Messages

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Pricey games]

Unfortunately Soldier Blade is getting there, not quite over 100 quid yet but very close.

[Off-Topic / Re: Game Sack]

A lot of people hate Atari Karts.  I only picked it up last year and haven't played more than an hour of it.  I actually liked it quite a bit.  It's very pretty and controls very well, but it doesn't have the depth or comedy of Mario Kart.  And I think it's only 2-player max, but I could be wrong about that.

What are your thoughts on the Jaguar controller btw? I really don't like it, to me there is an element of cheapness and bad design in it. D-pad feels mushy, the buttons are so so and its bit awkward to hold. But I don't mind the numpad, in fact I quite like it. Its unique for its time and adds character. Quite useful too.

To Jags credit I must say that after trying the Wolf 3D port after a long time it really is quite excellent. In fact one of the best ways to play the game, even today. Its not like with Doom where the Jag port was great for its time but you have so many better versions to play today,

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: What Turbo game are you currently playing?]

Interesting to read about your kids playing the New Adventure Island Esteban. I think for younger gamers its not an ideal game. It starts out relatively difficult and fast without much time to get adjusted to the controls and gameplay, that leads to a quick frustration. It doesn't have that in-built tutorial like Mario games in their first levels.
I would try Bonk with them, or the later Adventure Island games on Famicom (but not the first one!)

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Bloody Wolf goes for more on PC Engine.... Why?]

One big difference is that back then the actual manufacturing cost of games was pretty high where as its mere pennies now. When you think about it the CD games were not that much cheaper when they first came out.

Atleast in Japan they used to price games based on the ROM-size and possible addition chips, basically how much it costs to manufacture the cart.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Bloody Wolf goes for more on PC Engine.... Why?]

Would be interesting to know about PCE sales figures game by game. But as I understood that data is not really available. I bet the later Hucard games sold in relative low numbers. From my very limited research I also got an impression that 100k - especially for later Hucards - was a smash hit.

I remember hearing that Magical Chase was the best selling Hucard at some point, probably in one specific month. Still strange that the Japanese version is so expensive, I get that the US release saw an extremely limited print run and the demand for the Japanese version comes from there. But there are so many Japan only games without any US release, many of which are likely more scarce than the Magical Chase.

Blazing Lazers is definitely more common than Gunhead, in Europe there were still new old stock few years ago. And also at this point its a fair assumption that the demand for PCE games in general is greater than for Turbo games. For Turbo the market is pretty much North America, for PCE its the whole world, including North America.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Any pce experts or devs know the "true" romsizes of PCE CD games?]

I would be interested to hear about the data breakdown of the CD games. My guess is that since you couldn't really stream data straight from the CD, the RAM was quite a bottle neck.

Tales of Phantasia and Star Ocean were actually 48meg carts on Super Famicom.

[Off-Topic / Re: Game Sack]

In general I do like Gamesack, good production values and just two blokes having a fun banter about games. And they actually dare to have opinions, sometimes even against the general consensus. Could do without the game value references though.

Something like Metal Jesus feels really bland to me, everything is always so awesome and cool. Can't stand the hidden gem thing either. I have nothing against the guy but the channel is just not for me.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Bloody Wolf goes for more on PC Engine.... Why?]

I have noticed this aswell, pretty suprising. Turbo version even has the proper cover art.
As far as I know the only difference besides the text is that the PCE version has limited continues.

[Off-Topic / Re: Game Sack]

Lynx indeed has a suprisingly strong library, relatively speaking. With Jaguar I'm not so sure, can't think of a single game to get the Jaguar for. Id ports are great though, but I would never want to play those games on anything other than PC. The Jag has some good stuff but there are just better ways to play those games.

[Off-Topic / Re: Game Sack]

Oh and I'll have the MSX soon so I was wondering Ark (or anyone that would know) do I need a voltage converter of any kind or am I good to go? I haven't had anything Japanese that's this old so I just wanted to make sure.

You should be ok in the North America but in the long run I would go with a transformer, just to be safe.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Is the PCE craze over yet?]

The all mighty Truxton of Classic Game Room fame Input Truxton, output fun! Btw I have always liked that CGR promotes some obscure Toaplan shooter instead of all the hip games. More like a running gag now though.

I know and to be honest I prefer that version, PC Engine version just seems so difficult that its more like a chore to play it. Just mentioned it as an example game I would like to get if it was cheaper. I'm perfectly happy without it

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Is the PCE craze over yet?]

