Messages

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: How did Japanese developers create their artwork?]

The PCE can put so many colors on screen at once ... but you often don't see anywhere near that many displayed in games, especially early ones.

That's something I've always been wondering about too. The gap in graphics between early PCE and late PCE games were so huge!
early games really looked more like an NES/FC plus. Arguably comparable or worse than early Gen/MD games.  But towards the end, some really awesome stuff came out that looked very comparable to mid.. and sometimes even late era SNES/SFC games with its rich palette. Xanadu 2 for example, looks like a Square game.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: What games did you wish had been ported to the PCE/TG-16?]

Speaking of Samurai Showdown,
would the PCE have problems including the entire roster?
Both the Genesis and the Sega-CD versions (programmed by two totally different teams with different results) removed Earthquake. Perhaps too large to handle?
the SNES version had him but the sprites were scaled down significantly.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?]

yea, but theirs are in a released Crystalis fansequel, so they kinda one upped you.

Point taken, I never finished my old RPG maker projects...

that's interesting. I thought RPG Maker only did rpgs, not action rpgs

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?]

Crystalis

It's a damn shame they never made a sequel. When SNK made it big with the Neo-Geo, I was really hoping for a 16-bit  sequel.

Best action rpg of the 8-bit era

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: What games did you wish had been ported to the PCE/TG-16?]

how about in addition to listing what games you wished were ported, how well could it be ported over keeping in midn the PCE's capabilities?

After watching a long play of Area 88. if they based it on the arcade version.. the game is entirely horizontal, so I think the PCE-CD version could use horizontal line scrolling to mimic the arcade's parallax scrolling. I also think it would be closer to the arcade's larger sprite size and resolution compared to the SNES and of course better music of CD based.
If they based the game on the SNES version, I think it would be nearly the same, except perhaps the cave stage which has a lot of vertical parts.

I really wonder how Konami would do a Contra game on the PCE-CD, keeping in mind how awesome Rondo was. I felt their games really pushed both the Sega and PCE to their limits, it would've been awesome if they made it.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?]

I loved the Sega Saturn!
I began as a Nintendo fanboy. Atari and NES were my first systems but I was hardcore NES and SNES nerd as a kid.
at that time I did have a slight interest in the Turbografx because Sears always had it on display and I'd play it while my parents went shopping. But they refused to buy me another console.

Some time later, when 32 bit was about to arrive and things got cheaper, I finally I gave the Gen and Sega CD a chance (but what I really wanted was a Turbo, but they were now gone), but was let down by the sound in many of the games (lesser colors wasnt so bad). I purchased it solely for Phantasy Star series, Shining Force, Lunar, and Sonic 2. 

By the time the 32 bit era arrived.  I decided to break from tradition and went for the Saturn first, while most of my friends went for PS1. At first, I had some buyers remorse because 3-D Polygons were the big thing back then, and PS1 games used it better. I was like, why can't the saturn version of Toshinden look as good? I eventually ended up buying a PS1 as well.

However in the end I played my Saturn 2 or 3 times more. Later on the Saturn had some games that I felt had better polygonal graphics, like Virtua Fighter 2 and Sega Rally. I also had this dual  mod saturn (a store put in some additional circuitry or something where you switch it from US or JPN).. and this greatly expanded my library.

I stuck to games that didn't require much Japanese at first, mostly fighters and shooters, then started learning Japanese.

in the end the PS1 AND Saturn's polygonal games aged poorly but Saturn's 2D games were fantastic. Arcade ports were much much better and had less loading times. My favorite fighter was the Saturn exclusive, Groove on Fight.

RPG wise, I think I logged on far more hours on Dragon Force 1 and 2 than the FF series on PS1.
I also liked Iron Storm (Daisenryaku), a WW2 strategy game. Its what led me to translate daisenryaku for the PCE-CD 10 years ago.
 
On the regular tv, the Saturn looked a lot sharper, with better contrast and colors. the PS1 had this blurry look (like how the Sega Genesis was).

Best of all, the Saturn was far more reliable. Never had any hardware problems with it, Just had to replace the battery every now and then. I had to completely replace my PS1.

I know some people complain about dithering used on the Saturn, but back then, they looked transparent due to the technological limitations of the TV.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?]

on the subject of 16-bit era, which consoles were the easiest and hardest to program for?
for example in the 32 bit era, Saturn was infamous for its difficulty to program for due to the multiple cores, and the PS1 being relatively easier.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?]

Whichever one was before the internet ruined everything.

what one is that

I like that one.

