Hi. I am gonna give you a good advice (i hope).
Buy your system on ebay. I know some good sellers than even replaced me a defective pc engine, so no problems here. You will have to pay throu paypal but that isnt a problem either (i never had a problem with that).
I suggest you, for explample, a guy called hit-japan. Sells tons of things. Or nippotopia. Or.. lots more of japanesse sellers. You will get bored looking at their sales
I will link you a console here:
boxed pc engine duo
http://cgi.ebay.es/PC-Engine-DUO-Console-Boxed-Import-JAPAN_W0QQitemZ320018600783QQihZ011QQcategoryZ62054QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItemunboxed pc engine dou
http://cgi.ebay.es/PC-Engine-DUO-Console-Import-JAPAN_W0QQitemZ320015119918QQihZ011QQcategoryZ62054QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItemforget about duo-r and duo-rx, the original duo is the sexyest
You can try get a pc engine + interface unit + cdrom2 (that is what i have and what i like more) but it will be more expensive and hard to find a nice and good cared system, although i think it is worth it
And about games... these are the ones i like most: R-Type CD, Bomberman 93/94, Gradius 2, wonderboy 3, galaga 88, PC Gengin/PC Kid and the great StreetFighter 2 '
I hope this will help you. IF you spent those 400$... with that you will be able to buy what i am telling you and more on ebay.
Good luck having them back and good luck getting your pc engine, it is worth it