TurboGrafx-16 reaches 25

I was a big fan of TG16, but this is the truth. Some of the later games on the system are programming marvels however, how they got so much out of the hardware.

 

I've still got my original white PC Engine and what a little cracker it was too. Having read a few posts with regards to the little white box's abilities the PC Engine played host to some of the best home conversions of the time, its version of Street Fighter 2 is closer to the arcade original than both the Megadrive and Snes ports, its Sega arcade conversions such as Outrun and Spacer Harrier are considerably better than those that found their way onto the Megadrive and as far as I'm concerned nothing this side of a Neo Geo AES could handle sprites in the same fashion this little beast could. Outstanding machine that deserved better.

 

PC-Engine launched in Japan in 1987 - TurboGrafx-16 launched in the United States in 1989.

I got my TG-16 in late 1990, and Genesis earlier that same year. Loved them both.

 

Yeah, for some reason the console is just "cool" to me, moreso than Genesis. The hucards and such help that. Maybe also that I believe it was my very first 16-bit experience.

Now that I read it struggles at parallax though, I looked at a youtube compilation video, and the flatness and lack of parallax of the TG-16 games sticks out.



These games bring back memories, Keith Courage in Alpha Zones and Dungeon Explorer were two of the first if not the first TG-16 games I ever rented.

The games in that video look pretty bad, certainly some SNES and Genesis games can still look good today. Those look flat and more like gussied up 8 bit games, which I suppose a case could be made they are. Granted with more resources, that the Genesis and SNES received by virtue of commercial success, I'm sure more could have been done with Turbo-16 hardware.

And who can forget the turbotap, you needed an optional adapter for more than one controller (from inexplicably bad engineering decisions 101). It supported 5 if I recall.

 

I always had a problem with the multitap with the Japanese PC Engine, I tried a few in the day only to find they kept blowing an internal fuse that was soldered to the main board, never had the issue with the few Pc Engine Duo's owned over the years but the 1st time I plugged a multitap into a imported £400 console I was aa little apprehensive to say the least.. As for parallax effects you should check out Lords of Thunder? (memory not as strong as it was) this almost bordered on Shadow of the Beast levels of parallax with a CD soundtrack that was utterly sublime.

All this Engine talk is making my wallet twitch, I've only a few Hu-cards left these days.

 

I respectfully disagree with the top 10 posted here.
Bonk is not even there ?

Here are a few gems I fondly remember

Bonk 2 !
Air Zonk (with plenty of parallax)
Street Fighter 2
Final Match Tennis
Bomberman
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOzYLSVNayU Gomola Speed
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDp3OmqMZR4 Legend of Hero Tonma
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAjr4sJrhrs Aero Blasters
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0Kwtee5RfE Liquid Kids
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnnWK9coJ2c Soldier Blade

As a kid, my parent chose it over the megadrive. I remember I was sad at the time, because I knew only one guy to exchange games with.
Still, it was a great console