A little PC Engine LT love

At least once a year, I become a wee bit obsessed with the PC Engine LT.

I’ve wanted one of these sexy, laptop-esque portables ever since I saw a photo of one in an old issue of either Diehard GameFan or Electronic Gaming Monthly (or maybe it was Super Gaming, an EGM spin-off) magazine as a youngster, but I’ve never bought one because they’re so darn expensive.

That hasn’t kept me from dreaming about the day I throw caution–and my credit card–to the wind and purchase one, though. Until that day arrives, I’ll waste my time reading blog posts about and watching YouTube videos of NEC’s little gray wonder.

Speaking of the latter, the following video–produced by YouTube user futurematt5–is helping me get through my most recent phase of PC Engine LT obsession. (I wonder if that’ll be considered a diagnosable and treatable disorder when the DSM-5 is published in 2013?)

Here‘s part two of the video, by the way, and here’s (actually, go here and here) a series of videos in which futurematt5 attaches the PC Engine LT to the Super CD-ROM2 peripheral. Oh, and here‘s a fabulously porn-ish video that features “high-quality footage and close-ups” of the system.

Anyway, here’s to hoping that next year at this time I’ll be posting my own photos and videos of the portable system that futurematt5 says is the gaming world’s equivalent of an eccentric uncle.

PCE Review #6: Pro Tennis World Court

Game: Pro Tennis World Court
Genre: Sports
Developer: Namcot
Publisher: Namcot
Format: HuCard
Release date: 1988

Pro Tennis World Court is widely known–to 16-bit afficionados, at least–as “the tennis RPG.” There’s a good reason for that: Along with the expected singles and doubles modes, this Namcot-published game features a “quest” mode that tasks players with wandering the Final Fantasy-esque lands of the creatively named (or not) “Tennis Kingdom” in search of the “Evil Tennis King.” (I’m not making this up–check out this blog post for more on this title’s sad excuse for a backstory.) Before you can challenge this lizard-like baddie (he’s green) to a Nadal-Federer-ish face-off, you’ll have to vanquish a number of his minions in tennis matches of varying lengths. You’ll also have to upgrade your equipment (rackets, shoes and shirts–which boost your power, foot speed and ability to refuse challenges, respectively) using the winnings you receive after beating the aforementioned, randomly-encountered foes. All in all, it’s an enjoyably unique, if slightly unpolished (you’ll know what I’m talking about when you approach your first NPC), experience. You’ll have to be patient if you want to eke every last ounce of fun out of the game, though, as it starts rather slowly. Thankfully, things speed up appreciably once you update your gear a bit. Even then, Pro Tennis World Court (World Court Tennis in the States) never feels quite as slick as another well-known PC Engine title featuring fuzzy, yellow balls–Final Match Tennis–but its quirkiness at least partially makes up for it.

See also: Previous PCE Reviews