For those who grew up with imported PCE in Europe

[Otaking]

Heh yeah that would be great. I'd love a website with a comprehensive list of UK indie import shops from late 80's early 90's complete with pictures of the insides and display shelves

Yeah I would like to see pics from back then.

http://www.jammaplus.co.uk/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=46461&title=the-pc-engine-appreciation-thread

Nice I'll check it out.

When I used to visit Shekana on Tottenham Court Road it was essentially a small glass cabinet of games hidden at the back of an electronics shop full of hifi equipment.

Yeah.
The space in the shop they got for games did seem to get larger as the years went by, but still  relativity a small part of the shop.

On that last note, did anyone else find themselves really drawn to the small form factor of the mini disc  format when it first arrived? Like an extension of an existing fetish for hucards

I never got into mini disc myself but a lot of my friends had them. Were popular for recording DJ sets from your decks.

...notable exceptions to this were Video Game Centre in Bournemouth and the early incarnations of the Tottenham Court Exchange that went on to later become CEX, both of which where crazy places to walk into at the time. Raven Games always sticks in my mind as being the most impressive though, especially once the arcade cab was present (R-Type Leo anyone?).

The most impressive stores I remember were Machine Shack in Streatham and Computer Exchange in Notting Hill Gate in the early days.

But probably the no.1 as you said and we discussed earlier was when CEX first unveiled their "retro museum", with that wall of thousands of PC Engine games and thousands of other platform games too, that was just mental.

I wasn't keen on those 2 guys who ran Raven Games, so kind of spoilt the experience for me there.

I wanted DAT, too.

I didn't realise consumers bought DAT machines?? I thought they were only for studios to record music. I had a DAT machine as I used have a hardware studio. It cost me an absolute fortune at the time (like all the other gear did)
I had this model:

[Digi.k]

I think a lot of the UK based importers of that early era didn't really have a storefront of any kind aside from the adverts they placed in C&VG, Mean Machines, etc.

I read the other day that PC Engine supplies was run out of Steve's front room prior to partnering up with Colin Diamond to become Console Concepts. When I used to visit Shekana on Tottenham Court Road it was essentially a small glass cabinet of games hidden at the back of an electronics shop full of hifi equipment.

On that last note, did anyone else find themselves really drawn to the small form factor of the mini disc  format when it first arrived? Like an extension of an existing fetish for hucards

...notable exceptions to this were Video Game Centre in Bournemouth and the early incarnations of the Tottenham Court Exchange that went on to later become CEX, both of which where crazy places to walk into at the time. Raven Games always sticks in my mind as being the most impressive though, especially once the arcade cab was present (R-Type Leo anyone?).

I picked up a mini disc player much later certainly around 2000 but they kept breaking, but certainly around the time of the pc engine I never went out without a walkman mostly AIWA models busting around with my 90 minute tape of pce hucard and CD-rom track recordings.

I still got those tapes! NERD!!!!!!



not forgetting that life after Shekana... and I remember taking their advert (which was advertised in like C&VG mag) to get 10% discount on C64 games there.  Although I really liked Shekana as I got my first pce there they were a little shady as I remember the middle eastern lady that worked there and iirc she had a mole on her chin area she was happy to sell UK NES carts to USA visitors and not say anything about incompatibility between the regions...

But one of those guys left Shekana and partnered up with a few more fellas to form ACE - Advance console entertainment just tucked away in Carnaby Street.  Shekana also had another store somewhere I think it was up near Wood Green. 

But those guys in ACE were cool and I would find them in the NAMCO world after hours.

There was also a small video rental shop in Barking that started importing pce stuff and also later imported supergrafx

[esteban]

I picked up a mini disc player much later certainly around 2000 but they kept breaking, but certainly around the time of the pc engine I never went out without a walkman mostly AIWA models busting around with my 90 minute tape of pce hucard and CD-rom track recordings.

I still got those tapes! NERD!!!!!!

I made cassettes, too, but I never made any video game art—I would just take a silly advert for a foot cream or ________ and repurpose it as cover art.

The Dungeon Explorer and Legendary Axe tape was a favorite of mine, ha! I still remember biking certain stretches of road to certain songs.

I went everywhere with my "Walkman" (I mostly had Aiwa, but also some "no brand" stuff).

I eventually got a portable CD player, so I would bring BOTH tapes+CD everywhere (backpack + bike = transportation).

Anyway, the Walkman was the beast that handled the worst abuse.

[Otaking]

Pic of Video Game Centre in Bournemouth from 2002



From here:
https://www.nekofever.com/rip-video-game-centre/
http://www.nekofever.com/archives/2008/05/rip-video-game-centre/

[NecroPhile]

Digi.K - sweet tape art!

