Classic Game Room - TURBO arcade game review 

"The other drivers are unpredictable, irrational, insane, and they're all trying to kill you, so it's like driving in real life" I'm gonna use this quote, It's too good.

This game must have looked amazing at the arcades in 1981. It included many firsts, such as the first racing game to have different times of day and weather conditions. In addition to the two cabinet models he mentioned, there was also a fully seated/enclosed cabinet version. Also, the programmer was so stressed out about the deadline that he was "hospitalized for a month following its completion due to stress, exhaustion and a spontaneously collapsed lung." Yes, I like to read Wikipedia because this stuff intrigues me.

Looks suprisingly good for an 1981 racing game! But then again, Sega was always a specialist in arcade racing games.Never saw this back in the day, but i'm glad i've seen it now! The arcade cabinet must be a really rare item now.

Just picked up that cab at a garage sale for 200. Fully functional.... Just needs some love , cleaning and touch ups

this is a great game for its time..i actually own and am currently restoring one of the sit down/cockpit style versions as we speak..

"No wimpy break pedals..." "Hey brake pedal! ... You suck!"

Wow, there's memories flooding back. The tiny laundromat behind the gas station we got dragged to as kids for hours had this machine and Crazy Climber. We got two quarters and agonized over whether to play both or one of them twice. Needless to say I was never this good at it.

This was the 1st sega game i played. it was at my dads work. he showed me how to open it up and flip the switches for free play mode so I would play it for hours. it was the deluxe sit down version with a full cockpit so I would stay inside it all night long after closing time and drink choclate milk and tampico from the vending machine next to it.

Oh no...Lord Karnage has gone TURBO!

These arcade machines are always the best CGR reviews.

awesome.. love the external hi-score LED's. for 81 thats really sweet.

Love that led score counter :) Really gives the cab some flare

The scaling on Turbo, Buck Rogers and Subroc was *analog*. The sprite image data in ROM was fed into an DAC which was then drawn to the screen using a bank of 8 voltage controlled oscillators. The slower the VCO clocks were run the larger the image would be drawn on the screen.

I remember playing this in the arcade as a kid....I plunked down many o quarters.

I had this on the Colecovision. Awesome game back then

Great classic game! I'm sure everyone from the arcade era has pumped a few quarters into that game at one time or another. Used to play it at the "Fun Zone" at Balboa back in the 80's.

I've played in the sit-down cabinet version. Very fun game.

That game looks really fun to play!

100/10 it's Turbo-Tastic!!!

I remember playing the sit-down version in the early 80's. I was never very good at it! I hated going around the water tank and that kamikaze ambulance driver. The only racing game I liked at that time was Activision's 2600 classic Enduro, which might have borrowed the changing scenes and time of day from Turbo.

My local arcade in Fayetteville Arkansas. Arkadia. Has the sit down version of this game! It's so fun to try and beat all of my friends high scores, always stop by it when rotating through the arcade.

i love the score red counter at the left of the cabinet

This was my introduction into video games. Plus the Colecovision Turbo is a little tamed than the arcade version. It works well with the Expansion Module #2. Man I missed this. Thanks for the review and those memories.

This game looks amazing for 1981, Considering Pacman came out just a year prior.

Omg! I used to play that game at a 7-11 in my neighborhood when I was a kid!

For those of you in.. New Jersey!, there is a Turbo machine in Yestercades in Red Bank

This is still one of the greatest driving games of all time. Easily in the top 5, IMO.

Those graphics look turbo-tastings for 1981

My local Shakey's Pizza had the sit-down version of this game, and I would spend every token I had trying to master it. Never did of course. Great memories though.

If only there was more vectrex stuff for mark to review!!!!! Happy Christmas everyone!

Mark, you're not going turbo on us? If you die outside the game, its game over.

Never heard of this one. I'm very impressed with the graphics. I have to find the Colecovision version now.

I had never even heard of this game before. It looks incredible for the time!

Man turbo looks great!! Never played it. Its like a hidden gem to me

Super nice! Have not played that one in a very very long time.

I love sprite scaling graphics.

Emulating the interior of a car? Got to find a cockpit version of Hard Drivin'. Now, _that's_ faux emulation. Got to love them LED readouts. It's like the last of a very long line of 1900 era driving arcades. (I tried a search for some video footage. But, only found 'video' driving arcades instead of the true classics that used physical models, like the ones I saw at the Las Vegas Pinball Hall of Fame.)

Can't wait for the Chase H.Q. arcade machine review. I saw it to your left Mark, so you can't say it won't appear.

I have the colecovision version and it is very good. Just remember you have to use the steering wheel.

Classic Game Room. Easily one of the best Game review channels there ever was. Sadly, they are now a part of retro youtube.

