PC Engine Mini: Opinions?

[Trenton_net]

Hey Everyone,

So now that the PC Engine Mini has been released, does anyone have any opinions about it? From what I can tell from early reviews, it seems it suffers from unfortunate lag. Like 3~5 frames worth of lag. This is on top of inherent lag that some games apparently have. So coupled with your LCD screen, you could be looking at quite a bit of delay.

[vestcoat]

I got the TG Mini and I'm digging it. I'm curious about the latency. 8-Bit Guy on youtube did a great measurement of the latency on the C64 Mini and the C64 Maxi. I'd love to see a similar test for the TG/PCE Mini.

The controller is fine. Run and Select are mushy and subpar, but the D-Pad and I & II are good enough I don't notice any difference from original hardware without an AB comparison.

Anyone wanna debate the game selection? We started in my chit-chat thread, but this topic is a better home for such things.

Generally, I love the games they picked. Plenty of good shooters, the best two Bonk games, the best Air Zonk, the best two Bombermans, the best strategy game (Military Madness), some puzzlers, great tech showcases (Sapphire, Ghouls & Ghosts, Dracula X), decent multi-players (DE, Moto Roader, Bombermans, Parasol Stars, Sapphire).

I can live without some of my favorites because they would have been redundant. Lords of Thunder is good enough I can do without GoT and Cotton. Dungeon Explorer 1 is good enough I don't need #2.

Most of the games I miss were probably impossible due to licensing issues. I wish we had Bloody Wolf, but Data East got weird about licensing and yanked their Wii VC games back in 2012. Order of the Griffon is my personal favorite TG16 RPG, but who knows what the status is on those old Westwood/SSI games. I would love to see some Namcot games like Pac-Land or Ordyne. SF2 would have been cool, but 2-button controllers ruled that out. Kieth Courage's IP is still tied up with some anime in Japan.

IMO, the unexcusable absences are:
*Sports games. I'm not even a sports guy, but WTF, only Power Golf? Battle Royale or baseball would add some nice variety.
*CD games. I know they weigh in at half a gigabyte, but only two U.S. CD games is ridiculous.
*Wonderboy games. New Adventure Island and JJ & Jeff is a good start, but where's Dragon's Curse, Dynastic Hero, Monster Lair, or PCE Monster Land? This series is such an essential part of the Turbo experience we should have had more. Most were available on the Wii VC, so there was no reason not to include more.
*RPG's. Zelda/gauntlet action RPG's like Ys, Neutopia 1 & 2, and Dungeon Explorer aren't enough for English gamers. This ties into my complaint about lack of CD games in general. Just one or two more RPG-ish games would really complete the Mini's library: Shape Shifter, Dragon Slayer, Exile, CF2, Loom, Beyond Shadowgate, Dynastic Hero, Double Dungeons... ANYTHING.

[Trenton_net]

I would also be interested in finding out more precisely what the lag situation is. Unless I remember wrong, I think the chip inside the device is the exact same as the Sega Genesis mini, and that also had lag as well? The only difference is that the PCE Mini has 4GB of flash to help out with all the CD games? It sounds like the input lag issues might be due to the performance of the processor to be honest. But we'll know more once they figure out how to load 3rd party emulators to see how they perform as well.

[Johnpv]

I got one of the gray Core Grafx ones from Amazon JP.  I wanted the tiny form factor but I also wanted Salamander so went with that one.  Its pretty good, but it definitely has some lag, which seems to vary from game to game.  Not sure why that is.  There's a whole bunch of little touches I really dig in it, like the animations for putting in a hucard, or CD game.  Even has some nice sound effects to go with it.  I feel this also satisfies my need for a Super GFX.  The only reason I ever wanted one was for the GnG port on it, so having it to play here totally scratches that itch. 

[Trenton_net]

I got one of the gray Core Grafx ones from Amazon JP.  I wanted the tiny form factor but I also wanted Salamander so went with that one.  Its pretty good, but it definitely has some lag, which seems to vary from game to game.  Not sure why that is.  There's a whole bunch of little touches I really dig in it, like the animations for putting in a hucard, or CD game.  Even has some nice sound effects to go with it.  I feel this also satisfies my need for a Super GFX.  The only reason I ever wanted one was for the GnG port on it, so having it to play here totally scratches that itch.

From what I understand, the reason why you experience different levels of lag is because there is inherent lag from the emulation and on top of that, game specific lag. I guess some games were less responsive even on real hardware, so adding emulation lag, game specific lag, and TV/LCD Lag, just makes it all the more noticeable? Not entirely sure, but that's my educated guess!

[nectarsis]

I just got the chance to fire my TG mini up tonight. Very nice that it can run off the USB power off my TV.  I tried a vast majority of the games and this "game breaking" lag seems to be fine on my TV...even Lords of Thunder.

...and that cord length ♡♡♡



So far I am VERY pleased with this.

[geise]

I don't have a TG mini or pce mini yet. However it's the same cpu as the genesis mini and also M2 did the emulation i believe. If it's any similar to the Gen Mini the lag kinda sucks if you play a lot of shooters. Even with an HD TV that has a game setting there's still lag on games I play all the time for the past 30 some years. This has been on different HD sets as well as gaming monitors. The game selection I feel is pretty good. However I always plan to get one and hack it and add whatever I want. Mod My Classics already has a working hack that they're touching up for release in the next few months.  One thing I gotta say is the GUI looks amazing. I've only seen videos, but it really seems to be the best one out of all the mini consoles out. I hope you guys are enjoying yours. I plan to get on from amazon japan at some point. I want to get a Core Grafx mini. I take it you guys got yours from Amazon Japan?

[vestcoat]

I plan to get on from amazon japan at some point. I want to get a Core Grafx mini. I take it you guys got yours from Amazon Japan?

Yeah. I wouldn't wait too long. Amazon.jp already sold out of the TG version once and restocked. And this virus could last a while and seriously mess things up.

I tried a vast majority of the games and this "game breaking" lag seems to be fine on my TV...even Lords of Thunder.

...and that cord length ♡♡♡



So far I am VERY pleased with this.

Lords is unplayable for me (TG16 version on TV without a gaming mode). I'm making slow progress on Galaga and Gradius using save states, but I'm sure lag is a factor.

[Necromancer]

Amazon US has updated their shipping to next week.

[vestcoat]

Amazing. I'm shocked. Looking forward to saving a few bucks shipping on a TurboTap

[vestcoat]

UPDATE: the ebay gougers are desperately dropping prices and trying to sell their hoarded minis for a few bucks profit before the mundanes who never figured out google translate learn that Amazon.com is going to ship this week 

[Necromancer]

I just pulled the trigger on a TG16 mini.  Amazon says I'll have it June 5th.

[Walker]

When I saw the game selection I was hyped and I would buy it for sure if I could walk into a store now and get it. Edit: now available on Amazon so Im thinking of getting it.

[Johnpv]

While I didn't have a TG16 mini pre-ordered with Amazon US I did have one of the white turbo controllers pre-ordered with them. That was supposed to come out today too and Amazon told me its been delayed indefinitely.  Anyone else have that happen with the controllers?

[Walker]

Hmm it only comes with 1 controller. I might wait til I can go into a store to buy this one, I want to get it with 2 controllers and play with friends.