Usually, when you get a new-to-you console, you can usually find or remember the major games to check out. But what happens when you need something different to play? This is where the “Hidden Gems” come in. Our resident TG-16 expert, marurun, is back to take a look at what the TG16 has to offer.

Some of these TG16 games are flawed gems, but as the system itself was something of a hidden gem here in the US most of the truly great games have got their just desserts. Most of them, anyway. Here you will find a few additional, unheralded winners, as well as a couple wannabes that almost made it.
Read More About My Criteria For Hidden Gems
See All The Hidden Gems Articles

Action & Adventure

Obvious Choices: Bonk Series, Legendary Axe, Ninja Spirit, Splatterhouse, Strider, Castlevania X

Featured Game: Silent Debuggers (HuCard)
This first-person action game has you tracking aliens through a space station. There’s a sensor that pings out when you get close. The simulated “3D” corridor animation is a bit jerky but the graphics are colorful (in a creepy sort of way) and the music adds to the atmosphere.

Turbo2k’s Review:
“One of the coolest games for the TG16. You’re a “Debugger” assigned to investigate mysterious malfunctions on space station OHME. Relying on your buddy Leon and your sensors, your job is to seek out and destroy the aliens inhabiting the station before it’s too late. The eerie pinging of your sensors sets your heart racing. Be prepared to jump a few feet into the air when an alien jumps out at you attempting to eat your brain or other meaty organ.

The game doesn’t take long to beat, but the playability is so good that you’ll be playing this one years after you’ve beaten it for the 500th time. Smooth transitions for when you’re walking would be a nice touch. If you’re watching someone play it’s hard to tell if their character is moving backward or forward. The music does it’s best at making you feel ill at ease. Colorful graphics enhance this – almost, but not quite – 3D first-person shooter. “
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Featured Game: Beyond Shadowgate (Super CD)
An adventure game (King’s Quest style) that was probably also in co-development for the PC, but the PC version never game out. For once you can fight in real time by punching. Even when you have a sword. Ah well. Lots of good puzzles and an incredible number of interesting ways to die. Beyond Shadowgate is a creative and truly under-exposed entry in the adventure genre that most genre fans will love.

Universo PC-Engine’s Review:
“Icom Simulations games were usually amazing. Shape Shifter is a great example of Icom’s high quality productions, but it can’t really be compared to the magnificent Beyond Shadowgate, released only within the US, for the TG-16.

Prince Eric is the main character. His father, King Adam, was murdered while Eric was travelling around the world in search of wisdom. Eric returned, then, to his homeland, to meet with your sister Elizabeth, become a king and find out the murderers of his father. Unfortunately, he’s arrested by order of Royal Advisor Belezaar, convicted by murder and sentenced to death penalty on guillotine. His mission, now, is to escape from certain death and fight against the evil forces that are, now, in control of the Castle Shadowgate… in resume, the same “good vs evil” old story!

The common plot doesn’t compromise the game at all. Beyond Shadowgate reminds some beautiful AMIGA games a lot, such as “Universe”, in which strength and “brain cells” must be wisely used. The game structure is really good, with menus in which you can select special objects and actions, along with the normal character controlling. On action scenes, you can crouch and, also, punch your enemies really hard.”
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Featured Game: Somer Assault/Mesopotamia (HuCard)
Some people love this game and some hate it, but if one thing is certain it’s this game is weird. You are a combat-equipped slinky which can walk (slink) on walls. You navigate various levels to defeat zodiac-inspired bosses.

Video Game Den’s Review…
“Mesopotamia is an original and cute platform game by Atlus. Player controls a weird looking creature that moves by sticking one of its end to walls, in a way similar to a caterpillar or more precicely like those metallic string toys that can go down the stairs. The game is based on Zodiacal elements and counts twelve big stages with a nasty boss at the end of each of them. Many other weird creatures are also spreaded around each maze and are there to stop you. Your creature has an extra ring in its middle which can fire back at those ennoying things. To increase the challenge a little, the player mush reach the exit of each time within a time limit. When destroyed, some enemies drop special power-ups, like extra life, shields or the priceless super-speed or bouncing-shots options…

Mesopotamia is an interesting and somehow entertaining platform game. The string like creature is very well designed and the fact you can also stick to the inside of the maze adds an amazing depth to the game. However, some stages are very large and it is very easy to get lost and I personnaly hate the fact that the boss fight is included in the time limit. That’s much too hard… however I love the super-speed option allowing you to more the tinny pink slug at super-fast speed through the mazes. All in all, you will probably have fun playing Mesopotamia, the game is far to be a milestone in Video game history, but it hides some nice surprises and unusual elements and it is one of a kind.”
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Fighting

Obvious Choices: Street Fighter 2, Fatal Fury, World Heroes

Featured Game: Godzilla (Super CD)
The TurboGrafx-16 saw very few fighting games in the US, and Godzilla was the best of them. In story mode you are limited to Godzilla, but by defeating a monster in story mode you unlock it for vs mode. There are some “hidden” bosses as well. The animation is about standard for a 16-bit era fighter, but the music is streamed off the CD and the sound effects are pretty darn good. The graphics are also colorful and detailed, making for a good looking and good sounding game. Given what wasn’t brought to the US on the TG-16, it’s odd that this title was, but TG-16 owners should be thankful as it’s a fun experience.

Video Game Critics’s Review:
“The 16-beast line-up includes Rodan, Gigan, Ghidorah, Megalon, Hedorah the smog monster, and Mecha-Godzilla. The gameplay borrows heavily from Street Fighter 2, but the action is much slower and more deliberate. That makes sense when you consider we’re dealing with lumbering beasts towering over 60 meters high. Some of the more powerful attacks are tricky to execute (up, left, right, button?) but most of the basic moves are no problem. I especially enjoyed unleashing Godzilla’s fire breath, which you can direct at several angles. You’ll witness a lot of unusual attacks, like Gigan’s “chainsaw stomach”, or Rodan’s ability to generate tornados (I think I actually saw that in a movie once).

The only creature I found to be particularly “cheap” was the “Biollante” water monster, whose tentacles seem impossible to defend against. Incidentally, he’s not available in two-player versus mode. Health meters tend to deplete slowly, but since there’s only one round, the matches are ideal in length. The creatures look respectable enough, although I do wish they were larger. The stages are surprisingly sparse, and the one with the frozen ocean waves looks especially bad. There are a few surprises however, like when a building collapses under your weight, or seeing two other monsters fighting in the distance in the Megalon stage (just like the movie). The audio is strong, with unique digitized sound effects for each creature. Hearing Godzilla’s distinctive roar is always a treat, and the game’s sweeping musical score also adds to the overall experience. Godzilla’s gameplay may be too slow for most casual gamers, but fans of the big green lizard will relish every bit of this rare title.”
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Shmups

Obvious Choices: R-Type, Blazing Lazers, Super Star Soldier, Soldier Blade, more

Featured Game: Syd Mead’s Terraforming (Super CD)
This shooter has average gameplay but some interesting visual design. The game has good music and adopts a pre-rendered graphical style with designs by futurist Syd Mead, who is responsible for the backdrops of productions like Blade Runner, Time Cop, and Star Trek.

Universo PC-Engine’s Review:
“Terraforming is a futuristic 2D horizontal shooter, with astounding background graphics (though a little bit repetitive) and well designed characters. Its musics and sound FX are quite originals and fit well their respective sceneries. The gameplay is pretty good as well.

The game starts when your ship take off from a space station and flies towards a planet filled with lots of gruesome and dangerous creatures. You´ll have to struggle fiercely against them along seven stages, until you face a huge alien ship, the final boss. To help you on this difficult mission, you can use three different kinds of weapons and control the speed of your ship. Terraforming is not a hard game, but it´s pretty common to find it difficult when playing it for the verry first time. As soon as you get the proper rhythm to play it, you´ll probably find Terraforming quite easy. “
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Strategy

Obivious Choices: Military Madness

Featured Game: Vasteel (CD)
Working Designs made a bold move in translating this sci-fi strategy game. There’s lots of text there and it’s a huge game. There’s a war for succession and you get to pick which side you’re on. You move mecha units around on a map and when two battle there’s an action scene. You can decide whether you or the computer will control your units. This means however long and hard the scenarios are, you can make sure you always have a chance by taking control yourself.

Some battle between mismatched units can take a long time to play out, however. The graphics are decent and some of the backgrounds are really trippy. There’s quite a bit of digitized speech in this game as well.

GameZero’s Review:
“Most often I do not like to sit and spend long hours with simulation games, but Vasteel is an exception. With the many action scenes tied in with the sim, it is not only fast, but captivating. The game also has an incredible amount of voice. For example when you check information on any of the many characters, an incredible voice starts up telling you about the mech! Little touches like these really make this game a winner. The whole package is topped off by an excellent soundtrack. Vasteel is a Duo owner must have.”
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Featured Game: Lords of the Rising Sun (CD)
This game is hard to describe. It’s a slow-moving strategy game until something happens. Then it becomes more action-packed as you defend your castle or command troops. Not everyone will like it but it does hold rewards for the patient and the strategy fans. Ultimately, this game is like 5 games in 1.

Zzap!’s Review (of Amiga version):
“The game begins with the selected Minamoto brother – either Yoritomo or Yoshitsune – having three armies under his command. Use the map of the Oriental islands to direct forces from castle to castle, gaining alliances or storming castles wherever possible. Via the map, forces under your command can be directed along the country’s pathways to distant castles, monasteries, cities and ports. Ports provide speedy sailing to other ports while monasteries can top up supplies if asked nicely (a sword at the throat would be just as easy).

Taking castles and cities is one way to success and obviously increases your force’s power. A siege takes the form of a Gauntlet-style sub-game as the attacking leader fights through guards to kill the Keep guard and claim the castle.
But like Defender of the Crown, it isn’t all battling and slashing. There is a love interest, but she’s locked up in one of the Taira’s castles (the Emperor’s daughter, just so you know). Rescue her and please the emperor, gaining some honour into the bargain.
Battling is the other way to ultimate victory in which opposing archers and troops stare each other out across the battlefield, charge at one another, and massacre fellow Japanese. If the enemy retreats you can chase after the leader on horseback hacking down and trampling underfoot his cowardly men while avoiding rocks and trees. Fun indeed, providing you get through to slay the leader.
If things are going badly, Ninja assassins can be hired to kill a powerful rival, but if they’re caught it’s the old sword in the stomach routine for you. However, you’re not the only one who can play dirty and if a Ninja pops up make sure you’ve got your swords handy!”
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Puzzle

Obvious Choices: Chew Man Fu, Parasol Stars

Featured Game: Splash Lake (CD)
I consider this the best action puzzle game on the system. There are tiles suspended over water, held in place by pedestals. You are an ostrich-looking bird. You try to sink enemies by sinking the suspended tiles they walk on. You crack tiles by pecking them with your beak, and by breaking enough tiles you can sink groups of them, the taking enemies with them.