[soop]

Wow, memories.  Well I'm in the UK, and the first I really heard of the PC Engine was the GT.  One of the popular gaming magazines over here, C+VG, used to have a pull-out supplement covering portables, and the GT was clearly streets ahead of anything else, including the previously well hyped Lynx.  I remember seeing a review of Air Zonk and being blown away.

For me, the PC Engine was pretty much in the realm of things like the Super Famicom (until it was released over here) and the Neo Geo.  As an aside, I remember when Street Fighter II was released, and import companies were advertising import copies for... over £100 I'm pretty sure.

So all of these consoles, until the eventual (and overwhelmingly well recieved) launch of the Super Nintendo.  I don't remember the gap, but I want to say it was a year if not longer.

Then one day, I was with my dad, browsing the second hand type stores, when I saw, in a glass display case, a boxed PC Engine GT and 7 games for £70.  My jaw literally hit the floor, and I managed to persuade him to buy it for me as an early birthday gift.  I still think it's the best present I ever got.  I'm hazy on the date, but it would have been the 90's after the Megadrive had been going for a while.

My first bundle of games was:

PC Genjin 2
Sonson II
Shinobi
AfterBurner
Cyber Core
Altered Beast
And Bari Bari Densetsu.  Someone clearly knew what they were doing, these are fantastic games.  I later managed to pick up Hani on the Road, Street Fighter II, and The Kung Fu, for I think about £10 each from an import company.  At the time, I had no access to reviews, so I was literally judging by the cover at first.  Then when I got a job, Internet access and an ebay account, I got a few more, Puzznic, shubibin man 2 and Super Star Soldier, along with a Boxed Core Grafx.  After that I could read reviews and download ROMs, so I was in a better position to choose what games I wanted to get, and I really ramped up my collection in the late 2000's .

It's almost a shame now the mystery is gone a little, but back then, any snippet of PC Engine information I could get, I'd happily buy an entire magazine for.  Even one review.  I still have all my old magazines, in varying conditions, and I'm fairly certain I can identify what PC Engine is in each of them just from the cover.  I think I probably still have the old photocopy of the advert I purchased my first games from somewhere, with various games circled.

[Artabasdos]

Wow, memories.  Well I'm in the UK, and the first I really heard of the PC Engine was the GT.  One of the popular gaming magazines over here, C+VG, used to have a pull-out supplement covering portables, and the GT was clearly streets ahead of anything else, including the previously well hyped Lynx.  I remember seeing a review of Air Zonk and being blown away.

For me, the PC Engine was pretty much in the realm of things like the Super Famicom (until it was released over here) and the Neo Geo.  As an aside, I remember when Street Fighter II was released, and import companies were advertising import copies for... over £100 I'm pretty sure.

So all of these consoles, until the eventual (and overwhelmingly well recieved) launch of the Super Nintendo.  I don't remember the gap, but I want to say it was a year if not longer.

Then one day, I was with my dad, browsing the second hand type stores, when I saw, in a glass display case, a boxed PC Engine GT and 7 games for £70.  My jaw literally hit the floor, and I managed to persuade him to buy it for me as an early birthday gift.  I still think it's the best present I ever got.  I'm hazy on the date, but it would have been the 90's after the Megadrive had been going for a while.

My first bundle of games was:

PC Genjin 2
Sonson II
Shinobi
AfterBurner
Cyber Core
Altered Beast
And Bari Bari Densetsu.  Someone clearly knew what they were doing, these are fantastic games.  I later managed to pick up Hani on the Road, Street Fighter II, and The Kung Fu, for I think about £10 each from an import company.  At the time, I had no access to reviews, so I was literally judging by the cover at first.  Then when I got a job, Internet access and an ebay account, I got a few more, Puzznic, shubibin man 2 and Super Star Soldier, along with a Boxed Core Grafx.  After that I could read reviews and download ROMs, so I was in a better position to choose what games I wanted to get, and I really ramped up my collection in the late 2000's .

It's almost a shame now the mystery is gone a little, but back then, any snippet of PC Engine information I could get, I'd happily buy an entire magazine for.  Even one review.  I still have all my old magazines, in varying conditions, and I'm fairly certain I can identify what PC Engine is in each of them just from the cover.  I think I probably still have the old photocopy of the advert I purchased my first games from somewhere, with various games circled.

I've only known one person who owned a SNES as a kid in the UK. Almost everyone had a Megadrive or Amiga 500.

