NEC interview on SuperGrafx & Power Console

[Otaking]

Thanks SamIAm for the translation, much appreciated.
 

[TheClash603]

That was a great read, thanks!

I disagree with some of you who say they had even the slightest of an idea with what they were aiming for with this system.  Backward compatibility is a key feature which allowed for less segmentation, but if there truly wasn't a way to do it while also making your system specs on par with competitors new machines, then why bother at all?  Essentially they produced an overpriced piece of nearly the same hardware.

The part that had me shaking my head the most is when the interviewer pointed out that the CD attachment won't really fit the Power Console and that it will be getting shaken all over the place and then the NEC guy basically said, "yeah, we know that sucks."

[Necromancer]

Thanks for the article.  'Tis interesting stuff.

Based on price, I'm inclined to believe they intended it to be a premium product; a 60% higher MSRP is surely much more than they needed to cover the cost of the two extra chips and extra ram, and its cost gets even sillier when you figure in the Power Console.  I'm sure they also thought of it as a fall back position - if the PCE dropped off dramatically in sales, the SGX would only be a price cut away from getting them back in competition.

[elmer]

Thanks Otaking and SamIAm ... that was definitely an interesting read. 

The NEC guy seemed to know what he was talking about a bit better than the usual "marketing" drones that get sent on interviews like this ... and he'd definitely been well briefed on his list of "excuses".

This little snippet about the Power Console was interesting ...

-Are there any games that support these things?
NEC: Not yet, but we are insisting that developers who make Supergrafx software make use of them.

I wonder is there's any support code for the Power Console left over inside the few SuperGrafx games that did ship.

I can also imagine that a requirement like that would help turn-off any developers that had even the slightest interest in developing for the SuperGrafx.

The part that had me shaking my head the most is when the interviewer pointed out that the CD attachment won't really fit the Power Console and that it will be getting shaken all over the place and then the NEC guy basically said, "yeah, we know that sucks."

I guess that explains the long cable on the RAU-30 ... but jeez, what a monsterously-huge combination that would have been with the Power Console, SuperGrafx, RAU-30 and briefcase! Folks wouldn't have any floor space left in the living room!

************

But all of this really makes me want to write something for the SuperGrafx to see just how well the CPU can handle using 2 screens and all of those sprites.

Since the SNES's crappy 3MHz (or less) 65816 can handle it, I expect to find that the NEC guy was right on that aspect and that the SuperGrafx really didn't need a new CPU (although I'm sure that NEC really kept it the same for cost-reasons).

[Vimtoman]

Thanks Guys. Really interesting.

Does that mean Strider dumped SuperGrafx capability for arcade card?

[bacon industry]

Brilliant read, thanks for the translation!

[SamIAm]

Thanks Otaking and SamIAm ... that was definitely an interesting read. 

Glad you liked it. 

This little snippet about the Power Console was interesting ...

-Are there any games that support these things?
NEC: Not yet, but we are insisting that developers who make Supergrafx software make use of them.

I wonder is there's any support code for the Power Console left over inside the few SuperGrafx games that did ship.

I can also imagine that a requirement like that would help turn-off any developers that had even the slightest interest in developing for the SuperGrafx.

First of all, I think you would have a very good chance of finding something in Battle Ace. The release order went: Battle Ace (1989/11), Granzort (1990/4), Daimakaimura (1990/7), Darius Plus (1990/9), Aldynes (1991/2), and 1941 (1991/8). Battle Ace certainly looks like it was designed with that Power Console in mind, too.

Second of all, the wording he used was a little tricky, and I sort of digested down the sentence...in short, he used two verbs to say something more like "We're going to make a request to developers, and make them support each of these things." It's not clear whether a developer would have actually been forced to create something compatible as a contract term or something.

Regardless, I think the pressure from NEC would have certainly been there, and if I were making anything other than a racing game, I wouldn't have wanted to touch that thing. Especially not if the joystick is as lousy as it looks.

I would really like to know when they canned the Power Console...but alas, my stock of Marukatsus only goes into the very first months of 1990.

I guess that explains the long cable on the RAU-30 ... but jeez, what a monsterously-huge combination that would have been with the Power Console, SuperGrafx, RAU-30 and briefcase! Folks wouldn't have any floor space left in the living room!

It sure does.

But I want to know more about this totally different interface unit they were planning, complete with better ADPCM capabilites. What would it have looked like? Perhaps there is a picture or concept drawing somewhere.

But all of this really makes me want to write something for the SuperGrafx to see just how well the CPU can handle using 2 screens and all of those sprites.

Since the SNES's crappy 3MHz (or less) 65816 can handle it, I expect to find that the NEC guy was right on that aspect and that the SuperGrafx really didn't need a new CPU (although I'm sure that NEC really kept it the same for cost-reasons).

I'd love to see what you can do. 

Yeah, it wasn't exactly begging for a new CPU...but it would have been nice. This same guy appears in the Marukatsu magazine interview (which has much less substance) talking about the potential that the increased RAM opens up for doing really sophisticated, possibly psuedo-3D games, yet here he's saying that programmers wouldn't know what to do with the extra power? 

[SGX Engine]

Awesome work.

From an American reader's perspective, these articles from Electronic Gaming Monthly are right in line with the subject matter of that interview, and also what western readers probably expected from the PC Engine 2 / SuperGrafx (16-bit processor, scaling and rotation, better sound capability).

[SignOfZeta]

Thanks Guys. Really interesting.

Does that mean Strider dumped SuperGrafx capability for arcade card?

It's probably more accurate to say it was basically cancelled and then when AC software supply was looking real bad they decided to reschedule it. The AC came out several years after the SGX, they didn't even have the Super System at this point. I wouldn't assume the project dated back to 1989/1990 but...then again it was kinda so-so so maybe it does.

IIRC the game was "coming soon" for an extremely long time but it could have been two separate projects. So far I think we have yet to see proof that anything was ever coded or developed for the SGX version.

[ClodBuster]

Thank you so much for providing the interview and the translation!

[ccovell]

But all of this really makes me want to write something for the SuperGrafx to see just how well the CPU can handle using 2 screens and all of those sprites.

I think the SGX can handle lots of sprites, with BG & raster scrolling on both planes no problem, really.  1941 is probably the best showcase of that, I think.

The only annoying thing is configuring the VPC to have BGs layered as you want them as well as all 128 sprites in the order that you want them too.  A bit of a cock-up, that VPC.  (Well, the SNES' sprite HW was full of cocks, too...)

[SGX Engine]

Have you guys seen any of this homebrew SuperGrafx demo stuff?

Edit:

I need to edit because the one thing I would love to see and would pay for, is a game like Phantasy Star 3 on the SuperGrafx. Some sort of huge classic RPG with multiple scrolling backgrounds like this game had. Gawd I would kill for something like this and maybe use the Arcade Duo card with the cd-rom attachment to up the ante even further.

Pretty neat IMO.

Edit:

Heh, that's a kewl idea.  Welp, this is the best I could do. When you mentioned Phantasy Star III and SuperGrafx, I remembered this edition of International Outlook in EGM.

[TheClash603]

Nintendo officially stated the Super Famicom was not going to the U.S. and the Super Grafx seemed like a sure thing?  1990 sure was a strange time.

[SGX Engine]

The Super Famicom never came to the U.S.

Super NES though  O:)

[shubibiman]

Phantasy Star III for the SGX ? SGX was designed as an "arcade" machine, it would be irrelevant to port an RPG to the SGX. It would be better to port arcade games.