SydLexia.com - The Forums :: View topic - Turbografx-16

Joined: Aug 04 2009 Posts: 2515

So... did any of you own one of these?

It seems to be a bit buried in terms of popularity especially in comparison to the NES and the Master System towards the end of the 80s and then the Megadrive and SNES.

I've just been reading about them, apparently they weren't even released here in Europe so i have no one to really ask!

...and it seems to have quite a few popular games series on it such as Castlevania and the early Splatterhouses.

What are your experiences with it?

Joined: May 22 2008 Location: Goshen, VA Posts: 6544

It was simply too expensive and lacked good third party support, not to mention barely having an advertising campaign. It was doomed to fail from the get go.

I had a friend who had one when we were like 7. I played Bonk, got bored and never played one again.

Posted: Dec 26 2011 10:36 pm

Yes, I own a TurboGrafx-16. In fact, I own two. One of them I got for a birthday, the other one I picked up later and is Japanese(the call it PC Engine over there).

It actually was released in the UK as TurboGrafx and I think it was a little different. I don't think they made many at all. Most of the console in Europe were probably imports.

They also had an optional CD attachment, on which most of the best games were released. I played a lot of R-Type and Gradius, as well as Street Fighter II on the US version. My favorite games were Japanese, though. A few Ys games come to mind as well as Horror Story, Bonk, Mad Stalker(one of my favorite beat em ups of all time) and the most excellent Akumajou Dracula X: Chi no Rondo(Castlevania: Rondo of Blood, whose sequel is Symphony of the Night). Overall, lots of great shmups, beat em ups and RPGs are available on the console. I would recommend getting the Japanese version.

Also, the console itself is really small, it might be the smallest console ever released.

EDIT: Disregard the bit about getting the Japanese version. Apparently there was no region protection other than some slightly different HuCards and they made converters for them that were available in the US. Wish I knew that years ago, lol. Oh well.

Posted: Dec 27 2011 12:32 am

I wish I owned one, but I didn't.

However, I remember some neighbors of mine owning one when I was much younger. The only game I can even remotely remember from that, though, is Splatterhouse.

Posted: Dec 27 2011 12:36 am

I don't own one personally, but my uncle does. We pull it out every once and a while to play Air Zonk. It's an interesting piece of nostalgia, but like Woodzy said, it was D.O.A. I mean, the console only had one controller port, which kind of killed any sort of idea of having a friend over to play it with you, and when all of your major competition offers multiplayer and you don't, you're doing it wrong.

(The not so small American console)

Posted: Dec 27 2011 01:10 am

The single controller port is terrible, especially considering the console has quite a few two or more player games. They did have a multi-tap like device, though. I believe it let you connect up to five controllers.

Posted: Dec 27 2011 01:25 am

atomjacked wrote:

The single controller port is terrible, especially considering the console has quite a few two or more player games. They did have a multi-tap like device, though. I believe it let you connect up to five controllers.

As Woodzy said, this thing was incredibly expensive to start with and came with no pack in games, so forcing people to go out to buy a multitap is the equivalent of giving consumers the double bird salute.

Posted: Dec 27 2011 05:08 am

Back in the day, the Turbografx-16 was pretty cool. My cousin owned one with a few games.

Bloody Wolf was quite fun years ago, and I'd say it has aged well.

Posted: Dec 27 2011 06:37 am

I'm pretty sure the multi-tap came bundled with Bomberman.

Posted: Dec 29 2011 09:13 pm

BlazingGlory wrote:

atomjacked wrote:

The single controller port is terrible, especially considering the console has quite a few two or more player games. They did have a multi-tap like device, though. I believe it let you connect up to five controllers.

As Woodzy said, this thing was incredibly expensive to start with and came with no pack in games, so forcing people to go out to buy a multitap is the equivalent of giving consumers the double bird salute.

Not true. The original NA release of the TG-16 came with "Keith Courage In The Alpha Zones." Later releases of the system came with "Bonk's Adventure"

Also, it was the "TurboTap" not the "multitap."

I had one, with the TurboTap, 3 controllers, the "TurboBooster" which plugged onto the back and let you use Composite cables instead of just a R/F switch to hook it to your TV. I had maybe 10 games. My favorites were Dungeon Explorer, Final Lap Twin, Power Golf, and AD&D: Order of the Griffon.

Joined: May 22 2008 Location: Goshen, VA Posts: 6544

Knyte wrote:

BlazingGlory wrote:

atomjacked wrote:

The single controller port is terrible, especially considering the console has quite a few two or more player games. They did have a multi-tap like device, though. I believe it let you connect up to five controllers.

