oldThe PC Engine (TurboGrafx-16 in the US) by NEC and Hudson was a small but powerful console and a huge hit in Japan. Famous for its CD-ROM add-on and mascot Bonk.
- Maker: NEC
- Since: 1987
- Play via: EmulatorJS
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▶King of Casino1990PC Engine / TurboGrafx-16
▶Space Invaders: Fukkatsu no Hi1990PC Engine / TurboGrafx-16
▶Battle Ace1989PC Engine / TurboGrafx-16
▶Final Match Tennis1991PC Engine / TurboGrafx-16
▶Final Lap Twin1989PC Engine / TurboGrafx-16
▶Knight Rider Special1994PC Engine / TurboGrafx-16
▶Final Blaster1990PC Engine / TurboGrafx-16
▶Toilet Kids1992PC Engine / TurboGrafx-16
▶Sinistron1991PC Engine / TurboGrafx-16
▶Son Son II1989PC Engine / TurboGrafx-16
The PC Engine launched in Japan in 1987, and NEC's compact white box immediately turned heads — not just for its size, but for what was inside. Built around a custom HuC6280 CPU and a video chip capable of displaying 512 colours, the hardware punched well above its weight and beat the Mega Drive to market by two years. In North America it arrived as the TurboGrafx-16, leaning into the 16-bit marketing wars of the era. What made it genuinely special was the HuCard format: thin, credit-card-sized game cards that snapped in and out instantly, and later the CD-ROM² add-on that gave developers access to real audio and far more storage than cartridges allowed. The result was a platform with a distinct personality — heavy on shooters, arcade conversions, and action games, with a library that spanned from 1986 all the way to 2008 as collectors and niche developers kept the format alive.
What made the PC Engine worth owning
The machine built its reputation on arcade-perfect ports that home consoles of the time simply could not match. R-Type is the textbook example — Irem's legendary horizontal shooter arrived on HuCard split across two cards, and it was the closest anyone had come to the coin-op at home. 1941: Counter Attack and Xevious: Fardraut Saga showed that the platform was a shooter paradise, while Ninja Spirit brought brutal, stylish action from the arcades. Detana!! TwinBee added charm and colour to the shooter lineup, and Vigilante scratched the beat-em-up itch. For something completely different, Space Invaders: Fukkatsu no Hi reimagined a classic, and King of Casino proved the library had room for oddities too.
Playing PC Engine games at OldGame.cz
Our catalogue lists 147 PC Engine titles covering the full lifespan of the platform. Of those, 64 run directly in your browser — no downloads, no emulator setup, just click and play. The remaining games are documented in the catalogue for reference and historical context; licensing on those titles means we cannot offer them for in-browser play at this time. The 64 playable games include some of the platform's finest moments, so there is plenty here to get stuck into straight away.