The PC-Engine has become my new favorite "retro console". Growing up in Panama, I never got to experience playing one at all (Nintendo and SEGA dominated the market here from the mid 80's to mid 90's). It's amazing how 30+ years later it still holds it's own, and the fact that the new mini makes it more accessible to play all these heavy hitters is outstanding! Good job on the video my dude! Expect my order for 30 cans of Thumb Chum soon :P
You said a mouthful. Lots of people never got to experience most of these games aside from future ports on the Wii virtual console and a few other places. Even here in the US we didn't see anywhere near the full library compared to Japan and amazing games like Rondo never made it here. That makes this mini extra special and I'm pretty thrilled you and many others are finally enjoying it. Some great games on there. And even more once it gets hacked!
you all prolly dont care at all but does someone know of a trick to log back into an Instagram account? I somehow forgot my password. I appreciate any tricks you can offer me
@Neil Jaxtyn I really appreciate your reply. I found the site thru google and im in the hacking process atm. I see it takes a while so I will get back to you later with my results.
Chad Ballew I try to get a message out there to break up the same ol’ 😅. There are some legit creators out there I support too with donations that make some killer videos with great tech content, but it always gets me how many more folks are donating to dudes that just show off their games the whole video. It’s their money I guess 🤷♂️
LOL yeah I was just having some fun with that as it's something I was chatting with friends about that week. I'm all for people who put a ton of work into a channel to get Patreon donations or sell stuff, but when folks are donating just so they can buy expensive games and show them off it always seemed an odd thing to do.
Great list of heavies! Your video has made me realize how lucky we are to have these games included on the Mini! I had no idea how expensive and rare some of these were! Gives me even more appreciation for the TurboGrafx 16 Mini that I already love so much! Thanks, brother, great job!
Thank you dude! I don't know how I missed responding to your comment... it doesn't always notify me properly on here. Glad you enjoyed this one at the time. Someday soon we will have a hack to add some more classics on there as well.
I just got mine today ! Brand new . I want the Hori controller since I hear it’s made really well . Not cheap though . I played Bonks and felt like a 15 year old again !
It was tough coming up with just 5 because so many are pricey and in the same ballpark... I could've gone with Lords, Zonk, Neutopia 2. So I had to go with the ones that any collector couldn't do without. Lords was going to be my final pick, but I wanted to change it up and highlight the console itself. If I ever did another one of these for the entire pc engine library that would really open it up to a crazy list of serious heavies.
Quib Quatch pretty much, that would make creating these that much sweeter knowing it also helps an actual good cause. Not quitting my day job anytime soon that’s for sure lol
I’m still glad some are finding these older mini review videos of mine. I had a blast making them and was the reason I first started the channel. I forgot about those slush fund skits I did here 🤣
Goddd such a phenomenal soundtrack! You really started with THE heavy on the PCE! I really need to put more time into it next on my Mini! I love the graphics and animations so good. Great list dude!
Lol, thanks for that. It's good to know so many are enjoying these as they're a lot of work. To be fair my channel is pretty new I only have around a dozen videos so far. The one coming tomorrow is Lords of Thunder Turbo vs Sega CD and stoked on how cool it came out. Think you'll really enjoy it.
outexyt Great to hear 👌. Currently working on a Shooters 101 how to get good first episode that should be ready by Sunday morning when I do my uploads. I try to break it up and jump around. Then I’ll go back to one of the others.
Man if you never played Rondo it’s a must. Game is freakin awesome you can’t go wrong. Easy to play these days whether on the PS4, this mini or emulated. The music is insane.
I'm definitely gonna get it! I absolutely loved sotn also! Man retro gaming is awesome just hate it's called retro because it equals my childhood feeling old lmao
@@digitalworms cause we ARE old 😅Just remember it also means we got to grow up during the most awesome time. Wouldn’t give that up for anything. Compared to the last couple decades? Yuck no thx
Great job! So glad I’m not the only one sucking at Ghouls n Ghost, I’m beast mode on it on Genesis - it was like the first game I had for that system. The Super Grafix version... I’m an embarrassment. Congrats on the slush fund! 💯
If I ever do well enough with the channel I can see making a patreon with that exact name 😂. Yeah the super version is no joke. Professional mode on the Genesis is close but still a tad more forgiving. I used pro mode when I filmed the side by side. I played them back to back to get a feel for the difference.