Tiles regenerate over time and some enemies must be dunked multiple times. This puzzler can get very fast-paced, has super cutesy music and great sound effects, and can be quite challenging on later levels, particularly when you run into enemy ostriches which can peck tiles in attemps to sink you.

Video Game Den’s Review
“Splash lake is a kind of puzzle game where you control a bouncing ostrich. You always start on platforms over a lake and you must clear all baddies within a time limit to go to the next level. To do so, you have to break up tiles by pecking them (some tiles are indestructible so be careful!) Any connected tile will break and any creature standing on them will end up in the lake ! You can also jump over enemies and gaps. Of course, a two simultaneous players option is available. I think Splash lake is a great and funny game. Once again this is the kind of game where you will find yourself playing again, and again, especially in two players mode. Quite addictive stuff. “
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Featured Game: Pomping World / Buster Brothers (CD)
Under-appreciated on every platform, really, and sort of superseded by the Buster Bros Collection on PSX and Super Buster Bros on SNES, equally hidden gems on their respective platforms. This is still an awesome game. Known in Japanese arcades as Pang!, you shoot wires up at the top of the screen to break large bubbles into smaller bubbles, occasionally grabbing a power-up to enhance your firepower or freeze the screen. Once bubbles are small enough they disappear when hit. You clear the board to move to the next round. Tons of fun, easy to figure out, and, while common, dying isn’t as frustrating as in many other games.

Video Game Den’s Review:
“Pomping World is the conversion by Hudson Soft of the famous arcade game originaly created by Capcom. The goal of the game is extremely simple : The players (or 2 simultaneous) have to clean up all the huge colored bouncing spheres on screen. But, in a way similar to Atari’s Asteroid, each time a ball is hit, it will split in two, and in two, and so on. So a standard ball can split a total of eight times. And if a ball, even tinny, hits you, you lose a life. Adds on top of this small creatures who wonder around and freeze your weapon for a short amount of time. Your only weapon is a sort of hook that can only be fired vertically. Power-ups of course appear from time to time to help you in your quest, from laser-guns, to freeze-time options and special hook that can get stuck to the walls. The game is split into different group of stages which all represent a different location in the world (this reminds a lot Capcom’s Street Fighters) like the Taj Mahal or Paris…

I do not really know why, but I have always loved Pomping World. It is a very simple design but two players games are very addictive and fun. This PC Engine version is just excellent. Graphics are well drawn and detailed (even if some sprites are somehow lacking colors compared to other versions ) and the animation works very well. Add on top of this great CD quality musics and a technically flawless conversion (the screen doesn’t even flicker or slow down when covered with dozens of sprites) and you get a version which very close (if not identical) to the arcade and even offer some surprises. “
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Pinball

Obvious Choices: Alien Crush, Devils Crush

Time Cruise (HuCard)
The TG-16’s forgotten pinball game. It’s very different from the Crush games with an almost post-modern board spanning horizontally as well as vertically and a focus on varied and interesting bonus games. It’s not as intense as Devil’s Crush but it definitely has a personality and style all its own.

Video Game Critics’s Review:
“This exceptional video pinball game features a huge board that’s as wide as it is tall. The up and down scrolling is smooth, although the side scrolling is a bit choppy. Time Cruise’s control is responsive, although the ball has been known to hesitate momentarily. A nudge button comes in very handy for emergency situations.

The time-machine style graphics are both attractive and original, but all areas of the table look pretty much the same. The pinball action is solid, but it takes a back seat to the numerous bonus stages that can take you either backward or forward in time. Each of these unique stages offer its own unique brand of fun, usually in the form of mini-pinball games. One requires you to guide a ball through a maze by tilting a board, and while it’s quite challenging, it takes too long and slows down the pace of the game. Still, Time Cruise has a lot of depth for a pinball game. It’s more playable than Alien Crush, but not as good as Devil’s Crush.”
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When you add a console to your collection, the first thing you want to do is get a handful of games to keep you busy with your new toy. However, most of us can’t spend afford to spend fat pile of cash for a few games. This budget-friendly list should help you quickly find which games will start you off well without emptying your wallet. (Prices listed are an average eBay price for US games, including shipping.)

Check out the other Cheapest Games Worth Your Time articles

Cheap Classics

Bonk’s Adventure: $8
Overall, the Bonk series is fun, light hearted, and has timeless game play. Throughout Bonk’s platform games you’ll be smacking baddies with your noggin and dive-bombing your enemies, head first. Bonk’s movement is a bit slippery, but once you adjust the game is quite fun. In addition to dive-bombing and head-butting, you can chew your way up cliffs with your teeth, swim up waterfalls, and spin around in the air to float (indeed, float) slowly down to earth by starting a dive-bomb, pulling back out, starting it again, ad infinitum. This defining TG16 game is one of the more common titles and can be found easily for an afforable price.
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Legendary Axe: $8
Legendary Axe is a side-scroller that features what looks like a dirty, ragged caveman with hand axe seeking to rescue his girlfriend. The action is a bit on the slow side but can be very challenging. Thankfully, the control is spot on.  Legendary Axe was one of the earliest TurboGrafx-16 games, but was relatively impressive for the time. The graphics haven’t aged well, but they certainly do the job. As The Legendary Axe was one of the more common and better selling Turbo games, it can still be found at a variety of vintage gaming outlets. Expect to pay between $5 and $15 for a copy of reasonable quality.
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Legendary Axe II: $10
The adventures continued in the aptly named sequel “The Legendary Axe 2”. The game was met with great enthusiasm both critically and from the gaming community, but didn’t quite achieve the same level of respect as the original. However, The Legendary Axe remains to be one of the crown jewels of the Turbo consoles, serving as a perfect example of the 8/16-bit hack n’ slash genre and just the sort of quality gaming experience the Turbo was capable of.
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Alien Crush: $9
Pinball was never as surreal as this. Alien Crush featured a creepy theme and set the standard for video pinball games. These classics have been inspirations for newer pinball games such as Pinball of the Dead and Odama while maintaining their status as solid games in their own right ever after a decade has passed. The title still hold up quite well by today’s standards and is a respectible value on the TG16.
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Neutopia: $9
Yes, Sega and Hudson both had their Zelda clones for the 8-bit era. While Neutopia is one of the most shameless Legend of Zelda clones ever created, from the birds-eye perspective, to the basic item-based gameplay, to the overall structure of overworld and underground labyrinth exploration, it also happens to be one of the best of the genre.
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Dungeon Explorer: $10
Dungeon Explorer builds on the concept provided by the arcade classic, Gauntlet, and actually improves on the depth of the gameplay by adding RPG elements and multiple locations to explore. If you’re a fan of Gauntlet then you’ll get plenty of enjoyment out of this, even more so if you’ve got a few like-minded friends.
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A Few Must-Haves Slightly Over $10

Ninja Spirit: $13
This platformer and ninja-love fest gives Shinobi a run for its money. The TG-16 keeps the graphics looking pretty close to the arcade original. In fact, even the music was a good port job. Back in the day, it amazed the gaming world with its precision graphics and quality game play. Ninja Spirit demonstrated that the TG-16 was capable of solid arcade ports, and they picked a great game to prove the point. Ninja fans around the world rejoiced, for the ninja action was good.
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Raiden: $15
This classic shmup title received an excellent arcade port on the TG16 and serves as a well-rounded shooting adventure that features two types of weapons and several powerups. Raiden in one of the most affordable foundations for the TG16/PC Engine’s strong shmup library.
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Turrican: $15
Turrican is a classic run-and-gun that is inspired by the level design and morph ball functionality of Metroid and the overall graphics design and weapons of the classic arcade title, Psycho-Nics Oscar. Unlike many other action games of its time, Turrican didn’t just force the player to complete a linear level, the real thrill for the player was to fully explore it and uncover every secret spot, hidden room and invisible passage.
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Bonk’s Revenge: $17
Unlike its predecessor, Bonk’s Revenge won’t allow players to rip right through levels with ease. There are a great number of enemies, as well as more intricately designed layouts that force the player to backtrack. Because of the greater number of foes, the designers have implemented stronger powerups and frequent opportunities to recuperate health. If you haven’t played Bonk’s Adventure, but are looking for a fun platformer with a twist, the game is well worth the investment if you have a TG16.
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Starter Picks For $50 Budget (TG-16 Only)

• Alien Crush: $9
• Bonk’s Adventure: $8
• Dungeon Explorer: $10
• Legendary Axe II: $10
• Neutopia: $9
• Total: $46

Starter Picks For $50 Budget (TG-CD w/ Super System 3.0 card)

• Gate of Thunder 4-in-1 SCD (Gates of Thunder, Bonk’s Adventure, Bonk’s Revenge, and hidden Bomberman) – $40
• Dungeon Explorer – $10 or Neutopia ($9)
• Total: $50

Note: Gate of Thunder is only available in the US as a combo CD. There was not a standard US release of Gate of Thunder.

Our resident TG-16 expert, marurun is back at it again (after writing TG-16 101). Much like on the 101 article, he did an awesome job writing just about every word in here. I just rearranged a few things and added some comments. Special thanks to the denizens of the forums at fellow enthusiast site pcenginefx.com. They also acted as a sounding board for our ideas for this article and contributed quite a bit of additional information and ideas.

The TurboGrafx-16 was generally considered weaker than its primary competitors, the Sega Genesis and the Super NES. In Japan, however, the PC Engine, what became the TG-16 here in the US, was originally released to combat the Famicom and be advanced enough to rival whatever would come later. Unlike the NES, Genesis, and SNES, PC Engine/TG-16 games didn’t feature additional co-processors or advanced memory mappers (possibly save SFII’ and the later system cards) and so the games were generally limited to the hardware in the system itself. Here are the games that pushed the hardware inside the little Engine that could (see the TurboGrafx-16 101 article for more) to the limit.

