A-Z of PC Engine & TurboGrafx Games , livre ebook

Andrews UK - Kieren Hawken

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107 pages

English

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Description

The A-Z of PC Engine & TurboGrafx: Volume 1 features reviews of three different games for each letter of the alphabet. The games range from the very earliest releases in 1987 to the modern homebrew games of today. This book shows you just how diverse the library of titles is for the PC Engine and TurboGrafx and how they became so popular with retro gaming collectors.

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Indoor games and sports

Informations

Publié par	Andrews UK
Date de parution	03 septembre 2018
Nombre de lectures	2
EAN13	9781785389139
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	1 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0100€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

The A-Z of PC Engine & TurboGrafx Games
Volume 1

Kieren Hawken

Published in 2018 by
AG Books
www.agbooks.co.uk
Digital edition converted and distributed by
Andrews UK Limited
www.andrewsuk.com
© Copyright 2018 Kieren Hawken
The right of Kieren Hawken to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1998.
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without express prior written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted except with express prior written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1956 (as amended). Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damage.
The opinions expressed herein belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect those of AG Books or Andrews UK Limited.
Game screenshots are included in this publication legally under applicable fair use law which allows such material for the explicit purposes of commentary and criticism.

Introduction
I’m not going to go into the history of the Japanese machine or even go on about how great it is, because there are plenty of other places you can read about that. But what you need to know is that the PC Engine was first released to Japanese customers in October 1987 where it quickly took the market by storm. Designed by Hudson Soft and manufactured and marketed by electronics giant NEC it went straight into a head on battle with the mighty Nintendo Famicom (known to Westerners as the NES). While the PC Engine also featured a 6502 based 8-bit CPU, like Nintendo’s machine, its custom 16-bit graphics hardware and highly adaptable six-channel sound chip raised it well above its competition. One of the console’s key features was its size, with dimensions of 14 cm x 14 cm x 3.8 cm, the PC Engine once held the record for the world’s smallest game console. And its games came on equally minute HuCards, not unlike the Sega Cards that had previously been seen on the SG-1000 and Master System consoles, they could contain an impressive amount of data. The PC Engine’s almost instant success saw a huge amount of publishers supporting the machine, companies such as Capcom, Konami, Taito, Namco and Data East all produced third party games for the system. The PC Engine also became the first console to take advantage of the burgeoning CD-ROM format when the Super CD-ROM² add-on was released just over a year after the console’s launch in December 1988. Japanese sales soared to over seven million and the system wasn’t discontinued until well into 1994, while new commercial titles were released for the PC Engine up until 1999!

In this book I take you through the life of the PC Engine and its Western sibling the TurboGrafx looking at a varied cross section of the many games available for the machine with a small review and screenshot of each one. This is not a list of the best games, a list of the worst or indeed a complete guide to what’s available. The A-Z of PC Engine and TurboGrafx Games: Volume 1 is just that, my first look at a selection of PC Engine games in alphabetical order. There are three games featured for each letter and these range from the earliest titles released in Europe, to Japanese imports and even some unreleased prototypes! Hopefully this book gives you some inspiration to try games you’ve never played before or bulk up your personal collection. You might even find it that brings back happy memories of unwrapping Christmas presents or inviting your friends round after school for a two-player battle. But most of all I hope you enjoy reading it and remember what make the TurboGrafx and PC Engine such great home consoles to own and collect for.
Kieren Hawken
Author

A
Alien Crush
Hudson Soft - 1988

This series of pinball games became synonymous with the PC Engine before translating very well to the rival Sega Mega Drive too, and it’s very easy to see why. Mix a traditional pinball simulation with a seedy horror movie and you basically have this game. Alongside the usual flippers and bumpers are monsters that roam the tables, affect the movement of the ball and can also be destroyed for extra bonus points. The best, and at the time, most unique feature of this game are the various bonus stages that transport you to a whole new screen and often require you to beat a particularly nasty alien beast in a sort of boss battle. From the gruesome graphics right down to the raging sounds Alien Crush just oozes with class. There is only one thing that really lets this game down however, and that’s the scrolling. For some reason the programmers chose to use flip screen scrolling, which incredibly annoying as it constantly jumps from one to the other. This is absolutely criminal on a 16-bit console and I really can’t see any excuse for it. Thankfully, once you get used to it, you will find it doesn’t detract too much from what is essentially a very good game. It’s also good to know that they fixed this for the sequels. Audio wise the game really excels with excellent music throughout and really sounds effects too. Despite some issues, Alien Crush is still a must have title for the PCE.
8 /10
Aero Blasters
Kaneko - 1990

