NEC's SUPER GRAFX released in Japan 30 years ago today

SharpX68K · Nov 30, 2019

November 30, 1989.

https://necretro.org/PC_Engine_SuperGrafx

Originally meant to be the PC Engine 2 with perhaps an actual 16-bit CPU and due for release in Japan sometime in 1990, the machine was rushed to market in late 1989 by a panicked NEC, worried about the impending Super Famicom.

SuperGrafx had only modest upgrades, the same 8-bit CPU as the PCE/TG-16, additional video processor, 4x main memory and 2x video memory and 1 game at launch, Battle Ace, a first person shooter that was kinda like a mix of Sega's After Burner and Galaxy Force.

Only 5 games were released exclusively for the system between 1989 and 1991 before it's death, including conversions of two Capcom arcade games, Ghouls 'n Ghosts and 1941 Counter Attack.

This is my favorite obscure console.

The killer app for the SGX is definitely Ghouls 'n Ghosts.

Here's a 3-way comparison between the arcade, Mega Drive / Genesis and SuperGrafx versions.

Sega's version was 5 megabit while NEC's version was 8 megabit.

Klappdrachen · Nov 30, 2019

I always loved the look of that thing so much.

SharpX68K · Nov 30, 2019

Klappdrachen said:
I always loved the look of that thing so much.

Same here.

HappyConsoleGamer did two reviews, the first over a decade ago and the other, just several months back.

Fuzzy · Nov 30, 2019

For those unaware, you should do this mod to prevent the PCB from cracking because the support plastic under it is a bit too high.

SharpX68K · Nov 30, 2019

Yeah, I was not aware, thanks.

SharpX68K · Nov 30, 2019

Another thing, they sure did have some good looking print ads and box art for the SuperGrafx games.

Redeye97 · Nov 30, 2019

It's kinda sad that NEC could never follow up the success of the PC Engine. I don't know too much about the Super Grafx, but was thanks to era that I went down a rabbit hole with the PCFX.

Ninjadom · Nov 30, 2019

Redeye97 said:
It's kinda sad that NEC could never follow up the success of the PC Engine. I don't know too much about the Super Grafx, but was thanks to era that I went down a rabbit hole with the PCFX.

The Super Famicom just gained too much momentum in Japan.

Fularu · Nov 30, 2019

I want one. I've always wanted one

But man those prices

SharpX68K · Nov 30, 2019

I started using the internet in 1996, and of course there was no Google at that time. One of the search engines that was popular then was Infoseek.com. The very first thing I searched for was the SuperGrafx.

The next year, I got a SGX and Daimakiamura for under $300 from a local import game store in the Chicago area. Man, I wish I'd never parted with it.

Deleted member 41651 · Nov 30, 2019

One of those mysterious systems I'd see ads for in stuff like GameFan.

Hamster0 · Nov 30, 2019

Aw man, I used to have his as a kid, but couldn't remember the name of it. I really enjoyed playing it
My brother ended up selling it for $50.

SharpX68K said:

I think we still have the game in the bottom right corner, it was a shooter platformer, and had a special shot when you played coop

Liquor · Nov 30, 2019

Never had one, but obscure consoles is my thing. Happy bday!

SharpX68K · Dec 1, 2019

The game in the bottom right corner is Madou King Granzort, usually just called Granzort. It's similar to Keith Courage in Alpha Zones on the TurboGrafx-16. Both games were based on anime or manga, but not directly related. it's a platform game and kinda bland.

https://www.hardcoregaming101.net/madou-king-granzort

One of a small group of games exclusive to NEC's ill-fated SuperGrafx system, Madou King Granzort is probably best left untouched. While it has colorful graphics, like other SuperGrafx exclusives it feels very rushed, and is generally boring to play as a result.

The most notable thing about the game is its resemblance to a certain title from the Hudson's past. Some gamers will notice that Granzort controls identically to Keith Courage in Alpha Zones on the TurboGrafx-16 and even has very similar character designs, weapons and enemies. In the US, it was even referred to as a direct sequel to Keith Courage in an issue of EGM.

here's a review.

https://www.defunctgames.com/review/617/madouou-granzort

SharpX68K · Dec 2, 2019

Diehard GameFan magazine Graveyard segments on SuperGrafx games.

SharpX68K · Dec 3, 2019

This thread needs more love :(

Poor SuperGrafx.

