101 Secrets of the PC Engine
- Thread starter cthellis42
- Start date
Yeah, I mentioned those bubble cards on the page. It's room for more PCB, except for the tennokoe card which has a battery in there. The only reason for the bubble is more label space.
As for the question "Have you ever opened ____?" the answer for any post-NES console is likely to be "yes". I can't think of any I haven't gutted and probed. =))
As for the question "Have you ever opened ____?" the answer for any post-NES console is likely to be "yes". I can't think of any I haven't gutted and probed. =))
Megadrive1988
Veteran
btw, of those Sega arcade conversions / adapotions on PCE,
AfterBurner II was particularly good. dare I say *better* than the Megadrive ABII.
AfterBurner II was particularly good. dare I say *better* than the Megadrive ABII.
What is the story about NEC's follow-up console to the PC Engine? I'm not talking about the SuperGraphix. I remember they had some new machine in development that should have been more powerful than the MegaDrive and SNES.
The overall design of the PC Engine I loved. The white plastic case with the red "PC Engine" logo and green power on swich that locked in a game, the small compact size, the games coming on smart cards in CD Jewl cases, the A/V booster that allowed you to save games on it, the upgradeability to a CD-Rom.
I've never read an info on the NEC design team that created the PC Engine. They did a great job bringing a cool sleek design to a console. They're sort of like what Apple did for computers style wise with the MAC.
I wish NEC would release another PC engine today with updated technology. Have the unit be a home console and portable at the same time. Sell a LCD screen that attaches to the base unit if a person wants a portable machine.
An ARM based CPU with a PowerVR VPU in a small compact design like the PC engine with HuCards would be amazing. Only have one controller port to keep the width narrow and sell a 5 player multitap for multiplayer games when using it for a home console, like they did with the first PC Engine. Update the A/V booster concept with High Definition cable outputs and a WiFi modem to conect the unit to the internet.
The overall design of the PC Engine I loved. The white plastic case with the red "PC Engine" logo and green power on swich that locked in a game, the small compact size, the games coming on smart cards in CD Jewl cases, the A/V booster that allowed you to save games on it, the upgradeability to a CD-Rom.
I've never read an info on the NEC design team that created the PC Engine. They did a great job bringing a cool sleek design to a console. They're sort of like what Apple did for computers style wise with the MAC.
I wish NEC would release another PC engine today with updated technology. Have the unit be a home console and portable at the same time. Sell a LCD screen that attaches to the base unit if a person wants a portable machine.
An ARM based CPU with a PowerVR VPU in a small compact design like the PC engine with HuCards would be amazing. Only have one controller port to keep the width narrow and sell a 5 player multitap for multiplayer games when using it for a home console, like they did with the first PC Engine. Update the A/V booster concept with High Definition cable outputs and a WiFi modem to conect the unit to the internet.
ROMs would be a waste with a modern system, it would realistically have more RAM than ROM space, and that's kinda f****d up in my opinion. 
Guden Oden said:ROMs would be a waste with a modern system, it would realistically have more RAM than ROM space, and that's kinda f****d up in my opinion.
Well my vison for a PC Engine Mobile (I like the sound of that, maybe I should trademark it
) is a unit that works both at home and as a portable. The standard game media has to be durable and low power. I guess they could attempt something like what Sony is doing with the PSP media, but to me that seems like to much work, high cost and could make the size bigger and the unit heavier. A HuCard system would allow for them to keep the base consoles size small, just like the first machine. A modern PC Engine would be about small, light weight, portable, durable, not trying to be the most powerful game unit in all aspects.Squeak said:
I think gamecube would come out to be a bit smaller still even with all that, but it would bridge the gap a bit. BTW, gamecube is smaller than dreamcast, but not by much, but I never saw anyone praising how small the dreamcast was, gamecube just has a small footprint.
BTW, ROMs are slightly ahead of RAM in size, a system made today could probably have ROMs 512 MB in size, while only having 256 MB of ram at most.
