Lamenting the SuperGrafx

[majors]

Nov 18, 2020 19:58:18 GMT a said:

Does anyone want to talk about the SGX’s crazy hardware design?

...To match the unreleased Power Console!

[a]

It’s quite a deviation from the rest of NEC’s sleek attractive designs. Even the much-hated TG16 looks better than a supergrafx. I actually like how the TG is designed.

[turboxray]

Nov 18, 2020 19:58:18 GMT a said:

Does anyone want to talk about the SGX’s crazy hardware design? I dont mean the internals, but the look of the console itself. I wonder how many people were put off by that design in the face of the extremely beautiful coregrafx...

It's the only console in the NEC line that both looks like an engine and has the word 'engine' in its name! SGX is a sexy beast. The TG16 design is about as average and boring as you can get.

[a]

Nov 14, 2020 19:00:30 GMT SignOfZeta said:

Your timeline is off. If you examine release dates you’ll see that the SGX was clearly EOLed before it was actually released. Nobody had any faith in it soon after conception and it was known that it wasn’t going to be a hit because they had ensured that by already moving back to regular PCE development prior to the actual SGX launch.

the industry was anticipating the successor to the famicom and they knew it would be a huge success. 

[DutchDimension]

Here's an interesting take on the rumoured conversion of Strider Hiryuu for the SuperGrafX.

lscmainframe.kontek.net/features/supergrafx/

Does anybody have further information on this?

[Black_Tiger]

Nov 19, 2020 4:44:29 GMT DutchDimension said:

Here's an interesting take on the rumoured conversion of Strider Hiryuu for the SuperGrafX.

lscmainframe.kontek.net/features/supergrafx/

Does anybody have further information on this?

Be careful with what you yake from that article. The author has a lot of misconceptions about the PCE and SGX.

Pretty much the only accurate info is what he's relating from Chris and turboxray.

[DutchDimension]

Nov 19, 2020 14:29:40 GMT Black_Tiger said:

Nov 19, 2020 4:44:29 GMT DutchDimension said:

Here's an interesting take on the rumoured conversion of Strider Hiryuu for the SuperGrafX.

lscmainframe.kontek.net/features/supergrafx/

Does anybody have further information on this?

Be careful with what you yake from that article. The author has a lot of misconceptions about the PCE and SGX.

Pretty much the only accurate info is what he's relating from Chris and turboxray.

What kind of misconceptions? (Genuine question).

As a game developer myself, I'm just incredibly fascinated by games whose development got abandoned or otherwise did not live up to expectation or the possibilities of the hardware (ie. Golden Axe, PC Cocoron, and Strider). What could've been (or what might still be possible).

[SignOfZeta]

That was an interesting read.

I love how much fans have assumed from simply hearing “%20 complete”. Not only is it common to not burn any EPROMS on a %20 game, it’s common for a %20 complete game to not even be playable at all. Also, a %20 game may not even have a hard set platform yet. That is, at %20 it was as much a SGX game as it was a PCE game so it was easy to make it an ACD game five years later. At %20 complete the devs may just be at a situation where they have converted half the assets and banged together an engine that hasn’t fully tested yet.

But some guys are still looking for those five prototypes! And when someone fakes them I’m sure they will sell.

[spenoza]

It's also hard to know what 20% complete means. It could mean they had hashed out a playable first level with acceptable quick and dirty placeholder graphics and basic physics and AI for certain enemies. But it could also mean they'd done some engine work but no art assets, or lots of prototyping but little else. Most game development of that era, to the best of my knowledge, does usually start with hashing out something rudimentarily playable, like a sample level with basic graphics. And then implementing more content means revisiting and revising engine components and making optimizations, etc...

[SignOfZeta]

Yeah, it could be Hiryu walking in the snow only able to kill one dog over and over but with sound, that might be %20. It could also never have even gotten to the point where there was a ROM at all. Usually when they say %20 or whatever they mean that minus advertising and bug testing and such they have blown %20 of the total man hours that they think will eventually be needed to complete the game. So when something is a port...that may alter that estimation. If I’m making Dynamite Heady, I bet something was playable at %20. Mad Dog McCree on the other hand...once I’ve shot all the footage I have to be way more than %20 complete even though nothing is playable yet at all. Maybe some dude converted all the bitmapa to PCE format, re-did the sound FX, and nothing else. That would be roughly %20, maybe.

I wouldn’t count on on finding one of those ROMs ever, is what I’m saying, and even if it were fake it may be impossible to de-authenticate anyway. I think I could direct and manufacture a convincing pirate SGX Strider, if anyone wants to do all the coding.

[a]

Anybody else grieving for the TurboGrafx?  This thing is awesome. I don’t care what anyone says.  It has a really unique personality for a console.  I’ve been playing the translation or yokai dokuchi on it lately...    Weird how if you take the cover or turbobooster off, it is the same general shape as a SuperGrafx.  Question: was the supergrafx designed before or after the TurboGrafx?  I’m curious to know where the “grafx” moniker came from.  Originally I thought CoreGrafx was meant to eventually replace the TurboGrafx in america had the system not failed and if NEC hadnt been stuck with piles of unsold TG16 stock. Like one core grafx for the whole market.  asia, PAL, US.  It seems that theory is wrong though... off topic but i think still think the CoreGrafx looks badass and would have been easy to market just from a sexy high tech hardware standpoint.  My step dad who is in his 50s was blown away when i showed him my PCE and said the console came out originally in 1987.  He mentioned he probably would have bought one if they were available in the states just because of how high tech it looked.  I always say the PCE resembled a magic trick in 1987... on that note, SuperGrafx was not necessary.  The core system can do impressive things if you just add more ROM space.  How about an “arcade cartridge” adaptor for the expansion port on the PCE that allows you to plug in cartridges on big boards.  Cheap adaptor, expensive games. 

[Black_Tiger]

Nov 20, 2020 7:53:09 GMT a said:

Anybody else grieving for the TurboGrafx?  This thing is awesome. I don’t care what anyone says.  It has a really unique personality for a console.  I’ve been playing the translation or yokai dokuchi on it lately...    Weird how if you take the cover or turbobooster off, it is the same general shape as a SuperGrafx.  Question: was the supergrafx designed before or after the TurboGrafx?  I’m curious to know where the “grafx” moniker came from.  Originally I thought CoreGrafx was meant to eventually replace the TurboGrafx in america had the system not failed and if NEC hadnt been stuck with piles of unsold TG16 stock. Like one core grafx for the whole market.  asia, PAL, US.  It seems that theory is wrong though... off topic but i think still think the CoreGrafx looks badass and would have been easy to market just from a sexy high tech hardware standpoint.  My step dad who is in his 50s was blown away when i showed him my PCE and said the console came out originally in 1987.  He mentioned he probably would have bought one if they were available in the states just because of how high tech it looked.  I always say the PCE resembled a magic trick in 1987... on that note, SuperGrafx was not necessary.  The core system can do impressive things if you just add more ROM space.  How about an “arcade cartridge” adaptor for the expansion port on the PCE that allows you to plug in cartridges on big boards.  Cheap adaptor, expensive games. 

Everything was designed and maufactured in Japan. The TG-16 has the same style as the PC Engine, it's just larger. No one knows when the physical design began on them, but the TG-16 and SuperGrafx launch around the same time and the PC Engine wasn't very old. So they would have had a lot of overlap.

[exodus]

Johnny Turbo told me directly that strider was finished and he has the rom in storage. I don't really believe everything that guy says though!

[SignOfZeta]

Does it say “Arcade Card” on the case?

[a]

The TG16 was manufactured in Taiwan