It started here
FAMOUS SERIES WITH A PC ENGINE CHAPTER
Street Fighter, Castlevania, Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy Tactics, Bomberman. Each of them has a chapter on this little console. Here is what happened then, and where each series stands today.
Every link is stated as it really is. Some series were born here, others only passed through.
STREET FIGHTER
The first Street Fighter on a home console.
FIGHTING STREET
PC Engine
Capcom put Street Fighter in arcades in 1987. One year later it came home on a CD for the PC Engine, under the name Fighting Street. Ryu and Ken are the heroes, and Sagat waits at the end.
STREET FIGHTER 6
PS5, PS4, Xbox Series, PC
Street Fighter 6 came out in 2023 and still receives new fighters. In between, Street Fighter II returned to this console in 1993 on a 20 megabit HuCard.
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CASTLEVANIA
Symphony of the Night is its direct sequel.
AKUMAJŌ DRACULA X: CHI NO RONDO
PC Engine
Konami released Rondo of Blood on Super CD-ROM² on 29 October 1993, in Japan only. Richter Belmont goes after Dracula, and young Maria can be played too.
CASTLEVANIA: BELMONT'S CURSE
PS5, Xbox Series, Switch 2, PC
Symphony of the Night followed in 1997 and its story starts from the end of this one. The series is alive again. Castlevania: Belmont's Curse came out on 15 October 2026.
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METAL GEAR SOLID
Same author, Hideo Kojima. A character from his next game walks into Metal Gear Solid.
SNATCHER
PC Engine
Hideo Kojima's detective story reached the PC Engine on CD in 1992, with voices and a new third act. Metal Gear itself began on the MSX2 computer in 1987 and never came to this console.
METAL GEAR SOLID DELTA: SNAKE EATER
PS5, Xbox Series, PC
Kojima followed Snatcher with Policenauts. One of its characters, Meryl Silverburgh, returned in Metal Gear Solid in 1998. The latest Metal Gear is the 2025 remake of Snake Eater.
FINAL FANTASY TACTICS
Two of its makers went on to Final Fantasy Tactics.
MAGICAL CHASE
PC Engine
Quest made this shooter about a young witch and released it on 15 November 1991. Hiroshi Minagawa directed the art and Hitoshi Sakimoto wrote music for it. The first print sold out the same day.
FINAL FANTASY TACTICS: THE IVALICE CHRONICLES
PS5, PS4, Xbox Series, Switch, Switch 2, PC
Quest went on to Ogre Battle and Tactics Ogre. Minagawa and Sakimoto then worked on Final Fantasy Tactics at Square in 1997. That game returned in 2025 as The Ivalice Chronicles.
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BOMBERMAN
Five players on one screen, with the multitap.
BOMBERMAN
PC Engine
Hudson brought Bomberman to the PC Engine on 7 December 1990. With the multitap, five people could play at once. Bomberman '94 then added Louie, the animals you can ride.
SUPER BOMBERMAN COLLECTION
Switch, Switch 2, PS5, Xbox Series, PC
The battle mode became the heart of the series. Konami released Super Bomberman Collection on 5 February 2026.
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R-TYPE
Irem's arcade game, so big it needed two HuCards.
R-TYPE
PC Engine
Hudson converted R-Type for the PC Engine in 1988. In Japan it came out in two halves, R-Type I in March and R-Type II in June.
R-TYPE TACTICS I & II COSMOS
PS5, PS4, Xbox Series, Switch, Switch 2, PC
The series kept flying. R-Type Tactics I & II Cosmos came out in 2026.
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GRADIUS
Konami brought its famous shooter to the HuCard.
GRADIUS
PC Engine
Gradius reached the PC Engine on 15 November 1991. Salamander followed three weeks later, and Parodius Da! a few months after that.
GRADIUS ORIGINS
PS5, Xbox Series, Switch, PC
Konami released Gradius Origins on 7 August 2025. It gathers seven older games and one new one, Salamander III.
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WONDER BOY
A Wonder Boy game in disguise, on sale the day the console launched.
