PC Engine vs. TurboGrafx? Which is better?

[JapanTokei]

now now... lets leave nationalism out of this discussion 

Because if you go that route, then NEC America deserves to get smacked around for marketing "Johnny Turbo" instead of NEC Japan's awesome library it left behind back in the golden age of the 16-bit wars!! 

 

[JapanTokei]

Because if you go that route, then NEC America deserves to get smacked around for marketing "Johnny Turbo" instead of NEC Japan's awesome library it left behind back in the golden age of the 16-bit wars!! 

Speaking of this... if you ran NEC America, which games would you have brought over during the 1989 TG-16 USA launch and then in 1990?  Just for fun I pulled all the releases up till end of 1989.  Assuming it takes 1 year lag for translation/localization....  these are the games we can work with during the critical launch years....  lets have some fun



Bikkuri World / ビックリマンワールド   1987 HuCard     
Shanghai / 上海   1987 HuCard     
The Kung Fu / THE 功夫   1987 HuCard     
Kato chan & Ken chan / カトちゃんケンちゃん   1987 HuCard     
Victory Run / ビクトリーラン ―栄光の13,000キロ―   1987 HuCard     
Power League All Star Gold HuCard / パワーリーグ　オールスターゴルド  1988 HuCard     
Necromancer / 邪聖剣ネクロマンサー   1988 HuCard     
Youkaidouchuuki / 妖怪道中記  1988 HuCard     
R-TYPE I / アールタイプ I    1988 HuCard     
Yuu Yuu Jinsei / 遊々人生   1988 HuCard     
Pro Yakyuu World Stadium / プロ野球ワールドスタジアム  1988 HuCard     
R-TYPE II / アールタイプ　II    1988 HuCard     
Power League / パワーリーグ   1988 HuCard     
Sengoku Mahjong / 戦国麻雀   1988 HuCard     
Galaga '88 / ギャラガ'88   1988 HuCard     
Pro Tennis World Court / プロテニスワールドコート  1988 HuCard     
Mashin Eiyuuden Wataru / 魔神英雄伝ワタル   1988 HuCard     
Alien Crush / エイリアンクラッシュ  1988 HuCard     
Gaia No Monshou / ガイアの紋章  1988 HuCard     
Makyou Densetsu / 魔境伝説  1988 HuCard     
Fantasy Zone / ファンタジーゾーン   1988 HuCard     
Sadakichi Seven / 定吉七番 秀吉の黄金   1988 HuCard     
Fighting Street / ファイティング・ストリート  1988 CD-ROM²
NoRiKo / 小川範子  1988 CD-ROM²     
Space Harrier / スペースハリアー   1988 HuCard     
Dragon Spirit / ドラゴンスピリット   1988 HuCard     
Appare! Gateball / あっぱれ！ゲートボール   1988 HuCard     
Bikkuri Daijikai / ビックリマン大事界  1988 CD-ROM²     
Gunhed Special Version / ガンへード スペシャルバージョン   1989 HuCard     
China Warrior  1989 HuCard     
World Class Baseball  1989 HuCard     
World Court Tennis  1989 HuCard     
Victory Run  1989 HuCard     
Vigilante  1989 HuCard     
Takin' It To The Hoop  1989 HuCard     
Space Harrier  1989 HuCard     
Sidearms  1989 HuCard     
R-Type  1989 HuCard     
Power Golf  1989 HuCard     
Pac Land  1989 HuCard     
Ordyne  1989 HuCard     
Moto Roader  1989 HuCard     
Military Madness  1989 HuCard     
The Legendary Axe  1989 HuCard     
Keith Courage In Alpha Zones  1989 HuCard     
Galaga '90  1989 HuCard     
Fantasy Zone  1989 HuCard     
Final Lap Twin  1989 HuCard     
Dungeon Explorer  1989 HuCard     
Dragon Spirit  1989 HuCard     
Deep Blue  1989 HuCard     
Blazing Lazers  1989 HuCard     
Alien Crush  1989 HuCard     
Fighting Street  1989 CD-ROM²     
Vigilante / ビジランテ  1989 HuCard     
Son Son II / ソンソンII  1989 HuCard     
Moto Roader / モトローダー  1989 HuCard     
Nectaris / ネクタリス   1989 HuCard     
Hani In The Sky / はにい いんざ すかい   1989 HuCard     
Winning Shot / ウイニングショット  1989 HuCard     
Dungeon Explorer / ダンジョン エクスプローラー   1989 HuCard     
Out Live / アウトライブ  1989 HuCard     
Kaizou Choujin Shubibinman / 改造町人シュビビンマン  1989 HuCard     
P-47 - The Freedom Fighter / P-47 THE FREEDOM FIGHTER   1989 HuCard     