[soop]

Yeah, I was totally an Amiga owner.  I started with an Acorn Electron, went to Spectrum, and then briefly owned a C64 alongside it (which apart from Wonderboy I didn't really rate as much).  Then I sold both with all my games (a fair few) for £180, and my parents chipped in to get me an Amiga 500.  I was a lucky kid.

I only really got into consoles when they started to get stupid cheap.  Actually I had a Megadrive around the time the Playstation came out, and some games were still pretty pricey, but I used to travel all over the place via bus, and call all manner of stores trying to find cheap games.  Oh, and Trade-It, which was basically Craigslist in print format.

I got tonnes of NES games for around a quid BitD, and one memorable day, picked up 20 loose Megadrive games for £40 at which point they kindly chucked in Secret of Mana and Megaman X for the SNES I didn't yet own.  Still have them all, aside from a lot of the NES games and three NESs, but I've just been on a bit of a bender rebuilding my collection, and I'm actually pretty happy.  It was always one of my regrets that I lost those NES games.

[Artabasdos]

Yeah, I was totally an Amiga owner.  I started with an Acorn Electron, went to Spectrum, and then briefly owned a C64 alongside it (which apart from Wonderboy I didn't really rate as much).  Then I sold both with all my games (a fair few) for £180, and my parents chipped in to get me an Amiga 500.  I was a lucky kid.

I only really got into consoles when they started to get stupid cheap.  Actually I had a Megadrive around the time the Playstation came out, and some games were still pretty pricey, but I used to travel all over the place via bus, and call all manner of stores trying to find cheap games.  Oh, and Trade-It, which was basically Craigslist in print format.

I got tonnes of NES games for around a quid BitD, and one memorable day, picked up 20 loose Megadrive games for £40 at which point they kindly chucked in Secret of Mana and Megaman X for the SNES I didn't yet own.  Still have them all, aside from a lot of the NES games and three NESs, but I've just been on a bit of a bender rebuilding my collection, and I'm actually pretty happy.  It was always one of my regrets that I lost those NES games.

NES was before my time. Megadrive & Sonic was the popular thing around here along with SFII & Mortal Kombat. The Amiga version of SFII sucked hard.

[soop]

Eh, at least we had stuff like Cannon Fodder and Lemmings.  The Amiga was at its best when it did its own thing!

[Artabasdos]

Eh, at least we had stuff like Cannon Fodder and Lemmings.  The Amiga was at its best when it did its own thing!

Yeah. Apart from the limited amount of sound channels it is a pretty powerful system. I'd love to see how the Amiga 500 could pull off SFII if handled by Capcom, not US gold.

Oh, and preferably with the 2 button joysticks. That always hurt the Amiga.

[Ex_Mosquito]

Videogame centre also has a Facebook page with a few old pics. It's a pitty people didn't take more pics of things like this. It's the same for old UK arcades, the pics are few and far between. If only digital cameras were around back then

[roflmao]

That cassette tape artwork is awesome! I included video game music (and music/scenes ripped off anime vhs tapes) in mix tapes but never really did hand drawn art for the cases. I preferred to use digital software, and I bet it all looked super cheesy.

[SuperPlay]

...........PC Engine supplies was run out of Steve's front room prior to partnering up with Colin Diamond to become Console Concepts.

Correct :-) As well as the shop they had in Newcastle under Lyme, a second store opened later in Hanley Stoke-on-Trent.


@Digi.k Love your home made inlays

@LMS  Thanks for sharing your Console Concepts Membership card, I have not seen one of these in years

@Otaking Computer/Games shops in the 90's were the best, nice find with the Video Game Centre pics

[Ex_Mosquito]

I massively regret not getting sh*tloads of PCE games when I had disposable income and they were dirt cheap....those days are gone :/

I was mesmerised  by the PCE ever since I first saw it in the back of C+VG and following reviews in later issues, and also in the 'Complete Guide to Consoles' mags, specifically the yellow one. It really blew my mind how great the games looked compared to my Spectrum 48k and SMS. C+VG used to take some gorgeous RGB scanlined screenshots back then!

