You will find two very distinct “forewords” to the many systems in the DP Guide. The first is the kind that throws a whole lot of facts and dates at you. Then there’s THIS kind, where stats never did the system much good, dates belie the system’s classic status, and this writer simply and plainly enjoys playing the thing too much to waste his precious little blurb on a history lesson. Welcome to my homage to the Turbografx-16.
You know, I’ve been around for the launch of just about all of the systems in the Guide as well as many others not yet considered “classic”, and I have a very similar story for each that pretty much always starts out with me waiting in front of a closed door to my local video game dealer on “opening day” to buy the new console. The story usually progresses with initial excitement, then boredom while waiting for new games, eventual satisfaction with the system and its library, and finally ends with a bang as the whole collection winds up underneath some eight track tapes, a magic eight ball, and my New Kids on the Block lunchbox and thermos set. But it’s so much different with the Turbografx-16. So very much different.
What mainly sets this system apart for me is that I WASN’T waiting for it the day it was first sold in the U.S. In fact, this system came along at a time in my life where I was just getting back “hardcore” into console video games after a long affair with my Commodore 64. Uneasy about the “next generation” of 16-bit machines and unimpressed with the Nintendo 8-bit system, I had actually spent several years alternating between my ColecoVision and Commodore computer. But this 16-bit thing looked so good in the ads. And the idea of three companies duking it out for superiority brought me back to the days when Atari, Mattel, and Coleco were bitter rivals. Oh glorious days, indeed.
Only this time, we had Nintendo, Sega, and a company I had only seen in the computer printer biz, NEC. By the time I decided to take the plunge, both the Sega Genesis and NEC Turbografx-16 had a fair game selection, and Nintendo’s 16-bit system was still waiting in the wings. After much personal debate, I settled for the Sega Genesis. Two days later, I bought the Turbografx-16, and a pattern formed shortly after childbirth - the purchase and collection of every major game system ever made - had re-surfaced from the ashes of my computer based lifestyle like the mythical phoenix itself.
In those early years of 16-bit gaming, the Turbografx was my clear favorite. I spent more late nights than I care to admit playing The Legendary Axe, a game that at the time I felt was the greatest action title ever made. There was Bonk’s Adventure, the game that made me realize that future wife Liz had some serious gaming talent. I remember watching her finish off a level of Bonk that I had days earlier given up on, and thinking to myself “this is the woman I’m going to marry”. I didn’t seriously think that at that time of course, but there may have been something to this... I DID marry her, after all. There were also Sunday nights at my house with my friend John. Sundays were pretty much always video gaming days with me, fellow editor Kevin Oleniacz and I spent the majority of the last 20 years’ worth of Sundays together in front of various consoles, but Sunday nights with John meant TV Sports Football, the best football game ever to come along for home systems until Madden for the Genesis simply blew us all away.
With all of the great memories of the Turbografx-16’s peak years, the ones that stand out the most however, were the ones that involve four or five of us bloodthirsty gamers. It was the Turbografx that introduced my circle of friends to simultaneous five player gaming, something none of us ever thought would ever happen but came along at just the right time. If I could express in words what it was like to play Moto-Roader on New Year’s Eve with a slightly blasted group of (normally) non-gaming buddies, or show in a picture Bomberman being played with the last guests at our ‘92 Halloween party (Ben Franklin, the Punisher, a California Raisin, and the Grim Reaper, I believe), I would do it. But it can’t be done. Some memories are best left unanalyzed. Suffice to say that there are probably more memorable experiences with the TurboTap than I’ve had with a dozen other systems combined. If you own a Turbografx and a TurboTap, you know what I mean.
Unfortunately, those memories weren’t being made by enough gamers at that time. The Sega Genesis was killing the Turbografx just months after I made the purchases, and it was the same old story: lack of third party software. Sure, NEC had Hudson, one of the most diversified software developers in the world leading their brigade. But Sega had Electronic Arts, Renovation, Taito, Tengen, and scores of others that were very prolific at a time when NEC had a shot at the glory. Instead, most of the software for Turbo owners was being enjoyed by overseas gamers playing their PC Engine (the overseas version of the TG-16). Furthermore, there was negative word-of-mouth by gamers who felt NEC was scamming the public because the Turbo wasn’t a “true” 16-bit system. I was always more than a little UNimpressed with NEC’s packaging as well - this wonderful credit-card sized game in a practical CD case enclosed in what I consider to be the ugliest graphic design ever to dis-grace the retail shelves. The artwork on some of the boxes look like third place at a seventh grade art contest (check the box for Dungeon Explorer for a textbook example). NEC just didn’t give it their all, it seemed. At least not here in the U.S.
Although the system didn’t hang around nearly long enough, it has garnered a loyal following. Rightly so, because especially in retrospect, this system did not get the credit it deserves. Hudson’s line-up of original software gave this system a personality, something that hasn’t been achieved since. When I close my eyes and think about this system, I see Bonk, Bomberman, JJ and Jeff, the weird villains from Bravoman and Chew Man Fu, and about a thousand other Manga-style supporting characters. The Turbografx-16 definitely has a Japanese aura, and I consider that a good thing.
Oh, about that loyal following. I must say that not only is the place I’m about to mention to you here the finest gathering of gamers I’ve ever encountered in one small forum, but I’ll go so far as to say they ARE a family. If you love the Turbografx or PC Engine, they will welcome you as one of their own. If you ever have any questions that can’t be answered In the ensuing pages, ask them. If you ever want to share your experiences with a group who will respond with similar excitement, post something there. You’ll be overwhelmed with their helpfulness and enthusiasm. It’s all run by a very class-act guy who goes by the name of “bt Garner”, the man seems to know everything there is to know about this classic video game system, and is doing a fantastic job at keeping the system’s fans together.
To hook up to the Turbo List, send internet mail to: turbo-list-request@joyce.eng.yale.edu with "subscribe" on the subject line or on the first line of your email. Tell ‘em you heard about it here