old articles on P.C. Engine-2 ~ SuperGrafx

[SuperGrafxPCEngine2]

Some EGM articles w/ pictures on the P.C. Engine-2 ~ SuperGrafx

EGM Number 6 -  January 1990 - page 4
/pcengine2shapeofthings7qa.jpg

page 22



EGM Number 8 - March 1990

page 4
/supergrafxforatestdrive2ea.jpg

page 26
/pcengine30ak.jpg

page 52-53

/supergrafxarticle15tb.jpg


It gets more interesting with the P.C. Engine-2 connection to the Namco 16-bit system, which was nipped in the bud before the deal could go through.

[jlued686]

Cool scans.  Thanks!

[SuperGrafxPCEngine2]

EGM Number 2 - July 1989 - page 4
/pcengine2july19896ib.jpg[/img]

page 32
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EGM Number 3 - August-September 1989  - page 28
/pcengine2augsept19892ui.jpg
/pcengine2augsept198928ev.jpg

page 74
/pcengine2augsept198936nf.jpg

you will notice that Namco's 16-Bit system is usually mentioned right near the P.C. Engine 2 - and then the two almost become intertwined.

the way I count it:

1.) NEC and Hudson's own 16-Bit  PC Engine2, intended for 1990 - not released
2.)  Namco's 16-Bit 'Super System' - intended for 1989 or 1990 - not released by Namco themselves, nor by NEC and Hudson under the PC Engine2 name

3.) NEC and Hudson's own scaled-down 8-Bit PC Engine2 is released as the SuperGrafx, in November 1989 with Battle Ace.


my speculation - based on some facts
The 8-bit version of the P.C. Engine2, the SuperGrafx, was clearly rushed onto the Japanese market in late 1989. this was most likely one major reason for its downfall.   Now, going by the earlier EGM articles about the original 16-bit P.C. Engine2,  that machine was not due until 1990 at the soonest.   

I think NEC and Hudson should've finished development of the 16-bit version of P.C. Engine2 and released it in say, mid 1990, a few months ahead of the Super Famicom's late 1990 release date.   the 16-Bit P.C. Engine2  *could* have been a very, very powerful machine, easily surpassing the Nintendo SFC, since SFC was actually a technologically older machine that dates back to 1988-89 and, itself was cut back significantly in its specs  before launch. 

The original SFC was going to have a 68000 CPU and significantly greater pesudo-3D capabilities like full, true sprite scaling & rotation.  the Mode 7 scaling & rotation built into the final SFC was much less than what was originally planned. that is why many early SFC/SNES games have DSP and accelerator chips in them (not even counting the SuperFX polygon chip of years later).   

Anyway, so, a 16-Bit P.C. Engine2  could have been in development through all of 1989 and well into 1990, just up until its release in, say, September 1990.   It could have been roughly, more or less, NEO-GEO class hardware.    If you look back 3 years from 1990, to 1987, the same year the original P.C. Engine came out, there was a very powerful 16-Bit computer released in Japan that had Hudson chipset and OS technology: the Sharp X68000.   this machine was not only more powerful than the P.C. Engine released the same year, but also still conciderably more powerful than the SuperGrafx released 2 years later in 1989, and more powerful than the weaker Super Famicom that was actually approved for production. 

now imagine what Hudson could have done, with a high powered console which comes out in 1990: the true sucessor to the P.C. Engine, the 16-Bit P.C. Engine2.    .....a P.C. Engine2 that is poweful enough to kill the downgraded Super Famicom (because of the mentioned cutbacks to the SFC Nintendo made),  compete with SNK's Neo-Geo, and also be used in arcades  (like Neo-Geo MVS), and also handle the most intense 'super scaler' arcade games from Sega like Space Harrier - OutRun -
 After Burner II - Thunder Blade  - Galaxy Force 2 - Power Drift - Super Monaco GP - etc  as well as any of the lesser, single 68000 non super-scaler Sega System16 arcade games (Shinobi, Altered Beast, Golden Axe) and Capcom CPS or decent translations of future CPS2 games.

the main thing is, Japanese developers would be THRILLED to work on such a P.C. Engine2 platform. even if it cost consumers $300-$400.  The games could still be on larger, thicker 'Super-HuCards'  --and while more expensive than standard HuCards, would still cost significantly less than Neo-Geo home cartridges.  note that, dispite Neo-Geo's high cost for both the console and the games, it was a massive, massive success in comparison to the 8-bit SuperGrafx, which bombed worse than Sega's 32X or SegaCD.


in my ideal made-up scenario: CD-ROM1 and CD-ROM2 are for the 8-Bit P.C. Engine and TurboGrafx (which does not have the '16')  while the...Super-CD-ROM2, or lets call it Super CD-ROM3, is exclusively for the 16-Bit P.C. Engine2 and American version, the 16-Bit SuperGrafx, or 'SuperGrafx-16'   ^__^ 

in my made-up senareo, NEC-Hudson's console release  schedule is something like this:

