Unreleased Tengen PC Engine games.

exodus · 08/02/2016, 04:26 AM

A former Tengen employee put up a bunch of unreleased PC Engine ports, when they were evaluating the system. He has put up Magical Puzzle Popils, Marble Madness, Peter Pack-Rat, and Off the Wall.

Here are his credentials: http://www.mobygames.com/developer/jun-amanai/credits/developerId,195797/

Here are the games:

Especially unfortunate that marble madness didn't get released!

Digi.k · 08/02/2016, 05:04 AM

That off the wall game in his comments :

"Yes, you are right. Manufacturing cost of 8M-bit HuCard was too high, and volume-type controller seemed to be mandatory for this game. So we gave up."

I don't see anything there that suggests the game is 8mbits. 2-4Mbits perhaps, Well at least the audio for all those games are pleasing. Thanks for the compilation of links.

I am liking with what I am seeing with Marble Madness and peter pack rat. The sound samples in that Peter Pack Rat port. The fact that they made this much progress and then not finish and have it released It's breaking my heart !__!

I am assuming the "volume-type controller" is something like these:

NecroPhile · 08/02/2016, 10:51 AM

Too bad these all got abandoned. Peter Pack Rat and Popils look rather primitive (like Boxy Boy), but they all look like they'd be fun.

esteban · 08/02/2016, 11:37 AM

Paddle controller?

Also, LOOKS LIKE I NEED TO UPDATE THIS PAGE:

https://archives.tg-16.com/turbo_play_0005.htm#tengen

Even more heartbreaking now that I see all the abandoned games/Tengen projects for TG-16.

So sad

SavagePencil · 08/02/2016, 12:22 PM

Those are pretty darn accurate ports. I like how very "Lynx-ian" the music sounded on Off The Wall. Popils was good on the Game Gear's small screen, but here it just looks kind of chunky.

xcrement5x · 08/02/2016, 01:05 PM

Marble Madnes returns! I wonder if the proto will resurface again, I can imagine the Nolan's might be intersted in doing a limited release now that they've got the new custom Hus.

SignOfZeta · 08/02/2016, 01:58 PM

Yeah, "volume controller" is somebody's vernacular for a "paddle" or linear rotory pot. There was one made for PS1 that was actually called Volume Controller around the time of the original Namco Museum ports.

Psycho Punch · 08/02/2016, 03:09 PM

Oh my god.

johnnykonami · 08/02/2016, 03:27 PM

These are pretty cool to see, shame about them not coming out. I don't know if any of them would have been on my childhood radar though, so maybe they made the right choice for the demographic.

SavagePencil · 08/02/2016, 03:33 PM

Quote from: guest on 08/02/2016, 03:30 PMAll but puzzle Popils would have been on my wish list. The packrat game in particular looks like it was at an early stage of development... I can imagine a more polished version being great.

Peter Packrat was one of the early-/mid-80s Atari arcade games that ran on the same hardware as Temple of Doom and Marble Madness. That clip looked at least passably accurate:

csgx1 · 08/02/2016, 03:38 PM

Very interesting, thanks for posting the videos.

A real shame none of those games were release. They all look decent.

Psycho Punch · 08/02/2016, 04:59 PM

I like the whistling bgm in Peter Pack Rat even if it sounds a little bit off on the PC Engine. I had no idea these games existed until now, actually. Shame there are no roms of it.

gimme teh r0mz pls

NightWolve · 08/02/2016, 05:08 PM

Hm, interesting find.

exodus · 08/02/2016, 06:40 PM

The reason graphics/sound all feel off is because these were ports - different resolution than the famicom, different chip, so stuff is gonna sound weird. And I'm sure they would've smoothed some things out were these to go into production, but he stated they were tests. I am trying to get in touch with him for more info, but haven't gotten there yet.

Digi.k · 08/02/2016, 07:09 PM

I personally don't find the sound as "off" especially on the Peter Pack Rat game just lower samples that seem to be taken from the arcade game, but the synths sounds just invokes that distinct pc engine sound for me.

elmer · 08/02/2016, 08:21 PM

Cool find ... these are interesting prototypes.

ccovell · 08/02/2016, 08:31 PM

And expertly made. Marble Madness especially looks impressive.

Digi.k · 08/02/2016, 09:07 PM

pce

arcade

pce

arcade

dshadoff · 08/02/2016, 09:13 PM

I had heard of all of these (except Popils), but was under the impression that they were all abandoned long before reaching this level of completeness.

If they were afraid of low profit margins on HuCards, I'm surprised that they didn't try to sell them as CDROMs (or Super CDROMs), as several games in the 1992 era were basically HuCard games released on CD.

Back in the day, I heard of "a friend of a friend" who owned a copy, but wouldn't even allow it to be seen (in action, or the proto-board), let alone sold/copied/whatever. It's very nice to see them on YouTube pages, to understand how complete they were, and how playable they were.

