System Profile / PC Engine50 / wfmag.ccF
The eighties console
that, for many in the
British Isles, remained
tantalisingly out of reachPC Engine
System ProfileInterface
System Profile / PC Engine You needed a multi-tap to use more than one
controller on the PC Engine, but games like
Bomberman ‘94 made the peripheral a must. The PC Engine’s 16-bit graphics meant that it
could handle the large, colourful sprites of a
contemporary shooter like R-Type – albeit
with a bit of flicker here and there.or all but a lucky few in the
UK, the PC Engine was a
console that only existed in
magazines. In the May 1988
edition of Computer and
Video Games, two pages were devoted
to this new wonder machine from Japan:
freelance writer Tony Takoushi talked in
glowing terms about the system’s tiny
form factor, its even tinier media (roughly
the size of a credit card), and the quality
of the games packed onto them. Victory
Run, Takoushi wrote, was “the finest car
racing game in the world for a home
micro.” Playing martial arts opus The Kung
Fu was, he said, “like taking part in a film.”
At the end of the article came the bad
news, however: “NEC has no plans to
release the console in the UK at present.”
This set the tone for the PC Engine’s
existence in the UK: first released inJapan by NEC in 1987, the console
appeared in the US as the TurboGrafx-16
in 1989, and a European launch was
widely expected to take place not
long after. But like a mirage, the PC
Engine kept receding from view, at
least for gamers who couldn’t afford a
grey import; Ludlow-based company
Micro Media began placing adverts for
imported consoles in British magazines
around the spring of 1989, with PAL-
compatible PC Engines on sale for
£224.95 and games available for £29.99
each. NEC had talked vaguely about
giving the PC Engine an official release in
Europe – under its bulkier, TurboGrafx-16form factor – and even got as far as
producing a run of PAL-compatible
models for our region. The firm quickly
changed its mind when it saw US sales
begin to slow down, though, and the few
official PAL-compatible systems left over
from the abandoned venture were sold
via mail order in the UK by Telegames.
It was all a far cry from the PC Engine’s
triumph in Japan where, at the height
of its powers, the console captured as
much as 50 percent of its home market,
briefly knocking Nintendo’s all-conquering
Famicom into second place. Even 33
years later, it’s easy to see the PC Engine’s
appeal: its compact design was eye-
catching and practical – the perfect fit
for the compressed space of your typical
Tokyo apartment – while its hardware
made the four-year-old Famicom look
archaic. Sure, it was still an 8-bit console
like its rivals, but the PC Engine’s 16-bit
GPU meant that it could recreate arcade
games like Image Fight and R-Type with
the kind of fidelity the Famicom or Sega
Master System could only dream of.
And while Sega may have been priming
its own next-gen console – the Mega
Drive would launch in the autumn of
1988 – NEC was also thinking ahead, with
its CD-ROM² attachment, also released
in 1988, making the PC Engine the first
home system to adopt the format.
The PC Engine enjoyed a healthy
library of games, too, thanks to prolific