General PC Engine Appreciation Thread

[TruxtonTatsujin TruxtonTatsujin]

PC Engine Spotlight #12

Might and Magic
The Wizardry series was extremely popular in Japan, leading to several other Western RPGs being imported, such as this one. While a first-person dungeon crawler similar to Wizardry, it's structured a bit differently, in that you're not just trudging through dungeons, but also exploring towns, forests and other landscapes, which combine to create one big interconnected world.
This version of the game differs in a few ways, such as new encounters & quests, having to play with a pre-made party, a new story with a cinematic intro and two tracks by legendary composer Joe Hisaishi (Studio Ghibli). The graphics have also all been redone from scratch with a decidedly more Japanese style.
The cover was drawn by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, who is most famous as the character designer for Mobile Suit Gundam, but is also known for the fantasy manga Arion.

There's a fan translation on the repo:

Might and Magic (English Patched) TurboGrafx-CD ISO – RGT Repository

Might and Magic (English Patched) TurboGrafx-CD ISO Game ID: NAPR-1022. Languages: English Patched, Japanese. For TurboGrafx-CD / PC-Engine CD.

retrogametalk.com

 

[ThunderBoy]

 

[PhrawzT]

When all my friends were getting a Genesis or Super Nintendo, I had a TurboGrafx. Games were always hard to come by, but I enjoyed what I had.
Bonk's Adventure
Keith Courage
Cratermaze
Boxy Boy
Double Dungeons

 

[Darklink]

Not my favorite retro console, but it's a good one. Just a lot of the games are not in genres I particularly like. Shoot 'em ups especially.

But Castlevania Rondo of Blood on the CD is a great game, arguably the best of the Classic style Castlevania games.

And I liked Neutopia for what it was, a pretty solid Zelda 1 clone.

 

[thetwaz]

I really only discovered a lot of its library this year, but playing through Bonk's Adventure has been really fun. Definitely one of my top 2D platformers now.

 

[gekiganwing]

Somehow, the City Hunter licensed game for PC Engine is getting reissued on Steam. I assume it's because the City Hunter manga is getting its first translation since the 2000s (the Gutsoon years), and maybe because of the Cat's Eye reboot.

 

[PhaseJump]

I don't think I've seen a PC Engine competitor to Dragon Quest. It's weird the company didn't get on that bandwagon like SEGA did. I watched a video list of RPGs on PC Engine, and most of them didn't even qualify as RPGs.

For anybody into punishing oldschool JRPGs, Edia ported Cosmic Fantasy franchise over to Switch, and it has an emulation layer translation for english. They also recently licensed Falcom's games Ys 1&2, Ys 3, Ys 4 Dawn of Ys, Legend of Heroes 1 & 2, and Legend of Xanadu 1 & 2


The emulation translation thing happened for Shubibinman games which went to other platforms, but the original first game Cyber Citizen Shockman was an HuCard instead of a CD, so the translation was patched to the rom itself. This game is fully translated, but not dumped or widely released. The binary is contained in the Switch version and it can be extracted and then run original hardware.

I saw somebody on a discord do it and run it with the mister fpga core. It hasn't been widely released though and one of you might want to get on it. I don't have the hardware or software to do it myself.

 

[TruxtonTatsujin TruxtonTatsujin]

For anybody into punishing oldschool JRPGs, Edia ported Cosmic Fantasy franchise over to Switch, and it has an emulation layer translation for english. They also recently licensed Falcom's games Ys 1&2, Ys 3, Ys 4 Dawn of Ys, Legend of Heroes 1 & 2, and Legend of Xanadu 1 & 2


The emulation translation thing happened for Shubibinman games which went to other platforms, but the original first game Cyber Citizen Shockman was an HuCard instead of a CD, so the translation was patched to the rom itself. This game is fully translated, but not dumped or widely released. The binary is contained in the Switch version and it can be extracted and then run original hardware.

I saw somebody on a discord do it and run it with the mister fpga core. It hasn't been widely released though and one of you might want to get on it. I don't have the hardware or software to do it myself.

I saw that, pretty cool. I hope the English translations get properly patched to the rom file one day though. I'd much rather play them on my PC Engine than have to buy them on Switch. They also released the Valis games in English as well.

 

[PhaseJump]

I saw that, pretty cool. I hope the English translations get properly patched to the rom file one day though. I'd much rather play them on my PC Engine than have to buy them on Switch. They also released the Valis games in English as well.

It's doubtful. The emulation layer is handling the translations and provides the extra subtitles for untranslated voice work that exists in a ton of PC Engine CD games. You can't really hardcode subtitles into the original game releases, and more than any other platform, the PCECD was a total mess that basically followed no conventional process. Devs more often put the assets all over the place in a big binary blob on the disc.

Between needing to record english speaking audio, finding the data that needs to be translated, putting the edited stuff back into the image without breaking things, localizing the CD games is more of a nightmare than usual.

