The PC Engine: Retro Technical Analysis Part 1 | Hardware and History

[@MrVolksbeetle]

To me, the TG-16 was something not everyone else had. I really liked it and wish I had kept it.

[@Redstar19791979]

Absolutely loved my Turbo Grafx-16!! So exited to relive my childhood with the mini.

[@NXGamer]

It truly was a system ahead of its time.

[@axiorsomethin130]

The sega genesis begs to differ

[@AstralPhnx]

@@axiorsomethin130 Look man, I love the MegaDrive but it wasn't ahead of its time, it was very of its time. The PC Engine though? That was REALLY pushing the boundaries

[@j0nnyism]

Yea I’m gutted I missed out on getting a mini. I hope I can pick a second hand one up for a reasonable price

[@xinistri]

Part 1 was great. Still waiting for part 2 covering the games that you mentioned was coming soon in your repair video

[@tisurame]

Excellent video. One of the best about the PC Engine. Very informative. Is there a part 2?

[@martinevans1206]

I so wish this system got an official UK release. Imagine this in 1987/88!

[@jc_dogen]

PC Engine's sound capabilities weren't often used to their fullest but check out bloody wolf, devil's crush and magical chase. Also, air zonk and batman are notable for their heavy sample use. edit - I should also mention that the PCE CD also had an ADPCM channel with 64K for samples in addition to the CD channel.

[@NXGamer]

Yep, the entire system has some wicked sounding tunes. In part 2 I dive into some of your list and others 😜

[@jc_dogen]

@@NXGamer So many CD games with amazing music.

[@theoroinvictus]

very nice work, fascinating stuff!

[@BubblegumCrash332]

I can't believe I just found this channel!! I downloaded most of your Playlist and will be binging all week. Great videos it's hard to find deep technical dives videos for retro hardware.

[@NXGamer]

Sorry for the late reply, but this comment warmed my heart. Thank you

[@mrtiff99]

Wow impressive research. Thanks for the video

[@RetroTuna]

Great video mate i love this little machine its still this day my favorite console i had one back in the day and have never been without one since, still have a fair collection of stuff for it now and still play on it regularly long live the Pc Engine. Looking forward to part 2 and you should do more retro console very interesting video mate.

[@tazmanceltic]

Great great work as always dude...

[@martinevans1206]

Wasn’t R-Type by Irem?

[@kenkooldad8900]

Awesome documentary!! The best!!

[@indahpratiwi4308]

Excellent video with details

[@adriancantrill8956]

Just watched this video yet again, so thought I'd post to add some October 2024 in the comments! What a great vid, although I'm biased after getting my first pce from Telegames, Leicester, UK in 1988. There after, if became and remains my fav console by far to this very day. Although NEC messed up, and potentially the story of the console could of involved way more succes outside of japan, I kinda love the path it took and its now acknowledged place in gaming history. It truly was ahead of its time with never before seen expansion capabilities vis the crazy ext-bus, first ever CD games anywhere, handheld that used exact same carts as home console, tiny dimensions ect. Was a jaw dropping thing at the time. Fantastic vids pal, the nostalgia almost hurts, and from a genuine UK pce fanatic, absolutely love the bag of Skips in the thumbnail! I remember actually seeing it for first time, April, 1989 issue, WHSmiths on my School dinner break! Those that know, know!😉

[@lifeasart101]

Is part two out?

[@Asobitech]

I can see by the numbers this hasn't done as well as your other videos, which is a huge shame, as I really enjoyed it. You go into a good level of depth of the amazing PC Engine. Obviously you have a nostalgia for it, so I would really love for you to do part two, not just for us, but also for you 😉

[@NXGamer]

Yeah, very true and I do have it half complete, just need the time to wrap it up. Cheers.

[@Asobitech]

@@NXGamer I hope you managed to find the time. All the best.

[@ms.ilovecotton9778]

One of my favorite systems! ♡

[@NXGamer]

It has an incredibly rich catalogue of all the games that made up a huge part of the 80's.

[@wingygaming]

Great video. Well done! Did you ever do a part two?

[@NXGamer]

Never finished it, but it is on my list of new year resolutions.

[@RightNowMan]

Great part 1!

[@NXGamer]

Sweet, more to come.

[@kanoamisawa9901]

I just got my hands on the pc engine mini and I’m experiencing many of the games for the first time. I’m very impressed with it. I’ve played the tg16 when it came out and I used to trade my friend my genesis for his tg16 so I’m not a stranger to the system but now with this mini I get to experience the cd games and super graphics games and I’m blown away by them they are extremely fun games and perform very well.

