
This piece was originally published in 2012. With the news that Konami is producing a PC Engine Mini, we thought you might like a fresh look. Enjoy!
Western gamers tend to consider Nintendo and Sega as the two major players in the 16-bit war. On European and American soil this was certainly the case - the Super Nintendo and Mega Drive (Genesis to North American players) battled it out for supremacy, selling millions of units and making their creators household names in the process. The story was ever so slightly different in Japan, however. Nintendo remained amazingly successful but it was NEC’s PC Engine that emerged as their main rival, leaving the unfortunate Sega to make do with a disappointing third. Remarkably, this popular Japanese console struggled in the US and bypassed Europe altogether. Unravelling the complex lineage of this intriguing system isn't straightforward thanks to numerous hardware amendments, name changes and add-on enhancements – not to mention the involvement of three different parent companies - but by thunder, we’re going to try.
This highly promising union would result in one of the most successful and influential Japanese consoles of all time
Back in the late ‘80s many companies - both inside and outside the video game industry - observed the runaway success of Nintendo’s NES/Famicom with mounting envy. One such corporation was Japanese electronics giant Nippon Electric Company, more commonly known as ‘NEC’. Established at the turn of the 20th century to produce telephone components, NEC had gone on to become one of the world’s leading computer manufacturers. A new conquest was beckoning in the form of the lucrative console market and while NEC undoubtedly had the financial clout to enter this arena, it lacked vital industry experience. Approaches were made to several leading video game studios for support and it was soon discovered that Hudson Soft - the first developer to obtain a license to develop for the Nintendo Famicom – also happened to be tentatively exploring the possibilities of producing its own system.
Founded by brothers Yuji and Hiroshi Kudo in 1973, Hudson didn't start out in the field of interactive entertainment. “They originally began by selling telecommunication devices and some art photographs,” comments John Greiner, former President of Hudson Entertainment in the US and now the head man at MonkeyPaw Games. “Within two years they began selling computer related products and soon afterwards, the company started to make games. In fact, they were the first to publish a PC game in Japan.” Hudson had created the high-powered ‘LSI’ chipset but didn't possess the necessary cash to enter the console race alone. “They realized they needed a partner to manufacture and market to a large base," explains Greiner. "Fortuitous timing landed NEC as a company that was interested in entering the console market.” This highly promising union would result in one of the most successful and influential Japanese consoles of all time.
Small is Beautiful
In terms of pure aesthetics, the PC Engine must surely rank as one of the most iconic designs in the history of electronic entertainment. The original white system was petite and attractive, making rival consoles look positively ugly in comparison. “Hudson and NEC wanted to create a system that was appealing in design,” Greiner says. “The previous generation of consoles felt more like toys, so they wanted to create a system that was sleek yet powerful.” With dimensions of 135 x 130 x 35mm, it remains the smallest home console ever made. This appeal was further augmented by the unique delivery system for software, as Greiner recalls: “The PC Engine used a unique chip-on-board media instead of cartridges. These credit card sized ‘HuCards’, or ‘Turbochips’ as they were called in America, were marvels in design. They were extremely durable, portable and cool.”
The slender size of the machine belied the impressive technical specifications contained within. The custom-built dual 16-bit graphics processors (HuC6260 and HuC6270A) allowed the PC Engine to display stunning arcade-quality visuals. Remarkably, the unique HuC6280A CPU that powered this minuscule wonder was 8-bit - a fact that would provoke many playground arguments about whether or not the machine should be classed in the same league as ‘true’ 16-but consoles like the SNES and Mega Drive.
