Gates Of Thunder was the moment where the TG-16 CD became everything I had always wanted the system to be...parallax backgrounds, awesome music, great anime-style explosion sounds...I was like "Finally!", It was for me what Blazing Lazers / Gunhead was for the Hu-Card games, proof of what talented game makers could do with the hardware! Then I got an import version of Dracula-X and was blown away again, I think it was the pinnacle of the system and one of the greatest Castlevania games ever!

One of my favorite PC Engine CD games is Last Alert. I love the gloriously cheesy dialogue and voice acting that, along with the gameplay, is like every 80s action flick distilled into one game.

The PC Engine is a very intricate and underrated system but, it is very worth it to research it. I agree my favorite PC Engine game is Akumajō Dracula as well! Amazing in-depth video!

@RetroCore

2 жыл бұрын

Glad you enjoyed the video. I did a few other PC Engine videos too. kzread.info/dash/bejne/naqXk6h-idPOfco.html kzread.info/dash/bejne/jIFrw6qbndKflbA.html

@Astrotech1054

2 жыл бұрын

Ok thanks for letting me know will for sure check those out.

The U.S. Turbo Duo is my favorite console to this day. Great episode!!

Great to see some of these games that never made it to the US, that otherwise, I had only seen screenshots in the magazines! Sapphire looks unreal!!! Lords of Thunder was a fantastic game, and I did listen to the soundtrack all the time! I also liked to fall asleep to some Y's I&II music, just got to watch out for that nasty noise from the Data track lol.

Nicely done as always Yakumo. The PC Engine CD was really a breakthrough for technology and in videos games. Some great titles were introduced to the unit and so many memories playing this. Thank you for sharing kind sir. Anthony...

@RetroCore

7 жыл бұрын

That is my Internet name :)

@RetroCore

7 жыл бұрын

edec 16 Hawk. Nice to meet you,

@RetroTuna

7 жыл бұрын

I like to be called tuna and yes i smell like a stinky fish Lol hello all.

@Charlie-Cat.

7 жыл бұрын

Hahaha. Good one Tuna!

Always a solid entertainment experience. Thanks man.

Your channel has really blossomed over the past few months. Incredible work my friend!

@RetroCore

7 жыл бұрын

Thanks! I'm trying to get more in to it however real life work and commitments slow me down an awful lot.

Great video, just purchased the same setup a few months ago with the PC-Engine interface unit, def my favorite of the 3 cd system setups even though technically not as reliable. Just stumbled across this video and you mentioned my favorite console the Sega Saturn as well, the Saturn has and amazing library and great obscure titles as well. subscribed!

@RetroCore

7 жыл бұрын

Thanks for subscribing, xemption. Please do check out the Saturn video, I think you'll like that. The Saturn is my most favourite console of all time. I even have a complete Japanese set too. Over 1200 titles.

Awesome episode! Really loved it. There's alot of videos out there about the PC Engine, but not as many about the CD system so this was really cool to watch. Good job Retro :) I look forward to the Saturn video. Very underrated console, and I was also a big fan of the Dreamcast as well. I miss Hudson Soft. They were a great developer and producer.

@RetroCore

7 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the kind words. I'm also looking forward to making the Saturn video. It should be great.

Great video! I love the presentation as always.

@RetroCore

7 жыл бұрын

Cheers man. I'll try and keep it up.

Fantastic stuff Mark! I've mentioned you a few times recently in a few of my videos 👍 A few more games to try on the PC engine, always enjoy videos like this and yours are always nice and relaxed. Great stuff mate

@RetroCore

7 жыл бұрын

Cheers for the shout outs! I need to check out more of your videos :)

@kaikiske7436

7 жыл бұрын

subscribed

Lords of Thunder looks like the playable version of one of those fantasy rock 'n' roll music videos

PC engine is my favourite console. I purchased it via the proceeds of my numerous paper rounds around 1989. thanks for the trip down memory lane 😀

@RetroCore

7 жыл бұрын

Ah, they were the days. Doing all manner of part time jobs trying to scrape money together for the latest console or games.

@dm8dd

7 жыл бұрын

I like to think I bucked the trend in that nobody at school had one or even knew what it was. yes, I got a mega drive a little later, but the gameplay was exceptional and frankly untouchable on PC engine. the games were soon much fun. PS Thanks for doing the vid.

@RetroCore

7 жыл бұрын

BeefJerkyTime Owning a PC Engine back in the day was like owning a mini arcade. The only alternative was the NES and we know that's no where near as good. Then all the home micro computers which 90% of the time sucked ass when it came to arcade ports.

Amazing episode! Can't wait for the Saturn episode! Keep 'em coming!

@RetroCore

7 жыл бұрын

Will do. I'm looking forward to making the Saturn episode too.

Wow you keep things in amazing condition. Cool video, I subbed.

@RetroCore

7 жыл бұрын

Cheers man. Sometimes I wonder how some consoles end up as messy as they do. I like to keep stuff clean :)

Interesting selection of titles for showing the enhancements of the cdrom unit, very good games, specially sapphire and spriggan, the level of detail and quality is very awesome. very good show! thanks!

@RetroCore

7 жыл бұрын

Thanks!

Realizing now that I've purchased a PC Engine Duo, I can finally check out these interesting titles!

It's like "Christmas Morning" with your Videos Mark

@RetroCore

7 жыл бұрын

Hehe, that's a nice way of putting it :)

Brilliant episode, never owned the system but you pretty much managed to play all of what I'd want for it.

