Messages

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: New Computer Express (UK) PC Engine 2 - Hudson, Namco 16 news (plus SuperGrafx)]

Something else I wanted to point out, notice how these two articles are very similar in what they're reporting.

EGM #3 September/October 1989


New Computer Express - November 11, 1989


And then the SuperGrafx articles from each, written by the same dude.

Not identical, but some of the same wording. "a quantum leap forward from the old Engine".

New Computer Express January 1990


EGM March 1990

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: New Computer Express (UK) PC Engine 2 - Hudson, Namco 16 news (plus SuperGrafx)]

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: New Computer Express (UK) PC Engine 2 - Hudson, Namco 16 news (plus SuperGrafx)]

EGM #6 and #8

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: New Computer Express (UK) PC Engine 2 - Hudson, Namco 16 news (plus SuperGrafx)]

I don't think it was a misunderstanding (it's possible) but EGM also reported on it, and then like them, linked it to the PC Engine 2.

Electronic Gaming Monthly's early SuperGrafx coverage was also similar.

EGM #2






EGM #3

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / New Computer Express (UK) PC Engine 2 - Hudson, Namco 16 news (plus SuperGrafx)]

https://archive.org/details/NewComputerExpress053/page/n3







https://archive.org/details/NewComputerExpress062/page/n0

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: C&VG + The Games Machine (UK mags) on the SuperGrafx]

There were a total of 4 issues of Electronic Game Player in 1988,  issues 2 and 3 are extremely rare and they've not been scanned & uploaded online, AFAIK.

Now, from issue #4

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: C&VG + The Games Machine (UK mags) on the SuperGrafx]

It's been awhile since I've posted anything.

Check this out, from EGM #18 - January 1991




What the editor said here in reply to a letter was true, about Quartermann breaking news on the PC-Engine in July 1988
with a picture of R-Type (in Electronic Game Player magazine, the forerunner to EGM).






Sorry for the blurry pics, I could only do Youtube screen captures of a collector thumbing through 3rd issue of EGP.
I've never ever been able to see it before, since nobody anywhere has scanned the issue.

So yeah, not the first western magazine to cover the PC-Engine, but perhaps the first U.S. magazine to do so.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / This is quite lovely]

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / GameFan scans of PCE-SCD Castlevania -|- Dracula X: Rondo of Blood]

As much of it as I could find, anyway. I'm sure there is some I missed, and would appreciate any help finding more. Basically all issues of Diehard GameFan are now on internet archive: https://archive.org/search.php?query=GameFan

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Diehard GameFan 'Graveyard" segment on Ghouls 'n Ghosts]

Daimakaimura looked very un-Makaimura-like and felt like some random outsourced team made it. Although I've been lucky to live in hardcore gaming areas all my life, I've yet to see a Ghouls 'n Ghosts arcade in person. So when it came out for Genesis, I was disappointed thinking that Sega licensed out the brand and slapped together a GnG follow up that was so far off the mark.

It's close to being a special game, but needs tweaks to some of the randomness and misc stage design and a complete aesthetic overhaul. I'd love to play a polished reimagining with good versions of the better elements mixed in with authentic feeling GnG visuals, faster balanced gameplay and proper GnG music.

The Mega Drive version of Daimakaimura is my favorite, as it fixes much of the gameplay issues and is the most fun to play.

Chomakaimura had more of an arcade-Capcom and Makaimura look to it and the base gameplay taken out of context feels much more true to the original. But it's also a mixed bag and the tedius parts totally break the GnG flow.

Makaimura is fast and steady and fluid. It has beats and is paced well like Wonderboy. Each small section of each stage feels like its own place and you memorize the feel of them without trying. Each little stretch is satisfying to pass and the music matches the pace and drives you along.

Wardner is the closest any game has come to matching the more satisfying core elements and feel of Ghosts 'n Goblins, while actually being much slower and methodical and a signature feel of its own. Each tiny stretch is memorable and satisfying, the music is absolutely perfect and matches the game and a handful of stages also feels more substantial and a world of its own compared to most games.

The one thing I don't like about both Ghosts 'n Goblins and Wardner is that you get punished at the end of the game if you don't end up with the right weapon along the way.

Black Tiger, I have a somewhat different take -- Maybe only because Daimakaimura (Ghouls 'n Ghosts) was the first game in the series I played.  I experienced the Genesis version first, in early 1990.  Then towards the end of that summer, I saw and played the arcade version at a Six Flags, which had multiple small arcades all over the theme park. I was pretty astonished had how much better it looked. Around the same time I saw EGM's coverage of the SuperGrafx port. 









