TG16 should have had 5 controller ports?

[blueraven]

That link earlier in this thread was a fantastic read, finally got around to finishing it.  750,000 TG16 show it was not rare, however the US CD systems are legitimately low manufacturing runs if the reliable quotes are to be believed.

I wasn't in control of NEC BITD, and hindsight is 20-20, but f*ck man...

It's about time I actually read this article. I will do so after this post.

My only point earlier was that their marketing was a end-to-end f*ckup in the united states. This was at a time when the industry was marketing to young gamers but had virtually no young people working for them. They were out of touch, and flying blind outside of Japan. And they obviously hired someone in their mid-40's to handle the US Market, who made the stupid decision to re-do all of the cover art...

I'm just going to rant about how bad the artwork was at every opportunity I get. Titles like Shockman and OOtG were the ones that jumped out at me from the shelf at Radio Shack and Toys R Us when I was younger, but all of the americanized versions of Japanese titles (Final Zone, Ordyne, etc.) just looked like shit in the box, and when you don't have access to gaming magazines you tend to make decisions on what you see. I know everyone here is the exception, ether being a bit older or having godly gaming knowledge at a young age

[HuMan]

I'll just be patient and watch for auctions, surely one will sell for the proper going rate. Even going by sold listings on eBay, the actual sale prices are far lower than BIN. You guys are right, most sellers are just sitting on these consoles, hoping they'll sell.

I'll also just re-post the article link so more people see it:

www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/225466/stalled_engine_the_turbografx16_.php?print=1

In the very same article that says NEC manufactured 750,000 TG16 consoles (or 735,000 according to a different NEC staff member), it's stated that between the launch of the TG16 and the official discontinuation of hardware and software sales, NEC USA and TTi failed to sell all 750,000 TG16 consoles, an unspecified quantity were shipped to various South American countries. The TG16 console appears a heck of a lot more often than the Turbo CD add-on, so they must have sold a decent portion of the original production run.

It is kinda funny to think that all TG16 consoles we know and love were all produced at the same time, at the TG16's launch, and never again after that. Does anyone know if the original white PC Engine had any additional production runs? Or did NEC Japan just produce one big batch and move onto yet another hardware variation?

[TheClash603]

Oddly enough there was at least two runs of TG CD units, because I had two different dates on my serial number stickers.  I have since gotten rid of the later dated system, but I recall they were a year apart.

[blueraven]

I have two white PC Engines that are slightly different, the serial numbers are far apart and inside they have some variation. I know that the older one was from the first run, and the newer one from the second run. They are also about a year apart from each other.

So at least two production runs for both the PCE and TG16...

Other than that I'm not a hardware expert by any means.

[KnightWarrior]

I think it's BS how NEC kept SFII in Japan, Street Fighter II CE was huge in the 90's --

He also attempted to get the existing PC Engine version of Street Fighter II released in the West, but "NEC just wasn't willing to put up the money at that point. Because they weren't seeing revenue from the TurboGrafx on the American side," Brandstetter says.

[SignOfZeta]

To people who don't understand Street Fighter and/or were too young at the time.

SFII' for PCE was released in Japan in June of 1993. SFII' is the second of five versions of Street Fighter II released in arcades in the early 90s. Three were CPS1 based, two were CPS2 based. Every incremental version of SFII was hugely important to fans of the game. I can't stress this enough. The two version with the most enduring fandom are Turbo (3rd game) and Super Turbo (fifth game). SFII's most distinguishing features were that you could play as the bosses and you could PVP the same character.

At first SFII (first game) was SFC exclusive. After this Capcom decided to diversify. They went to all three systems...sorta.

Street Fighter II was a hit for a few years straight. Updates were more or less annual or even more frequent.  I don't have a full scheduled but I know that Street Fighter II' Champion Edition (full name) was released on PC Engine in June of 1993. Only a year and a half before the PlayStation and Saturn. The last days of the systems popularity.  It was more expensive than even a SFC game and it required at least one brand new controller to play. Basically it required two since Street Fighter one player is f*cking pointless. If you didn't have a tap you'd need one of those too. Basically over $200 which was nearly enough to buy the PCB by then because Capcom had already released the next edition to arcades and that next edition, SFII'Turbo: Hyper Fighting was scheduled to be released ONE MONTH LATER on SFC.