8:35 What a game. Such a shame it wasn't in the Castlevania Collection. Can't figure that one out. And zero luck trying to emulate it with retroarch on android.
Yeah I've had it maybe 2-3 years. It's fully functional and works like a champ, pretty great tech. I love how it plugs into the IFU and works with the CD too.
@@ShmupJunkie I used to live in Japan and I saw it at the local softmap which is a used computer,/video game store in some branches, other sell new stuff. I saw the LT back then in 1995 and they wanted like $500 too much for a student like me. But man I drooled over it, that incidentally where I saw a X68000
Mark M It’s always a tough call since so many of them are all considered rare and big time games. One day it will be fun to do a non-mini specific episode like this. That really opens it up to some seriously heavy games that are all great and cost a small fortune. Love these games too. Sapphire I never got to play until much later in life it wasn’t even accessible to me back then.
So glad to have finally owned the console this year in the form of a black CoreGrafx before the pandemic struck the entire world. Gunhed was the first thing I ever played from it because of it being one of the top releases for the system. Am hoping to hunt more games for a bargain once the pandemic starts to slow down.
Congrats I hope you enjoy the Coregrafx too. An everdrive is a great companion for it since many of the hucard games can be so expensive. Gunhed was the first most of us played on it and why we still have so much nostalgia for it. Wonderful music and next level coming from the NES back in the day.
Great Job once again. You make the best videos in regards of the PCE Mini. The biggest downfall is the absence of an english Snatcher Version. I would skip the hidden games for an english rom.
Freddy R So many would’ve loved a translation of that uncensored Japanese version. That could’ve stayed on the import only and replaced with something else on the other versions for sure. It’s like a giant tease on there.
Awesome video, love the SNAKE OIL, LOL. Thanks for sharing dude, Rondo Of Blood has always been high on my list of want to plays, along with Soldier Blade. Other than your previous Instagram posts I never had heard of the first game in the video, which looks very cool as well. I have never been a Ghouls and Ghosts fan, I love it's setting and concept, soundtrack and artwork but always sucked at playing it, even of the Megadrive. That said watching the Super Grafx footage instantly reminded me of the 1st time I played Axelay on the SNES back in the day and how the game appeared almost 3D with it's multiple layers of graphics. That Super Grafx version looks amazing and whilst I know Im gonna suck at it I want it bad, but that's a whole other adventure. After wanting a PC ENGINE since the original release in 1987 I'm just about to start my adventure with my Turbo Grafx 16 some 33 years later, thanks to you, and I'm in love with games all over again. Everything here is ultra desirable and most likely out of my reach but that Splatterhouse will be mine one day. Dissing the PC ENGINE MINI is complete BS and robbing Gamers of all ages an awesome experience in Gaming History from a machine that was just miles ahead of it's time. Given the crazy price tag for the original consoles and games it's the smartest and most affordable way to immediately play 40 plus gaming classics. Looking forward to the next video, awesome job.
Couldn't have said it better myself man! And sorry I don't know why I never saw your comment here. I always appreciate the great support. And I know you'll have your Splatterhouse sooner or later. Not easy getting a US copy over to the UK I know. GnG is one of those games that I loved and hated on the NES cause it was cool but so damn hard. I loved the Sega version when it came out. It didn't seem too hard compared to the brutality of the 8 bit game. But yes it's a pretty impressive port on the SuperGrafx... which I also never got to play until much much later given nobody could get one out here either in those days. I just pined over it in magazines haha. I think I did a nice job showcasing the Mini and doing it some justice, even if only a small segment of people get to see it. I know enough did that they picked one up too.
The head banging intro that started it all! I made that clip way back before I even had a channel and was just messing around, wanting to post a funny video to IG of how I play Lords of Thunder. I gotta find a way to bring that back for another video one day.
That's very lucky! I would have loved to own one back then. Even if it never had too many games, it could have replaced my older system and I would've enjoyed it. For the time that Ghouls n Ghosts port was pretty incredible. At least I did get to play most of the other imports on my Duo and used an Arcade card. Was lucky to have import stores near me that actually rented the games and not just sold them.
