Couple of questions regarding NEC and their systems.

[Sensato Black Lion]

Well, I'm looking for some info regarding NEC and a couple of their gaming systems. Hope some of you can help me.

First off, what does NEC stand for? I figured it would be something like Nihon Electronic Company but...

2- Does the term "PC" in PC Engine stand for Personnal Computer? If not what's it?

3-What are the exact dimensions (size) of these: PCE, ShuttleGrafx, PCE LT, Turbografx-16, Turbo Express, PCE GT, PCE Duo, Duo R , Duo RX, SuperGrafx and PCFX?

4-Any idea what was the last Hucard to ever come out for the PCE and in what year?

5- Launch price for every NEC systems excluding only their early computers.

6-How much data can a Hucard hold?

I might have a few more questions coming up soon. Thanks in advance!

[Nutribrain]

NEC stands for Nippon Electric Company.

[pc_kid]

first hu: kung fu

last hucard: power-league '93 came out 10/93

[monads]

6-How much data can a Hucard hold?

I think it's Street Fighter II (20Mbit).

[Sensato Black Lion]

Thanks for the contributions so far. About the size of the Hucards, nice to know it's max capacity but any idea what the standard (or minimum) is? Could it be something like 256Kb?

I found a list of prices for some NEC systems, not sure they're accurate or actual launch prices. Any one can confirm this? It would be better if I was able to convert these 1990s japanese prices to USD but...

PCE: 24,800 Yen
PCE GT: 44,800 Yen
CD-ROM2 System: 57,800 Yen
Core Grafx: 24,800 Yen
CGXII: 19,800 Yen
SGX: 39,800 Yen
Shuttle PCE: 18,800 Yen
Super CD-ROM: 47,800 Yen
PCE DUO: 59,800 Yen
DUO-R: 39,800 Yen
PCE LT: 99,800 Yen

still looking for:
Duo-RX, PCFX as well as most American hardware original retail prices.

[dj898]

just how rare is Jackie Chan Hucard?
And what will be the going rate for sealed copy?

cheers

[CrackTiger]

first hu: kung fu

last hucard: power-league '93 came out 10/93

What about Bomberman '94?

[Keranu]

just how rare is Jackie Chan Hucard?
And what will be the going rate for sealed copy?

cheers

I got mine used with instructions and case for $20 on Ebay I believe. However when I received the game, the game was in a "China Warrior" case but still had the Jackie Chain manuel. That made me upset. same with when I bought J.J. and Jeff off Ebay and it was in a TV Sports Basketball case.

[CrackTiger]

just how rare is Jackie Chan Hucard?
And what will be the going rate for sealed copy?

cheers

I got mine used with instructions and case for $20 on Ebay I believe. However when I received the game, the game was in a "China Warrior" case but still had the Jackie Chain manuel. That made me upset. same with when I bought J.J. and Jeff off Ebay and it was in a TV Sports Basketball case.

If those were advertised as complete or 'with case' instead of 'with a case', then you were ripped and should leave negative feedback(or at least a neutral with description) if the seller doesn't offer you a big discount(like 50%).

[OldRover]

When the TurboCD accessory debuted in my area when I was growing up, it had a price tag of $380US.

[Keranu]

If those were advertised as complete or 'with case' instead of 'with a case', then you were ripped and should leave negative feedback(or at least a neutral with description) if the seller doesn't offer you a big discount(like 50%).

I think I did leave neutural or negative feedback, but I forgot. It was a year ago so I can't remember if he specified complete or not.

[PC Gaijin]

Launch prices for the Turbografx-16 and the Turbografx-CD were $199 (and change) and $399 respectively. I still have the receipt around here somewhere for when I bought my Turbografx-16 in October, 1989 from Wal-Mart . Price was $199 and something odd like 88 cents (Wal-Mart was strange like that with pricing). The CD attachment was $399, I remember that distinctly because it was such a huge sum of money at the time (and for my circumstances, being a 14 year old kid who had a hard enough time convincing his parents to spring for the Turbografx-16, much less the CD player). I didn't get the CD attachment until the summer of 1990, when NEC dropped the price by $50 (via a $50 mail-in coupon) after I got my first "real" job.

[OldRover]

I'm still a little confused as to why they called it the "PC Engine" but the thought I have is that it was because they used an architecture that was at the time very common to use in personal computers (Apple and CBM both used the 6502 line extensively and 6502's were very common in industrial computers and especially robotics controllers, largely replacing Z80's).

[akamichi]

first hu: kung fu

last hucard: power-league '93 came out 10/93

Actually, Shanghai and BikkuriMan World were the launch titles.  Kung Fu didn't come out until a month after and was the 3rd game released.

