GRcade

jawafour wrote:

IAmTheSaladMan wrote:Wikipedia suggests the TurboGrafx (without the 16) had a limited release in UK and Spain and the PC Engine had a limited release in France but I certainly never saw one...

Yeah, I just looked that up on Wikipedia. I'm not sure that it did get a UK release... I don't recall ever seeing one or being aware that it had released, and the game mags of the time only mentioned it in the context of imported consoles. Rather odd!

Edit: Tracked down this info on the Computing History UK website:

A planned European launch was largely abandoned, there was a limited launch in France of the original machine with a PAl Modulator.

So it seems it was kind of available here but only via mail order.

IAmTheSaladMan wrote:So it seems it was kind of available here but only via mail order.

Yep, it was import only.

jawafour wrote:

IAmTheSaladMan wrote:So it seems it was kind of available here but only via mail order.

Yep, it was import only.

That article states a UK company bought up the stock of the unreleased PAL version and sold it by mail order.

IAmTheSaladMan wrote:That article states a UK company bought up the stock of the unreleased PAL version and sold it by mail order.

Yep, Telegames bought up unreleased stock from abroad and it was available to UK folk as an unofficial release.

jawafour wrote:

Ironhide wrote:Is there a reason why the US version was twice as big as the EU and JP models?

Literally because they wanted to make the console look more macho for the US market .

Nope. There was a legit reason for it.

It's actually because the original Japanese PC Engine put out way more electrical interference than was allowed by US standards due to very poor shielding and the internal components being so tightly packed. So for the US version they had to space out the components more and make more room for electrical shielding.

This can be demonstrated by putting a Japanese PC Engine next to a CRT TV, it warps the picture because of the interference the console puts out.

Lagamorph wrote:

jawafour wrote:

Ironhide wrote:Is there a reason why the US version was twice as big as the EU and JP models?

Literally because they wanted to make the console look more macho for the US market .

Nope. There was a legit reason for it.

It's actually because the original Japanese PC Engine put out way more electrical interference than was allowed by US standards due to very poor shielding and the internal components being so tightly packed. So for the US version they had to space out the components more and make more room for electrical shielding.

This can be demonstrated by putting a Japanese PC Engine next to a CRT TV, it warps the picture because of the interference the console puts out.

Looking at Gamasutra's interview with people who worked at NEC, the redesign of the US model was due to cosmetic appeal (as stated on pages 1 and 2 of the article).

Edit: The source of the "FCC compliance" story is a book stating that "additional electronics" were needed. This is interesting, as other folk have suggested the innards were the same.

Additional games and March 19 2020 release date announced,

Ys Book I & II
Air Zonk
Cadash
Neutopia
Space Harrier
Victory Run
Moto Roader
JJ and Jeff
R-Type
Blazing Lazers
Soldier Blade
Bomberman 93
New Adventure Island
Neutopia II
Bonk's Revenge
Dungeon Explorer
Ninja Spirit
Psychosis
Military Madness
Chew-Man-Fu
Power Golf
Alien Crush
Parasol Stars
Lords of Thunder
+26 PCEngine games

Japanese trailer,

Any word on the price yet?

Cheeky Devlin wrote:Any word on the price yet?

Nothing yet, nowhere is taking pre-orders yet either as far as I know.

Missed this update, the full list of games is available and there's a bit if a twist.
The Western and Japanese versions ship with mostly the same games (I think there's a few regional variations, but not too many), but some are Japanese untranslated. So there's some overlap where you get both a translated and untranslated version of some games.


