Why The NEC PC-FX Failed! - Japanese Console History

#PCFX #RetroGamingHistory #RetroConsoles
Today Top Hat Gaming Man discusses the history of the Pc-Fx and more importantly why it failed.
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@TopHatGamingMan
A man in a top hat, with a dashing moustache or a highly distinguished beard, reviews rare video games in his massive collection. Appreciate the finer things in life! Top Hat Gaming Man travels around the globe, playing the best games for the handhelds around the world. The best games are like fine wines and only get better with age. Today, Top Hat Gaming Man discusses the history of the Pc-Fx and more importantly why it failed.
PC-Fx gameplay was sourced from Lairds Lair KZbin channel.

[@SpongeMattb]

Pin my comment for all the patreon support I've given you

[@LyingSecret]

Congrats [thumbs up] :D

[@LyingSecret]

@Zombobo Smith It worked though.

[@LyingSecret]

@Zombobo Smith Knowing Top Hat though in the way that I do, I know why he pinned this as well :D But it's still amusing to see it at the top.

[@LyingSecret]

@@taib Except in this case, he both got to eat his cake and still have it because he comment did get pinned, which only makes sense within that analogy.

[@russmawson6744]

Congratulations. You look like a spoilt child and have a pointless comment pinned. Guess you have achieved something in life now hey?

[@JB3AZ]

Back in the 90's, living in the Chicago suburbs, I used to haunt a store called Die Hard Game Club. The store specialized in imported games and anime. Well, he was told by his associate back in Japan (he had family in Yokohama) that we would be seeing this new "super cool anime game system". He was under the impression that the games were essentially Dragon Ball and Macross or what have you. So he gets the system and my friends and I get there after high school. Also, keep in mind, there were also small children as well and their parents. He starts up one of the games right out of the box without bothering to look at it, having his young son play it. It was soon obvious this was an adult game and the scene turned into one of those skits you would see on television where a producer was trying to cut to a commercial or something. All of a sudden, that one telly screen mysteriously loses power, I remember him saying "oh what a shame". Meanwhile, the parents in the room looked at him, they knew, even if it were anime. Later, many of us teenagers, at the time, would queue up to play this. This was my first exposure to the system. To be honest, I always liked how the console looked, it was a shame that NEC dropped the ball on not only this, but their whole venture going back with the original import of the "Pee Shee" engine ("Bernie", who owned the store, also called it that). Thank you for posting this video, it brought back wonderful memories.

[@khaimk4r4su]

They had ads in videogame magazines right???

[@hicknopunk]

NEC actually planned for poly gaming. There is an expansion slot for a 3d processor. This processor was made, it is on the dev boards and can be programmed for. The decision was to wait till the processor was cheap rather than add to the high cost of the console. There are even some games and programs for the 3d chip. (Yes I am a total pc-fx freak)

[@BoomBox02]

Did NEC stop the expansion card for the PC-FX and move to making it for the PC instead?? Around 1996 NEC released the PowerVR PCX1, a PCI based 3D graphics card for the PC. I have one of these cards which i am going to add to one of my old Pentium machines later in the year.

[@xtremekirby07]

@@BoomBox02 They ended up making It for the PC-98 (which was still comercialized and produced till 2002, far beyond the FX), but in the end It succumbed to the popularity of the Voodoo graphics card of the cheaper IBM Clone PCs even tho the Power VR was a bit more powerful, NEC had always put way more support on the home PC market than in the consoles one.

[@someusername1872]

Where can I learn more about this chip?

[@hicknopunk]

@@BoomBox02 You can get the 3D chip on the PC-FX PC and PC 98 dev cards. It even comes with 3D game demos. At least 1 person has made homebrew for the 3D chip. It is too bad no prototype 3D cards for the PC-FX are known to exist. The other person is correct also about the PC 98 video card.

[@AnTran147]

The expansions thing makes me think: if this thing had survived, could NEC have just extended it's lifespan into the 6th generation by releasing a faster and newer graphics expansion and memory expansion? Of course the main CPU would likely bottleneck the graphics processor, so maybe they could've also released an upgrade board for people who were tech savvy enough to upgrade the machine themselves while also selling pre-upgraded machines for everyone else.

[@hicknopunk]

I own 2 pc-fx's, over 2/3rds of the library, the mouse, extra controllers, memory card. I love the pc-fx.

