M2 & PC Engine

If you haven’t heard of M2, then let me tell you, they’re emulation experts. The Japanese developers have had their fingers in so many pies that they must have a couple of extra pairs of hands; with work on both Sega mini consoles, the PC Engine mini and long lived Sega Ages series (to name but a few), M2 have established a mighty reputation for retro reproduction.

Now news has hit that emulation emperors have bought the software rights to all the games that NEC Avenue published on the PC Engine after acquiring them from Lightweight.

That’s quite a few games, but the software rights don’t necessarily allow M2 to start bringing classic PC Engine games to modern consoles. A lot of the games that M2 has gotten the rights to are created were created and are owned by other companies. OutRun, Space Harrier and Fantasy Zone are all on the list of software rights acquired, but they’re all Sega properties; so if M2 wants to bring these PC Engine versions of the games to new systems, then they will need to speak to Sega – as well as any other stakeholders – to iron out deals future releases. That notion doesn’t seem too far fetched though, and M2 must have bought these rights with at least some confidence that they can do something with them.

Here’s hoping that we see some more of the PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16 in the near future, because it’s a classic console that far too many people never got the fun of playing when it first came around. When the mini version released I got to see what all the fuss was about from those that had been there from the beginning, and I can tell you one thing, any more PC Engine is good PC Engine.

Playing videogames, writing about videogames, considering videogames—that about sums it up. Videogames are the one hobby that I’ve kept since I was only little, zapping ducks on the NES or knocking out MR. X. And when I’m not enjoying classics from the bit generation of games or checking out those earliest of polygons, I’ probably playing something from today’s age of modern gaming: if I’m not complaining about it.

Something I’m doing at the moment? Being impress by Project Firestart.