-Dave

Dicer · 08/02/2016, 09:23 PM

So, when we getting dumps? cause that would be amazing, they are all solid looking work...

Digi.k · 08/02/2016, 09:35 PM

Magical Puzzle Popils also seems very interesting. Kinda surprising why they were all cancelled considering this looks like it was for the japanese market and I'm pretty sure the pc engine market was strong in that period. The game designer appears to be Fukio Mitsuji who also created and designed the Bubble Bobble games. Looks like only the Game Gear houses the completed version.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fukio_Mitsuji

BigusSchmuck · 08/02/2016, 09:52 PM

I'm pretty impressed by the Marble Madness port. Thank god the music in level 3 didn't sound like the Genesis version. I was seriously ready to get my earplugs on. lol

HailingTheThings · 08/03/2016, 12:38 AM

Wowzers, y'all! Peter Pack Rat and shet?!

esteban · 08/03/2016, 12:56 AM

WHERE IS PARANOIA_DRAGON?

He's been mentioning Peter F@cking Pack Rat for ages (he's the reason I knew Tengen was working on a port).

shubibiman · 08/03/2016, 01:41 AM

All those ports where announced in japanese magazines (and for some of them even in french magazines) back in the time. It's nothing new really. But I definitely didn't think they all were at this point of completeness. Very impressive.

I hope the guy dumps them or even better, completes them in order to release them. He should do a kickstarter.

ParanoiaDragon · 08/03/2016, 02:11 AM

I'm here I'm here!!! Man, it's been forever since I saw anything about Peter Packrat, don't even recall where I saw stuffs about it. It's usually Riftwar Saga that I lament not seeing a release, but I would've loved these, especially Marble Madness even though I suck at that game. Me wonders if Jun has an incomplete Pit Fighter (CD or Hu) laying around as well(even though the game itself is crud).

Psycho Punch · 08/03/2016, 02:46 AM

LOL I was going to mention Pit Fighter, Esteban I don't think we're going to see Pit Fighter CD too soon lol.

esteban · 08/03/2016, 03:39 AM

Quote from: shubibiman on 08/03/2016, 01:41 AMAll those ports where announced in japanese magazines (and for some of them even in french magazines) back in the time. It's nothing new really. But I definitely didn't think they all were at this point of completeness. Very impressive.

I hope the guy dumps them or even better, completes them in order to release them. He should do a kickstarter.

Here is one....

PCE MARBLE MADNESS: I found an old advertisement... did PCE Marble Madness support the PCE MOUSE! This intrigues me...

-----

SOURCE: Gekkan PC Engine #12 (December 1992)

UPDATE: here is a side-by-side comparison between Jun Amanai's video and the screenshot from Gekkan PCE:

ginoscope · 08/03/2016, 10:41 AM

I love seeing information like this about unreleased games. I wonder how far along some of them actually were. Marble Madness looks like a really good port. Never heard of the Packrat game but that looks pretty interesting. It kind of reminded me of Mappy Land on the NES.

Sarumaru · 08/03/2016, 04:06 PM

Popils is actually a great game. Very addicting with a level builder that was lots of fun. Most of these games were far along, I believe Popils hadn't gotten the level creator and some other minor things.

TheClash603 · 08/03/2016, 09:34 PM

I own copies of Marble Madness for about 10 systems and I love the game. The other games are all great to see, but I would love love love to play Marble Madness!

esteban · 08/04/2016, 08:52 AM

Quote from: TheClash603 on 08/03/2016, 09:34 PMI own copies of Marble Madness for about 10 systems and I love the game. The other games are all great to see, but I would love love love to play Marble Madness!

Yup.

If I had room for a cab, I'd want a trackball with Centipede, Marble Madness, etc. etc.

_Paul · 08/05/2016, 02:26 PM

Koa Zo · 04/05/2017, 02:55 AM

That April Fools SuperGraphx proto thread reminded me of Marble Madness, so I got to searching and found this thread.
Hot damn! Popils and Peter Pack Rat too! What an unfortunate shame that Tengen couldn't get these to market.

"Off the Wall", I'd never even known of as an arcade game. It looks like a worthy multiplayer take on the tried and true block & paddle tradition. The music is particularly good, what great fitting compositions for the PC-Engine!

That Tengen crew were doing some eternally respectable arcade translations. Their Mega Drive output is a highlight of that platform's library. Come to think of it, iirc there is a Popils sidebar, interview maybe, in the back of the Road Blasters manual. I'd wondered if a Popils port was intended for the Mega Drive, what a surprise to now see that there was indeed a port in the works for PC-Engine. Now doing some other searching on the internet I see that Off the Wall was also in the works for Game Gear

It's almost haunting knowing these PC-Engine Atari arcade ports were so lovingly crafted and so far along and have yet to be played by the fans.