I got my first PC Engine in 93' (late I know.. ..) from KT Konsoles, specifically a Turbo Express with the purple converter to play HuCards. The next few years I amassed a fair amount of games, my good bulk coming from a random encounter when I was visiting an indie import shop in Swindon. I asked the guy behind the counter if they had any TG16/PCE games, he said no but he had a load at home he was willing to sell. Anyway later than night (I was visiting and staying at a friends house) he brought over a bag of about 15games, including: Ordyne, Parasol Stars, Soldier Blade, Dead Moon, Splatterhouse, Bomberman... all for £50! Later in 94' I picked up a white PCE and in 95' I got my Duo. It was never my main console back then for some reason (I was an idiot back then..) I have always been heavily 2D arcade style games but in 94/95 was the times when I got a cab and a RavenGames Supergun and started getting into arcade PCBs and pestering arcade operators in the local seaside (Barry) and the yellow pages for old PCBs from their storage units. Anyway, I sold off 99% of my gaming stuff in 2002ish (D'oh) along with it all my PCE stuff. Currently I have a briefcase setup + Everdrive and about 40 games and it's pretty much all I play on these days. My arcade cab has been neglected lately with it being in the corner of the living room and making me feel anti-social whenever I play on it, so I now have a CRT located underneath the main livingroom LED TV (hacked Ikea unit) for easy access. Besides, the PCE with its library of games being tough, short arcade style games is a great alternative to getting my arcade fix. I just wish I'd gotten a bigger collection when I had the chance and not neglected it Ah well. Here's my current PCE set-up.



DB15 converted Sega VSHG stick plugged into a padhack via the IC chip. The pad can still be used as normal. I can't play PCE shooters with the stock pad :/



My PC Engine Fanzine. This Fanzine is amazing! 95pages of reviews, cheats and detailed hardware info. Got this from KT Konsoles for the bargain price of 3 queen quids.

[Digi.k]

I think I used to have that sony CRT tv back in the day I had 14", then a 21" and a 30-ish before selling them all.  Used to love the design before going all Panasonic widescreen.

this is basically my setup at the moment

[esteban]

Criminiminal individual.
Criminiminal minimal. 

Godspeed to you and your minimalism.

I pretend to be minimalist, but 98% is hidden from view.

[JAPJAC]

What was the scene like back then? Was pce mildly popular? Which games did you guys own, or your friends? Any stories to tell?

It was very exciting times.  More people had JPN white PC Engines in my year and in the year above than anyone had UK PAL Sega Master Systems and Nintendo Entertainment Systems, and that's honestly true.  And it didn't seem that expensive either especially compared to the price of an Atari ST computer and its games.  Every schoolboy around my age in my town with half an interest in 'computer games' knew what one was thanks mainly due to word of mouth coupled with the really good magazines we had. 

R-Type pt.1 definitely was the game that made people really really care about the console.  However, R-Type pt.2 was bloody difficult to find for a long time right into the early 90s for some odd reason. 

At my school, Splatterhouse (also initially very expensive and difficult to get) was the game that everyone wanted, or at least wanted to play.  I remember when my best mate whipped out his GT and started playing this game in registration, even the girls (not being sexist) were crowded around watching him play it.  Also older kids from the neighbouring form came in to see what all the fuss was about.  Then came over our form tutor, wanting to confiscate the lot but then didn't as my mate told him how much it all cost (nearly 300 quid's worth Sir), and he wouldn't 'let' him, so he crumbled and didn't!  It was like a small, rare victory.   

I just wished I had taken photographs of the PC Engine gear in Shekhana's 221 TCR shop in their earliest PC Engine days.  Everything was running on RGB Philips CM8833 monitors, and the hardware and software was displayed behind glass counter top cabinets.  It was more akin to a a branch of Tiffany & Co..  And they were literally selling like hot cakes in front of ones eyes.  Harrods and Hamley's also had PC Engines in stock a while later I remember seeing.  But I'm sure that Shekhana was the first high-street shop to sell PC Engine in the British Isles?  They were already selling US NES games so the PC Engine seemed like a natural progression from that.  And Rhine Games (long forgotten) quite a while later up the road had stock of the PC Engine LT when it first game out.  It was 550 quid.  I was tempted, but the screen was utter shite even then.

I bought my PC Engine for Son Son II as I was a huge Monkey Magic fan and it just looked like the dog's bollock's in TGM's review.  And it was.  And it is. 

And the best thing was, the PC Engine was obviously never released in the UK really, and even then we knew, as children, that this made the whole experience even radder. 

Has it really been nearly 30 years? 

Cheers/乾杯/Santé! PC Engine!!:

[shubibiman]

What was the scene like back then? Was pce mildly popular? Which games did you guys own, or your friends? Any stories to tell?

It was very exciting times.  More people had JPN white PC Engines in my year and in the year above than anyone had UK PAL Sega Master Systems and Nintendo Entertainment Systems, and that's honestly true.  And it didn't seem that expensive either especially compared to the price of an Atari ST computer and its games.  Every schoolboy around my age in my town with half an interest in 'computer games' knew what one was thanks mainly due to word of mouth coupled with the really good magazines we had. 

