The NEC PC-FX; an eight part video series that will probably fail

[SignOfGoob]

THIS is why the PC-FX failed

…yeah…this is a pretty bad video. When someone has absolutely no idea how to play a game whatsoever (losing every match) they really shouldn’t be going on and on about how terrible it is. That’s a bullshit move even for crap games/systems like this. I don’t think Madden 2021 is a bad game, I just have zero idea how to play it and never will so it’s totally useless to me. That’s not the same thing. (Football itself is a terrible game, obviously).

I don’t remember how to play this game but I know I’ve seen people go through it, maybe I even saw the ending. For sure it is an actual game.

I have other games that are weird and hard to figure out and people often say are bad like Initial D for GBA, menu based driving, and Dragon Ball Z for PC Engine which is menu based choujin fighting. These are honestly both really good games for the intended audience: those who are total maniax for the subject matter, who are into something new, and who read Japanese. It’s profoundly difficult for anyone who’s not good in all three categories to understand a single thing in these games so people on English speaking forums call them bad. Lots of stuff is “bad” if you can’t read it or you don’t know at what point in Dragon Ball the kamehameha was first used or what gutter drifting is.

Also, from my experience this isn’t a game people use as evidence that the FX sucks, in fact I’ve heard more people say that it’s the best game on the system because it’s basically Prize Fighter for the Mega CD redone by the North Star guy and it flows well once you figure it out. Also back then in the US it was almost impossible to get anything for FX except this game, galgets, *maybe* Power Dolls, and Anime Freaks vol whatever so the only thing worse that buying an FX with Battle Heat was buying an FX without Battle Heat.

 

[awbacon]

…yeah…this is a pretty bad video. When someone has absolutely no idea how to play a game whatsoever (losing every match) they really shouldn’t be going on and on about how terrible it is. That’s a bullshit move even for crap games/systems like this. I don’t think Madden 2021 is a bad game, I just have zero idea how to play it and never will so it’s totally useless to me. That’s not the same thing. (Football itself is a terrible game, obviously).

I don’t remember how to play this game but I know I’ve seen people go through it, maybe I even saw the ending. For sure it is an actual game.

I have other games that are weird and hard to figure out and people often say are bad like Initial D for GBA, menu based driving, and Dragon Ball Z for PC Engine which is menu based choujin fighting. These are honestly both really good games for the intended audience: those who are total maniax for the subject matter, who are into something new, and who read Japanese. It’s profoundly difficult for anyone who’s not good in all three categories to understand a single thing in these games so people on English speaking forums call them bad. Lots of stuff is “bad” if you can’t read it or you don’t know at what point in Dragon Ball the kamehameha was first used or what gutter drifting is.

Also, from my experience this isn’t a game people use as evidence that the FX sucks, in fact I’ve heard more people say that it’s the best game on the system because it’s basically Prize Fighter for the Mega CD redone by the North Star guy and it flows well once you figure it out. Also back then in the US it was almost impossible to get anything for FX except this game, galgets, *maybe* Power Dolls, and Anime Freaks vol whatever so the only thing worse that buying an FX with Battle Heat was buying an FX without Battle Heat.

lol I lierally had a FAQ and a manual translation out and it still is an absolute mess. Sorry you don't like the video but I stand by the fact its a terrible game...and I am the one making the videos hyping the PC-FX as a "good console"...so zero vendetta to make the system look bad. But I certainly can't lie and say Battle Heat is good...because it's not!

Plus ANYONE can pick up and play Madden. Even with a full move set and explanation of controls Battle Heat is still impenetrable. Straight up

 

[awbacon]

def not a game you can play w/o a walkthrough but its still pretty damn intriguing to me

 

[ysselcneogeo]

The dumbest fault of the fx was its lack of playing pce games.

 

[Burning Fight!!]

The dumbest fault of the fx was its lack of playing pce games.

I mean it has the fucking video chip from the console inside... TWO of them in fact. Actually when you look at a block diagram of the PC-FX it resembles a Supergrafx with a MPEG adapter card... Except for the V810 CPU they tacked onto it. WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?

I never realized how pathetic of a half-effort the FX was until now, and it just dawned on me that, from an article clipping I once saw on PCEFX (rip) with a dumb metal box saying it was a FMV powerhouse for the Turbografx could be an early sighting of it. I wish I could find that article...

 

[ysselcneogeo]

I mean it has the fucking video chip from the console inside... TWO of them in fact. Actually when you look at a block diagram of the PC-FX it resembles a Supergrafx with a MPEG adapter card... Except for the V810 CPU they tacked onto it. WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?

I never realized how pathetic of a half-effort the FX was until now, and it just dawned on me that, from an article clipping I once saw on PCEFX (rip) with a dumb metal box saying it was a FMV powerhouse for the Turbografx could be an early sighting of it. I wish I could find that article...

If I remember correctly they wanted completely different hardware and then in fear of being late to the party of new system ( which i think they were still ) they changed and dropped the hardware they wanted and shoved something out so here we get this useless half assed and half baked thing. Granted they made the supergrafx also they obviously sucked just as bad as sega at not understanding rushing hardware.

 

[Tarma]

It has never ceased to amaze me that, after the success NEC had with the PC Engine in Japan, why the hell it decided to go into the 32-Bit era with such a half-assed, under powered, useless waste of silicon and plastic like the PC FX.

They must have known it was doomed to fail before it started leaving factories for stores.

Made some of SNK's decisions over the years, and Sega's for that matter, look positively like strokes of sheer genius.