But the main point I wanted to make was, Daimakaimura / Ghouls 'n Ghosts was made as a direct sequel by Capcom Hapan in 1988. The second game for their CPS-1 hardware (the first being Forgotten Worlds). Most people felt it was a very worthy successor to Ghosts 'n Goblins, featuring fastastic 16-bit arcade graphics and faster gameplay.  I do understand how it's somewhat different in play style than Makaimura / Ghosts 'n Goblins, a game I didn't play until many years later via MAME (and the NES version).

Chomakaimura / Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts for the SFC/SNES to me seemed more like a direct-to-home console sequel. I remember EGM first revealed it as Ghouls n' Ghosts 3 in late 1990. It was a prototype and had many graphical differences from the final game.







Anyway, your feeling about Daimakaimura vs Makaimura are all valid. I think it really comes down to what game one played first in earlier years of life.

Finally, 1CC play through of both Ghosts 'n Goblins and Ghouls 'n Ghosts at the Galloping Ghost Arcade near Chicago.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Diehard GameFan 'Graveyard" segment on Ghouls 'n Ghosts]

Guy predicted the swarm of "remastered" games and sequels we're getting nowadays.

Gamefan did a multi-page spread on an unofficial "remastered" Ghosts 'n Goblins that the developer hoped to sell to Capcom. That got them threats of legal action much sooner than they inevitably would have anyway. One of the many ways Gamefan pissed off major publishers.

Any idea what issue that might been from?  I think I do remember that unofficial 'remastered" Ghosts 'n Goblins game -- it was by Retro FX Studios.

Edit: I found the GameFan spread.

From Volume 08 issue 01 - January 2000.







Then, there is this fan game, Ghosts 'n Demons, which is obviously much more recent.

Pretty neat. I want to play it.

There's also Maldita Castilla on PC and Xbox.

I dunno, I think I prefer the look of Ghosts 'n Demons a lot more.

Have you noticed that virtually all of these remakes, fan/indie games (released or not) have tried to re-imagine Ghosts 'n Goblins, but never its sequel Daimakaimura - Ghouls 'n Ghosts?  Even the official Capcom PSP game, Ultimate Ghosts 'n Goblins from years back, felt more like the first game than the sequel.  The only game that even attempted to put in some stuff from Daimakaimura was Capcom's arranged version of Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts for the Game Boy Advance (Chohmakaimura R).

What I would like to see is a proper remake of the arcade Daimakaimura in high quality 2D artwork, on the level of Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Diehard GameFan 'Graveyard" segment on Ghouls 'n Ghosts]

Edit:  May this never get 'lost' again. It was a real b*tch trying to find it, with almost no good clues online as to what issue it was in.

Edit: And just to have it all in one place, the rest of GameFan's SuperGrafx - Graveyard articles.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Son Son II - in western magazines]

CVG was like the Euro version of VG&CE right?

Not exactly, no.

I wonder if I could find something about Son Son II in my Video Games & Computer Entertainment mags.  ;)

Thanks!!

I'll look to see if Video Games & Computer Entertainment has any coverage.

EGM mentioned "Son Son 2" in their second full issue.



I'd like to check if the Fall 1991 issue of Super Gaming had a review, but can't find any scans of it.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Son Son II - in western magazines]

CVG - June 1989



The Games Machine - August 1989



Super Gaming - Summer 1991

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Retrogamer #172]

No problemo!

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Retrogamer #172]

It seems they did. I probably shouldn't post the entire article, but here are the bits where you are quoted.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: C&VG + The Games Machine (UK mags) on the SuperGrafx]

SGX Engine-You are doing God's work, thank you.  What a treat it is to see all these old printings again, and some are even new to me.  Print is forever.

I don't know if it will help your arduous task at all, but there is a playlist on my YouTube channel titled 'Retro Magazines'.  I went through every issue of ZERO, C+VG (Mean Machines section), Sinclair User, ACE, RAZE (they covered the PCE heavily) and The Games Machine (what a magazine) and anything PCE will be shown.  Although way too small to read/enjoy and thus screen grab, the videos are there for a reference anyway, if needs be, for those mags.

JAPJAC - Thank you for mentioning your YouTube channel.

The 'Retro Magazines' playlist is making what I wanted to do, in finding PCE articles, considerably easier, it's excellent as a reference.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: C&VG + The Games Machine (UK mags) on the SuperGrafx]

I wish I could read French... Joystick issue 8 - September 1990.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: C&VG + The Games Machine (UK mags) on the SuperGrafx]

C&VG April 1993 









Some notable errors though.  PC Engine released October 1987, not August 1988, and the SuperGrafx never made it to the states, not "barely made it" unless you count imports!

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: C&VG + The Games Machine (UK mags) on the SuperGrafx]

And more!








Jumping ahead some years: CVG PCE Salamander review.