NEC launched the PC Engine in Japan on October 30th 1987 and by the end of the subsequent year, it was the best selling console in the country, dethroning the Famicom in spectacular fashion. One of the key reasons for this triumph was impressive third-party support, which previous consoles like Sega’s Mark III (known as the Master System in the West) had struggled with, largely thanks to Nintendo’s stranglehold over software developers. Striking technical specifications combined with the rampant enthusiasm shown by NEC and Hudson – two highly respected companies in Japan – encouraged many developers to support the console. Namco, Irem, Masaya, Konami and Human all flocked to the PC Engine banner, bringing some of their most treasured franchises with them. Amazingly, permission was also secured to port several highly esteemed Sega coin-ops, including Afterburner 2, Power Drift, Space Harrier, Outrun, Wonderboy III and Fantasy Zone. These were proficiently reprogrammed by internal studio NEC Avenue (later known as ‘NEC Interchannel’, and more recently ‘Interchannel-Holon’, as the company is no longer affiliated with NEC) and ironically they frequently outclassed Sega’s own efforts on the Mega Drive.
NEC and Hudson were driven by what a CD could bring to gaming: amazing sounds, robust animation, and seemingly unlimited storage space
With a successful launch out of the way, NEC soon set about creating what would be the first of many hardware updates - the ‘CD-ROM2’ add-on. “At the time, publishers were constrained by the cost and memory of carts,” Greiner remembers. Released in 1988, it came with a fetching briefcase-style set-up and remains one of the most desirable pieces of PC Engine paraphernalia. Early CD software was hampered by lack of RAM but this was thankfully rectified via a series of ‘System Card’ updates (which came in HuCard form and granted more usable memory). This, in turn, gave birth to the renowned ‘Super CD’ criterion, which allowed programmers to be more flamboyant and really put that additional CD storage space to meaningful use. “NEC and Hudson were driven by what a CD could bring to gaming: amazing sounds, robust animation, and seemingly unlimited storage space,” confirms Greiner.
Commitment to largely unproven CD-ROM technology showed that NEC intended to remain on the cutting edge, but in 1989 this burning desire to innovate resulted in a near-fatal error of judgement. Despite the runaway success of the PC Engine, Nintendo’s Famicom remained the console to beat and when solid information regarding the specifications of its successor began to surface in the Japanese press, NEC panicked. They rashly decided to launch a new console and the SuperGrafx was born. Essentially a PC Engine with additional graphics chips and four times as much RAM, this bulky machine was handicapped by the fact that it utilized the same 8-bit CPU as its older stablemate. Coordinating the extra chips created a massive drain on processing power and developers struggled to achieve satisfying results.
Incredibly, only five dedicated games ever saw the light of day (a ‘hybrid’ version of Darius Plus was also released that would also play on a standard PC Engine). Thanks to an impressive conversion of Capcom’s Daimakaimura (Ghouls ‘n’ Ghosts) and excellent overall compatibility (it is able to play HuCard games and can be connected to the CD-ROM drive, making it the only machine in the PC Engine dynasty with the potential to play all available software), the SuperGrafx remains a highly sought-after collector’s item, regardless of its abject commercial failure.
Go West
In spite of this slight hiccup, success was virtually assured on home soil. With proven technology and a library of excellent games, it made perfect sense to unleash the console Stateside, as Greiner recalls: “The US market was stirred into a fevered state by fans wanting a true gaming upgrade from the 8-bit era.” NEC’s American arm rechristened it ‘TurboGrafx-16’ and the external casing of diminutive console was retooled in order to make it look more substantial and imposing. Nevertheless, the fortunes of the TurboGrafx-16 stood in stark contrast to that of its Japanese sibling. “The success of the PC Engine was undeniable in Japan, where at one point it captured nearly a third of the market,” states Greiner. “In the US however, it was a different story.” Sega released the Mega Drive (Genesis) in North America at almost exactly the same time and began relentlessly and ruthlessly marketing their new console. “Sega were hard-hitting, gaining an irreverent edge which best suited the US demographics,” explains Greiner. The early promotions were extraordinarily successful and the selection of available software - which not only included some of Sega’s key arcade titles but was also more tailored to a Western audience – gave it the edge. NEC’s machine was lumbered with a very ‘Eastern’ assortment of games and Hudson struggled to craft titles that would appeal to US players. “It was a tremendous challenge launching so many games in such a short time frame,” remembers Greiner. “That is why you initially saw so many games that were ported from Japan and from genres that were most popular in that country, like shooters.”
