I was 8 when I got my TG16 xmas of 89'. I was the only kid in my class that had the system and none of my friends knew what it was. I felt like I was the coolest kid because of that lol. I still remember the games I received with the system that xmas day, which were victory run, blazing lasers and vigilante. This system will always have a special place in heart.
My brother & I got a TG16 at EB in ~95. Didn't see any SNES games we wanted and the thing was only 20$ brand new! The only game they had for it was Order of the Griffon for another 20. Actually, for a single random selection at EB I couldn't have hoped for a better one as far as old school RPG's for the TG go. We were there looking for a SNES RPG. So all we ever had was that and keith scourage. For us it was the "leave at grandma's" console. Never got the love cause we never found any more games for it. EVER. lol. Keep up the good work, buddy. Cheers!
@@demonsty It's D&D 2.0 rules I believe so its old school, sleep is OP etc. It was fun, just get ready to make a few maps. If you liked games like pool of radiance or any of the gold box games this is as close as you can get to that with a TG16. It's very hard, I never could beat it, but my older brother did. I've seen bad reviews and good ones, it really seems to come down to whether or not you like old American style RPG's or JRPG's. This AINT a JRPG, but it does a great job resembling an American CRPG
My friend had a SMS; I got an NES. He got a Genesis, so I got a Turbo. Got Alien Crush and Blazing Lazers first, followed by Bonk 2, Devil’s Crush & Splatterhouse. Good times. Even Takin it to the Hoop was fun with its varied roster of players.
Nice memories SLX, for me the TurboGrafx was always the untouched prize behind the glass at Toy's R Us. Never really got to play one until the Mini came out. Awesome cool games on the system, good fun. 👍🎮
Oh hell yeah! I got my Turbo in the summer of 90 as well! It was my only system until the Sega CD came out & I had to have that as well! Upgraded to a Duo that year to as I worked at The Good Guys!
I've always felt like the single controller port didn't help, either. I distinctly remember my parents using that against me when I asked for one once: "how will you play with your brother?"
*taps temple* You don't miss having a second controller port, if you were an only child who didn't have any friends living close by! ...I made myself sad.
@@felixdaniels37 CD wasn't a bad idea on paper, don't forget stand alone CD players cost a lot in those days too, Sega's idea was cheaper games for the consumer with a boost in audio and graphics, basically a all in one system years before Microsoft thought of the idea, the problem was something that is true to this day, the consumer is basically stupid. They just want something simple not add ons, they get confused easily, they don't want to splash out extra for something even if they save in the long run etc.
Sega was all about the add ins at least the sega cd was somewhat supported. The menacer had like 2 games didn't even work on lethal enforcers. The power base convertor came out way after master system was dead in usa. 32x need I say more. 32x cd
It was good to hear that Legendary Axe tune at the intro. Definitely one of my favorite early games too and really should have been the pack in. It had really good reviews at the time too. I was the only person that owned one in my neighborhood everyone else had the Genesis or later the Snes.
A friend of mine owned one, and the first Bonk. Before I owned an SNES later in 1991, I'd play the SNES he owned at his house, and I freaked out when I see he also owned a TG-16, so of course I had to play that machine. That friend sadly passed from a heart attack a few years ago, he and I had some great times playing the SNES, and the TG-16.
@@Bloodreign1 He must have still been young like in his 40s, I’m really sorry to hear that. I wish I was still in touch with a couple of my friends that we spent gaming together like that during those days. And often wonder what they’re up to.
the PC-Engine actually outsold the Famicom (NES) for a while in Japan, while the CD add on remained competitive with the Super Famicom. Too bad it didn't catch on in the US.
Poor timing and marketing as well as a lack of the kinds of games Americans wanted to play. I like to compare the Genesis and N64 in North America to the PC Engine and Saturn in Japan, while also looking at consoles like the NES, SNES, and PlayStation that sold really well in both. The Japanese love their shmups, fighting games, and epic RPGs and Graphic Adventure games, often based on popular Anime. The PC Engine had some okay fighting games, but was THE place to play those graphic adventure games and RPGs, both of which really took advantage of the CD. Americans tend to like platformers, action adventure games, sports games, and, more recently, FPSs. The TurboGafx had some decent platformers and adventure games, but didn't hold a stick to the Genesis. The Genesis was also THE place to play sports games. Timing and advertising were also important. The PC Engine launched well before the Mega Drive in Japan, but the TurboGrafx launched around the same time as the Genesis in NA, meaning early Gen 4 gamers were probably picking between the two. Sega pumped a ton of money into early advertising for the Genesis, so it got ahead in that market. The NES/Famicom was still popular, so all Nintendo had to do was wait and put out a 16-bit console that did everything really well. The SNES/Super Famicom had everything everyone wanted when it came to variety of games. The fact remains, the full Japanese PC Engine library (including CD games) just wouldn't have been nearly as popular in the US as the US Genesis or SNES libraries. Too many graphic adventure games based on anime, too many shmups, not enough sports or really innovative platformers.
