Biggest lost opportunities for the PCE

[Necromancer]

Out of anything else, I think the SGX itself was the largest missed opportunity.

Agreed.  Just think if they'd stuffed the SGX hardware in the Duos.

[Arkhan]

If the Duo was a SuperDuo,  there would be so much OBEY it would knock Earth off its axis.

They should have done that man.  Then developers could have used the MOAR POWAR, if they wanted... or just stuck to the turbob power.

and then, Super Grafx Super Arcade SUPER CDs

oijagofijasodifja43 rgboirtgbrsonbhtgfdtrh

Someone make it, go go go.

[MottZilla]

Out of anything else, I think the SGX itself was the largest missed opportunity.

Agreed.  Just think if they'd stuffed the SGX hardware in the Duos.

Reading through this thread that was smething I was thinking about too. The SGX seemed to be thrown out the door the fend for itself and didn't get much support. Surely SGX + CDROM would have been able to pull off some better games. Not sure what the cost would have been but I'd really liked to have seen a game utilizing the combo of SGX + CD + Arcade Card. You probably could have made a killer port of Mortal Kombat that would have put all other console ports to shame. Not to mention all the other great games that may have been possible.

[Arkhan]

and not to mention how much the whole setup would cost.

but, yeah it would rule.

[ceti alpha]

Faussete Amour is a good, very unique platformer for the Duo.

Then of course there is the Valis series, the Axe series and the Bonk series among tons of varying quality one-off titles. I'd take the Bonk series over the Sonics (Sonic CD aside) any day.

Fausette Amour does look quite nice. But yeah, Valis, Axe, Bonk, NAI and even Ghouls 'n Ghosts if you want to cheat a little and include the SGX, are all great platformers. I would also take Bonk over Sonic, any day. I'd probably take Bonk over Super Mario Bros 3, as well. So, I don't think there was a massive shortage of great platformers, but more would have been nice. A Contra port really would have been awesome.

A few more beat 'em ups would have been nice, since all we really have are Double Dragon, Riot Zone and River City Ransom.

A few Phantasy Star 4 type of RPGs would have been nice, as well.

All-in-all, if you Google "best Genesis games" and look at some of the lists, it certainly doesn't make you want to trade in your PCE/TG. It does come up short in a couple of departments, but overall, I wouldn't change too much.

[Necromancer]

and not to mention how much the whole setup would cost.

I'm not sure that it would've been prohibitively expensive, based on the cost of the Mega-CD with its extra 68000 and lots of memory.

[apachacha]

Out of anything else, I think the SGX itself was the largest missed opportunity.

Agreed.  Just think if they'd stuffed the SGX hardware in the Duos.

Reading through this thread that was smething I was thinking about too. The SGX seemed to be thrown out the door the fend for itself and didn't get much support. Surely SGX + CDROM would have been able to pull off some better games. Not sure what the cost would have been but I'd really liked to have seen a game utilizing the combo of SGX + CD + Arcade Card. You probably could have made a killer port of Mortal Kombat that would have put all other console ports to shame. Not to mention all the other great games that may have been possible.

I'd be afraid to touch something like that, in fear of accidentaly blowing up the world

[Arkhan]

and not to mention how much the whole setup would cost.

I'm not sure that it would've been prohibitively expensive, based on the cost of the Mega-CD with its extra 68000 and lots of memory.

oh, I was picturing the supergrafx + supercd megaunit9000.

So, the vacuum cleaner setup, condensed down into a tiny doodad with arcade card built in.

yknow, I wouldn't even care if it was expensive.  That would be f*cking awesome.

[nat]

Faussete Amour is a good, very unique platformer for the Duo.

Then of course there is the Valis series, the Axe series and the Bonk series among tons of varying quality one-off titles. I'd take the Bonk series over the Sonics (Sonic CD aside) any day.

Ha ha, we have very different taste, my good man.

Agreed.

To me, Bonk is decent, but if I were making a list of my top 5 favorite games ever, Sonic 3 and Sonic CD would both be on there. I love Sonic 1, as well.

Sonic CD is the only worthwhile Sonic IMO, not to derail the thread, but only to clarify my earlier statement about choosing Bonk > Sonic. I'm not sure any of the Bonk games OR Sonic CD would make my top 5 favorite games ever, however.