Marketing and understanding the US gamer mentality was always a challenge for NEC
Nintendo’s dominance over third-party developers became apparent once again with American software companies being just as fearful of Nintendo’s wrath as their Japanese counterparts. “Unfortunately, while Hudson created many great games for the system initially, it still wasn't enough. Many of the big name brands from other publishers simply couldn't be published,” states Greiner. In a similar situation to that witnessed in Japan, Nintendo stipulated that if a third party game was produced for the NES, it couldn't be released on a rival console. “That became a challenge that was not easily overcome,” Greiner reflects, mournfully. Nintendo’s bullying tactics were later found to be illegitimate but by then it was too late. To make matters worse, NEC vastly over-produced their hardware. “They listened closely to retailers, who were very aggressive in their belief that 16-bit gaming was going to be a big success,” explains Greiner. “NEC therefore over-ordered units and this proved fatal in the long run as they committed tremendous financial resources to create the hardware, which ultimately handcuffed them in marketing spend. Sega were able to successfully steal market share away with a ‘bad-ass’ image and an unfettered marketing bankroll.” The seemingly unbridled success experienced in Japan had sadly eluded NEC in America. “Arguably, the TurboGrafx-16 had better games, but a number of missteps took place when it came to hardware styling, box art, pack-in and release schedule,” comments Greiner. “Marketing and understanding the US gamer mentality was always a challenge for NEC.”
Around this time there were faint rumblings of a European release. Early in 1990 it was revealed that a UK company called ‘Mention’ were intending to sell specially modified machines that would circumvent the various problems UK importers were experiencing. Known as the ‘PC Engine Plus’, this slightly altered system did not have the official blessing of NEC and unsurprisingly never took off. Despite several magazines reporting that NEC themselves were ‘literally months away’ from officially launching the console in the UK for ‘under £100’, it never happened. “Europe was neglected as this was NEC’s first foray into the console market,” comments Greiner. “However, there was considerable grey market penetration as Europeans also wanted to participate in the new gaming revolution”.
The Dynamic Duo
Back in Japan, the amazing success of the freshly-released Super Famicom provoked NEC to consolidate the existing PC Engine hardware in the form of the ‘Duo’ system. As you might expect from the snappy moniker, this was a PC Engine and CD-ROM drive combined. The need for (easily misplaced) System Cards was also negated as the Duo had the necessary RAM built in. Launched in 1991, the machine arguably represented the zenith of the PC Engine brand. A US release followed via the newly founded Hudson/NEC venture ‘Turbo Technologies Incorporated’ (TTI for short), but the re-branded TurboDuo suffered the same ignominious fate as the TurboGrafx-16 before it - despite having some excellent software, it failed to gain a significant market share and faded quickly. Incredibly, it’s since been confirmed by a former TTI employee that the company was offered exclusive home console rights to Midway’s arcade hit Mortal Kombat, but the head office in Japan decreed that fighting games were oversubscribed in the US and neglected the offer.
The success of the Japanese Duo allowed NEC to further strengthen their position, applying intense pressure on Nintendo with a series of excellent titles whilst keeping poor old Sega firmly in third place. Classic games like Dracula X: Rondo of Blood, Gate of Thunder, Star Parodier and Ys proved that even in the relative infancy of the CD-ROM age, the extra space afforded by the format could be put to sterling use. Fortunately, the humble HuCard was not forgotten and a noteworthy conversion of Capcom’s Street Fighter II: Champion Edition pushed the maximum capacity of the credit card-sized format up to a muscular 20 megabits.
