You do raise a lot interesting points... Of course we couldn't ultimately determine the profitability of the PC-FX without a good amount of data I don't think we possess (speaking of which, what's the real figures in terms of PC-FX sales? Anybody knows?). It's possible that it worked as a niche system which market just wasn't the same as its predecessor, but even then, why didn't Nec ever produce another console? Personally, the PC-FX is a big disappointment to me. I guess it's better to look at it as an interesting side-note than as a genuine successor to the PC-Engine.
Yeah, I agree. The PC-FX does not feel like a true successor to the PC-Engine. But I don't know what other direction NEC would have taken...
Personally, I would have loved it if NEC put out a hardcore 2D console (in the spirit of NeoGeo)... but I don't think it would have been too successful competing with Sega's Saturn (and Sony's PlayStation).
And I think we can all agree that PC-FX had the potential to be a killer 2D console, had NEC actively pursued shoot-em-ups, platformers, action-RPGs, 2D arcade ports, etc. Those are my favorite genres, anyway 
I consider the Saturn to be the spiritual successor to the PCE and the Dreamcast after that in many ways.
Not only did the Saturn get the most PCE'ish PCE-brand and non-PCE-brand sequals(Saturn Bomberman VS all those 3D ones), but it was also a competant system for its class when in the right hands.
Once again good developers turned out some of the most cutting edge graphics to compliment great games and lazy developers didn't even attempt a lot of things because it wasn't already programmed into the hardware.
And although the other 2 systems are considered to be more successful and have more software, the Saturn by far has more titles that interest me, just like the PCE over MD/Gen & SNES/SFC.
But even just TM: Apocalypse IV and Saturn Bomberman alone make it enough of a 32-bit PCE for me. Also I love Snatcher and Policenauts fits nicely into my PCE-successor vision, let alone all the original-original content that it aso has.
To me at least, the Saturn is way more PCE than MD'ish.
Hmmm, I never thought of Saturn in that way before. That's pretty interesting!
Personally, I liked Genesis / Mega Drive (and SNES) a lot, so I always viewed Saturn as part of the Sega console lineage (haahahhahaa! I know, this is a groudnbreaking concept
). In fact, I hoped that Saturn would be Sega-CD "done right". The hype for Sega-CD promised so much and I really, really was looking forward to the games... but it wasn't until Saturn that I finally said, "Now you're kicking butt, Sega." Panzer Dragoon!!!!! But then it seemed like the whole Sega-CD thing happened all over again with Saturn. Granted, I had lost a lot of interest in video games by the time Sega-CD was gasping its last few breaths, so I missed a lot of stuff.