ThorHammerstein · Dec 3, 2019

(sleepytypingtime) I feel ya. I had a subscription to DieHardGameFan and would read about those Japanese game systems like FM Marty, Pippin, and of course the SuperGrafx (nice to see those graveyard sides again, too thx ;).
It really feels like NEC was really just spitballing with an unlimited budget and hoping PCE would gain traction (kinda like an alpha-esque version of future Sega). NEC somehow was a NES competitor with actual success but also sabotaging themselves along the way with constant revisions and fragmentation of games n hardware (most likely why PCE was their only gaming success... FX what?). (I enjoyed seeing what Konami did with DracX if you tried to run it on a system1 card.)
So, I'm glad that even though I never owned the SG hardware, I'll be able to play a few of them on the PC Engine Mini soon (which I'm quite excited for too).

Fularu · Dec 3, 2019

SharpX68K said:
This thread needs more love :(

Poor SuperGrafx.

Tbh it's probably the biggest home console bomb in history

tiesto · Dec 3, 2019

I've been lucky enough to play most of the library thanks to it being at MAGfest every year. It's got a cool, unique design, but the games are just kinda... average? Even the star of the show, Daimakaimura, has been superceded by more accurate arcade ports.

I prefer the PC-FX to Supergrafx if I have to choose. Chip Chan Kick, Zenki, Langrisser FX, and Miraculum, not to mention the tons of dating sims and VNs if that's your bag.

sir_crocodile · Dec 3, 2019

SharpX68K said:
This thread needs more love :(

Poor SuperGrafx.

More posts in this thread then it had games tbf

Psxphile · Dec 3, 2019

Dunno what some of y'all are talking about, I thought the console looked horrible. Were they trying to channel H.R. Giger in its design?

Am I mistaken or was Capcom's Strider not one of the games advertised to be coming to the Super-Grafx? For some reason I have the two coupled together as a thing in my memory, probably due to old issues of GameFan I would read religiously back in the day.

Fularu · Dec 3, 2019

Psxphile said:
Dunno what some of y'all are talking about, I thought the console looked horrible. Were they trying to channel H.R. Giger in its design?

Am I mistaken or was Capcom's Strider not one of the games advertised to be coming to the Super-Grafx? For some reason I have the two coupled together as a thing in my memory, probably due to old issues of GameFan I would read religiously back in the day.

Strider was a Super CD game for half a decade before moving to Arcade Card

Fuzzy · Dec 3, 2019

Psxphile said:
Dunno what some of y'all are talking about, I thought the console looked horrible.

I agree, I never liked what it looked like. I was just letting people enjoy the thread since the console was such a failure.

Deleted member 17210 · Dec 3, 2019

I wanted a SuperGrafx so badly back in the day after seeing screens in magazines, especially for Strider which wasn't even real SGX screens anyway. I did come across one at a random electronics store in a local mall in the early '90s but by then it looked like the system wouldn't have much of a future and $300 CAD was way more than I could justify. I did play all its games years later via emulator.

SturokBGD · Dec 3, 2019

The good news is Aldynes is coming on the TurboGrafx Mini.

Listen to this! Just listen to it! Pure shooter joy.

SharpX68K · Dec 4, 2019

SturokBGD said:
The good news is Aldynes is coming on the TurboGrafx Mini.

Listen to this! Just listen to it! Pure shooter joy.

The gameplay is so good!

fiendcode · Dec 4, 2019

Fularu said:
Strider was a Super CD game for half a decade before moving to Arcade Card

It was also announced for SGX. So was Galaxy Force II, both courtesy of NEC Avenue.

Fularu · Dec 4, 2019

fiendcode said:
It was also announced for SGX. So was Galaxy Force II, both courtesy of NEC Avenue.

I know. All I said was that it was quickly moved to the Super CD format before releasing as an AC game.

SharpX68K · Dec 4, 2019

Psxphile said:
Dunno what some of y'all are talking about, I thought the console looked horrible. Were they trying to channel H.R. Giger in its design?

Am I mistaken or was Capcom's Strider not one of the games advertised to be coming to the Super-Grafx? For some reason I have the two coupled together as a thing in my memory, probably due to old issues of GameFan I would read religiously back in the day.