As Woodzy said, this thing was incredibly expensive to start with and came with no pack in games, so forcing people to go out to buy a multitap is the equivalent of giving consumers the double bird salute.

Not true. The original NA release of the TG-16 came with "Keith Courage In The Alpha Zones." Later releases of the system came with "Bonk's Adventure"

Also, it was the "TurboTap" not the "multitap."

I had one, with the TurboTap, 3 controllers, the "TurboBooster" which plugged onto the back and let you use Composite cables instead of just a R/F switch to hook it to your TV. I had maybe 10 games. My favorites were Dungeon Explorer, Final Lap Twin, Power Golf, and AD&D: Order of the Griffon.

First, I'd say Keith Courage is probably the worst pack in title ever. Second, a "multi-tap" describes any device for any console that allowed multiple controllers to be plugged into it. It was a multi-tap in every sense of the word, it just used the retarded name "Turbo Tap". It was also the first console to feature such a device, I believe.

And really, the message that "Hey kids, wanna play with your friends? Well then go get your parents to buy a multi-tap and another controller or two. Good luck!"

Posted: Dec 29 2011 11:08 pm

Two words: Johnny Turbo.

Joined: Apr 09 2008 Location: Pennsylvania Posts: 3112

I had one with a few games for a while, but was lost in the Great Shitty Roommate Era of 2008 in which doors frequently went unlocked. My favorite that I owned was Bloody Wolf, but Rondo of Blood is my favorite overall (had to play it on an emulator).

Posted: Dec 30 2011 01:02 am

joshwoodzy wrote:

First, I'd say Keith Courage is probably the worst pack in title ever. Second, a "multi-tap" describes any device for any console that allowed multiple controllers to be plugged into it. It was a multi-tap in every sense of the word, it just used the retarded name "Turbo Tap". It was also the first console to feature such a device, I believe.

And really, the message that "Hey kids, wanna play with your friends? Well then go get your parents to buy a multi-tap and another controller or two. Good luck!"

Yes, Keith Courage was a pretty crappy game. But, I think Hang-On was the worst pack-in title for a system. (Sega Master System - Base System)
Racing games are not the best genre for a pack-in games, as they are not as universally liked as Platformers are.

Also. To address your other statement about the first "multi-tap", depends on region.

TurboTap was first in Japan, but this:

NES Satellite, was first in North America.

Posted: Dec 30 2011 02:29 am

Knyte wrote:

joshwoodzy wrote:

First, I'd say Keith Courage is probably the worst pack in title ever. Second, a "multi-tap" describes any device for any console that allowed multiple controllers to be plugged into it. It was a multi-tap in every sense of the word, it just used the retarded name "Turbo Tap". It was also the first console to feature such a device, I believe.

And really, the message that "Hey kids, wanna play with your friends? Well then go get your parents to buy a multi-tap and another controller or two. Good luck!"

Yes, Keith Courage was a pretty crappy game. But, I think Hang-On was the worst pack-in title for a system. (Sega Master System - Base System)
Racing games are not the best genre for a pack-in games, as they are not as universally liked as Platformers are.

Also. To address your other statement about the first "multi-tap", depends on region.

TurboTap was first in Japan, but this:

NES Satellite, was first in North America.

i thought nintendo did have the multi tap here first. so you can play that NFL game and that beach volleyball game.

Posted: Dec 31 2011 11:14 am

Knyte wrote:

I think Hang-On was the worst pack-in title for a system. (Sega Master System - Base System)
Racing games are not the best genre for a pack-in games, as they are not as universally liked as Platformers are.

Yeah, I remember Hang-On, which also came with Safari Hunt, a hunting game which is also not the kind of genre you want as a pack-in game. It was a 2-games-in-one-cart deal, which was a waste. My dad loved that game for some reason and he's not even a gamer...

Greg the White wrote:

Rondo of Blood is my favorite overall (had to play it on an emulator)

Speaking of emulators, what's a good TG-16 emulator? I heard one of them costs $16 for the full version, which I'm assuming is the best emulator, but I don't think I'm gonna play with it often enough to justify paying that much for it, so anyone know which is second best?

Joined: May 22 2008 Location: Goshen, VA Posts: 6544

Methid Man wrote:

Speaking of emulators, what's a good TG-16 emulator? I heard one of them costs $16 for the full version, which I'm assuming is the best emulator, but I don't think I'm gonna play with it often enough to justify paying that much for it, so anyone know which is second best?

You could probably get a TG-16 or cheaper than that.