Jaz's Blogs

The Little Engine that Could

Published: Fri 19 Feb, 2010 | 21 Comments

Being a supporter of the PC-Engine on New Zealand soil was a unique experience. Sure, there are some that can probably claim to have had a similar existance in the world of gaming. Fans of the Atari Jaguar and 3DO might make claims that they know what it's like. To some degree they're right, but in other ways they're not. However you look at it, though, supporting an under-rated, never-supported-in-your-country console is something that every gamer should experience.

 

The PC Engine in all it's glory - shiny, white goodness.

 

Let's take a trip back in time to the learly 1990s. Almost every kid in the neighborhood owned a Sega Megadrive and a few the Super Nintendo. Sure, there were those that hadn't made that next step yet and were still enjoying that 8-bit juggernauts the NES, Sega Master System and Commodore 64 - but by and large Sega and Nintendo's 16-bit entries reigned supreme. Oddly enough, there would be that one kid that was just a little bit different. You never knew quite what to expect when you went over to his house for game time. Cartridges that were the size of credit cards, unique Japanese flavored titles the likes of which had not yet been seen on any other consoles, and CD-ROM gaming capability all made the experience rather interesting. What set this kid apart? He was the proud owner of a PC Engine!

 

 

PC Engine with added CDROM. This was long before the PSX.

 

 

Games come on small, credit card sized boards and are known as Hu Cards.

 

I don't want to fool you here, being the owner of an obscure and sparsely supported console was not always easy. While the Megadrive and Super Nintendo saw boatloads of third party developed games on Western shores, these titles were not often released for the PC Engine. Nobody in New Zealand stocked PC Engine games and hardware and the internet was a pipedream. This left me at the whim of my contacts overseas and trusty fax machine. However, many of the initial games I acquired were good ones, with launch-time releases of such classics as Legendary Axe, Galaga '90, and Dungeon Explorer.

 

Galaga '90 - arcade perfect, 20 years ago.

 

There was definitely a bright side, though. Since every other kid in the neighborhood owned one of those other consoles, there was a sort of community that built up amongst the few kids that supported the PC Engine. With only a handful of kids at most in your school owning one, you quickly built up a comradery that went beyond the standard trading of strategies and games.

Besides, loyalty to a console like the PC Engine ed to taking your gaming experience to the next level by delving into the realms of import gaming. Having perhaps the largest library of Japanese-exclusive releases in the history of console gaming, the PC Engine offered a whole new world of discovery. Granted, it wasn't always the easiest thing. Often all you had to go on was a screenshot in a gaming magazine to determine what game you would plop down an outlandish $100+ for. When your gamble panned out, though, there was nothing quite like it. It was at that moment that you realized you had made the right choice in choosing the PC Engine.

While it may not have always been easy, being a loyal supporter of the PC Engine was an experience like no other. Even now, almost twenty years from the release of the PC Engine, many of the games on this console stand the test of time. Such heroes as Bonk will not soon be forgotten. In fact, they've even received a new lease on life, as some of these classic titles are being released for Nintendo's latest console endeavor. This makes it even easier to look back with fondness upon what has certainly been one of the most under-rated consoles ever.

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