That's right. While PCE was the only way to play SFII'Chapionship edition at home before 32 bit ports (if you mention Genesis, you are wrong, go away) but it's freshness date passed only one month later when a LESS EXPENSIVE version of Hyper, the NEW GAME, came home.

The reason why they didn't release it in the US is because it would not have sold. Americans are cheap. If they were crazy like me and actually have a Duo they probably still didn't want to blow $100 on an out of date game and TTI, who had banked everything on the merits of CDROM2 probably didn't want to have to explain why SFII, the most popular game in the world by then, could only be done on a HuCARD that cost way more than any other HuCARD. It didn't even sell well in Japan from what I can tell based on the game being hugely discounted very quickly.

[KnightWarrior]

So the SFC version sold buttmore then the Mega Drive version in Japan too?

[Black Tiger]

So the SFC version sold buttmore then the Mega Drive version in Japan too?

The Mega Drive was more of a niche console than PC Engine in Japan. The Saturn was Sega's most successful console there and it outsold the N64.

[SignOfZeta]

So the SFC version sold buttmore then the Mega Drive version in Japan too?

My dismissing Sega for this story had nothing to do with sales. Street Fighter II' Champion Edition was never released for Mega Drive. Capcom went to NEC and Sega systems at the same time with the same game, Street Fighter II' Turbo Hyper Fighting. To satisfy Nintendo they called it exactly that for the SFC but called it Special Champion Edition for the MD one. This made it sound like the older game yet it was the newest one, just like what Nintendo got.

I'm sure the sales of the MD ver of the game are incredibly low though. Not even %10 of the SFC sales, I'd assume, but I have no data. I'm sure it was at least 1000 yen cheaper than a SFC ver of Street Fighter and 3000 yen cheaper than the NEC one so from a financial perspective it's a good bet.

If you already had a SFC (probably) and didn't want to buy a new controller or two the SFC versions are the winners. Really they are all great though. Capcom didn't f*ck around with Japanese ports. Didn't make a FC version even though it would have sold. Didn't seem to care about computer versions though...

[esteban]

If folks are curious about PCE SFII' promotions/launch in Japan...

http://archives.tg-16.com/Gekkan_PC_Engine_1993_07.htm

If you find errors, please help me fix them. It's unfinished and I wrote it years ago...

[Black Tiger]

Street Fighter II was a hit for a few years straight. Updates were more or less annual or even more frequent.  I don't have a full scheduled but I know that Street Fighter II' Champion Edition (full name) was released on PC Engine in June of 1993. Only a year and a half before the PlayStation and Saturn. The last days of the systems popularity.  It was more expensive than even a SFC game and it required at least one brand new controller to play. Basically it required two since Street Fighter one player is f*cking pointless. If you didn't have a tap you'd need one of those too. Basically over $200 which was nearly enough to buy the PCB by then because Capcom had already released the next edition to arcades and that next edition, SFII'Turbo: Hyper Fighting was scheduled to be released ONE MONTH LATER on SFC.

The only thing crazier would have been to release Street Fighter Alpha 2 for SNES, 3 years later, long after the Saturn and Playstation launched, after SFA2 had already been released for them and long after the last days of the SNES's popularity. Even more so if it was more expensive than any other SNES (or Saturn/Playstation) game. Nevermind that Street Fighter Zero 2 Alpha/SFA2 Gold HAD ALREADY BEEN RELEASED in arcades.

While PCE was the only way to play SFII'Chapionship edition at home before 32 bit ports (if you mention Genesis, you are wrong, go away) but it's freshness date passed only one month later when a LESS EXPENSIVE version of Hyper, the NEW GAME, came home.

My dismissing Sega for this story had nothing to do with sales. Street Fighter II' Champion Edition was never released for Mega Drive.

Too many people keep perpetuating this myth. Street Fighter II Special Champion Edition for Genesis and Street Fighter II Turbo for SNES are both the same compilation sets, which contain both Champion Edition and Hyper Fighting, which are selectable on the title screen.