US:

Alien Crush
Blazing Lasers
Bomberman '93
Bonk's Revenge
Cadash
Chew-Man-Fu
Dungeon Explorer
J.J. & Jeff
Lords of Thunder
Military Madness
Moto Roader
Neutopia
Neutopia II
New Adventure Island
Ninja Spirit
Parasol Stars
Power Golf
R-Type
Soldier Blade
Space Harrier
Victory Run
Ys Book I & II


JP:

Akumajō Dracula X Chi No Rondo (Castlevania: Rondo Of Blood)
Aldynes
Appare! Gateball
Bomberman ‘94
Bomberman Panic Bomber
Chō Aniki
Daimakaimura (Ghouls ‘N’ Ghosts)
Dungeon Explorer
Fantasy Zone
Ginga Fukei Densetsu Sapphire
Gradius (Nemesis)
Gradius II – Gofer No Yabō (Nemesis II)
Jaseiken Necromancer
Nectaris (Military Madness)
Neutopia
Neutopia II
Ninja Ryūkenden (Ninja Gaiden)
PC-Genjin (Bonk's Adventure)
Salamander
Snatcher
Star Parodier (Fantasy Star Soldier)
Super Darius
Super Momotarō Dentetsu II
Super Star Soldier
The Kung Fu (China Warrior)
Ys I & II

So all of those games are on the US version, including the Japanese ones.

How your supposed to play an untranslated version of Snatcher I have no idea.

Konami have also announced that this will be an Amazon exclusive.

Pre-orders will open on Monday 15th July, in the US and Japan at least.

Japanese pricing has been announced at 10,500¥ but no western pricing yet.


I'll update the first post with the new info tonight when I'm in my PC and not my phone.

I think that puts it at about £77 right now. That's probably around the upper limit of what I'm willing to pay for it. £50 would have been a dead-cert and £60ish would have been a probably. As it is I'm gonna have to see what my situation is at the time.

Is there a release date?

Pedz wrote:Is there a release date?

March 19, 2020

In the thread title

Cheeky Devlin wrote:How your supposed to play an untranslated version of Snatcher I have no idea.

I wonder if they'll go to the effort to update it with the Sega CD translation?.

Mafro wrote:

Cheeky Devlin wrote:How your supposed to play an untranslated version of Snatcher I have no idea.

I wonder if they'll go to the effort to update it with the Sega CD translation?.

Someone on ResetEra made a post about attempting to use the assets from the Mega CD version,

games like snatcher and policenauts use a modular platform independent kernel to achieve their ports, essentially a super basic virtual machine. This virtual machine handles the text parsing systems of the games. US Sega CD snatcher handles english text through an additional, sega CD specific module that is not part of the original kernel, written in 68000 assembly. The PC Engine doesn't run this type of code, the module is incompatible with other ports of the game. It's not as easy as just sticking the text from the Sega CD version into the PC Engine version, it'd require significant reengineering.

Basically, it's not at all quick or easy to RIP the English assets from the Mega CD translation. They'd have to implement a translation port from scratch.

Lagamorph wrote:Additional games and March 19 2020 release date announced,

It's probably just my ageing ears, but I much prefer game SFX and music from back then. Heavier focus on tight, frantic music. Developers working within limitations to produce some incredible stuff. The music on the trailer is lush.

Not fussed about the console itself, mind. It passed me by a bit: there was a lad at school who knew about that sort thing, and I remember him telling me about the PC Engine and the Neo Geo, but I don't think I even saw what one looked like until many years later.

It's definitely something I'm interested in.

Looking forward to seeing/hearing more about it soon.

Lagamorph wrote:

Mafro wrote:

Cheeky Devlin wrote:How your supposed to play an untranslated version of Snatcher I have no idea.

I wonder if they'll go to the effort to update it with the Sega CD translation?.

Someone on ResetEra made a post about attempting to use the assets from the Mega CD version,

games like snatcher and policenauts use a modular platform independent kernel to achieve their ports, essentially a super basic virtual machine. This virtual machine handles the text parsing systems of the games. US Sega CD snatcher handles english text through an additional, sega CD specific module that is not part of the original kernel, written in 68000 assembly. The PC Engine doesn't run this type of code, the module is incompatible with other ports of the game. It's not as easy as just sticking the text from the Sega CD version into the PC Engine version, it'd require significant reengineering.

Basically, it's not at all quick or easy to RIP the English assets from the Mega CD translation. They'd have to implement a translation port from scratch.

So they're just lazily putting out a game that will be impenetrable to the vast majority of the western audience

I've played through the Sega CD version and didn't think it was all that anyway.