Teach me about the PC Engine/TurboGrafx releases outside of Japan and North America

[Deleted member 17210]

It's pretty easy to find information on PC Engine releases from its home country of Japan, and I followed the North American TurboGrafx scene closely while it happened so I know that pretty well. It's harder to find information on the console in other countries but I do find it fascinating and would like to learn more.

Please add any information or personal experiences of the PCE/TG from countries outside Japan/USA/Canada. Or if you're not from one of those places, post if you find this topic interesting.

An early release of the PCE in Europe would be the Sodipeng version in France and Benelux in 1989 or 1990, which was a modified version of the Japanese machine with French manuals added. They seem to have sold variations of the SuperGrafx and PC Engine GT as well.

Nec PC Engine Console [FR] - Consolevariations

The first console of Nec in collaboration with Hudson. Distributed in France by Sodipeng ( SOciété DIstributrice de la Pc-ENGine) until the bankrupt in 19...

consolevariations.com

Sodipeng - NEC Retro

necretro.org

Video Game Den

This article mentions Pure Byte Trading selling PC Engines in Finland, Athens Club selling them in Greece, and some importers in South Africa.

PC Engine - NEC Retro

necretro.org

It seems NEC cancelled its plans for a PAL TurboGrafx release but stock was sold in Europe through companies like Telegames and Loto S.A., and still had the NEC branding on it. It looked similar to its North American counterpart but the logo and system colour were slightly different. It seems this variant ended up in the UK, Spain, Portugal, and Germany and had Blazing Lazers as the pack-in title.

TurboGrafx - NEC Retro

necretro.org

This video is worth checking out:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWdhTlwtgPg

Daewoo licensed the PC Engine shuttle for South Korea, making it a similar situation to licensed Sega consoles in Korea from companies like OACS and Samsung.

Reddit - Dive into anything

www.reddit.com

Haitai released a TG16 variant in Korea called the Vistar 16 which might be officially licensed from NEC but I haven't seen confirmation of that. Vistar cards seem to be identical to the NA versions but with stickers added on. Like the NA TG16, it had Keith Courage bundled in.

Korean TurboGrafx-16 - The Vistar

Haitai Vistar 16 PC Engine Console - Consolevariations

Unofficial release but made with real PC Engine hardware Rumor : It's the unsold stock. Based on the US TurboGrafx 16

consolevariations.com

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zY9ZO5WeC88

There's also a world of bootleg/clone PC Engines such as the arcade TourVision machines in Spain, Sunpronic Super Engine in Czechoslovakia, and Chinese consoles like the Jamiko PC Boy.

PC-Engine

And what about Oceania? This story is nuts:


View: https://youtu.be/440BoQ3SFy4

 

[hydro94530]

Wow never knew any if this. I was just going to come in and talk about how awesome Silent Debuggers is and how Dungeon Explorer has one of the dopest soundtracks ever. This is really cool though OP!

 

[Deleted member 17210]

Those are cool games. Some of the Wii VC reviews for Silent Debuggers were pretty harsh on it, though.

 

[Deleted member 17210]

I don't usually bump my threads but I think I initially posted it at a time when a lot of people (especially in Europe) would have missed it.

 

[Brazil]

The Wii Virtual Console was the first time I'd heard of the Turbografx-16, despite buying videogame magazines all throughout my childhood. They pretty much didn't exist here.

Dungeon Explorer rules

 

[Funkallero]

Ah Sodipeng… All my childhood. You could buy Pc-Engine Japanese imports at big chain retailers like Fnac at the time, with an extremely brief translation print inside the box.

Fun fact, Sodipeng (French PC-Engine distributor) was founded buy Yves "Ubisoft" Guillemot.

 

[Deleted member 17210]

Ah Sodipeng… All my childhood. You could buy Pc-Engine Japanese imports at big chain retailers like Fnac at the time, with an extremely brief translation print inside the box.

Fun fact, Sodipeng (French PC-Engine distributor) was founded buy Yves "Ubisoft" Guillemot.

Click to shrink...

Did all the games have stickers like these on the back? I notice this one says FNAC on it.

 

[Funkallero]

Did all the games have stickers like these on the back? I notice this one says FNAC on it.

Click to shrink...