 

[SignOfGoob]

The FX and the SuperGrafx were both super stupid. I would argue the Super was stupider.

With the FX you can sorta see the idea. Games like Tokkmeki Memorial were not only very popular at the end of the PCE’s life the CDROM elements made them unique to PCE. They had something not even the Super Famicom could touch, people wanted it, they tried to rule the game world on a throne of chick sims. (A Duo RX playing Graduation even looks like an FX playing Graduation). For a while simulations were VERY popular…so some old fuck at NEC just said “build a machine that does that!”…and, just like the SGX, by the time it was built they knew they had fucked up. In the end the PlayStation and Saturn ports of PCE Tokimeki Memorial generated more profit than every FX thing ever combined, probably.

Don’t base a system on what was a hit in the last six months, the machine has to last six years!

 

[SignOfGoob]

If I remember correctly they wanted completely different hardware and then in fear of being late to the party of new system ( which i think they were still ) they changed and dropped the hardware they wanted and shoved something out so here we get this useless half assed and half baked thing. Granted they made the supergrafx also they obviously sucked just as bad as sega at not understanding rushing hardware.

What’s interesting is that the Super Famicom has similar legacy stupidity built into it BUT it turned out OK in the end…clearly owning the vast majority of the JP 16-bit market by the end even with the top tier games going for like ¥12800 or whatever, double the price of PCE or Mega Drive games. And of course the Famicom was a POS basically and it also owned the market. You can fuck up a LOT on a game system and still do very well.

The FX could have decent games if anyone bothered to make them. The system would always be a joke compared to 3DO, PS, and SS and was doomed commercially because of it but it could have actually entertained someone if it wanted to. The reality though was that the move to 32-bit put many software houses out of business because of the enormous uptick in dev costs. When you’re hurting you have to do every thing you can to stay going, Sony and Sega had a lot more to offer devs (including Hudson!) than NEC did. Making any game on FX when the thing sold so bad was throwing money away. Maybe some day home brew will show us the true potential of this useless hunk of junk.

…maybe someone will port Willy Wombat and Yuma 3? Those and The Apocalypse IV would make the FX way more fun.

 

[awbacon]

I mean it has the fucking video chip from the console inside... TWO of them in fact. Actually when you look at a block diagram of the PC-FX it resembles a Supergrafx with a MPEG adapter card... Except for the V810 CPU they tacked onto it. WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?

I never realized how pathetic of a half-effort the FX was until now, and it just dawned on me that, from an article clipping I once saw on PCEFX (rip) with a dumb metal box saying it was a FMV powerhouse for the Turbografx could be an early sighting of it. I wish I could find that article...

I swear the memory card door in front was meant to take HuCards. The height is basically identical. I think it was abandoned as a concept

 

[NeoSneth]

I get what you are saying @BillyJoelZeta . One of the most frustrating things is watching people play retro games without learning how to play. Battle Heat is a mess, but I believe my piece of feedback was similar, try to show how to play it. I get why it was covered. It summarizes the PC-FX so well , even if you dont know how to play.

 

[awbacon]

I get what you are saying @BillyJoelZeta . One of the most frustrating things is watching people play retro games without learning how to play. Battle Heat is a mess, but I believe my piece of feedback was similar, try to show how to play it. I get why it was covered. It summarizes the PC-FX so well , even if you dont know how to play.

the thing is Battle Heat is a game that fights you at trying to learn how to play it. It fights you at basically every turn. I don't just "turn the game on and go", I do background research and if I don't know a game play it til I am comfortable. With Battle Heat I never got comfortable lol

 

[awbacon]

Miraculum. Super obscure and super fun

 

[NeoSneth]

I'll share one of my favorite pictures of my adolescent years. Can you spot the Miraculum?!?

 

[Hattori Hanzo]

The Jaguar CD is even more interesting. It's the game behind the Jaguar.

 

[Burning Fight!!]

I'll share one of my favorite pictures of my adolescent years. Can you spot the Miraculum?!?


View attachment 53923

you definitely dishonored that society with this pic.

Nice Turbo CD setup though, and all via RCA A/V composite like a true chad.

 

[max 330 mega]

I'll share one of my favorite pictures of my adolescent years. Can you spot the Miraculum?!?


View attachment 53923

All other systems shoved to the side in a heap while the Dreamcast gets all the attention, as things should be.

 

[awbacon]

so what went wrong? Everything!

 

[jro]

The Jaguar CD is even more interesting. It's the game behind the Jaguar.

It really is, but man is it hard to get one that's in easily working condition. I've had two, and they both have/had the issue with the lens platter sitting too low and therefore not spinning and reading the discs properly. Messing around with the platter for a while and then setting the entire unit upside down makes it work right occasionally, but that issue, in particular, just seems like it should have been such an obvious design problem that could have been fixed.

Re: PC FX, really nice series of videos @awbacon, I'd never really delved into it much at all. It's clearly underpowered as has been mentioned, but the general aesthetic of most of the games is very appealing and has aged well IMO.

 

[awbacon]

It really is, but man is it hard to get one that's in easily working condition. I've had two, and they both have/had the issue with the lens platter sitting too low and therefore not spinning and reading the discs properly. Messing around with the platter for a while and then setting the entire unit upside down makes it work right occasionally, but that issue, in particular, just seems like it should have been such an obvious design problem that could have been fixed.

Re: PC FX, really nice series of videos @awbacon, I'd never really delved into it much at all. It's clearly underpowered as has been mentioned, but the general aesthetic of most of the games is very appealing and has aged well IMO.

Glad you enjoyed it. I am kind of sad its over!