I've added a list to the description to separate which versions are Japanese and what is not. Note that any game that is in the Japanese list only comes in the original Japanese form. This includes games like Dracula X and Snatcher.
Sega Lord X it’s good Rondo should still be quite playable in Japanese. Anyone who hasn’t played it should make it their first priority on the system. Easily one of the best 16-bit games ever made.
If M2 is handling the emulation on this Mini console I hope they will include an electronic manual with every game if the game is paused. They did a great job with the Genesis Mini but I would like to see them go one step further and include electronic game manuals.
+Sega Lord X In the description, you mentioned that you feel only about forty of the games included would be playable for non-Japanese-speaking players? I'm all of a sudden less interested in this system...
There are still a lot of games here to play. But there are some doubles and a few that are just out right unplayable if you do not speak the Japanese language. I'm also a bit confused why they put the Japanese adventure and RPG games instead of games that are more playable to its target audience.
My brother and I had a Sega Genesis as kids. One of my brothers friends had a Turbo Grafx-16. He would bring it to our house on the weekends and we'd take turns going back and forth between the Sega Genesis and Turbo Grafx-16. Great fun & great memories!
Galaga will never die. No matter how advanced video games get over time there’s just something fundamental and beautifully “arcade” about the way that games plays. I remember downloading it on the Wii, and in addition to bowling and Zelda my friends and I would try for hours to beat each other’s Galaga records
You cut me deep, Mr.X.. With that JJ and Jeff hate! Lol. I bought it full price as a kid and I remember my friends laughing that they had Mario and I had JJ and Jeff. But I really enjoyed it back then. Now it fills me with warm nostalgia.
Oh trust this will be hackable and If you are quick enough to get your hands on one you will hack it and you will have all the games you could ever want for it.
Legendary Axe is a great game that won multiple 1989 GAME OF THE YEAR awards and is a crowning jewel for the Turbografx-16. However... who currently owns the legal rights is most likely the reason why it's NOT on the mini and never even made an appearance on the Wii Virtual Console back in the day. Victor Interactive had the legal rights to Legendary Axe. HOWEVER, during 1996, Victor interactive merged with Pack-in-Video and by 2003 they were acquired by Marvelous Entertainment (who recently made Daemon X Machina and Marvelous also owns Xseed). One would assume that Marvelous / Xseed has the legal rights to Legendary Axe. HOWEVER, a portion of Victor did NOT go to Marvelous and ended up staying with JVC. So there is a possibility that JVC has Legendary Axe. HOWEVER, similar to what happened to Acclaim when they got bought up, some of their properties went to different buyers. In other words, Legendary Axe may have been sold off to someone else OR there is even an insane possibility that the trademarks to Legendary Axe were NOT renewed and the legal rights might be in some type of weird "legal limbo" right now. Whatever the case may be, Konami didn't feel like playing detective and decided to just leave the game out of the mini.
I still remember, though not in great detail, a commercial for Turbographx 16 from maybe 1989 to 90? I do remember the announcers gravely voice saying "Legendary Axe!!", with the protagonist ducking and hacking that tall ogre looking boss from stage 1 or 2. Maybe the commercial is on TH-cam, I hope it is. It's crazy, almost 30 yrs later, I got ROMs and loved Legendary Axe 2 as well. The Egyptian theme and 2 brothers fighting to the death was sick as hell. That music when your character was defeated and knocked of the pyramid at the beginning and his his animation for bloodthirst gave me goosebumps.
I wish they would release Turbografx-16 games on the Switch! Just like how Hamster had released NeoGeo Arcade games every week for the first two years of the Switch's lifespan!
@@joeelliott574 They were also on the Wii U, but not until near the end of its lifespan, at least in the West. Doesn't help that quite a number of Turbografx-16 games are owned by Konami.
- Blazing Lazers is still one of my favorite all time shoot-em ups. I remember when I was a kid I sent my high score to a game magazine and got my name published in their high scores section. I think it was either Electronic Gaming Monthly or GamePro. - Military Madness was such an underrated game. I spent more hours on that than any other TG-16 game. - I'd take J.J. & Jeff over China Warrior any day. Finding all the hidden items by kicking everywhere on the screen was the best part. - I agree with Legendary Axe. One of best TG-16 games ever. - The middle cut scene for Y's Book was probably my favorite experience I had with the TG-16 CD. It ALMOST made the $400 price tag worth it.
Blazing Lasers is terrible the graphics arent even good. Cyber Core should be on there its an exclusive shooter for TG16 but I guess they already had a shitload of shooters
I was the only kid I knew that actually got a Turbografx 16. I LOVED Slaugherhouse. It was so gory for the time I felt like I was getting away with doing something "bad" just my playing it and it was awesome!!
I'm so glad they're finally doing this. I think it costs $99 but if you bought a turbo with the cd attachment or a duo and all these games it would cost you thousands of dollars. I'm stoked because I've never played Rondo of Blood and as a Ghouls and Ghosts fan this is the version I figured I'd never get a chance to play. I have it on the Master System, Genesis, Super Nintendo, the Capcom Generations collection on Saturn and even the ZX Spectrum version (I played that one on an emulator as I don't own a Specky) but never played this one.
@@cinnamondan4984 I had a bunch of emulation for lots of systems but my computer died and the disks and USB drives that I had back ups on stopped working and I lost it all. Then the internet started purging sites. It's why I started collecting physically media more than I was and why I started collecting mini consoles. I honestly believe they'll outlast most modern computers and save devices by decades. I mean, shit, my computer that died I had for two years (after a previous one I had for 10 bit the dust) but my Master System still works without any issues. I find the real thing (or getting repos on Etsy) and minis to be far less of a headache and hassle than emulation these days. Which is sad to say. I very much remember when it was the other way around.
chaospoet There’s someone in my area selling a complete boxed collection plus a turbo express for $7500, she was going for $9000 at first. I wish I could buy it but that’s a pipe dream lol
chaospoet fair points, but at the same time all technology will die so we have to keep moving the emulation into new computers and devices. We also have to move the files from device to device, sure. It can be a head ache but it is the best way to be able to say play Panzer Dragoon Saga from now until the end of your time (as otherwise lots of repairs of the hardware eventually and periodically)
@simon woods I had trouble adapting to Retroarch at first, but I kept hearing how good it was so I stuck with it. It was absolutely worth it to figure out what was needed, but it does take time. I had to go through a similar learning curve with standalone MAME, MESS, and Mednafen which I was using before Retroarch. I do recommend you continue to learn Retroarch as it is a superior experience, in my opinion. I also think you can do autofire on arcade games with it. Of course, you have to decide for yourself, but there's a learning process with many emulators as it is.
Bonk was the unofficial mascot for the TurboGrafx during its short North American run under NEC from 1990-1991. When Turbo Technologies took over the system distribution in 1992 and re-released it as the TurboDuo, they decided to phase Bonk out in favor of the 'edgier' Zonk as their spokesman.
The Turbografx (pc engine) was shown on Hit Score Girl Season 2 from Netflix and the main character snuck his pc engine on a field trip with a multi tap and either bomberman 93 or 94 so his friends and him could play in the hotel.
To explain: Legendary Axe is a great game that won multiple 1989 GAME OF THE YEAR awards and is a crowning jewel for the Turbografx-16. However... who currently owns the legal rights is most likely the reason why it's NOT on the mini and never even made an appearance on the Wii Virtual Console back in the day. Victor Interactive had the legal rights to Legendary Axe. HOWEVER, during 1996, Victor interactive merged with Pack-in-Video and by 2003 they were acquired by Marvelous Entertainment (who recently made Daemon X Machina and Marvelous also owns Xseed). One would assume that Marvelous / Xseed has the legal rights to Legendary Axe. HOWEVER, a portion of Victor did NOT go to Marvelous and ended up staying with JVC. So there is a possibility that JVC has Legendary Axe. HOWEVER, similar to what happened to Acclaim when they got bought up, some of their properties went to different buyers. In other words, Legendary Axe may have been sold off to someone else OR there is even an insane possibility that the trademarks to Legendary Axe were NOT renewed and the legal rights might be in some type of weird "legal limbo" right now. Whatever the case may be, Konami didn't feel like playing detective and decided to just leave the game out of the mini.
