The PC Engine Anthology from Geeks-Line - Book Review

Geeks-Line are a French company that have been going for quite a while now. I was already familiar with their work having received a copy of the N64 Anthology as a birthday gift from my good lady back in 2020. I really liked that edition so when I saw a Kickstarter campaign for a PC Engine anthology, I quickly pledged towards the project, adding extra for copies of the Super Nintendo Gold Edition (new edition too), GameCube and PlayStation Anthologies as well. The project hit its target in May 2021 and the plan was to have copies in the hands of supporters by July. 

Given the state of the world in 2021, that didn't happen. As the months passed, there were updates on the Kickstarter page and, with a few comms issues, I received three of the four books on the 17th of January. A quick chase up saw the final book arrive three days later. I know it hasn't been the easiest of journeys for backers or Geeks-Line but it does look like they're getting there.

So, with four books to delve into (reviews of the other three will be posted as and when I get round to reading them), I set about the PC Engine Anthology with gusto. 

Let's get the positives out in the open first. It's a glorious book. The physical quality, the sheer number of screenshots, pictures and diagrams, it all adds up to a stunning look at NEC's little console that could. 

The first fifty pages or so cover the history of the PC Engine and the PC-FX. The following two hundred plus pages cover every title released for the PC Engine, its CD add-ons and the Supergrafx. This section also includes the PC-FX library, unofficial and homebrew titles, and collector's/curiosities. Each game gets at least a third of a page, whilst some get a whole page. There are release dates, alternative titles, format details and the like included in each listing. 

The actual PC Engine hardware gets sixty pages and it's here that the real technical information and explanations lie. The sections on graphics and sound really do inform and they top off the regular edition well. You get pictures and descriptions of the PC Engine models, as well as a look at the Laseractive system and a focus on the different PC Engine specific publications. For those, like myself, who pledged for the Gunhead edition, you then get the accessories section, games that were never released and a section on "a different time", which takes a look at the more Japanese content(!) that would never have made it to the west. Box art gets nearly forty pages, whilst the long lost art of phone cards gets an airing. The last two sections are on the advertising of the PC Engine around the world and a collector's list of titles.

There is a stupid amount on content in here and it will suit any fan (or would-be fan) of the PC Engine to a tee. But it's not perfect.

Start at "The announcement..." This is the worst example but you get the idea.

You see, the English translation is, to put it mildly, problematical. In fact, in places, it's a mess. I've included an image of the worst section I can find, but in general it reads poorly. Past and present tense mix in the same sentences, there are more than a few typo's and there are even a couple of French colloquial terms (berezina and arlesienne are the two that spring to mind) that haven't been translated at all and require a trip to Google to figure out that they actually mean. There are also sections of text that are repeated, as you can see below:

I really don't wish to be too mean towards the team at Geeks-Line. They have managed to get a hefty and informative tome out in what have been difficult times. The quality and quantity of the information present is astounding and they should be congratulated for getting this book published. However, the state of the English language version of this book is a disappointment. It's not easy to read and it's not that pleasant to try and plough through. It is certainly not up to the standards of the N64 volume I have read or the brief look through the other volumes mentioned above.

I am in two minds about the PC Engine Anthology. It is a stunning resource on the console and the history of NEC's attempt at cornering the console market. I cannot fault the coverage of the games or the hardware, and those explanatory sections on graphics and sound are bloody useful. However, it is difficult to recommend the current English translation until it has been proofed again. Typo's, I can accept (you have read this blog before...), but the nature of the translation work makes this a very difficult book to read. It doesn't quite spoil it all together, and if you want a definitive, one-stop tome on the subject, here it is, but understand that you'll need to put a bit of effort into reading it and that you might be better off waiting for a second edition, one where they hopefully re-do the translation. 

You can check out the range of Geek-Line publications here and order directly from them. At a touch over £50, the PC Engine Anthology is a pricey tome but is of immense value to fans of the console and its software library. Just beware the translation.