I would be surprised if anyone reading this remembers the original coin-op, but the Mega Drive and PC Engine versions of this game really are hidden gems in each system’s respective catalogue. Also known under the title Air Buster , Kaneko’s Aero Blasters is a fairly standard horizontal shooter for the most part, but its well designed levels, nice looking visuals and simultaneous two-player gameplay help ensure this shoot ‘em up more than holds its own. One particularly stand-out part of the game are the speed stages, where you need to fly at high speed through a narrow cavern without crashing into the walls or any obstacles. This requires some super quick reflexes and ends up being almost like a race when you are playing with a friend. Another thing I love about Aero Blasters is its nice clean graphics. It’s hard to define what I mean exactly, but the way they are drawn they seem to really stand out and are much more bright and colourful than many other shooters of this type. A very impressive soundtrack also helps keep things moving along and adds more polish to an already high quality experience. The PC Engine might have more horizontal shoot ‘em ups than you can shake a stick at, but Aero Blasters is still a very good indeed and one of the few out there than can be played by two players at once. That alone makes it worth buying, even when put up against more illustrious titles.
8 /10
After Burner II
NEC Avenue - 1990

After Burner is one of Sega’s most popular ever franchises and is one of several games by Sega to appear on the PCE. After Burner II is actually just a slight enhancement of the first game adding a throttle, new enemies and three extra levels among other minor enhancements. In the arcades this game relied heavily on its custom super-scaler hardware, which was also seen in games like Galaxy Force and Space Harrier , and I am sure I don’t need to tell you that the PC Engine lacks this technique. All you do in After Burner is fly your F14 Tomcat over the different landscapes through night and day taking out enemy planes with your guns and lock-on missiles and occasionally take part in the now famous mid-air refuelling sequence. There really isn’t that much too it and this is made even more obvious in the many home versions of the game that really lack the wow factor of the arcade original. The PCE does a fairly good job at recreating those stunning visuals but is a little choppy at times. The iconic music has been created very well though and that is without doubt the best part of this title. The gameplay is fun at first but does become a bit tiresome after a while due to the repetitiveness. Top marks for trying here NEC but After Burner II has always been a case of style over substance. If you loved the original arcade game then you might want to give it a closer look.
7 /10

B
Bonk’s Adventure
Hudson Soft - 1989

Back in the days of the 8-bit and 16-bit console wars, mascot characters were very important indeed. Nintendo had Mario, Sega had Sonic and NEC had this little guy - amusingly called Bonk. He was also known as PC Genjin in Japan (a play on the system’s name) and although he later appeared on a few other platforms all his early games were exclusive to the PCE. Bonk is a caveman with a giant cranium who runs around a prehistoric world head butting dinosaurs! The other unique ability that he has is using his super sharp gnashers to grab onto platforms and pull himself up. Rather than collecting coins in Bonk you collect smiley faces and fruit as well as big joints of meat. The first two just give you points but as you eat the meat you become more and more angry, until you literally blow your top and go crazy, giving you limited invincibility. The levels are really varied with very standard platform stages as well as parts where you have to move quickly and even swim underwater. Bonk seems to combine lots of elements from other platformers and mould them together, thankfully it does this very well indeed. The graphics are great with superb animation and some really nice scrolling effects. The sound is also very good with hum worthy tunes playing throughout the game. As many may know I am not really a fan of platform games but even I enjoyed having a good Bonk !
9 /10
Bat