I feel that would be the 32 bit era and up. Not that it was needed often, because games at that time began introducing super long tutorials and introductions, and challenge dumbed down significantly.

the 8 bit and 16 bit era, we had to go to the bookstore and look up EGM, strategy guides, etc.
Between those two I liked the 16 bit era more since things were a bit more intuitive where as the 8 bit era had some ridiculous difficulty or really random secrets.. Like Zelda II's house in the forest or the house that grew in an empty area.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: What games did you wish had been ported to the PCE/TG-16?]

Similar thread: https://www.pcengine-fx.com/forums/index.php?topic=20980.15

My picks would be a fancy multi-player Tetris, more Neo Geo ports for the Arcade Card (King of the Monsters!), more multiplayer brawlers (Final Fight, Simpsons, and TMNT) and more run n guns (Contra and Bucky).

Thanks, I'm still relatively new in this forum and figuring out the threads!
Since there's already an arcade port wishlist.. maybe this one can be a console only port wishlist?

Since some Konami games came out for PCE.. would like to see a Contra game. They nailed Castlevania, I would imagine they could make a great Contra one too!

since Hudson soft was one of the main guys for PCE, it would've been nice if they brought Milon's castle over too

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?]

The diversity and polish of the 3 sacred 16-bit consoles gets my vote.

yup same here the pc engine was the first console that got me started into importing.  2D graphics were the best then followed by Saturn era.

oh man, that was a difficult one for me too. I really loved my Sega Saturn, much more than my PSX.

But at the end of the day I also chose the 16 bit era. The rivalry between the systems was really intense and great (SNES vs Gen in the US, SFC vs PCE in Japan). Ports weren't perfect so it was fun comparing them. I started with 8 bit but games weren't refined, music was just ok.. but the 16 bit was really polished.

The main thing I feel swayed me over towards 16 bit over 32 bit was that the 32 bit era was the first big jump into polygons that aged really poorly.  Also everyone was doing that early CG thing that I really hated (donkey kong, mario rpg, etc). Also in Japan, the mid 90's to late 90s era of anime art work, with its big hair, extremely pointy faces, extreme eyes, overly long legs.. was the worst imho.

These days when I see people mentioning pixel art, 8-bit art, etc what they really mean is 16 bit art.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / What games did you wish had been ported to the PCE/TG-16?]

What game that appeared in arcades or other consoles, did you wish see ported to the PC-Engine and CD / TG-16?

for me:

Area-88/UN Squadron: A number of Capcom's CPS1 games were ported to the PCE, and surprisingly Area 88 only came out on the SNES/SFC and some lesser known computers. I always thought it would have been right at home on the PCE. maybe a conversion that would be more like the arcade, with two players, rather than the single player version found on the SNES port.

KOF 94: This one never came out on any of the 16-bit systems. I think with the sheer amount of characters, it might be only limited to cd based consoles like the mega-cd or pce-cd.  ram limitations probably might limit in-round character swaps, and resort to going round by round matches. but I feel the PCE could've done it.

what say you guys?

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Which is your favorite retro gaming era?]

I started gaming from the 8-bit era, so the 8 bit to 32 bit were parts of my childhood while the ps2 and beyond came out when I was an adult.

of these older retro consoles, which was your favorite era?

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Popful mail, anyone got it working on OpenEmu?]

I don't know anything about openemu, but open the cue file in notepad and make sure the filename is correct. Nine times out of ten if I can't get a bin/cue to work it's because of a bad cue file.

thanks! and you were right!

In another forum, some one sent me their working CUE, and it worked!
I still don't know why though. When I went through a text editor at his cue and mines, it was almost exactly the same except spacing.

in any case glad to get quick help here and glad I got this game working!

it is very interesting how different this, the sfc, and sega versions are!
I'm going through all three simultaneously
but finding the sega and pce versions more fun (with PCE being a little bit easier with its Ys style control and bigger map space), and the Sega having more complicated mechanics.
the SFC/SNES one has nice use of colors but some how the graphics aren't interesting (too washed out?) and my biggest problem is the stage design (boring and less exploration focused), and the hit detection. Good music though

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Popful mail, anyone got it working on OpenEmu?]

thanks for the reply.
and yup! I don't have trouble loading other pce-cd games like fatal fury special or art of fighting. but popful mail.. i'd load it and it'll say error. downloaded it from two different sites. maybe its the site?

works just fine off emuparadise

maybe update your openemu?

Unfortunately I also got it off the same site and openemu is at the latest version.
When dropping the cue file inside, it simply doesn't detect it. when dropping the ISO inside, it detects it but says "cant load rom". maybe i'll try re-installing openemu.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Popful mail, anyone got it working on OpenEmu?]

Yes, just tested it out with Popful Mail

Did ya follow the steps?

1. Click the rom file (ends in .rar) and use RAR extractor
2. Go into finder and search for the .cue file
3. Drag .cue file into openemu
4. Should load it up right away

thanks for the reply.
and yup! I don't have trouble loading other pce-cd games like fatal fury special or art of fighting. but popful mail.. i'd load it and it'll say error. downloaded it from two different sites. maybe its the site?