Great video, brother. I was lucky to have a friend with a TG16 when it came out, we were in elementary school so I got to play it at his house a lot back then. He was Asian-American and was the only person at school who had a TG16! It was always so interesting, different and distinctly "Japanese" to me as a young kid. Playing TG16 when it was new was basically my first experience with "import"-type or very Japanese-feeling games, and started my young understanding of how Western-made releases differed from Japanese titles.
SKiLLa >Expecting crapomi to spend money on licenses or adding games Kojima made Did you guys see metal gear survive or the latest contra? This is gonna be a cheap cash grab that will make the PlayStation classic look like a masterpiece
I couldnt make any sense of that game even to get a few screens into it. The "board game" in Japanese is pretty fun though you move the Train around Japan and have no fuckin clue what its saying
Going to have to snag this to complete the 16-bit big 3. 10-year-old me, who was a crazy Genesis guy (though I did like the SNES a lot too) never would've thought a day would come where it'd be possible to have Genesis, SNES and TG-16 at the same time, especially in the form of mini replicas.
I just got the TG-16 Mini about week ago and I'm loving so far. The only real downer is Snatcher not being localized as I really wanted to try it but other than that, I'm having a blast with it.
Great video brother. I was 11 in 91 when I got my tg16 and I loaned it to a friend who moved to Cali a week later (were in NJ) and I haven't been the same since.
Michael Burke I’m buying it for Military Madness - which might be my favorite game ever. And, maybe Bomberman. But, as with my original TG16, with CD, I will likely be disappointed with everything else. Bunch of underwhelming shooters. Maybe I’ll play Y’s again.
The first console I ever played was the TG16 in 1990 at the age of four. I was absolutely obsessed with Bonk's Adventure. Then I got my NES soon after and never looked back. I did miss out on a great library of games, though. Im very grateful to own this mini console
It's such a hideously beautiful and weird console, I love my SG to death. The only drawback to having a SG is then having to buy the entire library, which as you know is pricey.
I’m from the UK and was born in 1990 so I have no recollection of the core grafx (or pc engine or tg16) - hadn’t even heard of them til the early 2000s. But after playing mgs twin snakes and mgs2 I really wanted to dive into kojimas work. Still haven’t played snatcher or police suits and it looks like I’ll only ever be able to emulate them. I love how they put all games across all regions but putting snatcher on untranslated just seems like a tease! I like the look of that RPG too. Would’ve bought it instantly if it had an English translation of snatcher
I was really hoping that Rondo and Snatcher would be translated. I just got the PSP castlevania for the translated port. Was hoping this would be another good way to get it.
@PickingNamesSux Yeah I said that... I specifically bought the PSP version for the translation... Then I also said "Was hoping this would be another good way to get it".
Rondo isn't a story heavy game, though. I heard Konami was going to translate Snatcher for this system, but they didn't because A. It's an extremely text-heavy game and would have taken forever to translate and B. the amount of references to other scifi movies would have been a licensing headache and just not worth it.
So many mini consoles. What an amazing time we live in. So far I have an Atari Flashback 9 Gold, Snes mini and a Playstation Classic. All hacked with extra games and I love them all. Next on my shopping list is TheC64
I can’t wait to get this. I owned a TG16 back in the day, and retro collecting has made it too expensive for me to get one again. Can’t wait to play some more blazing lazers and dungeon explorer. This is a solid collection of games.
I think Its a great compilation, despite the fact that everyone claims for some omissions. In my case i would love to see 1941, final match tennis and final lap twin. Greetins from Argentina!
@@newtypepunk9967 Text isn't the only issue unfortunately. There was censoring and audio. In this era, I do not think a retro-port from Sega CD to TG16 would've rezl,hard, but who knows how much effort was really put it. I looks like a true rom-dump collection.
@@fearanarchy I guess so, what we really need is Snatcher collection set given the full work over, but thats probably not going to happen. I was interested in the PC engine mini at first, but I bought most of the games back on og Wii VC when that was out, the likes of bomberman, castlevania and gate of thunder, which is some how missing from here, so it's a pass for me.
I'm loving all of the new content consistently coming out. Can't wait for your next music episode. When my finances permit, I'll gladly become a patron, you absolutely deserve the support.
Sega Lord X I’m the same way. I’ve been gaming for about 37 years and my friends and I would always swap systems when we would get bored of the games we owned. I grew an appreciation for almost everything.
The system sold a fraction of its two competitor 16-bit systems, so I wonder how the Mini will fare. $99 seems pretty optimistic, we could anticipate some big price drops for the NA one, at least.
That was then and this is now. To be honest I have not picked up one mini to this day and that’s including the ps mini at 20 dollars. To be honest I collect physical and those minies never appealed to me, however a turbo has been on my “want to play list” for some time now and the fact I can get a decent library all rolled into a nice little package without spending a few grand is what lead me to pre order this little guy. I think this is going to do quite well because of that and if it’s hackable thst will add to the appeal as well. This is going to be amazon exclusive so don’t expect it to sell like other minies have.
#1) Distribution through Amazon #2) Expensives and/or hard to get games on an easy plug & play format #3) All our age retro-enthuiastswith money to burn, and already own the SNES and Genesis minis. Only reason I am not buying is ths $100, and only 1 controller. The MultiTap and extra controllers almost add up to another unit. I wanna play Dungeon Explorer and Bomberman multitap, but not $180-200
@@ggary04. I own all of the other Mini systems and I'll get this one too. I can appreciate that you like physical, but these games are expensive these days. I like being able to have them modded with the majority of the games and in HD
For 100 bucks they can't include a power brick, they have several untranslated games, and they force you to buy a multitap? No thanks. I love the PCE but this system is not mainstream enough to pull that. I see this getting a similar price drop as PS1 mini. Some great game choices included though.
It will definitely get a price drop. The PlayStation got a price drop cause it was straight up poorly made. Excluding glaring Sony flagship titles like Crash Bandicoot games and The Spyro trilogy was bad enough, but they put European Roms of the games on the North American version which had massive slowdown problems like in Tekken 3. The emulator also sucked. The modding scene saved the console and it is my most played Mini console as the new emulator and correct region roms made it a quality product. The hardware itself if fantastic and the controller is better than the original one.
I'm with you on this...hope it goes the way of the psone classic and hits the bargain bin at a steep discount...You can almost always count on Konami to shoot themselves in the foot
What I think is they will build these consoles according to pre-order. So I don't think there will be much on the market. But I could be wrong... Anyway, get one, the game selection is really good. BTW the power is just a usb cable. "don't you have a phone"? as blizzard was saying :)
I’ve never owned a turbo growing up, so I figured I’d give this video a try to see if I would want one. I’m only interested in 5-10 games here and most of them aren’t even translated. I’m really disappointed 😔.
Joseph Huffman Because Konami has invested zero effort in this mini console’s release and are simply cashing in on the mini console craze. They didn’t even bother doing what the Genesis /Mega-Drive mini did with its interface swapping to different regions.
Obsessive Compulsive Gamer There’s no region designator to help weed out the games non-Japanese speakers can’t comprehend. I was super excited for this until I noticed staples of the console like Keith Courage in Alpha Zones (an admittedly mediocre but class title that was the pack-in for the TG-16) and The Legendary Axe. When they announced Snatcher, I was tempted to buy it...until I realized the game was in Japanese only. I can speak Japanese but have always preferred the English version of the game.
Resvrgam well if it can be hacked I’d most of those games will be attainable and I’d bet the farm that snatcher would get a fan translation if it doesn’t already have one.
Salamander aka Life Force for the NES was one of my favorite games growing up, I believe there is a Japanese PS1 version that has a sequel to this game or it's a compilation disc. One I must own.