The rom games are a lot simpler, like with the first Shockman. They officially translated the rom itself. It only needs to be extracted.

 

[KiryuRealty]

How many "bits" a console was in the 80's and 90's was more of a marketing thing, but since the system is comparable to the MD and SFC I would classify it as a 16-bit console.

The confusion comes from the CPU being 8 bit but the GPU 16. That doesn't mean it was automatically less powerful than the other two though. The PC Engine has a larger colour pallet than the Mega Drive for example.

The CPU was the exact same chip as the Famicom/NES, so yes, it was weaker computationally. It had scaling and rotation support in the GPU for sprites, which was arguably better than only having playfield S&R which the SNES/Super Famicom had, but the SNES was honestly a pretty lousy piece of hardware, aside from the Sony-made sound chip.

Post automatically merged: Sep 30, 2025

I saw that, pretty cool. I hope the English translations get properly patched to the rom file one day though. I'd much rather play them on my PC Engine than have to buy them on Switch. They also released the Valis games in English as well.

This may blow your mind, but it is not only possible to patch ROMs yourself, it is really easy to do!

 

[PhaseJump]

The CPU was the exact same chip as the Famicom/NES, so yes, it was weaker computationally. It had scaling and rotation support in the GPU for sprites, which was arguably better than only having playfield S&R which the SNES/Super Famicom had, but the SNES was honestly a pretty lousy piece of hardware, aside from the Sony-made sound chip.

Post automatically merged: Sep 30, 2025

65C816 was trash, and Nintendo were cheap. The Genesis going with a 68K was a better decision.

This may blow your mind, but it is not only possible to patch ROMs yourself, it is really easy to do!

This may blow your mind, There is no patch.

The emulators wrapping the modern ports are doing translations on the fly and not patching the original game image. They are also providing subtitles over audio that have no way of displaying in the original game, requiring the audio to be translated. All the work being done there has not been extracted or injected into a "proper" patch so the original game can run translated on original hardware.

You are implying something is really easy to do, when translating and patching games for PC Engine CD is borderline nightmare fuel for a number of reasons, with little to no reward.

 

[KiryuRealty]

65C816 was trash, and Nintendo were cheap. The Genesis going with a 68K was a better decision.



This may blow your mind, There is no patch.

The emulators wrapping the modern ports are doing translations on the fly and not patching the original game image. They are also providing subtitles over audio that have no way of displaying in the original game, requiring the audio to be translated. All the work being done there has not been extracted or injected into a "proper" patch so the original game can run translated on original hardware.

You are implying something is really easy to do, when translating and patching games for PC Engine CD is borderline nightmare fuel for a number of reasons, with little to no reward.

There really isn't any reward to fans translating games aside from satisfaction in the work itself, but it is possible to turn a realtime patch into a normal patch. That being said, patching disc games is tricky, and doubly so if you want the patched version to run on original hardware.

If Nintendo ever made a good piece of hardware, I'd die of shock. They ALWAYS find a way to sabotage themselves, but their cultists lap it all up and justify every greedy, stupid thing they do.

 

[TruxtonTatsujin TruxtonTatsujin]

The CPU was the exact same chip as the Famicom/NES, so yes, it was weaker computationally. It had scaling and rotation support in the GPU for sprites, which was arguably better than only having playfield S&R which the SNES/Super Famicom had, but the SNES was honestly a pretty lousy piece of hardware, aside from the Sony-made sound chip.

yeah, obviously the CPU is less powerful. When most people talk about bits they really only care about graphics. I was just saying its more fair to compare the PCE to 16-bit consoles rather than 8-bit ones.
Also out of those 3 the SNES has the biggest issues with slowdown.

This may blow your mind, but it is not only possible to patch ROMs yourself, it is really easy to do!

you're right bro, just lemme go learn how to code in assembly real quick.
for real though it's not a big deal. I've played games in Japanese before, and I'll do it again.

 

[PhaseJump]

PC Engine was closer to an actual "Super Nintendo" considering it ran in the 8bit 6502 family, and not the SNES's next gen hybrid dumpster fire 65C816 with it's weird 8/16 bit addressing bullshit, years late to the play ground.

 

[KiryuRealty]

PC Engine was closer to an actual "Super Nintendo" considering it ran in the 8bit 6502 family, and not the SNES's next gen hybrid dumpster fire 65C816 with it's weird 8/16 bit addressing bullshit, years late to the play ground.

The main reason for the odd/bad decisions with the SFC CPU was that Nintendo was originally going to make the SFC backward compatible with the FC, which is why they clocked it so insipidly low and kept 8-bit addressing.

Then their insane level of greed kicked in and they canned the BC capability, but it was too late in development to fix the clock speed.