1994 saw the introduction of the Japanese-only ‘Arcade Card’, which increased the PC Engine’s power to previously unimaginable levels. Slick coin-op conversions of Fatal Fury Special, World Heroes 2 and Art of Fighting soon appeared and while these incredibly faithful ports won the console a whole new group of admirers, they came too late to make a truly telling impact. The 16-bit party, which the 8-bit PC Engine had skilfully managed to gatecrash, was beginning to wind down and a new wave of powerful 32-bit behemoths loomed ominously on the horizon. Sales started to dwindle, forcing NEC and Hudson to develop a successor – the ill-fated 32-bit PC-FX. Built around the rather misguided belief that FMV-style games represented the future of the console industry, it unsurprisingly flopped at retail.
After nearly a decade of unwavering commitment to one another, NEC and Hudson finally parted company in the middle of the nineties. The former went on to supply the graphical muscle behind Sega’s Dreamcast while the latter continued to produce games for a wide range of consoles, before eventually being purchased by Konami in 2011. A year later - following the closure of the US-based Hudson Entertainment - the Hudson Soft name ceased to exist as the company was absorbed entirely into Konami.
That's not the end of the PC Engine story, however; at E3 this year, it was confirmed that Konami is bringing the brand back from the dead. An entirely new generation of players will get to see what the fuss is all about, and that makes us very happy indeed.
This feature was originally printed in its entirety in Retro Gamer magazine, and is reproduced here with kind permission. Special thanks to Aaron Nanto for providing exclusive hardware photos.
Comments (66)
Interesting read, to say the least.
Really interesting. Just shows how important marketing is!
Good work, that man!
Lovely article, I really wished it was available in Europe back then, but alas...
I loved my Turbo-Grafx 16. I had plenty of good games and have download some of those on the virtual console. Those were wonderful times back then with Nintendo and my Turbo!
Wow they passed over bringing Mortal Kombat to their system. Bad move
Why is this on a Nintendo website... well, I'm glad these consoles were discontinued, so Nintendo will RULE!!!
@MultiMariosonic Because you can play PC Engine/TG-16 games on the Wii Virtual Console.
It's sad that Hudson is a shell of its former self due to the Konami takeover...
Also what happened to the Turbo Grafx on 3Ds VC?
Much love for Gunhed and Super Star Soldier. PC Kid was also epic. Believe.
I still have my PC Engine Core Grafx 2 with about 30 or so of the premium titles that were available for it i also had a PC Engine DUO which i ended up selling as most of the best CD specific games that i had came out on the Wii Vc, what i remember was that the games had a silky fluidity to them you didn't often see on the SNES or MD it chucked sprites around with serious ease.
@gojiguy #9
At least it didn't just cease the exist, like it was going to.
Yep, the PC Engine never made it to the UK to my knowledge, though I remember reading about it in gaming magazines at the time.
Was really pleased to see the console on the VC and discovered some great games.
It is also the only system on the VC that always runs at 60Hz on a PAL Wii!
Now, if only they would release Parasol Stars on the Wii VC...
@Ristar42 thats the reason i hardly bought anything for my UK Wii on Vc Stupid Nintendo 50hz nearly all of the games making them 'to me unplayable'.
@XyVoX Am sure you're not alone there, funny to think the 3DS VC is the first time Nintendo have actually released NES games running at the correct speed in Europe.
Lets see if they can sort out the Wii VC with Wii U...
Excellent read.
The TurboGrafix16 was a great system that actually had alot of cult hits in North America Too bad they never really had any success other than PCEngine in Japan.
I like the PC engine CD the most, thanks to YS.
Speaking of PC engine... WHERE ARE THE PROMISED 3DS VC GAMES ANNOUNCED AT GDC 2011? Don't say Konami halted them, they announced TG-16 plans AFTER the whole company was dissolved.
Loved my TurboGrafx-16! (+CD)
I remember when the Genesis and TG-16 were coming out. A store at the mall had a Genesis set-up, so I went there, weekend after weekend. Played Altered Beast, that helicopter game, and Ghouls 'N Ghosts. After passing GnG I decided I didn't really like the visuals of the Genesis. Something about the TG-16 looked much more "next-gen" to me .
