The Great Confusion - http://www.mmcafe.com/ Forums


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karasu99
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"The Great Confusion" , posted Tue 12 Jul 07:14:post reply

So I recently got it into my head that I need to purchase some species of PC Engine before too long, mainly because something like 80% of what I play in emulation, remake, and Virtual Console was originally made for the PCE.

Thing is, it's hard to navigate the forest of PC Engine variants, so I was hoping (especially since Brandon has showed up of late) to receive someone's guidance on what is the best variant/combo/whatever to buy. Maybe I have a mistaken perception, but it always seemed to me like there were way more varieties of PCE than there were of almost any other major game console. What I would like is to be able to play any of the games that were released for the console, on CD, HUCard, or otherwise.

I also though it could be an interesting topic for discussion!

Here is my experience with the PCE: in 1991 or so I bought a TurboGrafx, and bought games for quite some time of all varieties. I suppose I could claim that it was my introduction to Japanese games, especially since some games had significantly less American 'veneer' than NES or Genesis games of the time. One thing I always avoided was the Turbo-CD. The US library for it seemed lackluster (and quite expensive) to me at the time-- keep in mind, CDR drives were not even remotely ubiquitous at the time.

I eventually sold it to my roommate, and almost immediately wished I hadn't. So here I am years later trying to get its Japanese equivalent!

[EDIT]: To be honest, what prompted my new found interest was the hope that I could get a chance to play Super Darius and Super Darius II. Anyone care to comment on those as well?






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[this message was edited by karasu99 on Tue 12 Jul 07:44]

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chazumaru
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"Re(1):The Great Confusion" , posted Tue 12 Jul 08:47:post reply

If what you are looking for is convenience, the simplest is to buy a Duo, Duo-R or Duo-RX. Duo is cuter. Duo-RX comes with a 6 buttons pad. Duo-R has no advantage over the two other consoles, but might be cheaper and does the same (cards + all CD games + System 3.0 card).

However, be careful not to buy a RF version of the console (= Antenna output), and rather buy a RCA output version. Then buy an Arcade Card Duo, and you are set. The only thing you will not be able to play are LD games and Supergrafx games, but they are most probably not the reason you want to buy a PCE.





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[this message was edited by chazumaru on Tue 12 Jul 08:51]

exodus
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"Re(1):The Great Confusion" , posted Tue 12 Jul 09:32post reply

adding to chaz's post, you're probably aware, but pc engine can't play U.S. hu-cards, and the reverse. but you can play *all* CDs with no problem if you get an arcade card.

Duo, R, and RX all come with the super system ram and bios, so you can get all cd games except arcade ones with that. If you somehow have an RGB monitor, people are selling Duo Rs on ebay with RGB out for pretty cheap these days. There's pretty much no reason to get anything but a Duo of some type.

and super darius is fine, what do you mean? It's not particularly exciting or anything...





CHAZumaru
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"Re(2):The Not So Confusing Confusion" , posted Tue 12 Jul 17:03post reply

It's too bad they did not add PCE compatibility to the PC-FX (and emulate the Arcade card through the hardware). Even without the HuCard, it would have made it a much more interesting machine to own, if only for the CD-ROMē games.





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sibarraz
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"Re(3):The Not So Confusing Confusion" , posted Tue 12 Jul 18:04post reply

Reading this thread, I really wonder what nec was thinking with all this variations for a console, if I'm not wrong, the arcade card wasn't exactly cheap





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karasu99
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"Re(2):The Great Non-Confusion" , posted Wed 13 Jul 01:07:post reply

quote:
adding to chaz's post, you're probably aware, but pc engine can't play U.S. hu-cards, and the reverse. but you can play *all* CDs with no problem if you get an arcade card.


I had suspected it would be a flavor of Duo, I just wasn't sure if R or RX were especially notable. I'll have to think about which one I want in particular.

As for the Japanese games issue, I was thinking I would mostly play Japanese HuCards anyway, since those are especially interesting to me.
quote:

However, be careful not to buy a RF version of the console (= Antenna output), and rather buy a RCA output version. Then buy an Arcade Card Duo, and you are set. The only thing you will not be able to play are LD games and Supergrafx games, but they are most probably not the reason you want to buy a PCE.


Thanks for mentioning that Chaz, I would never have known. From the ones I'm seeing on eBay, there seem to be mostly RCA output units-- is the RF output version not as common?
quote:

and super darius is fine, what do you mean? It's not particularly exciting or anything...


I was just curious if it was worth tracking down if I already have several other versions of the same game. According to what I've read Super Darius I and II include additional content, but I haven't seen a huge amount of info on said content.

Thanks guys for your help!






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[this message was edited by karasu99 on Wed 13 Jul 01:07]

exodus
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"Re(3):The Great Non-Confusion" , posted Wed 13 Jul 14:46post reply

as for what duo variant to get, definitely go for an R or RX. They'll be the easiest to find, because they were the budget models, much like the white version of the Saturn. This is good for two reasons - one, they'll be newer than the black duos, and thus so will the lenses. two, the black duo has the cables coming out of the side, which was idiotic. The Duo R and RX have the cables out the back, which is much more space-conscious and visually pleasing. As for R vs RX, it's really just about whether you want that six button PC-fx-style controller, which frankly isn't that great anyway, in my opinion. I wouldn't pay more for it.

Unfortunately I can't speak to the darius variants, but you might ask on the pcenginefx forums, they're the most likely to know!





chazumaru
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"Re(4):The Great Non-Confusion" , posted Thu 14 Jul 01:17post reply

Yeah the Avenue Pad 6 is a better 6-button controller than the PC-FX one. The advantage of the Duo is that it looks cool/slick, with more thought put into the case than the other ones. But it is less convenient and less reliable. I would still go for the Duo for nostalgic reasons (it's the DUO! It's that one! Screw the cheap budget whores that came afterwards!), but R and RX are more reasonable choices.

quote:
is the RF output version not as common?

RF is not very common indeed, which is why the issue is little known, therefore a stupid accident or scam you need to be cautious about if you buy one over the internet.





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