[PC Gaijin]

I think NEC originally envisioned the PC Engine as a competitor to the MSX computers. It was supposed to be a lower-end product line compared to their "senior" computers (the PC-88 or 98 or whatever). There's a web site out there (sorry, don't have the link handy) with a lot of prototype PC Engine hardware, including a keyboard and other home computer peripherals. Those plans got canned for whatever reason and the system was repurposed as a console (perhaps NEC saw the success Nintendo had with the Famicom and just decided to go with a console?) So I think the name is just a derivative of what NEC was already doing with their other computers (PC-*). Plus, it just sounds cool even to native English speakers .

[esteban]

Actually, Shanghai and BikkuriMan World were the launch titles.  Kung Fu didn't come out until a month after and was the 3rd game released.

Awesome, did you find that on the Hudson.co.jp game database? I ask because I would like chronological list of all releases hudson did for PC Engine.

[akamichi]

Awesome, did you find that on the Hudson.co.jp game database? I ask because I would like chronological list of all releases hudson did for PC Engine.

Actually, I have some books and "all soft catalogs" I regularly refer to.  Also, I was living in Japan when the PCE came out, so I was lucky enough to witness the launch. ;)

However, the Hudson site has a nice database.  It's probably the best place to find the list you're looking for.

[twor2005]

Awesome, did you find that on the Hudson.co.jp game database? I ask because I would like chronological list of all releases hudson did for PC Engine.

Actually, I have some books and "all soft catalogs" I regularly refer to.  Also, I was living in Japan when the PCE came out, so I was lucky enough to witness the launch. ;)

However, the Hudson site has a nice database.  It's probably the best place to find the list you're looking for.

So what was the last Hucard? Was it the baseball game previously mentioned? 1993 seems early. Also what was the last CD? Last ACD?

I guess the SCDs are sort of ongoing. We've had Dead of the Brain (last Japanese I guess), Implode, Meteor Blaster, and more on the way  

[jlued686]

I've never heard of Dead of the Brain.  What's that?

[twor2005]

I've never heard of Dead of the Brain.  What's that?

Never played it, but its a digital comic/adventure game. Came out in the late nineties in Japan only.

[dj898]

and very expensive...
even in Japan you'd be lucky if you can find complete mint one under 10000 yen...

[CrackTiger]

I'm still a little confused as to why they called it the "PC Engine" but the thought I have is that it was because they used an architecture that was at the time very common to use in personal computers (Apple and CBM both used the 6502 line extensively and 6502's were very common in industrial computers and especially robotics controllers, largely replacing Z80's).

It's like how the Famicom was like Family-Computer and Sega had their Mega-DRIVE.

The PC Engine was supposed to sound like a hotrod.  Like those PC's nowadays designed specifically to play games. No fooling around with applications, just hardcore gaming.

Plus we're dealing with Japan's super-fun-happy love of the American language.

[Keranu]

The "PC" part of the name  I assume comes from NEC's PC-88 computer, which was popular in Japan. How they got "Engine," I really have no idea. I guess what Black Tiger said is the most logical reason.

[GUTS]

I always thought Mega Drive and PC Engine were the two coolest game system names ever.  It's a shame we didn't get them over here in the US, although Genesis was a damn cool name also so I'd be hard pressed to choose between the two (turbo grafx was cheesy even back then, I always hated the name).

[Keranu]

Actually I totally dig the cheesy Turbo Grafx 16 name - it's ultra 80's. PC-Engine, Megadrive, and Genesis were badass names as well. Famicom is a decent name too now that I think ab00t it.

[esteban]

I concur, MegaDrive, Genesis, PC-Engine -- very kool names for consoles.

TurboGrafx-16... besides being a mouthful, this is pure 80's, as Keranu correctly pointed out.  I never really cared for this name back in the day... BUT NOW, 16 years later, I love the cheezy name.  

and it wasn't just the name, the friggin' logo, with flourescent green and orange, is sooooooo 80's.  It's awesome, dude!

[Keranu]

Gotta love the other Turbo product names out there too.

Turbo Express
Turbo Vision (the TV tuner)
Turbo Duo

The 80's rule.

[Liquid Snake]

I've never heard of Dead of the Brain.  What's that?

Snatcher (gameplay) + Night of Living Dead (story) = dead of the brains

I'm quite like it but never finish the game.
Music is very repetitive in few areas though......quite annoying.

[Keranu]

Man I really want to play Dead of the Brain sometime. An English translation for that would rule, along with tons of other digital comics.

[CrackTiger]

Man I really want to play Dead of the Brain sometime. An English translation for that would rule, along with tons of other digital comics.

Ranma 1/2 is totally beatable without any japanese knowledge and super high quality.

All the commands are symbols.

Its fairly straightforward too.