8-bit P.C. Engine in Japan in 1987 - TurboGrafx in USA in 1989.
CD-ROM1 in 1988 - CD-ROM2 in 1989 |  CD-ROM2 in USA in 1989

16-bit P.C. Engine2 in Japan in 1990
released as the SuperGrafx-16  in USA in 1991

P.C. Engine2's Super CD-ROM3 in Japan in 1991 
SuperGrafx-16's Super CD-ROM3 in USA in 1992


4 games launch with the P.C. Engine 2 in Japan in mid 1990:
-a Battle Ace game that kicks ass and rivals the arcade Galaxy Force
-a Ghouls 'n Ghosts port that truly rivals the arcade (like X68000)
-an exact port of R-Type II
-an awesome sequel to Keith Courage, Granzort with amazing graphics

follow-on games for later in 1990 or in 1991 include:
arcade-exact or enhanced ports of  Forgotten Worlds, Thunder Blade, OutRun, AfterBurner, 1941, Galaxy Force, a supercharged Strider that really beats the arcade!   more non-arcade games including some RPGs and Legendary Axe 3,  and a shmup Aldynes that blows away any horizontally scrolling shooter in the arcade, including Neo-Geo's Last Resort. 

then P.C. Engine2 ~ SuperGrafx-16 charged Super CD-ROM3 games start to hit in 1991-1992 including more RPGs, like Ys V and another Far East of Eden game.

in total, 40 Super HuCards and 14 Super CD-ROM3 games are released, totalling 54 games for the two-format P.C Engine2 ~ SuperGrafx-16.

The P.C. Engine2 ~ SuperGrafx-16 remains a fairly expensive system that competes with the NEO-GEO and SEGA CD.   it does die off by 1994, but has a more respectible life than the real SuperGrafx did.  it becomes a HIGHLY, HIGHLY sought-after system in the mid to late 1990s.

the Ironman ~ Tetsujin ~ PC-FX  is released in 1994 in Japan, and 1995 in the U.S. with full backward compatibility with standard P.C. Engine ~ TurboGrafx HuCards and CD-ROM1, CD-ROM2, but has NO P.C. Engine2 ~ SuperGrafx-16   SuperHuCard or Super CD-ROM3 compatibility, making the  P.C. Engine2 - SuperGrafx-16 and SuperCD-ROM3 a must-have system to run the games.

emulation for computers in the late 1990s is able to emulate the standard PCE-TG HuCard and CD games, but NOT the more complex P.C. Engine2 - SuperGrafx-16  games, again, making the real hardware and software very sought-after and valuable, and a joy to collect for its arcade-exact
(or better) renditions of arcade games and elaborate non-arcade games that are exclusive.

[esteban]

great articles!  well, i don't have time to read them now, but just had to thank you in advance!  rock on!  greatly appreciated!  your speculation was fun to read!

random, quick feedback:

1. The x68000 was expensive hardware... I don't know if it (or even a scaled down version) would have been feasible for a console at that time.  Rather than the $300-500 range, i think a console based on the x68000 would have been a bit more... and then, the CD-ROM (cd-rom3) would have made it even more expensive. yes, it would have been KILLER, but I don't think it would be affordable.  

2. We all know how companies throw around console specs (during development, and even later, when the specs are nailed down, just to confuse the competition).  Unfortunately, in the EGM articles, I don't know how sincere these hardware specs were (or how intensive development had been) on 16-bit NEC and Namco units... regardless of what NEC and Namco had been saying

3. It definitely seemed as if the Supergrafx was rushed (otherwise, it was the product of a string of bad decisions)... had SGX been released as a technically superior machine... I wonder how it would have affected the PC-FX console.  Would this site exist?  Considering aaron's love for PC-FX, one has to wonder

[SuperGrafxPCEngine2]

]great articles!  well, i don't have time to read them now, but just had to thank you in advance!  rock on!  greatly appreciated!  your speculation was fun to read!

thanks dude  ^__^

random, quick feedback:

1. The x68000 was expensive hardware... I don't know if it (or even a scaled down version) would have been feasible for a console at that time.  Rather than the $300-500 range, i think a console based on the x68000 would have been a bit more... and then, the CD-ROM (cd-rom3) would have made it even more expensive. yes, it would have been KILLER, but I don't think it would be affordable.  

the X68000 was indeed expensive. very expensive. more than a Neo-Geo by far.  $1500 or more in 1987, and probably through-out the late 1980s.  

but by 1990, the Neo-Geo came out for $400 (base unit) and was much more powerful than X68000.  so, a PC-Engine2 with more power than X68000, and either slightly less, the same, or slightly more power than Neo-Geo would've been possible.  especially since Neo-Geo hardware was done by late 1989 and PC-Engine2 would have a half-year more of development time. ^__^

"2. We all know how companies throw around console specs (during development, and even later, when the specs are nailed down, just to confuse the competition).  Unfortunately, in the EGM articles, I don't know how sincere these hardware specs were (or how intensive development had been) on 16-bit NEC and Namco units... regardless of what NEC and Namco had been saying"

well, there were no actual specific hardware specs for either the Namco 16-bit home unit, or the 16-Bit P.C. Engine2, other than that, the P.C. Engine2 was said to be true 16-bit and have better graphics and audio than original PC Engine.  and that the Namco console was comparable to the Super Famicom. no specific specs. no CPU MHz,  sprites, RAM, colors, etc.    but it is true, we don't know how accurate the EGM reports really were.

