Celebrating its two-year anniversary, Gekkan PCE showed no signs of slowing down in 1991. Quite the opposite, in fact—the magazine looked to be expanding to stay abreast of PCE's growing popularity.
THANKS FOR YOU: Although three special issues of Gekkan PCE were released in 1988, the magazine officially recognized the January 1989 installment as its first "proper" issue. It is only fitting, then, that Gekkan PCE acknowledges their second anniversary with the current issue.
MPG (MULTI-PLAYER GAME)…
With the recent release of Bomberman (it was featured on last month's cover), the current issue includes a roundup of PCE's multi-player titles, including TV SPORTS Football. Wait…what!? Yes. Odd as it sounds, TV SPORTS Football was released in Japan.
ACRONYM: Outside of Japan, "MPG" never became synonymous with "multi-player game". However, when discussing fuel efficiency in cars, MPG (miles per gallon) enjoys wide recognition and popularity.
MPG IN JAPAN: Bomberman (top) and TV SPORTS Football (bottom) were released in both Japan and North America. If you are curious, the following games are listed under "MPG"…Bomberman (12.07.1990, HuCARD), Quiz Adventure (02.15.1991, CD•ROM), Final Match Tennis (03.01.1991, HuCARD), Champion Wrestler (12.14.1990, HuCARD), TV SPORTS Football (03.29.1991, HuCARD).
BIG IN JAPAN: How big was the market for American Football in Japan during the late 1980's–early 1990's? A better question to pose would be, "How small and insignificant was the audience for American Football in Japan?" Then again, when it comes to niche sports titles that support 1-5 players, we must not forget Appare! Gateball (12.22.1988, HuCARD), a croquet game for the PCE. Yes, a croquet game that was distributed by Hudson themselves (not a small third-party trying to differentiate itself with a niche title). Hudson's endorsement of a croquet game suggests that the PCE market was large enough to support niche titles like TV SPORTS Football (and later, TV SPORTS Basketball). Also, since croquet is a turn-based game, Gateball with five people requires a lot of waiting. The TV SPORTS series, to its credit, offers 5-player simultaneous play (and thus more fully realizes the promise of a true "multi-player" experience).
NICHE AUDIENCE: As it turns out, Japan has a longer, more involved history with American Football than I initially suspected. Some observers have suggested that, outside of the United States, Japan's amateur American Football leagues are some of the most robust in the world. So, perhaps (a) a small audience for American Football and (b) the dearth of genuinely cooperative 5-player games available for PCE might (c) partially explains why a niche title like TV SPORTS Football (and later, TV SPORTS Basketball) were released in Japan…but what was the full story? Well, let me suggest that TV SPORTS Football is not nearly as eccentric as other PCE titles. Indeed, if we were to expand our discussion of niche sports-simulation games that support up to 5-players, look no further than Masaya's Wallaby!! (12.14.1990, HuCARD). In Wallaby!! (Usagi no Koku no Kangaroo Race), each player assumes the role of an anthropomorphic rabbit who places bets on kangaroo races at the Wallaby Track in, presumably, Australia. The employees at the Wallaby Track are koala bears, after all. Sadly, Wallaby is turn-based, so expect a lot of waiting while folks are placing their bets. Also, since this is a sports simulation, you merely place bets and passively watch the kangaroo races. Suddenly, Gateball sounds far more engaging.
MEANWHILE, BACK IN NORTH AMERICA…
Just because "MPG" never became popular shorthand for "multi-player game" in North America doesn't mean that NEC did not promote multi-player games for the TG-16. Indeed, NEC included the flyer (below) in many games released during 1991. The flyer was only slightly smaller than the cardboard box TG-16 games were packaged in.
MPG IN NORTH AMERICA: Bomberman, Aeroblasters, TV SPORTS Football, TV SPORTS Basketball, TV SPORTS Hockey, etc. were among the 32 games listed.
TV SPORTS Baseball '92: Although the game was completed/close to completion (reviewers were sent EPROMS to review), TV SPORTS Baseball was never released in 1991 (when this flyer first appeared), 1992 (as expected), or otherwise.
TurboBoosterPLUS: In addition to upgrading TG-16's standard RF-out to composite video (with stereo), the TurboBooster+ supported game saves on the handful of HuCARD's that supported the feature. Instruction manuals routinely referred to this as the "filing cabinet" that stored game data. A rudimentary file manager allowed you to (1) view file sizes, (2) delete files individually, and (3) delete files en masse.
MPG: Multi-player gaming was one of the ways that NEC hoped to distinquish the TG-16 from its competitiors. Indeed, the TG-16 supported the five-player TurboTap upon launch. However, very few games supported 5-player simultaneous play. Of those that did, many were sports titles, a genre that is not universally appealing. As a result, MPG never became a crucial, killer-feature in North America. That said, Dungeon Explorer (one of the earliest games to support 5-player co-operative play) proved to be an exemplary archetype of the potential behind MPG.
Continued below…
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