The answer,why the pc-fx do not have a 3-d chip.

[Michael Helgeson]

We're especially proud of what our machine can do with golf games.compared to 3DO for example,we can output far more beautiful graphics.

I can't wait for that one to come out.

Yea I remember when that EGM came out and reading this. I think this same mag had coverage of Snatcher for Sega cd. This was a winter 94 issue if I remember right. Back then even, I mean, I loved Nec, the Turbo and all hard core, but spec wise side by side, the 3DO and PC-FX were pretty different with each having neat strengths and weaknesses, but in the end the 3DO power wise could trounce it I felt, and even now have seen nothing released on the PC-FX to change my mind on that, especially in the golf genre. 

Specs on paper:
PC-FX
CPU
    32-Bit NEC V810 RISC running at 21.5 MHz, 15.5 MIPS

System board specs
    2 MB main RAM
    1 MB shared RAM (for background generators, CD-ROM DMA, motion decoder, and ADPCM)
    256 KB dedicated VRAM (for HuC6270 chips)
    1 MB OS ROM
    256 KB CD Buffer
    32 KB back-up RAM
Video
    Maximum On-screen colors: 16,777,000
    Resolutions: 256x240p, 320x240p, 256x480i, 320x480i
    6 background layers
    2 sprite layers
    1 motion decoder layer generated from RLE-encoded or JPEG-like data
   
Sound
    16-Bit Stereo CD-DA
    2 ADPCM channels at up to ~31.5 kHz with left/right panning
    6 5-bit sample channels with left/right panning
CD-ROM Drive
    2X CD-ROM, 300KB / Sec




3DO:
CPU

    * 32-bit 12.5 MHz RISC CPU (ARM60) made by Advanced RISC Machines (roughly equivalent to 25 MHz 68030)
    * Math co-processor
   

Video

    * Interpolated 640x480 resolution output to screen, upsampled from 320x240 or 320x480 internal resolution with either 16 bit palettized color (from 24 bits) or 24 bit truecolor.
    * Two accelerated video co-processors capable of producing 9-16 million pixels per second (36-64 megapix/s interpolated), distorted, scaled, rotated and texture mapped.

System board specs

    * 50Mb/s bus speed
    * 36 DMA channels
    * 2 megabytes of main RAM
    * 1 megabyte of VRAM
    * 2 expansion ports
    * 32kb SRAM

Sound

    * 16-bit stereo sound
    * 44.1 kHz sound sampling rate
    * Supports Dolby Surround Sound
    * Custom 16-bit Digital Signal Processor (DSP)

Media

    * Double-speed (depending on manufacturer) 300 kB/s data transfer CD-ROM drive with 32 kB RAM buffer
    * Multitasking 32-bit operating system


Maybe if they would have pushed harder for more arcade like titles that stressed major sprite use or released something mind blowing, then yea they could have proven that, but they never did. Really in the end, Nec simply forgot what their fan base wanted and made no attempt to do anything outstanding with the platform.