Best First NEC System?

[christoph]

I have never REALLY taken the time to seriously play any NEC console - what is the best one?

I love shmups, and really any great games!

[Tatsujin]

I don't really get your question? Do you mean the best NEC system in general or just the best PC Engine/TG16 system? In the former case, there aren't much options left than the PC Engine/TG16 itself, since the rest NEC ever made are japanese personal computers (PC88/98) or the PCEs unsuccessful successor PC-FX, but which has litterally just one shmup in its whole and small game repertoire.

Just stick to a JP PC Engine and you will have litterally tons of good shmupses.

[SignOfZeta]

What you want, is a Duo R.

Its a higher initial investment than other systems, but once you buy an Arcade Card Duo it can play anything but Supergrafx games (which are more or less irrelevant).

The cheaper systems (Turbo Grafx 16, PC Engine Core) might make sense at first for someone just starting out, but the cost of a working CDROM2 add-on and an upgraded system card is often as much or more than it would have been to just buy a Duo in the first place. The main bulk of good PC Engine games are on HuCard or SuperCD. You really want to be able to play the Super CDs, which all Duos do.

[christoph]

hmmm...

sounds like I need an NEC history lesson

[SignOfZeta]

Well, they only made two systems. The PC Engine (with a couple of dozen variants) and the PC FX, which...you really don't want. Certainly not as your first system.

[Necromancer]

What you want, is a Duo R.

This.  The SX-1 was also pretty sweet, but kinda obsolete nowadays.

[christoph]

Whats the price on a DUO-R these days?

[_joshuaTurbo]

DuoR should be around 150 ish.

Wasn't The GameCube built using NEC hardware?

[Necromancer]

Wasn't The GameCube built using NEC hardware?

Nope, it's built around a Power PC cpu and a gpu from former Silicon Graphics peeps.  You're thinking of the 64, which used a NEC VR3400.

[_joshuaTurbo]

Wasn't The GameCube built using NEC hardware?

Nope, it's built around a Power PC cpu and a gpu from former Silicon Graphics peeps.  You're thinking of the 64, which used a NEC VR3400.

oh yeah, thanks necro.

I love shmups, and really any great games!

To answer this question simply- you need a PC-FX.

[Otaking]

IMO start off with a HuCard based PC Engine Console either the:

PC Engine (original white model),
CoreGrafx,
CoreGrafx II

there is also the SuperGrafx which gives you access to another five games exclusivley made for it but it costs more than the above three so as a first console I would go for one of the above.

Once you've played the top shmup titles on HuCard such as Soldier Blade, Raiden, GunHed etc.. you can than later expand out and add a CD-Rom drive to any of the above HuCard based PC Engines to then have access to the CD-Rom titles.

[ApolloBoy]

I would second the Duo-R. The Duo-R, along with the other Duo systems, has the ability to play Super CD games right out of the box, and you don't have to futz around with System Cards unless you want to play Arcade CD games. The Duo-R is also very reliable, especially compared to the original TG-CD/PCE CD setup.

You also won't be able to play TG-16 HuCards on any Japanese system unless you mod it, but I wouldn't worry about that since the PC Engine equivalents of TG-16 games are usually cheaper. That, and most of the TG-16 exclusives suck so you won't be missing out on much.

[Tatsujin]

the GBA also used NEC parts

[SignOfZeta]

The most famous use of NEC parts in a non-NEC console is the Dreamcast, PowerVR.

[christoph]

Sounds like a Duo R is where its at. So what is the difference between the DUO R and the Turbo Duo? The DUO R is only available as a JP console right? Can I play NSTC games on it too?