NEC PC Engine

The PC Engine, launched in Japan in 1987, was a little marvel: a tiny console that punched far above its weight, pairing an 8-bit brain with graphics that could go toe to toe with the coming 16-bit generation. Its games arrived on slim cards barely bigger than a credit card, which only added to its futuristic appeal.

In Japan it was a smash, at times outselling even Nintendo, and a pioneering CD-ROM add-on pushed it further still, making it one of the first consoles to bring games on compact disc into the home. It was a genuine technical trailblazer.

Sold in North America as the TurboGrafx-16, it never officially reached Britain, and that absence only deepened its mystique. For UK enthusiasts the PC Engine was an exotic, much-coveted import, whispered about and occasionally glimpsed, and it remains one of the most beloved machines among collectors who finally got their hands on one.