3. It definitely seemed as if the Supergrafx was rushed (otherwise, it was the product of a string of bad decisions)... had SGX been released as a technically superior machine... I wonder how it would have affected the PC-FX console.  Would this site exist?  Considering aaron's love for PC-FX, one has to wonder

If SGX had been released as a technically super machine in all areas compared to Megadrive/Genesis, Super Famicom/SNES and at least rivaled Neo-Geo if not surpassed it a little, I think the SGX would have been around and going strong through 1994 well into 1995.  but I don't think it would have negatively affected the PC-FX at all.  maybe made the PC-FX stronger, and NEC might have released the full blown IronMan / Tetsujin, of which only a fraction of it exists in the PC-FX, from what I read.

[SuperGrafxPCEngine2]

updates:

original post updated with 2 articles I forgot to get: EGM Number 8 - page 4 and page 26.

also, I replaced two of the pictures with better versions:  
EGM Number 2 - page 4
EGM Number 6 - page 4

[Keranu]

I read a little bit of that and it sounds pretty sweet so far. There is a lot of stuff you posted, so I am going to have to take my time to read all of that. That 16-bit Namco machine sounds very interesting.

[msb_1971]

I remember waiting for EGM to arrive every month, sometimes it would hit the newsstand before my mailbox and I would buy it twice. I would poor through the pages for the Turbo's reviews or any news.

I also remember the gossip column; was it Quarterman? I remember reading that page one long page of small print for any Turbo Grafx or Supergrafx news. I had a Turbo Grafx-16 with the CDRom attached, and my best friend had a Genesis.

I also remember watching less and less Turbo Grafx games and more and more Genesis games being reviewed. I had hoped the Supergrafx would come along and save my systems honor. I really did not get it then. These games endure, how many hundred-dollar Genesis games are there now? I wish I had kept all old Turbo gear I miss It now.

Anyway I'm rambling...


Thanks Again for these I remember.

[SuperGrafxPCEngine2]

I captured two more small articles, and one larger article, this time previews/comments of SuperGrafx games.



(note that 'The Mountain King' is of course, Granzort)

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[Keranu]

Man these scans of yours are really nice! Thanks again! And haha, 160 x 146 resolution.

[OldRover]

Wow...the specs on that last one are SO dead wrong.

[pixeljunkie]

Wow...the specs on that last one are SO dead wrong.

any idea on when that Frozen utopia game is ever coming out?

[OldRover]

Depends on which one. If you're talking about MS, we're still waiting on the artwork and some of the translations (Spanish translation is done, just waiting on French and Japanese translations now). Neutopia III has been in the works for a bit now, and we also have no less than 2 other games that will be appearing soon as well.

[pixeljunkie]

Depends on which one. If you're talking about MS, we're still waiting on the artwork and some of the translations (Spanish translation is done, just waiting on French and Japanese translations now). Neutopia III has been in the works for a bit now, and we also have no less than 2 other games that will be appearing soon as well.

Mystery Song is what I am interested in

[OldRover]

Fragmare of MindRec fame is on the art job for Mysterious Song, along with a friend of his named Mooz. They haven't given an ETA, but it will definately be sometime in early 2006.

[TR0N]

Supergrafx was a knee jerk reaction to the, SFC nuff said

[SuperGrafxPCEngine2]

I re-uploaded most of the pics using image shack,us  which does a better job of keeping photos online than photodump.

plus, here's another pic, the EGM review of SuperGrafx

EGM Number 15,  October 1990, page 45

/egmratings1762x10169ik.jpg

[Keranu]

Another neat article, though screw the guys who dissed the sound.

[SuperGrafxPCEngine2]

Another neat article, though screw the guys who dissed the sound.

well, as much as I love the SuperGrafx, I have to agree with the guys that said the sound was the same as Turbo or 'Lame'  because it was basicly true.
NEC-Hudson didn't upgrade the sound system as they were expected to.

[akamichi]

well, as much as I love the SuperGrafx, I have to agree with the guys that said the sound was the same as Turbo or 'Lame'  because it was basicly true.
NEC-Hudson didn't upgrade the sound system as they were expected to.

True.  i was disappointed that the sound capabilities were the same.  Maybe they shoulda added another PSG... which would have made it a dual 6280 processor machine.  hehehe.

[TurboXray]

Or better yet - SGX/PCE compatible CD games. Having the same PSG capabilities would be irrelevant if they actually made some SGX CD games.