Couple of questions regarding NEC and their systems.

[Sensato Black Lion]

Well, I'm looking for some info regarding NEC and a couple of their gaming systems. Hope some of you can help me.

First off, what does NEC stand for? I figured it would be something like Nihon Electronic Company but...

2- Does the term "PC" in PC Engine stand for Personnal Computer? If not what's it?

3-What are the exact dimensions (size) of these: PCE, ShuttleGrafx, PCE LT, Turbografx-16, Turbo Express, PCE GT, PCE Duo, Duo R , Duo RX, SuperGrafx and PCFX?

4-Any idea what was the last Hucard to ever come out for the PCE and in what year?

5- Launch price for every NEC systems excluding only their early computers.

6-How much data can a Hucard hold?

I might have a few more questions coming up soon. Thanks in advance!

[Nutribrain]

NEC stands for Nippon Electric Company.

[pc_kid]

first hu: kung fu

last hucard: power-league '93 came out 10/93

[monads]

6-How much data can a Hucard hold?

I think it's Street Fighter II (20Mbit).

[Sensato Black Lion]

Thanks for the contributions so far. About the size of the Hucards, nice to know it's max capacity but any idea what the standard (or minimum) is? Could it be something like 256Kb?

I found a list of prices for some NEC systems, not sure they're accurate or actual launch prices. Any one can confirm this? It would be better if I was able to convert these 1990s japanese prices to USD but...

PCE: 24,800 Yen
PCE GT: 44,800 Yen
CD-ROM2 System: 57,800 Yen
Core Grafx: 24,800 Yen
CGXII: 19,800 Yen
SGX: 39,800 Yen
Shuttle PCE: 18,800 Yen
Super CD-ROM: 47,800 Yen
PCE DUO: 59,800 Yen
DUO-R: 39,800 Yen
PCE LT: 99,800 Yen

still looking for:
Duo-RX, PCFX as well as most American hardware original retail prices.

[dj898]

just how rare is Jackie Chan Hucard?
And what will be the going rate for sealed copy?

cheers

[Black Tiger]

first hu: kung fu

last hucard: power-league '93 came out 10/93

What about Bomberman '94?

[Keranu]

just how rare is Jackie Chan Hucard?
And what will be the going rate for sealed copy?

cheers

I got mine used with instructions and case for $20 on Ebay I believe. However when I received the game, the game was in a "China Warrior" case but still had the Jackie Chain manuel. That made me upset. same with when I bought J.J. and Jeff off Ebay and it was in a TV Sports Basketball case.

[Black Tiger]

just how rare is Jackie Chan Hucard?
And what will be the going rate for sealed copy?

cheers

I got mine used with instructions and case for $20 on Ebay I believe. However when I received the game, the game was in a "China Warrior" case but still had the Jackie Chain manuel. That made me upset. same with when I bought J.J. and Jeff off Ebay and it was in a TV Sports Basketball case.

If those were advertised as complete or 'with case' instead of 'with a case', then you were ripped and should leave negative feedback(or at least a neutral with description) if the seller doesn't offer you a big discount(like 50%).

[nodtveidt]

When the TurboCD accessory debuted in my area when I was growing up, it had a price tag of $380US.

[Keranu]

If those were advertised as complete or 'with case' instead of 'with a case', then you were ripped and should leave negative feedback(or at least a neutral with description) if the seller doesn't offer you a big discount(like 50%).

I think I did leave neutural or negative feedback, but I forgot. It was a year ago so I can't remember if he specified complete or not.

[PC Gaijin]

Launch prices for the Turbografx-16 and the Turbografx-CD were $199 (and change) and $399 respectively. I still have the receipt around here somewhere for when I bought my Turbografx-16 in October, 1989 from Wal-Mart . Price was $199 and something odd like 88 cents (Wal-Mart was strange like that with pricing). The CD attachment was $399, I remember that distinctly because it was such a huge sum of money at the time (and for my circumstances, being a 14 year old kid who had a hard enough time convincing his parents to spring for the Turbografx-16, much less the CD player). I didn't get the CD attachment until the summer of 1990, when NEC dropped the price by $50 (via a $50 mail-in coupon) after I got my first "real" job.

[nodtveidt]

I'm still a little confused as to why they called it the "PC Engine" but the thought I have is that it was because they used an architecture that was at the time very common to use in personal computers (Apple and CBM both used the 6502 line extensively and 6502's were very common in industrial computers and especially robotics controllers, largely replacing Z80's).

[akamichi]

first hu: kung fu

last hucard: power-league '93 came out 10/93

Actually, Shanghai and BikkuriMan World were the launch titles.  Kung Fu didn't come out until a month after and was the 3rd game released.

[PC Gaijin]

I think NEC originally envisioned the PC Engine as a competitor to the MSX computers. It was supposed to be a lower-end product line compared to their "senior" computers (the PC-88 or 98 or whatever). There's a web site out there (sorry, don't have the link handy) with a lot of prototype PC Engine hardware, including a keyboard and other home computer peripherals. Those plans got canned for whatever reason and the system was repurposed as a console (perhaps NEC saw the success Nintendo had with the Famicom and just decided to go with a console?) So I think the name is just a derivative of what NEC was already doing with their other computers (PC-*). Plus, it just sounds cool even to native English speakers .