@ramrodbldm9876 all 38 of those games were from when I was a kid. I haven't purchased any as an adult, I just managed to keep them all from brand new. But thanks
If I recall correctly Legendary Axe 2 was not called that in Japan. It was a different unrelated game just renamed LA2 for the US because LA1 had been a big hit in the US.
For some reason, and I never played this game, my brain always thought it was Pinbot (Williams pinball game) from ads in magazines back in the day. I guess it looks s ton like pinbots head upside down. But looks fun for sure.
A great list, wonderfully presented and you had several one-liners that made me chuckle: • "Can Mario or Sonic do that? No, no they cannot." 😂 • "...to keep you gaming until you're broke, cold, and alone, just like a real slot machine." • "It does blow its load a little bit early..." Very thought provoking, John and several that I have never heard of. I smell somme emulation in my future!
I used to love playing KLAX on the TurboExpress. Not all Turbografx-16 games are very playable on the Express(some shooters), but this one works great.
I always felt that Legendary Axe 2 was originally a completely different game and they just called it Legendary Axe 2 so gamers would associate it with the well-received original.
About JJ and Jeff, the Japanese version is my favorite, cuz it stars Cha Kato and the late great Ken Shimura, plus it's more crude with toilet humor and takes advantage of their comedy style by having em wear costumes from their Gokigen TV bits when giving the player hints. Like Ken dressing up as the Bakatonosama
I feel like you really hit the highlights here- and I agree with most every choice and opinions about the games- Legendary Axe 2... was the best. Too many gamers missed out not getting to play this.
Honorable mentions - Dragon's Curse (Wonderboy 3), Galaga 90, Keith Courage, R-Type, Military Madness, Ordyne, Ninja Spirit, Dungeon Explorer, Double Dungeons, Dragons Spirit, Dead Moon, Dragon Egg, Cyber Core, Sinistron. We shall wait and see what part 2 has!
Nice video. I've commented on this in other videos, but the one thing that the TurboGrafx-16 brought to the table was its quality arcade ports. R-Type, Splatterhouse, Bloody Wolf, Klax, Vigilante, Ninja Spirit, and Side Arms really showed what the system could pull off.
Klax was also on the Game Boy Color. The lack of music was actually a good thing because the way the sfx kept changing and the continual rhythm of moving pieces it created its own music. (Well it did on the Game Boy Color anyway.) Hard to describe but It felt like the game was half game, half musical instrument.
Oh yeah! Let's turbo up. Silent Debuggers man, my first taste of what 3D games would become. The next time I got that adrenaline rush wax the Alien game on ps1. Good times.
My only issue with the TG16 back when it came out (I'm old) was that it was marketed as a 16 bit console... yet many of the games only look marginally (and in many cases not at all) better than what was on the NES at the very same time. That and the cost. I would like to have one for my collection though, no doubt.
I have the turbo mini, (i have the nes,snes,geneses1,genesis2, and tg16 mini) the tg16 i enjoy alot, mostly because i didnt even know it existed. I had nes, genesis then snes on up. I wish i had the tg16 or the duo when i was a kid
Turbografx was the first system I owned, so it's always cool to see what someone else believes are the best games on the system. Hard to pick the best on the system since there were so many greats that spanned so many genres, but some of my personal favorites (other than the ones you already mentioned) were Cadash, Might and Magic III: Isles of Terra, Loom and Dynastic Hero. On a funny side note, since it was my first system, growing up I used to call the Zelda games Neutopia Clones. 😂
As a kid (we all go through a stupid phase) I was all about my Sega Genesis/Sega CD and Snes. While I almost got a TG-16 in 1989, I invariably chose the Genesis and I'm happy I did. I don't know when it happened but at some point I began seeing the TG-16 as an inferior console. As the 16-bit wars heated up I began ignorantly thinking I dodged a huge waste of time especially after getting my Snes in 1991. I missed out on so many games and if it wasn't for Konami... In 2020 Konami did something I still can't believe. They released a mini TG-16/PC Engine/Core Grafx mini with over 50 games on them. I tried like Hell to get a TG-16 mini but they were all sold out. I basically felt I deserved this for acting the way I had...and then it happened. I was able to secure a Core Grafx mini and I love it! It is the best mini on the market bar none and I'm so thankful that I got it. NEC and Hudson you made an incredible machine and I'm sorry it took so long for me to realize that. Rock on Turbo, rock on.
