PC Engine SuperGrafx
» MANUFACTURER: NEC » YEAR: 1989 » COST: ¥39,800 (launch), £350+ (today, boxed), £200+ (today, unboxed)
The mid-generation hardware refresh is always a tricky task, and NEC’s attempt to pep up the PC Engine is one of the more miserable failed examples of it. While the PC Engine was doing pretty well in the Japanese market in 1989, the challenge from Nintendo and Sega was real. To combat these threats, NEC upgraded the PC Engine with a second graphics chip and additional RAM, allowing the console to display advanced effects including a secondary scrolling background plane. The SuperGrafx ultimately failed on two fronts. Unlike with the CD-ROM format introduced in 1988, there was no way for existing PC Engine owners to upgrade their consoles to play SuperGrafx software, meaning that they’d have to buy brand new consoles for a handful of games. Meanwhile, new PC Engine buyers could get the CoreGrafx for ¥15,000 less, and miss out on very little by doing so.