[@miaouew]

VERY cool video. Would love to own one even to this day if only to be able to play Rondo of Blood on the original hardware.

[@cristianramallo8042]

good video, i wait part 2

[@shreder75]

Kinda off topic, but is the music in the beginning of this vid from the movie Black Rain? It sounds familiar.

[@NXGamer]

My man Shredder, good ear for an incredible film, still one of my favourites and the Sadness that Yusaku Matsuda put himself through for the film and the cost, really sad but I love the movie. And the Hans Zimmer soundtrack is immense.

[@paulcathcart7896]

Great film

[@shreder75]

@@NXGamer Thought so! I can't remember what i had for breakfast, but i have a memory for all types of obscure things!

[@shreder75]

@@NXGamer oh, another great vid, btw. And i also dig Black Rain, and Zimmer is amazing (Gladiator being my favorite of his scores)

[@dan_perry]

The TG-16 was the first console I bought with my own adult money. Then I realized there were no places to rent games and very few places to even buy them. 2 weeks later traded it in on a Genesis and never looked back.

[@user-or6yn8pm3c]

The Genesis was better and the Super Nintendo was better than the Genesis. The Turbografx didn't feel like a big upgrade from the NES. It had better graphics and sound but it was still an 8 bit system.

[@ImWithTeamTrinity]

@@user-or6yn8pm3c I disagree. My friend and I would play the NES on weekends at his house back in 89', Bubble Bobble, Contra, Rampage, Ninja Gaiden, ect. I would sleep over and his parents would order us pizza and rent some games. When I turned 10 my dad picked me up a TG-16 with R-type, Blazing Lazers, Chew Man Fu, Keith Courage, and Victory Run. It was like night and day. I had the same problem though, couldnt rent games anywhere for it, and we could only buy them at RadioShack. They botched the marketing on the console, that was its only real problem. Compare SF2 on all three consoles, they are so close its shocking, with the TG-16 still having better colors then the other 2. Theres no way someone could look at blazing lazers, SF2, or R-type and claim there wasnt a big difference, it was enormous, and every friend I had at the time said so. If they had released the TG-16 with Dungeon Explorer as a pack in with 2 controller ports, I am positive it would have succeeded, what were they thinking with Keith Courage!?!?

[@ilexgarodan]

Ys: Ancient Ys Vanished Book I & II is my go to game for the PCE CD. It's just that damn good!

[@sebastienghangha3024]

well ... where is Part two ? thanks for this great video, tons of technical informations, it's really pleasant, really good quality video :) (montage, mixage, et recherches .. désolé le Français ressort toujours du bois dès que la qualité est la ^^)

[@bstar777777]

What a wonderful video. This is one of the most detailed and precise pieces I’ve seen on the pc engine. Curious what you think of Sapphire... when the snes came out the 16 bit space kind of had an identity crisis and all of the consoles thought they were 3d systems all of a sudden. The 32x had some titles with decent FPS, but nothing looked as good as sapphire, imo. I still can’t believe an 8 bit system is capable of producing that game.

[@NXGamer]

Always cheers me up when I read Comments like this, thank you. It is a great machine that still impresses me, you did pick a game I have in my second part, as you know, for good reason. A technical marvel.

[@j0nnyism]

I’ll never understand why they didn’t release Dracula x in the west. Probably one of the best 16 bit games in that genre

[@IBEBIGRAY]

Wow I didn't know that the 8bit pc engine CPU has a 16 bit sitting on top of a 21 bit address bus!!! And it ran twice the speed of the SNES!! And it had two dual 16 bit graphics processors capable of even more on screen colors than the mighty SNES!! This was a beast of a 8 bit monster!!! Wow no wonder it could look just as good as the 16 bit genesis and SNES!!! It was my favorite console ever made now I see why!!! When it was released here in the states everyone said it had two 8 bit processors to make the 16 bits!! Wow were they wrong back then!

[@PJ-sv4iw]

Where is Part 2?

[@andreasa.2226]

Dude, wheres part 2?