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Popful mail, anyone got it working on OpenEmu?]

Just got a mac and enjoying OpenEmu's interface more than retroarch.
Generally no problems but can't seem to get Popful Mail running.
Has anyone else been successful?

[General Gaming / Re: Policenauts on Saturn translation project complete]

yes finally translated!
unfortunately my Saturn isn't modded to play burnt games
I guess time to d/l a Saturn emulator.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: List of all PCE translation projects.]

I personally did the translation for Aoi Blink and Super Daisenryaku which you can find here: romhacking.net/community/57/

However this was over 10 years ago. The romhacking I did was very basic (no pointers or anything, just had to fit everything within the existing space).

Since then, I've stopped romhacking and forgot how to do it, but my Japanese has improved significantly since I moved to Japan. Maybe some time early next year if I complete all my real world projects, I might attempt a translation. but I'd prefer to do the translation and let some one else do the romhacking.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Are there any numbers for total PC-Engine software sales?]

Specifically the Japanese market including all variants and add-ons for the PC-Engine.
So far I could only find the total for the consoles but not the software.

[General Gaming / Re: Nintendo Switch Thread (previously NX)]

what would Konami make for the Switch. I thought they were leaving the console software business and focusing on Pachinko and its gyms

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: At what moment did you realize the PCE was magical and/or awesome?]

When I saw the Dragon Slayer demo on the Turbo-cd.

When I first saw the Turbo, it was just the hu-card, and the demos available were always Keith Courage, which was kinda meh.

Dragon Slayer didn't have great graphics or anything, but it was the sound that impressed me.
It was the first time I heard CD audio on a game. Plus I was heavily into RPGs so that was also a plus.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Official PCE games that are 80-100% in english and no/little japanese required]

a bit of self promotion,
many years ago, I translated Daisenryaku (a turned based modern war simulation game) into English. It was mostly translated. There were a few bits of untranslated text I found, but I never encountered it when playing to completion several times. So I left it at 0.99

http://www.zophar.net/translations/pc-engine/english/super-daisenryaku-cd-.html

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Turbo/PCE vs Genesis/MD: RPG library]

I always thought Renovation games were really hit or miss.
I think maybe some liked it due to its anime style graphics and character design and music.
game play was usually just ok or bad. like doomsday warrior or el viento

[General Gaming / If you could only choose between two consoles (4th gen), which would it be?]

I saw this on reddit and thought it would be fun.

For me personally, the 4th gen of video game consoles were the most interesting.
Graphics became more detailed and colorful compared to the 8-bit era. Even retro style games on mobile apps, dorklybits, etc that claim to be 8-bit are really imitating this 4th gen era of graphics.  Music/Sound were beginning to sound more like actual music (and especially so with the CDs. The gap between arcade and home was closing. Games, especially RPGS, began developing more complex story lines with characters we could really feel.

If you could choose only two of the consoles of the 4th gen, what would it be for you?

[General Gaming / Re: STREET FIGHTER II - 25 YEARS! (Anniversary)]

I remember the first time seeing it.

it was the first game in the arcade that consistently had a long line.
I was a kid, and all the guys in line were teenagers, so I couldn't see over them.

I decided to stand in line and eventually tried it out (although there were lines of quarters on there too, which I didn't understand yet.

I got my arse kicked quickly..but I never experienced such a game like it.
Sure there were other head to head martial arts games and I remember SF1 with its big mashing buttons..but they sucked.  SF2 was so awesome.

It was the only arcade game where I spent so much money, and kept whining to my dad to take me to any place that had the unit. I didn't care if it was normal or CE, I just wanted to play. Hell I even played it in shady areas against gangster guys, who'd always beat me and tell me to stop wasting my quarters and learn the moves. Eventually I learned the hadouken but could never do the Shoryuken.
There were no gamefaqs back then so when I asked people, they'd give some weird explanation like (do 1/8th of a circle).

one day, I got my Nintendo Power in the mail..I think it was a March or April issue..and I saw the previews for SF2 for the SNES.  I was so excited..but that wait to summer was too agonizing. I'd  look at that preview picture for days.  Since I lived in an area with a lot of Japanese-Americans, we had import stores and they had the SFC version. A lot of my friends were buying it along side with an adapter. But those stores knew how popular it was and demanded $100 for it! my parents refused to pay that much and told me to wait.

Eventually I got it and played the hell out of it. I accidentally did shoryuken by doing two haduokens..but finally figured out it was f,d,f punch.  However I had a taste for the arcade and wanted to play the bosses so badly. Ended up buying a game genie which the store said I could play as the bosses. it sucked so bad.

