PC-FX and why it sucks

[Neo Alec]

The system was held and released late, similar to the Atari 7800.

 

[famicommander]

fuckin' goob ass hentai system

 

[fake]

The video in the OP is good. People who wrote it off as a lame-o's uninformed take on the console should actually watch it. A lot of the technical stuff went over my head, but the broad strokes make it clear how poorly designed the chipset is. PC-FX is basically a precursor to the Wii U, with NEC / Nintendo saying, "why don't we just make the old thing a little more powerful?"

 

[terry.330]

PC-FX is basically a precursor to the Wii U, with NEC / Nintendo saying, "why don't we just make the old thing a little more powerful?"

I mean they already had a pretty bizarre track record with the whole incremental upgrades with the CD add on, arcade card, Super GFX etc. And Sega was doing a similar thing with the Sega CD and 32x. That whole tech limbo era of the mid 90's was really weird, nobody had any idea what they were doing. Then the Playstation comes along and pretty much makes them all look foolish.

Technical specs aside there just wasn't any real room in the market for anyone else when Nintendo, Sega and Sony all had new consoles.

Even in the super niche Japanese gaming market you had a lot of competition with the NG/NGCD, X68000, FM Towns, PC etc. that's a very small crowded market and without any must own games or a significant technical edge you're fucked.

 

[fake]

I mean they already had a pretty bizarre track record with the whole incremental upgrades with the CD add on, arcade card, Super GFX etc. And Sega was doing a similar thing with the Sega CD and 32x. That whole tech limbo era of the mid 90's was really weird, nobody had any idea what they were doing. Then the Playstation comes along and pretty much makes them all look foolish.

Technical specs aside there just wasn't any real room in the market for anyone else when Nintendo, Sega and Sony all had new consoles.

Even in the super niche Japanese gaming market you had a lot of competition with the NG/NGCD, X68000, FM Towns, PC etc. that's a very small crowded market and without any must own games or a significant technical edge you're fucked.

It does make me wonder how Sony not only knew to go all-in on 3D, but also had the knowledge to put together powerful and dev-friendly hardware.

 

[terry.330]

It does make me wonder how Sony not only knew to go all-in on 3D, but also had the knowledge to put together powerful and dev-friendly hardware.

Gotta remember that a lot of people said it was a mistake for Sony to get into the game industry at the time because they didn't have any experience in the market. But Sony was the biggest electronics company in Japan (probably the world) on a scale that dwarfed the game industry. So they had enough money to do whatever it took and as essentially an outsider to also recognize the mistakes the other companies were making.

 

[fake]

Gotta remember that a lot of people said it was a mistake for Sony to get into the game industry at the time because they didn't have any experience in the market. But Sony was the biggest electronics company in Japan (probably the world) on a scale that dwarfed the game industry. So they had enough money to do whatever it took and as essentially an outsider to also recognize the mistakes the other companies were making.

Yep, and meanwhile SGI is thinking that hardware graphics acceleration will ever been a consumer thing. There was a lot of disappointing hardware in that era, but it was also super exciting to be hearing about new stuff all the time. Or at least it felt like it was all the time when I was a kid.

 

[GohanX]

I actually have one of these pieces of shit, but it really wasn't a terrible purchase. I paid like $100 for the system, burned the three gaijin friendly games, had a decent time. I don't think any of those games couldn't have just been a Super CD, but Zeroigar and Chip Chan Kick were decent enough. I don't really understand western goobs actively collecting the library with no knowledge of Japanese when most of the games are flat out unplayable if you don't know the language.

 

[Fenugreek]

I had no idea the system was this hated among western retro gamers after all these years. Though always destined to die against the Saturn and Playstation, I always saw it as a console that just never got to realize its true potential due to the fmv and license game mandate. We never got Lords of Thunder FX, Super Star Soldier 3D, Hi-ten Bomberman, etc so the system always seemed like lost potential as those games simply never materialized.

Zenki, Team Innocent, Battle Heat, Zeroigar, and Yuna FX (for those who followed that series on PC Engine, Saturn, and eventually the Playstation for Yuna 3) are all that seemed fit for play for most, but as someone already stated, even all of those aren’t games you can earnestly recommend.

As an oldschool Fist of the Northstar fan, it primarily runs Battle Heat these days, but I always thought older gamers saw the console and its library in the same light as the Wonderswan: a quirky japan-exclusive system with only a limited offering of titles for gamers looking for something outside of the usual consoles.