Bonus -
Jumping back again some years, C&VG Salamander and R-Type arcade reviews

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: C&VG + The Games Machine (UK mags) on the SuperGrafx]

It's really time consuming looking for PCEngine articles in all these UK magazines, but Retro CDN and Google's internet archive are valuable resources.  I continue to search for more, perhaps others could help out as well!

Edit: from ZZap!64 issue 48 - April 1989.



and May 1989.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: C&VG + The Games Machine (UK mags) on the SuperGrafx]

I found this article in the March 1989 issue of Crash Magazine.







(the mentioned PCE give-away)

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: C&VG + The Games Machine (UK mags) on the SuperGrafx]

I have more for you all!

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: C&VG + The Games Machine (UK mags) on the SuperGrafx]

Not being from the UK, these are great for me to see for the first time.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: C&VG + The Games Machine (UK mags) on the SuperGrafx]

I wish I could get the other page of the article from TGM April 1990, looks like there was a mail-in flyer over it when it got scanned.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / C&VG + The Games Machine (UK mags) on the SuperGrafx]

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Neo Nectaris EGM² scan]

I recently finished the iOS version on my iPhone.  Tough but fair 

[General Gaming / SUPER BOMBERMAN R opening cinematic (Nintendo Switch)]

English and Japanese versions.

.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Neo Nectaris EGM² scan]

I think EGM2's layout was really nice as well.

Neo Nectaris is very english friendly, just a couple of things to learn to know how to move without committing to a move / attack and everything is basically specs in number values.  Awesome game.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Neo Nectaris EGM² scan]

No problem.

Happy New Year!

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Neo Nectaris EGM² scan]

This wasn't by any means easy to find.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: NEC PC-Engine and Sony PlayStation 4 console families]

PC-Engine LT and PS4

To me, the PS4'2 is just another SG1000/Mark III/Mega Drive or PSX/PS2/PS3 console, but instead of changing the name to PS5 they added Super Pro to the title.

Well PS4 Pro is fundamentally not a new generation, it's definitely not even remotely close to what a PS5 should be.  The CPU is only 30% faster, same AMD Jaguar x86 cores. The amount of GDDR5 RAM is the same, 8GB. The memory bandwidth is only about 25% higher.  The GPU is 2.3X more powerful (double the # of Compute Units, from 18 to 36 combined with higher clock, from 800 MHz to 911 MHz) so the biggest gain is going from 1.84 TeraFlops to 4.2 TF.

The original PS4 in 2013 was about ten times more powerful than PS3 and had 16 times the amount of RAM (512 MB to 8 GB = 16X).

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: NEC PC-Engine and Sony PlayStation 4 console families]

PS4 and Turbo Duo

The original PS3 was designed like a Duo. Otherwise the Sega consoles are the closest thing to PCE.

So, I'm not suggesting the PC-Engine and PS4 consoles look anything alike, that wasn't the point.

It's just that the idea of the PS4 Pro, what it is, reminds me of what the SuperGrafx was, to some extent -- a beefed up version of the original console, with twice the graphics processing power and the same CPU.

The TurboDuo series, the PC Engine Shuttle, PC Engine GT and PC Engine LT, are not analogous to Sony's PS Vita, PlayStation TV, PSVR, or PS3.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / NEC PC-Engine and Sony PlayStation 4 console families]

PC-Engine and PlayStation 4





CoreGrafx and PS4 Slim





SuperGrafx and PS4 Pro




Nice, ya? 

[General Gaming / Re: Sony to release its own PS4-SuperGrafx]

So yeah.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Ys Book I & II - Ys III: Wanderers From Ys reviews from VG&CE]

Here's EGM's review of Ys for the Sega Master System.



I recall wanting a role playing game for SMS during 1989. 

I was looking at Miracle Warriors, Ys and Phantasy Star. Honestly, Phantasy Star seemed like obviously the best choice.  I'm sure most would agree it was by far the best RPG on Sega's 8-bit console. At that specific time, The TurboGrafx-16 had not yet released in the U.S. although I was aware of the PC-Engine but the TurboGrafx-16 had not even been named or slated for release here. It soon would be though.  To me, this new PC-Engine system seemed like a distant Japanese system, wonderful, but unobtainable for someone like me, who only recently got a Master System that year.

When I had fully learned about the Sega Genesis and TurboGrafx-16 with CD-ROM, I could only dream of playing Phantasy Star II and Ys Book I & II on those new systems.  It would eventually happen, but not until 1990.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Ys Book I & II - Ys III: Wanderers From Ys reviews from VG&CE]

Cool, thanks NightWolve.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Ys Book I & II - Ys III: Wanderers From Ys reviews from VG&CE]

Video Games & Computer Entertainment magazine reviews. Hope you enjoy these 

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: NEC TurboGrafx TurboDuo VHS Promo Video]

[General Gaming / Re: Sony to release its own PS4-SuperGrafx]

Sony exec Andrew House confirmed the existence of the new, more powerful PS4, often referred to as PS4K and PS4 Neo or Neo PS4.

