Originally known as the PC Engine 2 during production stages,[2] it was purported as a true 16-bit home console, featuring improved graphics and audio capabilities over its predecessor.

With only six retail games released that took advantage of the console's hardware updates,[3] the SuperGrafx was a commercial failure, selling only 75,000 units total.

None of the hardware advancements it possessed were carried over to later PC Engine models, such as the Duo & the LD-ROM² PAC for the LaserActive.

Compared to the PC Engine, the SuperGrafx has four times the amount of working RAM for the main CPU.

Features included integrated bankswitching hardware (driving a 21-bit external address bus from a 6502-compatible 16-bit address bus), an integrated general-purpose I/O port, a timer, block transfer instructions, and dedicated move instructions for communicating with the HuC6270A VDC.

Optional software enabled Direct D/A which allows for sampled sound to be streamed into any of the six PSG audio channels.

The SuperGrafx is backwards compatible with all standard PC Engine HuCard-format games in addition to its own.

Power Console (PI-PD7)[8] was an unreleased cockpit-sized controller that attaches onto the SuperGrafx unit itself, connecting via the expansion port on the front side.

The peripheral would have added numerous control options such as an eight-way joystick, four action buttons, a flight yoke with two triggers (one on each handle), a throttle lever, a jog dial, three mode switches, an LCD panel, an LED indicator, four additional controller ports and a numerical keypad.

In addition to these fives games, NEC Avenue also released Darius Plus as a standard PC Engine HuCard that offered slight enhancements when played on a SuperGrafx console.

One notable example was the PC Engine port of Strider Hiryu, which was initially announced as a SuperGrafx title, but was ultimately released as an Arcade CD-ROM² disc.