Sport games are a great value. Its fun to pick up cheap games and try them out. I'm really picky when it comes to games costing over 25euros. For most part I'm all set with my Hucard collection, sure there are few games I would like to have like Tatsujin but most of them are just too expensive and not worth it for me.

[General Gaming / Re: Xbox One]

As a mainly PC-gamer Microsoft sure hasn't given me many reasons to get the system. It is just slightly inferior PC basically. That being said there are few interesting exclusives.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: What Turbo game are you currently playing?]

Currently playing Gunhed, or Blazing Lazers since this is a Turbo thread. Trying to clear the game with only one life. I haven't managed it so far but it really shouldn't be that hard. The last stages are really difficult if you lose your power ups. So it shouldn't be that much more difficult to clear with one life than 1cc.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Is the PCE craze over yet?]

My guess is that this is just the beginning. Fortunately PC-Engine hasn't been covered that much by big name youtubers. I would imagine more people getting bored of the NES, SNES and Megadrive landscape and starting to broaden their horizons. Especially for NES the PCE is a natural followup, in fact that's what peeked my interested in the first place.
When you think about it the pc-engine prices for most part are still fairly reasonable, sure there are some super expensive games like with every system. If you are going for complete copies the PCE shooters are actually fairly affordable considering how good many of them are. Even complete Super Famicom shooters are pretty expensive these days.
This is just about Hucards, no idea about CDs.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: A Thanks to the Guys on This Forum]

Glad to hear you have liked it.
I'm also a fairly new member here and have really enjoyed this forum. I like how the conversation is more focused on games, fixing stuff and playing rather than the endless speculations about game values and collecting. People could use emulation for all I care, the main thing is getting enjoyment out of the PC-Engine.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Bought my very first PC Engine system]

Yeah, Dolphin would be a good example of that, or maybe N64 emulation.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Bought my very first PC Engine system]

Never really cared for Altered Beast, be it the arcade, Megadrive, PC-Engine or any other version. The game just is not that fun for me. Not that its terrible but the gameplay just feels very mediocre. Maybe I don't have enough nostalgia for it.

Certainly agree about CRTs, original hardware+CRT is always great. There is pretty much no lag at all, everything feels so immediate. The change is really noticeable whenever coming from a modern computer/console environment. There are way more pieces in the lag chain than just the display, in a way its a current topic considering the virtual reality experiences.

Besides the speed CRT just looks right to me. I'm not a big fan of the LCD+framemeister+RGB look for retro games, the image and pixels are so sharp that it looks like a modern retro inspired indy game.

RBG definitely looks great but for me the general CRT feel is way more important than hunting down console variations with supposedly slightly better video signals. Also depends on the system, with Megadrive there is a huge difference between RGB and composite, with N64 everything is blurry no matter the connection (although not seen RGB in real life). I have Famicom/NES and PC-Engine hooked up via composite, N64 S-Video and everything else RGB. Thats good enough for me. Although PC-Engine might get a RGB upgrade in the future.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: UK Console power supply's on a PCE Duo]

Yeah, kind of figured that it might not be a good idea. Thanks for confirming.
And I'm "Way Out Running!" ClodBusted

[Off-Topic / Re: Game Sack]

What would a Game Sack episode of unreleased console even consist of? The only reason they can do "Unreleased games" is because of leaked roms. Would it just be an episode of going over specs of unreleased consoles or showing pictures of prototypes?

'Game Sack? More like ballsack am I right?'

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Bought my very first PC Engine system]

I think the OP makes a valid point but used controversial wording. Investment is a triggering word here,  and I can see why. It implies market speculation and profiting.
I think the point that the OP tried to make is that its not the same to buy the latest FIFA/NHL/Madden for $60 than buying lets say Soldier Blade for $100, in 3 years that FIFA will be worth $5 but Soldier Blade will be worth atleast the $100.
I don't see anything wrong with thinking about it that way, you never know what life throws at you and if you need to convert your games to cash its comforting to know that the option is there. 
It goes without saying that the main point should be buying games to play them.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: What Turbo game are you currently playing?]

One PC-engine game that I never get tired of is The New Adventure Island. Been playing it almost daily again. It has that great pick up and play quality to it, like having an arcade game at home. Its not that common with platforming games. I like all the Wonder Boy/Adventure Island games (and have beaten pretty much all of them) but this one just might be my favorite.
Its so simple and fast that it just begs to be played again and again. I usually pop it in quickly and see how far I can make with a single life. Feels almost like playing a good shooter but within the platforming genre, it has the same flow in it.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Bought my very first PC Engine system]

Just don't "Rock On" too literally, that game sucks

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: What Turbo game are you currently playing?]