My understanding was the entire thing was scratch-designed by Hudson for NEC. Even more blurry in my memory is that at the time Hudson were a large (Canadian?) conglomerate mostly doing defense R&D. But all facts here could be remembered wrong, or maybe they were reported wrong at the time.Brimstone said:
Dio said:
I was just doing some web searches for Hudson Soft and stumbled across information on a new 3d chip Hudson Soft has created: POEMS. I wasn't aware of this at all. It looks like they've licensed Mosys edram.
http://www.hudson.co.jp/corp/eng/management/direct2.html
http://pub80.ezboard.com/fthepcenginefxnecconsoleboardfrm4.showMessage?topicID=78.topic
POEMS is short for Portable Entertainment Mixed Solution
* 2003 May 19th
Developing network functional equipped 32bit single chip LSI
Focusing on the entertainment market developing new business
Corporation Hudson (Representative President, Hiroshi Kudou), recently, network functional equipped 32bit single chip LSI and POEMS (Portable Entertainment Mixed Solution) it develops, does sample shipment from 2003 summer. Mass production next spring is schedule of start. As it keeps doing utilization proposition in various fields concerning thissemiconductorin the future SOC (System ON a Chip) * as the applied system, it is the plan that also the business proposition which seeks the partner domestically and foreign depending upon use, is new keeps doing.
Main merit of the semiconductor which it developed is as follows.
32 bit RISC type CPU
Animated picture display function
Network interface
2D/3D drawing engine
Sound engine
Expansion storage interface
This new semiconductor has had marked efficiency in comparison with those which are used for the former bodily sensation game and the television connected type toy commodity etc..
The territory where it becomes the object concerning new business E- entertainment field (the amusement equipment, エクサテインメン&#12488
Our company 1987, from standpoint of the software company, developed "C62 chip set" with the purpose which proposes the television game machine for home which is superior, this semiconductor the same year, was adopted for the television game machine "PC engine" for home of 8 bits which are sold from the NEC foam/home electronics. This chip set became something which reaches to the sale result of approximately 600 ten thousand sets.
* Terminology explanation
SOC (System ON a Chip) those which collected principal function of the = computer to one tip/chip. Being something where function such as microprocessor, chip set, video tip/chip and memory was accumulated to 1 tip/chip, the area where it is necessary for mounting it is held down markedly in comparison with the system by the plural tips/chips where also reduction and electric power consumption has equal function dramatically.
Thats a translation for a Japanese press release.
http://www.hudson.co.jp/corp/news/bn2003/030519.html
While the PS2 is pretty small considering all the hardware it's able to contain, the GCN could easily be quite a bit smaller. They could've gone with a wider, lower profile heatsink. And there's quite a bit of unused space on the bottom if you're not using the modem, eth adaptor or AGB player...
You mean the PC-FX?
Domestically it cleaned the MegaDrive's clock quite thoroughly, and gave the Famicom one hell of a run for it's money. Even though it got overshadowed by the SuperFamicom, it still competed pretty stongly up to '94... (certainly moreso than the MegaDrive).
As far as capabilities go, it was fairly comparable to the MegaDrive, tilting in favour of the MegaDrive (both systems had a more powerful CPU than the SFC (the PC Engine and SFC both having extended 6502 variants with the PC Engine benefitting from faster clock-speed)).
The MegaDrive did have a lot more RAM initially, but NEC did a pretty good job of popularizing the CD-ROM2 drive which added 64KB to the system, and Super CD-ROM2 format who's add-in card boosted memory an additional 512KB (and later 2MB in the Arcade Cards, which weren't as popular) really helped a lot (especially when you wanted load extensive high-rez animations.
Both had comparable FM synth capabilities, but the MegaDrive did also have a programmable PCM synth as well which gave it far better sound generation capablities. However the PC Engine was able to successfully exploit the popularity of the CD-ROM format (since they were able to *successfully* launch and utilize a CD add-on which neither Sega nor Nintendo were able to do), and a lot of games managed supplant the lack of PCM abilities by streaming music and dialog off the CD.
As far as graphics went, the MegaDrive could display more sprites (80 vs. 64), and supported 2 scrolling backrounds vs. 1 on the PC Engine (the SuperGrafx could do 2 due to the dual VDCs (although it meant more work for the CPU)). However the PC Engine could manipulate larger sprites, and the most notable was that it could display its entire 512 color palette at once (whereas the MegaDrive could only display 64 of its 512 color palette which is why the PC Engine games looked more "colorful"). Also the PC Engine's standard resolution was higher than the MegaDrives, and could be driven much higher (512x256). One nice trick with the higher resolutions was that you could dither color bands and display more colors than there were in the system palette (although it would break PC Express compatibility). It sure would've been nice if we could've completed Tengai Makyo 3 just to show off what an Arcade Card boosted system could do with RPGs...
Well you're partially right. The "C62" system (as it was known also known) was designed internally at Hudson with the collaboration of NEC Home Electronics. Even the CPU (Hu6280) was quite a step up from most 6502 derivatives (having more opcodes, addressing modes and an MMU, not to mention being clocked awfully high for a 6502)..