[@joshreynolds869]

I have one and a small handful of games (about 6-7). Team Innocent is a masterpiece and the hidden fighting game in First Kiss Story is actually really fun. I've been putting off getting more games until I complete my Vita collection. Only about 30 more games to go at this point.

[@ZZtheDark]

Shin Cutey Honey in the thumbnail?! Why didn't I CHECK THIS ONE BEFOREHAND?!! Dude..I freakin' love you now.

[@MLaker221]

I love Cutie Honey! That caught my eye for sure!

[@Gothmosh]

Used to dream of getting a pcfx when i was a kid looking at the back of gaming magazines that sold import stuff, i ended up making terrible joke vaporwave music under the name pc-fx in dedication lol

[@tardistime6857]

I have been waiting for you to do pc-fx

[@linuxretrogamer]

The Japanese had some very good looking and interesting systems unique to thier market. The FM Towns always interested me, featered in ACE magazine back in the day. The Marty would have been a nice system had we got it over here. 386 processor, CD Rom and floppy drive in a console!

[@Big5mokE719]

I just found your channel the other day and I like it. Alot of what you talk about I've already know but there's even more that I didn't know most definitely being kind of shrouded from stuff released outside of the states. I'm enjoying your channel keep it up.

[@leefamily5986]

So happy I stumbled across this channel, I love gaming history and seeing all these consoles. In some cases I've never heard of a few of them!

[@zdp-189]

Love that Billy Mitchell framed pic in background hahah. Another Top Hat informative vid, very good my friend! As a huge fan of my PC Engine Duo and NEC, its interesting to hear about their other consoles and computers I know next to NOTHING about.

[@Ojref1]

So much adoration for your choice of running TG-16 Ys I and II game CD music in the background of this video.

[@btetschner]

Very interesting, thank you for the video.

[@mechmancannon]

Thank you for making this video Mr. 🎩. I appreciate your brilliance on gaming history. 👏

[@bubbastevegarcia2459]

Never heard of your channel but this popped up in my recommendations. Glad it did! SUBBED!!

[@TheDemocrab]

I feel like you're the Nostalgia Nerd's evil twin.

[@GetLostGames1]

When I saw the pc-fx in the gamepro/ game informer magazines in the 90's i was mesmerized by it and to me just looked like the future of gaming. love your videos

[@hicknopunk]

Fun fact: if you tell the console your country is outside of asia, a chick calls you a liar.

[@DanielBMS]

What?!

[@user-bo2nv8bl4v]

I'm sorry but the music playing is giving me flashbacks to when I had the TurboDuo and Ys Book I & II on CD-ROM

[@debravalreyes2033]

4:33 yeah that was shown off all right. 😋

[@axeoseilez3207]

I'd love to see you cover the pc fx games in another video. They look interesting

[@Skims19]

Loved the ys book 1 & 2 music during the video. It made it even more enjoyable

[@bionicleanime]

I'm a simple man, I see Cutey Honey I clicked.

[@SAM-ru4vx]

Fujitsu and Sharp computers that were exclusive to Japan. please.

[@cabbusses]

I see you found kukun kun's KZbin channel. Those Famicom Game Catalog episodes are really interesting, as are his Satellaview uploads. :)

[@GoreGazzim]

I really liked this video. Such an interesting weird console.. Please do a video on its games..

[@DicklessHipster]

Still rocking a photo of Billy Mitchell? Bold.

[@theconsolekiller7113]

Great video. Kishin Douji Zenki FX : Vajura Fight was a very fun and unique game for the system that I posted a playthrough of on the channel. The only game Ive beaten for the system so far. Its on a few other systems I believe. FM towns marty also has the best home console port of the original Splatterhouse arcade game, which I posted up as well. Pretty damn close to the arcade version. PC FX and Fm towns would both be great to cover, as well as X68000. Not enough coverage of those on youtube, but alot of great games. PC Engine CD is another. Maybe even the MSX systems and Amiga.

[@foxhearted]

I own a CIB pc-fx and some cib gamepads and games. Theres a few gems for this platform, but unless your a collector most of the games are text heavy anime rpg types.