@@GiordanDiodato I've seen a Japanese PS1 version of Life Force/Salamander. After looking it up it's called Salamander Deluxe Pack Plus that has 3 games on it. Salamander, Salamander II, and Life Force. Apparently it's on the Japanese PS1 and Japanese Sega Saturn. www.ebay.com/itm/Salamander-Deluxe-Pack-Plus-Playstation-Japanese-Import-PSX-Japan-PS1-US-Seller/274208306028?hash=item3fd816b36c:g:jTQAAOSwU7JeIN~W
Man could you imagine buying a CD variant just to play something like that Bomberman version of Dr. Mario. Wheew horrible let down. In general I'm so underwhelmed by the TG16. I was sooo close to being on this bandwagon as a kid. I saw bonks on TV I thought it looked so amazing, asked my dad for it. He went to some local electronics place and they didn't have one in stock (they sold out of them). My dad called me and asked me about getting a "Sega Genesis" It came with two games (one was a mail away voucher for a Sonic the Hedgehog whatever that was, and Altered Beast. OH I kinda remember that game in a restaurant I was at. In defeat I said ok, since I had my mind set on going onto the next gen of video games from the NES. So glad that happened.
I was the only one I knew that owed this system in Tennessee. Ninja Spirit, Bonk, Final Lap Twin, Keith Courage and the Alpha Zone and Sonic Spike are all fantastic.
Ah Final lap twin... the memories. Would have been great to have this game on the mini... Btw me too, I was the only one I knew with that console in Quebec. They just sold 1M units in North america :(
I’m on the fence. I have very little experience with the TG16 so most of these would be new to me. But I don’t like the games like Snatcher being untranslated. I’m not sure what the point of that is. They already had a translation and voice lines from the Sega CD version. I feel like, if you can’t translate it... fine, but at least replace them with more NA titles like you mentioned are missing.
They are putting all the games on all regions instead of making specific versions for each region and which language you choose depends on which games you see.
Do not miss out on that gem of a console. Between my own acquisitions and my friends', I don't think there's a console or console evolution I have not been able to extensively play when it came out here, the Atari Jaguar being the only exception I can think of (yeah, not a big loss haha). All of this to say that in spite of all this, the Turbografx / PC Engine is the one I have the fondest memories of (that and the PC Engine GT and its battery budget lol).
RIP Hudson : ( I remember a friend who had the Turbo Graphx 16 it was only available at Radio Shack here in Canada. He only had a few games but Necromancer was in English ! and I loved it.
I have all the good games on the Sega machine on cartridge so it wouldnt be worth shit to me except the real Genesis has weak as fuck video output so it doesnt work on most modern TVs. The TG16 on the other hand has my whole life on it def. worth $100
I bought the pc engine for my Mac. That was the first game I downloaded. Hardest part for me was finding my way through that keep on the west part of the map.
@@jmathieson15 I remember that near the end of the game, there a really hard maze/dungeon... maybe it's this place. Man that game is the definition of old school western RPG, hard...almost not fun!
Mad Joe yeah. It was extremely hard to find your way through. It wasn’t the final dungeon but almost the last place. It may have actually been a crypt and not a keep. Pretty sure the name started with a K but it’s been well over 20 years🙄
I'm glad you got out ahead of the numerous mini videos coming in March. If someone was going to be the first video I watched, I was hoping it was gonna be Sega Lord X!
I'm wondering if this will have any kind of hacking scene though. Low production compared to the other minis, probably lower sales because it's only available through one outlet and there's less nostalgia out there for the TG16. There's gotta be lots of demand for a decent scene to develop. It's why there's huge support for the ps1 mini even though it was shit. They sold a ton of them for peanuts on clearance. I'm not as concerned here though because really all the good games are already on the TG16 mini. I'd like to put a English language version of Snatcher on there but I've played the Sega CD version a few times already and it's not really a huge deal. Of course I'm buying it, if for anything just to support Konami's decision to bring the brand back into the spotlight, even if it's a small spotlight. Don't hear much about the Turbografx, except on TH-cam. As long as the emulation is passable it'll be fine. I don't expect the same quality as the Nintendo Minis, but as long as it's close to the Genesis I'll be happy.
@@jokerzwild00 I hope so, I'm sure somebody out there will hack it, because the current enulators on the pc engine are not good just like sega Saturn emulation I want the whole library I own a turbograpx 16 with only 5 games , and i had a hard time finding games for this system in wild and that was over 20 years ago But collecting for this system today you would have to take out a 2nd mortgage. Thank god for the turbograpx-16 mini
As long as this thing can get hacked like the other classics/minis out there, these missing games won't be a real issue for anyone. I do want one just for the aesthetics. I have a Batocera box, so these systems aren't all the much in the "required purchase" category for me. I also have the original hardware. I just want something "official" with HDMI out to give that classic game play feel on modern tvs.
Yeah that is why I bought a Japanese PC Engine Duo that is RGB and region modded. Mainly so I could play my favorite game Castlevania Akumajao Dracula X Rondo Of Blood on it. And I have an OCCS adapter that converts the RGB to HDMI to my flat screen and it looks beautiful. All that said, I sill want the Turbo Grax16 mini as I collect and hack the mini systems.
this isn't "official" native gameplay tho, its android based emulation. At least you can get the roms legally in this case but it isnt more authentic than running it on a phone or laptop.
Yeah, just like all of the other minis/classics/flashbacks on the market now. What I should have said is "officially licensed hardware". Of course, we all know that just because something has an official license doesn't mean it is quality (**cough**AtGames**cough**)
It will definitely be able to be hacked in due time. You could probably even fit the library on it cause let's face it, Snes and Genesis games were more advanced than these games. So you'd probably get files not much bigger than Nes games. Looking forward to Rondo Of Blood and the Bonk games. Was introduced to Bonk on Snes with Super Bonk and I actually love him more than Sonic
@@Deadsea_1993 The fact that there are a TON of fan translations of a lot of those titles, including Rondo (Yeah, I have it on my PC), it won't be hard to replace a lot of those Japanese only titles. I am sure it will have plenty of space. I have a strong feeling that the fine fellas over at ModMyClassic.com will have something within a very short time.
The Japanese release also got Tokimeki Memorial, a dating sim that likely would not have gotten translated, and probably overlooked as dating sims are not popular here in the US.
Very good picks for what is missing. Those are some big omissions. Gate of Thunder was the flagship title of the Super CD upgrade in its day. Street Fighter 2 being left out is more understandable as offering a six-button pad for this mini system doesn't make a lot of sense. They may also not want to deal with the hassle of the Japanese names and the possibility of a legal issue over the character we know as Balrog being called M. Bison and looking like Mike Tyson. Spriggan 2 is a good game, but was tough to get into at first. It has such an odd feel to it, with all the changes from the prior game. Because you have a life meter, the game wants to overwhelm you. But I like it. Luckily, there is an option to turn off the story interruptions which makes the game flow much better. The first Spriggan is excellent. It's challenging as you said, but not punishing. It's quite beatable, but it's the kind of game I go back to again and again. Too bad they provide Dragon Spirit, but not Dragon Saber. The sequel is a great shooter and a big improvement over the original. I would have liked seeing it featured here so more people can discover it. I really love Namco's stuff from the late '80s and early '90s. Phelios on the Genesis has a similar feel and I really like that one too. Dragon Saber is one of my favorites on the PC Engine, and as a port it is well done. That's definitely a big missing game for me. Lords of Thunder is really good, and I've been meaning to return to it as it's been a few years since I last played it. The soundtrack is fantastic. I found the hitbox of the player characters to be a bit off, shifted to the right a bit more than I'd expect. As I recall, the Sega CD version felt more natural in that regard. I do urge people to stick with the PCE version as it is the best version of the game. It's not hard to adjust to the odd hitbox. While it means you have to be extra careful of stuff in front, it actually is more forgiving about threats from behind as the shift is totally consistent. It's one of my favorite games on the platform. It was good to hear your views on the games included. I never played anything from PC Engine until 2014. I started with the first Bonk, and was surprised how fun and fair it was, while the machine had a certain unique character, so I dove in further into the library. I would prefer either the white PCE or the Core Grafx unit for the US release though. I know some might have nostalgia for the TG16 model, but I never liked the hardware design, while I instantly fell in love with the Core Grafx. Either way, it's got great games.
Love the Turbo, still have my original one and cant wait for the mini! The colors, the music, Iconic in my mind. I chose the Genesis and do not regret it but the TG-16 is also awesome.