Yes, it was. It was talked about in magazines, and appeared in ads for import games

CO_Andy · Dec 4, 2019

there was no need for the SuperGfx when the PC Engine had a CPU advantage over the SNES

Psxphile · Dec 4, 2019

CO_Andy said:
there was no need for the SuperGfx when the PC Engine had a CPU advantage over the SNES

wut

PCE was an 8-bit cpu in a 16-bit trenchcoat.

SharpX68K · Dec 4, 2019

Really, NEC+Hudson should have done what they were reportedly going to do as of mid-1989 -- and that is, bring out a PC Engine 2 with an actual 16-bit CPU, much improved graphics including scaling & rotation functions, better improved sound and not until sometime in 1990. Either that, or get together with Namco, who also had a 16-bit console in the pipeline but hesitated to release it and ultimately did not because the new console market was becoming very crowded at the time. NEC had wanted to partner with Namco to use their 16-bit machine as the PC Engine 2, but Hudson wouldn't have it. That deal was killed, and so the SuperGrafx was rushed to the market.

This isn't a perfect analogy, but lets just say Sony had launched the PS4 and it was very successful, but the CPU was Jaguar. Sony is then expected to release PS5 with Ryzen after some years, but instead, releases Super PS4 with the same Jaguar CPU and double the graphics power. Super PS4 gets a handful of exclusive games, is full back compat with PS4, but it fails miserably.

SharpX68K · Dec 20, 2019

Homebrew SuperGrafx stuff.

j^aws · Dec 20, 2019

The Supergrafx was quite possibly the first mid-gen refresh console akin to your PS4 Pro and Xbox One X with its upgraded dual VDCs.

I had a chance to pick one up for cheap years ago with full RGB SCART modifications but wasn't convinced with its handful of upgraded games. Still love its industrial design though.

SharpX68K · Dec 20, 2019

j^aws said:
The Supergrafx was quite possibly the first mid-gen refresh console akin to your PS4 Pro and Xbox One X with its upgraded dual VDCs.

I had a chance to pick one up for cheap years ago with full RGB SCART modifications but wasn't convinced with its handful of upgraded games. Still love its industrial design though.

My thoughts exactly, about the mid-gen refresh upgrade akin to PS4 Pro and Xbox One X, and the SuperGrafx industrial design.

I even love the few drawings of the SuperGrafx that I've seen in magazines.

Isayas · Dec 20, 2019

Man, those visuals are still great to me. It came out in '89?

fiendcode · Dec 20, 2019

j^aws said:
The Supergrafx was quite possibly the first mid-gen refresh console akin to your PS4 Pro and Xbox One X with its upgraded dual VDCs.

I had a chance to pick one up for cheap years ago with full RGB SCART modifications but wasn't convinced with its handful of upgraded games. Still love its industrial design though.

What about the SG-1000 to Mark III?

Kabuki Quantum Lover · Dec 20, 2019

I bought the PS4 Pro because I thought it would be the modern SuperGrafx. Too bad it didn't inherit the weird sci-fi hallway design. :/

It had some good Capcom ports but the system really didn't need to exist with the way NEC half-assed everything.

Fularu · Dec 20, 2019

fiendcode said:
What about the SG-1000 to Mark III?

Or MSX to MSX2 to MSX2+ (mostly ram upgrades, bios upgrade to support floppy disks and vdp upgrades between models)

Piggychan · Dec 20, 2019

I actually had this at some stage around the time importers started bringing it over. I already owned a pc engine and the CD-rom interface unit and traded it in along with a megadrive for this system.

The only game that impressed the most was of course Daimakaimura. 1941 was a very expensive game brand new at that time and I wasn't impressed that I managed to beat it on the same day with 1 credit. I didn't know too much about the other games either because there just wasn't enough coverage on them at that time from the UK games mags. The only saving grace about this system was that it was backwards compatible with all the pc engine library and some games that had quite a bit of flicker or frame rate drops just seem to run much smoother on the supergrafx.

That Strider announcement over time just became a huge let down and eventually traded it all in for a US SNES and then a few years later traded that in for a Duo-R unit before the 32-bit monsters appeared.

j^aws · Dec 20, 2019

fiendcode said:
What about the SG-1000 to Mark III?

You could argue the case. Wasn't the Mark III a Master System prelude? What would be SMS to the Megadrive then? Did the Mark III get both CPU and VDC boost or just VDC? What about C64 and C128, or various Spectrum iterations?