Street Fighter II’ (Street Fighter II Champion Edition)

Release Date: 1992

Key Technical Features:

• 20 mib Turbochip despite TG16’s 8mib “limit”
• Surprisingly-accurate arcade port
• Large sprites, smooth animation, & accurate color
• Exceeds the quality of Sega Genesis ports

What Makes The Game Special: The maximum size for a Hucard/TurboChip game is supposed to be 8 mib. Street Fighter II, by Capcom, is 20 mib packed into an over-sized Hucard. How did Capcom pack in over twice as much data as the supposed maximum? I have no idea! Maybe there’s a memory mapper hidden in there somewhere. All the home versions of Street Fighter II made sacrifices, with less colorful graphics, missing animation frames, and compromised music. The PC Engine version, however, was the best of the console releases until Super Street Fighter II finally saw home release on the SNES. It could be argued that while Super Street Fighter II is a better game, the PCE port of SFII’ is even better than the Mega Drive/Genesis port of Super SFII. The characters are all large, detailed, and have tight controls (assuming you have one of the later 6-button controllers released for the PC Engine). Sure, even the older SNES versions have better quality music (Perhaps the Hu-Card can’t produce the music as faithfully as cartridges can), but the graphic and animation quality of the PCE version can’t be beat. Capcom made magic.

Some of the backgrounds suffer a bit in the translation, but for the most part this game looks great. The colors are terrific, if not better than the SNES. The Turbo-Grafx 16 color palette is extensive and this is apparent throughout the game. The characters look lifelike and colorful, and the stages look like exact replicas of their arcade sibling, except some things have been cut out (like scrolling clouds or water overflowing in the tub in E. Honda’s stage). Overall this game looks great visually, and really compares favorably to the SNES and Genesis versions.

See The Game In Action: Gameplay Video Clips of Street Fighter II CE

Air Zonk

Release Date: 1992

Key Technical Features:

• High sprite count with minimal slowdown
• Vibrant, scrolling backgrounds
• Detailed soundtrack

What Makes The Game Special: Air Zonk is the side-scrolling shooter “sequel” to the Bonk series. Air Zonk teats gamers to a frenzy of graphical showmanship such as big sprites, tons of vibrant colors, huge explosions, detailed backgrounds and fleets of enemies on screen at once, only slowing down when you drop a bomb (collision detection ahoy!). The music, too, is quite detailed and is some of the best to emerge from the TG-16’s chip sound hardware.

The graphics are vibrant, colorful, and look absolutely amazing. The character design in the game is rather unique. As some of you may know, there was a popular series for the Turbografx, as one of the first games released was a game called Bonk’s Adventure. Picture Bonk with a space suit and a lightning bolt across his head, and you have Zonk, his weird, spacey nephew (I think.)
See The Game In Action: Gameplay Video Clips of Air Zonk

Parasol Stars

Release Date: 1991

Key Technical Features:

• High color count surpassing many SNES titles
• Large sprites
• High-quality soundtrack

What Makes The Game Special: If you want a demonstration of the TurboGrafx’s color capabilities, just take a look at Parasol Stars. The vivid sprites and backgrounds create a hue-filled environment that will rival those of some SNES games.

One of the many sequels to Bubble Bobble, this Taito gem, the first console game ever translated and localized by the famous (infamous?) and now defunct Working Designs, is an incredible game. It never saw an arcade release and the few computer ports were all based off the TG-16/PCE version, meaning that Taito created it from the ground up for the TG-16 hardware and it shows.

The soundtrack is probably the best of all the non-CD games and demonstrates, among other things, incredible tempo variations. It’s some of the fastest 8 or 16-bit music around at times. The game also has large, colorful sprites, and excellent gameplay. This action puzzle game could keep you busy for weeks if you give it the chance.
See The Game In Action: Gameplay Video Clips of Parasol Stars

Magical Chase

Release Date: 1991

Key Technical Features:

• Multi-plane scrolling
• Quick and colorful sprites
• A number of graphical effects

What Makes The Game Special: Magical Chase is the only game Quest Corporation created for the PC Engine. Quest, for those of you who live in a video game devoid hole, was the company responsible for creating the critically acclaimed Ogre Battle series. Magical Chase is a side-scrolling shooter in which you play a witch on a broomstick. (This concept may sound familiar to Cotton fans)

The soundtrack is pretty good, but what’s most impressive are the graphics. Colorful and fast moving, the sprites and animations are great, not to mention lots of other special graphical effects. Even more impressive is the multi-plane scrolling. The TG-16 hardware only supports a single background layer. Many games create parallax scrolling in the background by using layers of sprites or modifying the horizontal sync rate of different portions of the background (the latter technique was used extensively on NES to perform “fake” parallax). Magical Chase is commonly accused of doing the impossible (on the TG-16, anyway), so seamless and perfect is the multi-plane scrolling it exhibits.
See The Game In Action: Gameplay Video Clips of Magical Chase

Ys I & II, Ys III, Ys IV

Release Date: 1990, 1991, & 1993 respectively

Key Technical Features:

• Took full advantage of the CD medium’s capabilities
• Set standards for use of CD audio and cutscenes in RPGs

What Makes The Game Special: This entry could be considered cheating. The Ys games were action RPGs with some of the first animated intermissions, but they didn’t really stretch the system technically. At the time the first Ys game, Ys I & II , likely did stretch the current understanding of what was doable with the CD medium. In retrospect, however, other games have done most of what Ys did, but better.

There is one way in which the games truly stand out, however. The Ys games stretched gaming as a whole stylistically, with excellent CD music. The Ys games proved that CDs really did have a demonstrable advantage over cartridges. You can spin up the games as an audio CD and be almost as impressed as if you were playing the games. The Ys games pushed the medium (rather than the system) with quality.
See The Game In Action: Gameplay Video Clips of Ys

Akumajou Dracula X: Chi no Rondo

Release Date: October 29, 1993

Key Technical Features:

• Large, highly detailed boss sprites
• Fluid character and environment animations
• Castlevania’s musical legacy transitioned to CD audio

What Makes The Game Special: As Konami’s PC Engine swan song, Chi no Rondo is every classic Castlevania fan’s wet dream. 8 levels, 6 with secret bosses and exits, 5 with completely alternate paths to explore. 4 women to rescue, one of them a playable second character. That all makes the game great fun, sure, but what makes it stand out technically are the graphics and animation.

For a 16-bit game, the graphics are gorgeous, and they are almost right on par with Playstation’s Symphony of the Night (a 32-bit game). The game controls smoothly and all the enemies are fluidly animated. As you can expect from the best Castlevania games, the bosses are huge and use creative graphical techniques to create menacing foes that are unlike those in other games. Konami really let their art team go to town on this game and it shows. In my opinion it’s the best of the classic Castlevania games and is impressive even by today’s standards.

As for it’s production values, the sound is fantastic. While the sound effects are decent, the game really shines in it’s music and recorded dialog. Chi no Rondo also uses anime cutscenes to progress the story also (not the cheesy Saturday morning anime that is used in the series’ latest debuts).
See The Game In Action: Gameplay Video Clips of Akumajou Dracula X: Chi no Rondo

Gate of Thunder & Lords/Winds of Thunder

Release Date: February 21, 1992 & April 23, 1993 Respectively

Key Technical Features:

• Heavy use of parallax scrolling for pseudo-3D effects
• Creative programming techniques to work around technical limitations
• A rockin’ pair of soundtracks
• High color count

What Makes The Game Special: These two games are both Hudson shooter standouts. They both excel in terms of graphics and music in order to complement the well-rounded gameplay. These landmark shmups boast vivid colors and a solid frame rate throughout. The sheer amount of enemies and bullets onscreen, quite an achievement for what is essentially an 8-bit machine at heart.

Overall, the graphics are superbly designed with heaping spoonfuls of amazingly ingenious parallax scrolling. The enemy sprites range from multitudes of tiny ships to huge, screen-filling machines. The folks at Hudson even throw in some fancy graphical tricks to make the most of the system. And as TG16 expert, malducci states, “[The games] use dynamic tiles for cuts outs in areas were the Duo can’t do multi-scrolling planes (hardware wise), but it also decompresses the tilemap *and* tiles/sprites in realtime while the game action is happening on screen..” These creative hacks are what really make the most of the Turbografx’s capabilities and work around its limitations.

It is also worth mentioning that the Turbo version of Lords of Thunder has a significantly higher color count than the Sega CD version, which, once again, shows of the TG16’s capabilities.
See The Games In Action: Gameplay Video Clips of Gates of Thunder, Gameplay Clip of Lords of Thunder

3×3 Eyes: Sanjiyan Hensei

Release Date: August 7, 1994Key Technical Features:

• Some of the most impressive animation of the 16-bit era
• Relatively short load times

What Makes The Game Special: 3X3 Eyes: Sanjiyan Hensei isn’t your typical PC Engine games, but is instead a digital comic, based on the manga and anime of the same name. Much like the classic Dragon’s Lair game, 3X3 Eyes may not be very interactive, but if you have an Arcade Card in your system the animations are incredible.

This Super CD game utilizes the extra memory on the Arcade Card to reduce loading breaks and improve the animated FMV experience. Even though the game isn’t very memorable in terms of gameplay, it gives its FMV competition on the Sega CD a run for its money.
See The Game In Action: Intro Video Clip of 3×3 Eyes

Ginga Fukei Densetsu: Sapphire

Release Date: November 24, 1995

Key Technical Features:

• Pre-rendered 3D-like sprites
• Fluid animations with high frame rate
• Background layers to give 3D effects

What Makes The Game Special: Hudson’s shooters are always well-received, whether developed by Hudson themselves or gifted contractors. This legendarily-expensive Turbo Duo game isn’t overly challenging, but it will impress you with its technical prowess. As a late-era Turbo-Duo import that makes the most a massive RAM expansion to provide plenty of frames of animation for the game’s colorful sprites and lots of background tiles.

Sapphire uses just about every trick you’ve heard of for the system, and it throws in an idea or two of its own. The backgrounds change layers dynamically, and in a couple of places, there are some cool pseudo 3D distortion effects and other tile animation effects. In the background of the first level, for example, are holographic-looking billboards that animate quite fluidly. When you approach some tall buildings in the background the game uses warping effects to make it look like the building is in 3D. The best one is probably in the middle section of stage four, where you fly through a dark hallway, and the floor tiles in front of your ship illuminate in a way similar to 3D light-shading.

