Glad to have another episode of the podcast. I feel like it's easy to say in retrospect that bishoujo wasn't a direction that was going to save them. That being said, with the slow future decline of shooters, I doubt they would've fared that much better staying the course. I'm still happy with the PC-FX being the novelty with neat anime aesthetics that it was in the end.
There were lots of interesting talking points in this episode that adds a lot of nuance to the normal perception of NEC just royally screwing up everything. I'm still left with the impression that NEC were pretty out of touch with the gaming market by the mid-90's when they released the PC-FX. I don't think the usual explanation of why the PC-FX was a commercial failure is just a matter of hindsight. It's true the gaming market wasn't just all about 80's arcade style shooters and action platformers anymore, but it should've been pretty obvious that bishoujou adventure games, dating sims and FMV games wouldn't be enough to prop up a console platform by themselves. FMV had already had a good run on the Sega CD, 3DO, CDi, Jaguar CD (even a little bit on the PC Engine CD-ROM2) and PC by the time PS1 and Saturn came out, and overemphasizing that function while ignoring the looming 3D tech just around the corner must have been puzzling to a lot of people at the time as well. The 3DO did both FMV and 3D graphics and came out well over a year earlier, for example. Keep in mind that the PC Engine CD-ROM2 was an add-on, and its CD library came on top of the already existing PC Engine HuCard library, which was largely "arcadey" like the Famicom and Genesis. The CD library itself also has a ton of shooters and action-games/platformers in addition to the JRPGs and bishoujou games, for that matter. It's understandable that a typical PC Engine-owner would want a similar mix of both mainstream and niche genres before bothering to pay 40000 yen for a PC-FX (converted to $400 in 1994, which is $822 adjusted for inflation today), when you consider what the competition offered from the outset. By the 400 000 PC-FX sales it seems they mainly were able to retain the most hardcore PC Engine/Hudson fans, diehard anime fans and otakus, considering the PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16 base platform sold well over 10 million. The sales numbers were also just about 13% of the PC Engine CD-ROM2/TurboGrafx-CD and PC Engine Duo (all in one-unit), going by the VGSales wiki (400 000/3 000 000). Additionally, the early to mid-90's famously saw a ton of console hardware releases that ended up in obscurity in a crowded market, so it's not like the PC-FX didn't have company in failed, obscure platforms. NEC even had a history of this with e.g. their own upgraded PC Engine, the SuperGrafx, which only sold 75 000 units.
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it. Yeah, there were definitely some high level decisions that hampered the system. No 3D acceleration, expensive hardware, etc... It's hard to know what led to some of the decisions, but it is always easier to see missteps in hindsight. Lack of developer support seems like one of the biggest problems overall. It's one of the things that makes the console interesting to us. We're committed to investigating more about these questions so it's far from the last we'll have to say about it. :D
Yeah I recall there being a lot of comments online from Japanese fans about how they wanted to play with other people. I can't speak for Cha Cha fans, but I thought it was a cute fun time!
i recent bought a pcfx, buying games and using a translator app to play through. i would like to know more about the translations and where they can be found. cool system. i like your podcasts, been watching the back episodes
Glad to hear you're getting into the system! It's a lot of fun, though we're probably a bit biased. :D A translator app is a great way to go. As for translations themselves check here: www.romhacking.net/?page=translations&status=&platform=6&languageid=12&order=&perpage=20&dir=&title=&transsearch=Go There will be instructions specific to the patch in the readme files for the individual patches. Normally you can patch a ROM image and just play it on an emulator or burn it to a CDR and play it on the console hardware. I have a "short" video on playing Pia Carrot on Mednafen specifically here: ua-cam.com/video/cBUysrRImbw/v-deo.htmlfeature=shared If you have troubles with reading CDRs on PC-FX hardware I also have a video here on adjusting the laser potentiometer to improve performance on a failing laser assembly. Not a fix so much as a band-aid to get a little more life out of it, just in case it comes in handy: ua-cam.com/video/SZymVnylftU/v-deo.htmlfeature=shared I hope you enjoy the back episodes! If you want to hang out and chat PC-FX there should be a link to our Discord in the video description so feel free to swing by.
Glad to have another episode of the podcast.