@@shootermcgavin1208 Even Legendary Axe or Blazing Lazers. Just not Keith Courage. Really, it came down to Sega and Nintendo having huge American offices and game developers. If it was going to sell in the US, it needed American focused games. It might have helped if they had sold the CD drive cheap and then pushed the Duo really hard. NEC needed to have CD game experiences Americans couldn't get anywhere else and not be more expensive than Neo Geo.
@@mscottjohnson3424 The lesson, ultimately, is never make assumptions about what your punters want. ASK THEM FIRST, or at least try to find out. That's why the Megadrive/Genesis was a hit, because it was precision-marketed to the tastes and needs of Western gamers in the late 80s and early 90s.
Yeah, EXCELLENT system. WAAAY ahead of it's time. Collecting PCE is on my bucket list, just barely below owning a 1988 Lambo Countach 5000QV. My desire for that system/games is comparable to that of my desire for an antique Italian Supercar... says alot about how frickin' cool it is!!! Lucky man! I'm mad jellous!! Enjoy! Take good care of her. When she's not in use, vaccuum seal it, with silica packettes. Stops the discoloration, and dry rotting progress (keeps CD's from cracking, due to age, to)... Hope you find that info useful! Stay safe, healthy, and blessed. L8r...
You know I just gotta say I'm impressed by how much content you consistently put out. Great episodes and it's exactly what we as retro gamers want. Keep up the good work and know that we appreciate you.
I really appreciate that he focuses on playing and appreciating old games. There’s way too much RU-vid focused on collecting and buying old stuff for purposes of accumulation.
@@dsgitlin Oh absolutely man. What I've disliked the most is how the RU-vidrs who once focused on retro games now only talk about the latest gaming news and show off their collections but don't actually play them and as the landscape of RU-vid has changed tremendously.
Here we are again - enjoying a cold beer in the middle of the night while watching The Lord of Sega. Things still arent so bad - in fact - they're good. Cheers.
I had Vigilante on the Master System, which in itself was a solid port - but the TurboGrafx 16 port was amazing. Very true to the arcade. It was one my favourite games as a kid. The console never really took off here in Europe. I didn't even know it existed until much later. Here it was all Mega Drive and SNES pretty much. But when you see almost arcade perfect ports of games like Vigilante and their amazing port of Street Fighter 2, it really was such a capable system for all its hardware limitations.
I was first introduced to the TG16 a few years ago when I worked at Stone Age Gamer. I had heard of it but never played it. Building and testing numerous Turbo Everdrives allowed me to truly appreciate the TG16.
Great times in September 1989 and over the following two years; first chose the Genesis but after a few months I traded three of my Genesis games to a friend who didn't want his Turbografx and had them both for a good while. Best Christmas ever was getting both Strider and Ninja Spirit; my dad let me play Strider (Which is what I was asking for) ahead of time and Ninja Spirit was a unexpected surprise. Legendary Axe, Blazing Lasers, and Dungeon Explorer were my favorite launch window releases for the TG-16. Like another person previously said; those glory days will never return, but we have our nostalgic memories.
Back then. That's like around $700 today. $400 was twice the price of the console itself. Imagine buying a new Xbox/Playstation for the price it is now and then buying an attachment double that price. That's basically what people did back then.
Never owned nor knew of anyone who owned a tg-16. But I do have fond memories of playing it at the Toys R Us kiosk as a kid, and later as an adult through Wii's virtual console service. Galaga 90 and Alien Crush were my favorites of those mentioned. Also loved the Bonk and Zonk games as well.
I'm really impressed by the library of the Turbo Grafx 16; I always thought that videogames lacked software, especially, quality ones. Thanks for removing the prejudice that I had about it.
I found my TG-16 at a flea market for $5.00 in `92 or `93. I lost my mind and tried to keep my cool when taking it to the front to buy it.... wondering if they were going to realize it should cost more. It just didn't have a plug, but I found a universal one at Wal-Mart. WHAT a great memory. I began hunting down and trading games for it the classified ads of the newspaper. Really loved that machine!