Turns out it was the on-screen colors. The limitation was 64 for the Genesis (16 for the NES). The TG-16 had 481! For me it made everything much more vibrant. I bought one and never looked back (I'm quite sure my love of Japanese games comes from many hours of gaming on my TG-16!)
Eventually I bought all 3 consoles from the 16-bit era, but the TG-CD is what I loved the most. Many fond memories of Y's (first game with real voice - something hard to imagine back then + amazing CD quality sound) and Lords of Thunder (still beautiful tough as nails shooter) among others, and great 5-player Saturdays with friends playing Bomberman, Dungeon Explorer & Moto Roader (long before 4 controllers was standard on systems).
Good trip down memory lane, great article. Thanks!
Why is there no mention of the already produced European TurboGrafX machines? You can still find new and fully boxed machines on the internet for relatively low prices.
Mind you, there are no European games, but the console can easily be bought.
thanks 4 the article. It was interesting to read about a console that was largely ignored here in the U.S. I once had a TV made by NEC back in the day and actually knew someone who owned the Turbo Express. I wish Nintendo would continue to release more tg-16 titles to the VC. : /
That was a wonderful article. Still a system I'd never be without. PC Engine rocks!
@MultiMariosonic
wtf? Are you for real?
Even though this is a Nintendo site, you don't have to go all fanboy and state that it's good that other consoles have died, that's truly pathetic and VERY narrow minded.
The TG-16 had some great games and as many others have already said, a couple of gems can now be found on VC. (or through emulation on PC or Wii softmod)
ALL consoles and/or home computers in general have contributed in some way to games and or technology that is used in today's consoles, so it is very nice that Nintendo Life honors that and gives credit were credit is due.
Try out some of these games on your PC through emulation and see what they're all about and you'll find they're just as much fun as NES, SNES or GBA games. It might even broaden your perspective on gaming as a whole and you may even benefit from it yourself as far as opinion forming is concerned, because no one likes fanboys.
Not saying this to insult you, and a bit of open minded thinking never hurt anyone...
As for titles to recommend, other commenters have already named a couple of good ones.
I wonder what do you expect Nintendo to bring this jewel console in Nintendo 3ds Eshop USA ¬¬...
I own one and it certainly has an incredible amount of great games that dream would enjoy in a handheld
Great article! Thanks Retro Gaming Magazine.
After reading the article, I kept thinking about the kind of impact having MK exclusive on the TG16 would have been. I remember the mortal monday ads and commercials. I think it would have put sega in a tight spot if not squeezed them out the race entirely.If anything it would have push a hell of alot more consoles for NEC. Nintendo may have released the "Snes Playstation" just to compete.
The TurboExpress was the most powerful portable for a long time. It was really advanced at the time but very expensive. Many of the ones you find now have dead or dying capacitors though you can pick them up for $30 and spend less than $20 to fix them if you know how. I almost picked out a TG16 for my birthday one year when they were being cleared out of Radio Shack for $50 but instead I bought a Soundcard (which wasn't great).
@Ristar42 Before Wii VC and Animal Crossing (NES games there run in 50Hz). Zelda Collector's edition was 60Hz only and the NES classics on GBA were also correct speed (though the every x vertical line missing is lamentable).
@KeeperBvK I did a quick search and came across this:
http://www.ravengames.co.uk/engine4.htm
What isn't is it uses some sort of chip to convert the NTSC signal to PAL.
I miss these machines. They were just tons of fun to play and collect games for.
This was a very interesting article! The first time I played a Turbografx-16 was when I was about 9 years old, so I feel lucky I got to play one. I will admit that my interest was renewed greatly by the release of its games on the Wii Virtual Console, prompting me to research the console and where it came from. I think it's completely relevant and I'm happy to see articles like this here on NintendoLife.
it looks like a nintendo 64
The first I ever knew of this systems existence was when the Wii launched and Turbografx games were available! I still play Chew Man Fu to this day! And Bomberman 93 and 94!