Bomberman 94 is certainly the best game of the series on PC-Engine.
Overall I'm not sure, there is the brilliant Saturn Bomberman and various Bomberman games on Super Famicom.

Also, glad to hear that your step brother had a good time with the game Gypsy, videogames can be great escapism.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: Modding/building an arcade stick for PCE and SFC]

Interesting, I have to look more into that.
The PSX padhack+adapters can get pretty expensive quickly with more systems added. For SFC, PCE, MD and Saturn it would be around $100 with shipping (+possible customs). For such a rudimentary solution thats a lot.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: UK Console power supply's on a PCE Duo]

I wonder if there are any PSUs with multiple outputs. It would be handy to have a single unit with 4 plugs hooked to Famicom, SFC, MD and PC-Engine. All systems use the same plug and the power ratings are similar too.
 In theory even a simple adapter could do the trick since only one system would draw power at a time.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Yamatoku-Classic Combined Shipping]

I've bought 3 items from dora_ts. The first didn't arrive so I had to get a refund through ebay, I thought I would give them the benefit of the doubt and bought another item which I did receive, so I thought the first time was a one off and bought another which I didn't receive. Now you know what the negative feedback is about.
 I think they list things for sale that they don't have or have previously sold and then hope that people forget they even bought them.
Importing items into the UK is terrible, the customs duty threshold is £15. No wonder I always get the seller to mark the value down.

Ah, interesting. I have bought something like 10 cheap Super Famicom and Famicom carts over the years from him. I have received every item but sometimes it takes really long. Like a month.
Same deal here with customs, seems to be in the most of Europe.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Yamatoku-Classic Combined Shipping]

Agreed. They call it a "service" for the recipient not having to go to the customs office by himself. Even though I didn't even asked for it. Although doing customs stuff by myself would usually add at least one week for the customs slip to be created and posted, and another week to find free time to go there within opening hours. If the parcel isn't an urgent one, I'm fine with having to wait.

Next time, I will just use regular registered shipping without express mail service.

Very similar here in Finland, the threshold used to be 50e but they lowered it to something like 25e. Go above that and a 24% VAT is added. Those are also based on the total price (item+shipping).

Funnily enough Yamatoku-classic has always marked my items of having value of $10-20 without me even asking and almost all of their shipments have dodged the customs.
For customs (and otherwise too) its seems like picking the cheapest shipping is often the best value, unless the item is something really expensive.

Nowadays you can do the customs declaration digitally and it only takes few minutes. I heard that before, when it was done manually the customs system (considering online orders) actually costed more money to run than it generated in tax revenue. Brilliant piece of bureaucracy.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Yamatoku-Classic Combined Shipping]

Still very suprised that they abandoned the auction format, end of an era I suppose. Looking at their buy it now prices I think I will not conduct much business with them in the future. Its probably the time to look at the various proxy bidding services in Japan.

Could well be that they will return to the auction format in the future though, due to the kit not moving.

After looking at the prices more closely I take that partially back, some of the Nintendo stuff is pretty cheap actually.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Turbo games you should like that you don't. My example (Forgotten Worlds)]

Blazing Lazers. I don't know why I don't enjoy it. I like Soldier Blade and Cyber Core all right.

Also, why are vertical shooters less fun than horizontal shooters? I like primitive vertical shooters, like Galaga and Space Invaders, but somewhere around Astro Warrior I loose interest and will play Dead Moon or R-Type over a vertical scroller any day. 

My theory is verticals suck because of the aspect ratio of TV's. It's harder for designers to fill the screen with action when the top of the scrolling direction is smooshed.
-
Also CF2. And not because of the encounter frequency or lack of item effects, but because JRPG's ruined the world.

Vasteel. I dont know what it is about strategy game with hexagonspaces or feature length movies before the game starts, but i cant stand them.

Vasteel is the perfect sustainable strategy game -- good enough to be fun, but not spectacular. I can play a couple games, then put it down and have a life. I also love how it's totally not a Super CD -- some nice touches, but still firmly grounded in the dirty realm of early video games.

That might be due to the pacing issues. Gunhead just feels kind of boring and slow compared against the Soldier triology on PC-Engine. I have always considered Compile shooters a tad overrated.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: What Turbo game are you currently playing?]

I have been playing the Gradius PC-Engine port lately. Its a pretty good effort but not as good as the later Konami releases. Especially considering that the Gradius arcade game was 6 years old at the time.