The sheer number of sprites in this game also gets fairly high in several places, and it looks like there is a lot of complicated game logic behind them all. The bosses consist of massive, Donkey Kong Country-style pre-rendered 3D sprites, but are animated so fluidly that some people claim the system is doing 3D in real-time (which is flattering but not true.) Even more impressive is that the two-player simultaneous gameplay remains flicker-free with all of these effects going on.
See The Game In Action: Gameplay Video Clips of Sapphire

Strider

Release Date: 1994

Key Technical Features:

• Impressive arcade-authentic port
• Used the Arcade Card’s extra memory for top-notch sprite animation
• New cutscene artwork

What Makes The Game Special: What’s this? Another Capcom arcade port? And this one is an Arcade CD game? Well, sounds like we’re in for a ride. This side-scrolling platform action game was a blast in the arcades and even in its early Genesis appearance, but with the extra memory of the Arcade Card Capcom decided to go nuts. This conversion is probably the best of any of the home consoles and certainly seems darn similar to the arcade original.

Graphically true to the original, and playing every bit as well as its arcade parent, Strider was a convincing argument for PC Engine owners to shell out for the CD add-on if they had not already done so. The Sega Genesis port apparently featured higher resolution, but the PC Engine version was still rock-solid and had CD-based music to round out the package.

Some extra little bonuses for the PC Engine: Every level has a cutscene with different art and voices than the arcade version, plus boss characters give short speeches, complete with portraits, before you fight them. However, the most significant addition is an entirely new level exclusive to the PC Engine.
See The Game In Action: Cinema Video Clips of Strider

Arcade CD Neo Geo ports (Art of Fighting, Fatal Fury 2, Fatal Fury Special, World Heroes 2)

Release Date: All released in late 1994

Key Technical Features:

• Reproducing the Neo-Geo’s large and detailed sprites reasonably well
• The “Zoom” effect that other home ports couldn’t pull off.

What Makes These Games Special: I know, I’ve lumped as many games in here as I did for the Ys entry. You have my apologies. But these all belong on the list and they all belong together. These are the best home conversions of the Neo Geo originals until the Playstation and Saturn hit the scene.

While the Arcade CD is not a replacement for the mighty Neo-Geo, I can’t help but look at these quality ports as interesting technical demos for the console. The animations are intact throughout the game, the soundtracks are identical to the Neo Geo CD soundtracks, and the gameplay is spot on (if you have a 6 button controller, anyway). In fact, some of them even do the scaling trick the Neo Geo did. In Art of Fighting, when you jump in close to your opponent, the screen zooms in close and your characters become huge!  It isn’t exactly as flawless of a movement as the SNK original since Art of Fighting actually does a resolution change in order to simulate the zoom in and out, but it does it is pretty convincing.

These Neo Geo ports are the crowning jewel in the PC Engine’s game collection, filling in the gaps by making the last few years of the PC Engine fighter-filled. The PC Engine isn’t just for shooters and platformers any more.
See The Games In Action: Gameplay Video Clips of the Neo Geo Ports

Honorable Mentions

• Champions Forever Boxing – While most of the games on this list are discussed because of visual excellence, Champions Forever Boxing is worthy of praise because of its excellent audio quality. The music and sound use, exclusively it seems, digitized samples. And the voices are of relatively good quality. The title screen music actually has a few lyrics here and there. Definitely a demonstration of the TG-16’s handling capabilities for digitized audio.
• Forgotten Worlds - The overlooked Capcom arcade port absolutely blows away the Sega Genesis port.
• Dungeon Explorer - This fan favorite features some of the best HuCard audio.
• Soldier Blade – Yet another one of the gorgeous shmups on the TG16. It doesn’t do any one thing especially spectacular, but it’s just so pretty!
• Gulliver Boy- because the custom huVideo routine manages to squeeze a lot out of a single speed CDROM unit without a co-processor. The game also uses the arcade card(if present) as a buffer to removed redundant loading from the CD unit.
• Faceball – This cool little game is like a First Person Shooter meets Giant Smiley Faces. This multiplatform title served as a neat techincal
• Falcon and Gunboat – both feature realtime polygon 3D graphics. They’re not very good 3D graphics, but its still polygons on a TG-16.
• Seirei Senshi Spriggan – This game manages to squeeze alot out the small 64k that the original CD system card used. Even better than some Super CDROM games that use 256k.
• Vasteel – This gem does a lot with cool background effects during the one-on-one fights.

Our resident TG-16 expert, marurun is back at it again (after writing TG-16 101). Much like on the 101 article, he did an awesome job writing just about every word in here. I just rearranged a few things and added some comments. I hope you enjoy learning about this somewhat forgotten gaming machine. (Special thanks also to Fastbilly1 for contributing some of the screenshots.)

The TurboGrafx-16 is a system with a split personality and a split reputation. A joint project of Hudson Soft and NEC, it took second place in the console wars in Japan under the name PC-Engine, eroding the popularity of the Famicom, trashing the Sega Mega Drive, and succumbing, eventually, only to the mighty Super Famicom.

In the US it was released with little fanfare and poor marketing, being badly bruised in the open market by Sega’s Genesis. Nintendo’s illegal practices in the US, strong-arming their third-party developers who tried to make games for other systems, had a strong initial impact on the TG-16. Once Nintendo’s death-grip was finally pried loose in the US courts the TG-16 was too oxygen-deprived to ever make up the lost ground. So many great Japanese games made by Konami and other Nintendo and NEC licensees never saw the light of day in the US thanks to this practice except when licensed and translated directly by NEC America.

Despite all these handicaps, the TurboGrafx-16 managed to carve out a small library of US games, some of which stunk, but some of which shone like silver. Only an 8-bit system, the TurboChip games are known for audio that’s only a moderate step up from the Famicom but possess very colorful and clear graphics, thanks to the TG-16’s wonderful graphics chip and video output hardware. The later CD-ROM games rectified the problem with lackluster music and sound quality and set the tone for the medium. The TG-16 is also the platform that launched Working Designs into the console games market. Here’s is a look at some of the most defining and distinct games of the TurboGrafx-16.

Mascots/Pack-Ins

Keith Courage in Alpha Zones
This platformer was the original pack-in game for the TG-16. It’s actually an anime-based game, created for the Mashin Eiyuuden Wataruanime series. NEC essentially renamed it for US release and gave the bad guys a horrible name in the process (They’re B.A.D., an acronym for Beastly Alien Dudes).

At its core, KCAZ is a very straightforward platformer with colorful graphics for the time, but very little in the areas of strategy or story. To its credit, Keith Courage does feature some very basic RPG elements that give the game some personality. Every level has an overworld where you defeat cute, minor enemies to collect money to buy powerups and an underworld where you transform into a powersuit and hack away at larger, meaner looking baddies.

Unfortunately, this game is something of a stinker, even by the standards of the time. Keith Courage remains as the prime example of the various ways in which NEC America undermined their own chances for success.

Keith Courage taught the industry that pack-in games play a significant role in determining a console’s success (Even Wii Sports demonstrates that now). A bad pack-in is worse than none at all. First impressions are important, especially if it costs gamers $250. Granted KCAZ had better graphics than the Sega Genesis pack-in, Altered Beast, but the latter was a popular title in the arcades and was, in many other ways, a better game.

Bonk Series (Bonk’s Adventure, Bonk’s Revenge, Bonk’s Big Adventure)
With such established franchises as Mario and Alex Kidd (and soon to be Sonic) from the Nintendo and Sega camps, the Turbo-Grafx needed it’s own mascot to make a dent in the US market. Bonk was the real mascot for the TG-16 and Bonk’s Adventure (thankfully) eventually replaced Keith Courage as the console’s pack-in title.

Bonk is a caveman with a big head and a thick skull, and throughout his platform games you’ll be smacking baddies with your noggin and dive-bombing your enemies, head first. Bonk’s movement is a bit slippery, but once you adjust the game is quite fun. In addition to dive-bombing and head-butting, you can chew your way up cliffs with your teeth, swim up waterfalls, and spin around in the air to float (indeed, float) slowly down to earth by starting a dive-bomb, pulling back out, starting it again, ad infinitum. The Bonk series demonstrates varied gameplay while retaining traditional platforming elements. No first-person or racing tangents to be found, here.

The enemies and environments change across the various games and the music and graphical quality improve steadily with each installment. The third game in the series, Bonk’s Big Adventure, brought 2 player simultaneous action to the Bonk universe and was released in both TurboChip and Super CD format (with differences between the two being the inclusion of a CD soundtrack and some 4-player vs minigames for the latter format).

Overall, the Bonk series is fun, light hearted, and has timeless game play. It is not only the series that’s most commonly associated with the TG-16, but it also breathed a bit more life into the stale platforming genre two years prior to Sonic’s appearance on the Genesis.

Air Zonk, Super Air Zonk: Rockabilly Paradise
In order to give their mascot more “attitude” (possibly to better rival Sega’s Sonic the Hedgehog), Hudson Soft gave Bonk, a futuristic makeover in the form of Zonk. Sporting a mohawk and sunglasses, Zonk took to the air in a fashion his pre-historic compatriot would envy. Not content to star in another series of platformers, the programmers at RED, the company Hudson tapped to develop Bonk, instead cast him as the lead in a side-scrolling shooter. Zonk also usurped the role of mascot from Bonk when TTI (Turbo Technologies Incorporated) took over the TG-16 business from NEC America.

The result of this strategic move was a couple of high-quality shooters. Air Zonk was a TurboChip game but the sequel was on Super CD. Both take a very unconventional approach to shooting games (similar to Konami’s Paradius series). You can power up your main gun, but most of your weapons involve pairing with various cartoon companions and, in extreme cases, merging with them to enhance your firepower. The enemies and bosses are all highly stylized and incredibly bizarre. This is certainly not the most surreal of the shooters on the TG-16, but it’s one of the more accessible shmups and the music kicks to boot.

The original Air Zonk is usually regarded as the favorite of the two as the Super CD follow-up, mostly due to its inferior graphics (it did not feature parallax scrolling). Regardless of which one you prefer, the Air Zonk series is one of the more enjoyable and stylish games on the TG-16 and should not be missed by shmup fans and TG-16 collectors.

Hudson’s Established Powerhouses

Bomberman, Bomberman ‘93
Bomberman is always a classic. It can be a thrilling challenge in single-player mode or a all-out party game with multi-player. It is no surprise that a classic gaming staple like Bomberman has appeared on virtually every major console known to man. Because of this, it isn’t often that I feature a Bomberman game in a “Games That Defined” article. However, the Turbo-Grafx is where Bomberman was truly a star.

