[?]PC Engine related hardware (and the origin of it)

[rolins]

but why in the hell they never decided to spend it a 2nd joy-port

Because the vast majority of games are digital comics, RPGs, and simulations that require only 1 player.

[Keranu]

I always assumed it only had one controller port to help maintain the small size, and partly for the reason rolins mentioned, and also probably as a small money scam.

[Tatsujin]

thank you for all those informations. that's very interessting and i didn't know about all that. so one of my main question is, who was the initiator of the "project PCE"? and why Hudson went to NEC as a partner, since they designed and developed all them self? what was the main task on NEC side?

:EDIT:

kaminari already clarified some of my questions above. thanx.

@kaminari: btw, where you come from?

[Tatsujin]

but why in the hell they never decided to spend it a 2nd joy-port

Because the vast majority of games are digital comics, RPGs, and simulations that require only 1 player.

oh yes, for sure.

[SignOfZeta]

but why in the hell they never decided to spend it a 2nd joy-port

Because the vast majority of games are digital comics, RPGs, and simulations that require only 1 player.

That was certainly not the case in 1987. Action games were the priority at first, and that includes Bomberman.

I would say that they wanted the extra money, and also they wanted a 5 player focus. Making the system super small (which was a really "cool" thing to do with electronics in in 1980s Japan...still is) was probably a factor as well, but to a lesser extent.

I wouldn't be surprised if NEC had a part in that choice. They clearly loved making hardware. Just look at all of the (expensive) PCE products they released.

As for why Hudson went to NEC...its pretty simple. NEC is a mega huge electronics company with loads of factories, and experience, etc. It was probably a situation where either they could go with NEC, or they could attempt to raise the hundreds of millions of yen it would take to build a PC Engine factory (probably not an option). As I said, they tried Nintendo first, but they weren't turned on by the PCE.

Nowadays it would be simpler to just send the plans to a Chinese company and have them make it, but this was in the 80s before the Europeans, and the Japanese turned the Chinese and Mexicans into our $1 a day slaves. Things were still made in Japan by workers who earned a living wage.

[Tatsujin]

so NEC really was just the producer/manufacturer of the hardware and nothing else. so why Hudson was kept in the background concerned the name of its really inventor? so normal user/customer never did recogonized, that hudson was involved in the developmenet of the PC Engine to almost 100%. was this an agreement with NEC to decrease the manufacturing costs?

[SignOfZeta]

so NEC really was just the producer/manufacturer of the hardware and nothing else. so why Hudson was kept in the background concerned the name of its really inventor? so normal user/customer never did recogonized, that hudson was involved in the developmenet of the PC Engine to almost 100%. was this an agreement with NEC to decrease the manufacturing costs?

They weren't really kept that far in the background, IMO. My Duo's boot up screen does say "copyright Hudson" on it. The games are sold on "HuCards", etc. I guess they are somewhat in the background since the machine has "NEC" molded in the plastic and not "Hudson". I'm not sure how much work NEC did, but I have a feeling they designed the case, etc. They deserve something as the whole deal, apparently it couldn't have happened without them. If they wanted to be true dicks that would have put their name on all of Hudson's software.

[m1savage]

Interesting topic. So was the cd rom drive different than the one used with the PC Engine?




By the way, if anyone knows the origin of these images let me know. They were uploaded to one of my sites but I know I've seen them before and I want to be sure the proper person gets credit for them.

[Kaminari]

so why Hudson was kept in the background concerned the name of its really inventor?

I don't think you can say that. In Japan at least, Hudson was widely recognized as the parent company of the PC Engine. The console is, after all, called the HE System (Hudson Entertainment System). Many TV documentaries featured Shinichi Nakamoto, a Hudson top exec involved in the system design, talking about the PC Engine and its games (like an early preview of Ziria, in which the top down view was filling a quarter of the screen, à la Burai 1).

@kaminari: btw, where you come from?

Paris (not Texas)

[herr-g]

Interesting topic. So was the cd rom drive different than the one used with the PC Engine?

You can often find the old CD-ROM drives on yahoo autions.
The picture on h**p://page2.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/b72060509 shows that the rear plug looks identical to that one in the CD-ROM2.
I'd really like to know in how far they were compatible.

[Keranu]

Whoa nice pics, m1savage. I haven't seen those before, though I have seen the other weird models.

[esteban]

I always assumed it only had one controller port to help maintain the small size, and partly for the reason rolins mentioned, and also probably as a small money scam.

Allow me to disagree .

It has become common for folks to say that requiring the multi-tap was a means of milking money from consumers. However, I disagree. Rather, I think that NEC / Hudson wanted the core console to be as simple as possible. This kept costs very low. If PCE had a second port, NEC would most likely have a second controller included as well: the base price of the console would have been higher (well, this is my assumption... I might be wrong .

Folks who wanted to play 2+ player games would buy a multitap and extra controllers (or, friends would bring over their own controllers from their own systems).

IMO, this is an elegant solution. Nobody has to buy more than they need.

If it helps, think of PCE as "build your own console". Over the years, there were many different ways you could upgrade / customize your core console to perfectly fit your gaming preferences.

QUESTION: In Japan, I'm wondering if retailers or NEC ever offered "bundled" packages that included extra stuff. Or special offers. They did this in North America (to a small extent... such as the Bonk Super Set 2 controllers + tap + Bonk... or the free turbotap give away with the purchase of Bomberman '93...).

[Keranu]

It has become common for folks to say that requiring the multi-tap was a means of milking money from consumers. However, I disagree. Rather, I think that NEC / Hudson wanted the core console to be as simple as possible. This kept costs very low. If PCE had a second port, it would most likely have a second controller included as well.

I don't think Hudson straight up said "Lets make one controller port so we can make more money by charging for a tap + extra controllers". What I think happened was that since their design of the PCE was so small, they decided to leave it like that and not mess with adding an extra controller port so it didn't screw up the size and design of the PCE and for the reason you mentioned, to keep the cost low. After they decided on this they figured "Hey, we may as well make a five player multitap so people don't think this is a console only designed for single players. We can make games that have a ton of players while making a few extra bucks on the side." That's just how I see it anyways.

[Odonadon]

Every company is out to make money.  Well, other than "non-profit" organizations, and even they still try to make money - just not for themselves.  Of course Hudson/NEC had this in mind with the Turbotap, but having one port on the console itself sure did help to reduce costs and size.  Remember when a console used to come with a 2 controllers and a game?  When was the last time you saw that?  Look at the Wii nunchuk controller for heavens sake, she ain't cheap   Crappy ol' XBox controllers are selling for $20+ - barely $5 worth of labor and parts put into the manufacture of those things.

OD

[rolins]

Because the vast majority of games are digital comics, RPGs, and simulations that require only 1 player.

I made this comment referring only to the PC-8801 and PC-9801. Just want to make that clear. I thought we were just talking about NEC computers.

About the 1player port on the PCE, I still think it was mainly to squeeze money out of gamers.