F-1 Pilot - You're King of Kings / F1パイロット  1989 HuCard     
Shiryou Sensen - War Of The Dead / 死霊戦線 WAR OF THE DEAD  1989 HuCard     
Golf Boys / がんばれ！ゴルフボーイズ  1989 HuCard     
Deep Blue / ディープブルー・海底神話   1989 HuCard     
Kyūkyoku Tiger / 究極タイガー   1989 HuCard     
Space Adventure Cobra / SPACE ADVENTURE コブラ ―黒竜王の伝説―  1989 CD-ROM²     
Makai Hakkenden Shada / 魔界八犬伝SHADA  1989 HuCard     
Energy / エナジー  1989 HuCard     
Wonder Momo / ワンダーモモ  1989 HuCard   
Susa No Ou Densetsu / 凄ノ王伝説   1989 HuCard     
Power Golf / パワーゴルフ   1989 HuCard     
Naxat Open / ナグザット オープン  1989 HuCard     
Pac-Land / パックランド  1989 HuCard     
WaiWai Ma Jong Yukaina Jantomotachi / わいわい麻雀 ゆかいな雀友たち  1989 HuCard     
Fire Pro Wrestling Combination Tag / ファイヤープロレスリング コンビネーションタッグ  1989 HuCard     
Cyber Cross / 武装刑事サイバークロス  1989 HuCard     
Valis II - The Fantasm Soldier / ヴァリスII THE FANTASM SOLDIER  1989 CD-ROM²     
Jinmu Denshou / 神武伝承  1989 HuCard     
The Ninja Warriors / ニンジャウォーリアーズ  1989 HuCard     
Tengai Makyou - Far East Of Eden - Ziria / 天外魔境 ZIRIA  1989 CD-ROM²     
Final Lap Twin / ファイナルラップ・ツイン  1989 HuCard     
Gunhed / ガンヘッド    1989 HuCard     
Side Arms Hyper Dyne / サイドアーム   1989 HuCard     
Takeda Shingen / 武田信玄  1989 HuCard     
Maison Ikkoku / めぞん一刻  1989 HuCard     
Power League II / パワーリーグII   1989 HuCard     
Break In / ブレイク・イン  1989 HuCard     
F-1 Dream / F-1ドリーム  1989 HuCard     
Rock-On / ロック・オン   1989 HuCard     
Wonder Boy III - Monster Lair / ワンダーボーイIII モンスター・レアー   1989 CD-ROM²     
Bloody Wolf / ならずもの戦闘部隊 BLOODY WOLF  1989 HuCard     
Ordyne / オーダイン   1989 HuCard     
Super Albatross / SUPERアルバトロス  1989 CD-ROM²     
Super Momotarou Dentetsu / スーパー桃太郎電鉄   1989 HuCard     
Jūouki / Altered Beast / 獣王記  1989 CD-ROM²     
Jūouki / Altered Beast / 獣王記  1989 HuCard     
Artist Tool / アーティストツール  1989 HuCard     
Double Dungeons / ダブルダンジョン  1989 HuCard     
Digital Champ Battle Boxing / デジタルチャンプ バトルボクシング  1989 HuCard     
Tatsu no Ko Fighter / 竜の子ファイター  1989 HuCard     
Kagami no Kuni no Legend / 鏡の国のレジェンド  1989 CD-ROM²     
ROMROM Karaoke Volume 1 / ロムロムカラオケ ボリューム1  1989 CD-ROM²     
ROMROM Karaoke Volume 2 / ロムロムカラオケ ボリューム2  1989 CD-ROM²     
Doraemon Meikyuu Daisakusen / ドラえもん 迷宮大作戦   1989 HuCard     
Tsuru Teruhito No Jissen Kabushiki Bai Bai Game / 都留照人の実戦株式倍バイゲーム  1989 HuCard     
Neutopia - Fray no Shou / ニュートピア フレイの章   1989 HuCard     
Daichi-kun Crisis / 大地くんクライシス  1989 HuCard     
Jack Nicklaus' Greatest 18 Holes Of Major Championship Golf / ジャックニクラウス・チャンピオンシップ・ゴルフ  1989 HuCard     
Mahjong Gakuen / 麻雀学園 東間宗四郎登場  1989 HuCard     
Gambler Jikochuushinha / ぎゅわんぶらあ自己中心派 CDだよ全員集合!! 激闘36雀士  1989 CD-ROM²     
Bari Bari Densetsu / バリバリ伝説  1989 HuCard     
Battle Ace / バトルエース  1989 Super HuCard     
Mr. Heli No Daibouken / ミスターヘリの大冒険   1989 HuCard     
USA Pro Basketball / USAプロバスケットボール  1989 HuCard     
Bull Fight / ブルファイト リングの覇者  1989 HuCard     
Shinobi / 忍  1989 HuCard     
Kore ga Pro Baseball '89 / これがプロ野球'89  1989 HuCard     
PC Genjin / PC原人   1989 HuCard     
Red Alert / レッドアラート  1989 CD-ROM²   
Side Arms Special / サイドアーム スペシャル   1989 CD-ROM²     
ROMROM Karaoke Volume 3 / ロムロムカラオケ ボリューム3  1989 CD-ROM²     
Ys I & II - Ancient Ys Vanished / イースI・II  1989 CD-ROM²     
Benkei Gaiden / 弁慶－外伝－  1989 HuCard     
Heavy Unit / ヘビー・ユニット   1989 HuCard     
Knight Rider Special / ナイトライダースペシャル  1989 HuCard     
ROM ROM Stadium / ロムロムスタジアム  1989 CD-ROM²     
F1 Triple Battle / F1トリプルバトル  1989 HuCard     
Volfied / ヴォルフィード  1989 HuCard 