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I don't think anyone hates it, just disappointed in the lack of actual (non-FMV/VN) games. imo WonderSwan isn't comparable at all; it has a full-blown and well-rounded library of games.

 

[Yamazaki]

Used to have an almost full set missing only two cheap games that I was too lazy to get...

although some games like Zenki (which costs shitloads of money now...) where quite fun the system was basically a low-level hentai anime FMV machine....
and those FMV looked like cancer...


sold everything off to that one Italian hardcore PC Engine guy.

 

[pixeljunkie]

Once retroarch's AI translation is user friendly enough - I might revisit this console for some weeb shit - but until then, nah

 

[BlackaneseNiNjA]

I don't think anyone hates it, just disappointed in the lack of actual (non-FMV/VN) games. imo WonderSwan isn't comparable at all; it has a full-blown and well-rounded library of games.

Hey whats up Fenugreek, that makes perfect sense. Also, with the Wonderswan comparison, I was referring to the fact that 90% of the libraries of both systems are completely inaccessible to a non-japanese speaker, and of the games that don’t require an understanding of the language, most are fairly mediocre compared to what was on offer on rival platforms at the time (such as the gba & ngpc for wonderswan and the saturn, ps1, etc for pc-fx) or were eventually made available on other consoles.

I’ve gradually seen more pc-fx content appearing on youtube. Seems to be a sign that many have explored the other more well known consoles and are now taking a look at more niche japanese systems. The Wonderswan seemed to undergo the same phenomenon about 10 years ago once everyone had gone through the other portable consoles.

 

[famicommander]

PC-FX is basically a precursor to the Wii U, with NEC / Nintendo saying, "why don't we just make the old thing a little more powerful?"

More like the Gamecube to Wii, not Wii to Wii U.

Gamecube --> Wii --> Wii U
CPU: single core at 486mhz --> single core at 729mhz --> triple core at 1.24ghz
GPU: 162mhz --> 243mhz --> 550mhz
RAM: 43MB --> 88MB --> 512MB

Wii was basically a Gamecube with double the RAM and an overclocked CPU and GPU.

Wii U's CPU is basically three Wii CPUs overclocked and put on one die. It was a massive leap over the Wii, it just wasn't at all impressive compared to PS4 or XB1.

 

[terry.330]

I literally forgot that the WiiU even existed.

 

[famicommander]

I literally forgot that the WiiU even existed.

90% of its worthwhile games got ported to Switch anyway

 

[deviljin102]

I played my PC-FX the same week I got it. It's been in storage since then. Sometimes CD-R games don't work, even after adjusting the laser pot, burning at 1x, and using verbatim and hp discs. Either way, I don't regret getting it, lol.

 

[wyo]

More like the Gamecube to Wii, not Wii to Wii U.

Gamecube --> Wii --> Wii U
CPU: single core at 486mhz --> single core at 729mhz --> triple core at 1.24ghz
GPU: 162mhz --> 243mhz --> 550mhz
RAM: 43MB --> 88MB --> 512MB

Wii was basically a Gamecube with double the RAM and an overclocked CPU and GPU.

Wii U's CPU is basically three Wii CPUs overclocked and put on one die. It was a massive leap over the Wii, it just wasn't at all impressive compared to PS4 or XB1.

The numbers don't lie. Wii U was tremendous.

 

[famicommander]

The numbers don't lie. Wii U was tremendous.

I mean, it was basically a PS3/360 with some more modern features. It's just that it was a massive leap over the Wii, which itself was only marginally more capable than the OG Xbox and Gamecube.

 

[NeoSneth]

What if's, should have, could have,...
This whole era of gaming was plagued by FMV, but it's not like cinematic games got better. It's still QTE. They just have better cinematics.
Yeah, they should have just taken 2D games to the next level. They didn't tho.

 

[wataru330]

The Blazing Lazers X that was behind closed doors at TGS once upon a time (running on the tetsujin/IronMan board set that was in the race to be the SGX successor) pushed some pixels.

What could’ve been, eh?

 

[Joey_Digital7]

Im a sucker for documentaries like this. Gets me through work, listening to them.

 

[Joey_Digital7]

I mean, the focus was on all this crazy fmv and anime to be included in every game.
Even today, there's no real way a non-Japanese speaking gamer can properly play 95% of the library.
You have to wonder what NEC/Hudson were thinking when they green-lighted the PC-FX.

Anime has all but taken over comic books, they are probably trying to ride the hype train.