PC-FX

The PC-FX was a 32-bit games console released in Japan by NEC in December 1994. It is the successor to the popular PC Engine. Being released after the 3DO, Sega Saturn and Sony PlayStation; the PC-FX struggled to gain a share of the market as the system was technically inferior to the other consoles on the market.

This was NECs fault. The PC-FX was shown to developers in the middle of 1992 however they were not keen on developing games for a new system as the PC Engine was growing in popularity at the time. So the system, dubbed ‘Iron Man’ was shelved. Later on NEC realised they would have to release a more powerful games console to compete but by the time they realised this it was too late so they made the decision to release the PC-FX anyway, even though it was technically poorer than all of it’s rivals.

NEC PC-FX

The PC-FX was much larger than the Sega Saturn and the Sony PlayStation, both of which were released shortly before it. The console resembled a tower PC and came in a dull grey colour. In addition to playing PC-FX games, the console could also play audio CDs, CD+Gs (Graphics CD ROMs) and Kodak Photo CDs. PC owners could also play PC-FX games by purchasing a PC-FX internal PC card

Although the console had a lower spec than most of it’s rivals, it did boast fast JPEG compression speeds, which resulted it the console having the best full motion video on any 32-bit console.

The included controller was almost identical to the 6 button controller which NEC released for the PC Engine Duo RX. Users could also purchase a mouse, which was needed to play certain games.

Since the console didn’t sell very well in Japan, it was never released in North America or Europe.

NEC PC-FX

The system boasted some interesting RPG games but there were also some interesting sports games like Super Power League FX and the strangely titled All Japan Womens Pro Wrestling: Queen of Queens.

If you fancy playing some PC-FX games, there are two good emulators available: MagicEngine and Mednafen.

Specifications

The console used the NEC V810 RISC 32-bit CPU, which was clocked at 21.5 MHz. The CD ROM had a read speed of 300 kb a second (2xCD ROM) and had a buffer of 256 kb.

The main system had 2 megabytes of main RAM, 1 mb of shared RAM, 1 mb of Operating System RAM, 256 kb of VRAM and 32 kb of back up RAM.

It also boasted 16-bit stereo sound and could display 16.7 million colours on a resolution of 341x240p or 256x240p.

The PC-FX also had 3 expansion ports. The expansion port at the front allowed a memory module to be inserted (known as the FX-BMP), which allowed games to be saved there instead of the internal memory.

To the rear was a SCSI IO expansion slot, which allowed the PC-FX to be used as a SCSI CD ROM. Finally, at the bottom was the 3D VPU expansion slot.

Complete Game List

Between 1994 and 1998 62 games were released for the PC-FX.

Title – Developer

Ah! My Goddess – NEC Home Electronics
All Japan Womens Pro Wrestling: Queen of Queens – NEC Home Electronics
Angelique In Wonderland – Koei
Angelique Special – Koei
Angelique Special 2 – Koei
Angelique Tenkuu no Requiem – Koei
Anime Freak FX Vol. 1 – NEC Home Electronics
Anime Freak FX Vol. 2 – NEC Home Electronics
Anime Freak FX Vol. 3 – NEC Home Electronics
Anime Freak FX Vol. 4 – NEC Home Electronics
Anime Freak FX Vol. 5 – NEC Home Electronics
Anime Freak FX Vol. 6 – NEC Home Electronics
Arubarea’s Maiden – NEC Home Electronics
Battle Heat – Hudson Soft
Blue Breaker – Hunex
Blue Chicago Blues – Riverhill Soft
Boundary Gate: Daughter of Kingdom – Pack-In-Video
Can Can Bunny Extra DX – Cocktail Soft
Chip Chan Kick! – NEC Home Electronics
Classmates 2 – ELF Corporation
Cocktail Pack – Cocktail Soft
Comic Road – Cocktail Soft
Cutey Honey FX – Datawest
Deep Blue Fleet – Micro Cabin
Der Langrisser FX – NCS
Detective Ladies – Head Room
Dragon Knight IV – NEC Avenue
Farland Story FX – NEC Home Electronics
Fire Woman Matoi-gumi – Tokume Shoten
First Kiss Story – Hunex
Galaxy Fraulein Yuna FX – Hudson Soft
Graduation 2: Neo Generation FX – Riverhill Soft
Graduation Real – NEC Interchannel
Kokū Hyouryo Nirgends – Micro Cabin
Kishin Doji Zenki: Vajura Fight – Hudson Soft
Last Imperial Prince – Nihon Application
Lil’ Red Riding Hood Cha-Cha – NEC Home Electronics
Lunatic Dawn FX – Artdink
Mahjong Goku Tenjiku – Chat Noir
Makeruna! Makendou Z – Fill In Cafe
Megami Paradise II – NEC Home Electronics
Minimum Nanonic – NEC Home Electronics
Miraculum: The Last Revelation – RayForce
Pachio-kun FX – Coconuts Japan
Welcome To Pia Carrot – Cocktail Soft
Power Dolls FX – Kodado Studio
Return to Zork – Datawest
Ruruli Ra Rura – NEC Home Electronics
Shanghai: The Great Wall – Activision
Sparkling Feather – NEC Home Electronics
Super God Trooper Zeroigar – NEC Home Electronics
Super Power League FX – Hudson Soft
Super Real Majhong PV FX – Naxat Soft
Team Innocent – Hudson Soft
Tekipaki Working Love FX – NEC Home Electronics
Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki FX – Micro Cabin
Tengai Makyo Karakuri Kakutoden – Hudson Soft
Tokimeki Card Paradise – Sonnet
Tonari no Princess Rolfee! – NEC Home Electronics
Voice Paradise – Ask Koudansha
Wakusei-Kōgekitai Little Cats – NEC Home Electronics
Zoku Hatukoi Monogatari – Tokume Shoten

Videos

PC-FX Commercial

The NEC PCFX

PC-FX Tengai Makyou Far East Of Eden Karakuri Kakutoden

PC-FX:All Japan Womans Pro Wrestling: Queen of Queens

Links