The NEC PC-FX; an eight part series on this weird little console - Why did it fail? 11/30

Awbacon

Awbacon

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well maybe little is a misnomer as it's actually pretty damn gigantic but I do love the PC-FX and I am hoping this series does well and more people get into it!
 
Great video, probably my favourite failed console out there, its quite sad the console never gained any momentum in Japan as it had such great potential for 2D games, and its quite difficult to get into without knowledge of the Japanese language.

Very excited to see the whole series though, hoping to learn something new, as there isnt too much coverage about this system out there. :)
 
999void said:
Great video, probably my favourite failed console out there, its quite sad the console never gained any momentum in Japan as it had such great potential for 2D games, and its quite difficult to get into without knowledge of the Japanese language.

Very excited to see the whole series though, hoping to learn something new, as there isnt too much coverage about this system out there. :)
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yes it was totally wasted. 2D powerhouse...just needed more GOOD GAMES
 
Yup, thats always the saddest thing with these failed consoles with short lifespans to me, we never got to see the real potential of them, and I would expect that at least in the case of the PC-FX, homebrew support is non-existent
 
999void said:
Yup, thats always the saddest thing with these failed consoles with short lifespans to me, we never got to see the real potential of them, and I would expect that at least in the case of the PC-FX, homebrew support is non-existent
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yeah there is zero PC-FX community and thats a bummer because the SDK was literally sold with the PC-FXGA, so all the software needed to develop for the PC-FX is readily available
 


def need a walkthrough for this one but IMO it's worth the effort
 
The reason why it failed hard is very simple - a lot of people who were making decisions in game industry at the time were thinking that people will be crazy about "games" with a LOT of FMV in them and minimal interaction. Another misconception that still lives is that movie/anime/whatever fans will be rushing to buy every piece of garbage with some characters of the movie/show in it.

And it's NEC we're talking about, a company that released console upgrade that makes 32X to look like unbelievable success. SuperGrafx. They decided that releasing a new console that adds very minor visual upgrade to previous PC Engine at quite high price is a good idea. Like - people will be storming the stores to get next generation system that adds one more background layer in some games. Imagine if mouse manufacturers were doing the same thing - "New mouse, now in red with whole inch longer cable for only 399.99!!!"
So no wonder that PCFX suffered the same fate - rather powerful hardware was turned into nothing more than super expensive video player. Shmups and Bomberman were the reason why PC Engine was quite successful? Yeah, let's release ONE shmup, no Bomberman and about 10 games that had actual gameplay.
They definitely were trying to win the most commercial failures race with Sega.
 
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