One baffling thing is that the extra stage exclusive to this version has a ton of slowdown! I mean if you are going to design a level specifically for the PC-engine why not design it according to the system's and programming limitations. Also, the slowdown is so bad in the tentacle stage that I felt like playing SNES/SFC. I think they should have just dropped that level.

Despite those flaws I still enjoy playing this version. And the music is fantastic.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: What Turbo game are you currently playing?]

III with almost  anything. Seems to work best for most situations. I just dislike the first few stages (especially the first one) in Gunhead/Blazing Lazers. Its slow, boring, the pacing sucks etc. Pretty much same issues as with the Super Aleste/Space Megaforce.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Yamatoku-Classic Combined Shipping]

Which is kind of funny. I always bid assuming a seller will not combine shipping cost and that shipping charges from the seller are just part of my final cost.

Yeah absolutely, same here. Although its worth it to send him a message asking about combined shipping or the cheapeast possible shipping. After that he usually knocks few euros from the final shipping fee.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Bought my very first PC Engine system]

I really like the CD-library, PC Engine CD has to be one of the best console addons of all time in terms of quality unique titles. In general I'm not fan of the arranged music though, out of all the older consoles PC-Engine has my favourit soundchip.
I just meant I don't know CDs collecting wise. I only collect Hucards and don't have any means to play the CD-games. So its emulation for me unfortunally.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Yamatoku-Classic Combined Shipping]

There are still some decent auction sellers out there. A shame we lost a big one though.

Yeah, the Dora-something is pretty good, I have got plenty of good deals from his auctions. I wonder why his feedback is so inperfect, always got what I ordered and even a refund once due to mild rust on game cartridge connector.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Yamatoku-Classic Combined Shipping]

I never quite trusted the Yamatoku combined shipping completely. It seems whenever I got really good deals they used the shipping rate to compensate that. Since they didn't have any fixed rates that left them with plenty of leeway. And then there were the shill bidding allegations which in my opinnion were well founded.
Despite all that I still feel I got pretty good deals from them, I used to watch tons of auctions and maybe bid on 5% of them.

Still very suprised that they abandoned the auction format, end of an era I suppose. Looking at their buy it now prices I think I will not conduct much business with them in the future. Its probably the time to look at the various proxy bidding services in Japan.

Could well be that they will return to the auction format in the future though, due to the kit not moving.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Bought my very first PC Engine system]

I don't know about the CD library but considering hucards.
Most of the really good games are atleast moderately expensive and I'm sure you are already familiar with most of them. The best Hucard game in my opinnion is Soldier Blade.

Here are some cheap hucards that may fly under the radar but are still enjoyable. Or more like the cheapest games worth playing without knowing japanese. I haven't checked the prices in a while though. And as someone said before, always worth testing the games via emulation before buying.

Be Ball
Bikkuriman World
Blodia
Bomberman
Columns
Cyber Core
Doaremon games
Dragon Spirit
Dungeon Explorers
Galaga '88 (this has the best price to quality ratio out of all the hucards in my opinnion)
Kato Chan & Ken Chan
Klax
Kung Fu (this one is debatable but I like it)
Majin Eiyuuden Wataru (aka Keith Courage, worth the price of admission)
Momotarou Katsugeki
Ordyne
Side Arms
Victory Run
Volfied
Yokai Dochuki
+various sport games (I especially like Final Match Tennis and Power Eleven)

All 4 Konami Hucards (Gradius, Salamander, Parodius and Twinbee) are solid aswell and I think they still are relatively affordable.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Modding/building an arcade stick for PCE and SFC]

I have been thinking about building or modding an arcade stick to use with PC-engine. The same stick should also work for Super Famicom. Those are the two systems it must be compatible with, various other systems would be a nice bonus.
I already have an extra Mad Katz Tournament Edition fightstick for PS3 gathering dust, the project should be based around that. I have 3 main concerns: lag, compatibility and price.

The most obvious solution for me would be a padhack based around PS1 controller and using various adapters from Tototek. I have understood that those adapters add next to no lag. They have a wide selection of them each priced at $20, so for $40 (+shipping) I could build a stick with support for PSX, PCE and SFC. And there would be an option to add more adapters in the future, like MD and Saturn. Button mappings seem sensible too. Are there any reasons why this might not be a good idea?

The other option would be to use one of those multi-PCBs, but I have some concerns about the lag and compatibility. Since I really only need PCE and SFC the padhack seems simpler.

[General Gaming / Re: What games did you beat in 2017?]

I think R-Type is a very methodical shooter, the kind where you carefully and slowly make you way through the game. Dragon Spirit is more chaotic and the hit box is way bigger.