The PC-Engine was Hudson Soft’s baby, so until the Sega Saturn (with it’s support for up to 10 players) came along no Bomberman game could match the TG-16’s Bomberman. The original Bomberman was first released to the Famicom/NES, but soon after, the TG-16 version stole the show. The Turbo Grafx’s Bomberman had the one-two punch of high-quality graphics and more enjoyable sound while maintaining that same great gameplay style.

The sequel, Bomberman ‘93, was also a blast, with improved graphics, more powerups, and more interactive levels. Not only that, but the TG-16 Bomberman games all supported 5 players for lucky individuals with a Turbo Tap and 4 extra controllers. Bomberman demonstrated the value of multiple controllers, and at the time the Turbo’s 5 controller capability was tops.

The TG-16 was the first system with multi-tap (4+ players) capabilities so it’s natural that it had the best Bomberman of its generation. 5 player Bomberman likely set the standard for all console party games to come.

Military Madness
Tactical combat games were not unheard of on consoles; the Famicom in Japan had Daisenryaku. Military Madness, however, gave war games an interesting twist. Military Madness takes place in the future, with Allied forces battling Axis forces (interesting WWII reference) for the moon and its resources. Your forces, the Allies, and the enemy Axis forces maneuver on a new hex map each level, but the game switches to a side view when your forces engage in battle, letting you admire your success or lament your failure.

Graphically the game is fairly straightforward, and the few music tracks are nothing particularly impressive. Don’t let that fool you, however, as you will become addicted. I won’t go into too much detail because describing tactical war games can sometimes get messy, but Military Madness really isn’t difficult to learn to play and yet it retains a modicum of complexity.

It’s also ass hard and will kick you around quite a bit once you make it past the first few levels. But boy is it nice when you get your HMB-2 Giant unit up to max experience and it becomes nearly indestructible. Mind you, I said NEARLY indestructible. Just remember not to break your TV from hurled game controllers. The sad part is you’ll be running back for more.

TurboChip Shooting Action

Blazing Lazers
In the early days of the TG-16, home console gamers were used to mediocre and flickery graphics when playing shooters on the NES. When Blazing Lazers showed up as the new kid on the block, shmup fans were treated to graphics that blew away the competition. In addition to sharp and colorful graphics, Blazing Lazers had a pretty good soundtrack, too.

Of couse, Blazing Lazers isn’t all show. The game features solid gameplay and some challenging bosses and levels with no slowdown or flicker. While this vertical scrolling shooter is one of the system’s earlier games, it continues to be one of the best. Programmed by Compile and known in Japan as Gunhed, this game is very much in the style of Compile’s Aleste series, just with a different name. Blazing Lazers is considered by many to be part of Hudson’s Caravan Shooting series but there is some contention in other circles due to the stylistic differences and the fact that it wasn’t programmed by Hudson. Blazing Lazers appeared quite often in early advertisements and was a showpiece in attempts to sell the system.

In Blazing Lazers, there are 4 different main weapons and 4 auxiliary weapons, and they all seem to work a little differently in different combinations. For example, If you’re using weapon 1, the typical spread cannon, and you get homing missiles, you’ll actually fire 8 missiles instead of the 4 most other weapons do. This means you have a lot of firepower at your disposal if you take the time to explore. Other than the firing options, Blazing Lazers doesn’t do anything over-the-top gameplay-wise to set itself apart. When it was released it was far better than any other console shooter. In retrospect, it didn’t particularly tax the TG-16’s hardware, but it did cover all the basics exceptionally well resulting in a top-notch shmup experience.

In the end, Blazing Lazers set the tone for the system, in terms of both genre and style. The game helped establish the PC-Engine as a haven for excellent shooters. The console is ranked with the Sega Saturn, Sega Dreamcast, and Sony Playstation as one of the primary destinations for shmup fans.

Super Star Soldier, Soldier Blade
The Star Soldier series is commonly associated with Blazing Lazers and Hudson Soft’s Caravan Shooting series, but unlike Blazing Lazers the Star Soldier series games were all developed directly by Hudson Soft. In Japan the PC Engine Soldier series of shooters had 3 games, but only 2 made it to the US (the other being Final Soldier). Thankfully, we received the best two out of the three. Both Soldier releases are fun, vertical scrolling, challenging shooters that should appeal greatly to people who long for a time when shooters weren’t just tedious exercises in dodging patterned bullet spreads.

Super Star Soldier is something of a sequel to Star Soldier (which you may remember from the NES) and is a colorful, high-quality shooter with some really cool firepower, like flamethrowers that constantly oscillate back and forth in front of your ship, spread guns, and heat-seeking missiles.

Soldier Blade changed the weapon system completely and upped the ante with equally impressive graphics and better music. The bosses are probably the high point of Soldier Blade. They have various destructible components, and one of the later bosses will pick up and utilize many of the weapons systems of the previous bosses. If you like a challenge, Soldier Blade should give you a run for your money. It even includes the 2 and 5 minute tournament scoring modes where the goal is to rack up as many points as possible.

It’s rather a tossup as to which one of the two looks better as they’re both gorgeous. They collectively have probably the best graphics of any TurboChip shooters released. Needless to say, the Soldier series continued the fine shooter tradition of the TG-16 with solid, TurboChip shooting action.

Solid Arcade Ports

Ninja Spirit
Originally an Irem arcade game, this platformer and ninja-love fest gives Shinobi a run for its money. The TG-16 keeps the graphics looking pretty close to the arcade original. In fact, even the music was a good port job. Back in the day, it amazed the gaming world with its precision graphics and quality game play.

In Ninja Spirit, you take role as the ninja Moonlight and engage in a fierce battle to avenge his father’s death and unlock the secrets of his birth.

Four weapons (katana, shuriken, bombs and chain and sickles), lots of enemy ninja, creepy, droning background music, and shadow ninja who mirror your every move. You’ll also need to consider the enemy attacks and your weapon’s abilities in order to deftly make it through all seven stages. Use your skills and attacks to get through the game’s boundless enemies and traps. That’s what ninja action is all about.

What’s not to like? Ninja Spirit demonstrated that the TG-16 was capable of solid arcade ports, and they picked a great game to prove the point. Ninja fans around the world rejoiced, for the ninja action was good.

R-Type
R-Type can’t officially be considered part of the TG-16’s original shooter pantheon as it started as an arcade shooter. It is, however, the best of the console ports of R-Type. Irem once again proved that the TG-16 was up to the challenge of arcade replication, and boy, did they do it in style. The Turbografx-16 port is almost identical to the arcade version, with only some minor loss in graphic detail, and a slightly scrolling playfield to compensate for the difference in resolutions.

R-Type is the king of shooters and the TG-16 does it justice. R-Type was an early release and doesn’t demonstrate as much graphical pizazz as some later shooters on the system do, but the arcade version was also, in some ways, graphically plain. It’s a good thing it’s insane fun, because the Turbo also replicates the intensity and pacing of the game quite well.

In Japan the game was split into 2 Hucards but the US got the whole game in one TurboChip.
Later on in Japan, Irem released the R-Type Complete CD for the Super CD-ROM, which included the entire game on one CD. Additionally, there are plenty of fully narrated cutscenes, although none of them are that great, and some weird CD audio remixes of the music.

Splatterhouse
This Namco arcade port features a masked, hunched man with a penchant for punching out zombies. Like Ninja Spirit, the graphics and music aren’t too far from the arcade. This game, however, is a lot slower paced, and a lot gorier, and another TG-16 arcade wonder-port.

The gameplay isn’t quite as innovative as some brawlers of the time like Streets of Rage, but Splatterhouse wasn’t all about gameplay. The atmosphere is established was unmatched at the time.

Splatterhouse broke all sorts of console barriers by being unabashedly bloody, fleshy, and violent, in a way not completely unheard of among arcade games but definitely taboo on home consoles. Namco just couldn’t stand by and let Irem get all the credit for making the TG-16 an arcade lover’s option.

Unforgettable Exclusives

Alien Crush & Devil’s Crush
Pinball was never as surreal as this. These two games feature a creepy theme and set the standard for video pinball games. These classics have been inspirations for newer pinball games such as Pinball of the Dead and Odama while maintaining their status as solid games in their own right ever after a decade has passed.

Alien Crush in an alien-themed pinball game where success is as much about destroying the Giger-inspired elements of the pinball table as getting a high score. There are only two background music options but both are creepy and ethereal and really contribute to the mood. Furthermore, in addition to two screens of pinball table, there are numerous bonus games available as well.

Devil’s Crush takes everything good from Alien Crush and improves on it. This time the table is demon themed, three screens tall, and the center of the table graced with a woman’s face that appears to be set into a metal enclosure. As you pound the face with pinballs it slowly degenerates into a lizard-like demon’s face. The soundtrack is not selectable but it doesn’t really need to be. It’s creepy and crazy, just like the game. The graphics on Devil’s Crush are quite impressive and the game is a blast to play.

The TG-16 featured, in total, three excellent pinball games, but the two Crush games were the pinnacle of that generation across all platforms. I don’t know if these games started the trend of pinball as a vehicle for destruction as well as high scores, but they certainly are some of the best at it.

Legendary Axe
Legendary Axe is a side-scroller that features what looks like a dirty, ragged caveman with hand axe seeking to rescue his girlfriend. The action is a bit on the slow side but can be very challenging. Thankfully, the control is spot on. There’s a meter at the top of the screen that slowly charges, automatically, and how charged the meter is determines the power of your attack. The meter resets after each swing of the axe.

There are power-ups that increase your maximum attack power, but they don’t increase the speed at which the meter charges. Rather, there is a separate power-up for that. When you lose a life you also love one level of speed and of power. When your weapon is at its puniest you deal very little damage and must be very careful. When you have lots of power but low charge speed you have to fight strategically to get the best results. You don’t want to waste that power hit on killing a bat or a projectile when you know a bigger, badder enemy is going to jump right in after it. When your weapon is at full speed you can be much more aggressive, if carefully so, and deal more damage in a smaller span. The pacing of the game makes you a lot more likely to take your time and think your way ahead to the next fight.

Legendary Axe was one of the earliest TurboGrafx-16 games, but was relatively impressive for the time. The graphics haven’t aged well, but they certainly do the job. The music is quite interesting, however, with lots of rhythmic beats. Legendary Axe and Blazing Lazers were the early dream team for the TG-16. They looked good, sounded good, and played well, and they had no need for save capabilities or an extra controller, meaning you could get full enjoyment out of them without buying any additional peripherals.