I've only heard of this system as i've never run into it in the wild.
I came late to the system, imported my DuoR a few years ago, it’s tops in my array of retro consoles. I use all the 8BitDo controllers with it and I love it. Looking forward to details about the mini rerelease from Konami.
Bonk for Smash.
"believing that FMV was the future of gaming"
Wow, talk about being wrong!
Good article.
@Spoony_Tech
I remember being pretty blown away back in 89 or so when they unveiled the turbo GFX 16 at my local mall. They had a few kiosks with Bonk's adventure hooked up, and showcased the system, peripherals and games hooked up to a shnazzy CRT woth keith courage on display.
Bonks large flashy detailed sprites, arcadey action and variety in colors outshined what the nes could do at the time. Buttt, unfortunately that was the first and last time I played it. Nobody I knew had one or even heard of the bloody thing.
Was it all just a dream? 😱😛
Loved the Europe version. Hate America version but there are not great games out there for it except Dracula X. So I will pass, thought.
Was reading the comments and realized it went from 2012 to 8am this morning
Anyway can't wait for pc engine mini, definitely gonna try and pick one up.
@Wavey84 Talking about a blast from the past lol. This must of been linked to a recent article?
Never mind, I see it's the old article with a fresh take.
Not a huge fan of the console but I did get R-Type back in the glorious days of Wii VC, I am still confused by the graphics being excessively blurry compared to all the other VCs.
Absolutely love the Engine I the have Duo R model, this system is the the king of shooters. The PC Engine and Sharp x68000 are the two most incredible systems ever which only had the success they deserved in Japan. But that's what makes them even more special and desirable.
Never had a TurboGrafx myself, but do miss Hudson soft.
I did not know about the mortal kombat thing before - that stands out as one of the all time bonehead moves in this market. Along with the surprise Saturn launch and nintendo spurning Sony.
The real question is...
WHERE IS THE LEGENDARY AXE?
That game was GOTY the first year the TG-16 was released, and is a critical piece of history that had NEVER made it to any virtual console and appears to be skipping the TG-16 Mini.
Why?
It deserves to be known!
It was a GOTY!
The ONLY GOTY the TG-16 ever had!
Loved my TG-16, especially the CD games. They were something! Hoping Dungeon Explorer 2 makes it to the mini.
I had a turbo grafx and a duo back when they were new, bought a pc engine express at one point too. I love that system and am really looking forward to the mini!
I find it really interesting that the official site for the mini says “Featured games are in English.” Kind of implies some games may not be.
I remember reading this years ago. Always nice to see these features come back around when the context is right, as with the announcement of the PC Engine mini. The PC Engine is a lovely little system in both specs and physical design, with a respectable game library. The whole package is quite charming as the PCE often becomes a favorite system among retro fans who play it. The library is rather good, though unbalanced in favor of shooters or shmups(I like the term). I'm glad that the system has seen a bit of a resurgence thanks to the Wii Virtual Console and the general retro trend, and now with the mini systems Konami just announced. I hope they do a good job with it.
I fell in love with the design of the core units(and the HuCards) and picked up several of them back in 2014. They're some of my favorite items in my collection since they were never available here and because they're so small and compact. Really, it's a fantastic design.
I still don't believe that bit about Mortal Kombat. The TurboGrafx had such a tiny install base. For it to be exclusive, they would have had to pay a massive amount of money to make it worth it for Midway and Acclaim to ignore the large user bases of both the Mega Drive/Genesis and the Super Famicom/Super Nintendo. There may be some truth there, but there's too much missing context and it would have been expensive for TTI to do that.
Its kinda neat learning about gaming history.
@sdelfin if I remember correctly, it was thought that Nintendo and Sega were going to reject Mortal Kombat.
