PC Engine Mini full games line-up has 50 games – includes 26 Japanese titles

Konami’s attempt to get in on the retro mini console craze is looking better than ever, with a mountain of super rare games.

The annoucement that there’s going to be a PC Engine Mini console got a bit lost in the hubbub of E3, but Konami has just announced the full line-up of games and it’s much better than expected.

The PC Engine, aka TurboGrafx-16, was released in the late 80s as a rival to the NES but continued on into (and arguably started) the 16-bit era, ahead of the Mega Drive and SNES.

It saw only minor success in the US, and had a very limited release in Europe, but was extremely successful in Japan, more so than the Mega Drive. As such it ended up with a huge range of games that many in the West have never heard of or played. But that’s about to change.

That’s where the PC Engine Mini comes in, which works in a very similar manner to the Classic Mini NES and SNES, and the upcoming Mega Drive Mini (let’s all forget the disappointing PlayStation Classic).

With all those mini consoles there were significant differences between the Western and Japanese versions, with several exclusive games on each. But not only is the PC Engine Mini almost identical but it includes 26 Japanese-only titles – although some of them are just Japanese versions of the same American game.

The only games that aren’t on the Western version are dating sim Tokimeki Memorial, which would be unplayable unless you spoke Japanese, and puzzle game Bomberman: Panic Bomber, which… we have no idea why they’d left out. But it’s not very good and there are already two proper Bomberman games, so it doesn’t really matter.

The most unexpected inclusion is probably Hideo Kojima’s Snatcher, which will be included in the Western console but is presumably entirely in Japanese. There’s no indication that Konami is going to try and translate it (there is an English translation for the Mega CD version, but they probably can’t use it) but it’s still good that they’ve left it in rather than take it out.

The list also includes 2D shooter Aldynes and Ghouls ‘N Ghosts, which were originally SuperGrafx games, which is technically different hardware than the standard model. So there’s clearly a lot of effort going on here – as you’d expect for a console that is very well regarded in Japan.

In terms of missing games, perhaps the most-high profile is Namco’s Splatterhouse. It’s also a shame Devil’s Crush and Gate Of Thunder aren’t included – although their sequels are.

Japan will also get a number of cosmetic variations and extra peripherals, including a Turbo Pad controller and a Multi Tap, but it’s unclear if they’ll be released in Europe.

Overall though it looks great and assuming the European release date is the same will be released on 19 March next year.

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