EGM Number 2 - July 1989 - page 4
page 32
EGM Number 3 - August-September 1989 - page 28
.
page 74
you will notice that Namco's 16-Bit system is usually mentioned right near the P.C. Engine 2 - and then the two almost become interwined.
the way I count it:
1.) NEC and Hudson's own
16-Bit PC Engine2, intended for 1990 -
not released2.) Namco's 16-Bit 'Super System' - intended for 1989 or 1990 -
not released by Namco themselves, nor by NEC and Hudson under the PC Engine2
name3.) NEC and Hudson's own scaled-down
8-Bit PC Engine2
is released as the SuperGrafx, in November 1989 with Battle Ace.
my speculation - based on some factsThe 8-bit version of the P.C. Engine2, the SuperGrafx, was clearly rushed onto the Japanese market in late 1989. this was most likely one major reason for its downfall. Now, going by the earlier EGM articles about the original 16-bit P.C. Engine2,
that machine was not due until 1990 at the soonest.
I think NEC and Hudson should've finished development of the 16-bit version of P.C. Engine2 and released it in say, mid 1990, a few months ahead of the Super Famicom's late 1990 release date. the 16-Bit P.C. Engine2 *could* have been a very, very powerful machine, easily surpassing the Nintendo SFC, since SFC was actually a technologically older machine that dates back to 1988-89 and, itself was cut back significantly in its specs before launch.
The original SFC was going to have a 68000 CPU and significantly greater pesudo-3D capabilities like full, true sprite scaling & rotation. the Mode 7 scaling & rotation built into the final SFC was much less than what was originally planned. that is why many early SFC/SNES games have DSP and accelerator chips in them (not even counting the SuperFX polygon chip of years later).
Anyway, so, a 16-Bit P.C. Engine2 could have been in development through all of 1989 and well into 1990, just up until its release in, say, September 1990. It could have been roughly, more or less, NEO-GEO class hardware. If you look back 3 years from 1990, to 1987, the same year the original P.C. Engine came out, there was a very powerful 16-Bit computer released in Japan that had
Hudson chipset and OS technology: the Sharp X68000. this machine was not only more powerful than the P.C. Engine released the same year, but also still conciderably more powerful than the SuperGrafx released 2 years later in 1989, and more powerful than the weaker Super Famicom that was actually approved for production.
now imagine what Hudson could have done, with a high powered console which comes out in 1990: the true sucessor to the P.C. Engine, the 16-Bit P.C. Engine2. .....a P.C. Engine2 that is poweful enough to kill the downgraded Super Famicom (because of the mentioned cutbacks to the SFC Nintendo made), compete with SNK's Neo-Geo, and also be used in arcades (like Neo-Geo MVS), and also handle the most intense 'super scaler' arcade games from Sega like Space Harrier - OutRun -
After Burner II - Thunder Blade - Galaxy Force 2 - Power Drift - Super Monaco GP - etc as well as any of the lesser, single 68000 non super-scaler Sega System16 arcade games (Shinobi, Altered Beast, Golden Axe) and Capcom CPS or decent translations of future CPS2 games.
the main thing is, Japanese developers would be THRILLED to work on such a P.C. Engine2 platform. even if it cost consumers $300-$400. The games could still be on larger, thicker 'Super-HuCards' --and while more expensive than standard HuCards, would still cost significantly less than Neo-Geo home cartridges. note that, dispite Neo-Geo's high cost for both the console and the games, it was a
massive, massive success in comparison to the 8-bit SuperGrafx, which bombed worse than Sega's 32X or SegaCD.
in my ideal made-up scenario: CD-ROM1 and CD-ROM2 are for the 8-Bit P.C. Engine and TurboGrafx (which does not have the '16') while the...Super-CD-ROM2, or lets call it Super CD-ROM3, is exclusively for the 16-Bit P.C. Engine2 and American version, the 16-Bit SuperGrafx, or 'SuperGrafx-16' ^__^
in my made-up senareo, NEC-Hudson's console release schedule is something like this:8-bit P.C. Engine in Japan in 1987 - TurboGrafx in USA in 1989.
CD-ROM1 in 1988 - CD-ROM2 in 1989 | CD-ROM2 in USA in 1989
16-bit P.C. Engine2 in Japan in 1990
released as the SuperGrafx-16 in USA in 1991
P.C. Engine2's Super CD-ROM3 in Japan in 1991
SuperGrafx-16's Super CD-ROM3 in USA in 1992
4 games launch with the P.C. Engine 2 in Japan in mid 1990:
-a Battle Ace game that kicks ass and rivals the arcade Galaxy Force
-a Ghouls 'n Ghosts port that truly rivals the arcade (like X68000)
-an exact port of R-Type II
-an awesome sequel to Keith Courage, Granzort with amazing graphics
follow-on games for later in 1990 or in 1991 include:
arcade-exact or enhanced ports of Forgotten Worlds, Thunder Blade, OutRun, AfterBurner, 1941, Galaxy Force, a supercharged Strider that really beats the arcade! more non-arcade games including some RPGs and Legendary Axe 3, and a shmup Aldynes that blows away any horizontally scrolling shooter in the arcade, including Neo-Geo's Last Resort.
then P.C. Engine2 ~ SuperGrafx-16 charged Super CD-ROM3 games start to hit in 1991-1992 including more RPGs, like Ys V and another Far East of Eden game.
in total, 40 Super HuCards and 14 Super CD-ROM3 games are released, totalling 54 games for the two-format P.C Engine2 ~ SuperGrafx-16.
The P.C. Engine2 ~ SuperGrafx-16 remains a fairly expensive system that competes with the NEO-GEO and SEGA CD. it does die off by 1994, but has a more respectible life than the real SuperGrafx did. it becomes a HIGHLY, HIGHLY sought-after system in the mid to late 1990s.
the Ironman ~ Tetsujin ~ PC-FX is released in 1994 in Japan, and 1995 in the U.S. with full backward compatibility with standard P.C. Engine ~ TurboGrafx HuCards and CD-ROM1, CD-ROM2, but has NO P.C. Engine2 ~ SuperGrafx-16 SuperHuCard or Super CD-ROM3 compatibility, making the P.C. Engine2 - SuperGrafx-16 and SuperCD-ROM3 a must-have system to run the games.
emulation for computers in the late 1990s is able to emulate the standard PCE-TG HuCard and CD games, but NOT the more complex P.C. Engine2 - SuperGrafx-16 games, again, making the real hardware and software very sought-after and valuable, and a joy to collect for its arcade-exact
(or better) renditions of arcade games and elaborate non-arcade games that are exclusive.
Topic: old articles on P.C. Engine-2 ~ SuperGrafx (Read 780 times)