Those sold at Fnac would have it, it was probably their main chain retailer but I think you could find PC engine stuff at other big retailers ( it was still quite limited compared to Nintendo or Sega).

Personally I bought them at Fnac, even bought a PC-Engine GT there, I think it was summer of '91.
Fond memories!!

 

[andymcc]

Great thread and lots of information!

I was always curious about how the PC-Engine seemed to be pretty popular in France despite not getting an "official" release there-- this is really cool.

 

[Deleted member 17210]

Those sold at Fnac would have it, it was probably their main chain retailer but I think you could find PC engine stuff at other big retailers ( it was still quite limited compared to Nintendo or Sega).

Personally I bought them at Fnac, even bought a PC-Engine GT there, I think it was summer of '91.
Fond memories!!

Click to shrink...

Thanks for the info. I would have loved to have had a PC Engine GT back then. I played the Turbo Express a bit in stores.

 

[Fularu]

Sodipeng means « Société D'Importation de la Pc ENGine »

An another fun fact is that Guillemot also was responsible for the Neo-Geo in France with a similar company to Sodipeng.

Also the french PC Engines were all RGb modified at the time. 20 years before it became « cool » (thanks to our peritel standard)

 

[Deleted member 17210]

Also the french PC Engines were all RGb modified at the time. 20 years before it became « cool » (thanks to our peritel standard)

Click to shrink...

Nice. I was playing through RF back then.

 

[Glimlocker]

Now this is the type of content I love to see here.

Unfortunately, I also barely knew of the TG16's existence - I just remember seeing the name every now and then when I was young.

I just wanted to say that the planned PAL release had a classier color scheme. Though it's funny they still kept the same manual.

Also, the PC Engine CD library has to be one of the most obscure, good-quality game libraries of all time.

There are some seriously obscure and, as far as I can tell, exclusive games for that system - and I love it.
That's something I'd love a discussion about one day!

 

[Deleted member 17210]

Now this is the type of content I love to see here.

Click to shrink...

Thanks. Sometimes I wonder if anyone's thinking "Why does this guy keep making niche unpopular retro threads?". Even if they get few replies, I always learn something new so it's worth it to me.

 

[Fularu]

Nice. I was playing through RF back then.

Click to shrink...

Every console was rgb moded for the french market due to our Secam standard. Importers and official releases alike.

The Master System for example was sold with an rgb booster cable with french markings (câble RVB) and the Master System 2 was the only rgb native one too.

Sony was the first one to break the cycle with the stupid rca cables to scart adapter. You had to buy the rgb cable separately

 

[skeezx]

wish i was an adult in the late 80s early 90s definitely would've shelled out for the "other" consoles back then (i.e. anything not nintendo or sega)

playing games TG-16 on Virtual Console was like popping open a bottle of well aged wine

 

[Glimlocker]

Thanks. Sometimes I wonder if anyone's thinking "Why does this guy keep making niche unpopular retro threads?". Even if they get few replies, I always learn something new so it's worth it to me.

Click to shrink...

Well, I just adore most obscure retro things, so this definitely is great to see.

Somewhat related, Los Angeles was apparently a major place to buy the PCE-CD Japanese imports in the US.

I've heard first hand accounts of there being superb import stores in the 90s here. One used game store I visited still had shrink wrapped PC Engine CD games from one of the old importers - and this was in like 2018!

I bought Legend of Xanadu at that store, if for no other reason than to be a part of lost history.

 

[Deleted member 17210]

Well, I just adore most obscure retro things, so this definitely is great to see.

Somewhat related, Los Angeles was apparently a major place to buy the PCE-CD Japanese imports in the US.

I've heard first hand accounts of there being superb import stores in the 90s here. One used game store I visited still had shrink wrapped PC Engine CD games from one of the old importers - and this was in like 2018!

I bought Legend of Xanadu at that store, if for no other reason than to be a part of lost history.

Click to shrink...

Cool. And it's always nice to find sealed CD games.

I was looking at a pile of PC Engine games at a game store near me recently in the Vancouver area, and they said the guy they got their new pile from bought them locally back in the day. I wish I had known what store that was back then. I did have an import store I would go to in the early '90s called Encore Video Games but it seemed focused on Mega Drive, Game Boy, and Neo Geo. There was a random electronics store in the mall that had a SuperGrafx but most of my local PCE finds have been from the late '90s onwards.