@RetroCore

7 жыл бұрын

Oh, but there's so much more to discover. I'd love to do a follow up in the future but first I need to get more games. That may take a while.

@chriswright343

7 жыл бұрын

+Retro Core My friend used to bring round his system with the new releases like rondo, I had a neo but was still blown away by the quality, and wish I'd kept all those old machines..

Great video! And I loved the DreamCast with the black cover.

@RetroCore

6 жыл бұрын

Thanks, Douglas Baldan. That's one of my pain modded Dreamcast consoles.

Nice watching this - I'm happy to have gotten three of these systems a few years back myself : Two "white" ones and my "Black Combo" > Core Grafx 2 which I pared with a Turbografx-16 cd player which I kinda like the best !

@RetroCore

7 жыл бұрын

They're really cool systems that many have missed out on.

Just watched this episode again. So great. I'll get a PC Engine CD Briefcase unit some day!

@RetroCore

7 жыл бұрын

It's a very unique set up. They're still reasonably priced too if you can find a unit working and not yellowed.

Awesome video as usual too!!!! Very informative!!!

@RetroCore

5 жыл бұрын

Thank you.

great episode as usual Mark

I'm starting to have a small but decent PCE-CD collection. Dracula X, Ys 3 and 4, Legend of Xanadu 1 and 2, Snatcher. I really want to get the Thunder shooters though as well as Tengai Makyou and Macross 2036.

@RetroCore

4 жыл бұрын

Better save those pennies. PC Engine CD games of fame cost a lot these days.

@Konuvis

4 жыл бұрын

@@RetroCore Yeah I looked up the 'of Thunder' games last night and even in Japan they seem to be pricey. I've also been looking at Genesis/ Sega CD and Nintendo 64 games and I'm just crying inside, nothing CIB is below $50 it seems.

Rondo of Blood WOULD be the best, that is if it wasn't for the existence of SOTN. It could be said that it is the very best traditional style Castlevania game and I don't think many would argue. What they were able to do with the graphics here is nothing short of amazing. And to think it isn't even using the Arcade card for this. Truly impressive. Oh and by the way, I may be mistaken about this but isn't that Wonder Boy V, not IV?

Man, the animations in Prince of Persia are *INTENSE* -- loved it!

@RetroCore

7 жыл бұрын

I think it was one if not the first game ever to use rotoscope animation.

@ClydeinJapan

7 жыл бұрын

I didn't know that! +1 knowledge!

Nice episode! Never really seen much about that system, I havn't actually played any PC engine cd rom games

@RetroCore

7 жыл бұрын

You're missing out on so many great games. You could say that the PC Engine CD was the PlayStation of its time thanks to the amount of titles available.

awesome video. we own most of those too, including the Sapphire repro. I'd say that Spriggan is my favorite of the ones you picked for this video, but Dracula X is right there too.

@RetroCore

7 жыл бұрын

I like Spriggan but I can't help but feel it's just a reskinned version of Aleste which I played first. It doesn't really help that Dennin Aleste on the Mega CD is even more like Spriggan. I wonder if Spriggan was originally going to be Aleste but the license was added at the last minute?

The Core!! still the best video game show on the interwebs. Thanks

@RetroCore

7 жыл бұрын

Cheers man! I've got another Retro Core coming before the end of September! And of course Battle of the Ports and another hardware review of Chinese knock offs.

Great video mate i am a big fan of the Pc Engine wouldn't be without one now, rondo of blood is a class game my second best Castlevania game with the Play Station symphony of the night being my fav. Sapphire is good but winds of thunder is my fav shooter on the engine, the Pc Engine has loads of great shooters well hopefully you will do more on the engine and look forward to your Saturn video.

@RetroCore

7 жыл бұрын

Cheers man. By the way, I watched your Supergun video the other day. That's one cool stick / Supergun you have there.

@RetroTuna

7 жыл бұрын

Ah cool yea its a beast of a Supergun a bit of a upgrade from my home made one, i did a deal for it and swapped my Pc Engine interface unit but no worries i have another 4 Pc Engine's in back up so its all good.

Definitely one of my favorite systems because of the amount of power the little system could do. The CD games you chose were really fantastic, and I do agree on the whole subject of browning not being one of the more solid CD titles too.

@RetroCore

7 жыл бұрын

Browning has some nice ideas but as an overall package it's just awful. There are so many other games I would have loved to feature but time was against me. Maybe I can do a follow up in the future.

Nice episode, the thing about the PC Engine and CD is when it came too shooters they were pretty close to arcade perfection Unfortunately i have always been rubbish at shooters (but did complete R-Type on the SMS)but my mate, back then, would have loved the PCE CD, he really was THE BOSS when it came to shooters.

@RetroCore

7 жыл бұрын

You competed R-Type on the Master System? That's no easy task. You should be proud of that!

@chunkycjw

7 жыл бұрын

Well I tried the Arcade version on Mame recently and it kicked my ass, lol.😀 I think as video games are easier these days, I've become worse at video games, played Dark Souls 2 recently on the 360 and more or less given up, talk about rage quit 😭. Anyway 43, still gaming and not stopping anytime soon😉.

@RetroCore

7 жыл бұрын

Craig Wilson I feel your pain. 40 myself and I know I'm pathetic at games compared to 20 years ago. Currently playing Deus Ex on the Xbox One and keep getting my arse kicked.

