NOTE: "Street Fighter Two DASH"—yes, DASH—is the proper, full title for the PCE port.
The Street Fighter II' Poster #1 (2600x1623 .jpg) ▼ announces a June release for one of—if not the—most highly anticipated PCE title of 1993. Recognizing a unique marketing opportunity, NEC hoped to capitalize on the inherent interest in Street Fighter II' to drive hardware sales of newly released DUO-R (03.25.1993) and the 2-year-old CoreGrafx II (06.21.1991). It was the perfect opportunity for NEC to boost sales for aging hardware—at this point, the original DUO was two years-old and the original PCE was five years-old…
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Street Fighter II' Poster #1. SOURCE: Gekkan PCE (1993 May)
Street Fighter II' Poster #2. SOURCE: Gekkan PCE (1993 June)
Street Fighter II' Poster #3. SOURCE: Gekkan PCE (1993 July)
DUO-R = REDUCED PRICE…
The newest iteration of the DUO hardware, the DUO-R (launched on 03.25.1993), was introduced at only ¥39,800, a significant savings of ¥20,000 off the price of the original DUO (which had launched on 09.21.1991, and was still retailing for ¥59,800). I am confused, however, as to why anyone would purchase the original DUO when the DUO-R was a sleek, new, cheaper option. Sure, if you wanted some features (such as a headphone jack), your only option was to purchase an orginal DUO model. NEC saved some money on the DUO-R by stripping away some options (the headphone jack + volume control circuitry) and, yes, the component/build quality of DUO-R may have been poorer (again, to save money), but NEC would hardly be touting the degradation of features in an advertisement.
So, how did NEC justify the ¥59,800 price tag on the original DUO once the DUO-R was released? Actually, this pricing structure might have been a simple marketing ploy: by keeping an older model on the market at its original price, NEC made the newer DUO-R appear to be a "bargain" in comparison. NEC was not concerned with immediately selling out of the older model (whose stock was probably very low, anyway).
Detail from Street Fighter II' advertisement…
RANDOM: An odd array of software is floating around the PCE consoles. LOOSE DISCS…Cosmic Fantasy 3, Burai II, Metamor Jupiter, Tengai Makyou II–Manji Maru. LOOSE HuCARD: Bomberman '93.
YUKO HARA: Japanese pop singer + educational interactive storybook = Nemurenu Mori No Chiisana Ohanashi.
COREGRAFX II = NO NEW PRICE REDUCTION: Speaking of saving yen, the price point for the base PCE console had NOT changed for two years! The last price drop for PCE was on 06.21.1991, with the launch of CoreGrafx II. The CoreGrafx II launched at ¥19,800 (a savings of ¥5,000 off the original CoreGrafx, which commanded ¥24,800 all the way back in November 1989). In other words, even after two years of increased competition from Sega's MegaDrive and Nintendo's SuperFamicom, the cost of a base PCE model held firm at ¥19,800—evidence that the PCE ecosystem had some life in it, yet.
COREGRAFX II vs. PCE SHUTTLE: Back in 1989/1990, before it was discontinued, the PCE Shuttle (¥18,800) was the cheapest option for budget-minded shoppers. However, the Shuttle could only play HuCARD's and provided no upgrade path (it was incompatible with CD•ROM2 hardware). The CoreGrafx and CoreGrafx II, in contrast, offered a full upgrade path to all CD•ROM2 hardware.
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