FraGMarE · 04/05/2017, 12:50 PM

Marble Madness looks amazing on the PCE. Peter Pack Rat has some really nice sprite animation! Looks like it had promise. The others... eh... kinda glad they didn't see the light of day.

ParanoiaDragon · 04/06/2017, 12:26 AM

Quote from: fragmare on 04/05/2017, 12:50 PMMarble Madness looks amazing on the PCE. Peter Pack Rat has some really nice sprite animation! Looks like it had promise. The others... eh... kinda glad they didn't see the light of day.

I think Off the Wall looks good. Popils I think would be much better with enhanced gfx, as those gfx are pretty basic.

seieienbu · 04/06/2017, 01:02 AM

I just watched the marble madness video. That game was very far along; I'm curious as to why it wasn't finished and released. Does anyone know anything more about that?

esteban · 04/07/2017, 11:04 PM

Quote from: seieienbu on 04/06/2017, 01:02 AMI just watched the marble madness video. That game was very far along; I'm curious as to why it wasn't finished and released. Does anyone know anything more about that?

My guess: KLAX didn't sell well on TG-16...

Tengen's Battle with Nintendo

???

ccovell · 04/07/2017, 11:16 PM

TENGEN of Japan abandoned a lot of their projects suddenly in the early '90s. GDRI just updated their page on the company, so it's worth having a look: http://gdri.smspower.org/wiki/index.php/Tengen_(Japan)

Perhaps it has something to do with their purchase by Time Warner in 1994 (and they were shut down 3 years later.)

ParanoiaDragon · 04/08/2017, 04:04 AM

I'm still curious about Pit Fighter. Supposedly there were Hu & CD versions. Also, it'd be nice, if we ever get access to these games, if we also got source code incase anybody ever wanted to finish them.

SuperPlay · 04/08/2017, 07:47 AM

A couple of scans I did a while ago (From my links thread) that you may have not seen

Off the wall - Marukatsu 93 Vol 01: https://tinyurl.com/mcyo4b5

Marble Madness - Marukatsu 93 Vol 01: https://tinyurl.com/mqqy45r

esteban · 04/08/2017, 09:28 AM

I'm so glad this thread was revived. I had forgotten about these videos...seriously.

Digi.k · 07/03/2017, 12:00 PM

O___o

Who's the lucky owner ?

http://www.savejapan.com/shop/

esteban · 07/03/2017, 12:11 PM

Quote from: Digi.k on 07/03/2017, 12:00 PMO___o

Who's the lucky owner ?

http://www.savejapan.com/shop/

I'm so gullible right now, I want to believe that the site isn't a joke.

Also, I would have contributed for any/all of these if the seller was trusted.

But...it's not like I have too much expendable $$$.

Damn kids and the food they need to eat.

NOTE TO SELF: Three kids are three too many. Three prototypes are one too short.

NecroPhile · 07/03/2017, 12:30 PM

"This shop is only for demo purpose."

Ya damn tease!

Psycho Punch · 07/03/2017, 01:33 PM

Well the copyright notice says 2017 Jun Amanai, name of the guy who made the videos... I'm willing to believe that the site is real and his.

I thought that Jun only uploaded videos with little to no info on them because releasing a ROM would be a shameful dispray but apparently everyone has a price. Our community isn't one to go gaga over a proto of anything to do a "fundraiser" (which is actually a good thing) so this will probably go back into the dark hole of japanese collectardism to stay alongside PC Cocoron and others, unless some Frank Cifaldi type character comes across it and buys them for public ROM dumping.

Who cares about those arcade ports when we have roms for Taisen PRO Mahjong and The Super Kung-Fu to play in our supergrafx consoles anywyay.

haightc · 07/03/2017, 02:29 PM

Is doing a fund raiser such a bad idea? I would imagine there would be enough PCE fans to warrent it.

esteban · 07/03/2017, 03:12 PM

Somebody should send this off to the Kanye West so he can dump the ROMs!

crazydean · 07/03/2017, 03:30 PM

Quote from: haightc on 07/03/2017, 02:29 PMIs doing a fund raiser such a bad idea? I would imagine there would be enough PCE fans to warrent it.

There's always a bunch of people saying this but nobody ever puts any money down. While loyal, the fan base of the PCE is minuscule compared to Nintendo.

CrackTiger · 07/03/2017, 03:52 PM

Quote from: crazydean on 07/03/2017, 03:30 PM
Quote from: haightc on 07/03/2017, 02:29 PMIs doing a fund raiser such a bad idea? I would imagine there would be enough PCE fans to warrent it.
There's always a bunch of people saying this but nobody ever puts any money down. While loyal, the fan base of the PCE is minuscule compared to Nintendo.

The Henshin Engine kickstarter raised $35,000.

There has never been a group funding attempt yet for any unreleased PCE games that people really care about.