TV Sports Football, Basketball, and Hockey
The TurboGrafx-16 was the only console to get any of the TV Sport games, though a couple of them showed up on the Amiga and one on the early PC as well. They didn’t feature any voice commentary, but they played well and the graphics, while not spectacular, certainly weren’t disappointing.

As soon as talking sports games and Madden came out they disappeared from the public mind, which is too bad because they did multi-player better than most other games of the time (especially teamed with the TurboGrafx-16’s ahead-of-its-time multitap).

There was a certain joy to 5-player sports matches and it really took a long time for any of the competition to step up to the plate in the multi-player department. TV Sports Hockey was considered the gem of the series while Basketball is largely considered the series pariah. The TV Sports games are certainly the most definitive sports games of the TurboGrafx-16.

Mind-Bending Puzzle Action

Chew Man Fu
If you happen to be in the market for a quirky puzzle-based action game with embarrassingly heavy doses of Chinese stereotyping, Chew Man Fu is the game you have been waiting for. The premise of this wonderful game is to rid the world of egg rolls, fried rice and other Chinese foods. Fortunately, the gameplay of Chew Man Fu is far more entertaining.

In Chew Man Fu, you roll giant, colored balls around maze-like levels. The goal is to roll the balls onto matching colored tiles. The balls can be kicked to crush enemies and walls, something you’ll be doing a lot of if you intend to survive long. The game has an enormous number of levels, so many that it may actually be nearly impossible to play all the way through the game. The graphics are quite colorful, the music is pleasant and unobtrusive, and the mechanics of pushing and pulling, and if necessary kicking, these enormous, marble-looking balls around the board is definitely entertaining. This was one of the first puzzle games on the TG-16 and even today remains one of the best.

Puzzle fans who like a little action with their “thought-provokery” will absolutely love this game. The ball system is a lot of fun and lends to some genuinely hectic and hilarious moments. 550 levels is a lot of content, too, despite the fact that they start feeling too similar too soon.

Parasol Stars
Parasol Stars is a sequel to Rainbow Islands, which is itself something of a sequel to Bubble Bobble. Rainbow Islands takes place after your formerly dinosaur friends, Bubby and Bobby, have regained their human form. Thus, in Parasol Stars they are also human.

In Parasol Stars you carry an umbrella and by holding it over your head can collect water drops (or later on, fire, electricity, and star drops) to hurl at enemies. Drops all behave the same, regardless of their element, until you’ve collected 5 drops atop your parasol and they merge to become one huge drop. Then they behave according to their element. Release the huge water drop and water floods down the level ahead of you. Release a huge fire drop and a ball of fire drops to the floor and ignites a section of floor for a set period of time. Enemies hit with drops become stunned, though the larger, elemental attacks will kill them outright. Smaller enemies can be stunned simply by running into them with your umbrella. You can then pick them up with your umbrella and use them to stun other enemies, or simply throw them aside to eliminate them. Stunned enemies are also removed when other objects are hurled at them. Smaller enemies can be stunned with a single drop, but larger ones will take either multiple hits from single drop shots or a single hit from a multiple drop shot. If you pick up one of the larger enemies on your umbrella you can carry him around for a while, stunning all the other enemies on the screen, assuming you are quick enough. Enemies do eventually become un-stunned if not eliminated. You can also hold your umbrella in front of you as a shield or over your head to slow your fall after a jump.

Just like Bubble Bobble the enemies are colorful and the bosses completely silly. This game is a graphic smörgåsbord, with colorful sprites moving around all over the place. Parasol Stars also features an incredible soundtrack that really pushes the sound chip inside the TG-16. This is truly one of the shining stars of the TG-16’s library and really shows off what the hardware can do.

Not only is Parasol Stars a great puzzle platformer, it is the first game Working Designs brought to the US. Parasol Stars and, shortly after, Cadash, are the only two non-CD/DVD games Working Designs ever released and they heralded many good things to come both for the TG-16 and for Working Designs.

World, Meet the CD-ROM

Ys I & II
The Ys series was the poster child for the TG-16’s CD-ROM attachment. Ys I and Ys II were originally released on the Japanese PC 88 computer (a product of NEC, conveniently enough) with low quality, yet impressively composed music by none other than Yuzo Koshiro. When they moved to CD they were put together as 2 chapters of the same game. They acquired some full-screen cinema stills and an incredible arranged soundtrack by Ryo Yonemitsu. It’s not a traditional RPG, but rather a top-down action RPG in which you skillfully ram into your enemies (no hitting a button to swing a sword for you!). And while the gameplay was a bit bizarre, the story elements were involving, the music was beautiful, and speech helped move the story along. For an early CD game the English voice acting wasn’t half bad, either. This game really got people excited about the possibilities for the CD attachment.

Ys III
Ys III changed the gameplay mode established by Ys I & II by being a side-scrolling action RPG in which you actually had to push the button to swing your sword. The graphics were decent but it was the music, once again, that really made the package. In true RPG form you could buy or find better swords and armor throughout the world as you made your way to the end of the game. The Super NES and Genesis both received versions of this game but the TG-16 version is generally regarded as the best and served as an example of how the TG-16 CD-ROM attachment could allow games to be better than their cart-bound breathen.

The Super CD-ROM Debuts

The TurboGrafx-16 CD attachment was a great device, but it was really low on memory, meaning that games had great soundtracks but their graphics and gameplay were sometimes lacking compared to TurboChip games, a factor that made the CD attachment hard to swallow. So NEC and Hudson went back to the drawing board and created the Super System Card 3.0 to supplant the older System Card 2.0 that shipped with the CD attachment. The Super System Card boosted the available memory, bringing the system to 256kb total, 4 times more than the original 64kb. The new Super CD games finally had graphics and gameplay to match their incredible CD soundtracks.

Gates of Thunder
Gates of Thunder was the opening salvo for the TG-16 CD in the US. Released as part of a 4-in-1 CD with the first 2 Bonk Games and a hidden Bomberman game, Gates of Thunder was packed in with both the Super System 3.0 card and the new TurboDuo (TG-16, CD attachment, and Super System Card 3.0, all in one slim form factor). The Super System Card enabled a lot more than shooters, but shooters, graphically and musically, are where the system, as usual, shone most brightly.

Gates of Thunder was another jewel in the TG-16’s powerful shmup library. The graphics are great, on par with anything on the SNES or Genesis. The gameplay is smooth as silk, with three weapons you can switch between on the fly, variable movement speed, and a couple add-ons like reversible options and shields. To top it off, the rock soundtrack is one of the best ever heard in a shooter.

This game was a splash of cold water for fans of the console. US control and management of the TG-16 had already been passed to TTI from NEC America and TTI delivered the Duo and Gates of Thunder like an electrical shock to a heart attack patient. Unfortunately, the heart attack, in this case, had already done fatal damage, but this jolt gave the system another couple years to live. Gates of Thunder is a work of art, but it was only the opening shot. For a real joy check out levels 3 and 5. To quote Malc, the creator of shmups.com (great place for shooter reviews), “Gate of Thunder is living proof that there’s such a thing as a perfect shmup.”

For spoilers like no other, here’s a video that shows somebody playing the game from start to finish. Only go this route if you’re sure you’ll never bother to play the game or you’ve already played it.

Lords of Thunder
Sequel in name only to Gates of Thunder, Lords of Thunder, like its predecessor, blew even the most skeptical reviewers out of the water. Unlike the game that came before, this shooter features a fantasy theme. You control a flying warrior in elemental-themed armor. You first select the level you want to play, then pick your armor, choosing from wind, water, fire, or earth. When you get up close to enemies you swing your sword instead of shooting.

You collect crystalline currency from defeated enemies and spend them between levels at a store reminiscent of the one in Capcom’s Forgotten Worlds. Fly up close to an enemy and you’ll start swinging your sword instead of shooting. While the gameplay isn’t, in my opinion, quite on par with Gates (which is like saying $900,000 is not quite as nice as $1,000,000), Lords is a graphical tour de force with a raw, raunchy heavy metal thrash track in the background of every level. I don’t think any shooter from the 8 or 16-bit generations could claim to be as beautiful as Lords of Thunder. The final boss’s head alone takes up half the screen. This game is not to be missed. In fact, Masamune Shirow, of Ghost in the Shell fame, was contracted to do the art for the cover.

Lords of Thunder, like Gates of Thunder, demonstrated that in skilled hands the TG-16 hardware could compete graphically, nose to nose, with the more powerful Super Nintendo, and even out pace the more powerful Sega CD hardware combo. Lords of Thunder was later ported to the Sega CD, you see, but the graphics were muted due to the Genesis’s inferior color capabilities and the music was re-done with the same tunes but less virtuoso from the performers. Even the challenge level was taken down a notch. Where the Turbo version is a wild animal of a shooter the Sega CD version is a lapdog by comparison.

To get some idea of the soundtrack, here’s a video of Chris, aka VertexGuy, a computer artist and musician who performed with the Video Games Live tours, performing one of the notable tracks from Lords of Thunder. His version sounds remarkably like the original and very well represents the game.

Unforgetable Import

I’ve avoided talking about Japanese PC-Engine games. Because the TurboGrafx-16 and the PC Engine had such dramatically different reception in their respective locales there is clearly a vast difference in the size and scope of the games library. Still, there’s no way to talk about the TurboGrafx-16 without talking about the best game nobody has played.

Akumajou Dracula X, Chi no Rondo (Demon Castle Dracula X, Rondo of Blood)
How many of you played and enjoyed Castlevania: Symphony of the Night? *hands go up* Do you remember the opening battle between Richter and Dracula? It’s clear SotN was picking up where something left off. Dracula X is what left off.

Dracula X was probably one of the most impressive games released for the PC Engine in Japan. Richter and Maria are introduced, as well as the new graphical style and fluid animations Castlevania games would employ for years to come. Many of the enemy graphics in SoTN came directly from Dracula X with little modification. This is because the PC Engine game went all out with great graphics and an incredible level of animation. Dracula X also inaugurated the music-related subtitle trend and the item crash special attacks.

