IF, the PCE never got a CD-ROM add-on..

[Necromancer]

Something that may or may not have been pointed out by now (I'm in a hurry and can't read all of these book-length, tit-for-tat bickering posts) is that the very question is shaky as best. The CDROM2 isn't something that NEC just dreamed up one day as a token add-on. Its pretty obvious that it was part of the whole idea from (almost) the very beginning. Its impossible to imagine a CDROM2-less PC Engine because it pretty much always had one.

A valid point, though I still think the question is a good one.  Speculation's fun.

It wasn't long after the release of the system that HuCards became a "plan B" medium that only the most mainstream titles were released on (Momotaro, Bomberman, Street Fighter) with all the "real" games being sold as CDROMs to the people who could afford/justify the expense of a CDROM enabled system.

From 1989 onward, a little more than a third of the PCE's library is on HuCard (they make up about 40% of the total library), so I can't really buy this argument.  Admittedly, there's quite a bit of crap in those 275 or so titles, but there's also a hefty amount of good games that weren't part of an established series or based on something already popular.

[Arkhan]

From 1989 onward, a little more than a third of the PCE's library is on HuCard (they make up about 40% of the total library), so I can't really buy this argument.  Admittedly, there's quite a bit of crap in those 275 or so titles, but there's also a hefty amount of good games that weren't part of an established series or based on something already popular.

I still wonder though , since SG launched in 89, what would have happened to ITS library if there was no CD unit.   I imagine it having more than 5 games.

Maybe 10!  20 even.

(hopefully more, not that we will ever know).

[Tatsujin]

second that last post from zeta!

proto pictures for the pce cd-rom add-on where puplished when the pce was barely released. probably even before.

old link: http://nfggames.com/games/pce_protos/

those were taken from a magazin about the pce just shortly puplished after its release. so those must have been around already for a while.

[Arkhan]

second that last post from zeta!

proto pictures for the pce cd-rom add-on where puplished when the pce was barely released. probably even before.

old link: http://nfggames.com/games/pce_protos/

those were taken from a magazin about the pce just shortly puplished after its release. so those must have been around already for a while.

true dat.

[ceti alpha]

second that last post from zeta!

proto pictures for the pce cd-rom add-on where puplished when the pce was barely released. probably even before.

old link: http://nfggames.com/games/pce_protos/

those were taken from a magazin about the pce just shortly puplished after its release. so those must have been around already for a while.

Those prototypes are sweet. PCE is the future.

[turbogrfxfan]

nice add Tats.   That would of been pretty cool but also you made a point.

[SignOfZeta]

Oh my goodness, that is some beautiful hardware.

On a (possibly) related note, I remember seeing pics of a prototype Duo-esque system from Taito (obviously never released) that at the time I thought might have been a re-badged PC Engine (ala JVC WonderMega). Does anyone know anything about that one? I can barely remember it.

[Necromancer]

On a (possibly) related note, I remember seeing pics of a prototype Duo-esque system from Taito (obviously never released) that at the time I thought might have been a re-badged PC Engine (ala JVC WonderMega). Does anyone know anything about that one? I can barely remember it.

I don't recall hearing about that one, but I have time to kill this morning.  Google to the rescue!

It's the WoWoW (also the name of a Japanese satellite TV company, who was Taito's partner for the project), which was supposedly built around Taito's arcade hardware and would download games via satellite (like the Satellaview) in addition to games on CDs.  Not a bad looking console; somewhat similar to the PS3.

[Arkhan]

I would stab a sucka or two for one of those PCE's with the little screen.

[SignOfZeta]

I don't recall hearing about that one, but I have time to kill this morning.  Google to the rescue!

It's the WoWoW (also the name of a Japanese satellite TV company, who was Taito's partner for the project), which was supposedly built around Taito's arcade hardware and would download games via satellite (like the Satellaview) in addition to games on CDs.  Not a bad looking console; somewhat similar to the PS3.

Yes, that thing! Before I didn't know about it being arcade board based. It sure looks like a backwards Duo, with a two button pad and a card sticking out of the front. I guess the field of mediocre CD based systems was so thick in 1992 that they decided against releasing the system. Fiscally, obviously, this was the right choice. It sure could have been cool though.

[guyjin]

with a two button pad

I think that pad may belong to the computer on the Wowow's left. It looks like a relatively common MSX controller, and the cord seems to go under the console without connecting to it. But I could be wrong.

[esteban]

WoW,

I never heard/saw the WoWoW before. It does look like a DUO (or PS3).

[tru]

Who knows, perhaps without the cd add-on, they would have made a first for cartridges... multiple hu-cards for 1 game...

It could have worked similar to multi disc games, where you need a save file at the end of the first hu-card before you could play the second hu-card... and of course, if you try playing the second hu-card first, you would have gotten an error...

I think that idea could have worked... and who knows, maybe nec would have been the first to do so...  by doing that, in a sense, you could really get the same as a cd, with the exception of the audio... which I dont think would be be nearly as good as cd quality...

[Necromancer]

Who knows, perhaps without the cd add-on, they would have made a first for cartridges... multiple hu-cards for 1 game...

It's not exactly what you're talking about, but they kinda already did that with R-Type I and R-Type II.