Great video! The PC Engine is my favorite non-Nintendo console. So many great games on CD. Love Sapphire, one of the most impressive 16-bit shooters ever. Damn shame so many great games never made it out of Japan.

@RetroCore

7 жыл бұрын

Indeed. To get the most out of the PC Engine you really do need the CD add-on. Quite the opposite to the Mega CD really. In Japan the PC Engine CD was massive! Its got hundreds of games for it unlike in the US where it only has a few dozen including some really crappy US developed games such as Darkwin Duck or Tail Spin. Oh and the West box art in gaming history :D

@RyuHayabusa06

7 жыл бұрын

Retro Core The Mega CD has a few great titles like the Lunar series and my perhaps my favorite game of all time, Snatcher, the only English port made, on the Sega CD. But yeah, it was a bit lackluster compared to the PC Engine CD. Too many FMV games and they didn't bother to improve the color palette, the biggest Achilles' Heel of the Mega Drive/Genesis. NEC really screwed up the launch of the Turbografx in the West. Keith Courage was a poor choice for a pack-in game and sooo many great games were left in Japan. Plus, by the time games like Dracula X, Street Fighter 2 CE, and others came out in Japan, it was dead in the water in the West. I wonder if NEC could've been successful really when you look at the situation when it came out. Nintendo was king and had all the licensees. Sega at least had a wealth of arcade titles that were well known. NEC didn't have much because a lot of their games seem to be more Japan-centric and the PC Engine didn't really hit it's stride until the Super System Card came out and the TG was dead by that time pretty much. Oh well, it was a great system regardless.

Awesome intro tune, suits the channel well :)

@RetroCore

7 жыл бұрын

:) Thanks.

Holy grail is Macross eternal love song! Best SIM-RPG ever! Just play it for the soundtrack!

I just found this channel not long ago. In fact it was the regular PC Engine video. I do enjoy the system overviews. This one was very enjoyable as well. It's no lie that even the CD side of the PCE can be confusing, but it's even more confusing when you include the Super CD unit and the Duo line. The PC Engine has become one of my favorite systems since I got into it back a couple of years ago. Sapphire is too expensive for me. I cheated by getting it for the PSP via one of the PC Engine collections. I also have the Star Soldier collection. From here, my favorites are Gate of Thunder, Winds of Thunder, Spriggan, and Akumajou Dracula. Star Parodier is also very nice. The Download games are ones I've wanted to try. Another PCE CD favorite of mine, not featured here, is Tenchi o Kurau which was covered in a Battle of the Ports. I was surprised how much I enjoyed that one. I got a Saturn only a few months after its US launch and it was a great system to own when it was current. It got me into game importing, which was essential to get the most out of the Saturn. I'm looking forward to your feature on it and what games you'll pick out.

@RetroCore

7 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the comment, ravagingwolverine. I see that you like quite a few of the same PC Engine CD games as I do. There are so many excellent games for the CD format that it would cost a small fortune to buy them all. One day I will have the ones I want but at current prices that's not going to be cheap. For the Saturn I had a full Japanese retail set long before prices went crazy so I was kind of lucky there. Did you know that there are over a thousand Japanese Saturn releases!?

@ravagingwolverine

7 жыл бұрын

Thanks for replying. The PCE CD format is expensive from what I've seen and heard. It was a surprise when I learned how successful the format was in Japan and how many games were released. Good luck acquiring good titles for it. There are still some good deals on the card side of things, though I wonder if that will last much longer. I remember hearing before that the Saturn had a really large Japanese library, but I always forget just how many games it had. Very impressive acquiring a full Japanese set. It's handy that Sega of Japan used regular CD cases instead of those monstrosities here in the USA. I always hated that. Saturn was really fun for me to own when it was current and importing was an enjoyable part of that. Fire Pro Wrestling was one of my favorite imports. It's a great game, if you like wrestling games. I played a bit of Langrisser 4 with a partial translation, which was fun. And of course there were the various Capcom and SNK fighters(I preferred SNK).

@RetroCore

7 жыл бұрын

Oh man, those US Saturn cases are awful. That bigger is better mentality really didn't work when it came to CD cases. US Mega CD cases were the same too! At least the European cases are more in live with DVD cases in a way. These days in Japan Hu-card and CD titles are almost the same :( the only stuff we can get cheap are the titles nobody wants.

Great new episode,love that system

@RetroCore

7 жыл бұрын

Thanks man. Glad you enjoyed the show.

@Deathkicker666

7 жыл бұрын

+Retro Core oh yes,ur channel is for me the best retro show since 5 years :D thanx for this :D

@RetroCore

7 жыл бұрын

That's what I like to here :D

very nice video, tnx! ;)

Thank for the video, really like pc engine!!!!

@RetroCore

7 жыл бұрын

Thanks for watching. The PC Engine is a great little console.

This whole video was like a 'when I win the lottery shopping basket' list! Would love to own a Pc Engine and CD add on one day. Looking forward to the Sega Saturn episode, I'm sure it will also include games I'm dying to one day own haha!

@RetroCore

7 жыл бұрын

Im planning on featuring less common but amazing games in the Saturn episode so people outside of Japan can really see what the system had to offer other than NiGHTS, Sega Rally and Virtual Cop :p

@LuckyHit

7 жыл бұрын

That'll be great. One of my personal favorites recently is Kingdom Grand Prix :)

@RetroCore

7 жыл бұрын

***** yeah, that's a great game and one I loved playing so much back in the day.

Excellent !!

