11:07 Not sure if this is why Hudson went with a cave man mascot, but the Japanese name for Bonk is PC原人 (PC Genjin). Genjin is Japanese for cave man, and rhymes with the Japanese word for engine, borrowed from English エンジン (enjin). The TurboGrafx's orgininal Japanese name was, of course, the PC Engin. So the mascot for the PC Engine was PC Genjin. It wouldn't surprise me if Hudson came up with the name and then created a character from there, but i don't know that that's what happened.
I own a Turbo Express back from when it came out & a Duo & I agree with this entire list except that I'd replace Bonk 1 with the 2nd (Bonk's Revenge). Bonk 2 is really the swan song of the series. It takes & refines everything in the 1st game & massively improves the level design. You can pretty safely just skip to that one. Other inclusions could be (instead of Bomber Man 93) : - Military Madness - Order of the Griffon
one of the first strategy games I ever played. Mostly play Strategy RPG's these days, but Military Madness/Neo Nectaris showed how it was done before the RPG hybrids really took over strategy games.
Some excellent choices here-and so many more that could be included. Devil’s Crush for a top-notch video pinball experience that hasn’t been surpassed. Dungeon Explorer for the amazing soundtrack and multiplayer. Jackie Chan’s Action Kung Fu for the sheer 90s-ness. Magical Chase for the bankruptcy. The list goes on and on.
Devil's Crush is great, its also on Genesis known as Dragon's Fury, I like the TG-16 a little more, but for some reason find myself liking ALien Crush more even without the scrolling table. Jackie Chan is underrated, also on NES, but TG-16 version is substantially better.
Definitely agree with all these picks here. Wanted to add though that the US release of Splatterhouse does not have less gore and horror. The only real changes are the color of the mask (for copyright reasons as you suspected) and the inverted cross boss was changed to a floating head. That's it. Otherwise the splatter is exactly the same in this house.
I bought this back in the day for its arcade conversions: 1943, Xevious, Tiger Heli/Twin Cobra, Galaga88... These were very close to the original, far better than on any other console at the time.
i remember seeing a Splatterhouse arcade cubanite at a campground that i use to go to and a arcade (since defunct ) that on my friends rented out for his birthday.
My top 10 not counting CD games or imports and just Turbochips (HuCards) 1. Soldier Blade 2. Bloody Wolf 3. Air Zonk 4. Ninja Spirit 5. Magical Chase (yes, had to emulate, never owned a physical copy) 6. Dungeon Explorer 7. Legendary Axe 1 8. Blazing Lazers 9. Alien Crush 10. Bonk's Revenge
Wow, something else than Nintendo content! I like the Turbografx. I have the PAL unit and quite a few US releases. I had never heard of it in the nineties though. In Europe it was a non factor and wasn't even released here in The Netherlands. Never played any of the cd games, other than the ones on the mini.
I love seeing the variety in lists of this nature - just goes to show the diversity of great games on the system. I would add Bloody Wolf, Alien Crush (or Devil's Crush), Ys Books I and II, and if we're including PC Engine games Rondo of Blood is probably the best game on the system!
NEC sabotaged TG16’s success with the “redesigning for American taste”. Would have released a year before the Genesis. I enjoyed Air Zonk, Militarily Madness, Bonk series, Legendary Axe, Gate of Thunder, Vasteel, Beyond Shadowgate, New Adv. Island, RType, Shockman, Ninja Spirit, Blazing Lasers, Bomberman series, Ghost Manor & Samurai Ghost
Always here for Turbo content. Always interested to see which games deviate from the super-common to 10. Haven't watched the video yet, but looking out for games other than: -Bonk -Splatterhouse -Star Soldier -Blazing Lazers -Devil's or Alien Crush -Ninja Spirit -Bloody Wolf -Neutopia -R-Type -Legendary Axe -Air Zonk -Bomberman '93 -Ys Book I&II (if we're going CD) -Castlevania (if we're going PC Engine) I'll take a shot for every game that isn't one of these.
It's widely accepted that if NEC had packaged Legendary Axe or Blazing Lazers (maybe had different bundles to choose from) as the pack-in game, rather than Keith Courage, the console would have had a much stronger start.