[@j0nnyism]

Why didn’t snk games use the sprite tile technique to build bigger sprites on the snes fighting games? The characters are much smaller than neo geo originals

[@Selous_Scout]

I’ve got a pc engine duo with most of the decent games “ street fighter championship, castlevania etc and I’ll never sell it

[@truesus1718]

I got an original TG16 with CD for free... I put it in the trunk of my car and when I got home found out my trunk was not waterproof. :' (

[@j0nnyism]

I loved my Amiga but we were limited by the fact that most games we had were European and a few American games. The Japanese were so ahead of the curve when it came to games at the time

[@ImWithTeamTrinity]

My friend and I would play the NES on weekends at his house back in 89', Bubble Bobble, Contra, Rampage, Ninja Gaiden, ect. I would sleep over and his parents would order us pizza and rent some games. When I turned 10 my dad picked me up a TG-16 with R-type, Blazing Lazers, Chew Man Fu, Keith Courage, and Victory Run. It was like night and day. I had the same problem though, couldnt rent games anywhere for it, and we could only buy them at RadioShack. They botched the marketing on the console, that was its only real problem. Compare SF2 on all three consoles, they are so close its shocking, with the TG-16 still having better colors then the other 2. Theres no way someone could look at blazing lazers, SF2, or R-type and claim there wasnt a big difference from the other 8 bit machines, it was enormous, and every friend I had at the time said so. If they had released the TG-16 with Dungeon Explorer as a pack in with 2 controller ports, I am positive it would have succeeded, what were they thinking with Keith Courage!?!?

[@lovemadeinjapan]

Best vintage game console ever. Period. Pop in Galaga 88, Space Harrier, After Burner, Kyukyu Tiger, Jackie Chan Action Kong Fu etc and you feel that arcade in home experience. SNES and MD were dickless. Navellint at best. This is the epitome of home cartridge gaming.

[@dwightdixon8508]

The TurboGrafx-16 was a quirky console. Required tap for multiplayer, booster for AV and it was Double the size of the PC Engine for no other reason than to appeal to “American bigger is better tastes” which made it loose it’s potential head start over the (MD) Genesis release in North America what a mistake then the Japanese team failed porting all those fantastic PC Engine games and weren’t fully committed to worldwide success by not spending serious money on advertising or paying licensing for sports games etc both of which Sega did very well and you seen how that competition turned out. I love my TG16 and I still have it to this day but it’s history says it all. The little engine that could but ultimately stalled

[@kanoamisawa9901]

I really love the Keith Courage and Ninja spirit sound tracks. I drive to them and ski to them. When I say I ski to it I mean on a mountain with long boards on my feet and poles that dig into the snow for traction. Not skiing as in sitting on a couch with an adult film playing with two males in either side and a pole in each hand. I just wanted to be clear

[@takedeepshhh]

fantastic video, thx! that sf2 port is awesome, but seeing it pisses me off as i think about the horrible sf2 the amiga's gotten. if the little pc-e could do it surely the mighty miggy could've done it as well...

[@kanoamisawa9901]

I’m curious as to why Sega and snes didn’t release more powerful systems? Snes definitely had a graphical advantage over the ox engine with its scaling and rotation but mega drive arguably was not graphically as powerful as the pc engine and the pc engine seemed to be the fastest if the three systems. Sega could have bumped their system up enough to release arcade perfect versions of their arcade counterpart.

[@paulcathcart7896]

Kp skips! Now I need a bag.

[@NXGamer]

Ha ha, cannot beat that tangy taste! 👍

[@TurboXray]

Lol - even on it's worse game, the TG16/PCE sounds nothing like an SMS audio. SMS audio doesn't even sound like NES/Famicom. SMS audio is pretty primitive

[@afriend9428]

*it is an amazing machine indeed but a wimpy sound chip & zero parralax scrolling* ⭐️

[@Creative_Welshman]

First

[@ShallRemainUnknown]

Disappointing video with lots of inaccuracies, oversimplifications, and rehashing of old myths. You can learn a LOT more reading through various online threads and articles written years ago. Too bad this video adds nothing, and utterly fails to synthesize all available info to really educate viewers...

[@NXGamer]

Like what for example? Edit: As expected, an emotional post with no point, knowledge or anything to add, but hey, thanks for watching 👍

[@nickmoranis2865]

I'm starting to unsubscribe to channels with utterly excessive ads. There were two ads at 01:30!!! Then constantly throughout. Double ads at that. Pure greed and shows a massive lack of integrity. A few channels are taking the total piss.

[@NXGamer]

Is your time more important on a click than the likes of us making hours of content for free? The fact is we have no control over what or how many adds YT shows, all do is upload and have the default as Start, End and then add during later on so my subscribers do not get any middle adverts. Would this "lack of integrity" also be the same as companies charging you to buy games, movies and still sticking adverts on them or sites tracking and selling your data for all pages you read?