Why the PCE? Why Not the Genesis or Snes???

[ddd1234]

It seems like all of you are hardcore Pc-Engine fans. For some, It's their favorite 16-bit/8-bit system.

But why this fascination with the Pc-engine and not other 16-bit mammoths?

As someone said:
"Well, the PC Engine does target a specific demographic, as most of the titles are shooters, arcade ports, and 8 bitesque titles with better graphics."

Why do you guys choose such a obscure and "niche" driven system over the Genesis and Snes.
I mean, the other two gave you wide variety of games in almost every category.

Share with us....

[incrediblehark]

There is a wide variety of genres for the pc engine, and it beat out the genesis / megadrive in japan in its heyday. and a lot of the ports were better than other consoles.

if you play the pc engine / turbografx you get drawn in, its like an itch you just have to keep scratching. Always coming back for more. Some people around here might say you "obey" it. But I'll leave that explanation to them

[Joe Redifer]

I am fascinated with both the PCE and the Genesis. The SNES is cool, too, but it just isn't as interesting for some reason I can't put my finger on.

[bartre]

honestly, for me it's the sound and visuals.
all three major 16 bit systems have good things about them, it's just that the pce did the sensory pleasing the best for me.
SNES is definitely last for me, the sound you get from it is fine, but it just never clicked with me like the genny's did

[sunteam_paul]

Things I love: ZX Spectrum, SMS, PCE, Mega Drive, Amiga...all great and all been a big influence on my life.

I guess the PCE was just positioned at the perfect time in my teenage years that it had the most long-lasting impact. It's also an underdog (at least from our perspective in the west) and that has an added appeal.

Oh, and Ys on CD-Rom. That did it for me.

[Joe Redifer]

I really like the music on the PCE.  It has a very pleasing sound.  I would kill for a flash cart or CD with just the music from all of the HuCard games in a sound test-like manner that I could play through my real system (I automatically dismiss all recordings from emulators just for the fact that they weren't made by the real thing).

[turbogrfxfan]

It was a system all its own imo.  before snes there was the nes, before the genny there was the sms. It just was something new to me.  hueys/cds system.  I suppose I just got sucked in with the games it has.  Now a days the replay value of the games are insane and there are alot of different types of games and styles of games to keep you interested for a very long time.

[ccovell]

Instead of pasting mini-walls of text, check out my comments about various game systems here: http://www.chrismcovell.com/Archive/index.html

I wrote them in 2000 or so, and still feel the same way, basically.

[turbokon]

It's kind of hard to explain for me. We had a tg16 as a kid but then again we also had a nes and snes. For some reason, I'm just drawn toward the turbo even as an adult. I like every thing about it, the hardwares, the games, and how the games comes in (size of a credit card for god sake in a cd case). Plus the turbo made me a long life shooter fans. The other systems doesn't even come close.

[SaturdayMorningRobots]

I like all the Japanese 8 and 16 bit systems, and Own them all except the Master system and Sega CD. PC engine as a family is by far my favorite for so many reason.

I like the sound better on most games. The sound on the genesis is pretty atrocious and the snes's synthesis while very good is very distinct and not always pleasing to me.

I also prefer the visuals. PC engine games tend to have very clean and sharp looking visuals compared to somewhat muddier looking sprites on the snes and Genesis.

CD sound and full screen animated cinemas blow away the cinematics on the other 2 systems, though the Sega CD is on par.

The actual physical design. Consistently most of the versions of PC engine, and Duo have been ultra sexy. Can't beat the simple beauty of the original white one Same thing goes for the Hu card media. That was some futuristic stuff back in the day. The stock controllers have turbo, and some games like bonk/PC Genjin REQUIRED it to play well.

It is a good system for 90s anime fans as it had a lot of great Licensed games Like Ranma 1/2 and DBZ that DESTROY the Super famicom versions. and even had great anime spinoffs such as Sol Bianca (and not so great like Galaxy Fraulein Yuna)

[nectarsis]

Very simply:

[Arkhan]

The music is excellent.  The games are arcade quality.  The RPGs are awesome, and the exclusives are dope.

<3

[Joe Redifer]

I definitely disagree with Chris Covell's view on Magical Hats vs Decapattack.  I own both and Decapattack crushes Magical Hats in all areas without exception.  

[Tatsujin]

Very simply:

QFT!!


and as many already have stated, it is its special & unique game repetoire as well the niche-factor, the sharp colorfull and lovely graphics, the hardcore action in shooters, its media, some of the best ever created redbook audios in history of videogames and last but not least because its overall uberstyle of its console-variations itself.

Against such an amount of sheer uncountable awesomeness, the SFC and MD just has no bread! man.

[SignOfZeta]

I love all the 16-bit era machines. Out of all the machines though the PC Engine has the best forum, so here I am.

You seem to be assuming we only do PCE. Most of us have significant collections of MD and SFC stuff in addition to PCE. Many of us also collect Neo Geo. Some of us are just crazy PCE fanboys, but that's not most of us.