As for Valis and Faussete Amour, well, I think they sum up the PCE-CD in more ways than we'd like to admit - great visuals, but not a lot of good action to be found.

I'll disagree again here. The Valis series certainly has its low points (*cough* Valis II), but there is plenty of great action to be found in the rest of the games. Maybe super-high-speed runs through levels are a prerequisite for "good" action for you, but not me.

[SignOfZeta]

Regarding the SGX surviving long enough to be built into Duos...


Shit like this never works, and this would have been no exception. In many ways the SGX dying as bizarrely fast as it did (I'm sure it was effectively killed before it was even released) was a blessing.

If the SGX had taken off, then we would have been in a tricky situation. Were previous owners of PCE systems supposed to basically bin their old systems purchased just two years earlier? That would suck, especially considering the price of the SGX, and the CDROM2 (planed from the begining) combined. I'm pretty sure sales of PCE in that early period were some of the best the system ever saw too. It would have been suicidal to shit on that customer base.

Of course the developers could have made everything a Darius style hybrid HuCard, but everyone who understands the concept of rational thinking knows that this wouldn't have been worth it either. For the SGX's super powers to truly be taken advantage of you'd need to build the games from the ground up to be the best they could be. A hybrid card isn't going to make the most of either system. Software designed to scale up and down to different power levels and configurations always suffers. The biggest advantage of consoles is that you know EXACTLY what every user has so you can make the absolute most of the hardware, down to last byte and CPU cycle. A hybrid HuCard is going to lack running under one or both modes.

The SGX shits in the face of the entire "core" concept that the PCE was based arround. You can't upgrade to the SGX like you can with different system cards or CDROM addons. You have to chuck your 25,000 yen system and buy another one, and for what? Power upgrades that to this day haven't been proven to really be worth two shits, let alone another $200 on top of the price of another PCE (most of the hardware in which, owners of standard PCEs already bought once).  If SGX capabilities were something that could be added to any PCE, and eventually incorporate into Duos for free (like the Super System eventually was) then yeah, f*ck yeah, obviously that would have been awesome. Unfortunately the dipshits that created the SGX made a setup where that was impossible.

The SGX died so that we could have a non-fragmented user base during the SuperCD and HuCard eras, and it was totally worth it. The best PCE soft came during the periods when most users were all on the same page, hardware-wise. The PCE already has the most confusing matrix of system configurations in history, adding SGXCD, SGXSCD, and SGXACD to that list would have meant less customers, less software, and probably, honestly, worse software.

Also, f*ck Mortal Kombat. It would have sold a few systems in America, sure, but then what? MK2, MK3, f*ck that. Some things just aren't worth the psychic price.

[nodtveidt]

Did not the SuperCD "fragment" the CDROM userbase? Not a hell of a lot of difference.

[lord_cack]

I think, to be perfectly honest, the biggest opportunity to have "the biggest lost opportunity" for the PCE has yet to happen, and can be prevented.

Mind Rec, Aetherbyte, Frozen Utopia....

A few years back Mind Rec gave us 2 game, Implode and Meteor Blast. But they have PC Gunjin in the works, an RPG.

A couple of years ago Aetherbyte released Insanity and is working on Retrocade, a collection of Classic Arcade Remakes. Making nice strides in just getting NEW Turbo/PCE material out there. Also, I'm sure Arkhan has the potential to do more games.

Frozen Utopia has Mysterious Song Remake, and a Platformer, Jungle Bros. in the works. I also know for a fact that those aren't the only titles that Frozen Utopia has the potential to make.

So really, I think the greatest potential loss for the Turbo has yet to happen. The loss of some great games that have yet to be released for this system.

[nodtveidt]

Frozen Utopia also has a brawler in the vein of Final Fight in the works, for those people who crave a good scrap.

[nectarsis]

A few years back Mind Rec gave us 2 game, Implode and Meteor Blast. But they have PC Gunjin in the works, an RPG.

I don't remember hearing/seeing about their RPG.  Last I heard the other 2 are aiming more at the 360 (and MAYBE still for the PCE).

[nodtveidt]

They announced an RPG a number of years back but nothing ever came of it. As far as I know, MindRec has already pretty much left the PCE scene and is doing the 360 and I think mobile stuff now.