I don't have a good excuse. Got the Turbo when I was in HS. By the time Bonk came out I was putting gas in my car, hanging out with friends, and wasn't gaming as much... Still was a fan of Bonk as I thought the Turbo really needed a mascot of some kind.
@@Johnnygrafx I don't know. Short on money when it was new, and was moving off to college and all that... By the time I began seeing it for sale used my Turbo was already back in its box and stowed away in another town somewhere. Just add "yet" to your question and maybe we can both hope I still get around to playing it eventually.
I played TurboGrafx games but via emulator, which is Magic Engine, and I have 38 games in my collection. I will not list all of the games, but there is some that I really like. For example: The New Adventure Island, Batman, Bloody Wolf, Cadash, Chase H.Q, City Hunter, Jackie Chan's Action Kung-Fu and few others.
If only they had popular games TurboGrafx16 probably wouldn't have lag behind in sales. They should took all the popular 3rd party games that was on NES and made them for the TurboGrafx16.
Yeah, that would have been ideal. But Nintendo had most of the big game publishers locked down in exclusivity contracts at that time from what I remember. It was tough to get popular third party games on the TG16. That's why like 90% of the library came from Hudson, Naxat, and Irem.
@@Johnnygrafx So how was Sega able to get games made for their system. Sega and Nintendo had some of the same games. It was Hudson Soft said no to a lot of games Turbo Technologies Inc wanted to bring over to United States.
Is the turbo grafx 16/pc engine mono or stereo?? Please help me!! I tried to google but I get no straight answers. I play with only 1 speaker now and need to know if its any idea to i install a second speaker. Anyone who knows??
Sticking strictly to US Turbo Chip games for my favorites I would say: Bonk's Revenge, JJ and Jeff, Legendary Axe II, Legendary Axe, Soldier Blade, Air Zonk. But, they may not be great I would also add: Final Lap Twin just for the goofy RPG racing game along with World Court Tennis as well. Adding Japanese HuCards: Bomberman '94, Street Fighter II' Champion Edition which is my personal favorite version of Street Fighter prior to Super Street Fighter II. Adding US CD games.... seriously, it gets very difficult. Gate of Thunder, Lords of Thunder, Dungeon Explorer II, and I personally loved Beyond Shadowgate. Mixing in Japanese CD games adds Dracula X and so many other games.... TurboGrafx-16/PC Engine is my favorite system ever.
@@Johnnygrafx That might explain that, I wasnt aware it was Konami that owned all the Hudson IPs. Might explain why little to no (are there any??) Hudson games are on the Switch Online. I know as a kid I had the NES and the SNES, but I still always drooled over the TG-16. My parents would never let me get one because no one rented the games at all. Later when I discovered emulation in the late 90s, I realized that I did indeed miss out on the probably one of the best libraries of games ever.
I had a perfect working Turbo Duo, most of the TG-16 Games including a few PC Engine. Quite a few Turbo Duo/PC Duo games as well. I had the PC Engine adapter, the CD part was region free. I also had the 4 player adapter and some 2, 4, and 6 button controllers. Unfortunately, I had to sell the collection. Lords of Thunder and the original Street Fighter 2 Champion Edition (Boss names were Mike Bison, then Balrog, then Sagat, then Colonel Vega). The last piece I sold was probably my most rare possession... I had the original Shinobi for PC Engine in the original plastic, mint and unopened. It was the very first console port of a Shinobi game. The guy who bought it sent me a message saying he opened it and it plays great... I almost had a heart attack. Probably the last sealed copy of that game in existence and he opened it!
