PC Engine Mini! Wooho!

[User4703]

Never expected them to release this in a billion years, here's hoping they do it justice as its a fun platform that was way ahead of its time. The classic white still looks the best but its got no autofire controllers, doh! Looks like the EU grey version will have to do....

Konami has announced the latest in the slew of shrunk-down retro consoles, the TurboGrafx-16 Mini. Six games have been announced so far for the system, which will be released in Japan as the PC Engine Mini and in Europe as the PC Engine Core Grafx. It’ll have two USB ports for controllers and support a five-way multiplayer adapter.
The games announced so far are:

• R-Type
• New Adventure Island
• Ninja Spirit
• Ys Book I & II
• Dungeon Explorer
• Alien Crush

Other versions of the system have different games announced so far. For example, the PC Engine Mini is confirmed to include Castlevania classic Dracula X: Rondo of Blood.
The original PC Engine was designed by Hudson and manufactured by NEC. It was released in Japan in 1987, and the US-focused TurboGrafx-16 followed in 1989. The PC Engine did pretty well in Japan but the TurboGrafx-16 failed to make much impact in the US.
Konami was one of the biggest supporters of the platform and ultimately acquired Hudson, meaning the mini console shouldn’t have much trouble securing a strong lineup of software. No word on how many games there will be in total, though, nor on pricing or a release date. Konami says that information will come soon.

https://www.theverge.com/2019/6/11/18662198/turbografx-16-mini-console-announced-konami


Before we start guessing games and making wishlists its seems likely that what was licensed for the Wii/U should be in the first draft and that included:

Air Zonk
Alien Crush
Battle Chopper (Wii U only)
Battle Lode Runner
Blazing Lazers
Bloody Wolf (delisted on March 1, 2012)
Bomberman '93
Bomberman '94
Bomberman: Panic Bomber (Wii U only)
Bonk 3: Bonk's Big Adventure
Bonk's Adventure
Bonk's Revenge
Bravoman
Break In
Castlevania: Rondo of Blood
Chase H.Q.
Chew Man Fu
China Warrior
Cho Aniki
Cratermaze
Dead Moon
Detana!! TwinBee
Devil's Crush
Digital Champ: Battle Boxing
Double Dungeons
Dragon Spirit
Dragon's Curse
Drop Off (delisted on March 1, 2012)
Dungeon Explorer
Fighting Street
Final Soldier
Galaga '90
Gate of Thunder
Gradius (Wii U only)
Gradius II: Gofer no Yabou
Image Fight (Wii U only)
Image Fight II (Wii U only)
J.J. & Jeff
Legend of Hero Tonma
Lords of Thunder
Military Madness
Monster Lair
Moto Roader
Necromancer (Wii U only) (Untranslated JRPG)
Neutopia
Neutopia II
New Adventure Island
Ninja Spirit
Ordyne
Power Golf
Psychosis
R-Type
Riot Zone
Salamander (Wii U only) (same basic game as NES Life Force)
Samurai Ghost
Shockman
Silent Debuggers (delisted on March 1, 2012)
SimEarth: The Living Planet (delisted in July 2017)
Soldier Blade
Splatterhouse
Star Parodier (delisted in March 2014)
Street Fighter II: Champion Edition
Super Air Zonk: Rockabilly-Paradise
Super Star Soldier
The Dynastic Hero
Victory Run
Vigilante
World Class Baseball
World Sports Competition
Ys Book I & II


First impression:

A first look at the TurboGrafx-16 Mini, which was announced earlier this week, has gone up thanks to mock-ups being available at E3, giving a first impression of the three console variations set to launch in Japan, Europe, and North America respectively.

As you might know, the PC Engine was also sold overseas as the PC Engine Core Grafx in Europe, and the TurboGrafx-16 in North America, and all three variations are set to be sold to their respective regions. While it’s called ‘mini’, each of them are actually around 85% of the original size, as it would lose some authenticity if it were even smaller. Meanwhile, the controllers stay the originally size as the original versions.

Interface-wise, the controllers use USB ports, and the output requires an HDMI cable. While the power switch is sliding-type like the original

https://www.siliconera.com/2019/06/14/a-first-look-at-the-turbografx-16-mini-from-e3-2019/


The official site:

https://www.konami.com/games/pcemini/us/en/

States "*Featured games are in English" which means import titles are guaranteed.

More here:

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2019-06-12-konami-unveils-a-mini-turbografx-16-console

Article for those that don't know what the heck a PCE is in the first place:

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2019/06/feature_the_making_of_the_pc_engine_the_8-bit_wonder_that_took_on_nintendo

 

[User4703]

Don't all rush to comment at once!