[General Gaming / Re: SUPER NINTENDO 25 YEAR ANNIVERSARY!]

I got the snes first thing it came out. My parents very reluctantly bought it.
Pack in game was SMW. As I set it up they were watching to see what they invested into. The first stage of mario I tried (aside from Yoshi's house) was Yoshi Island 1. While i thought it was cool "look, mario has more colors and there's parallax scrolling.. or moving background as I would call it"..

my parents immediately said "we wasted hundreds just for a game that looks no different from mario 3!?".

they refused to buy me any more new snes games until UN Squadron.  My dad happened to like the arcade game, so he was willing to buy it for me.

As my parents watched me load the game.. the intro blew us away! the sound was so good and especially loud! when I got to the 2nd stage (the stealth bomber in the clouds), I was like wow.. more moving backgrounds, large sprites, so much awesome music.  They were finally convinced it was a big upgrade from the NES.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Pat & Ian video on TurboGrafx-16 Failure - What Could Have Saved It?]

this brings me back memories.

I vividly recall when the Turbo and the Genesis first came. the Turbo was everywhere, Sears had it, and a bunch of electronics stores (which are all gone now) had it.

I had the NES for about 2 years around then. It was fun, but I was always left longing for more arcade level graphics. That was the thing.. how can we get arcade quality at home?

The Turbo's case, I thought, looked cool and my friends and I really liked the hu-card design. it looked so simple and less cumbersome than the NES cartridge which was always flaky.
However the game on display was always Keith Courage. The game itself wasn't bad, but being kids who were influenced by the arcades.. the first thing we wanted to see were graphics. Keith Courage, while being better than the NES, didnt seem so much better. It didn't wow us. It definitely should've been either Bonk which was funner, or a game that showed off its graphics, like Legendary Axe. and also a 2nd controller port.

The Genesis at that time, had a Altered beast and some other arcade games and those really looked impressive and next gen. So some of my friends started buying them. For me and many others.. Altered beast is ok, but it didn't feel really re-playable or offered the same level of freedom of movement like a good platformer provides, like Mario. So it was still a little meh. It wasn't until Sonic game out that people around us felt that the Genesis was a must have.

But by that time the SNES came out and it as the obvious choice for everyone. It was now a battle for those who had the luxury of buying a 2nd console. Sonic really turned heads because no one experienced a game that had such speeds.

I didn't look back to the Turbo until the CD came out. By that time, maybe only half of the  stores carrying the Turbo had the CD. The two games I saw were gates of thunder and dragon slayer.  By this time, I had the SNES for a year or two. GoT was nice, but I was an RPG nut, so I was more impressed by Dragon Slayer. It was the first time I realized a video game could have CD quality music. That left a really big impression on me. I had really wanted the turbo cd at this time.

Unfortunately by the time my parents had saved enough money, all the places that sold the turbo either stopped selling it, or went out of business. so I went Sega.

[General Gaming / Re: What was the most popular non-Nintendo and non-Sony console in Japan?]

Gah, this *obsession* with sales figures and "wining" against something. It's isnane. It doesn't matter. Quit it.

As for cultural influence I'd say PCE. The Saturn was great and all but I feel the PCE had a larger and more significant impact. In 2016 I don't think there's much influence left from either.

cultural influence was another thing I'm most interested in too.
I've been living in Japan for several years now, but was not here in the early 90s to directly experience the 16 bit era (my favorite era of gaming).  A lot of the people I know are too young (most began in the 32 bit era), or not gamer enough (tons of people had a super famicom.. but were casual gamers. I even received a free super famicom from a model who played it in her childhood, but all she had were sailor moon games that she couldn't beat).

looking on the internet I found several fun stuff (all in Japanese)
and it seems there was a PCE vs MD rivalry for (which was the best 2nd system to own).


I don't know which magazine it is from, but it seems to be from a decade ago. (scroll to the right)

Summary:
PCE associated with otaku types who love anime, games involving young girl characters, slippers held together by tape, etc. the Sega guy was an apple guy, tech freak, and a bunch of old era terms that I don't know (like TAR, etc)

another was this blog from a retro girl gaming idol


http://blog.livedoor.jp/tokyozukananno/archives/50953144.html
and
http://blog.livedoor.jp/tokyozukananno/archives/50955181.html

basically she summarized
image of MD: black, looks large and bulky but is actually light, American, profound.
she had good experiences with Gunstar Heroes, The super Shinobi, splatter house series, silky lip (never played this, is it good?)

image of PCE: cute and small, light and easy to move, definitely feels like a Japanese machine
she liked wondermomo, galaga, among many others. the feed back in the comment section is also full of nostalgia

[General Gaming / Re: Trying to create a list of PCE alternatives to GEN/MD top exclusives]

I might be in the minority but when I tried Shubibinman 3, the first two things I thought of were Megaman and Actraiser. the way he swings the sword in particular, reminded me of actraiser.