[Arkhan]

i would have brought them all. 

[JapanTokei]

1989 Releases Re-do at launch:
(Wonderboy) Bikkuri World     
Shanghai     
Victory Run     
World Class Baseball     
R-TYPE     
Galaga '88     
Pro Tennis World Court / プロテニスワールドコート  1988 HuCard     
Alien Crush / エイリアンクラッシュ  1988 HuCard     
Fantasy Zone
Fighting Street     
Space Harrier     
Dragon Spirit
Blazing Lasers
China Warrior

1990 Releases Re-do:
Vigilante     
Takin' It To The Hoop     
Sidearms       
Power Golf     
Pac Land     
Ordyne     
Moto Roader     
Military Madness       
The Legendary Axe     
Final Lap Twin       
Dungeon Explorer     
Deep Blue     
Son Son II     
(Shockman 1) Shubibinman     
Kyūkyoku Tiger     
Valis II - The Fantasm Soldier     
The Ninja Warriors     
Tengai Makyou - Far East Of Eden - Ziria / 天外魔境 ZIRIA  1989 CD-ROM²     
World Class Baseball 2 (Power League II)     
Wonder Boy III - Monster Lair
Bloody Wolf     
Double Dungeons     
Digital Champ Battle Boxing     
Doraemon Meikyuu Daisakusen     
Neutopia - Fray no Shou     
Jack Nicklaus' Greatest 18 Holes Of Major Championship Golf   
Mr. Heli No Daibouken / ミスターヘリの大冒険   1989 HuCard     
Shinobi / 忍  1989 HuCard     
(Bonk) PC Genjin / PC原人   1989 HuCard     
Ys I & II - Ancient Ys Vanished     
Heavy Unit     
Knight Rider Special


===
After going thru the list of avail games, it seems like NEC America did an okay job picking from the sparse list for 1989 and 1990 releases.. they prob dropped the ball post 1990 which hurt the Duo/TG-16's  legacy...   so back on topic... PCE wins 

[nat]

Looking at these lists makes me realize what a good job NEC America actually DID do during these years. It wasn't perfect, but their choices weren't as bad as I'd thought. If anything, I'd actually cut junk like Ordyne in favor of solid titles like Wonderboy in Monsterland/Bikkuriman World and Shinobi. Shinobi really should have made it over.

The first Shockman game and Ninja Warriors wouldn't have made good choices. They aren't "next gen" enough and I think they would have hurt the console's chances here even further. Ninja Warriors is a poor version, barely a step above NES quality.

Keith Courage was a good choice to port for the opposite of the reason I just mentioned, but it shouldn't have been the pack-in. Blazing Lazers should have been until Bonk's Adventure came out.

[turbogrfxfan]

I like pce better.  pce has more games. a little more risque(cant spell sorry). I like the artwork better on boxes.  I like japanese characters instead of english.  One downer is I cant play pce rpgs worth a shit
  I feel the reason why tg16 games are more expensive on ebay is because f*ckin a$$holes like game squad buys up shit jack up the prices and everyone else follows like greedy sheep.

to me actually they are really the same to me cause I use a converter.  cds work on both systems and so do the cards. its the same.

[termis]

Given that list, I agree with nat -- the ones that NEC brought over for the time weren't too bad.  By looking at that list, perhaps the battle was lost in the very beginning.  I distinctly recall EGM picking the Genesis over the TG16 when the two systems first came out, and articles like that probably swayed a lot of people over to the Sega camp, including myself.  And once the momentum shifts one way, it hardly ever goes back (the only exception I can think of is the war between SNES/Genesis).

Well, what if TG16 came out a 12-18 months before the Genny?  That might've worked out in NEC's favor.  After all, In Japan, the PCE came out almost 2 years before the Mega Drive, and most PCE users didn't see a need to "upgrade" until the Super Famicom. 

