PC Engine Models

The PC Engine is a video game console, of which there are above average many variants. That’s why we’re talking about a console family with regard to the PC Engine. NEC and Hudson Soft, the manufacturers of the system, released these add-ons and (new) versions from the end of the 1980s.

• PC Engine (Japan, October 1987): Original version; plays only HuCards
• TurboGrafx-16 (USA, August 1989): Technically identical to the original; but larger and in a different colour (black) than the original housing
• PC Engine Shuttle (Japan, November 1989): Futuristic new design of the case and the gamepad; with additional AV output
• PC Engine CoreGrafx. (Japan, December 1989): Re-design of the original version; with additional AV output and minimal CPU changes
• PC Engine SuperGrafx (Japan, December 1989): Compared to the original version with quadruple memory and additional video chip; therefore with its own module format; also case visually revised
• PC Engine GT (Japan, December 1990): Portable version of the console with illuminated color screen
• TurboExpress (USA, 1990): Portable version of the console; with illuminated color screen; except for lettering identical to Japanese version PC Engine GT
• PC Engine CoreGrafx II (Japan, June 1991): Almost identical to the PC Engine CoreGrafx; but with the CPU of the original PC Engine version
• PC Engine Duo (Japan, September 1991): Hybrid from PC Engine and second CD-ROM add-on (Super CD-ROM²) with modified gamepad connector
• PC Engine LT (Japan, December 1991): collapsible “laptop” version of the PC Engine; with illuminated color screen
• PC Engine Turbo Duo (USA, October 1992): Hybrid from PC Engine and second CD-ROM add-on; optically slightly different from the Japan version
• PC Engine Duo R (Japan, March 1993): a visually revised PC Engine Duo, without a headphone output and with a different CD tray.
• PC Engine Duo RX (Japan, June 1994): Visually revised version of the PC Engine Duo R; modified gamepad with six action buttons
• Pioneer LaserActive with NEC PAC (PAC-N10/PAC-N1) (Japan, August 1993 and USA, September 1993): hybrid of disc device and video game console; reads multiple disc formats and exclusive “LD-ROM” format. US version almost identical to Japan version

It was not until years later that PC Engine titles were to be distributed as widely as NEC and Hudson Soft would have wished at the end of the 1980s. Ironically, a Nintendo console was responsible for this, the Wii. This enabled the easy download of PC Engine titles from 2007 via Virtual Console.