD]
° Dracula-X: Rondo Of Blood [CD] ° Seirei Senshi Sprigan [CD]

 



Best-Selling Video Game Consoles: 1972 to 2002

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Atari2600       NES       SMD

Do you remember those school-yard arguments you used to have with your friends about which video game console was better: Atari vs Intellivision or Sega vs Nintendo ?
Finally, you can check out the best-selling video game consoles from 1972 to 2002 figures below and put an end to those endless arguments – or will this just reopen old wounds ?  [Read more…] about Best-Selling Video Game Consoles: 1972 to 2002

PC-FX: The Other NEC console

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Written by: Kimimi

The PC-FX, like it’s older and far more popular brother the PC-Engine, isn’t actually a PC of any sort. You’d be forgiven for thinking otherwise – it looks very much like a traditional tower PC and confusingly you will find Youtube videos of people running PC-FX games on PC hardware (using a PC-FX GA card, more on that later) but in reality it’s just a regular console, albeit one that could also play CD+G and photo CDs as standard. [Read more…] about PC-FX: The Other NEC console