It's all speculation, but who knows...

edit: And if I HAD to choose between PCE and TG16, it's the PCE for obvious library reasons.  But I mod them anyway, so who cares.  As for pure styling, it'd be the TurboDuo (I prefer the silver letter/black trim over the garish purple & turquoise trim of the PCE Duo, which is my current setup). 

As for games, if the game exists on both formats, I generally prefer the US one, because reading English (whether it be game menus, text, manuals, etc) is a lot less taxing on my brain than reading Japanese.  Only times I prefer the Japanese ones are if the US ones are censored/altered (aka KCKC, Splatterhouse), or US version fetches extreme prices.  I could give a rat's ass about cover art.

[JapanTokei]

As for games, if the game exists on both formats, I generally prefer the US one, because reading English (whether it be game menus, text, manuals, etc) is a lot less taxing on my brain than reading Japanese.  Only times I prefer the Japanese ones are if the US ones are censored/altered (aka KCKC, Splatterhouse), or US version fetches extreme prices.  I could give a rat's ass about cover art.

Rat's ass or not... it's amazing how bad NEC America's choices were on box art.. but intersting to think about it in a another perspective.  If the world is what it is now but we are back in 1989, then these ports + box art would probably have came straight over.  Back then we didn't live in a globalized world and JP/anime-styled art wasn't appreciated by the masses... I mean look at Crater Maze... they even had to change up Doraemon completely into a mess just to bring it to the US! 
===
Definitely agree though, on Blazing Lasers being a kick-ass packin-what-if, and that Shinobi def should have made it over.  To keep this discussion on topic, I won't post the games released in 1990 in JP... the battle could have been won in the US for sure if NEC America had handled that year's ports better.   For that... PCE still rules

[Arkhan]

yea alot of the US boxart just sucked.

Bomberman especially.  What in the flying dickshit was that supposed to be. 

I will say SOME US boxart was pretty cool.

I liked China Warrior, the Devil/Alien pinball games, and Neutopia.

Cosmic Fantasy 2 was also pretty cool.

but man.

some were just meth induced disasters

[Joe Redifer]

I'd actually cut junk like Ordyne in favor of solid titles like Wonderboy in Monsterland/Bikkuriman World and Shinobi. Shinobi really should have made it over.

I don't think Bikkuriman and Shinobi would have made good titles for the US.  I much prefer the Sega Master System version of Wonderboy in Monster Land and if that had come out in the US, people would have thought of the Turbo as getting versions of old Master System games with a giant, ever-present bar on the side of the screen.  At least Dragon's Curse had a slightly noticeable improvement in the visuals over the SMS version.  Shinobi is a good game, but crippled.  It is missing an entire level (one of the best ones, in fact) and people would have wondered why the SMS version can have all of the levels but a "next-gen" machine like the TurboGrafx-16 could not. 

I do agree that Blazing Lazers or perhaps Legendary Axe should have been the pack-in until Bonk arrived.  Keith Courage appealed to no one.

[JapanTokei]

yea alot of the US boxart just sucked.

Bomberman especially.  What in the flying dickshit was that supposed to be. 

The Bomberman box art definitly is THE WORST representation of a fabulous game.  I recall going to Toy'R'US scouring for games as a teen and the first interfacing consumers had back then was box art.  I never ever thought about Bomberman cuz the boxart suckd so much.. it wasn't until much later when I saw the gameplay I picked it up and went "wow".  The original Hudson art was fabulous... that was a terrible goofup...

[TheClash603]

I too agree that NEC did a pretty good job bringing over the available games early in the Turbografx launch.  The real comparison is that the Genesis was bringing home arcade quality name brand games, and the TG could not compete.

Unfortunately for NEC, the really good stuff came out a year late, and the CD add-on was just too expensive when it launched to really get the momentum it deserved.

...but back on topic, Beyond Shadowgate is awesome.  Turbo still wins.

[Tatsujin]

lol..what a question? sure the PCE is superior in every possible, thinkable and imaginable aspect :idea:

[SignOfZeta]

This debate is stupid. They are the same system. They were all built and designed in Japan (except possibly the exterior design of the TG-16 and docking station...it would be hard to imagine any 1980s Japanese design house putting out that huge blob of crap). Every TG-16 game was released in Japan, usually, first, except for a very small number of them, usually horrible.

The TG-16 is just an example of localizing a system to regional tastes. Evidently it worked really really well on some people, but overall it was kind of a huge flop. The continued devotion to the TG-16 concept as a completely different system is an example of some people simply wanting to put everything in existence into little categories and build false dichotomies out of nothing.






One more thing: OBEY THE PCE!

[Mathius]

I am kind of torn on the issue. I like them both!

When I was young the only thing I was jealous of was the SuperGrafx was only available in Japan.

Also, I would have killed to have the PCE version of Shinobi back then. The SMS and NES versions were both slightly disappointing.