[General Gaming / Re: Best of the Sega Saturn]

And with N64 I feel it gets too much credit for its limited library but by no mean is it a bad system, quite the opposite.

[General Gaming / Re: Best of the Sega Saturn]

With Saturn I feel most of the games I would really like to play are the fairly expensive ones. For good and affordable games I would look at the entire SEGA first party library. Most of those games have better versions or superior sequels elsewhere though. Layer Section is also a high quality affordable shooter.

[Buy/Sell/Trade / Re: FS: PCE Christmas Bizarre! Shootemups (CD/HuCard) and more!]

Someone got a good deal on the Image Fight. And a free bump

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: More Turbo Games out on WiiU VC Today]

They just keep releasing these although WiiU is all but buried. Shame they don't do these for 3DS, would be a better fit and it might be fun to buy few shooters and practice them on a go.
Also choice of games is sometimes fairly dubious.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Why a "Run" button?]

Didn't bother to read the whole thread, and I'm sure its already been mentioned but it has to be a reference to computers as the name PC-Engine was. At the time NES was aging and games on various computers were seen as way more advanced, I'm sure NEC as a computer manufacturer wanted to bring that point home.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Soldier Blade!]

In my book the best game of the system. Gameplay, sound/music, pacing (surprisingly many shooters get this wrong), graphics and the overall feel. Hudson at its absolute best in my opinion.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Why didn't Rare get into Turbob?]

Considering Rare, yeah they made few high quality NES games but generally speaking they blossomed during the SNES and N64 era when they had full backing of Nintendo. Besides, there are very few quality western developed titles on PC-Engine/Turbografx.

This is a fair point, The fact that NEC and Hudson generally were too slow to try to win the western market may, in fact, be why rare wasn't approached to develop for the PC engine.  but more than that it was simply that Nintendo had a strong hold on many developers at the time, Rare perhaps more than anybody and NEC/Hudson wasn't willing to outspend Nintendo to get many of them on board.   

Rare had the full backing or almost full backing during the NES years as well.  Also, the SNES/64 is where I personally feel Rare gets too much credit sometimes. They were practically missing from the SNES early and released only 8 games 3 of which were Donkey Kong (Arguably some of the best games of the era I'll give you that) and 2 Battletoads games. They produced way more NES Titles and B) they produced N64 titles that were also late in the systems, and most were not exactly home runs.  Yes, they essentially refined the blueprint for the modern day 1st person shooter, with Goldeneye but that's it as far as amazing from rare on the N64.  Banjo - while good wasn't anything new, same with Diddy Kong racing, conker was more adult themed but not exactly groundbreaking for gameplay.  Jet force, DK64, Perfect Dark, and Killer Instinct while good games weren't and still aren't games that are amazing.  Not that Rare wasn't great during those years it's just that nostalgia for Goldeneye and Donkey Kong Country create a bigger than life picture of greatness sometimes.  I would personally say they blossomed during the NES years and then polished and created a few of gamings most memorable games during the SNES and N64 years.

For me Diddy Kong Racing was one of the best games on N64, superior to Mario Kart 64 both technically and gameplay wise, also very innovative. Although I agree to some degree that Rare gets too much credit for their N64 games, the thing is, N64 in general gets too much credit for what it was and besides Nintendo Rare was pretty much the only company that kept releasing quality titles for it. Most of their N64 games have not aged that well but they do have a very high level of polish and refinement. Considering their 3D-platformers I agree, Mario 64 still reigns supreme. I would go as far as to say that DK64 was a big disappointment.

[Off-Topic / Re: Game Sack]

Great stuff as always.
Future episode suggestion: PC games. I would like to see a PC game episode from you guys. Could be vintage DOS games, older Windows games, Steam games or what have you. Stuff that you (mostly as  console gamers) might have missed, made you wish you have it for PC or memories of playing some great games on PC over at mates house etc.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Favorite Systems of All Time]

Well, you can have lots of fun with the N64 and even more nostalgia towards it. Don't judge.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Why didn't Rare get into Turbob?]

Considering Rare, yeah they made few high quality NES games but generally speaking they blossomed during the SNES and N64 era when they had full backing of Nintendo. Besides, there are very few quality western developed titles on PC-Engine/Turbografx.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Why didn't Rare get into Turbob?]

I wish Skate or Die had been ported to the turbob.

HAha was it you I sent that C64 Skate or Die I found in the dumpster?

One of those games I used to love as a kid but going back into it there really isn't much there. I think gameplay wise Ski Or Die was slightly better.