Funny you mentioned bonding with your dad and galaga 90. Same here. It was one of the few games on the system my dad enjoyed when I was younger. He was also a fan of timeball and alien crush.
Yeah, my dad and I had a tough time connecting on anything. A few video games are the high lights of most of the time we spent together. He loved Pac-Man, and the NES Pinball game as well.
Moto roader, military madness, bonk, devils crush, and Keith's courage made up 40% of my early childhood as I learned to play video games on a turbo grafx 16 with a disk drive and keypad. But where is AeroBlasters?! That game took an additional 20%of my childhood by itself and I still run it on an emulator on my phone.
I'd love to see an answer on this. I suspect that since space is at a premium on these mini consoles, they would go the MP3 route. The economics would point that direction. Hope I am incorrect though.
Can't deny though, that parallax scrolling in Aldynes is pretty dang nice. The Pinball games on the PC Engine are great. As someone that regularly plays Pinball FX3 (owning 88 of the tables), I still go back and play the PC Engine ones. And for anyone looking for another Pinball game to try out, check out Cru Ball on Genesis. One of my favs.
There were versions of retro Genesises that had a cartridge slot. No other mini had original software slots. Why not! We bought the license many years ago, why not have both built in games ANF original software slots?
Not including Legendary Axe was probably the one single biggest misstep in the TG-16/PC Engine Mini's game library. I still can hardly believe it wasn't included. It makes me believe that there simply must have been a licensing issue when it came to acquiring the rights to it to include on the system. Same with Magical Chase, another fantastic game. Two of the best games for the system and they are completely absent from the lineup. It's a damn shame really.
Makes absolutely NO sense for language dependent games. A shmup? yeah we can make do. A BIG draw being Snatcher? or entire RPG's?Most of use can't play them!
It actually fits the Turbo perfectly because it, more than any other system of the era, was import heavy with the CD games being region free and adapters readily available for the HuCards.
Beautiful review! So glad you're more than just SEGA despite your name, and that you show respect to all games in general! What a cool review of a mini-system many out there are on the fence about buying, and very to-the-point objective reviews of said games as well! It's worth it given either regions version!
![BOWKYLION - วิงวอน (ex-change) [Official MV]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/cLdnZWDaO-w/mqdefault.jpg)
I've added a list to the description to separate which versions are Japanese and what is not. Note that any game that is in the Japanese list only comes in the original Japanese form. This includes games like Dracula X and Snatcher.
Sega Lord X it’s good Rondo should still be quite playable in Japanese. Anyone who hasn’t played it should make it their first priority on the system. Easily one of the best 16-bit games ever made.
The Japanese is a deal breaker for me. Why even include a narrative driven game that isn't localized?
If M2 is handling the emulation on this Mini console I hope they will include an electronic manual with every game if the game is paused. They did a great job with the Genesis Mini but I would like to see them go one step further and include electronic game manuals.
+Sega Lord X
In the description, you mentioned that you feel only about forty of the games included would be playable for non-Japanese-speaking players? I'm all of a sudden less interested in this system...
There are still a lot of games here to play. But there are some doubles and a few that are just out right unplayable if you do not speak the Japanese language. I'm also a bit confused why they put the Japanese adventure and RPG games instead of games that are more playable to its target audience.
My brother and I had a Sega Genesis as kids. One of my brothers friends had a Turbo Grafx-16. He would bring it to our house on the weekends and we'd take turns going back and forth between the Sega Genesis and Turbo Grafx-16. Great fun & great memories!
Childhood video game memories are some of the best memories in life!
@@luckyrockmore2796 I completely agree. They're nostalgia personified.
False. No one had a Turbografx 16 back then.
@@Rountree1985 I did
@@anthonygee4157 it was kind of a joke. I wish I knew someone who had one back then, I didn’t even know it existed until like 1997.
“Cho Aniki...was a very HAPPY shoot’em up” I see what you did there. Seems that reference went over most people’s heads but I appreciated it
I don’t think that the PC Engine versions was anywhere near as ‘happy’ as the PS1 version though....
"Hah...GAY!"
Galaga will never die. No matter how advanced video games get over time there’s just something fundamental and beautifully “arcade” about the way that games plays. I remember downloading it on the Wii, and in addition to bowling and Zelda my friends and I would try for hours to beat each other’s Galaga records
Yo, SLX is the hardest working man in youtube retro gaming. No one pumps out quality content like you, brother.
Adam koralik is another good one. Though hes more of a tech reviewer. Give him a shot. And yes SLX is a good one. Deff in my top 3.
* crickets chirping*......you lost me at “yo”.
@@RikoJAmado - I made the comment almost a year ago. Yes, you’re definitely lost. 😂😂😂
Neutopia 1 + 2 = AWESOME games, and I truly wish they had made the 3rd one, or the fanproject to make a 3rd one hadn't fallen apart...
You cut me deep, Mr.X.. With that JJ and Jeff hate! Lol. I bought it full price as a kid and I remember my friends laughing that they had Mario and I had JJ and Jeff. But I really enjoyed it back then. Now it fills me with warm nostalgia.
How do they leave off Legendary Axe??? That was one of the first games to sell the TG16 in the US.
Sadly not. And I found it weird. Still there's good games.
Who owns the rights to that now?
Oh trust this will be hackable and If you are quick enough to get your hands on one you will hack it and you will have all the games you could ever want for it.
Legendary Axe is a great game that won multiple 1989 GAME OF THE YEAR awards and is a crowning jewel for the Turbografx-16. However... who currently owns the legal rights is most likely the reason why it's NOT on the mini and never even made an appearance on the Wii Virtual Console back in the day. Victor Interactive had the legal rights to Legendary Axe. HOWEVER, during 1996, Victor interactive merged with Pack-in-Video and by 2003 they were acquired by Marvelous Entertainment (who recently made Daemon X Machina and Marvelous also owns Xseed). One would assume that Marvelous / Xseed has the legal rights to Legendary Axe. HOWEVER, a portion of Victor did NOT go to Marvelous and ended up staying with JVC. So there is a possibility that JVC has Legendary Axe. HOWEVER, similar to what happened to Acclaim when they got bought up, some of their properties went to different buyers. In other words, Legendary Axe may have been sold off to someone else OR there is even an insane possibility that the trademarks to Legendary Axe were NOT renewed and the legal rights might be in some type of weird "legal limbo" right now. Whatever the case may be, Konami didn't feel like playing detective and decided to just leave the game out of the mini.
I still remember, though not in great detail, a commercial for Turbographx 16 from maybe 1989 to 90? I do remember the announcers gravely voice saying "Legendary Axe!!", with the protagonist ducking and hacking that tall ogre looking boss from stage 1 or 2. Maybe the commercial is on TH-cam, I hope it is. It's crazy, almost 30 yrs later, I got ROMs and loved Legendary Axe 2 as well. The Egyptian theme and 2 brothers fighting to the death was sick as hell. That music when your character was defeated and knocked of the pyramid at the beginning and his his animation for bloodthirst gave me goosebumps.
“Cho Aniki (or Super Big Brother, if you prefer), was a very happy…”
I saw what you did there. 👏
I wish they would release Turbografx-16 games on the Switch! Just like how Hamster had released NeoGeo Arcade games every week for the first two years of the Switch's lifespan!
You were able to get them on the Wii don't know why nintendo dropped them from the store
@@joeelliott574 They were also on the Wii U, but not until near the end of its lifespan, at least in the West. Doesn't help that quite a number of Turbografx-16 games are owned by Konami.
Great video, I love this system! "Bonk's revenge," "Splatter house" and "Dungeon explorer" are some of my all-time favorite games.
- Blazing Lazers is still one of my favorite all time shoot-em ups. I remember when I was a kid I sent my high score to a game magazine and got my name published in their high scores section. I think it was either Electronic Gaming Monthly or GamePro.
- Military Madness was such an underrated game. I spent more hours on that than any other TG-16 game.
- I'd take J.J. & Jeff over China Warrior any day. Finding all the hidden items by kicking everywhere on the screen was the best part.
- I agree with Legendary Axe. One of best TG-16 games ever.
- The middle cut scene for Y's Book was probably my favorite experience I had with the TG-16 CD. It ALMOST made the $400 price tag worth it.