This Super CD game tells the story of Richter Belmont doing battle against Dracula, the villain who captured his girlfriend. As expected you’ll power up your whip, find a good sub-weapon, and collect hearts to power that sub-weapon. But this time picking up a sub-weapon causes you to drop your current one, meaning you can change your mind. You can also do a special backflip jump to reach difficult places and dodge large hazards. Richter also can perform item crashes, basically special attacks that burn hearts like mad and vary in power and style depending on your sub-weapon. In order to get the best ending you have to save your girlfriend, but doing so is quite difficult. There are also 3 other captured women you can rescue, and one of them is Maria. There is a special sub-weapon throughout the game in the form of a key. It can hurt enemies but is largely useless, but it’s necessary to rescue some of the captives, such as Maria.

In Dracula X Maria is a little girl, and also a playable character once rescued. Maria takes more damage when hurt and thus dies more quickly, but she also has a more aggressive complement of animal themed sub-weapons. She can also double-jump, slide, and, with an almost Street Fighter-like gamepad movement, perform a phantom double attack. Almost every level has a secret exit that takes you to an alternate version of the next level. If you leave level 1 through the secret exit you’ll play level 2′ instead of level 2. If you don’t find the secret exit from level 2′ you’ll end up moving on to level 3 instead of continuing on to level 3′. That means up until level 6, which has no alternate stages and you have to fight 3 bosses in a row, every level 1 has 2 bosses and 2 exits. So instead of 7 stages, the game actually has 11, but you only play 7 stages on each pass.

This game is incredible. The music isn’t creepy enough but is of incredible quality. It trends to be a little more rock-ish, stylistically. The animation and colorful graphics are all incredible. The level design is the best of any of the traditional side-scrolling Castlevania games prior to the introduction of SotN’s Metroid-style gameplay. Dracula X is quite challenging, but not so much so as to piss off most players, and the multiple paths, secret exits, and hidden captives all conspire to make a game that demands replay after replay. I certainly played it to death back in the day. If this game had been translated and released in the US it could have brought more fans and revenue to the tail end of the TG-16’s life.

The RetroGaming 101 series is aimed at gamers who are just starting out in the classic gaming scene or are curious about an older console that they don’t know much about yet. Those of you that are especially knowledgeable about the featured console, I encourage you to add any information that you think would be beneficial into the comments section. If you are new to the featured console, and still have questions, you can also use the comments section and I will do my best to help you out.

When I recently asked around in the forums about which console everyone would like to learn more about, the TurboGrafx-16 was by far the most common answer. Personally, I wanted to learn more about the console, so our resident TG-16 expert, marurun offered to help me out. He did an awesome job writing just about every word in here. I just rearranged a few things and added some comments. I hope you enjoy learning about this somewhat forgotten gaming machine.
Also see: Games That Defined The Turbo-Grafx 16

Background Information

• The TurboGrafx-16 (known as the PC-Engine in Japan) was the first console created by NEC or Hudson Soft (the two companies responsible for the hardware design).
• Hudson Soft was the first 3rd party game developer for Nintendo’s Famicom (NES) and as a result, so they were in an excellent position to gauge the condition of the market. Their hardware division was cooking up a console chip triumvirate; a CPU, video processor, and video output combo that they were no doubt sure could take on Nintendo’s Famicom and win. When it came time to enter the market they took their ideas to NEC and a partnership was born.
• While Hudson is often credited with the initial hardware design, including the HuCard, credit card sized game cartridges, form factor and the high quality video output chip, NEC is likely to have played a big role in the later CD-ROM attachment.

Historical Impact

• Strong in Japan: The PC Engine took the number one sales spot from the Famicom (the Japanese version of the NES) not long after its release and stayed there until finally unseated by the Super Famicom (SNES). Its popularity in Japan was analogous to the success of the Sega Genesis in the US.
• Struggling in the US: Thanks to poor marketing, bad localization selections, and the illegal stranglehold Nintendo placed on US game releases, the TurboGrafx-16 failed to take off in the US, rapidly losing market ground to Sega’s Genesis.
• 8-Bit or 16-Bit?: The GPU in the TurboGrafx-16 was a 16-bit chip, but the CPU was only 8-bit. The TG-16 and PCE billed themselves as 16-bit systems because of the GPU, while detractors claimed that the 8-bit CPU meant the TG-16 could not truly be considered part of the 16-bit generation. In the US the system’s market performance was decidedly 8-bit, in that the Genesis and the Super NES, in full 16-bit glory, left it choking on their dust. In Japan the system clearly performed square in the middle of the 16-bit generation, trouncing the Sega Mega Drive and managing a few fading pot shots against the Super Famicom before slowly fading away. Many of the early games really did seem to be nothing but a minor graphical update from NES games, but later titles, especially some of the Super CD and Arcade CD games, did things only a competent 16-bitter could handle. In that sense the TG-16 was really a transitional system. It not only bridged the 8 and 16-bit generations, but also the cartridge and CD generation.
• Punished By Nintendo’s Third Party Rule: Nintendo required loyalty from third party developers in the US and punished those who developed or released titles for competing consoles. In response, NEC America licensed games from Capcom and others and localized them themselves. NEC America also relied heavily on companies like NaxatSoft and Icom Simulations who did not have a strong US presence on any other consoles. So while the Japanese market flourished with great releases, the US market declined. By the time Nintendo was rebuffed in US courts the damage had already been done.
• First CD-ROM Console: The TurboGrafx-16’s CD ROM² attachment was a first for a home console. It was an external add-on and it was a little low on memory, only 64kb initially in which to load levels, not to mention expensive, but the capabilities made an impact on the market. Games like Ys I & II, Ys III, and the Valis series all featured voice acting and CD soundtracks, not to mention early full-screen stills and cinematics.
• Built-In Turbo Button: All 1st party TG-16 controllers had turbo functions on them for buttons I and II. The basic pad, to date the most comfortable 8 or 16-bit generation pad made, had 2 simple toggles with off, slow, and fast. The Turbo Stick, a joystick looking much like a lighter-weight, rounded-edged, black NES Advantage, featured two analog-style sliders for variable turbo and buttons to turn turbo on and off.
• First Controller Multi-tap: The Turbo Tap (see System Accessories & Upgrades) allowed up to 5 controllers to be attached to the TG-16. The TG-16 also had a number of 5 player games, including all the TV Sports games. Multi-player Bomberman got an early start, as well. This eventually set the stage for games like Saturn Bomberman which took console multiplayer to the next level.
• Portable TG16: The Turbo Express, known in Japan as the PC Engine GT, was a hand-held version of the TG-16. It came out only a year after the Game Gear but was no hamstrung, weakling portable like the Game Gear or the Game Boy. The LCD was one of the best at the time. The high price ($299) kept it out of reach of most US gamers, but it was still quite a showpiece. A link cable allowed head-to-head gaming on a few, select titles and there was even an optional TV tuner add-on (like with the GameGear). Sadly, drastically short battery life and no save memory meant your game playing and TV watching had to be had in short bouts and at the cost of mountains of AA batteries. Not until the Sega Nomad would anybody attempt to put a full-powered console into a portable case. Notably, the Nomad, too, was a market failure.

Console Variations & Terminology (US)

• TurboGrafx-16: This was the main console. For its US release it was doubled in size over its Japanese counterpart, supposedly in the theory that in the US bigger is better, and perhaps due, at least in part, to a little extra RF shielding. The TG-16 featured RF out only, a single controller port that used a much larger controller connector than the Japanese PC-Engine, and lacked any kind of save memory. It also had an enormous expansion port that jutted from the back of the unit and shipped with a plastic cover that attached over this and made the shape of the system more uniform. The Expansion port is identical to the PC Engine’s expansion port and the TG-16 can use all Japanese add-ons, and vice versa.
• TurboCD Expansion: This monstrous peripheral attached to the expansion port and featured a platform on which the TG-16 rested. It was effectively the Japanese CD ROM² add-on with a different name. The TurboCD contained a removable CD drive slightly larger than later CD Walkman models. The AC adapter that came with the CD attachment powered both the CD and the game system. The AC adapter that originally shipped with the TG-16 could then be used to power the removable CD unit when detached and allow it to serve as a semi-portable CD player. Shipped with the CD ROM² System 2.0 card. The CD ROM² System expansion did have AV stereo output and save memory for CD and TurboChip games, however.
• TurboDuo: The TurboDuo was the last hurrah in the US. Designed in Japan and barely modified for the US, this system combined the TG-16, CD ROM² drive, CD ROM² BIOS, and Super System expanded memory into a single, compact console. It stilhad only one controller port, though. It debuted in the US at $299 and featured an impressive set of pack-in games. The system came with Ys I & II, Ninja Spirit on TurboChip, and a Super CD with Gates of Thunder, Bonk’s Adventure, Bonk’s Revenge, and a hidden copy of Bomberman that was unlockable with a code. There were some packages that featured a different TurboChip game.
• Super System 3.0 Card: When the TurboDuo was released the remaining inventory of the TurboCD expansion had its price slashed, and as an effort to let others in on the game TTI also released a US version of the Super System 3.0 Card, allowing the TG-16 with TurboCD to play Super CD ROM² games. The Super System 3.0 Card shipped with the 4-in-1 SuperCD that shipped with the Duo, meaning you were never without at least 4 great games to play. The 4-in-1 SuperCD was the best deaon the gaming market. Two great platformers, a fun puzzle/party game and one of the best shooters ever. What more could you want?
• Japanese Hardware Disambiguation: check out Wikipedia’s outline of the Japanese naming conventions and additional console variations.

Game Formats

• HuCard : Known as a TurboChip in the US, this game cartridge form factor was only slightly larger, and about twice as thick in most cases, as a credit card. The cases they came in were the same size and shape as a CD case and even opened similarly. The HuCards were housed in rubbery plastic sleeves and held in place by a plastic clip. This odd storage decision meant HuCard/TurboChip games could be stored in their cases in the same CD racks with their CD-ROM brethren.
• System Card: The System Cards were HuCards that provided the CD-ROM BIOS code so that the PC Engine or TG-16 could controthe CD ROM² System add-on. It was required to be in the card slot in order for CD ROM² games to play.
• CD ROM²: CD ROM² is reported to stand for and be pronounced CD ROM ROM. It is simply the name NEC and Hudson gave their particular CD game format.
• CD ROM² System: CD ROM² System refers to the first generation of CD games and the hardware designed to play them. The CD ROM² System consists of a PC Engine or TurboGrafx-16, a CD-ROM add-on, and a CD ROM² System 2.0 Card. A System Card 1.0 exists and shipped with the original PC Engine CD ROM² System expansion but only had a couple games developed for it before the CD ROM² System 2.0 Card was released.
• Super CD ROM² System: This is the second generation of CD games and the required hardware. Anything that can play a Super CD ROM² game can play an older CD ROM² game. The Super CD ROM² games were designed to take advantage of the extra memory on the Super System 3.0 Card and therefore had improved graphics, animation and sound over older CD ROM² games.
• Arcade CD ROM² System: The 3rd and final generation of CD ROM² games and hardware, Arcade CD ROM² games took advantage of the massive supply of memory on the Arcade Card and Arcade Card Pro making relatively accurate Neo Geo ports possible.