Great video, I agree with most of your picks, including variety while still highlighting the strengths of this console, shooters and action platformers! Definitely happy to see Blazing Lazers here too, I don't think any TG16 collection is complete without that game. That's about as essential as it gets! Splatterhouse is another one of my favorites, it's kinda weird, the gameplay isn't very in depth or amazing, but it's kinda an experience. Just a game to enjoy the varied and interesting scenery and monsters, the creepy music, and just get in the horror mood. Great for the halloween season, but better to hold off otherwise, but that's just me haha.
It's gonna be hard for someone not into shooters to get into the Turbo Grafx-16 library because the console is FULL of them especially the Japanese PC Engine library.
What's up my friend! Long time no talk to. It's really great seeing you here still doing top notch quality work and it appears your channel is growing. At any rate, you likely remember me telling you about how and why I got a Sega Genesis in 1989...so I won't go into that accept to say that I almost got a TG-16. In the end I'm glad I went with the Genesis in '89 and Snes in '91 but... I stupidly allowed myself to believe the TG-16 was inferior in every way to the other 16-bit consoles. For a very long time it was Sega (first) and Nintendo (second) with anything else being unworthy. I really didn't get the chance to experience the TG-16 until I luckily landed a Core Grafx Mini in 2020. I played TG-16 games before but never had I access to so much and it was like an epiphany. I don't know if Blazing Lazers would have swayed me into the NEC/Hudson camp in '89 but man is it good. Like oh my God...this definitely puts the smack down on Thunder Force II kinds of greatness. I would rank it with Gley Lancer and Thunder Force III/AC/Thunder Spirits.
11:07 Not sure if this is why Hudson went with a cave man mascot, but the Japanese name for Bonk is PC原人 (PC Genjin). Genjin is Japanese for cave man, and rhymes with the Japanese word for engine, borrowed from English エンジン (enjin). The TurboGrafx's orgininal Japanese name was, of course, the PC Engin.
So the mascot for the PC Engine was PC Genjin. It wouldn't surprise me if Hudson came up with the name and then created a character from there, but i don't know that that's what happened.
I own a Turbo Express back from when it came out & a Duo & I agree with this entire list except that I'd replace Bonk 1 with the 2nd (Bonk's Revenge). Bonk 2 is really the swan song of the series. It takes & refines everything in the 1st game & massively improves the level design. You can pretty safely just skip to that one.
Other inclusions could be (instead of Bomber Man 93) :
- Military Madness
- Order of the Griffon
Would have loved to see Military Madness on this list. For me it's one of the top games of the entire console.
one of the first strategy games I ever played. Mostly play Strategy RPG's these days, but Military Madness/Neo Nectaris showed how it was done before the RPG hybrids really took over strategy games.
Some excellent choices here-and so many more that could be included. Devil’s Crush for a top-notch video pinball experience that hasn’t been surpassed. Dungeon Explorer for the amazing soundtrack and multiplayer. Jackie Chan’s Action Kung Fu for the sheer 90s-ness. Magical Chase for the bankruptcy. The list goes on and on.
Devil's Crush is great, its also on Genesis known as Dragon's Fury, I like the TG-16 a little more, but for some reason find myself liking ALien Crush more even without the scrolling table. Jackie Chan is underrated, also on NES, but TG-16 version is substantially better.
Definitely agree with all these picks here. Wanted to add though that the US release of Splatterhouse does not have less gore and horror. The only real changes are the color of the mask (for copyright reasons as you suspected) and the inverted cross boss was changed to a floating head. That's it. Otherwise the splatter is exactly the same in this house.
I bought this back in the day for its arcade conversions: 1943, Xevious, Tiger Heli/Twin Cobra, Galaga88... These were very close to the original, far better than on any other console at the time.
Great content!! Love your channel!! Love the NEC!!!
i remember seeing a Splatterhouse arcade cubanite at a campground that i use to go to
and a arcade (since defunct ) that on my friends rented out for his birthday.