Blazing Lasers is terrible the graphics arent even good. Cyber Core should be on there its an exclusive shooter for TG16 but I guess they already had a shitload of shooters
I was the only kid I knew that actually got a Turbografx 16. I LOVED Slaugherhouse. It was so gory for the time I felt like I was getting away with doing something "bad" just my playing it and it was awesome!!
I'm so glad they're finally doing this. I think it costs $99 but if you bought a turbo with the cd attachment or a duo and all these games it would cost you thousands of dollars. I'm stoked because I've never played Rondo of Blood and as a Ghouls and Ghosts fan this is the version I figured I'd never get a chance to play. I have it on the Master System, Genesis, Super Nintendo, the Capcom Generations collection on Saturn and even the ZX Spectrum version (I played that one on an emulator as I don't own a Specky) but never played this one.
chaospoet I am buying this just because I like mini consoles but have you not simply tried emulating them via OpenEmu?
@@cinnamondan4984 I had a bunch of emulation for lots of systems but my computer died and the disks and USB drives that I had back ups on stopped working and I lost it all. Then the internet started purging sites. It's why I started collecting physically media more than I was and why I started collecting mini consoles. I honestly believe they'll outlast most modern computers and save devices by decades. I mean, shit, my computer that died I had for two years (after a previous one I had for 10 bit the dust) but my Master System still works without any issues. I find the real thing (or getting repos on Etsy) and minis to be far less of a headache and hassle than emulation these days. Which is sad to say. I very much remember when it was the other way around.
chaospoet There’s someone in my area selling a complete boxed collection plus a turbo express for $7500, she was going for $9000 at first. I wish I could buy it but that’s a pipe dream lol
chaospoet fair points, but at the same time all technology will die so we have to keep moving the emulation into new computers and devices. We also have to move the files from device to device, sure. It can be a head ache but it is the best way to be able to say play Panzer Dragoon Saga from now until the end of your time (as otherwise lots of repairs of the hardware eventually and periodically)
@simon woods I had trouble adapting to Retroarch at first, but I kept hearing how good it was so I stuck with it. It was absolutely worth it to figure out what was needed, but it does take time. I had to go through a similar learning curve with standalone MAME, MESS, and Mednafen which I was using before Retroarch. I do recommend you continue to learn Retroarch as it is a superior experience, in my opinion. I also think you can do autofire on arcade games with it. Of course, you have to decide for yourself, but there's a learning process with many emulators as it is.
Military Madness - FTW!!! I was hunting for this for years after the TG went obsolete, eventually found a few ports!
If you were in to Military Madness I highly recommend following it up with Vasteel.
30 years later, you’re still talking about JJ & Jeff.
I'm with him.... but I was lucky enough to rent it first and stayed away. lol
I like that game, what’s so bad about it?
The Japanese version is better...
He only said it 16 times
Because the store did not take it back.
Bonk was the unofficial mascot for the TurboGrafx during its short North American run under NEC from 1990-1991. When Turbo Technologies took over the system distribution in 1992 and re-released it as the TurboDuo, they decided to phase Bonk out in favor of the 'edgier' Zonk as their spokesman.
I never owned or played the system but I remember the hype and the impressive graphics for that period.
The Turbografx (pc engine) was shown on Hit Score Girl Season 2 from Netflix and the main character snuck his pc engine on a field trip with a multi tap and either bomberman 93 or 94 so his friends and him could play in the hotel.
It was really popular in Japan... well legendary as NES is for us. Like that show... good old memories.
absolutely criminal to NOT have Legendary Axe on here
I agree, but wait for hacks :)
it's possibly because NEC published it, not Hudson
To explain: Legendary Axe is a great game that won multiple 1989 GAME OF THE YEAR awards and is a crowning jewel for the Turbografx-16. However... who currently owns the legal rights is most likely the reason why it's NOT on the mini and never even made an appearance on the Wii Virtual Console back in the day. Victor Interactive had the legal rights to Legendary Axe. HOWEVER, during 1996, Victor interactive merged with Pack-in-Video and by 2003 they were acquired by Marvelous Entertainment (who recently made Daemon X Machina and Marvelous also owns Xseed). One would assume that Marvelous / Xseed has the legal rights to Legendary Axe. HOWEVER, a portion of Victor did NOT go to Marvelous and ended up staying with JVC. So there is a possibility that JVC has Legendary Axe. HOWEVER, similar to what happened to Acclaim when they got bought up, some of their properties went to different buyers. In other words, Legendary Axe may have been sold off to someone else OR there is even an insane possibility that the trademarks to Legendary Axe were NOT renewed and the legal rights might be in some type of weird "legal limbo" right now. Whatever the case may be, Konami didn't feel like playing detective and decided to just leave the game out of the mini.
@@johnpenguinthe3rd13 Maybe Altus should try to get it... they have rigths for Legendary Axe II...
@@madjoe8622 JVC owns the first Legendary Axe game and they're notorious for their copyright
Great video, brother. I was lucky to have a friend with a TG16 when it came out, we were in elementary school so I got to play it at his house a lot back then. He was Asian-American and was the only person at school who had a TG16! It was always so interesting, different and distinctly "Japanese" to me as a young kid. Playing TG16 when it was new was basically my first experience with "import"-type or very Japanese-feeling games, and started my young understanding of how Western-made releases differed from Japanese titles.
I think it needed Ys III: Wanderers from Ys, Dragon’s Curse, Monster Lair, and Dynastic Hero!
Wonder Boy fan, huh?
Z Me too!
English version of Snatcher would have made it an insta-buy
SKiLLa >Expecting crapomi to spend money on licenses or adding games Kojima made
Did you guys see metal gear survive or the latest contra? This is gonna be a cheap cash grab that will make the PlayStation classic look like a masterpiece
Devil's Crush, Side Arms, Dungeon Explorer II, Valis 2 and 3, Legendary Axe II,and Parodius (owned by Konami so why not)
You probably know it by now, but there is an english version called The Legend of Valkyrie on Namco Museum Volume 5.
the non translated Snatcher is a deal breaker for me.
An English translation would have been worth $100 alone for me....oh well.
It’ll get hacked day 1 dont worry
I couldnt make any sense of that game even to get a few screens into it. The "board game" in Japanese is pretty fun though you move the Train around Japan
and have no fuckin clue what its saying
Going to have to snag this to complete the 16-bit big 3. 10-year-old me, who was a crazy Genesis guy (though I did like the SNES a lot too) never would've thought a day would come where it'd be possible to have Genesis, SNES and TG-16 at the same time, especially in the form of mini replicas.
Me too. I have foreseen a lot of things in gaming (gamer since 1980), but never the minis!
I just got the TG-16 Mini about week ago and I'm loving so far. The only real downer is Snatcher not being localized as I really wanted to try it but other than that, I'm having a blast with it.
It seems like a fun system does it play real TG16 cards?
@@worsethanhitlerpt.2539 nah it's a mini console meaning, all the games included are pre installed.
Great video brother. I was 11 in 91 when I got my tg16 and I loaned it to a friend who moved to Cali a week later (were in NJ) and I haven't been the same since.
I can’t see this selling at its current price. £99 is just crazy. I will pick this up if it’s around £60. Great video as well. Thanks for making it.
Michael Burke I’m buying it for Military Madness - which might be my favorite game ever. And, maybe Bomberman. But, as with my original TG16, with CD, I will likely be disappointed with everything else. Bunch of underwhelming shooters. Maybe I’ll play Y’s again.
this has 57 games for 100?
that's a steal
AND you get the Japanese versions of most games.
Look at the # of games you get, some of them are actually worth playing!
The first console I ever played was the TG16 in 1990 at the age of four. I was absolutely obsessed with Bonk's Adventure. Then I got my NES soon after and never looked back. I did miss out on a great library of games, though. Im very grateful to own this mini console
The couple of Supergrafx games on this sold me.
Yea and the CD games!
It's such a hideously beautiful and weird console, I love my SG to death. The only drawback to having a SG is then having to buy the entire library, which as you know is pricey.