Believe me, that underdog spirit that Sega had to take on Nintendo wasn't in NECs corner. I loved TG16 for Blazing Lazers and Alien Crush, but JJ and Jeff was such an awesome game that lacked two player that you could be led to believe the system was not powerful enough. Add to the fact that NEC only gave you one controller packed in, the ancient rf cable attachment and charged nearly $50 for the Turbobooster, the Turbotap cost what a controller did or more, they were making it easy for Sega to outsell them. I consider my time with TG16 similar to my time with the Master System. We bonded, I saw the potential, but the company was much stronger in other regions and it was a losing battle here in the US. I still remember seeing a PC Engine in anime and Manga that I would entertain myself with and realized it was a phenomenon in Japan. Good video. Brought back memories of my wife and I playing some Chew Man Fu, which to play together we had to spend an extra $45, but it was worth it. I think later hardware developers learned you need to advertise your strengths because someone will advertise your weaknesses. Would have loved to see a Devils Crush ad back then. Something spooky AF.
I loved the Turbo Grafx 16 growing up. I wanted it because it had the best version of R-type; which is one of my all time favorite arcade games. They also had the CD-ROM add-on that I couldn't afford at the time.
I got the Turbo Grafx mini for Christmas last and have had a ton of fun with it. To me the TG16 has the same appeal as the Saturn, a console that was mostly ignored by the masses but has a ton of hidden gems on it.
Great video again SLX. From being Sega only, your channel has bloomed into the full gaming spectrum. I got an RGB modded pc engine 3 years ago and have built up a decent collection for it which is great. Parasol Stars, Soldier Blade, Bloody Wolf, Legendary Axe and Magical Chase are all amazing games you can’t get on any other console.
I was so jealous of my cousin who had a Turbographx 16. Eventually my family got one as prices went down as it never really had a chance in the North American market. We had Keith Courage, Devil's Crush, Golden Axe, Blazing Lazers, Vigilante, Victory Run and World Class Baseball.
I follow the spida1a channel, because he provides a lot of in-depth analyses about Turbografx-16 and PC Engine games (including the CD titles with enhanced music and voice acting). He also tries to take into consideration whether or not certain games are worth playing today. I remember that he didn't really like Keith Courage because of the levels without the armor.
Recently found your channel through either Rerez or Wrestling with Gaming and I’ve been hooked since! Seeing all the coverage of games from my youth is amazing man and the quality of your videos are phenomenal!
fascinating that point about the tg16 being an under powered system. i don't really recall that coming up in conversation with the other kids at school or in my neighborhood. there were a couple of tg16 houses on our block, but those guys eventually got gennys too. we all liked the tg16 games, but the genesis seemed to roll out more games and more than one of us could play at the same time. my preferred genre were shooters back then and it seemed like there was a new shooter to play every couple of months. while we now know the pce had an enormous library of shooters, the tg16 didn't cultivate the impression that it was a shooter console back then.
I love this little do dad, the Turbografix was my third system I bought back in the day, I like all the games that you've shown here. I love these games.
The TG-16, so many good games in Japan so few of them localized and released in the US. Way back then I owned a TurboDuo that I bought at a discounted price at EB. It was a way for me to more or less play the "greatest hits" of the platform since it was on the way to being completely discontinued. I even replayed Cosmic Fantasy 2 last year for the sake of nostalgia! Good times!
Before it's release, there were dozens of Turbo Grafx 16 kiosks set up all around the mall near me. Part of NEC trying to promote it no doubt. Me and my buddy played for hours, I remember being floored by Y's anime cut scenes, music and speech I became an instant fan. Although I didn't get a Turbografx on release I ended up getting a Turbo Duo years later.
I can't speak for anyone else, but here in eastern Canada the TG16 was only sold at RadioShack for the longest time and when it finally showed up in the major retail stores here the Genesis and SNES were already very well established consoles in homes.
I honestly didn’t know there were places you could rent TurboGrafx games lol. I knew Toys R Us sold them to buy but my Ma and Pa rental store “Video Value” and later “Suburban Video”, nor did any of my local Blockbuster videos. Haha. That’s great though. Also I’ll play the “I was just a kid and never owned one card” but for longest time I always thought Bonk was a pack-in/launch title. Mind blown! Great video Sega LordX! I may not always comment but just thought I’d say I really enjoy the videos you make! 🤘
Although I didn't end up with that platform bitd I still have a fond memory of seeing the console for the first time at a trade booth at Playland. Getting my turn with Keith Courage, in hindsight it was an odd choice but at the time it was a new exciting game. :)
One more comment. Motoroader was a favorite among my stoner group of friends. By then i had a turbo tap and 5 controllers. We had epic races all the way through all the upgrades. Yes the catchup mechanic was aggravating, but great memories playing it!
