A PC Engine shooter by Quest. One of the rarest cartridges on the platform. The difficulty matched the price.
Magical Chase was developed by Quest and released for PC Engine in December 1991 — a horizontally scrolling shooter in which a young witch pursued magic items through colorful, cartoonish stages. The game was notable for its visual style — significantly more playful and pastel-toned than the dark, metallic aesthetics of most shooters of the era — and for its production quality, which exceeded many contemporary PC Engine titles. The game was produced in limited quantities and became one of the rarest and most expensive PC Engine cartridges among collectors, with prices in the thousands of dollars. A North American TurboGrafx release in 1993 is even rarer, selling for higher prices.
About this game
Magical Chase (1991) is one of the rarest and most visually stunning shooters on the PC Engine, starring Ripple the apprentice witch chasing the demons she accidentally released from a forbidden spell book. Its extreme scarcity traces to the bankruptcy of its publisher Palsoft at the time of release. What makes it a collector's icon goes beyond rarity: the game was created by Quest Corporation staff — the same team who would go on to produce Ogre Battle, Tactics Ogre, and Final Fantasy Tactics — and scored by Hitoshi Sakimoto and Masaharu Iwata, two of JRPG music's most celebrated composers.
Key Features
Horizontal scrolling shooter with a unique two-star-companion system: Topsy and Turvy orbit Ripple and can be positioned to provide directional fire coverage. Players can also purchase power-ups at mid-stage shops using coins collected from defeated enemies. The PC Engine version showcases exceptional parallax scrolling — layers of colorful backgrounds that move at different speeds to create convincing depth, a visual achievement rare on the platform. The witch / fairy-tale aesthetic stands in striking contrast to the mechanical or military themes dominating the shooter genre at the time.
Gallery
The Story Behind
Magical Chase arrived in November 1991, the same year that Street Fighter II would begin reshaping arcade game tastes and just before the 16-bit console wars fully consumed the market. Its publisher Palsoft went bankrupt shortly after release, limiting initial circulation dramatically. A reprint was later handled by PC Engine Fan magazine via mail order — but total copies across both runs remained small, cementing its status as one of the PC Engine's blue-chip collectibles. The development team's later trajectory — building some of the most critically acclaimed tactical RPGs in history — gives Magical Chase a biographical richness beyond its playability.
Tricks & Tales
The game's art director Hiroshi Minagawa later became a designer on Final Fantasy Tactics and Tactics Ogre for Square Enix. Composers Hitoshi Sakimoto and Masaharu Iwata would go on to score Vagrant Story, Final Fantasy XII, and many other acclaimed titles. A North American TurboGrafx-16 version was published by Turbo Technologies Inc. in 1993 — two years after the Japanese release — at a point when the platform was already fading, which further limits surviving copies.
Collector's Guide
Region & Compatibility
Extremely rare in both Japan and North America due to limited initial print runs. The TurboGrafx-16 North America version (1993) is also scarce. Original boxed copies command some of the highest prices in the PC Engine / TurboGrafx-16 collecting market.
Maintenance Tips
PC Engine HuCard — clean the edge connector with isopropyl alcohol. Given the extreme collector value, store in original box with insert. Inspect the HuCard contacts periodically. No battery inside.
Going deeper
Explore the machine this game ran on, and what to check before you buy or care for one:
What to Watch Out For
Before buying, these are the points worth knowing — from someone who handles original Japanese Magical Chase copies regularly.
Will this Japanese PC Engine game work on a North American TurboGrafx-16?
Not without a hardware adapter. The TurboGrafx-16's data bus lines are wired in reverse compared to the PC Engine, making the two regions physically incompatible at the cartridge (HuCard) slot level. A passive adapter such as the dbElectronics Turbo PC-Henshin bridges this gap for HuCard titles. For CD-ROM² software, the TurboGrafx-CD drive will run Japanese discs if they do not carry a software region check, but compatibility varies by title. In both cases, Japanese PC Engine software is designed for the Japanese market and carries no English text.
How should I store and clean a PC Engine HuCard?
Keep HuCards in their original plastic sleeves or a protective case, away from humidity and direct sunlight — the exposed gold contacts oxidize over time. To clean: apply 90%+ isopropyl alcohol to a cotton swab and gently wipe the gold edge contacts. Never blow on them — breath moisture accelerates corrosion. Handle by the plastic edges only, avoiding the contact strip. HuCards have no internal battery and no moving parts, making them among the most durable formats from the era.
Does this HuCard have an internal save battery?
HuCards do not support internal battery backup by design. If this title requires save data between sessions, it either uses a password system or requires an external backup peripheral (such as the Tennokoe Bank or Backup Booster) connected to the PC Engine's expansion bus. Check the game manual for the save method — many action and strategy HuCard titles are designed as single-session experiences and do not require saving at all.
Before You Buy
Things worth knowing before you buy Magical Chase
A short checklist for buying used PC Engine software wisely — useful with any seller, anywhere.
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Choose a seller who tests it before shipping
A copy that has actually been powered on and checked is a known quantity. An untested one is a gamble you only settle after it arrives.
Look for a seller who states it was function-tested and says what they confirmed. A serious seller can tell you exactly what was checked.
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Make sure it fits your console
Japanese PC Engine HuCards and CDs are not compatible with the North American TurboGrafx-16 — the formats differ. Use a Japanese PC Engine system.
Play it on a matching Japanese console or a region-free system, and confirm the listing states the region.
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HuCard or CD-ROM² — know which you're buying
PC Engine games come on HuCard chips or on CD-ROM². CD titles also require the right CD system and a working System Card.
Confirm the format in the listing, and for CDs check the disc surface and that saves are supported.
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Check that the contacts are clean
Dirty edge contacts are the most common cause of startup and sound trouble in cartridges of this age.
Choose a seller who cleans the contacts before shipping. A note that it was tested and cleaned means the basics were handled.
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Read the seller's reviews and return policy
A 100% positive record across thousands of sales is close to a guarantee — packing, communication and problem-solving all work for everyone. A return policy protects you if something is off.
Read the feedback and confirm a clear return window before you buy.
The last step before buying anywhere is knowing what it's worth.
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Rooms this game lives in
Wander deeper — explore the themed rooms where Magical Chase sits alongside its kin.
Memories from around the world
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