House called it "a high-end PS4"

However it won't be shown at E3.

http://www.cnet.com/news/sony-confirms-high-end-ps4-is-coming-but-it-wont-be-at-e3/
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2016/06/sony-ps4-neo-confirmed-e3/
http://www.ign.com/articles/2016/06/10/ps4-neo-confirmed-wont-be-at-e3

"We want to ensure we have a full range of the best experiences on the new system that we can showcase in their entirety."

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: NEC interview on SuperGrafx & Power Console]

You know what I think would have been a cool SGX game release game? R-Type. It was such an attention-getter on the PCE 18 months before. Why not give Japan the all-in-one 512mb 512KB Hucard that the US got, have the player sprite and bullets drawn by the second graphics processor to eliminate flicker, and split up the tiles a bit to get dual-layer scrolling like the arcade version? Assuming they had the assets saved (and judging by their release of R-Type CD years later, they did), I would imagine that one programmer and one artist could knock that out on a fairly short time-scale. Call it "R-Type Perfect" or something.

Yeah I think that would have been a great idea. Then SGX would be launching in November 1989 with Battle Ace and R-Type, giving the system a better impression for gamers and devs like.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: NEC interview on SuperGrafx & Power Console]

Galaxy Force, After Burner, Thunder Blade, Out Run, etc were the type of games suited to the SuperGrafx, especially if the higher-end capabilities had made it, along with that controller.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: NEC interview on SuperGrafx & Power Console]

The Super Famicom never came to the U.S.

Super NES though  O:)

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: NEC interview on SuperGrafx & Power Console]

Have you guys seen any of this homebrew SuperGrafx demo stuff?

Edit:

I need to edit because the one thing I would love to see and would pay for, is a game like Phantasy Star 3 on the SuperGrafx. Some sort of huge classic RPG with multiple scrolling backgrounds like this game had. Gawd I would kill for something like this and maybe use the Arcade Duo card with the cd-rom attachment to up the ante even further.

Pretty neat IMO.

Edit:

Heh, that's a kewl idea.  Welp, this is the best I could do. When you mentioned Phantasy Star III and SuperGrafx, I remembered this edition of International Outlook in EGM.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: NEC interview on SuperGrafx & Power Console]

Awesome work.

From an American reader's perspective, these articles from Electronic Gaming Monthly are right in line with the subject matter of that interview, and also what western readers probably expected from the PC Engine 2 / SuperGrafx (16-bit processor, scaling and rotation, better sound capability).

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: EGM's worst LIE [You know what this is about]]

The spec tables were completely messed up, I just enjoyed these for the pictures 

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: EGM's worst LIE [You know what this is about]]

EGM even printed that though the Turbo was 256x216, the SuperGrafx was more colourful with a palette of 4096, but with a screen resolution of 160x146.

I remember them reporting the 4096 colors, I don't recall them reporting that resolution. Sounds like they just grabbed the specs for the Lynx (which only ever put, like, 6 colors onscreen).

[General Gaming / Re: Sony to release its own PS4-SuperGrafx]

I'm just surprised they mentioned and showed the SuperGrafx !!

[General Gaming / Re: Sony to release its own PS4-SuperGrafx]

This article and video was just put up by IGN within the last day.

PlayStation NEO: How It Could Fail

"The TurboGrafx-16 (called the PC Engine in Japan) was a late-80s Japanese console that beat Sega and Nintendo's 16-bit models to market. The console was designed to be expandable, with compatibility built into its tiny Core Grafx base that encouraged CD-ROM based expansions, upgraded video output, improved sound, several varieties of RAM expansions, and optional internal storage memory. The console was actually a big hit in Japan."

"But manufacturer NEC didn't know when to quit. The company kept creating more and better hardware expansions for the platform, eventually producing a fragmented market. The design culminated in the massive Japan-only SuperGrafx spin-off, which was a colossal failure."

"Worse, NEC couldn't duplicate its initial Japanese success when it came to the US. The expensive variety of hardware iterations fragmented the market and added extra cost at a time when the Genesis and SNES promised simpler solutions. While the TG-16 had some spectacular games, poor marketing, high prices, and a market fragmented by expansions and competitors doomed it."





http://www.ign.com/articles/2016/04/20/playstation-neo-how-it-could-fail

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: EGM's worst LIE [You know what this is about]]

Is that article for for real? or just been photoshopped?

That's some funny shit.

Totally real. I had that issue of Game Fan. I also remember EGM commenting on it shortly after.