I feel like it's easy to say in retrospect that bishoujo wasn't a direction that was going to save them. That being said, with the slow future decline of shooters, I doubt they would've fared that much better staying the course.
I'm still happy with the PC-FX being the novelty with neat anime aesthetics that it was in the end.
Thanks! We agree.
There were lots of interesting talking points in this episode that adds a lot of nuance to the normal perception of NEC just royally screwing up everything. I'm still left with the impression that NEC were pretty out of touch with the gaming market by the mid-90's when they released the PC-FX.
I don't think the usual explanation of why the PC-FX was a commercial failure is just a matter of hindsight. It's true the gaming market wasn't just all about 80's arcade style shooters and action platformers anymore, but it should've been pretty obvious that bishoujou adventure games, dating sims and FMV games wouldn't be enough to prop up a console platform by themselves. FMV had already had a good run on the Sega CD, 3DO, CDi, Jaguar CD (even a little bit on the PC Engine CD-ROM2) and PC by the time PS1 and Saturn came out, and overemphasizing that function while ignoring the looming 3D tech just around the corner must have been puzzling to a lot of people at the time as well. The 3DO did both FMV and 3D graphics and came out well over a year earlier, for example.
Keep in mind that the PC Engine CD-ROM2 was an add-on, and its CD library came on top of the already existing PC Engine HuCard library, which was largely "arcadey" like the Famicom and Genesis. The CD library itself also has a ton of shooters and action-games/platformers in addition to the JRPGs and bishoujou games, for that matter. It's understandable that a typical PC Engine-owner would want a similar mix of both mainstream and niche genres before bothering to pay 40000 yen for a PC-FX (converted to $400 in 1994, which is $822 adjusted for inflation today), when you consider what the competition offered from the outset.
By the 400 000 PC-FX sales it seems they mainly were able to retain the most hardcore PC Engine/Hudson fans, diehard anime fans and otakus, considering the PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16 base platform sold well over 10 million. The sales numbers were also just about 13% of the PC Engine CD-ROM2/TurboGrafx-CD and PC Engine Duo (all in one-unit), going by the VGSales wiki (400 000/3 000 000). Additionally, the early to mid-90's famously saw a ton of console hardware releases that ended up in obscurity in a crowded market, so it's not like the PC-FX didn't have company in failed, obscure platforms. NEC even had a history of this with e.g. their own upgraded PC Engine, the SuperGrafx, which only sold 75 000 units.
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it. Yeah, there were definitely some high level decisions that hampered the system. No 3D acceleration, expensive hardware, etc... It's hard to know what led to some of the decisions, but it is always easier to see missteps in hindsight. Lack of developer support seems like one of the biggest problems overall. It's one of the things that makes the console interesting to us. We're committed to investigating more about these questions so it's far from the last we'll have to say about it. :D
I love the Chacha show. I would play the game with someone once and even enjoy it. Just maybe not twice.
Yeah I recall there being a lot of comments online from Japanese fans about how they wanted to play with other people. I can't speak for Cha Cha fans, but I thought it was a cute fun time!
I like this podcast, keep it up!
Thanks, will do!
i recent bought a pcfx, buying games and using a translator app to play through. i would like to know more about the translations and where they can be found. cool system. i like your podcasts, been watching the back episodes
Glad to hear you're getting into the system! It's a lot of fun, though we're probably a bit biased. :D A translator app is a great way to go. As for translations themselves check here: www.romhacking.net/?page=translations&status=&platform=6&languageid=12&order=&perpage=20&dir=&title=&transsearch=Go
There will be instructions specific to the patch in the readme files for the individual patches. Normally you can patch a ROM image and just play it on an emulator or burn it to a CDR and play it on the console hardware. I have a "short" video on playing Pia Carrot on Mednafen specifically here: ua-cam.com/video/cBUysrRImbw/v-deo.htmlfeature=shared
If you have troubles with reading CDRs on PC-FX hardware I also have a video here on adjusting the laser potentiometer to improve performance on a failing laser assembly. Not a fix so much as a band-aid to get a little more life out of it, just in case it comes in handy: ua-cam.com/video/SZymVnylftU/v-deo.htmlfeature=shared
I hope you enjoy the back episodes! If you want to hang out and chat PC-FX there should be a link to our Discord in the video description so feel free to swing by.