That PC-Engine Mini I ordered finally arrived last Friday. Obviously, I’ve spent all week playing with it, getting used to holding a rectangular controller again, and generally thinking that this thing is really fucking cool.
I’ve also spent the past week trying to think of how to do a write up of it. I didn’t want to do a bit by bit run down of every game on the system as 1) I’ve already written about some of them and 2) that’s what everyone who owns a PC-Engine Mini has done.
3) I uh already streamed a bunch of games already:
So no, I won’t be doing the standard review for this. I’ll instead say that again, the PC-Engine Mini is really cool. The collection of games on it is very “Ramona-centric” I’ll say. Most of the classic Compile shooters, Gradius 1 and 2, Genpei Fucking Toumaden (among a couple other Namco classics), Parasol Stars, and Rondo of Blood. I never, ever thought that I would see a rerelease of Genpei Toumaden again, and yet here it is, on my big-ass TV. That’s awesome.
There are a few notable exceptions, for better and for worse. I was surprised at a lack of Valis, given how big a deal that series was for the CD-ROM add-on. Also, given the number of Namco games on here, there’s no Tower of Druaga, itself a big arcade hit with a great PC-Engine remake. While Bomberman ’93 and ’94 are utterly fantastic, I would have liked to see the original Bomberman included, if only for historical reasons. I mean, if The Kung Fu could be on there, why not? Another problem is the inclusion of shit like Appare! Gateball and the horrible port of Ninja Gaiden, a game where the background scrolls in the wrong direction.
On the plus side?
NO FUCKING KEITH COURAGE
Good! It’s about time the world finally comes to an agreement that Keith Courage fucking sucks. Terrible, wretched game.
only thing that’s missing here is my old bottle of vicodin
One more complaint about the games: JJ and Jeff, but no Kato and Ken.
Those complaints aside, I have had so much fun with this little box. I realize that I spent over a hundred bucks in order to play games that I’ve already been playing for free the last twenty years, but it was worth it. While I am a huge proponent of emulation, and getting a hold of games any way possible, I still felt a desire of ownership for this one particular console. Granted, this isn’t the real PC-Engine, with its HuCards and CD-ROMS, but it’s a reasonable enough facsimile. There are PC-Engine games on my TV, with no frameskipping, so I’m seeing every frame, despite what emulators tell me when there’s an obvious frame skip happening. There’s no input lag, or at least no noticeable input lag when compared to running these games in Magic Engine or Mednafen (it’s about the same across the board). It’s Christmas, and this is the best gift I got, materialism-wise.
Long story short: the PC-Engine Mini rules, and I’m glad I was able to find one.
And here’s me 1cc’ing Gradius:
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