[@ressljs]

You-Tube algorithms seems to have a weird sense of humor when it comes to matching adds to videos. I want to watch an Englishman talk about video games. So You-Tube gives me a "commercial" that is actually a 22 minute John Oliver rant about Brexit. But to the topic at hand, back in the 90's, any time I read about some new system, I always wanted it. (Sad historical fact... The only 90's console I actually ended up buying was the Atari Jaguar... Yikes!) If it wasn't released in America, that just added to the allure. But I remember looking at PC-FX coverage in the game magazines and it just didn't look appealing at all.

[@DemoManMLS]

To be fair I can listen to John Oliver describe a river flowing all day. The guy has that silky smooth voice that's easy on the ears.

[@TheRestartPoint]

Probly should have mentioned the SuperGrafx too, NEC's other bafflingly poorly-executed new console before the PC-FX, it only had 5 games! It's like they had already given up on it before it was released

[@ressljs]

SuperGrafX, the system that makes the 32X feel like a winner.

[@TexasHollowEarth]

I wanted a SuperGrafx so bad back when it hit. I had a TG-16, TG-CD, & Turbo Duo with tv tuner & ac power supply. I owned about 25 games both card & CD. The Sgfx system failed in Japan & I just ended up getting a SNES. EDIT: Not Turbo Duo, but TurboExpress portable.

[@Cooe.]

@@TexasHollowEarth "TG-16, TG-CD, & Turbo Duo". Why the dual setups (instead of just replacing the former with the latter)? Where you simultaneously connected to two different TV's???

[@TexasHollowEarth]

@@Cooe. - Thanks for the ?. I corrected myself as it was actually the TurboExpress portable that I owned, hence the TV tuner & AC adapter (both sold separately) comment.

[@80s_Gamr]

I have a Turbo Express in my collection. You rarely see them around my area so when I came across a guy that had one I made sure to pick it up!

[@arzak1]

Great video! You're awesome

[@AcornElectron]

Think this is the first video I’ve heard you calling it pee see and not pee she 🤣 Excellent video, keep up the good work fella!

[@rager1969]

Pervert? I resemble that remark!

[@superroboted]

I always wanted a PC-FX to play Zenki. Zenki was one of my favorite animes back in 1996...oh and I would love to see some of the shmups and Zenki for the system if you would!!

[@SirDaShadow]

Mednafen emulator + google Zenki iso, and off you go my friend...

[@houseoftheted637]

Be good to see a video of the games. I'd like to see an in-depth video about the Vectrex. Oh, on another subject, did the N64 and GameCube have any light gun games ? 😎

[@TexasHollowEarth]

N64 & Gamecube had no lightgun peripheral ever released to the best of my knowledge. SNES had the SuperScope & Lethal Enforcers guns.

[@Some_RandomYoutuber]

I am going to subscribe to your channel. I like your content, keep it up.

[@samn8309]

These systems ,PC-FX and SuperGrafx, had a legendary feel to them because we never saw them in Canada. I lived on the west coast so there were many people from Honk Kong. Those kids introduced me to a lot of interesting games and add-ons such a floppy drive to copy games. The only place I saw these systems was in magazines. I was a big TG 16 fan which made me a bit of an outcast and eventually got a TG CD system when the price lowered (I had to drive to Seattle to buy it for 200 US which was cheap).

[@uhtyp1]

Definitely I would like to see video based on the games of the system

[@MrReganomics1]

TurboGrafix 16 was the first console I bought with my own money. It was on sale at toys r us for 69.99 and I mowed lawns washed cars and saved up and bought it . so many fun memories Keith Courage bubble bros fighting street so many other great games. #Nostalgia

[@jasonkwh]

That magazine is the famous Famicom tsushin!

[@craigstanaway2092]

Cool video

[@the-NightStar]

I learned of this system soon after becoming a gigantic fan of Galaxy Fraulein Yuna and desperately was looking for any and all information about the background lore on the anime OVA, only to later find and fall in love with the games. Same with also having fond childhood memories of Kendo Rage on SNES, learning of it's roots as Makeruna Makendo, and because of that rare, little known 3rd game on this system. To this day, it irritates me that no one has gotten around to making fan-translations of any of the Yuna games or of Makeruna Makendo Z. I desperately want to be able to read and play those games. I can't be the only one.

[@parksmush]

What about the Acetronic MPU 1000 / 2000 systems - they have an interesting ancestory as you probably know Mr Top Hat. I have a full set of boxed Acetronic carts should you need to use them. Great channel sir, thank you.

