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[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: For those who grew up with imported pce in Europe]

Any other Euro users in here?

Well, as a Northern lad, my "local" PCE shop was in Nottingham.

That was one heck of a long distance shopping trip (by British standards) from Manchester.

Had my very first car accident on one of the trips (trying to take a semi-hidden sharp corner way too fast). 

I was going to pick up the SCART-modded SuperGrafx that I'd pre-ordered from the shop as soon as the SuperGrafx was announced. 

I bought a white PAL modded PC Engine from the SUPERVISION guys back in 1990 at the September ECES (European Computer Entertainment Show) at Earls Court. Those guys were great, they definitely offered the best PAL modded systems at the time that actually output a decent picture and didn't require one of those god awful great big ugly colour boosters. I actually still have mine and I even still had the hand written receipt until recently, but it seems to have vanished. I believe they also had a sister company called SUPERGRAPHICS. They were from Hong Kong as I recall and were definitely one of the better import dealers on the scene in those early days. I mostly used PC Engine Supplies though, but I don't think they had a booth at that show. Or if they did, I couldn't find it. I don't remember seeing Raven Games there either, but I'm sure they must have had a booth. The show was massive and quite overwhelming. My head was spinning by the time I left!

Did anybody else go to those ECES shows back then? They were beyond amazing, literally stuffed with booths representing most of the grey import mail order companies in the UK of the era, selling all of the latest Japanese consoles and games. There were lots of live entertainment events going on, but I skipped all of that stuff and headed straight to the vendor area. I was 14 at the time, so it was a golden age for me gaming wise and I was already an absolutely hardcore Japanese import gamer by that point. My brother and I went there with my dad and our tiny minds were utterly blown by what was on display. Everywhere you looked there were Mega Drives, Neo Geos and PC Engines running the best new games that were available. It was an audio visual overload. I remember it was the first time I ever saw a SuperGrafx or Neo Geo in person and also the first time I laid eyes on a Game Boy (also Japanese import) right before they got released in the UK. I clearly recall agonising over whether to buy a SuperGrafx or an original white Engine, but the SuperGrafx was quite a bit more expensive. I bought a copy of Splatterhouse with my PC Engine and the total was around £250 - £275, so definitely not cheap. Import gaming was definitely not for the faint hearted or gamers on a budget. I remember Splatterhouse had just been released and was a red hot title. I was so excited to get home and fire it up and it certainly didn't disappoint.

Great memories of an absolutely golden bygone era!