I'm back again with another installment of Retro Rearview! This week, I'm going back to the year 1994 to take a look at the Japan-only system, the PC-FX!

Released by NEC (Who's probably more well known for the PC-Engine, which came to the US as the TurboGrafx 16) the PC-FX was quite a beast, packing 32 bits under its hood. And speaking of its hood, it's interesting to note that this system was probably the only one of its time to stand vertically (unlike today's consoles, where two of the big three offiicially support a 'vertical' stance.) which certainly saved space, and since most Japanese homes were already pretty small anyway, the more saved space, the better!

As for the system's games, the PC-FX didn't really have any big name titles like the Super Famicom (SNES), MegaDrive (Genesis) or PC-Engine (TG-16). Probably the closest thing it had to 'big names' were several licensed anime-based games:

• Ah! My Goddess
• Battle Heat (Read about this one in DieHard GameFan, it was an FMV-based fighting game featuring several different anime-style characters.)
• Cutey Honey FX
• Der Langrisser FX
• Galaxy Fraulein FX
• Return to Zork
• Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki FX

Unfortunately, the PC-FX lasted until 1998, so the system only saw around 60 games in its lifespan. Especially when you consider that it was going up against the 3DO, Saturn and the PSX, coupled with a lack of AAA titles (mostly dating sims and H-games) the PC-FX just couldn't keep up with the big boys.

I hope you enjoyed this week's Retro Rearview! Tune in next week for the last 'Classic Computer', and then get ready for a change of pace this June... Let's just say I'm changing things up a little bit in celebration of OLR's 8th anniversary! :3