@@francescosmith7859 Thanks! And if I honestly did a video on how to play while head banging I’d end up with a bunch of people in cervical collars 😅 There’s always the handful that watch jackass and try it themselves lol
Thanks for another great video. Have u ever used an arcade stick with the core grafx mini? I have a stick with the Brooks board but I heard stories that the mini console's ports were sensitive to voltage overload or something like that.
Not with the mini no, just on my Duo mostly. I only have an Hori stick made for PC Engine anyway it wouldn't likely work with any kind of board without special adapters. I mainly find the stick useful for caravan modes and long hours during any competitions we used to do... mainly to avoid getting thumb blisters trying to do that on a regular pad.
Don’t blame you this is more for collecting and nostalgia than playing. I myself use my flash carts often even though I have the real thing. It’s convenient and preserves the game too. Long as you can play it that’s all that matters 👌. Also why I’m stoked about the pc engine mini it makes it accessible for those that don’t have the hardware either. A good Duo isn’t cheap.
Rollerxcore congrats! I love my Duo I pretty much use it for 99% of my games as well. Just say not to shooters at 50hz lol. I’ll take an extra few frames of lag instead no question haha. Some games that are optimized for 50hz is fine but that’s pretty rare. Most developers didn’t take the time.
Zando Zan hey thanks! Glad you enjoyed it. Plenty of Turbo content here. Just finishing up a Tatsujin PCE vs mega drive comparison as we speak for the weekend. 😁
I am hopeful those repros are long gone and not in circulation anymore, but it may be naive to think so. I wasn't collecting or in the loop when all of that was going down but I heard all about it.
@@ShmupJunkie PC Engine Works still exist and you can get some repros off them if you can't spring for the real thing. While I have no problem with their reproductions for the most part, I do have a problem scumbag sellers pass their work off as the real thing.
@@3Havoc I always thought they made all their new repros obvious and they say repro on them. They add fancy packaging etc. Their new stuff. I do know that you are talking about though. The original sapphire repros were made to look identical
@@ShmupJunkie They are obvious when you have the real and the repro next to each other colour, ISBN differences and other small details, but when you are looking at listings on ebay its kinda hard to tell.
I thought it was pretty funny. Although I'd be lying if I said I was against youtubers getting support via Patreon, does have some realness to it. I really have to say that I just got a PC Engine mini and totally agree with you on the latency. The games respond just fine and I'm having a total blast with it. I really like how you recommend this machine to the average person who never had a PC engine (like me basically). We had a Mega Drive and an SNES back in the day but the PC engine was never released in my country. I only knew about it from (foreign) magazines and saw it as some cool Japanese rarity. I've always been very curious about it. Playing it now the PC Engine mini feels fresh and nostalgic at the same. And it has 50 plus games(!!!), really good games. So, sorry for the long story but I just wanted to explain how much I agree with you recommending it. Ok, one more thing, really like your latency tests, well explained and thorough.
Yeah I’m totally not against any creator having Patreon etc support I have one myself now. I even called it ShmupJunkieSlushFund! 🤣 For anyone who saw this old video and remembers. I was more making fun of the larger you tubers that go on and practically beg for it in every video. Or come up with reasons they need help to get more rolling in. Some are blatant about it so I thought it’d be a funny skit. I actually support some of my favorites on here too. More importantly I’m glad you’re really enjoying the mini. I always just saw it as a gateway to more. Nobody unfamiliar with it is gonna go through the trouble and cost of a real one and the CD attachments etc. It’s like another world. It’s for those that may really enjoy the mini first and want to explore the library and especially more of its shooters afterward. So I did my best to get the word out on it despite being a very small channel at the time. Lots of people were blown away by how fun some of the games on there and got to finally play them.
🤣 I wish. I’ll be happy if I can get my slush fund to pay the cell phone bill. But I’m a small fry I’m sure there are some big fish out there making decent change. More power to them most work hard to make content and deserve support. But the ones that just buy games with it and then show them off to their subs I never could quite understand 🤷♂️ Like it’s the whole point of the show.