System Accessories & Upgrades

• Turbo Tap: The world’s first multi-tap. It was a block with 5 controller ports and a cable out the other end that connected to the single controller port on the front of the TG-16. Unfortunately, this device was required to have even 2 players, but many TG-16 games supported 2 or 5 player play so it was often a worthwhile investment.
• TurboPad: Basic system controller. Comfortable gamepad with a responsive rocker pad and 2 action buttons with built-in turbo capabilities.
• TurboStick: Joystick release for the TG-16 with variable turbo and a nice, large base. The thing was tough, too. I put years on one of these and it never even flinched. They don’t make joysticks like that any longer. Who needs clicky joysticks, anyway?
• Turbo Booster: This overpriced add-on plugged into the expansion port and mimicked, in appearance, the plastic cover, keeping the TG-16’s uniform shape. All it did was add AV Stereo out. It was originally price as something like $30 or $40 if I remember correctly.
• Turbo Booster Plus: Nearly identicato the Turbo Booster, only with some save memory included as well so you could save your high scores or, in a few cases, your progress without having to input annoying passwords.
• Super System Card: The limited 64kb memory of the originaCD-ROM accessory become problematic in that chip games started to surpass, graphically, some of the CD games, so NEC and Hudson Soft went back to the drawing board and returned with the Super System Card. Like the original System Card 2.0 that shipped with the CD-ROM, this card was to be inserted into the HuCard slot and provide basic CD-ROM support. What the Super System Card did differently, however, was provide an additiona192kb of memory, for a total of 256kb, thus allowing levels to be much longer and much more graphically intense.
• Arcade Card & Arcade Card Pro: After the Super Famicom was released in Japan and demonstrated its market controlling powers, NEC and Hudson made one last ditch effort to keep their market alive. They released the Arcade Card and Arcade Card Pro. Basically a Super System Card with an enormous memory increase, bringing the memory total to 2048kb, the Arcade Card made possible some of the best Neo Geo ports available until the 32-bit era. The Arcade Card was meant for systems like the PC Engine Duo which already had Super System capabilities built-in. The Arcade Card Pro was a little more expensive and meant for older systems that required earlier System Cards in order to operate. There were only 6 or so exclusive Arcade Card games released and most of them were Neo Geo fighting game ports, but they were all very competent and well-animated. There were, additionally, a couple Super System games that could use the extra Arcade Card memory for fewer loading breaks and the like. One of the 3×3 Eyes digital comic type games was one of these.
• Game Save Memory: You also had to get a special add-on to get save memory for HuCard games, The CD-ROM² attachment, however, included CD and HuCard compatible save memory.

Strengths

• Compact & Simple Power: The PC Engine relied on only 3 chips to do the heavy lifting, and it demonstrated that, while it only had an 8-bit CPU, it could be the equaof its theoretically more powerful competition. Games like Street Fighter 2 and Gates and Lords of Thunder prove the point. The elegance of the 3 chip design helped keep the Japanese consoles compact and made the Turbo Express possible.
• 2D Shooter Library: The PC Engine, even in the US as the TurboGrafx-16, was the place to be for shooter action. It wouldn’t be until the Sega Saturn was released that players had so many impressive shooter options to fulfill their itchy trigger finger.
• Excellent Video Output Quality: A high-grade chroma encoder powered the video output of the PC Engine and the color and video quality outshone all until the Super Famicom stepped up to the plate, and even then it was a close call.
• Multimedia Power: The CD-ROM² attachment dragged games, kicking and screaming, into the optical age. Voice acting, animated cut scenes, and CD soundtracks were all effectively pioneered, at least in the console sphere, on the PC Engine.
• No Copy Protection on CD Games: For the few, the proud who had either a TurboDuo or TG-16 with CD ROM² attachment importing CD games was a breeze. Now, many years after its death, there have been many homebrew projects for the PC Engine. You can just burn a CD and stick it in the system and it will run any compatible code present.
• The Japanese Market: The PCE was an outstanding success in Japan, all around, and surely made Hudson and NEC a great deal of money. A huge library of games spanning HuCards and CDs and sales numbers to envy surely frustrated Sega as they failed to leverage the Mega Drive in the Japanese market.

Weaknesses

• NEC America & Lack of US 3rd Party Support: NEC America really mishandled the American debut of the TurboGrafx-16. Marketing was weak, game selection was poor, and the original pack-in, Keith Courage in Alpha Zones, was a joke. Add that to Nintendo’s illegal stonewalling of many developers and you have a recipe for failure. 3rd parties were reluctant to support the system in the US initially because of pressure from Nintendo, but even after Nintendo’s threats subsided they remained leery. Working Designs was one of the only licensees to continue localizing games in the US after the demise of the TG-16.
• High Price: The TurboGrafx-16 was initially too expensive in the US, and the CD ROM² attachment and Turbo Express even more so. NEC America was slow to drop the price on the TG-16 even after it was getting soundly trounced by Sega. The CD ROM² accessory debuted at $399. Ouch! When the TurboDuo was finally released the opening price of $299 was high but reasonable for what you got, but people were already price shy at that point and the Duo couldn’t save the PC Engine in the US.
• Chip Audio: While the PC Engine’s sound chip was pretty flexible it was, ultimately, limited. Unlike the Nintendo NES/Famicom it had stereo and 6 channels of audio. Furthermore, the NES had programmed channels, in the sense that this channel is a square wave and this other channel is a saw wave, and so on. On the PC-Engine you could determine what you wanted out of each channel, but assigning three channels to do different sine waves was only so much of an improvement. Trying to get digital sounds like recorded voice samples tended to yield very poor results. It wasn’t until CD games arrived that the PCE was truly able to shine in the audio department.
• Game Genre Limitations: While the Japanese library was huge, the US library had some gaping holes. There were very few RPGs translated to the US, so RPG lovers were left out in the cold. Even in Japan there weren’t many RPGs until the CD ROM² attachment was released, due to the core system and HuCards usually lacking save memory.
• The US Market: How could a system that did so well in Japan fail so spectacularly here? We can throw blame around to try and find out who’s responsible, but it’s the results that are telling. The US game library was small and quite limited, the CD ROM² attachment was priced out of reach and too many peripherals were needed to have a “working” system, and 3rd parties avoided getting involved with the system. Many of the later CD ROM² games were excellent but nobody has the CD attachment so it didn’t really matter. The Sega Genesis, almost in retribution for the role reversal in Japan, trounced the TG-16 and the Super NES later pounded the nails into the coffin while kicking the Genesis around and chewing bubblegum at the same time.
• Large Amount of Hardware Upgrades & Variations: With all the different types of hardware and game formats mentioned above, the TG-16 makes Sega and their Genesis/Sega CD/32X combination look tame. Oddly, the US had far fewer model variations than Japan and yet suffered possibly as a result.
• Virtually Required Add-ons: In the US, you had to buy an upgrade to do just about anything with your TG-16. The system shipped with 1 controller port and only RF out, and most TurboChip games had no save batteries in them. You had to buy a Turbo Tap to play even a 2 player game and if you wanted stereo AV out you had to pony up for, at the very least, a Turbo Booster. Not many TurboChip games really needed save capabilities, but if you wanted to save your cheapest option was the $50 or $60 Turbo Booster Plus. Thankfully, the TurboCD included AV out and CD and HuCard compatible save memory in addition to allowing you to play CD ROM² games.

Emulation

• Emulation Status: There are several emulators available and most handle HuCard games quite fine, but very few do a good job with CD games. However, AlPC emulators have trouble presenting the full screen resolution from edge to edge.
• Best PC Emulator: The best emulator is a commercial one that costs $20. Magic Engine, developed in France, can run all chip games, including SuperGrafx, and all variants of CD games.
• Wii Virtual Console: The Nintendo Wii’s Virtual Console supports a limited number of TG-16 games with it’s specialized emulator. Games are available for purchase on an individual basis.

Importing

• Japanese HuCard games have a different cartridge pin out from US TurboChip games. In order to use Japanese HuCards in a US system you need an adapter like Dave Shadoff’s Kisado.
• Japanese HuCards can be used in US TurboGrafx-16 with an adapter, but US TurboChips cannot be used in a Japanese PC Engine without making modifications to the PC Engine. Why? Japanese HuCard games don’t do any kind of region check, but US TurboChip games do. If you have a PC Engine and want to play TurboChip games you have to open the system and cut a particular pin on one of the chips.
• Standard CD games had no region protection and will work on US and Japanese systems.
• The CD ROM² System Cards are all region-specific and have the same constraints as HuCard and TurboChip games. There are no US region Arcade Cards, only Super System 3.0 and System 2.0 cards.
• Japanese controllers use a smaller connector than US controllers. For some reason the US TG-16 used a controller port that was different, up until the TurboDuo was released, when they went back to using the Japanese port style. This means that earlier controller peripherals were not compatible with the later TurboDuo or Japanese units without a converter. TTI tried to remedy this by selling Turbo Taps (see System Accessories & Upgrades, above) that were modified to connect to the TurboDuo with the smaller connector but featured 5 old-style ports so you could use old-style controllers. The inverse was available from a few tinkering fans and later, I believe, from Turbo Zone Direct, the company that took over sales of the remaining inventory from TTI when TTI decided to fold.

Affordability

• At around $60 for the base model, the TG-16 one of the more expensive “mainstream retro” systems to get into.
• The complete system get more expensive once you add the CD-ROM² attachment, which is quite pricey at a couple hundred dollars.
• Pricier still is a working Duo variant (around $400), and to a greater degree, the PC Engine GT/Turbo Express or the PCE LT (will set you back several hundred as well as being nearly impossible to find)
• The CD games are “cheap”. You can burn them from ISOs without problems on both US and Japanese systems, after you’ve emptied your bank account for a system.
• As mentioned above, the Wii’s VirtuaConsole is the most affordable solution for playing the TG-16 games available through the service. Lacking from the Virtual Console are CD games.