I loved playing this when they had this at coopers. They had it for a year or two before they took it away. However every year on my birthday I go there to play centipede (cocktail model) that they have had seen I can remember. I always bring two dollars of quarters and excuse myself to play.

I spent so many quarters on this game when I was a kid

Which classic arcade racing game was it where you went into the tunnel & your headlights came on & you could only see the other cars within the lights? I thought it was this but its not!

This game was in the Rainbow music video, Death Alley Driver.

Haven't ever seen this game. Looks pretty awesome.

I THINK I saw this at an arcade back in the day, but i'm not 100% sure. At any rate, this game looks to be an overlooked classic!

Wreck it Ralph references incoming.

i remember playing initial D arcade, was really cool

Why does this remind me of Wreck It Ralph's villain?

I remember a Hills Department Store near my house with one of these!

I remember playing this at Barcade in Philly.

These arcade machines are awesome.

my buddy has 2 cockpit turbo machines, nice to see another fan

// I agree with Mark, old arcade/arcade style racing games are the best. Rad Racer and Outrun outdo Need for Speed any day of the week, at least in my books. Oh, and I think I saw one of these when I was on a trip to Cedar Point in 8th grade. It was broken sadly, as were much of the machines there. Monaco GP was there too, it was the cockpit machine and I really looked forward to playing it. So I put 50 cents into it expecting to have loads of fun... and instead the quarters were spit out. I mean it was on and seemed like it would work, that was just a tease to me. And since it was raining, the arcade was BY FAR the highlight of the trip. But man I wish Monaco GP actually worked. I have yet to see an SFII arcade machine and Dig Dug. I dig Dig Dug, just as Mark does. I mean, I've played emulations of it, but it's just not the same as an actual arcade cabinet. I'm going on 16, so trust me, I am not blinded by nostalgia. XD I just really love good games, old or new.

Great game! I thought it was Hang On for the Master System from the thumbnail though.

I believe that Disney Quest in Downtown Disney has a stand up Turbo Machine... although it could have been Spy Hunter

Not just this is a kick ass game but also the arcade cabinet have appeared in the video of Death Alley Driver by Rainbow, Ritchie Blackmore shredding the guitar and Joe Lynn Turner playing turbo, what more can you ask for?(well other than a vectrex)

Mark you have to do a review on that Chase HQ arcade machine beside Turbo!! It's a classic.

TURBOTASTIC!

nice! this is from yu suzuki?

Turbotastic!

This game makes me think of Enduro for the 2600 and that's not a bad thing!

Turbo-tastic!!!

I was lucky enough my family owned a colecovision with steering wheel back in the day

the sitdown one was even better must have spent a small fortune on that game

Looks like a brutal Enduro.

***** Just wait until you play the Colecovision ver! You will be BLOWN AWAY!

TURBO TASTIC!

That game looks very impressive of its time! But... Turbo... tastic? Guess this isn't a coincidence :3

My secondhand retro game store near me has that machine.

They actually have this arcade at a pinball place I go to.

I used to play this at my dentist's office years ago. Unfortunately the last couple times I've been there it seems the machine has fallen into disrepair, as well as their other machines.

Kind of reminds me of Hyperchase on the....what you don't know? The Vectrex!

The original hand held Turbo game was called Digital Derby by Tomy!!!! Remember that one! ;p

Turbo-tastic!

Used to have this on colecovision with the wheel.

At first, I thought this might've been the same game that was featured in Wreck-it-Ralph.

Is the the precursor to outrub

This is awesome.

This game is pretty visually impressive. (The preceding statement will not make sense to anybody raised after the NES days.)

There's also a Colecotastic version of the game for Intellivision

Is not the same Turbo from Wreck it Ralph?

WOW MOLES GOING TURBO

turbo-tastic!

And don't forget that Turbo was also the birthplace of the villain in Wreck it Ralph. (Spoilers... For a great film from 2012 that isn't really all that much of a surprise once you know everything.) how Turbotastic can you get?!

"TURBO-TASTIC!" :D

wow very impressive for 1981

i'm probably not the first one to say this, but... Mark. you're not going TURBO, are you?

Funny you say it is hard to find. If you are looking to buy one, I can find them everywhere. I have two cockpit models. Wanna buy one?

Marks gone Turbo!

You're not going turbo are you?

Still the best video game ever made IMHO. But I'm old.

Stupid autocorrect!! I meant turbo-tastic.

***** its been out for a few years allready but can you review GTA Vice City for iOS?

Omg didn't know turbo was real

this had the most advanced game graphics ever at the time.

ouaaaaouuu memories i was a verry young boy and now i m hold

I have the Turbo board game!

Reminds me of Activision's Enduro.

Turbo was the bad guy on Wreck it Ralph... From the game Turbo.