Get me a box of thumb chum as I really want to help you with that slush fund 😆we can't locust shitting everywhere...but then again it is 2020 😆 Awesome video dude...really loving these...keep up the good work 👏🏼👏🏼
Hey dude, how come I just saw this comment now. Darn tube not notifying me correctly. Now that you got that SMS RType you are gonna need another jar for sure. : )
This was the only mini console I bought, simply because I had no experience with its library. None of my friends owned a Turbo in the 16-bit era. I wouldn't even be able to build an emulation library properly with no reference point. My only complaint is the I/O ports aren't faithful to the original console. You have to take the back plate off to access the HDMI and power. The original had them on the sides. Also think it would have been nice to have a dummy card fit into the HU card slot like on the MD Mini. For people who bought the Turbo Mini (NA), the inability to buy a matching OEM controller (black) sucks. You are forced to buy the white PC Engine controller. Minor nitpicking, but if your primary goal is to sell nostalgia, half-assing these little things really hurt the experience.
The main reason you mentioned for wanting one is the main reason I wanted to hype this so much. Too many good games that a lot of people missed out on and this is a good way to get your feet wet with the library. I had a lot of friends and others online tell me how much they were enjoying the games once they got one on my recommendation. It quickly became their favorite mini. And it's just scratching the surface especially when it comes to the shooter library, so it's a bit of a gateway drug. You're right the US Turbo mini release is a bit annoying on the rear hookup, I prefer the Coregrafx mini and the ease of use. The video out is in a weird spot on the US release. Though just as an FYI, the turbografx had a turbo booster release for it that used the rear expansion port to add Composite and AV jacks for higher quality output and didn't use the side any more. Of course that wasn't part of the base console. That rear port is actually capable of component and RGB which is why easy adapters exist today that just plug into that back port.
@@ShmupJunkie I might have miscommunicated. I was referring to the I/O difference between the Japanese PC Engine and Japanese Mini. On the original, the AV was on the right side, power jack on the left, and expansion port on the back. On the mini, they moved everything to the back because they deleted the expansion port. Obviously, this is a smart move logistically, but again it makes the Mini feel like expensive emulation. There isn't really a market for these other than nostalgic Gen X and Yers. That's why doing these short cuts hurts the experience.
I do wish people would lay off of the (minor) drawbacks of emulation. My own feeling on the matter is that thanks to the power in computers now and the emulators set up to make use of it, emulation done right is the premier way to play these old games. At least, it's MY preferred way to play them as a 40 year old man who is quite old enough to remember these games and consoles in their heydays. A great example of this is Zelda Breath of the Wild, which can be played in 4k with all sorts of extra graphical flourishes and other options enabled on Cemu.
The Great Hadoken Preach my man 👍🏻. You know full well how I feel about it and use it often. A day will come where it’s the only way we can play some old games at all. I didn’t know about folks playing botw emulated already and in higher res that’s pretty cool. My wife has put over 300 hours into that game she couldn’t get enough! And I enjoyed chilling and watching. And helping out when she would hand over the controller any time she came across a Lynel 😂
@@ShmupJunkie You need a pretty beefy system, although this was like 3 years ago now. These days it would probably only take like a Ryzen 3300X and a 2060 Super with 16GB RAM and I expect that would be enough to run BotW in 4k easy. I just upgraded most of my system recently, I satill have to upgrade the GPU, I'm waiting for wider availability of the RTX 3000 cards and AMD's response before I get one. I sometimes wonder if the input lag some people swear they experience in emulation is down to either not having the settings right, or not using hardware that isn't quite right for the job. For example, when I had my old CPU, which was an Intel i5-6500, a midrange CPU from about 2015, I tried to run Fight Night Champion on the PS3 emulator and the game had to run with no audio or else it would play horrendous garbled sound, and would slow the gameplay down an extra 30% or so, the game already ran a bit slow, around 70-80% speed even with audio off. Anyway, I got a Ryzen 3600, a midrange CPU from last year which has 2 cores & 8 threads more than my Intel did, and it runs FN Champion fullspeed with audio. And the audio is great. Long story short, I think a lot of people's complaints about emulation can be explained by their own lack of knowledge on how best to use emulation software, and what hardware is required to do it well.
I also feel like it's become fashionable to criticise emulation as a method of playing old games on the grounds of lag. People just say it because everyone else seems to. Well, allow me to buck the trend: When I use Retroarch, allowing the cores to choose their own drivers, setting the fps to 60 with V-Sync on, I notice no lag whatsoever. None at all. Ever.