This console is where the Tokimeki Memorial started.

@JoseMartinez-jm1bu

5 жыл бұрын

Yes, and it does have shoiri's best nude scene where her hair and soap covers her nipples and private parts but it is so difficult to get . Not even the Saturn version has that .

Love this series. Feels alot lile gamesack

@RetroCore

6 жыл бұрын

I should have another coming soon.

My god, it's a *WALL OF CD-ROM JEWEL CASES.* And listening to that echo is just so satisfying ;)

@RetroCore

7 жыл бұрын

A wall I was praying would not fall down. :)

NEC were so far ahead of the curve. Aesthetically too, original pc engine is simply sublime looking. I use the av booster on mine which ruins the look a little but I don't want to modify it. Don't have a cd unit yet always find broken ones or they're too expensive but maybe one day. Might set mine up it's Christmas after all lol

@RetroCore

7 жыл бұрын

Buy a broken unit. They all have the same fault which is the plastic cogs being broken. It's such a common fault that in Japan you can buy actual kits just to fix this issue. My unit was dead but brought back to life thanks to one of these kits.

That CDRom was handy! (I had one back in the early 90's Turbographics-16 version) It was the same size as a diskman, but a diskman at the time was around $600! SO in buying my tg16cd I was able to start changing my collection of tapes over to cd before most of my friends did. I'd play the tg16 during the day, and at night you could put just the cd unit by my bed with a A/c adapter and I'd listen the crap out of my nirvana cd's

@RetroCore

7 жыл бұрын

I remember one friend using one as an incar CD player! He had it connected to his stereo via an AUX input.

I do like retro core episodes...nice to get in depth now and again. Although to the person who left a dislike, seriously? What's not to like?

@RetroCore

7 жыл бұрын

There is one arse hole who just goes around leaving a dislike on my videos. It's always the same location too so it must be the same person. I'm currently asking KZread to do something about it.

@stoicvampirepig6063

7 жыл бұрын

Retro Core Far and away my favourite channel.

@RetroCore

7 жыл бұрын

StoicVampire Pig thanks (^o^)

I had the original white PC Engine at school. I'd love another one, but finding one converted for a UK power supply can be tricky.

Awesome!PC-Engine CD!!!!!

Recently imported a white pc engine from Japan. Would nice to get the cd add on for it in the future.

@RetroCore

7 жыл бұрын

Are you going to get it RGB modded?

@James-fo8rf

7 жыл бұрын

Retro Core Yup, RGB mod is in the pipeline would you have Any advice?

Spriggan looks like a Super CD game, but it's only a CdRom2 game. Really shows how talented Compile is.

@RetroCore

7 жыл бұрын

To tell the truth a Super CD game and a CDRom2 game are the same. The only difference is that one uses more memory than another. It's king of like how some Saturn games use the RAM cartridges.

@ReviewUA-jy7xi

7 жыл бұрын

Retro Core They are not the same, in the sense that developers of the early cdrom2 games were often crippled by the low memory capacity of the early system cards (1.0, 2.0, 2.1), and thus couldn't make their games as elaborate graphically and gameplay-wise as the later SuperCD games because only so much code could be accessed at one time. Spriggan, however looks very advanced for a mere Cdrom2 game, in terms of gameplay and sprite variety.

@RetroCore

7 жыл бұрын

That's what I'm saying. Apart from the memory upgrade they are the same. Same style of code and so on. It's just like how a Saturn game that uses no Ram cartridge is the same as one which does. The game programme code is the same style. Just that one is programmed to take advantage of the extra memory used in the cartridge or in the case of the PC Engine CD, the extra memory in the Hu-card. NEC just used the fancy names of Super CD and Arcade CD to make it clear the games needed the special card.

@EqualsDeath

7 жыл бұрын

lol that's exactly what he said, and still compile was great for making such beautiful game with such few resources

Great episode, for an awesome system I - unfortunately - entirely missed, back then, and that is now way too demanding, if you start collecting for it today. Shame, because most games you showcased in your video look nothing short of brilliant (Download II being one of my favourite ones, based on what you said about it too).

@RetroCore

7 жыл бұрын

Yeah, getting in to PC Engine now is not a cheap hobby. Sadly I don't see the prices dropping either.

NEC were right on the tech but wrong on the business. Such a shame but at least we can still enjoy and appreciate this system even if it is "only" through watching another fascinating episode of Retro Core!

@RetroCore

7 жыл бұрын

To be honest the PC Engine was Number 1 in Japan for quite some time. In the end the Famicom beat it but the Mega Drive never even came close. It's kind of the same situation with the Saturn. There once was a point in time where in Japan it was more popular than the PlayStation :)

@jasontennant8994

7 жыл бұрын

Yes but like Sega, ultimately they couldn't go the distance with that line of their business.

I love both PC Engine videos. Got plans for any more based on it?

@RetroCore

4 жыл бұрын

Sure, I'd like to revisit the system but first I have a few more systems to cover. Next is the Fujitsu FM Towns.

Nice to see Future Boy Conan get love.

@RetroCore

7 жыл бұрын

Yeah. Many pass it by but it's actually fairly entertaining. Cyborg 009 on the Mega CD is quite similar and that's also by Riot.

