Games: PC Engine Mini is gaming's latest dinky do-over

PC Engine Mini

By: Konami

WITH the heirs to Microsoft and Sony's hardware now revealed, it appears the next generation of gaming will see what looks like a mini-fridge battle a giant Wi-Fi router.

But there was once a time when the most powerful console on the block was positively tiny, and following the success of the SNES and Mega Drive Mini, the latest dinky do-over resurrects this curio from Eastern climes.

While the great unwashed frolicked with their Super Nintendos and Mega Drives, a loyal band of Japanophiles sought out more exotic meats. The arcade-perfect Neo Geo was undoubtedly the Rolls-Royce of consoles, but in early 90s Northern Ireland you could buy a house for less.

There was a third way, however, in the diminutive form of the PC Engine from Japanese giant NEC. An 8-bit machine jacked with 16-bit graphics chips, the palm-sized underdog outsold even the NES in its native Japan, with those powerful guts giving its impressive library of arcade conversions extra punch.

By the time it arrived in America – complete with a horrible redesign – as the TurboGrafx, however, Sega had unleashed its truly 16-bit Mega Drive, and the poor old PC Engine flopped hard. Virtually unheard of on these shores, it was the first home console to offer games on CD and up to five-player jollies with hardware add-ons, and the new Mini is a treasure trove of classics.

Given the original console was palm-sized, it's not much smaller than its inspiration and boasts the usual features, such as display options, HDMI output and quick saves. Based on the hardware's moodier blue and grey livery, there are plenty of neat touches for retroists, such as the satisfying clunk and scratchy whir effects of imaginary games starting up while its controller is a Xerox of the original, right down to its callous-preventing autofire switches.

Stuffed silly with some of the diminutive pixel-pusher's greatest hits, a 57-strong menu curates both Western and Japanese versions of stone cold classics, from Ghouls 'N Ghosts, Splatterhouse and Bomberman to Castlevania: Rondo Of Blood and Parasol Stars.

The closest the console ever had to a mascot came in the cranially over-endowed form of cave boy Bonk, who channels the charm of Mario, while such cutesy platforming is offset by the darker charms of gothic pinball games Devil's and Alien Crush.

As the itchy-trigger-finger's console of choice, fans of bullet-hell blasters will be like swine in faeces with Soldier Blade, Lords of Thunder, Salamander and the undisputed king of shooters, R-Type.

Finally available to European gamers exclusively through Amazon for £99.99, the PC Engine Mini is an irresistibly tiny tribute act to one of gaming's best-kept secrets, and anyone who cares about console history needs this bad boy nestling among our hobby's rapidly swelling museum of miniature retro machines.

Exploring the NEC PC Engine (with RGB mod)