 

[PhaseJump]

The main reason for the odd/bad decisions with the SFC CPU was that Nintendo was originally going to make the SFC backward compatible with the FC, which is why they clocked it so insipidly low and kept 8-bit addressing.

Then their insane level of greed kicked in and they canned the BC capability, but it was too late in development to fix the clock speed.

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

The main reason for the odd/bad decisions with the SFC CPU was that Nintendo was originally going to make the SFC backward compatible with the FC, which is why they clocked it so insipidly low and kept 8-bit addressing. Then their insane level of greed kicked in and they canned the BC capability, but it was too late in development to fix the clock speed.

An actual backward compatibility would've been revolutionary if they ever did that.

Either way the SNES is still an iconic and perhaps one of the best console in history (next to the PS2) with plenty of great games that still stood the test of time.

As for the PC Engine the small issue is that despite it being powerful for its time I don't see plenty of iconic games that are remembered by many nor games that changed gaming with their innovative game design. I guess that, like the Neo Geo, it's mostly a console made for a niche audience with a more restricted list of game genres (I can't recall many RPGs on either of them).

If Nintendo ever made a good piece of hardware, I'd die of shock. They ALWAYS find a way to sabotage themselves, but their cultists lap it all up and justify every greedy, stupid thing they do.

Technically wasn't the Famicom a good piece of hardware? I can see the compromises for each subsequent ones but their game carried each (yes, even the Wii U).

 

[PhaseJump]

An actual backward compatibility would've been revolutionary if they ever did that.

Either way the SNES is still an iconic and perhaps one of the best console in history (next to the PS2) with plenty of great games that still stood the test of time.

As for the PC Engine the small issue is that despite it being powerful for its time I don't see plenty of iconic games that are remembered by many nor games that changed gaming with their innovative game design. I guess that, like the Neo Geo, it's mostly a console made for a niche audience with a more restricted list of game genres (I can't recall many RPGs on either of them).


Technically wasn't the Famicom a good piece of hardware? I can see the compromises for each subsequent ones but their game carried each (yes, even the Wii U).

Backward compatibility was being done by the competition, Sega Genesis, Atari 7800, and the dead PCE successor SuperGrafx in Japan.

SNES hardware was just a mess to develop games for, and developers had to deploy extra "add-on" chips in their cartridges. There were more than half a dozen different ones used to upgrade the thing, including the Super FX ones that got marketing later on.

PC Engine was pushing out upgrades via the HuCard for extra memory, necessary to run later Super CDRom games. It was full of games that were groundbreaking or cutting edge at the time, many of them RPGs. The problem is they were more often stuck in Japan and never localized to the west.

Far East of Eden franchise, Cosmic Fantasy franchise, Emerald Dragon, Legend of Xanadu I & II, Legend of Heroes I & II, Xak 3, Popful Mail. etc.
You can play 4 Ys games in english on the Turbo CD these days, and they punch way above anything you could have played on the Genesis or SNES at the time.

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

Backward compatibility was being done by the competition, Sega Genesis.

I don't recall the Mega Drive being able to run Mark III/SMS games natively.

Ports and peripheral sure, but that's not the same.

SNES hardware was just a mess to develop games for, and developers had to deploy extra "add-on" chips in their cartridges. There were more than half a dozen different ones used to upgrade the thing, including the Super FX ones that got marketing later on.

At the end of the day it still had plenty of great games regardless. Starfox with the SuperFX was impressive for the hardware and a showcase of what was coming before 32-bits came home.

Far East of Eden franchise, Cosmic Fantasy franchise, Emerald Dragon, Legend of Xanadu I & II, Legend of Heroes I & II, Xak 3, Popful Mail. etc.
You can play 4 Ys games in english on the Turbo CD these days, and they punch way above anything you could have played on the Genesis or SNES at the time.

Now the quality of those games isn't to question but telling they are better than stuff on the Genesis or SNES is quite debatable, especially when most required the separate CD peripheral whereas the SNES didn't need to pay extra just to be allowed to play them.


I know where you came from but downplaying the SNES' quality to make a point about the PC Engine would sound a bit dishonest at first.

 

[TruxtonTatsujin TruxtonTatsujin]

I don't recall the Mega Drive being able to run Mark III/SMS games natively.

Ports and peripheral sure, but that's not the same.

The Mega Drive can run Master System games natively, you just need an adapter. I don't even have a Master System hooked up because my Mega Drive flash cart can play them all.

At the end of the day it still had plenty of great games regardless. Starfox with the SuperFX was impressive for the hardware and a showcase of what was coming before 32-bits came home.

Nintendo was even more dominate in Japan, which forced many developers to put up with the SNES's very questionable architecture. Even so many of those games suffer from performance issues. I'm not discrediting the quality of the games but you can't deny that many where not as optimized as games on the Mega Drive and PC Engine.