@ChristopherSobieniak

7 жыл бұрын

Retro Core Thankfully both were at least fansubbed for the most part, if you had to go there (and obviously for the former, I usually hear the licensing of that is expensive to start with).

@RetroCore

7 жыл бұрын

Christopher Sobieniak yeah, anything that Miyazaki is attached to will not be cheap.

Great Retro Core episode as always Mark. I really need to pick up a PC engine CD system at some point. I have the original, white PC Engine model, but I know I've missed out on a lot of great CD releases. Always too many other games already in the backlog... At this point in time, is it better to buy a PC Engine CD-ROM or to purchase one of the various DUO units? Specifically, is one of the various models more reliable than the others?

@RetroCore

7 жыл бұрын

I think the best option is the DUO R. Don't buy the original DUO as they are made from really low quality parts. The CD interface unit I have is very reliable apart from one cog which just falls apart over time. Thankfully kits can be bought to repair this issue for very little money. Plus the new cog will out live the actual CD player.

The only mega drive game that surprised me was the mega cds Final Fight is was near arcade perfect and that was impressive due to the limited color palet the mega drive was limited to. Other than that pc engine had better looking games. Another thing that surprised me was how slow the snes was. PC Engine for its time was the best console available by far why did they go out of business?

subbed

@RetroCore

7 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the support!

Great episode and very informative! Are these units and games easily available in Japan?

@RetroCore

7 жыл бұрын

Yeah, they're very easy to find but they cost quite a lot. These days anything g PC Engine fetches good money.

I wanted so bad the CD32 to become what PC-Engine CD was also thanks to the (then) hardly reproducible medium; pity Commodore screw up that too :(

You should do an episode regarding the PC-FX. Here are some games you might like: Kishin Douji Zenki Vajra Fight (probably the best game for the PC-FX) Zeroigar (freakin’ awesome game with excellent graphics and awesome music) Chip Chan Kick (really fun title) I wish the system had Asuka 120% and Variable Geo maybe some Capcom and Namco titles should’ve been on there, I just wish it had more software.

@RetroCore

3 жыл бұрын

Ah, first I need a real PC-FX. If someone could lone me one I'd be more than happy to cover it. Sadly they cost quite a bit now so I don't think I'll be buying one.

The arcade card actually has a bit of extra hardware. I think it is mostly some blitter and data decompression, and I don't know how much games actually used it.

@RetroCore

7 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the info. I wasn't aware of that. I thought it was just more extra RAM like the System Card 2.

@JensChristianRestemeier

7 жыл бұрын

After some digging I found the info again: The memory can be accessed like a RAM-disc (SC1-3 just add the additional memory into the "normal" memory map), a 32 bit shift/rotate register, and some extra logic to allow fast copies into video memory. www.pcedev.net/docs/AC_Regs_WIP.txt

@RetroCore

7 жыл бұрын

Jens Christian Restemeier thanks for the link. So it is kind of like a Saturn Ram cartridge.

just think if sega worked with nec to make a true 2nd genesis with the color palete of the tg16 and the sound chip it would keep sega rolling on

@RetroCore

6 жыл бұрын

Well, that's unless they let NEC make any decisions. They did bring out the PC-FX after all. that thing makes Sega's crazy decisions seem logical.

que buen catalogo tiene

36 degrees is barely above FREEZING! ;-)

@RetroCore

5 жыл бұрын

Not when using modern scales 😁

They had to create a disk with integrated memory cartridge. Images and software in the cartridge. Music in the part of the disc.

Nice episode dude! I bought one CDROM2+PC Engine and Interface unit last month. Trying to find the Arcade Pro card to complete the collection but prices are extremely high (more than 100EUR on Ebay). If you can give me an advice to find one with a reasonable price, much appreciated.

@RetroCore

7 жыл бұрын

I'm afraid that even in Japan they cost a lot and hard to find. I bought two boxed Arcade cards only to open the case and find they both had system 2 cards inside! These were from Amazon Japan sellers too. Got my money back on both and finally found an unboxed card on Yahoo Auctions but that still cost 6500 yen.

I "discovered" the turbografx 16 a few years back. I got a new-old-stock PAL version. Works nicely, but I'd really like to get a CD-ROM enabled 60Hz version one day (though I'd probably need one with RGB out for it to work on my CRT as that does not do NTSC) to experience the games at their proper speeds! Interesting to see the port of Shadow of the Beast, it looks fairly competent but is clearly cut down graphically compared to the Amiga original (the underground sections miss the parallax background for instance). Not that it really matters, pretty as it is Shadow of the Beast is just no fun to play. Style over substance I say!

@RetroCore

7 жыл бұрын

Oh, you have a PAL system? Must be one of those rare French units unless they made turbografx consoles for Brazil. If you want to play Hu-cards at the right speed it's best just to buy a Japanese system. It has the largest game library plus the basic Core DUO is reasonably priced.

@DutchRetroGuy

7 жыл бұрын

Retro Core Yeah, I got one of those French units. It's pretty neat actually (and a bit weird - the unit comes with Blazing Lasers but the box shows a huge screenshot of R-Type instead). Except all games/music run too slow. Thanks for the tip, I'll check out if I can get that to work on my CRT.

So cool. Is the PC Engine CD addon and PC Engine Duo, have the same graphics and sound, same quality?

@RetroCore

4 жыл бұрын

Yep, 100% the same.

