I bought a TG-16 Tap and extra controllers back in the day. 2 brothers + lots of friends = lots of Bomberman, Dungeon Explorer, MotoRoader, AeroBlasters, Monster Lair, Parasol Stars, Cadash, and, to a lesser extent... Double Dungeons
Or they figured that most gamers have no friends and stay holed up in their rooms alone playing games all night. And they were right.
I swear to the Lord Almighty that there is the truth in that statement.
To build on Black_Tiger's earlier defense of NEC's hardware strategy:
(1) Not everyone uses 2-player.
(2) If you want to play 3+ player, on ANY system, you must buy a tap + extra controllers
(3) I think NEC was hoping that the one-controller OR tap strategy might encourage developers to make 3+ player games. Why? Anyone who was interested in 2+ player games was forced to buy a tap, which provided 3+ player options. I don't know if it worked, but as long as folks had a tap, they were potential candidates for 3+ games.
I think this was an intelligent way to create two, distinct groups of customers. Again, I don't know if it worked, but it certainly had the potential to create A MUCH LARGER USER BASE WITH 3+ player capability than NES, Genesis, SNES, etc.
(4) If you are going to bitch about something, bitch about the SHORT CORDS on the TG-16/PCE controllers! Holy crap, add an extra foot, at least. American gaming habits are different than Japan. We don't keep the console on the floor next to us when we play! It actually sounds nice (to have the console within reach and easily change games), but I don't play like that. Homie don't play that.