[Keranu]

I'll check that one out sometime, even if I haven't seen the series or anything. Should still be entertaining to play.

[NEC Avenue]

I concur, MegaDrive, Genesis, PC-Engine -- very kool names for consoles.

TurboGrafx-16... besides being a mouthful, this is pure 80's, as Keranu correctly pointed out.  I never really cared for this name back in the day... BUT NOW, 16 years later, I love the cheezy name.  

and it wasn't just the name, the friggin' logo, with flourescent green and orange, is sooooooo 80's.  It's awesome, dude!

Haha my thoughts exactly. Now as for the PC Engine name, here's my 2 cents. As mention earlier PC probably came from the PC-9x series NEC computers that dominated the Japanese desktop market. Engine is simple a loose term used in the computing industry for example graphics engine or math engine etc. PC Engine probably refers to Personal Computing Engine. NEC had a graphics card for highend graphics work that they sold in the US a long time ago called the Multisync Graphics Engine. It was damn expensive too. The 256 color version was $1500!!

http://www.tavi.co.uk/ps2pages/ohland/NEC-MGE.html

[Kaminari]

Thanks for the contributions so far. About the size of the Hucards, nice to know it's max capacity but any idea what the standard (or minimum) is? Could it be something like 256Kb?

Minimum size was 1 Mb (128 KB). Other capacities were 2, 3, 4, 6 and 8 Mb.

[OldRover]

There's also the interleaved HuCard, which is what SFII used (20 megabit I believe).

[twor2005]

There's also the interleaved hucard, which is what SFII used (20mbit I believe).

Why didn't they make them all that big? 8,12,16 meg was pretty common by 1993 on the super famicom and mega drive systems.

[OldRover]

I dunno...production costs, maybe? Who knows...

[Keranu]

I figure because by 1993, CDs on the PCE were the big thing, especially SCDs by that time, so they figured why bother with HuCards as much. 1993 was a pretty hot year for the PCE .

[CrackTiger]

I figure because by 1993, CDs on the PCE were the big thing, especially SCDs by that time, so they figured why bother with HuCards as much. 1993 was a pretty hot year for the PCE .

And CDs cost next to nothing to produce where as HuCards would've cost at least something, so HuCards were probably more of a risk for a publisher the older the PC Engine got.

[MotherGunner]

Hmm, I always thought the name PC Engine was a rhyme play on PC Genjin (Prehistoric Kid-Bonk's Adventure) since it was the flagship title so to speak.

[CrackTiger]

Hmm, I always thought the name PC Engine was a rhyme play on PC Genjin (Prehistoric Kid-Bonk's Adventure) since it was the flagship title so to speak.

Close, PC Genjin is a rhyme play on PC Engine.

The character was created after the system as part of a comic strip for a japanese magazine. The comic became popular enough that they slapped a game together which happened to be good/popular enough to get proper sequels.

Whoever was handling the Turbografx over at NEC in the U.S. was smart enough to use Bonk as a mascot, but he wasn't one for the PC Engine.

[esteban]

Hmm, I always thought the name PC Engine was a rhyme play on PC Genjin (Prehistoric Kid-Bonk's Adventure) since it was the flagship title so to speak.

Close, PC Genjin is a rhyme play on PC Engine.

The character was created after the system as part of a comic strip for a japanese magazine. The comic became popular enough that they slapped a game together which happened to be good/popular enough to get proper sequels.

Whoever was handling the Turbografx over at NEC in the U.S. was smart enough to use Bonk as a mascot, but he wasn't one for the PC Engine.

Damn, I didn't know that PC-Gengin started out as a comic stirip. Crazy!

[Keranu]

I thought Turbo Play actually explained that story, Steve . I knew of the Bonk story before and always find it just charming!

[CrackTiger]

Damn, I didn't know that PC-Gengin started out as a comic stirip. Crazy!

Here, everything you ever wanted to know about Bonk-

http://www.classicgaming.com/bonk/index.html

[Keranu]

Thanks for the link, CrackTiger - that site rules. I'm surprised I have never been to it before. The Wonderboy Pages from Classic Gaming are very nice as well. (Sorry no link; too lazy. ).

[esteban]

Keranu, I've never seen that site before. It's awesome, isn't it? The Gamecube mp3's... can't wait to check them out!



CrackTiger, I'll have to check out the links at your yahoo group, you might have some other goodies there

[CrackTiger]

Keranu, I've never seen that site before. It's awesome, isn't it? The Gamecube mp3's... can't wait to check them out!

Black Tiger, I'll have to check out the links at your yahoo group, you might have some other goodies there

Yeah, everytime I find something new I list it there. At the very least it can be a hub for Turbo stuff, since the Turbo Turnpike is pretty much dead.