Wednesday, September 24, 2014

I'm kind of obsessed with the PC Engine's HuCard-based RPGs at the moment

Did you know that only a handful--as in, less than 20--of RPGs were released for the PC Engine in HuCard format?

The reasons for that seem obvious enough, of course--with the compact console's "CD-ROM2" attachment, which allowed developers to use higher quality music and cut scenes, hitting Japanese store shelves barely a year after the base system's release being the biggest one.

Dungeon Explorer

Were CD games cheaper to manufacture than HuCards? If so, that would be another reason.

Regardless, the lack of chip-based RPGs at least somewhat surprises me, especially when I remember how many games of that genre found their way onto Famicom cartridges and disks.

Jaseiken Necromancer

In a way, though, I'm kind of glad so few HuCard RPGs saw the light of day on the PC Engine, because it means it'll be far easier to play through them--you know, should I ever decide to do something stupid like that--than it would be to, say, play through every Famicom or Super Famicom (or even PC Engine CD) RPG.

Don't worry, I'm not planning to make that a goal anytime soon, although I am planning to pop two or three of them into my trusty PC Engine Core Grafx II sometime in the next few (OK, six or seven) months.

Necros no Yosai

The most like candidates: Cyber KnightDungeon ExplorerJaseiken NecromancerNecros no Yosai and War of the Dead.

Should any of you be curious as to the names of the other HuCard RPGs of which I'm aware, here you go: CadashDouble DungeonsLady SwordMakai Hakkenden ShadaMomotarou Densetsu IIMomotarou Densetsu GaidenMomotarou Densetu TurboNeutopiaNeutopia IISilent DebuggersSpiral Wave and Susa-no-Oh Densetsu.

Neutopia 2

Only a couple of these could be called traditional RPGs with turn-based battles and such, mind you. A good portion of them are action role-playing games of some sort or other, and a similar number are dungeon crawlers.

If I left any HuCard-based RPGs off of the lists above, by the way, please let me know about them in the comments section below, as I wouldn't be at all shocked to hear I've missed a couple.