Watching in 2019 in anticipation of the just announced PCE mini. Have to LOL at your telling people not to spend $600 on Sapphire considering it sells for $2000+ now.

@RetroCore

5 жыл бұрын

Yeah, it's crazy how high that has gone.

I just herd about this system a few years ago. I might check it out on a emulator, I hope I can play some the CD game titles like on my Sega Fusion emulator.

@RetroCore

7 жыл бұрын

Sure you can. PC Engine CD emulation has been possible for probably 15 years now.

Can someone explain to me what the difference is between the arcade card DUO and the arcade card pro? I’m trying to buy one and not sure which one to get. I’m wanting to play CD roms that requires the arcade card

Been trying to get my foot into the PC Engine world. I have a question that I can´t seem to find an answer for. If I mod a Core Grafx with the AV Driver for RGB and connect it to a IFU-30 interface unit with a CD-Rom2 drive... can I play CD-ROM2 games (super, arcade, etc..) with the RGB output from the Core Grafx and not the composite from Interface Unit? Or I need to use the AV output from the IFU when playing CD games? Would I need to RGB mod the IFU then? Do you have your IFU-30 rgb modded as well? Thanks.

@RetroCore

7 жыл бұрын

Sure, it will work. I have an RGB modded PC Engine Core Grafx connected to my CD interface which I used in making this video. As long as your RGB port is still accessible once the main console is connected to the CD unit you'll be able to use it for all CD and Hu-card games.

At least you were rational when it came to your purchase of Ginga Fukei Desentsu Sapphire.

@RetroCore

6 жыл бұрын

Hehe, yep. I'd never pay big bucks for that game.

Im surprised you showed no sleepers, fun vid though. I finally get that switch worked like a beast tried the d-sub port too on a rgb monitor no problems even with all 8 ports used . : ] P.S. a bootleg? shame on you! lol

@RetroCore

7 жыл бұрын

Those switch boxes are amazing, aren't they. Probably the best bit of tech I've bought in years and it's not even a commercial product.

I cant help but notice Star Paruda music sounds like a youtube channels theme music .. i cannot recall exactly who tho

@RetroCore

5 жыл бұрын

Maybe that channel liked it so much they decided to make it their theme?

@ChibiTheEdgehog

5 жыл бұрын

Thats likely but its killing me that i cant recall who it was .. they changed the Tempo and pitch but thats def the same melody

Would you ever do a part 2 to the system retro core episodes? I'd really like another retro core for the mega drive :)

@RetroCore

7 жыл бұрын

Sure, I will revisit the consoles in the future as there are so many cool games that need to be featured.

@gogosegaga

7 жыл бұрын

mega drive in particular please :) I feel theres more in japan on that system we haven't seen here! thank you

@RetroCore

7 жыл бұрын

gogosegaga yep, you are 100%right there.

Okay, I have a question for you... Gates of Thunder vs. Lords of Thunder vs. Thunder Force IV (Lightening Force-misspelled on purpose because Merica'). Which one is the definitive shmup of the 16-bit era- Sprigan, Fantasy Zone, Biometal, Thunder Force 2-3, R-Type, Arrow Flash, Blazing Lasers, Last Resort, Blazing Star ect...which is the top of the heap in your opinion? In my opinion, the very best, the cream of the crop is Thunder Force IV. I grew up during the 16-bit revolution and quickly became a huge Sega fan. Actually before the Genesis I was not a big gamer (I liked them but I did not truly follow them until the 1989 release of the Sega Genesis...Altered Beast and Ghouls n' Ghosts broke me). Unfortunately, I stupidly shunned the TG-16 and almost passed on the Snes as well. Street Fighter 2 really turned me into a multiplat fan for life. Now I own everything from the Atari 7800 through the mighty Xbox One X. I am also an immense Neo Geo fan with my very own MVS candy cab and a sprawling AES collection. Why oh why did Konami choose the Snes for Dracula X? Probably the most moronic decision by Konami circa 92-94. Rondo of Blood would have been epic on the Sega Genesis/Sega CD. The game in its entirety could have sold without censorship in the US on Sega's machine. Furthermore, they could have given it a graphical face lift as both the Sega Genesis and Sega CD are stronger than either the PC Engine or Super CD Rom. I believe more Sega CD units were sold than at least Turbo CD units...

@RetroCore

5 жыл бұрын

Best 16 bit shooter? Man, that's a tough call. Thunder Force 4 is a trully great shooter and possibly the best however there are many great shooters during that era. Super Aleste on the SFC is another I love. Fast, full of action and no slowdown. The US and PAL versions have stages cut and endings removed. They do have better speech samples though. As for Konami, they were dicks towards Sega in the 16 bug age. They only jumped on the the Mega Drive near the end of its life. Same with Capcom. All Capcom Mega Drive games before Street Fighter II were reprogrammed by Sega.

@DanielAyy

5 жыл бұрын

Between the 3 Thunder games that you've mentioned, the winner for me is Thunder Force IV. I've played TF4 and LoT but not GoT, but I am certain TF4 wins over GoT from what I've seen, and it definitely wins over LoT imo. Thunder Force IV is my favourite shooter ever made, and will stay like that for a while. GoT and LoT are great, but TF4 is outstanding.