[@JeremyLeePotocki]

I personally would like to see you cover the epoch cassette vision (both original & super).

[@JS-po9yt]

I wonder if anyone has mods for the pc fx or made new games for it like they do for the dearmcast

[@franco7363]

Would like to see a top games list for the system...

[@shinbakihanma2749]

"Shin Cutie Honey" version of Honey Kisaragi?! More vids need to do this. I'd click on everything and anything if they did this😂🤣😆

[@kaisersoymilk6912]

"Shin"? The thumbnail looks very much like the "regular" version of Cutie Honey (unlike Flash).

[@maroon9273]

Finally the pc fx, it is sad how NEC prefer fmv over actual games for the system. I Wish they had 3D chip inside it when it was released. You should look into the pcfx-ga pc board. I wish NEC would've left the console market after the 16-bit era and looked into pioneering a living room pc-fx ga computer. Alongside apple/bandai, amiga and fm towns (almost did since its a A12000 and fm towns in a home console.

[@Maggerama]

Vote for the system's games video, of course.

[@8bitnitwit]

Is that the music from Y's The Vanished Omens I hear in the background?

[@Cyrus_Nagisa]

This system fascinated me, and I looked into emulation for it, but really only found 5 games I wanted to try. I could see it had some promise, sad it did not get a chance.

[@xtremekirby07]

I would love to see a video about the games for the PC-FX, buuuut not the hentai/adult ones, rather I'd like to see the games that pushed Its hardware to the limit and were actually fun to play.

[@blindrezo]

Dat Ys soundtrack though...

[@fenrisgaming8982]

Seeing this in video games magazines back in the day, I drooled over it........ none of that fancy 3D stuff, but it was arguably one of the best 2D systems ever made, the games looked beautiful, colors were popping, big ass sprites, it could have been an arcade/anime/manga/jrpg fans dream come true........ I think it might have been a mistake not releasing to the west, as I recall back in those days Japanese imports were really catching on, and what better system to experience Japanese games on than a PC-FX?

[@GardevoirBoy]

As much as I condemn myself being judgmental, people working at NEC were nothing more than cowards! No wonder the NEC PC-FX sucked.

[@StoneCresent]

I am most curious about the PC-FX library. I'll look forward to your opinions on what is noteworthy or otherwise worthwhile to play.

[@moandaindesigns]

I was such a tg16 fan I bought a PC-FX and imported it from Japan. I have 1 controller, Battle heat, Zeroigar, Voice of Paradise, Zenki FX, and a memory card. I think this system would be better if it was backwards compatible with CD games and Hucards.

[@therealbossplaya]

I really want one of these...but I'll just settle for a Turbo Graphics mini in 2020!!!

[@zacharymccoy2418]

That lady was STACKED.

[@liveevil6386]

That fist game looks boss

[@sabishiihito]

Starting off with Ys music can never go wrong. Also, it seems I should have been Japanese, as I have never been gaga over polygonal graphics, especially that of the PS1 generation, and still favor 2D sprites. I'd have enjoyed a PC-FX.

[@CastleFamilyThe]

The most disappointing console in history! after the amazing PC Engine and removal of any 3D capabilities in the PC-FX being demoed for a couple of years, someone slipped some stupid pills into the bosses meeting to make them think 30fps jpeg images were the future rather than any sort of gameplay!

[@bboydrew71]

Good vid sir Is there an emulator for this system?

[@RaimarLunardi]

I believe Mednafen and Mame can emulate it...

[@sakitoshi]

there is a libretro core, so you can use retroarch for your pc-fx needs.

[@bboydrew71]

@@sakitoshi cheers

[@RoboBlue2]

Yay a Game Gear reference!

[@Vienna3080]

So the PC FX is the best wank console essentially?

[@jetboyblue4478]

Do like your thumbnails for these videos Awsome vid dude XD

[@coreypolite9831]

He answered the question in under 5 mins. NEC planned on the system to be upgradeable while the others banked on planned obsolescence.

[@carmenfabozzi2063]

NEC first mistake was not to replace the PC engine with the a Super Grafix(imagine this with CD ROM and Arcade Card!) There Next nistake was to NOT back the PC FX.

[@hilarioph]

8:29 What is the title of this game?

[@TBoneTony]

I only knew of this system thanks to Retro Gamer when they covered this Japanese Only console. The fact that it was one of the few consoles to host Hentai games is one of the things I was really interested in knowing about.