Nice article! The PC Engine is one of the finest game systems ever released. It's astonishing how badly things got bungled after such an explosive start.
@Shiryu
It was available in France from 1990 on through a company called "Sodipeng". The name stood for "société distributrice de PC Engine". Interestingly, it was created by Yves Guillemot, who was already involved in running Ubisoft with his brothers.
It’s a beautiful console for sure
When I was a kid, I often played the TurboGrafx 16 at department stores in the US. At one department store, they had the SNES, TurboGrafx 16, and Sega Genesis set up so customers could play.
The TG16 would usually have the Bonk cartridge plugged in (the SNES had Super Mario World, and the Genesis had Sonic 1).
I think the case of the US TurboGrafx 16 looks a lot better. That white and orange PC Engine box looks like a chinese rip-off 😅
But yeah, the TG16 didn't really have the games that kids wanted to play. Bonk and Adventure Island were ok... but they weren't cool like Sonic, and didn't have the wow factor of the newly released Super Mario "4".
Funny how much recent exposure the PC ENGINE got thanks to HIGH SCORE GIRL.
Thia felt A LOT like a Retro Gamer article (I love that mag) so I was not surprised to find out that kt was actually a re-'print' from it at the end of the article. Great stuff!!
@RogerFederer Yep, I would have to either pick it up from France or the UK at the time because the foreign magazines had import game store ads with price listings. But I started looking into those prices and it was just unfeasible. I instead gathered all my pennies and patiently awaited for the official PAL SNES to show up in my country.
@Damo and the wiiu
@xxx128 You actually believe that?
The Turbografx was released in Europe, although in a limited way. In Spain, for instance, it was available. Of course the marketing didn't help, and the worst thing is back in the day the console didn't get the love it gets nowadays, and even when it was in clearance sales at the end of its life many people (like me) just ignored it.
Look at this price, I nearly cried when I saw it some time ago. This is like 60 euros.
@sdelfin I think you're looking at it the wrong way: it was offered to NEC/Hudson Soft before or at the same time as Nintendo and Sega, which is quite clear from the article itself, which states that they were offered the exclusive home console rights of the arcade version of the original Mortal Kombat game.
And contrary to nowadays, Mortal Kombat didn't have that much of a reputation with the home console market (yet), seeing as it was the first game to ever be released on those platforms back then.
So, the context you seek, can more than likely be found in the fact that the game was relatively unknown to a larger audience, it didn't have the reputation that it has now, because it hadn't proven itself on consoles yet, and of course, there were already multiple established fighter game series, which already did have a massive following, so what may seem like a dumb decision when looking at it with today's knowledge, may very well have been a perfectly valid business decision back then.
@ThanosReXXX I know it's not clear from what I wrote, but I am looking back at it with the perspective of the time. I remember those days quite well. Mortal Kombat was clearly a popular arcade game and would certainly be a big hit on consoles, much like Street Fighter 2 was a huge deal for SNES. MK's popularity was apparent due to magazines at the time, at least where I was. And I played it a lot. I've only ever seen unverified claims of this "offer" of MK for the Turbo. I don't doubt that there may have been some talks, but I don't believe Midway or Acclaim approached TTI or thought they were the best fit.
From what I can tell, the claim seems to come from Steve Garwood from a 2001 interview. I find it plausible that TTI, realizing what a hit the home version of MK would be after seeing what Street Fighter 2 did for SNES, reached out to Midway and/or Acclaim about an exclusivity deal. This would have been around the time they released the Super System Card and the Duo systems, so I can believe they would aggressively try to make those work. The timing works out well. And I've heard other unverified claims that there was still interference from Japan preventing some deals. I'm not saying that I think it's a complete fabrication, but I don't take it at face value either. There's a difference between being offered exclusive rights to Mortal Kombat as opposed to Midway willing to listen and see how much TTI could offer them.