That is pretty BLURRY! Must be a different Hudson... Hudson Soft has always been a Japanese entertainment corporation (although back then the "conglomerate" comment would be spot on!).
Gee, all this PC Engine talk sure does bring back memories of my University days moonlighting there... Even Satoru Iwata spent some time there programming games (well before my time!)...
Now for extra credit, can anybody remember the nicknames of the C62 chips?
Super Grafx
Newcomer
well I dont know the full story, only what I read in EGM, other magazines and years later, the internet.
there were two follow-op consoles to the PC Engine.
in 1989, EGM reported NEC and Hudson were working on the PC Engine 2, a true 16-bit machine. it would have to surpass the MegaDrive and rival if not surpass the SuperFamicom/SNES in power. it would be out probably in 1990. PC Engine 2 was also to have better sound than the PC Engine.
but what was actually released, in 1989 (they rushed it) was a watered down PC Engine 2 called the SuperGrafx. it was just a supercharged 8-bit with the same CPU and same sound processor. only differences were twin graphics processors and more RAM/VRAM, which allowed 2x the sprites (128 instead of 64) and two background layers.
then in 1990, rumors started going around that NEC's killer machine was not the SuperGrafx but a 32-Bit console that would blow everyone else out of the water. unfortunately it was many years away. in 1992, it got a name, the Ironman. also known as Project Tetsujin. this new 32-Bit could do morphing, scaling & rotation, and limited polygon graphics. but again, the final console that got released was watered down. the PC-FX which came out in 1994, was based on Ironman/Tetsujin, but downgraded
(i believe so anyway).
More of a cross investment... They took over Konami's Sapporo studio as part of the stock acquisition...
That would be the PC-FX (aka Tetsujin or "Ironman").
On the PC Engine, the VCE (HuC6260) was also called "Tetsukannon" (Iron Goddess of Mercy, but I think they were referring to the type of tea)
The VDC (HuC6270) was referred to as "7-Up"
And the CPU (HuC6280) was known as "Dr. Pepper"
The only "watering" down to the PC-FX was the remove of the C62 chipset to maintain backwards compatibility with the PC Engine that was originally intended...
That would be the PC-FX (aka Tetsujin or "Ironman").
On the PC Engine, the VCE (HuC6260) was also called "Tetsukannon" (Iron Goddess of Mercy, but I think they were referring to the type of tea)
The VDC (HuC6270) was referred to as "7-Up"
And the CPU (HuC6280) was known as "Dr. Pepper"
The only "watering" down to the PC-FX was the remove of the C62 chipset to maintain backwards compatibility with the PC Engine that was originally intended...
archie4oz said:
What was the PC engine's standard resolution, if you don't mind me asking? I know the Megadrives was 320 x 224 (though it could drop to 256 x 224 like the SNES standard resolution).
Incidentally, the Megadrive had a high resolution mode I've only ever seen used in Sonic 2 (for the 2 player mode) which I'm pretty sure ran at 320 x 448, a higher res than the 512 x 256 PC Engine mode you mentioned.
Anyone know how big PC Engine cards got by the way? SNES and MD reached 32 and 40 Mbs respectively AFAIK. I got the feeling that a lack of storage may have held the PC Engine back in later years.
Super Grafx
Newcomer
alright, then I basicly got it wrong. my mistake.
so Ironman/Tetsujin chipset was fully present in PC-FX with the exception of the original PC Engine chip?
Hudson also did at least part of the chipset for Sharp's amazing X68000, released in the same timeframe of the PC Engine (1987) - the X68000 is such an awesome machine, much better than the PCE or SuperGrafx.
(also alot more expensive) any info on its custom chipset, the chip names, or anything ?
PC-Engine said:
Yeah, but dc was released in 1999 in America, GameCube was released in 2001. DC is also capable of running tons of homebrew apps, if I ever needed a poor man's pc I wouldn't turn to a 486, I'd turn to a dreamcast. It even had a web browser that was far more advanced than anything you'd get running on a 486.(I never did get around to running Linux on my dc, but I'm not really interested in that anymore ever since the wonder of running PC type stuff on a console wore off)
DC does get a big plus in the portability department from me though, in that it could work on a 19" TV over RF while my gamecube results in an extremely staticy picture. Though, if I ever have a large excess of money to spend, I may pick up one of those gamecube controllers with built in LCD screen.(since staring at one connected to the gamecube doesn't seem very practical at only 5", and probably on the floor)
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