[General Gaming / Re: Trying to create a list of PCE alternatives to GEN/MD top exclusives]

So the only way to recommend a long list of games to someone is to first find out what their unique taste and tolerence is.

http://vsrecommendedgames.wikia.com/wiki/TurboGrafx-16
http://vsrecommendedgames.wikia.com/wiki/TurboGrafx-16/TurboGrafx_CD

Kinda surprised this resource has never been mentioned on the forum.

This is a great example of the problem I described. People sorting games into some of those broad genre titles are going to be very disappointed if they randomly pick the ones which don't play anything like the genre.

I don't disagree, they're not supposed to be exactly the same. but its supposed to use something familiar to introduce people some one to something that has some similarity (game play, genre, or theme).

As for Sonic, not looking for something that plays like Sonic, but  very good and fun platformer. The only one I can think is the Bonk series.

[General Gaming / Trying to create a list of PCE alternatives to GEN/MD top exclusives]

I've always felt the PCE was a very underrated console. Yet it did very well in Japan, if only people in the west knew more about these games, I think the PCE would be better appreciated. I certainly am learning a lot reading through this forum.

If one was to offer people who are familiar with Genesis titles a game that is similar (game play, theme, etc) on the PCE, what would you recommend? Focusing on exclusives only (so no Snatcher, Fatal Fury Special, Lords of Thunder, etc).

A list of top exclusives on the GEN/MD and what I think might be a good alternative on the PCE

Sonic series - ?
Samurai Showdown - Martial Champion or Flash Hiders
Shining Force Series - Louga series
Phantasy Star Series - Cosmic Fantasy Series
Gunstar Heroes - ?
Streets of Rage - Crest of the Wolf
Beyond Oasis - Ys 4
Crusader of Centy - Neutopia
Comix Zone -- ?
Ranger X - Spriggan
Lunar - Legend of Xanadu Series
Shinobi series - Kaze Kiri
Castlevania bloodlines - Dracula X
Monster World IV - Sol Moonarge
Keio flying squadron - Sapphire? Sylphia?
Mercs - Mystic Formula

[General Gaming / Re: What was the most popular non-Nintendo and non-Sony console in Japan?]

The English Wikipedia article has incorrect information about PC Engine sales figures. We had a big dumb thread about it.

Multiple Japanese sources during and after the PCE's life corroborate that there were 3.92 million Hucard systems sold in Japan, plus roughly one million Duos and one million CD attachments (1.92 million combined).

We also have it from the horse's mouth that the TG-16 only sold around 750k units outside of Japan and CD/Duo system sales were all but negligible.

Altogether, it makes for 5.8 million independently playable systems sold worldwide.

Sega Saturn sales were, according to the Japanese Wikipedia article, exactly 5.8 million in Japan alone.

If you're curious, the original Xbox sold only 500k, and the 360 sold ~1.6 million.

If you're willing to expand into the PC world a little, the MSX at 4 million and PC-88/98 systems at (who-knows) are serious contenders.

thanks! that would mean the most popular non nintendo and sony console in Japan is virtually a tie between the PCE and the Saturn.

I was also surprised to learn about the hu-card vs cd sale. I had always imagine the cd system being very close to the hu-card in total sales since it was so popular.

Also means the Megadrive (at 4.3  million in Japan) was just 1 million units behind, rather than half.

[Localizations, Games, Apps, Docs / Re: Megaman PCE thread]

Yeah, the goal is to upgrade the graphics. Like I stated in the other thread, PCE sprite ability is already hacked into the emulation code in a WIP build. Allows one to upgrade sprites as they go, yet leave other sprites as is until they're ready. A mixture of NES sprites and PCE sprites (sounds simple, but is has to handled via video emulation and the original game engine). The tiles will be upgraded in a similar way. It won't have the full power of the PCE, but it'll be more than the NES emulation as is. CDDA track code is in the WIP build as well. ADPCM code is next. And probably a simple but new PCE sound engine (I have a few lying around), if you can find someone to redo the tracks in a more PCE PSG spec'd format.

I'm the new guy here and I think what you are doing is super cool. Played Megaman to death when I was a kid and even joined Capcom's Megaman club ($30 and all you got was a poster and some inside info on MM4)..

What about using the sprites from the Genesis/MD version? I thought they were nice. The only let down of the Genny remake was the speed and especially, the music.  But if you made it a CD based game like the MM1 conversion, I'm sure there's a ton of nice remade songs out there you can use?

on the subject of capcom, I'd love to see a PCE version of Area 88 / UN Squadron

[General Gaming / What was the most popular non-Nintendo and non-Sony console in Japan?]