My top 10 not counting CD games or imports and just Turbochips (HuCards)
1. Soldier Blade
2. Bloody Wolf
3. Air Zonk
4. Ninja Spirit
5. Magical Chase (yes, had to emulate, never owned a physical copy)
6. Dungeon Explorer
7. Legendary Axe 1
8. Blazing Lazers
9. Alien Crush
10. Bonk's Revenge
I’d argue that Bonk’s Revenge is the better pick of the 3 Bonk platformers, but nice list either way.
Wow, something else than Nintendo content! I like the Turbografx. I have the PAL unit and quite a few US releases. I had never heard of it in the nineties though. In Europe it was a non factor and wasn't even released here in The Netherlands. Never played any of the cd games, other than the ones on the mini.
I love seeing the variety in lists of this nature - just goes to show the diversity of great games on the system. I would add Bloody Wolf, Alien Crush (or Devil's Crush), Ys Books I and II, and if we're including PC Engine games Rondo of Blood is probably the best game on the system!
❤🧡💛💚💙💜🤎🖤🤍 // the Bonks Adv music still haunts me to this day!
NEC sabotaged TG16’s success with the “redesigning for American taste”. Would have released a year before the Genesis. I enjoyed Air Zonk, Militarily Madness, Bonk series, Legendary Axe, Gate of Thunder, Vasteel, Beyond Shadowgate, New Adv. Island, RType, Shockman, Ninja Spirit, Blazing Lasers, Bomberman series, Ghost Manor & Samurai Ghost
Excellent video. I’ll have to check if any of these games are available on Switch. I love this era of gaming.
Always here for Turbo content. Always interested to see which games deviate from the super-common to 10. Haven't watched the video yet, but looking out for games other than:
-Bonk
-Splatterhouse
-Star Soldier
-Blazing Lazers
-Devil's or Alien Crush
-Ninja Spirit
-Bloody Wolf
-Neutopia
-R-Type
-Legendary Axe
-Air Zonk
-Bomberman '93
-Ys Book I&II (if we're going CD)
-Castlevania (if we're going PC Engine)
I'll take a shot for every game that isn't one of these.
It's widely accepted that if NEC had packaged Legendary Axe or Blazing Lazers (maybe had different bundles to choose from) as the pack-in game, rather than Keith Courage, the console would have had a much stronger start.
Great video, I agree with most of your picks, including variety while still highlighting the strengths of this console, shooters and action platformers! Definitely happy to see Blazing Lazers here too, I don't think any TG16 collection is complete without that game. That's about as essential as it gets! Splatterhouse is another one of my favorites, it's kinda weird, the gameplay isn't very in depth or amazing, but it's kinda an experience. Just a game to enjoy the varied and interesting scenery and monsters, the creepy music, and just get in the horror mood. Great for the halloween season, but better to hold off otherwise, but that's just me haha.
Devil's Crush is a fun but long one!
Nicely done lad. Updating my list!
love your channel man, this is good stuff
Maybe I'll try that Bonk shooting game now.
Yes! More turbografx videos!
It's gonna be hard for someone not into shooters to get into the Turbo Grafx-16 library because the console is FULL of them especially the Japanese PC Engine library.
What's up my friend! Long time no talk to. It's really great seeing you here still doing top notch quality work and it appears your channel is growing. At any rate, you likely remember me telling you about how and why I got a Sega Genesis in 1989...so I won't go into that accept to say that I almost got a TG-16. In the end I'm glad I went with the Genesis in '89 and Snes in '91 but...
I stupidly allowed myself to believe the TG-16 was inferior in every way to the other 16-bit consoles. For a very long time it was Sega (first) and Nintendo (second) with anything else being unworthy. I really didn't get the chance to experience the TG-16 until I luckily landed a Core Grafx Mini in 2020. I played TG-16 games before but never had I access to so much and it was like an epiphany. I don't know if Blazing Lazers would have swayed me into the NEC/Hudson camp in '89 but man is it good. Like oh my God...this definitely puts the smack down on Thunder Force II kinds of greatness. I would rank it with Gley Lancer and Thunder Force III/AC/Thunder Spirits.
Oh Hell Yeah !!!! TGX 16.
Nice picks 👍
Neutopia devil's crush. Blazing lazers
i love this system ;_;
Beautiful