The systems colors and sound were what persuaded us to get one back in 1989. Our only regrets is that the system had not been properly supported, it was a fine console and truly belonged in the 16 bit category.
The Supergrafix was basically a PC engine with a second video display controller and a new video display encoder that could handle two video display controllers and had some additional stuff for dealing with priority of the sprite and tile layers. Each VDC provided one background layer and 64 sprites that shared the same sprite and tile pallets. Because of this developers didn't have to learn a completely new system it was just a PC engine with an extra background and sprite layer and 2x the sprite pixels per scanline. It was 100% compatible with PC Engine software and Supergrafix games could even be designed to also work on the PC Engine. I've never understood why it failed so hard (and it failed really, really hard) because on paper it looks like it would be a slam dunk.
Price. At JP¥39,800 it was just way too expensive for what it did. One year later, the more powerful Super Famicom would come out at JP¥25,000 and NEC was really slow to drop the price of their machine leading to a death spiral.
Love this console. Never played it as a kid. I got a PC Engine as an adult for about $45. I liken it to the Saturn, a console that failed in the west due to marketing and not the console itself or its games. The Japanese and CD libraries are a must to get the full experience, but it’s definitely worth it.
@6:31 About the Mega Drive's palette: the shadow and highlight modes technically extended the palette to around 1500. But those modes weren't used all that often - examples are the Sonic water levels.
The OG Bonk's Adventure, The Legendary Axe, Ninja Spirit, Neutopia, Blazing Lazers, Gate of Thunder, Y's Books 1&2. This system was the first system I bought with my own money and I loved it dearly. The advertising was nothing short of embarrassing, truth be told. NEC/Hudson/TTi really didn't understand the American market.
I’ve got a European TG16 that I bought new old stock off EBay maybe 15 years ago. Great system! Like you say it’s the colours that really make it pop, way ahead of its time in that respect. Great video.
I got my first PC Engine in 2009 and it quickly became my favorite system. It turned me into a shmup fan and motivated me to pick my Japanese studies up again. The language barrier for most games really limits what you can get out of the system but even then it's well worth it. The colourful graphics still amazed me sometimes.
Nec went about the CD drive pretty wisely by releasing it so early in the systems life... In Japan. They screwed the pooch by delaying it in the west, or not just releasing the Duo to start with. It would have differentiated them from the SNES and Genesis.
Absolutely cannot argue with this, although did use a pretend bitmap for the pretend bitmap display on Gunboat but it's obvious how that was done as there were enough characters to cover the third ofa screen that was needed
Right, let's go over a couple things here, the system launched in America as the TurboGrafx-16, I believe in only two cities, and while a PAL TurboGrafx does exist (without the 16), I'm reasonably sure it was only available via mail order, and only in a couple countries, and no PAL games were ever released for the system, so PAL TurboGrafx owners would have to import their games from America. The CoreGrafx was a Japanese model, the only difference between it and the regular PC Engine is that it included AV-out whereas the original PC Engine only had RF output. Anyway, I've been working with the PC Engine's soundchip for the past 10 years now, and I can tell you, you can use all 6 channels pretty restriction-free, all of them can have unique wavetables playing simultaneously, be panned individually by any amount, heck, you can even play pre-recorded samples on all 6 channels simultaneously! You weren't limited by RAM because the system streamed the samples directly from ROM, as it had the fastest ROM bus of the 4th generation, twice as fast as the SNES and Mega Drive! No, the main limitation with playing samples on the PC Engine is that playing samples eats into CPU time, and that the samples themselves take up A LOT of storage, that's why you mainly saw them used in CD games. And I've also made graphics for two homebrew games for the system (Cleopatra's Curse and Strife Sisters) and I'm reasonably sure the Video Colour Encoder is responsible for the system's 32 palettes, whereas the Video Display Processor handled both the 64 sprites and the tilemap.
Thank you for another informative video. I had a Turbo Grafx16 for about 1 year, that I purchased new at the $99 US bargain closeout price and a lot of games at blow-out prices too. I regret not keeping that thing now, as it was truly an incredibly underrated console.
Man, the PC Engine is a graphics and sound monster for the year. Impressive! Too bad the (late) re-packaging into the TG-16 was so poorly handled. If only I'd known what this machine was really capable of back then...
Im amazed you didnt mention the mos 6502 processor was also the same as the main CPU of the NES. Its a slightly different revision but basically the same.
i had the handheld pcengine, turbo express, it was the best handheld bar none, the pc engine had so many excellent games. i know there was a mini out a while back, but is it being reissued? i hadn't heard anything?
Yes I had an imported PC-Engine with the CD add on which really made the system. Funny thing I saw the launch and games for the Turbografx and thought it sucked not realizing my PC-Engine was the same system...
