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

Gaming Ads: Turbo Technologies

I'm re-posting some of what I had written for NEC and am updating that post as there was some confusion when I uploaded those ads which included a couple from Turbo Technologies, Inc. (TTi). 

Hudson Soft teamed up with NEC to create Turbo Technologies in 1992 which replaced NEC Home Electronics USA as the North American marketing division for the TurboGrafx-16. At this time the company released the TurboDuo, a console that combined the TurboGrafx-16 and its CD-ROM add-on into one unit. However, the price was $299.99 and a rather odd decision was made to use the same controller ports as the PC Engine which differed from that of the TurboGrafx-16. The TurboDuo can also play the Super CD format that have more RAM over the standard discs. Overall, 94 HuCard games, 21 CD, and 23 Super CD games were released. Although not very successful in the U.S., the console fared much better overseas where it sold around eight times as many units. TTi ended support for the platform in 1994.

Turbo Technologies albums: Facebook - Google Photos

Gaming Ads: NEC Technologies

NEC began all the way back in 1899 as Nippon Electric Limited in partnership with Western Electric Company. Based in Japan, it was a telecommunications company first that specialized in switchboards and telephones, though it has manufactured numerous other electronics over the years, including computers in the '50s and beyond. It has since opened branches around the world and become the largest computer maker in Japan. There is a lot more history to the company but I'm going to focus on its contributions to video games which for some reason is not mentioned at all on the company website's history page. In 1987 it licensed technology from Hudson Soft and created the PC Engine game console which would release in North America in 1989 as the TurboGrafx-16.

In Japan the PC Engine beat the Mega Drive (Genesis) to market where it released as a direct competitor to the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). It was marketed as a 16-bit console despite having an 8-bit CPU, and being released at the same time as the Sega Genesis in the U.S., that was the main competition here. After only six months the price of the system dropped from $199.99 to $159 and in 1991 went all the way down to $99.99. Games were originally sold on what were called HuCards; they resemble Sega Master System's card game format though less than a year after release a CD add-on hit stores. It's also worth noting that in 1990 a handheld version of the TurboGrafx-16 called the TurboExpress was released exclusively in North America.

Being the console's primary game supporter, Hudson Soft teamed up with NEC to create Turbo Technologies in 1992 which replaced NEC Home Electronics USA as the North American marketing division for the TurboGrafx-16.

I updated this about a year after it originally appeared as I'm getting to Turbo Technologies now and I seem to have mixed up some things. There were also a couple Turbo Technologies ads mixed in with NEC. 

NEC Technologies albums: Facebook - Google Photos