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The PCEngine was launched initially in Japan in 1987, it was
far ahead of existing systems of the time - the Nintendo NES or Famicom
and Sega's Master System. With the extra power of its fast cpu, and 16bit
graphics processor, the PCEngine had loads of arcade conversions available,
The PCEngine was the most owned games system in Japan. Soon after, the
PCEngine was brought to the US in another guise; as the TurboGrafx16.
With identical hardware, but a larger, dark styled outer casing, it was initially welcomed to the US with the few games were available. There are many version of the PC Engine available, just a few of them are shown to the left. One area of confusion between the systems is that of compatability. The easiest answer to the question is to say that American systems can play all games, whereas Japanese systems can only play Japanese games (without hardware modification :-) Most systems are upgradeable to CDrom standard - exceptions being the handhelds: PCE-gt and TG-Express, and the wierd Japanese "shuttle" model. There are also dozens upon dozens of accessory products available. |
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A CD-rom addon was soon on the cards for the PCEngine, giving greater
capacity for sounds and graphics, the PCEngine in Japan rose to another
level of superiority - the first ever video game system with a CDrom drive,
just remember that.....
The CD-rom add ons were brought to the US, along with a new version, the DUO - which played both the original cartridge-based games, and the CD's in the same unit. The TG16, and the DUO started to flag in the US though, due to ineffective advertising; the death bell started to toll for the PCEngine family. NEC of Japan had more ideas up its sleaves though; a new upgrade card to fit to DUO's and CD capable machines - this card had 16 megabits, or 2Megabytes of ram, along with a faster, and more extended operating system. This was called the Arcade card... |
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The Arcade card brought bigger, faster and better games to the
gamesplayers, direct arcade conversions, such as Fatal Fury 2/Special,
Art of Fighting and others were brought in, some truly excellent games;
both graphically and technically, were available - just ask a PCEngine
fan about Sapphire ;-)
In the US the machine died, due, in part, to the new Genesis and SNES machines, even though the specs were similar, but mainly because of useless marketing. The machine lasted a tad longer in Japan though, with the last releases being made in late 1995. Not bad though, I think you would agree, lasting nine years in a highly competitive business! R.I.P PCengine b. 1987 d. 1995 |
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