As a kid, it seemed retailers in my area only carried Sega and Nintendo. I only knew some of this stuff existed via magazines. Hence, its difficult to get an audience if your hardware isn't as easy to find.
Ahh, the PC-Engine/Turbo. King of the shoot-em-ups. I vaguely remember seeing a Turbo at a K-Mart back in the day. My real exposure only came via emulation and I really liked playing these games. Japan definitely got way more games than we did, so that also hurt. The Turbo is a good console to play.
Same here bro had my Duo RX for years original owner. Also got me an original turbo grafx-16 with cd player and goodies and a core grafx 1 and super grafx.
As much as I loved my Sega Genesis, I played the hell out of my TG16/Duo more from 1991-1995 (and then played the hell out of it some more in 1999-2003 before selling everything). Splatterhouse, Jackie-chan's Action Kung-Fu, Pac-Land, Dragon's Trap, Somer Assault, Bonk 1/2, Legendary Axe 2, and Soldier Blade got many many many playthroughs.
TurboGrafx was my one big blind spot of the 16-bit era, but after discovering many of the games through Wii and later Wii U Virtual Console, I've really come to appreciate the system. ...oh, and Keith Courage is actually based on an anime called Mashin Eiyuuden Wataru, but I feel like there will be at least 20 other comments saying that xD
I got to know this console through emulators and got really impressed with the graphics and the quality of some games for the era. Too bad it didn't do well in the west.
Sold my TG16 for a Sega Genesis. Still love Blazing Lazers, R-Type, Alien Crush and Bonk's Adventure. So much I, downloaded them on my Nintendo Wii. Bloody Wolf was a fave as well...
Love the TG16 content. I bought one with lawn money, cuz my friend had genesis already. Then my brother WON a genesis - just came in the mail one day. I said "Oh my god we have a GENESIS!!!". My brother said "No we don't i'm selling it". And he did. Son of a....
Seems like this platform had potential, but it just couldn't get the investment from developers to create a really great game. I mean, Super Mario 3 came from an 8 bit platform and to this day, its still an incredible game.
The cool thing in France was pce was imported as sold in japan and pretty popular here ! Remember seeing the GT in shops as thé Dream portab'e console back in the good old days.
My best friend got it so it was my first taste of "next gen" at the time. haha I was waiting patiently for the SNES but have fond memories of playing the TG16 at my friend's house.
Back in the day, I didnt really know about the TurboGrafx till around the end of its life in 93-94. I feel like they didnt really advertise at all till the TurboDuo was out, because I distinctly remember all those ads on TV and in gaming mags for it. But by then, hype for the next gen 3D stuff was coming out, like the 3DO and PlayStation. I also never really saw the machine, or its games in stores. Nintendo and Sega dominated the sales floor. I did eventually see a TurboDuo demo kiosk at Toys R Us around the time Mario Land 2 was popular on Gameboy (I happened to be at Toys R Us to get it). I distinctly remember thinking how ridiculously expensive the system was. But then again, I was like 10 or 12 with no money. I did have a friend who had one. And all he had for it was Bonks Adventure, which didnt seem all that appealing to me after watching him play it for 10 minutes. He never let me have a turn! He eventually traded it for a Genesis so he could get Sonic 2. Had I known about the TurboGrafx and all its amazing shooters, man Id have been all about it! I love that genre at the arcade and I didnt really get to experience it much as a kid till the early 2000s when emulation made those games accessible to me.
It's a real shame this system didn't take off here in the states. There were so many great titles that were only released in in the japanese market. Some of those titles might of been system sellers. If only they would have been better at marketing and had the courage to release them in the U.S.
@@kekeke8988 well if you really delve into the library especially the pc engine cd library you can find some gems. Personally some of the shmups were excellent an alot of them didn't come to the U.S. market. Too many to list here but if you do your research you will find the system had so many awesome games. Some examples I can list at the top of my head are Rondo of blood and street fighter 2 but there are many more!
@@kekeke8988 true but even without it there are still alot of good games! Also the all in one solutions like the duo duo-r duo-rx were a little more palatable as far as price but they were too late to the game.