Huge Ghosts and goblins fan here and I remember almost getting a Super Grafx just to get this version. Smh a console w just 5 games😭
I’m from the UK and was born in 1990 so I have no recollection of the core grafx (or pc engine or tg16) - hadn’t even heard of them til the early 2000s. But after playing mgs twin snakes and mgs2 I really wanted to dive into kojimas work. Still haven’t played snatcher or police suits and it looks like I’ll only ever be able to emulate them. I love how they put all games across all regions but putting snatcher on untranslated just seems like a tease! I like the look of that RPG too. Would’ve bought it instantly if it had an English translation of snatcher
I was really hoping that Rondo and Snatcher would be translated. I just got the PSP castlevania for the translated port. Was hoping this would be another good way to get it.
Are there Turbo-16 ROMs out there already translated?? Someone will hack this thing, then we can just put the English translated games on the system..
I expect translation to take hold when there's enough demand for it.
@@graphicsgod I have the translated version from pce works
@PickingNamesSux Yeah I said that... I specifically bought the PSP version for the translation... Then I also said "Was hoping this would be another good way to get it".
Rondo isn't a story heavy game, though.
I heard Konami was going to translate Snatcher for this system, but they didn't because A. It's an extremely text-heavy game and would have taken forever to translate and B. the amount of references to other scifi movies would have been a licensing headache and just not worth it.
So many mini consoles. What an amazing time we live in.
So far I have an Atari Flashback 9 Gold, Snes mini and a Playstation Classic. All hacked with extra games and I love them all.
Next on my shopping list is TheC64
They should have also included the Irem arcade classic port of Legend of Hero Tonma which is also extremely expensive for the TG-16.
I can’t wait to get this. I owned a TG16 back in the day, and retro collecting has made it too expensive for me to get one again. Can’t wait to play some more blazing lazers and dungeon explorer. This is a solid collection of games.
me too!
I think Its a great compilation, despite the fact that everyone claims for some omissions. In my case i would love to see 1941, final match tennis and final lap twin. Greetins from Argentina!
it's due to licensing issues
Not many TH-camrs give the Turbo/PCE love. You do a exception job.
Bad news about the Snatcher port. What the hell? I would have bought it for that! (The shooters look good though)
Yes I bet many extra sales would have happened if Snatcher was translated, pity Konami didnt catch on to that fact.
@@newtypepunk9967
But it was the Sega CD that was translated, not the PCE. These are straight ports, no extras.
@@fearanarchy I know it was the Mega CD version but I dont think theirs that much extra text, it wouldn't have been hard to do.
@@newtypepunk9967
Text isn't the only issue unfortunately. There was censoring and audio. In this era, I do not think a retro-port from Sega CD to TG16 would've rezl,hard, but who knows how much effort was really put it. I looks like a true rom-dump collection.
@@fearanarchy I guess so, what we really need is Snatcher collection set given the full work over, but thats probably not going to happen. I was interested in the PC engine mini at first, but I bought most of the games back on og Wii VC when that was out, the likes of bomberman, castlevania and gate of thunder, which is some how missing from here, so it's a pass for me.
I'm loving all of the new content consistently coming out. Can't wait for your next music episode. When my finances permit, I'll gladly become a patron, you absolutely deserve the support.
Great video brother. Love how you’re able to give things outside of SEGA equal love and attention.
Thanks man. My history with games goes far beyond Sega. Figured it was time for me to explore that a bit more.
Sega Lord X I’m the same way. I’ve been gaming for about 37 years and my friends and I would always swap systems when we would get bored of the games we owned. I grew an appreciation for almost everything.
The system sold a fraction of its two competitor 16-bit systems, so I wonder how the Mini will fare. $99 seems pretty optimistic, we could anticipate some big price drops for the NA one, at least.
That was then and this is now. To be honest I have not picked up one mini to this day and that’s including the ps mini at 20 dollars. To be honest I collect physical and those minies never appealed to me, however a turbo has been on my “want to play list” for some time now and the fact I can get a decent library all rolled into a nice little package without spending a few grand is what lead me to pre order this little guy. I think this is going to do quite well because of that and if it’s hackable thst will add to the appeal as well. This is going to be amazon exclusive so don’t expect it to sell like other minies have.
#1) Distribution through Amazon
#2) Expensives and/or hard to get games on an easy plug & play format
#3) All our age retro-enthuiastswith money to burn, and already own the SNES and Genesis minis.
Only reason I am not buying is ths $100, and only 1 controller. The MultiTap and extra controllers almost add up to another unit. I wanna play Dungeon Explorer and Bomberman multitap, but not $180-200
It will sell well for the first few weeks as the collectors will want it but it won't be selling many units after a month.
At 100 bucks, casuals will stay away. Many of the Sega and Nintendo minis were bought by casual gamers. This TG16 mini is hardcore only.
@@ggary04. I own all of the other Mini systems and I'll get this one too. I can appreciate that you like physical, but these games are expensive these days. I like being able to have them modded with the majority of the games and in HD
When I was a kid I thought this system was a joke. Turns out it was neat. Wish my parents bought me everything I wanted.
lol.....It was neat a system. Whats funny after watching this video it was determined that I was spoiled I had at least 20 games on this list.smh
The one kid in my 2nd grade class whom happened to be a bully at the time, had a TurboGrafx 16 system. I hated him.
Maxwell T. I guess you have bad memories of this system... Kids who are bullies are usually bullied themselves. It’s a vicious cycle.
For 100 bucks they can't include a power brick, they have several untranslated games, and they force you to buy a multitap? No thanks. I love the PCE but this system is not mainstream enough to pull that. I see this getting a similar price drop as PS1 mini. Some great game choices included though.
It will definitely get a price drop. The PlayStation got a price drop cause it was straight up poorly made. Excluding glaring Sony flagship titles like Crash Bandicoot games and The Spyro trilogy was bad enough, but they put European Roms of the games on the North American version which had massive slowdown problems like in Tekken 3. The emulator also sucked. The modding scene saved the console and it is my most played Mini console as the new emulator and correct region roms made it a quality product. The hardware itself if fantastic and the controller is better than the original one.
I'm with you on this...hope it goes the way of the psone classic and hits the bargain bin at a steep discount...You can almost always count on Konami to shoot themselves in the foot
What I think is they will build these consoles according to pre-order. So I don't think there will be much on the market. But I could be wrong... Anyway, get one, the game selection is really good. BTW the power is just a usb cable. "don't you have a phone"? as blizzard was saying :)
@@Deadsea_1993 they couldn't include Spyro and Crash due to licensing.
I’ve never owned a turbo growing up, so I figured I’d give this video a try to see if I would want one. I’m only interested in 5-10 games here and most of them aren’t even translated. I’m really disappointed 😔.
I imagine the Core Grafx Mini and PCE Mini will be the size of a postage stamp, it's already one of the tiniest consoles ever.
I've never gotten into playing alot of these older games besides a handful but I love watching your videos about them. Good work!
Why the hell would they bother to include Japanese text heavy games on the North American version of the mini?
Because it was easier for them to focus on one product and ship it to both regions, we are talking about current Konami🙄
Joseph Huffman Because Konami has invested zero effort in this mini console’s release and are simply cashing in on the mini console craze.
They didn’t even bother doing what the Genesis /Mega-Drive mini did with its interface swapping to different regions.
Resvrgam I thought it does cycle between the two? Or is that different than going from pc to turbo?
Obsessive Compulsive Gamer There’s no region designator to help weed out the games non-Japanese speakers can’t comprehend.
I was super excited for this until I noticed staples of the console like Keith Courage in Alpha Zones (an admittedly mediocre but class title that was the pack-in for the TG-16) and The Legendary Axe.
When they announced Snatcher, I was tempted to buy it...until I realized the game was in Japanese only. I can speak Japanese but have always preferred the English version of the game.
Resvrgam well if it can be hacked I’d most of those games will be attainable and I’d bet the farm that snatcher would get a fan translation if it doesn’t already have one.
Very nice list of games, I’ll definitely be picking this up.
Awesome! I was hoping SLX would cover this! Long live the Turbo Grafx 16/PC Engine!
I'm excited to review the final product. Hoping for the best.
Gotta love how heavy-handed and unprofessional he is, in every one of his videos! Awesome.