R-Type pt.1 definitely was the game that made people really really care about the console.  However, R-Type pt.2 was bloody difficult to find for a long time right into the early 90s for some odd reason. 

At my school, Splatterhouse (also initially very expensive and difficult to get) was the game that everyone wanted, or at least wanted to play.  I remember when my best mate whipped out his GT and started playing this game in registration, even the girls (not being sexist) were crowded around watching him play it.  Also older kids from the neighbouring form came in to see what all the fuss was about.  Then came over our form tutor, wanting to confiscate the lot but then didn't as my mate told him how much it all cost (nearly 300 quid's worth Sir), and he wouldn't 'let' him, so he crumbled and didn't!  It was like a small, rare victory.   

I just wished I had taken photographs of the PC Engine gear in Shekhana's 221 TCR shop in their earliest PC Engine days.  Everything was running on RGB Philips CM8833 monitors, and the hardware and software was displayed behind glass counter top cabinets.  It was more akin to a a branch of Tiffany & Co..  And they were literally selling like hot cakes in front of ones eyes.  Harrods and Hamley's also had PC Engines in stock a while later I remember seeing.  But I'm sure that Shekhana was the first high-street shop to sell PC Engine in the British Isles?  They were already selling US NES games so the PC Engine seemed like a natural progression from that.  And Rhine Games (long forgotten) quite a while later up the road had stock of the PC Engine LT when it first game out.  It was 550 quid.  I was tempted, but the screen was utter shite even then.

I bought my PC Engine for Son Son II as I was a huge Monkey Magic fan and it just looked like the dog's bollock's in TGM's review.  And it was.  And it is. 

And the best thing was, the PC Engine was obviously never released in the UK really, and even then we knew, as children, that this made the whole experience even radder. 

Has it really been nearly 30 years? 

Cheers/乾杯/Santé! PC Engine!!:

Post of the year. I really like the way it all went the same in France and in England in the first months of the PCE. The big difference was when Sodipeng (a Guillemot / Ubisoft company) started distributing the PCE in France.

Bu the way, I was pleased to meet the founder of Sodipeng at our 30 year anniversary party last saturday.

[JAPJAC]

.

[shubibiman]

Yeah, that was pretty amazing.

[Digi.k]

What was the scene like back then? Was pce mildly popular? Which games did you guys own, or your friends? Any stories to tell?

It was very exciting times.  More people had JPN white PC Engines in my year and in the year above than anyone had UK PAL Sega Master Systems and Nintendo Entertainment Systems, and that's honestly true.  And it didn't seem that expensive either especially compared to the price of an Atari ST computer and its games.  Every schoolboy around my age in my town with half an interest in 'computer games' knew what one was thanks mainly due to word of mouth coupled with the really good magazines we had. 

R-Type pt.1 definitely was the game that made people really really care about the console.  However, R-Type pt.2 was bloody difficult to find for a long time right into the early 90s for some odd reason. 

At my school, Splatterhouse (also initially very expensive and difficult to get) was the game that everyone wanted, or at least wanted to play.  I remember when my best mate whipped out his GT and started playing this game in registration, even the girls (not being sexist) were crowded around watching him play it.  Also older kids from the neighbouring form came in to see what all the fuss was about.  Then came over our form tutor, wanting to confiscate the lot but then didn't as my mate told him how much it all cost (nearly 300 quid's worth Sir), and he wouldn't 'let' him, so he crumbled and didn't!  It was like a small, rare victory.   

I just wished I had taken photographs of the PC Engine gear in Shekhana's 221 TCR shop in their earliest PC Engine days.  Everything was running on RGB Philips CM8833 monitors, and the hardware and software was displayed behind glass counter top cabinets.  It was more akin to a a branch of Tiffany & Co..  And they were literally selling like hot cakes in front of ones eyes.  Harrods and Hamley's also had PC Engines in stock a while later I remember seeing.  But I'm sure that Shekhana was the first high-street shop to sell PC Engine in the British Isles?  They were already selling US NES games so the PC Engine seemed like a natural progression from that.  And Rhine Games (long forgotten) quite a while later up the road had stock of the PC Engine LT when it first game out.  It was 550 quid.  I was tempted, but the screen was utter shite even then.

I bought my PC Engine for Son Son II as I was a huge Monkey Magic fan and it just looked like the dog's bollock's in TGM's review.  And it was.  And it is. 

And the best thing was, the PC Engine was obviously never released in the UK really, and even then we knew, as children, that this made the whole experience even radder.

Just reminded me but there was also a games store in Walhamstow high Street that sold pc engine imports too.  They only had the very early namco games but I can't recall them getting new releases unlike Raven Games and Shekhana and CEX