The Great Hadoken very fashionable. And most of the time it’s BS. So that’s one area I’ve chosen to take up the mantle with great vengeance and furious anger 👊 😂
The Great Hadoken Good point on settings and the difficulty of tweaking a setup or finding causes of poor performance. There are too many variables and experiences aren’t consistent. And like Mark from Electric Underground points out, emulation now is literally the FASTEST way to play games. As a self admitted lag snob he prefers emulation specifically because he gets the best performance. Serious emulation of course not talking about a basic raspberry pi 😆. My older rig from a few years back running a gtx1080 is plenty for the old stuff I emulate. I originally used it well for VR with my Vive. I’ve got a bunch of new components waiting for me to build a new one and I need to, but like you I’ve held off due to poor gpu availability. I should just build it and run my current 1080 I guess but have just been too busy. I’m a fan of all emulation including the cheap stuff like the mini. It’s good for what it is. And many people I know growing up in poor countries have huge nostalgia and good memories playing on their poor quality clone consoles as kids. We all have our own thresholds on what we are willing to accept. Mine is quite high while others are tiny. I respect them all. Until they start blaming the console and lag for not being very good. Then the formula comes out 🤣
I think Mega Drive GnG plays better than Supergrafx. It runs smoother, where the SG port really slows down (see Ohme fight). SG port is more impressive-looking for first two levels, tho. MD port has more faithful music and sound to me.
The sega port was ideal for consoles too and why it’s so loved now including by me. It’s more accessible to play and finish and pretty damn impressive for an early game. The SG port definitely is more arcade accurate after analyzing them side by side, including the sound to a point, but it’s also really hard and the limited continues insure most don’t get far. So unless you just rock at the game and have played it a ton it’s harder to get into. I appreciate all the extra bits in there and animation but I’m also really good at it since I’ve played it a million times. If I had to pick one I could’ve played first back as a kid though I’d go with the sega port too. I actually never got to even see or play the SG version until I got one just years ago to finally compare.
@@ShmupJunkie have you looked into FPGA solutions like MiSTer project? it has cores for MD, SG, and original CPS1 and they all are quite accurate that's where i do most of my GnG play, as does the super pimp Aquas
@@ynotwalk7391 As a matter of fact I just had one ship out to me today 😊. I’ll be spending quite a bit of time with it and hopefully even put a video together for it once I’ve thoroughly checked it out. I’m hoping to use it to record some of my footage too vs using retroarch
Can you give me any information on a game called Solid Force? I can't find anything on it on my mini tablet. Is it worth £30 complete for example, in great condition, if so I'll pounce on it, I've gone a bit wild with my PC-E this month I've spent over £3,000, I'll get a video up when I get out of Hospital, I am. Not done yet either, I have nearly every pad colour and game I wanted but keep finding more, Martial Champ' by Konami and Cosmic Fantasy 2 I grabbed online last night, any weird games you'd recommend? Ai. Cho Aniki looks pretty wild, I want Shadow gate too but can't find a seller. Keep up the great work Steve.
@@ShmupJunkie actually I'm amazed at some of the games people send youtubers. Hope it works out for you, I just can't justify buying neo geo games myself 🤣🤣🤣
The arcade card stuff was pretty amazing. It's a shame they quit on the system shortly there after. Think of the devilishly awesome games that could have been made if the pc engine had lasted 1 more year instead of shifting towards the lame pc-fx.
Me thinks you take la piss of certain shameless money grabbers from the MJR looney tunes crew and the Immaterial John Hancock - Me thinks that’s his name. Me likes the satire. (Excuse the deliberately poor grammar).
Nick Berry good sir, I haven’t the foggiest who these fine gentlemen are nor the looney tunes that donate to such frivolities. My slush fund of choice however is also in need of funding so if you please... 😬
Shmup Junkie Me would but me is broke having spent me child’s medical insurance money to fund the $100,000 dollars Gof”ckme for a dignity implant for MJR. Sadly it did not work. 😢
What's with the Ebegging joke? This is the first video I've watched on this channel so I haven't seen the set up/context to this joke or who's it aimed at or is this just a random joke for this video?