I am guessing it would either be the Sega Saturn or the PC-Engine and its add ons.
However looking at wikipedia, I was surprised Sega Saturn sales in japan were only 5 million (slightly below the N64) and quite a bit below the PC-Engine (I think 8 million).

But this 5 million figure seems to stem from a late 90s magazine article, which I think may not be the best time to measure total sales as I'm sure the saturn was still being sold (but in its declining phase) by then. Are there any other updated figures?

In the game stores here in Japan, as far as second hand goes, it does seem there's quite a bit more used Saturn games to be found than PC-Engine.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: how could some PCE games achieve parallax scrolling?]

I think someone was hacking the Ninja Gaiden rom to kill the scrolling, if I recall, wonder what happened to that?

I hope this is true, the backgrounds, details and color are so much better on the PCE than SNES remake

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Turbo/PCE vs Genesis/MD: RPG library]

Sorcerer's Kingdom is also a pretty decent tactical RPG for Genesis, not really that well known either.

speaking of strategy rpgs/ tactical rpgs.
how many were there on the pce?

I can think of just Langrisser 1

Some more:

Louga
Louga II
Solid Force
Sword Master
Lady Phantom

Louga looks good! its a shame there's so little videos on them on youtube. even on NicoNico, there were only a handful. (I hate using Niconico, only premium users can skip around)

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: how could some PCE games achieve parallax scrolling?]

I know one of the PCE's weakpoints was that 1 background layer that made it difficult to achieve parallax scrolling, but it seems some games were able to do it

like this part of dracula x

or this stage of gates of thunder

how could they do it, while say, ninja gaiden could only achieve a really choppy one?

That's a link to Lords of Thunder, not Gate of Thunder.

 The PCE can do "parallax" style scrolling just like most 16bit systems; that is to say it divides sections of the background to scroll a different speeds. This can be done up to a single scanline to have the effect of "linescrolls".

 What you're referring to is overlapping parallax. And that's obviously something more complicated to do with only one background. Like others have mentioned, sprites are often used to small overlapping parts.

 Just look at the Dracula X example you listed. Everything is made up of a single background layer as different speeds. Only the pillars holding the bridge are overlapping, and they are sprites.

 But as you're probably aware, you can only have soo many sprites on a single display line before flicker or blankout happens. There's another technique called dynamic tiles. Lords of Thunder does indeed use them in some places, but definitely not as common as it uses sprites for overlapping parts.

 One great example of dynamic tiles in Lords of Thunder, is the sand level wit the giant sand dragon/thing. The sand part is dynamic tiles and allows the dragon's "body" to move back and forth, independent of the multi-scrolling layers of the sand. This is achieved because the sand is a single column of 8x8 blocks, repeated across the screen horizontally. Each 8x8 block in that column is pre-animated to a full left to right rotation.

 Dynamic tiles has a restriction on complexity; both size in storage AND the cpu resource to upload each update per frame. On top of that, sprites can be combined with them for an even more convincing effect (the sand Dragon in LoT does this; the head and tops of spikes are sprites).

 There is another techniques, but they are limited. But when combined in certain ways - allows more complex scrolling. Back ground color scrolling is one of them (the first stage of Magical Chase), or character scrolling (Ys 3). Character scrolling is definitely rough, but at high speeds it can be very convincing if done right.

 Ninja Gaiden on PCE tries to do character scrolling, but messes it up really bad. Normally, parallax designed around games designed from the ground up for the system - tends to look really good. Ninja Gaiden on the PCE kind of a budget title. Ignoring the parallax itself, the background tilework/art is actually inferior to the NES one which incorporates depth to the platforms with less tiles than the PCE (the PCE is fairly flat looking - lacking depth in the side view).

Thanks a lot for the detailed explanations. it was exactly what I was looking for.
Shame about Ninja Gaiden though. I thought scrolling aside, it looked great. Much better than the SNES remake. Very bright colors, details, and use of shading. Stage 2-2 reminds me of one of the Final Fantasy 6 areas.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Mega Man CD for PCE/TG-CD with new metal/rock soundtrack!]

I think this is awesome.

do you think it is possible to use the sprites from the megadrive remake of mm1 and 2?

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Turbo/PCE vs Genesis/MD: RPG library]

Sorcerer's Kingdom is also a pretty decent tactical RPG for Genesis, not really that well known either.

speaking of strategy rpgs/ tactical rpgs.
how many were there on the pce?

I can think of just Langrisser 1

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Turbo/PCE vs Genesis/MD: RPG library]

Is Traysia any good? I always heard it kinda sucked and I avoided it.

game sucked, I hated the graphics and combat system. but I thought the music was okay. story had potential but didn't really come together well.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / How Could Some PCE Games Achieve Parallax Scrolling?]

