NEC'S SUPER GRAFX
(December 1989-1991)

The unknown Turbografx-16


If you are not sure what this system is this was intended to be NEC's successor to the popular PC-Engine (the Japanese Turbografx-16), the 8-bit Super Grafx. Although the PC Engine was doing well in Japan, NEC saw heavy competeition from Sega and Nintendo and their next generation machines. The Super Grafx was meant to be their next juiced up console to the answer the challenge from these more powerful game systems like the Mega Drive (Japanese Genesis) and the then upcoming Super Famicom (Japanese SNES).

Sadly, there are not many overall differences between PC Engine and Super Grafx. It has a lot old features like it's limited 256 max colours on screen, similar rapid-fire friendly controller and who could forget that is was still just the same old 8-bit hardware. There are some of the improved features like increased resolution and sprite-handing but that is hardly a good reason to drop about 350 bucks for a new console.

To help prove the power of the Super Grafx here, NEC released a new version of Capcom's Ghouls N' Ghost; a very popular arcade game which was also for the Sega Genesis. This new version of Ghouls N' Ghosts was so good looking that some people would say it looked just like the arcade edition but very few gamers actually cared about this aging title anymore in Japan especially when the Mega Drive version was just fine and at a cheaper price too. So with their killer app game not selling the system and the other games weren't not winning any awards either, the Super Grafx was never a huge hit for NEC.

The Super Grafx was not the huge upgrade we were all waiting for and the fact it was still an 8-bit system didn't really help matters for NEC since this was the system suppose to be the Super Famicom killer. The Super Grafx can still play PC Engine card games to for a added bonus but it also came with a much higher price tag than the original PC Engine which at the time was still fairly popular. Finding a Super Grafx and the 7 exclusive games can be difficult and if you do find one the price may scare anyone away so it is for hardcore game collectors only. The Super Grafx was only released in Japan and with good reason.

Overall system rating: 37/100 C'mon NEC, did you really think people like a game like Battle Ace?!
Find this system on eBay here!


RARE SCALE 6/10: The Super Grafx only lasted a weak year so finding this system and all five official games can be very difficult. This is definitely a rare console!


My Super Grafx reviews > >

The Super Grafx complete library
Rarity level:

*Common
*Uncommon
*Rare
*Extremely Rare
*Holy Grail


Super Grafx releases Publisher Developer Type Rarity
1941 NEC Hudson Shooter ER
Aldynes NEC Hudson Shooter R
Battle Ace NEC Hudson 3D Shooter UC
Daimakaimura NEC NEC Avenue Action UC
Darius Alpha NEC NEC Avenue Shooter ER
Darius Plus NEC NEC Avenue Shooter UC
Granzort NEC NEC Avenue Action R