@@Retro48K526 No harm with that. I was just wondering about it. Never managed to get my hands on one of those minis, lol. So I guess part of me was hoping it would turn out to be a new printing of them.
Great video. disagree on your last point. Although there was the PC Engine, Core Grafx, Core Grafx II, the Duo, The Duo R and Duo X they could all play the same games assuming you had the proper system card. I might give you the Super Grafx but that was a failed system.
I can still remember the first time I saw the PC engine. My friend showed me Gunhed (Blazing Lazers). And I was blown away. It felt like being in the arcade. The graphics, sound and amount of sprites on screen was just as good as any arcade shooter at the time. So when the Genesis finally came out I was disappointed. The graphics didn't look as good because Sega's machine can only display 64 colors onscreen.
dunno if this is specific to Android, but if you open the Gear icon on the video, under "Quality", "Data Saver" is an option. "Data Saver" is also a system wide option in the "Network & Internet" Settings on Android.
You know... in 1987 im sure this was amazing side by side the NES... but that sound designed was just destined to be all sorts of fail. Sample based sound generators with the worlds smallest amount of ram? how was that ever going to work?
The systems colors and sound were what persuaded us to get one back in 1989. Our only regrets is that the system had not been properly supported, it was a fine console and truly belonged in the 16 bit category.
I feel like the tg16 was really a 12bit machine and not a 16bit one. That's why it sucked so much rancid butt.
@@jinstinky501 HAHAHA!
@@jinstinky501 That made my day!!
Did the conversion of Turrican for this back in the day and it was indeed an absolute joy to work on.
We rented a TG16 from the video store after buying a SNES. We bought our own soon after.
The Supergrafix was basically a PC engine with a second video display controller and a new video display encoder that could handle two video display controllers and had some additional stuff for dealing with priority of the sprite and tile layers. Each VDC provided one background layer and 64 sprites that shared the same sprite and tile pallets. Because of this developers didn't have to learn a completely new system it was just a PC engine with an extra background and sprite layer and 2x the sprite pixels per scanline. It was 100% compatible with PC Engine software and Supergrafix games could even be designed to also work on the PC Engine. I've never understood why it failed so hard (and it failed really, really hard) because on paper it looks like it would be a slam dunk.
Price. At JP¥39,800 it was just way too expensive for what it did. One year later, the more powerful Super Famicom would come out at JP¥25,000 and NEC was really slow to drop the price of their machine leading to a death spiral.
Expensive, design was stupid and too massive. They should've squeezed it into the OG PC Engine size.
Love this console. Never played it as a kid. I got a PC Engine as an adult for about $45. I liken it to the Saturn, a console that failed in the west due to marketing and not the console itself or its games. The Japanese and CD libraries are a must to get the full experience, but it’s definitely worth it.
Can we all agree that "PC Engine" is the best name for any of the 8/16-Bit era machines?
Seriously it’s such a cool name.
I think so.
It sounds like a big deal
It needs an X in it
what does the PC stand for
@6:31 About the Mega Drive's palette: the shadow and highlight modes technically extended the palette to around 1500. But those modes weren't used all that often - examples are the Sonic water levels.
The OG Bonk's Adventure, The Legendary Axe, Ninja Spirit, Neutopia, Blazing Lazers, Gate of Thunder, Y's Books 1&2.
This system was the first system I bought with my own money and I loved it dearly.
The advertising was nothing short of embarrassing, truth be told. NEC/Hudson/TTi really didn't understand the American market.
The console totally passed me by, always been curious about it though.
Keep meaning to pick the mini up.
NGL, I love this channel, partially because it sounds like you're keeping it low to let your wife and kid sleep. Subscribed.
I’ve got a European TG16 that I bought new old stock off EBay maybe 15 years ago. Great system! Like you say it’s the colours that really make it pop, way ahead of its time in that respect. Great video.
I got my first PC Engine in 2009 and it quickly became my favorite system. It turned me into a shmup fan and motivated me to pick my Japanese studies up again. The language barrier for most games really limits what you can get out of the system but even then it's well worth it. The colourful graphics still amazed me sometimes.
Nec went about the CD drive pretty wisely by releasing it so early in the systems life... In Japan. They screwed the pooch by delaying it in the west, or not just releasing the Duo to start with. It would have differentiated them from the SNES and Genesis.
Absolutely cannot argue with this, although did use a pretend bitmap for the pretend bitmap display on Gunboat but it's obvious how that was done as there were enough characters to cover the third ofa screen that was needed
Quite frankly it's amazing. Imagine they started design on this 3 years later, they'd produce something akin to the Neo Geo.
Never knew anyone that actually owned a TG16. When I did get chances to play it in stores, I never found any of the games compelling.