BIKKURIMAN WORLD
PC Engine
Bikkuriman World was one of the two games ready on 30 October 1987. It is Wonder Boy in Monster Land with the characters of a Japanese sticker craze in place of the originals.
WONDER BOY: ASHA IN MONSTER WORLD
PS5, Xbox Series, PC
The Wonder Boy family is still around. Asha in Monster World, a remake of a later game in the series, reached new machines in 2025.
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YS
Two adventures on one disc, with voices and recorded music.
YS I & II
PC Engine
The two Ys adventures came out together on CD-ROM² in 1989. The disc carried spoken voices and music played straight from the CD.
YS MEMOIRE: REVELATIONS IN CELCETA
Switch
Ys never stopped. Its latest release reached the West in April 2026.
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SAKURA WARS
Same creators. Red Company and Ōji Hiroi made both.
TENGAI MAKYŌ: ZIRIA
PC Engine
Tengai Makyō: Ziria came out in 1989 as the first role-playing game on CD-ROM. Its sequel Manji Maru became the best-selling game on the console in Japan.
SAKURA WARS
PS4
Ōji Hiroi and Red Company created Sakura Wars with Sega in 1996. The latest Sakura Wars came out in 2019.
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MOMOTARO DENTETSU
Japan's favourite board game on a screen stopped here early.
SUPER MOMOTARO DENTETSU
PC Engine
The series began on the Famicom in 1988. Super Momotaro Dentetsu followed on the PC Engine on 15 September 1989.
MOMOTARO DENTETSU 2
Switch, Switch 2, Japan only
Konami counts more than 20 million copies sold for the series. Momotaro Dentetsu 2 came out in Japan on 13 November 2025.
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BONK
The mascot who outgrew his console.
PC GENJIN
PC Engine
PC Genjin arrived on 15 December 1989 as the face of the PC Engine. He got two sequels here and a cousin from the future, PC Denjin.
PC ENGINE MINI
the mini console by Konami
He moved to the Famicom, the Game Boy and the Super Famicom under other names. A new game was announced years later and then cancelled. His first adventure came back inside the mini console of 2020.
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CRUSH PINBALL
The first table of the series.
ALIEN CRUSH
PC Engine
Compile built a pinball table crawling with aliens and released it on 14 September 1988. Devil's Crush followed in 1990.
ALIEN CRUSH RETURNS
WiiWare
Jaki Crush came next on the Super Famicom. The last table so far is Alien Crush Returns, from 2008.
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STAR SOLDIER
The shooters of the Hudson Caravan.
SUPER STAR SOLDIER
PC Engine
Every summer Hudson toured Japan with a tournament called the Caravan. Players had two minutes on that year's shooter. Gunhed, Super Star Soldier, Final Soldier and Soldier Blade all took their turn.
STAR SOLDIER R
WiiWare
The games shipped with the two-minute mode built in, so anyone could train at home. Star Soldier R kept the idea alive in 2008.
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SPLATTERHOUSE
Namco's horror arcade game, brought home.
SPLATTERHOUSE
PC Engine
Splatterhouse reached the PC Engine on 3 April 1990. The box carried a warning about its horror theme.
SPLATTERHOUSE
PS3, Xbox 360
The series returned in 2010 with a full remake. The classic games have also come back in Namco collections.
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Things people say that are not quite true
- Street Fighter started on the PC Engine. It started in the arcades in 1987. The PC Engine was the first console to get it.
- Metal Gear was born on the PC Engine. It was born on the MSX2 computer in 1987. The link is its author, whose game Snatcher came to this console.
- Final Fantasy began here. It began on the Famicom in 1987. The link is with Final Fantasy Tactics, through two people who made Magical Chase.
- Tokimeki Memorial invented the dating game. It came out on PC Engine CD on 27 May 1994 and made the genre popular. Others had tried the idea before.
- Langrisser began on the PC Engine. It began on the Mega Drive. The PC Engine got its own version later.
- Koji Igarashi directed Rondo of Blood. His name only appears in the special thanks. He led the series later.