Games list released:

https://www.amazon.co.jp/b/?ie=UTF8&language=en_US&node=6974564051

 

[Blade088]

Nice Gales, I prefer the japanese selection games

 

[fitzsteve]

It was small enough to start with

 

[User4703]

Not that interested in this now after getting the Playstation Classic which has wowed me no end with its nigh on perfect emulation. Its truly the modern day version of the OG Xbox as far as arcades/almost everything upto 32 bit goes and its use of scanlines/shaders makes the image quality look beautiful and unlike an RPi there is no inherent platform lag so everything "feels" like it should for us muscle memory players.

Well worth getting one as they're so cheap.

 

[Sardine]

My lad got a psx classic and he found it skips frames and slows down on quite a few games.

i haven't had a look at it yet but i think it is underpowered.

 

[User4703]

The standard machine config is pish. Look at it once its modded:







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That said I don't use mine for PS1 games at all, just 16 bit/arcade stuff and it handles it all perfectly:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7ub7beFzis

Apparently it handles Amiga really well as well:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwBriXAU31Q

But its such a faff on to configure the emulator via RA that I haven't tried it yet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmqO-XlPD7Y

Feel free to update if you try it as having to make separate config files for EACH title instead of clicking an ADF to play is just meh in extremis for me!

 

[fitzsteve]

I bought a PS1 Classic on Amazon day for about 16 quid, was well worth it but the emulation quality out of the box is unacceptable, with Autobleem though it's perfectly good, all I done was got a pre made image from Arcade Punks and added some more games, no mods or hacks needed just plug in the USB stick and boot.

 

[User4703]

Yep and if you compare the sound quality for Megadrive compared to what the official Sega Mini is doing its far superior and doesn't have the added 5/10 frames of input lag baked in like that device seems to. This is another point that makes it so much better than the Raspberry as well as that has the same baked in issue plus a slow bootup time whereas the PSC is ready to go in a few seconds.

Very impressive emulation device due to how much it can handle and how well once you've got it all configured. Now hoping someone can sort out the Amiga side because then it would be perfect.

 

[SaviorX]

for those that like to be 'legit' as it were, this is worth it for Ys and Military Madness alone... Blazing Lazers was also one of my all time favorite overhead shooters.

would have liked to have seen the handful of 'sports' games that included a Quest/RPG mode, such as Final Lap Twin

 

[Gentleman]

The part is bought. I'm happy for that.

 

[User4703]

Has anyone on here got one yet? Impressions please. After using a modded PS Classic running Retroarch with filters and proper scanlines I don't think I could go back to "standard" emulation as it looks so much better now:

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Sure its a bit softer and rounded but it looks great in motion and way better than the jaggies you'd otherwise see and thats across the board with many 16 Bit platforms as the shaders do it proper.

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Really amusing comment here:



"Man I swear the 4K versions are what the games looked like when I was younger."

so true because as TV tech increased so did fidelity plus we had boatloads of imagination as well. Speaking of upressing, the Wii looks stunning in 4K:



Tempted just to get a small HTPC now and use that to run emulators properly as these quality of life tweaks are something else. Does anyone have a living room sized PC they're using? Details please.

 

[FutureVariant]

The difference between the two Super Mario World screens is incredible, really, I keep spotting details that have been smoothed/aliased - I’m not sure how it’s been done but it’s remarkable as I assume it’s “just” a filter? That being said, I don’t know if I actually like it, but it sure is impressive.

I’d like to try the PC Engine mini but it’s not out in the UK yet is it? The inclusion of some games with only the JP version is a bit disappointing but it looks like a high quality experience. Might try the Mega Drive mini first, but, these days, there’s so much to play with, so little time to enjoy them!

 

[User4703]

Just filters or shaders on the SMW as they are called in RA. The PS1/Wii is via internal resolution tweaks for a native 4K output but that needs a decently specced PC.

I'd never been one for Raspberry Pi style emulation aside from the SNES Mini which actually did it properly but the PSC has impressed me a lot because once you play these old school games looking like this you don't really want to go back to the standard version as it looks even better in motion once the scanlines are added as it. More pics:

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For sprite based games it really adds to the aesthetic:

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Sonic really benefits from it immensely:

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The lack of this is what is putting me off the PCE (which you've got to import anyway) as old games look rough as heck without it once you're used to it. The filters literally make the games look like how you remember them back in the days because we weren't counting individual pixels shuffling round a screen back then.

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The small PC option really seems to be a winner because its so much more powerful than a modded PSC and can do stuff like this (crappy link limit):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KynqnpGiWY

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That looks stunning for PS2. Here's PS1 with Cel Shading followed up upressed Dreamcast:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IMrH_dgcME

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oz3LzYHmPhA

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