[@Wirraburra07]

So Graduation was on the PC FX? That makes sense. The other game looks like Saint Seiya?

[@NewportBox100s]

Likers of your video thumbnails 😂😂😂

[@djsangre]

I always thought it was weird that NEC, with the PC-88/98, was the de facto standard in home computing in Japan, but its consoles never managed to be the number one.

[@bubbythebear6891]

Microsoft is the biggest producer of PCs in the US, but XBOX was never number one.

[@FindecanorNotGmail]

Did not really have more information than the Wikipedia article on the system. But nice to see a collage of game footage, ads and stuff ...

[@hicknopunk]

I wrote much of the wikipedia article too. Though I have not visited the page in 10 years.

[@deathsyth8888]

"And I am (Tetsujin)." - Iron Man, Avengers: Endgame (2019)

[@regularstan6212]

Avgn brings me here

[@_zoinks2554]

I was and am a huge Turbo/PCE fan/collector and when I learned about the upcoming PC-FX I knew it was over for NEC in the home console market. What a loss to gaming and Sega was next!

[@delaorden]

Ohh I really remember that time. Polygon graphics where garbage at the beginning, even for first person views you could say that pre rendered images over 3d looked way better than 3d characters or enemies. Think for example how beautiful and full of details was Killer Instinct on the arcades. I guess it was more a case of more RAM over CPU. It wasn't until MK4 that you could see a 3d character in a game that could compete with a sprite in the level of detail and a FMV sprite was the best level of detail you could aspire at that time. So yes, it made full sense at the time

[@jhoughjr1]

I thought I read in NEXTGEN that it had an 80486.

[@orderofmagnitude-TPATP]

Well. ... yes please

[@absoluteclownworld]

I wanna get a FX for just that 1 okay shooter game that's on it. Lol.

[@reagandow850]

Hey Richard. I’d really love to see some of the games available for this. Not so much the hentai type crap (I have plenty of good porn 😁) but shooters and stuff the us Westerners can play. Also, approximately how much ca. We buy these devices for? If you’ve already done another video please reply with a link. As always, I LOVE your videos and your wife’s videos are getting better and better each week. She’s got some great stuff so anyone reading this that hasn’t checked out “Lady Decade”, please do! You won’t be disappointed!!

[@faceheadman]

should of called it the pp-xxx

[@MarkEdwarMurphy]

Your clickbait picture of Lion-O with fake boobs is all I need to know to click your video. 😂

[@Mace2.0]

From reading that title and before the video, I could name a few reasons. 1 - Very bad marketing 2 - It's like the other consoles that's basically a home computer without the keyboard & selling expensive cartridge ports, ala Amstrad GX4000 3 - Turning it into a retro hentai machine 4 - Bad timing, really. 5 - Underwhelming comparing to other convincing consoles in 1994.

[@GreatSageSunWukong]

I spy a GP32 on your shelf

[@sor3999]

I would like to see a video on the perverted games.

[@vidlink]

Cover the FM Towns Marty please.

[@TopHatGamingManChannel]

I already have, in way more detail too.

[@vidlink]

@@TopHatGamingManChannel: Okay, just found it in your system review playlist. Will ve watching later.

[@kenhughes52]

NEVER sit on new hardware! Things move too quick in the gaming market to delay a release even a few months. Atari made the same mistake with the 7800. It's hard to believe NEC could have made the same error in judgement. Just goes to show you can't stand still for a moment in gaming.

[@atolm1]

I was fascinated with this freaking thing when it came out. So cool to see it profiled. Lmao at perverts!

[@Quirriff]

I grew up in the 90s but never heard of the pc engine.

[@psychicflora]

Honey flash! Kawaru dayo Yes i want a video on the games specially if.there's a cutie honey game

[@dolphinboi-playmonsterranc9668]

If we had more nipples in gaming, everybody would be a lot happier. Scratch that, everybody who _actually_ plays video games would like it.

[@rumble-roses]

Basically just point and click anime games, some based on original series. Great eye-candy for otakus who know basic Japanese.

[@shadic777]

someone put modern pc hardware in the pc-fx case

[@wolfgangamadeus232]

A system made for pervets ? Who said the perfect console dosen't exist !

[@tomoyaokazakiremiejordan756]

hey i didn't clicked for the thumbnail