Right, let's go over a couple things here, the system launched in America as the TurboGrafx-16, I believe in only two cities, and while a PAL TurboGrafx does exist (without the 16), I'm reasonably sure it was only available via mail order, and only in a couple countries, and no PAL games were ever released for the system, so PAL TurboGrafx owners would have to import their games from America.
The CoreGrafx was a Japanese model, the only difference between it and the regular PC Engine is that it included AV-out whereas the original PC Engine only had RF output.
Anyway, I've been working with the PC Engine's soundchip for the past 10 years now, and I can tell you, you can use all 6 channels pretty restriction-free, all of them can have unique wavetables playing simultaneously, be panned individually by any amount, heck, you can even play pre-recorded samples on all 6 channels simultaneously! You weren't limited by RAM because the system streamed the samples directly from ROM, as it had the fastest ROM bus of the 4th generation, twice as fast as the SNES and Mega Drive!
No, the main limitation with playing samples on the PC Engine is that playing samples eats into CPU time, and that the samples themselves take up A LOT of storage, that's why you mainly saw them used in CD games.
And I've also made graphics for two homebrew games for the system (Cleopatra's Curse and Strife Sisters) and I'm reasonably sure the Video Colour Encoder is responsible for the system's 32 palettes, whereas the Video Display Processor handled both the 64 sprites and the tilemap.
Do the Atari lynx next. Always wondered about that hardware
Every time I click on these videos, I consider how much of a nerd I am.
Don’t worry, you are amongst kin.
@@javelinXH992 I know right ! :D
You’re fine.
Do you really have to keep making these videos. This series is great and it is your thing. It will succeed continuously
Thank you for another informative video. I had a Turbo Grafx16 for about 1 year, that I purchased new at the $99 US bargain closeout price and a lot of games at blow-out prices too. I regret not keeping that thing now, as it was truly an incredibly underrated console.
Man, the PC Engine is a graphics and sound monster for the year. Impressive! Too bad the (late) re-packaging into the TG-16 was so poorly handled. If only I'd known what this machine was really capable of back then...
Im amazed you didnt mention the mos 6502 processor was also the same as the main CPU of the NES. Its a slightly different revision but basically the same.
Awesome I wanted a turbo or pc engine video
i had the handheld pcengine, turbo express, it was the best handheld bar none, the pc engine had so many excellent games. i know there was a mini out a while back, but is it being reissued? i hadn't heard anything?
Yes I had an imported PC-Engine with the CD add on which really made the system. Funny thing I saw the launch and games for the Turbografx and thought it sucked not realizing my PC-Engine was the same system...
Going to bring up this old flame war...but a 7MHz 6502 would blow the doors off a 7MHz 68000. 🙂
Question, At some point will you cover the cd ad on drive?
What do you mean about the PC engine mini just about to be released? I thought they came out years ago.. 🤔
Hell yeah watching this tonight with some whiskey
Please do how the Matell Intellivision worked Thanks ❤ ✌️ 🇺🇸
Where are the sources in the description
I haven’t had chance to list them yet but will get to it
'PC ENGINE MINI is about to come out'? I don't know about that, I think it came out a while back. This a re-upload?
This chanel is not very old, wonder if dude made a ton of videos years ago and is just posting them. Explain how frequent the uploads come.
I am, I had this channel a couple of years back and am releasing my old videos mixed with new helps keep them coming out regularly
@@Retro48K526 No harm with that. I was just wondering about it.
Never managed to get my hands on one of those minis, lol. So I guess part of me was hoping it would turn out to be a new printing of them.
@@Retro48K526 this chanel is a year old according to youtube, did you lost it and made a new one or what?
Core Grafx never came out in the UK
Great video. disagree on your last point. Although there was the PC Engine, Core Grafx, Core Grafx II, the Duo, The Duo R and Duo X they could all play the same games assuming you had the proper system card. I might give you the Super Grafx but that was a failed system.
That console it was the best arcade in home.
I can still remember the first time I saw the PC engine. My friend showed me Gunhed (Blazing Lazers). And I was blown away. It felt like being in the arcade. The graphics, sound and amount of sprites on screen was just as good as any arcade shooter at the time.
So when the Genesis finally came out I was disappointed. The graphics didn't look as good because Sega's machine can only display 64 colors onscreen.
Please add 480p as an option in your video. The Internet costs a lot for me. I watch TH-cam only in 480p to save on data.
TH-cam provides all the other video resolutions, not the video creator.
dunno if this is specific to Android, but if you open the Gear icon on the video, under "Quality", "Data Saver" is an option.
"Data Saver" is also a system wide option in the "Network & Internet" Settings on Android.
Megadrive came out 1 year after PC Engine in Japan not 2 years
11 minutes of "482 colors." How about the audio and what not?
You know... in 1987 im sure this was amazing side by side the NES... but that sound designed was just destined to be all sorts of fail. Sample based sound generators with the worlds smallest amount of ram? how was that ever going to work?