PC Engine
Ranked 17 of 29 game consoles by recommenders
Recommended for its fast 8-bit CPU, good graphics and well-made hardware that gives a stable picture. Critics point to a weaker colour palette than the Super Famicom and mistakes on the business side.
Recommended for its fast 8-bit CPU, good graphics and well-made hardware that gives a stable picture. Critics point to a weaker colour palette than the Super Famicom and mistakes on the business side.
14 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 13
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 93%
Recommended in 3 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 13 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 13 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 3 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Fast 8-bit CPU suits its games
“proved that outside of games that relied on high processing speed, 8-bit CPUs could give every bit as compelling an experience”
Comment from 9 May 2026 in “PC Engine CPU” “Going with a really fast 8-bit CPU makes much more sense than Nintendo's choice of going with a slow 16-bit CPU”
Comment from 8 May 2026 in “PC Engine CPU” “The PC Engine CPU is highly underrated.”
Comment from 8 May 2026 in “PC Engine CPU” Good graphics and hardware sprites
“a lot of them were actually very well made; decent graphics, tight controls, and fun gameplay”
Comment from 8 May 2026 in “PC Engine CPU” “The hardware sprites/scrolling is what makes it feel more arcadey a lot of the time.”
Comment from 8 May 2026 in “PC Engine CPU” “It definitely did have good graphics.”
Comment from 8 May 2026 in “PC Engine CPU” Well-engineered, attractive hardware design
“gushed over the console’s engineering and its releases quite frequently”
Comment from 9 May 2026 in “PC Engine CPU” “NEC made some great looking consoles, in Japan.”
Comment from 8 May 2026 in “PC Engine CPU” “such a beautiful little console”
Comment from 8 May 2026 in “PC Engine CPU”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Weaker colour palette than SFC
“could theoretically do more colours on screen, but only had 9-bit wide palette entries compared to the SFC's 15-bit colour depth”
Comment from 8 May 2026 in “PC Engine CPU” Mistakes on the business side
“due to mistakes on the business side of things”
Comment from 8 May 2026 in “PC Engine CPU”
Other game consoles people recommend
The four most recommended other game consoles, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Valve Steam Machine | 326 | 240 | 58% | 12 | 1 mo5 owners | — |
| PlayStation 5 | 121 | 181 | 40% | 12 | 3 yrs8 owners | — |
| Xbox console | 62 | 212 | 23% | 12 | 21 yrs6 owners | — |
| Xbox 360 | 41 | 19 | 68% | 12 | — | Approved |
| PC EngineThis page | 13 | 1 | 93% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
14 of the 15 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“PC engine as a console too”
“proved that outside of games that relied on high processing speed, 8-bit CPUs could give every bit as compelling an experience”
“gushed over the console’s engineering and its releases quite frequently”
“It definitely did have good graphics.”
“due to mistakes on the business side of things”
“such a beautiful little console”
“a lot of them were actually very well made; decent graphics, tight controls, and fun gameplay”
“could theoretically do more colours on screen, but only had 9-bit wide palette entries compared to the SFC's 15-bit colour depth”
“NEC made some great looking consoles, in Japan.”
“The hardware sprites/scrolling is what makes it feel more arcadey a lot of the time.”
“Going with a really fast 8-bit CPU makes much more sense than Nintendo's choice of going with a slow 16-bit CPU”
“Very solid little box that sips power and produces stable a/v output.”
“The PC Engine CPU is highly underrated.”
“actual 8-bit games on CD-ROM!”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.