@Sinn0100

5 жыл бұрын

@@DanielAyy I hear you their! Thunder Force IV was that perfect mix of cool and difficult that made it magic. What's crazy too me is, not many shooters look better than it aesthetically to me. I mean yeah, Einhander and Last Resort looks better but they just are not as good. I will never forget the day I first played Thunder Force IV (Lightening Force...chuckle). It was early 1994 (my entire life was consumed with SF in '92 and Doom in '93) and I had not quite built my first gaming PC for Doom (I chased a dream of having a perfect port of Doom on console until the PSX in late 96). I was bored to tears and at Blockbuster perusing their games section. After all I had every console available (excluding only the Neo Geo AES...I had every Sega add-on as well) and there it was laying on the ground by itself...perhaps kicked off the shelf- Lightening Force. I was confused, I knew what Thunder Force was but what is this game with an oddly misspelled title here (it was the Go-Go 1990's and no one had any time for spell checking or common sense...we were into gangster rap and wanted everything Now!)...it was not Thunder Force IV was it? I felt bad for it so I rented it. When I fired it up...I was elated, overjoyed, dumbfounded, blown away...I don't know it was amazing. I at that point was really moving to the 32-bit, 64-bit, and some light PC gaming. I was wrong about the 3DO, Jaguar, and 32X but the PC was great (486DX2) that held me over until the Sega Saturn and Sony PlayStation launch on '95 (got them both on the same day during the PSX launch).

@DanielAyy

5 жыл бұрын

@@Sinn0100 Best story I've heard all week 👏

@Sinn0100

5 жыл бұрын

@@DanielAyy Hey thanks I appreciate it. I am such a huge gamer and this stuff brings back so many good memories.

Do u know much about emulating the PC Engine CD? I've just got the romset dl which was 34gb! I do have a bunch of bios files so I'm guessing it might be like the Mega Cd. But pretty exited, the games look awesome!!!! Im using Retroarch on my PS1 Classic....what a time we live in.

@RetroCore

5 жыл бұрын

I'm afarid I don't. I use real hardware for the PC Engine and CD.

@bENOFFICIALMASSIVE

5 жыл бұрын

@@RetroCore Ok thats cool! Even better! Im buying a Pc Engine asap. I'll get as many games as possible and theres an Everdrive too! Thanks for your reply buddy! :)

@RetroCore

5 жыл бұрын

Yeah, I have a PC Engine EverDrive for the card games. Such a great device.

In most of the PCE CD games I find it jarring the difference in quality between CD quality background music & 16 bit muffled sound effects! The high quality background sound made the low quality sound effects stand out more. Was it really that difficult to take advantage of CD quality sound for sound effects or devs were just lazy?

@RetroCore

7 жыл бұрын

The PC Engine Hu-cards can sound great but yeah, a lot of the CD games have really crappy sound effect. I wonder if it was a memory issue?

siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiik!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Does the CD peripheral have the same capacitor problem of the DUO?

@RetroCore

5 жыл бұрын

Nope. But that's not to say they will last forever.

how you play with scanlines? make a video talking about how you play and display your games

@RetroCore

7 жыл бұрын

I use a Framemeister XRGB mini. All my consoles go in to a RGB switch box. The RGB switch box goes in to the Framemeister XRGB mini and that goes in to my TV or Capcture card via HDMI.

Hey I don’t know if you read new comments on old videos, but I love pc engine. I was wondering if you could do a Video on pc engine games based of anime shows. I have 2 of the ranma 1/2 games and love them. Wondering if there are any other gems. However I’m not a fan of the digital comic type games.

@RetroCore

5 жыл бұрын

About half of the PC Engine library is based upon anime. Many of the CD games are too. Sadly I don't own enough to devout an entire show to PC Engine anime games. Or the time to be honest.

@bananarama6808

5 жыл бұрын

Retro Core well thanks for replying, I’m a huge fan of your show. You have a such a cool life, I wanted to teach English in Japan back in the day. My wife and I wanna go there too. Anyways if you ever see a pc engine attachment for the laser disc player for a reasonable price I’ll buy it from you! Lol anyways thank again and by chance have you played the ranma 1/2 games? They are not the best but I like them because I’m a huge fan. Take care

@RetroCore

5 жыл бұрын

I've played and own a few Ranma games but none on the PC Engine. I have the 3 fighting games on the Super Famicom, the 3D fighter on the PlayStation and the interactive comic on the Mega CD. I have a soft spot for the first two SFC games the most.

@bananarama6808

5 жыл бұрын

Retro Core the first pc engine game is a platform game that goes through the series all the way to hard battle I believe. There is a diagonal comic game but the last ones a fighting game, but it’s not typical it follows events of the show and I fight it out. I like them you should check them out and they are cheap

Wow never add had the Pc engine the grafic looks much better then snes or genesis

@RetroCore

6 жыл бұрын

Oh no. The PC Engine is now where near as good as a Mega Drive or SNES. It does have more colours than a Mega Drive but it's limited when it comes to scrolling, sprite size, number of sprites and sound in many cases. Still, the PC Engine is a very nice system especially when connected to the CD add on.

Dracula X might be on the SNES it's not really the same...quite stunted...I prefer the SNES remake of the first one...such a brilliant game.

@RetroCore

7 жыл бұрын

That's right, it is different in areas but it's kind of the same game. I look at it as a remixed port :)

nice review do a original famicom console and games...next...

@RetroCore

7 жыл бұрын

Sorry man, next is the Saturn. Maybe in the future I can do Famicom but first I need a Famicom and many games for it.