I know one of the PCE's weakpoints was that 1 background layer that made it difficult to achieve parallax scrolling, but it seems some games were able to do it

like this part of Dracula X

or this stage of Lords of Thunder

how could they do it, while say, ninja gaiden could only achieve a really choppy one?

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Turbo/PCE vs Genesis/MD: RPG library]

since moving to Japan, Ive picked up someones childhood Super Famicom for free! and started collecting for it. Next is either the Genesis/Megadrive or the PCE/Turbo.

16bit RPGs are my fave (standard rpgs, action rpgs, strategy rpgs, etc).

Which of these two consoles (including add ons) had the bigger library? which had the better library?

off the top of my head

for sega: PS2, PS3, PS4, Langrisser 1, Shining Force 1, 2, Shining in the Darkness, Traysia, Surging Aura, Wonderboy 3,4, Beyond Oasis, Exile, Popful Mail, Ragnacenty, Lunar 1, Lunar 2, Vay, Landstalker.


PC-E: Neutopia 1,2, Ys1 and 2, Ys 4, Dragon Slayer 1, 2, Xak 3, Dungeon Explorer, Emerald Dragon, Exile, Fray, Gotzendeiner, Legend of Xanadu


According to this site it seems http://retoro.g-player.com/pc-engine/rpg/index.html
Genesis/Megadrive (including sega cd) - 54
Turbografx/PCE (including the cd) - 90


Since I had the sega as a child (but sold it to get a saturn). Phantasy star 2 and 4 were very memorable. I also really enjoyed Shining force 1 and 2, and Ragnacenty (crusader of centy). I know the genesis got criticized for its sound, but I felt games that utilized its strong bass and either upbeat or techno/fast paced style music, sounded really good.

the PCE, I could only access some of its library when I reached college. I know Neutopia was its zelda clone, but felt it was far less interesting to me than Ragnacenty or Beyond Oasis. the PCEs hu-card music sounded slightly worse than the NES (imho) and I felt a lot of its rpgs didnt push its graphical powers, even the cd ones. That said, I thought Legend of Xanadu looked like a late gen SNES game. Ys 1,2 left a lasting impression. I never finished the 4th one but it looked good to me. There were no strategy rpgs on the system that stood out to me. I'm interested in trying some Japanese language ones now that I picked up the language.
what do you guys think?

[Buy/Sell/Trade / Re: how much should I be spending on a PC-Engine DUO R/RX?]

Looks like it got extended or relisted. Maybe the seller is looking for that 20-30,000 price. Lot of folks scrap YAJ for max flip, you're competing with us even though you live in Japan! I'm curious on that lots description, I do not read moon runes, but google has something about "do not know how to disconnect the card type of software that has entered into, it will be attached in this state". Plus no PSU, so no confirm "working"...

I wonder if some grandma in your "small town" has her sons old PCE sitting in a closet.

lol, stupid me. I should've read it carefully.
Basically he wrote it was found while cleaning in his father's house. There's a lot of unknowns about the state of condition of this item, but it seems to be junk.
guess I'll look at other things

I'm starting to feel like I should just wait until I have another trip down to Tokyo and buy it from a specialty shop that maintains their consoles

[Buy/Sell/Trade / how much should I be spending on a PC-Engine DUO R/RX?]

I'm thinking of buying one over Yahoo Auction in Japan. I don't live in Akihabara, but a small city so we don't have much access to used games.

So far, they seem to fall within the price range of 20,000 to 30,000 yen.
I am thinking of bidding on this which ends tomorrow
http://page23.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/o140540224

looks a bit dirty, but right now it is at 4000 yen

[NEC Console Resource / Re: Hello from Japan]

Welcome, comrade

Yes, you can play Necromancer (HuCARD) and tell us if it is a game worth translating into English.

Thank you.

I played it a long time ago and thought the game was hard. I realized later that they remade it on the Nintendo DS. I thought it was cool you could choose your own party though which was rare for a late 80s rpg. I think only Ultima had that back then.

[Localizations, Games, Apps, Docs / Re: Xanadu I and II - General Translation Project(s) Thread]

Great! you know, one of the main reasons why I want to buy a PC-Engine DUO is because of this series!

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: PCE, SNES and Genesis, screen comparison.]

Great thread! I love these comparisons thread because I often owned multiple consoles of the same generation and was always at a loss when trying to choose a multi platform game.
From the first few pages (based on not just screen shots, but trying the game either in person or via emulators)..