Salamander aka Life Force for the NES was one of my favorite games growing up, I believe there is a Japanese PS1 version that has a sequel to this game or it's a compilation disc. One I must own.
I thought the sequel was only released in arcades? Or is that Gradius 4 I'm thinking of?
@@GiordanDiodato I've seen a Japanese PS1 version of Life Force/Salamander. After looking it up it's called Salamander Deluxe Pack Plus that has 3 games on it. Salamander, Salamander II, and Life Force.
Apparently it's on the Japanese PS1 and Japanese Sega Saturn. www.ebay.com/itm/Salamander-Deluxe-Pack-Plus-Playstation-Japanese-Import-PSX-Japan-PS1-US-Seller/274208306028?hash=item3fd816b36c:g:jTQAAOSwU7JeIN~W
@@GiordanDiodato It's also on the Japanese PSP, called Salamander Portable, which is expensive.
Thank you for this vid, I’m very pleased they added supergrafx and arcade card entries
Man could you imagine buying a CD variant just to play something like that Bomberman version of Dr. Mario. Wheew horrible let down. In general I'm so underwhelmed by the TG16. I was sooo close to being on this bandwagon as a kid. I saw bonks on TV I thought it looked so amazing, asked my dad for it. He went to some local electronics place and they didn't have one in stock (they sold out of them). My dad called me and asked me about getting a "Sega Genesis" It came with two games (one was a mail away voucher for a Sonic the Hedgehog whatever that was, and Altered Beast. OH I kinda remember that game in a restaurant I was at. In defeat I said ok, since I had my mind set on going onto the next gen of video games from the NES.
So glad that happened.
I was the only one I knew that owed this system in Tennessee. Ninja Spirit, Bonk, Final Lap Twin, Keith Courage and the Alpha Zone and Sonic Spike are all fantastic.
Ah Final lap twin... the memories. Would have been great to have this game on the mini... Btw me too, I was the only one I knew with that console in Quebec. They just sold 1M units in North america :(
I'm really looking forward to this one, if only for Castlevania. I've been wanting to pick up original hardware, but it's getting pretty expensive.
Just about every single game is a shooter.
that' what that system was all about
I’m on the fence. I have very little experience with the TG16 so most of these would be new to me. But I don’t like the games like Snatcher being untranslated. I’m not sure what the point of that is. They already had a translation and voice lines from the Sega CD version. I feel like, if you can’t translate it... fine, but at least replace them with more NA titles like you mentioned are missing.
They are putting all the games on all regions instead of making specific versions for each region and which language you choose depends on which games you see.
Do not miss out on that gem of a console. Between my own acquisitions and my friends', I don't think there's a console or console evolution I have not been able to extensively play when it came out here, the Atari Jaguar being the only exception I can think of (yeah, not a big loss haha). All of this to say that in spite of all this, the Turbografx / PC Engine is the one I have the fondest memories of (that and the PC Engine GT and its battery budget lol).
No Legendary Axe or Final Lap Twin just pisses me off.
@@jlinms8721 Legendary Axe is because of JVC being dicks about their video game properties.
Finally an actual review. Not just tons of opinions and comparisons to other minis, but an actual focus on the turbografx itself.
Had mine pre-ordered since last may I believe. Can't believe it's almost here. Great video!
Didn't go on preorder til July
@@randomgamer-st1ie whenever it was, it's been awhile.
@@randomgamer-st1ie yeah, Amazon says I ordered it July 16th. Good looking.
RIP Hudson : (
I remember a friend who had the Turbo Graphx 16 it was only available at Radio Shack here in Canada.
He only had a few games but Necromancer was in English ! and I loved it.
Haven't even started watching yet, but I'm going to go ahead and guess this video is awesome!
Awesome mini console. What Sega Genesis mini should have been. The inclusion of the CD games really makes this interesting.
I have all the good games on the Sega machine on cartridge so it wouldnt be worth shit to me except the real Genesis has weak as fuck video output so it doesnt work on most modern TVs. The TG16 on the other hand has my whole life on it def. worth $100
What, no Devil's Crush?
And no time cruise either??? my tg16 emulator is there exclusively for these 2 games and rondo of blood
@@odioalospoopers Time Cruise could be in copyright limbo
Definitely a purchase from me. As someone who looked from afar at the Turbographx 16 library,. I can't wait to play Rondo of Blood.
Should have had Dungeons & Dragons Order of the Griffon on here as well!
You don't miss much (i have it). Legendary axe would have been cool tho.
can't. Licensing issues
I bought the pc engine for my Mac. That was the first game I downloaded. Hardest part for me was finding my way through that keep on the west part of the map.
@@jmathieson15 I remember that near the end of the game, there a really hard maze/dungeon... maybe it's this place. Man that game is the definition of old school western RPG, hard...almost not fun!
Mad Joe yeah. It was extremely hard to find your way through. It wasn’t the final dungeon but almost the last place. It may have actually been a crypt and not a keep. Pretty sure the name started with a K but it’s been well over 20 years🙄
No legendary axe is a bummer, but...ninja spirit and splatterhouse has me sold. I'm in.
Legendary Axe is owned by JVC and they're notorious for being dicks with their video game properties.
I've had this pre-ordered despite already owning most of them. Can't wait. Also, the valis series would have been nice to include
Where did you pre-order? My GameStop doesn't even have it in their system.
@@FunkyFresh48 Amazon.com, they started pre-orders in July. Amazon.co.jp if you want the pc engine variant
I think Valis is in licensing limbo.
@@GiordanDiodato I wouldn't doubt it... Still would love arc system works, way forward, lizard cube, or even dot emu bring valis back
@@GiordanDiodato and... Looks like it was sold off to an adult game maker, with the last title being "Valis X"
This makes me sad
I'm glad you got out ahead of the numerous mini videos coming in March. If someone was going to be the first video I watched, I was hoping it was gonna be Sega Lord X!
I call this my Bonk Machine. Yet everytime i call it that my partner laughs. I know no idea why :o
Loved this system. Blazing lazers , legendary axe , splatter house . So many great titles. Great video as always.
Definitely can't wait for this
And I can't wait until it gets hacked
I'm wondering if this will have any kind of hacking scene though. Low production compared to the other minis, probably lower sales because it's only available through one outlet and there's less nostalgia out there for the TG16. There's gotta be lots of demand for a decent scene to develop. It's why there's huge support for the ps1 mini even though it was shit. They sold a ton of them for peanuts on clearance. I'm not as concerned here though because really all the good games are already on the TG16 mini. I'd like to put a English language version of Snatcher on there but I've played the Sega CD version a few times already and it's not really a huge deal. Of course I'm buying it, if for anything just to support Konami's decision to bring the brand back into the spotlight, even if it's a small spotlight. Don't hear much about the Turbografx, except on TH-cam. As long as the emulation is passable it'll be fine. I don't expect the same quality as the Nintendo Minis, but as long as it's close to the Genesis I'll be happy.
@@jokerzwild00
I hope so, I'm sure somebody out there will hack it, because the current enulators on the pc engine are not good just like sega Saturn emulation
I want the whole library
I own a turbograpx 16 with only 5 games , and i had a hard time finding games for this system in wild and that was over 20 years ago
But collecting for this system today you would have to take out a 2nd mortgage.
Thank god for the turbograpx-16 mini
If I can add more games to it then it will be a must buy.
I enjoyed JJ and Jeff! Maybe because it was the 2nd game i bought since i was too impatient to save up for RType at that point!
As long as this thing can get hacked like the other classics/minis out there, these missing games won't be a real issue for anyone. I do want one just for the aesthetics. I have a Batocera box, so these systems aren't all the much in the "required purchase" category for me. I also have the original hardware. I just want something "official" with HDMI out to give that classic game play feel on modern tvs.
Yeah that is why I bought a Japanese PC Engine Duo that is RGB and region modded. Mainly so I could play my favorite game Castlevania Akumajao Dracula X Rondo Of Blood on it. And I have an OCCS adapter that converts the RGB to HDMI to my flat screen and it looks beautiful. All that said, I sill want the Turbo Grax16 mini as I collect and hack the mini systems.
this isn't "official" native gameplay tho, its android based emulation. At least you can get the roms legally in this case but it isnt more authentic than running it on a phone or laptop.