@xtremegold2950

7 жыл бұрын

thats cool ...in japan you can find famicoms in every corner...is a very common system ..i m surprised you dont have one in your collection.

@RetroCore

7 жыл бұрын

xtreme gold I'm from the UK so I have no nostalgic love for the system unlike Americans or Japanese. When I was a kid the Master System was the console to have. I've had many Famicom over the years but I just don't have any interest in them and always sell them on.

@xtremegold2950

7 жыл бұрын

Retro Core i see ...the famicom have a lot of great tiltles..like ninja gaiden,double dragon,rockman,castlevania,..i,m planning to get one .

@RetroCore

7 жыл бұрын

xtreme gold This is true and one day I will get around to playing them but when I do I'd imagine it would be via a flash cartridge of some kind.

I legitimately believe (aside from some other obvious reasons) the real point of failure to this hardware in my country was the damn box art... Same can be said for the Master System. It also didn't help that the pack in was Keith Courage. "You play a God Knight named Randy." No idea why that's funny to me.

@RetroCore

3 жыл бұрын

Ah yes, the American box art was some of the worst ever. What on earth were they thinking? Truly bizarre. The Master System had some sort of clip art style charm but the Turbo Grafx was bloody awful. Oh, and yeah. Randy always makes me chuckle because my mate always calls me a Randy Bugger 😁

@jamesburchill7522

3 жыл бұрын

@@RetroCore I'd honestly like a solid answer, as to Indeed, what the thought process was behind that "art." Nintendo had already set a pretty easy benchmark to follow.

Some of these games I’m seeing here have graphics that surpass the snes. Definitely better graphics than mega drive. You would think Sega knowing what the pc engine can do would have upped their consoles stats to out do the pc engine. Genesis was the least entertaining console of the time.

@RetroCore

2 жыл бұрын

The PC Engine is very impressive but it can't compete with the Mega Drive and SNES when those systems are pushed. But under normal circumstances the PC Engine certainly holds its own against the two 16bit giants. Actually, in Japan, the PC Engine was the second biggest selling console at one point only out done by the Famicom.

@lailanitaganap6314

Жыл бұрын

PC Engine graphics is underrated its stronger than Snes look at any shoot em up game snes can't handle a lot of enemies on screen and has slowdown? Also Street Fighter 2 on PC Engine beats Snes? Also the Genesis is stronger than the Snes. CASTLEVANIA IS BEST LOOKING ON PC Engine. PC Engine has the best arcade ports so how can it be the weakest console??? Also the PC Engine came out 4 years before the Snes way ahead of it's time plus the Turbo Express way ahead of it's time the original Switch.

Nice to know your first name Mark. With your permission, my I call you by your first name in future postings on your channel and Atariage? Anhony...

@RetroCore

7 жыл бұрын

Sure, you can call me Mark :) I really don't mind.

@Charlie-Cat.

7 жыл бұрын

Retro Core Thank you Mark. Always a pleasure to write on your comment section and seeing the latest content you have to offer. Anthony...

RayXanber III is much better & also much harder & has a kickass soundtrack. I really like the stage 2 OST of RayXanber II though.

@RetroCore

7 жыл бұрын

I used to have the 3rd game but sold it out of frustration, lol. It was the better game of the series too with great music as you say.

Will the console work by only having the CD rom?

@RetroCore

6 жыл бұрын

No. The CD Rom alone is just a CD Player. It can't do anything besides play CDs without the PC Engine attached.

how i can save neutopia with the cd-rom ram?

@RetroCore

5 жыл бұрын

No idea. Sorry.

Dude , you are running Castlevania Rondo of Blood with the PC ENGINE Interfase? How? it works only adding the System card 3.0? Cause as far I know Catlevania is a SUPER CD ROM 2 game, ence it needs the SuperCD ROM 2 + SYSTEM CARD 3.0 . So if you use the Arcade card, the Super CD ROM 2 is not needed?

@RetroCore

5 жыл бұрын

Yep, the arcade card will run ALL the games besides Altered Beast. All the System cards do is all more RAM to the system. As for the Difference in PC Engine CD Rom names (CDROM, Super CDROM 2, Arcade CDROM), that just means they need different system cards. The discs will play on any PC Engine CDROM drive as long as you have an arcade card or System 3 card. Although the System 3 card won't run arcade CDROM discs.

@juanjoserivasgarcia2336

5 жыл бұрын

Lol, so this means buying the expensive Super CDROM2 is useless xD lol I tought the only way to play the original SUper CDROM games was using that drive or Duo console.

@RetroCore

5 жыл бұрын

Well, not entirely. The PC Engine Duo consoles have the System Card 2 built in. this is why you don't need a card to play Super CD Rom games on that machine. Older machines such as the original one I show in this video don't have any System card built in which is why they are needed.

@juanjoserivasgarcia2336

5 жыл бұрын

Yes, thats exactly why I tought , buying a Duo would solve the problem. But if a regular interfase version can handle any kind of Cd with just a card, then taht sound better. Any difference on image quality or sound with the interfase and the Duo versions? You know I am thinking on maybe buying a cdrom, an arcade card pro , a system card 2.0 (just for altered Beast as you stated) and a SuperGraft

When need the Turbografx 16/PC Engine mini hack please 🙏 if not Konami make mini part 2.

+

Street Fighter

You should have shown the controller too.