Tokimeki Memorial - PC-Engine hands down. The SFC has smoother blending of colors and gradients, that is for sure. the SFC chip music sounds better than the times the PCE uses its chip music. But at the end of the day, Tokimeki Memorial is a game that highly relies on its anime style story telling. The PCE version has a larger resolution, animated scenes, more sprite animation, etc that tells the story better. Also note that in many background images on the SFC, the locales are empty. Looks like people are dating in a ghost town.

Emerald Dragon - Back when I did romhacking, Emerald dragon was a game I wanted to translate, but couldn't due to limited skills. I'm glad some one else picked it up. I thought it had really good graphics that reminded me of an SNES Enix game like Terranigma or Illusion of Gaia, more so than a Square game (this was before the merger). Then I learned of the PCE-CD version. In pics it does look the SNES/SFC version is better with more details, but when playing the PCE-CD version and watching videos of it.. the PCE-CD is also good. The different use of colors gives it a different feel, despite similar lay outs. It reminds me more of a late end Genesis RPG like Shining Force 2. Overall prefer the PCE again. The graphics advantage over the PCE is not that huge and in fact I'd say its apples to oranges. But the PCE has better music, animation, voice acting, etc that tells a better story.

Art of Fighting: I'm going to start by saying Takara often did lazy ports of Neo-Geo games to the SNES/SFC. Take a look at John's stage in the SNES version. The helicopter looks awful and lazily drawn. The floors are also awful. The only bright side to the SNES version is smoother scaling and the music.  While Takara did a sloppy job on graphics, they often did remixed versions of the music for the SNES versions. Some were so-so, but some were superior to the original. For example Mr. Big's stage.
The PCE version has the best graphics of the 3 16-bit home ports. Also the best music. But that zoom is awful. The Genesis version also had better graphics than the SNES version, and it had better animation and even incorporated parallax scrolling not in either two. But the voices were awful, and the music just so-so. However I liked that it didn't use the zoom feature. Overall I'm going to say a tie between the Genesis and PCE version, SNES last.

World Heroes 2: The SNES version has better voices and sound effects. PCE with larger sprites and it seems more animation. Music is better too. I think I'll give this to the PCE

Parodius: This one SNES hands down. Better music. Graphics are pretty comparable overall.

[NEC Console Resource / Hello from Japan]

Hi everyone!

The reason why I came here is because I am interested in starting a PC-Engine Duo collection!

When I was young and living in America, I lived next to this game store that sold a lot of imports.  I had a Super Nintendo at the time and was heavily into RPGs. I would often go to the game store to stare at Final Fantasy 5 gameplay. I was fresh done with FF2 (4) and wanting more.  I went every other day, hoping that FF5 would come out to the US. I was so into how it was bringing back the job system.

That wasn't the only thing that caught my eye. Next to the FF5 display, there was the PC-Engine Duo (or Turbografx cd, can't remember). It was playing dragon slayer and some other CD based RPG games. It was the first time for me to hear how a CD based game sounded and I thought it was awesome. So I often came to look at PC-Engine CD games as well.  Around the same time was the big Street Fighter 2 craze. People were lining up. One of my friends, while tired of waiting in line suggested "hey lets go to my friend's house, he has Street Fighter 1!". Thats when I saw the American version of the PC-Engine CD.

in the end..I couldn't get a PC-Engine CD as my parents said I already have an SNES. and neither did FF5 ever come to the US until later.. and SF1 sucked.

It wasn't until 4 years later I could afford a new console. By that time I moved to a different state where there were no import stores and no one carried the TG-16 anymore. So I bought a Genesis and a Sega-CD because of Phantasy Star and Shining Force.

When the 32-bit era came.. I was so excited for polygon games.. but it led me to do one of the greatest regrets of my life.. and that was selling my entire SNES collection to get the PS1, and my entire Sega Genesis collection to get the Saturn.  After that i refused to re-sell my retro consoles (so I still have my PS1, Saturn, Dreamcast, PS2 and PS3).

Now I live in Japan and I also picked up Japanese (N1 level). I've been thinking of buying a 16-bit console again as it was my favorite and most memorable era. Ive been thinking of getting the PC-Engine Duo and collecting all those games I've always wanted like Xanadu, Dragon Slayer, etc, and some of those fighting games. I'm not as interested in the Hu-card games to be honest (but the hu-card only console runs around 3000 yen which is cheap and the design of the console is cute and compact).

Thus I came here to learn about hardware problems and longevity issues of PC-Engine DUO consoles and cds.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / any problems with Disc Rot?]

I live in Japan and thinking of buying a PC-Engine Duo.
Since it's been over 20 years since it first came out, how is the disc rot?
I know some consoles have that problem more so than others, like the Dreamcast.

anyone have a large pce-cd collection can tell how well their cd's have held up?
also any thing else I should keep in mind when buying the Duo?
I've read some guides that the Duo R is the best one to go for as the other ones have problems with their caps.

thanks!