I’ve mentioned it before, but seeing the original PC Engine for the first time had a very profound effect on me.
As a youngster I lived in the arcades, and the thing I craved more than anything else was faithful arcade conversions to play at home. As much as I loved my Amstrad and Master System, they were a little lacking in this area and suggested that arcade-perfect ports were beyond the 8-bit systems of the time. Those early PC Engine shots in (I’m going to say C&VG) changed all that for me, and seeing that shot of R-Type made me desperately want to own one.
I’d imagine that those early magazine images were the first experience that many of you had of the PC Engine, too, and I wonder just how many of you are yet to experience the brilliance of NEC’s little white box of tricks. Well M2’s latest mini console is nearly here and it’s about to make those early import dreams we had a far more tangible reality. You can read our review next month, but rest assured we’ve spent enough time with the PC Engine Mini to know that it’s definitely something you should be getting excited about. You can read more about our hands-on experience inside, alongside an interview with Hiromasa Iwasaki, who coded for the machine that many of us lusted after.

Download from:

NitroFlare

• Rolling Stone USA – March 2020
• MacLife UK – April 2020