@sdelfin I can understand your point of view, and me and my friends also knew and played the game in the arcades, but my point was that companies look at it from a broader perspective. Even you, me and thousands of friends might have known of it back in the day, but that is still a far too small number for them to make the gamble.
And remember: any and all home console hardware, well except maybe for the Neo Geo, wasn't even remotely as powerful as arcade hardware, so if the game was able to translate well to considerably inferior hardware was probably also a factor that was taken into consideration.
A lot of people have perhaps forgotten, but the motion capture techniques used, were far more intricate and memory consuming than the normal 2D sprite-based fighters of the time.
All of those are factors that must have weighed in on the decision to either allow the game to come to your system or not. And of course, exclusivity has a price tag, so perhaps they also had different ideas about that, who knows? We as gamers will only ever get to know a small part of the actual story behind games, hardware and developers, unless someone comes out and tells us all about it, in a book or an interview.
But most of the time, that's many decades later, and sometimes also colored, because it's told from the perspective of that one person, so we'll actually still never know the full, and objective truth.
As for why Acclaim/Midway would possibly have wanted to offer the deal to them instead of Sega or Nintendo first, that could simply be the idea that because the NEC team actually had a lot of arcade experience under their belt, and due to the hardware in the first PC Engines being superior to what was on offer with the other parties (yes, the CPU was weaker, but the graphics chips were far superior), they may have considered that the people behind the PC Engine might be able to make the best arcade to home console conversion.
But as with all the other things, that is something we'll never completely find out or be sure of, although personally, I don't believe that it was Midway willing to listen to them either.
You have to remember: the team behind the game were new at this, so popular in the arcades or not, you can't be making all that many demands, if this is only your first game. They were probably VERY glad to be able to get into talks with all these big companies, so that they could finally start porting their game over to home consoles and make some real money.
And the article does say that the story has been confirmed by someone working at the American branche of NEC at the time, so the source is at the very least semi-trustworthy. It's not like it's just some internet rumor or anything.
In any case, as they say over here: the truth will probably lie somewhere in the middle, so there may very well be a decent kernel of truth in all of it.
On a side note: I can appreciate a healthy bit of criticism and/or skepticism, as long as it doesn't overrule or overpower reason and logical deduction.
"On a side note: I can appreciate a healthy bit of criticism and/or skepticism, as long as it doesn't overrule or overpower reason and logical deduction."
@ThanosReXXX I very much agree with that and I never meant in any way to scoff at reason or deny good sources. It was a claim I've heard before, but never heard the source or any appropriate context to really trust that it was true to any degree. I'd be happy to accept it if the sourcing checks out....
...And, I did some looking around and did find the context I wanted. John Brandstetter, who was at TTI, says he had a verbal agreement with, I assume, Midway. The article just says "soon" after it hit arcades, so likely early on after it was clearly a hit as this would have been in late 1992 several months after Street Fighter 2 did big numbers for SNES, but, perhaps, before MK continued building momentum into something bigger. TTI might have been looking to get on board with a similar game early on to counter Nintendo. I mentioned Steve Garwood earlier on, but I could not find the interview he did as it's quite old, but saw a number of people claim he said the same thing in personal conversations they had. So there looks to be something there.
What I found matches up quite well with the scenario I laid out. In 1992, they saw how successful Street Fighter 2 was for the SNES. TTI had the Duo systems and Super CD games coming to the US and in an attempt to get them off to a good start, they approached Midway about doing an exclusivity deal, which Japan turned down. I suspect they would have had to do a lot of negotiating even if Japan had agreed to it, as Midway knew they had something with MK. Even though it didn't turn things around for the Turbo, it's interesting to hear some of the ideas they tried in order to make it a success at that point.
@sdelfin That's some decent detective work there.
Funny thing is that when I read in the article how they (NEC) basically flat-out dismissed Mortal Kombat, it kind of immediately made me think of Nintendo, who as we all know have displayed similar bouts of stubbornness. Must be a Japanese (vs Western ideas) thing...
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