Now the quality of those games isn't to question but telling they are better than stuff on the Genesis or SNES is quite debatable, especially when most required the separate CD peripheral whereas the SNES didn't need to pay extra just to be allowed to play them.

I know where you came from but downplaying the SNES' quality to make a point about the PC Engine would sound a bit dishonest at first.

It can not be understated just how much of a step up CDs are to carts. Even if the PC Engine was lacking in some aspects the extra space more than made for for it. Unlike the Mega CD the PCE CD addon was integral to the system and would later be built into to the later Duo units.

As for the PC Engine the small issue is that despite it being powerful for its time I don't see plenty of iconic games that are remembered by many nor games that changed gaming with their innovative game design. I guess that, like the Neo Geo, it's mostly a console made for a niche audience with a more restricted list of game genres (I can't recall many RPGs on either of them).

The PC Engine only feels niche outside of Japan because of how terribly mismanaged the TurboGrafx-16 was. The thing was a titan in the Japanese market, I would argue it was even more influential than the Mega Drive was for Japanese devs. Sega was pretty firmly in 3rd place with Nintendo way out font, that left the PC Engine in the middle.

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

The Mega Drive can run Master System games natively, you just need an adapter.

Now that's the thing: it still needs an adapter.

Anyway, we're digressing quite a lot there.

 

[TruxtonTatsujin TruxtonTatsujin]

you right, lemme get back on track, I have another game to post.

PC Engine Spotlight #13

City Hunter
Ryo Saeba is a "sweeper", basically a detective for hire, whose extraordinary talent has earned him the nickname "City Hunter". He's also a drooling pervert, who selects his jobs based on how attractive he finds his client. Based on a Shounen Jump manga by Tsukasa Hojo, which later turned into an anime, this PC Engine HuCARD is the only game based on the popular series. Across four missions, Ryo ventures through enormous offices, factories and warehouses, hunting for important items and clues, all the while gunning down any foe that comes near him. This PC Engine title was released in early 1990, filling in the gap between the third TV series and the films released later that summer, so the cover artwork has the same art style as the anime.

English Patch:

City Hunter (J+English Patched) TurboGrafx-16 ROM – RGT Repository

City Hunter (J+English Patched) TurboGrafx-16 ROM Game ID: . Languages: English Patched, Japanese. For TurboGrafx-16 / PC-Engine HuCard.

retrogametalk.com

 

[PhaseJump]

I don't recall the Mega Drive being able to run Mark III/SMS games natively.

Ports and peripheral sure, but that's not the same.


At the end of the day it still had plenty of great games regardless. Starfox with the SuperFX was impressive for the hardware and a showcase of what was coming before 32-bits came home.


Now the quality of those games isn't to question but telling they are better than stuff on the Genesis or SNES is quite debatable, especially when most required the separate CD peripheral whereas the SNES didn't need to pay extra just to be allowed to play them.


I know where you came from but downplaying the SNES' quality to make a point about the PC Engine would sound a bit dishonest at first.

Genesis ran SMS games native since it had the same hardware in it. You needed a pin adapter they sold as the power base converter. Discounting that is the same as discounting the ability to play Famicom games in NES consoles with an adapter. They are the same argument. The games are running native on the same hardware.

The PC Engine game library was mostly CD based. The games I pointed to were better than anything else at the time.

I was a Nintendo fanboy back then, and I played the SNES to death, bought Final Fantasy games and Chrono Trigger when they came out, but I wouldn't go back to that platform any sooner than Genesis, Saturn, or TurboCD as far as development or goes, or actually having the patience to play through the library again.

I am not downplaying the SNES, outside of calling the hardware that it uses trash, because it is. Nintendo cobbled together shitty components and made a 16bit game platform out of it, dependent on upgrade chips, adding supply chain leverage over it's developers for bonus costs as a publisher, and they still showed up late. Again, I was a Nintendo fanboy back then. Today, I know better.

The Genesis is the best oldschool hobbyist machine around today.

 

[TruxtonTatsujin TruxtonTatsujin]

The SNES is a great system even if it's CPU is a little fucked, not like the other systems of the time didn't have their own unique shortcomings.

I was a Nintendo fanboy back then, and I played the SNES to death, bought Final Fantasy games and Chrono Trigger when they came out, but I wouldn't go back to that platform any sooner than Genesis, Saturn, or TurboCD as far as development or goes, or actually having the patience to play through the library again.

This is a very wild thing to say on a retro gaming focused forum

 

[PhaseJump]

The SNES is a great system even if it's CPU is a little fucked, not like the other systems of the time didn't have their own unique shortcomings.

This is a very wild thing to say on a retro gaming focused forum

Not really, most of the 3rd party games and arcade ports are total slogs. These days we all have easy access to better versions. SNES library as far as RPGs go was great, their first party games were industry leading and untouchable, but the hardware itself was and still is a bad joke that ruled over the industry.