The Supergrafx seemed more a half-way refresh before the NEC PCFX with a clear CPU and VDC boost.

Edit: Actually, I'm not sure if its CPU was boosted in any way.

Mizeris Lutz Ether Lanai · Dec 20, 2019

There was a feature on this in the first EGM I ever bought. It was always this mysterious unobtainable thing that looked amazing and could do legit arcade ports. Not sure why NEC couldn't make it happen.

Psxphile said:
Dunno what some of y'all are talking about, I thought the console looked horrible. Were they trying to channel H.R. Giger in its design?

They pretty clearly took the PC Engine name as a design cue and modelled it after...an engine. I always thought it looked badass.

Pants_Problems · Dec 20, 2019

I love the Supergrafx. It's still my primary way to play PCE games to this day.

Sure, it + the RAU30 adapter makes it giant and unwieldy as hell, but that's what makes it fun.

DC5remy · Dec 20, 2019

Was strider closer to the arcade than the Genesis? I was disappointed by the Genesis version but still played it over and over when it came out.

Fularu · Dec 20, 2019

DC5remy said:
Was strider closer to the arcade than the Genesis? I was disappointed by the Genesis version but still played it over and over when it came out.

The Arcade Card version of Strider is terrible. The Megadrive version remains the best console port (outside of the emulated PS release and the X68000 one)

SharpX68K · Dec 21, 2019

Mizeris Lutz Ether Lanai said:
There was a feature on this in the first EGM I ever bought. It was always this mysterious unobtainable thing that looked amazing and could do legit arcade ports. Not sure why NEC couldn't make it happen.

They pretty clearly took the PC Engine name as a design cue and modelled it after...an engine. I always thought it looked badass.

Wow, I've never seen it in that light before. amazing.

Dreamwriter · Dec 21, 2019

I always wonder about the alternate history where the Turbografx-16 came out in the US in 1987 same year it hit Japan. I mean, for us in the US the NES had only been out for two years at that point, and the Genesis was still two years in the future, so the Turbografx would have blown people away. Instead, it came out the same month as the Sega Genesis, which was clearly superior, and filled with Sega arcade ports. In this theoretical alternate history, the Supergrafx would have been released at the same time as the Genesis instead, after having had two years of Turbografx games on the market to hype people up for it.

Deleted member 17210 · Dec 21, 2019

Dreamwriter said:
I always wonder about the alternate history where the Turbografx-16 came out in the US in 1987 same year it hit Japan. I mean, for us in the US the NES had only been out for two years at that point, and the Genesis was still two years in the future, so the Turbografx would have blown people away. Instead, it came out the same month as the Sega Genesis, which was clearly superior, and filled with Sega arcade ports. In this theoretical alternate history, the Supergrafx would have been released at the same time as the Genesis instead, after having had two years of Turbografx games on the market to hype people up for it.

Yeah, it's strange they waited so long to release the TG16. Of course, a lot of it comes down to marketing. The NES had advertising unlike anything that had seen before in North America. It was at another level. NEC's marketing of the TG16 was so minimal that even Sega/Tonka's SMS promoting in NA seems big by comparison.

SharpX68K · Dec 21, 2019

Dreamwriter said:
I always wonder about the alternate history where the Turbografx-16 came out in the US in 1987 same year it hit Japan. I mean, for us in the US the NES had only been out for two years at that point, and the Genesis was still two years in the future, so the Turbografx would have blown people away. Instead, it came out the same month as the Sega Genesis, which was clearly superior, and filled with Sega arcade ports. In this theoretical alternate history, the Supergrafx would have been released at the same time as the Genesis instead, after having had two years of Turbografx games on the market to hype people up for it.

I often wonder something fairly similar. The TurboGrafx-16 comes out in the US in 1988 (when there's a years worth of PC-Engine software to choose from). That's still a year before Genesis, and by late 1988, both part I and part II of R-Type is ready. This becomes the pack-in game for the TG-16.
In Japan, the PC-Engine II is released as a real 16-bit system with hardware scaling and rotation, and its better than the Super Famicom. The name SuperGrafx gets used for the US and it launches in 1991.

NEC's SUPER GRAFX released in Japan 30 years ago today

One Winged Slayer

Completely non-threatening

User-requested account closure

Revenger

Completely non-threatening

User-requested account closure

User-requested account closure