Gaming Bits: History of the PC-Engine/TurboGrafx-16: Part 2: The Heyday of the Console (1989-1994) (56k Warning)

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When we last left off, The PC-Engine was the king of the home Console market, with it being more successful than the Famicom and Mega Drive, It couldn't help but mature against a pressurized market with a success or of the Famicom on the horizon, and The console feeling a little dated by 1989, so NEC Was at work of a successor, which turned out to be...



Read Part 1 if you haven't already...


Released just in time for the 1989 holiday season, the SuperGrafx had better graphics (no pun intended) than the PC Engine, yet was fully backwards compatible. It was marketed as a fully 16 bit system, but was only a modest upgrade. Only 6 or 7 games were released for the system, and Just didn't find an audience. The next year...








The Game boy created a new market for handhelds, and everyone wanted a piece of that pie, Sega, Atari, later SNK and Bandai, and of course NEC Saw cash. They released the PC-Engine GT/TurboExpress. They unfortunately made the same mistakes everyone else made in that market. It was bulky, expensive, and hand console level graphics, at the cost of sucking batteries like a Mofo. It was compatible with all HuCard games for the PC-Engine, but ultimately lost to the game boy in the end...







In 1991, The CoreGrafx II and the Super CD-ROM² was released, with the former removing the RF Input/Output all together, and the ladder now having 1.5 Mbits of RAM, which allowed for Better Graphics, cutscenes, sounds, music, voice, and more. Some games rival the Super Famicom/SNES on how good they look. It makes you wish that this console had built in RGB compatibility.









There were a couple oddities from the system, none of which are interesting enough for a full explanation.

The next step in the PC Engine take over was to combine the PC Engine and CD-ROM², this console came to be known as the PC-Engine Duo/TurboDuo, At this point SNES and Genesis were beating up the TG16, so the console needed to be successful in the us. It got 2 more version in japan, but despite a 5 game + console for $300 (SPARTA!!!!!) in the US, It Just couldn't compete.







Games of the Era:

Nintendo has Mario, Sega has Sonic, and NEC had Bonk. All three games with Mario's platforming and Sonic's attitude. It didn't catch on like the other mascots have, but gained a following.

Ys Book I & II and Ys IV: Dawn of Ys were epics in their own right, but I've still got to remember that I'm doing a Falcom Retrospective preferably sooner rather than later...

Ninja Spirit, A hard as hell game that required balls of steel...

Gates of Thunder, The best Shmup on the System, with great graphics, and fast paced gameplay.

Castlevania: Chi no Rondo, Arguably the Killer app for the console, with a great story, great graphics, cutscenes, and one of the best Castlevania games...

Far East of Eden II: Manjimaru, a game that NEEDS a Translation, since it's a personal favorite of mine. It does have a huge language barrier, but if you can get a walkthrough, you can properly enjoy it...




NEXT TIME:

We conclude this Miniseries, Next time...

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