Wednesday, May 20, 2020

The TurboGrafx-16

The TurboGrafx-16 (TG16) gets its own "mini" system on May 22nd (exclusive to Amazon.com in the U.S.) so I scanned a few articles from various game magazines of the '90s for the fans and for those of us that never paid a lot of attention to the console. I've given a few quick overviews of some of the system details when I posted ads for NEC Technologies and Turbo Technologies. NEC created the TG16 with tech developed by Hudson Soft and launched it in Japan as the PC Engine in 1987. It didn't reach North America until 1989 and then Europe where France got the PC Engine at the end of the year and the U.K. got the TurboGrafx (no 16) in 1990. It had much stronger competition outside of Japan from the beginning due to getting a later start where the Sega Genesis was hitting around the same time.

I don't have much first-hand experience with the TG16 as I've only played it on a couple occasions. The first time was at an Electronic Gaming Monthly (EGM) mall tour where I took part in a Bomberman competition to win the console. That was also my first time playing a Bomberman game which is my excuse for not winning as I went out in the first round, but I was the last one eliminated in the first round! The second time a friend rented the TG16 and a few games from the local video store. I'm having a hard time recalling what he rented other than J.J. and Jeff which is an odd game with some lowbrow humor, more so in the Japanese version.

Video Games & Computer Entertainment (VG&CE) had some early and exclusive coverage of the console in North America. I've scanned three articles from that magazine, a couple Turbo Champ columns from EGM, and one item from GamePro. I'll have another post tomorrow about many of the North American games in the mini console.

Video Games & Computer Entertainment

March/April 1989 - Part 1
March/April 1989 - Part 2
March/April 1989 - Part 3














May 1989
July 1989 - Part 1















July 1989 - Part 2
July 1989 - Part 3
July 1989 - Part 4














Electronic Gaming Monthly

Issue #4 - Part 1
Issue #4 - Part 2















Issue #4 - Part 3
Issue #6















GamePro

March 1990

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