Yeah, just like all of the other minis/classics/flashbacks on the market now. What I should have said is "officially licensed hardware". Of course, we all know that just because something has an official license doesn't mean it is quality (**cough**AtGames**cough**)
It will definitely be able to be hacked in due time. You could probably even fit the library on it cause let's face it, Snes and Genesis games were more advanced than these games. So you'd probably get files not much bigger than Nes games. Looking forward to Rondo Of Blood and the Bonk games. Was introduced to Bonk on Snes with Super Bonk and I actually love him more than Sonic
@@Deadsea_1993 The fact that there are a TON of fan translations of a lot of those titles, including Rondo (Yeah, I have it on my PC), it won't be hard to replace a lot of those Japanese only titles. I am sure it will have plenty of space. I have a strong feeling that the fine fellas over at ModMyClassic.com will have something within a very short time.
The Japanese release also got Tokimeki Memorial, a dating sim that likely would not have gotten translated, and probably overlooked as dating sims are not popular here in the US.
It's so ridiculous that they didn't localize Snatcher. An easy excuse to spend $100 on a mini if they had bothered.
Very good picks for what is missing. Those are some big omissions. Gate of Thunder was the flagship title of the Super CD upgrade in its day. Street Fighter 2 being left out is more understandable as offering a six-button pad for this mini system doesn't make a lot of sense. They may also not want to deal with the hassle of the Japanese names and the possibility of a legal issue over the character we know as Balrog being called M. Bison and looking like Mike Tyson.
Spriggan 2 is a good game, but was tough to get into at first. It has such an odd feel to it, with all the changes from the prior game. Because you have a life meter, the game wants to overwhelm you. But I like it. Luckily, there is an option to turn off the story interruptions which makes the game flow much better. The first Spriggan is excellent. It's challenging as you said, but not punishing. It's quite beatable, but it's the kind of game I go back to again and again.
Too bad they provide Dragon Spirit, but not Dragon Saber. The sequel is a great shooter and a big improvement over the original. I would have liked seeing it featured here so more people can discover it. I really love Namco's stuff from the late '80s and early '90s. Phelios on the Genesis has a similar feel and I really like that one too. Dragon Saber is one of my favorites on the PC Engine, and as a port it is well done. That's definitely a big missing game for me.
Lords of Thunder is really good, and I've been meaning to return to it as it's been a few years since I last played it. The soundtrack is fantastic. I found the hitbox of the player characters to be a bit off, shifted to the right a bit more than I'd expect. As I recall, the Sega CD version felt more natural in that regard. I do urge people to stick with the PCE version as it is the best version of the game. It's not hard to adjust to the odd hitbox. While it means you have to be extra careful of stuff in front, it actually is more forgiving about threats from behind as the shift is totally consistent. It's one of my favorite games on the platform. It was good to hear your views on the games included. I never played anything from PC Engine until 2014. I started with the first Bonk, and was surprised how fun and fair it was, while the machine had a certain unique character, so I dove in further into the library. I would prefer either the white PCE or the Core Grafx unit for the US release though. I know some might have nostalgia for the TG16 model, but I never liked the hardware design, while I instantly fell in love with the Core Grafx. Either way, it's got great games.
“Jaseiken Necromancer” reminds me allot of “drakkhen” for snes
It's more like Dragon Quest or Phantasy Star, from what little I played of it.
So many great shooter included. That makes me happy. Y’s was my first game I’ve played on the PC Engine.
Love the Turbo, still have my original one and cant wait for the mini! The colors, the music, Iconic in my mind. I chose the Genesis and do not regret it but the TG-16 is also awesome.
Yup and now youl get some PC Engine in there too. Games that weren't released for the Turbo.
My capacitors are shot on my Duo
Funny you mentioned bonding with your dad and galaga 90. Same here. It was one of the few games on the system my dad enjoyed when I was younger. He was also a fan of timeball and alien crush.
Yeah, my dad and I had a tough time connecting on anything. A few video games are the high lights of most of the time we spent together. He loved Pac-Man, and the NES Pinball game as well.
You Also Forgot The Incredible Version of "Forgotten Worlds".
Moto roader, military madness, bonk, devils crush, and Keith's courage made up 40% of my early childhood as I learned to play video games on a turbo grafx 16 with a disk drive and keypad. But where is AeroBlasters?! That game took an additional 20%of my childhood by itself and I still run it on an emulator on my phone.
I wonder how they’re doing the CD audio tracks, are they the actual CDA tracks, or FLAC or are they using MP3 files?
I'd love to see an answer on this. I suspect that since space is at a premium on these mini consoles, they would go the MP3 route. The economics would point that direction. Hope I am incorrect though.
@@Athonite It is bucks 100 compared to Nintendo and Sega minis at 80. They can afford storage.
Exactly what I was questioning
@@Athonite I really hope M2 are using the CDA tracks instead of using compressed files.
ISO files would be the same as the original CD, so memory is cheap and only a few CD titles are on it, I doubt it is using 2GB
Can't deny though, that parallax scrolling in Aldynes is pretty dang nice.
The Pinball games on the PC Engine are great. As someone that regularly plays Pinball FX3 (owning 88 of the tables), I still go back and play the PC Engine ones. And for anyone looking for another Pinball game to try out, check out Cru Ball on Genesis. One of my favs.
let's hope they hack it just like the other mini consoles, so we can dump in some translated roms!!
There were versions of retro Genesises that had a cartridge slot. No other mini had original software slots. Why not! We bought the license many years ago, why not have both built in games ANF original software slots?
I had one of these back in the day with the turbografix CD...Cant wait to play YS and Valis again.
2:56
" Lots of Japanese text, and a computer A.I. that will hand you your ass. " 😅😄😆😅
Not including Legendary Axe was probably the one single biggest misstep in the TG-16/PC Engine Mini's game library. I still can hardly believe it wasn't included. It makes me believe that there simply must have been a licensing issue when it came to acquiring the rights to it to include on the system.
Same with Magical Chase, another fantastic game. Two of the best games for the system and they are completely absent from the lineup. It's a damn shame really.
Yes I was just thinking where the hell is Legendary axe 1 and 2 also where's Keith Courage???
Wait for the hacks :)
Keith Courage's Japanese version is based on an anime, which means licensing issues up the ass
as for Legendary Axe, it's owned by JVC and they're notorious for being dickheads about their video game properties
@Montag theMagnificent Square Enix owns the rights since they bought out Quest, the original developers.
Calling Chou Aniki a "Happy" game, I see what you did there😄
Thanks for this review. One of my friends had the TG-16, great memories. Definitely plan on getting this
Tell us how you really feel about J.J. & Jeff...
I'd rather play JJ & Jeff over Keith Courage
Never owned a Turbo Graphics 16, Can’t wait to get one! Awesome coverage!!!👏👏👏
Lords of thunder
I find power golf is awesome!! You used the end of the game music in the power golf segment, nice work!
The no translation thing man I don’t like it
Yeah Konami are being cheap arsed gits right there
there is probably a way to hack this thing and upload fan made translations
For a 100 bucks, they should have went all out.
Makes absolutely NO sense for language dependent games.
A shmup? yeah we can make do.
A BIG draw being Snatcher? or entire RPG's?Most of use can't play them!
@@SuperHns Yeah, but at that point I might as well emulate it on PC.
After watching the anime highscoregirl I have been wanting to own one of these. Now's my time!
Who thought it was a good idea to mix Japan region games with the North American games!?
Mant games didn't get a North American release. Dracula X was only 50,000 copies. Wacky parody shooters were assumed to be tooooo japnesey
It actually fits the Turbo perfectly because it, more than any other system of the era, was import heavy with the CD games being region free and adapters readily available for the HuCards.
Thanks. It makes me interested in this system games, which I've ignored since the 90s.
They lost me with the unstranslated Snatcher
Missed out on extra sales too, konami screwed up with that.
Could have been something special.
Beautiful review! So glad you're more than just SEGA despite your name, and that you show respect to all games in general! What a cool review of a mini-system many out there are on the fence about buying, and very to-the-point objective reviews of said games as well! It's worth it given either regions version!