@@Johnnygrafx The Japanese version has the same ending but uncensored. I never understood that ending in either release. Not a lot of lore to go on even in the instruction manual.
@scejntjynahl yeah, I always just assumed it meant that the kingdom is just in a perpetual state of turmoil, and sirius' reign was just one in a long line of dethroned kings who get arrogant and get toppled.
@@Johnnygrafx I guess you can make up your own story. Maybe that was a third sibling waiting to dethrone the other two? A jilted lover? An angry slave revolt? Who knows.
Didn't have this system growing up. So many excellent games to learn about. Play a lot of shmups,the Soldier series is amazing. If you get the chance check out Override technically a PC Engine game but an absolute banger. Thanks be well ☕
PART 2: ua-cam.com/video/asF_wT3L4KQ/v-deo.htmlsi=zSa9YVAITjIfUE0D
Absolutely one of the best consoles of all time. I have owned it since 1989 and have 38 games.
I was the only one out of my friend's to have one and the portable system was awesome too
@ramrodbldm9876 all 38 of those games were from when I was a kid. I haven't purchased any as an adult, I just managed to keep them all from brand new. But thanks
I have 0 game i just bought tg16 year go but hard to find games in my country morocco.
If I recall correctly Legendary Axe 2 was not called that in Japan. It was a different unrelated game just renamed LA2 for the US because LA1 had been a big hit in the US.
This video is so underrated. What a great informational video. Thanks for this content.
You started with the beat track form legendary axe 2....an all time hidden gem. Immediate respect
So I Married A Klax Murderer
Bruh :D
Glad to see a UA-camr that isn't slagging the arcade perfect port of Klax.
For some reason, and I never played this game, my brain always thought it was Pinbot (Williams pinball game) from ads in magazines back in the day. I guess it looks s ton like pinbots head upside down. But looks fun for sure.
A great list, wonderfully presented and you had several one-liners that made me chuckle:
• "Can Mario or Sonic do that? No, no they cannot." 😂
• "...to keep you gaming until you're broke, cold, and alone, just like a real slot machine."
• "It does blow its load a little bit early..."
Very thought provoking, John and several that I have never heard of. I smell somme emulation in my future!
Glad you enjoyed! I definitely recommend an everdrive or emulation. The games are just too expensive to realistically collect.
I used to love playing KLAX on the TurboExpress. Not all Turbografx-16 games are very playable on the Express(some shooters), but this one works great.
I always felt that Legendary Axe 2 was originally a completely different game and they just called it Legendary Axe 2 so gamers would associate it with the well-received original.
Yeah from what I understand it was also marked as a LA sequel in Japan, so they're just as confused by it as we are.
Cool video , good presentation and dialogue 🙌🏼 I miss the 90s so much
dragon spirit was one of my favs, also double dungeons. we had bloody wolf and splatterhouse and the bonk games too.
Dragon Spirit is great! I nearly included it on here. I recommend the sequel dragon saber too.
Another game that had a charge mechanic similar to Legendary Axe was Astyanax on the NES.
Ah yeah I forgot about Astyanax! Wasn't there some sort of connection between it and LA?
They're from different developers, so I'm not aware of any direct connection. Although aesthetically I think they both owe a lot to Rastan.
They were made by the same creator. I can't remember what his name is. But very similar in the power up category.
I own and play Klax on the TurboExpress, the Atari Lynx, the GBA, and more. I’ve bought it a bunch of times!
Nice! I love the Lynx version the most I think. Turning the system on its side for that vertical mode is perfect
@@Johnnygrafx For sure, that was a killer feature. Didn't see it again until the Evercade Pocket a long ass time later!
About JJ and Jeff, the Japanese version is my favorite, cuz it stars Cha Kato and the late great Ken Shimura, plus it's more crude with toilet humor and takes advantage of their comedy style by having em wear costumes from their Gokigen TV bits when giving the player hints. Like Ken dressing up as the Bakatonosama
Yup I love the Japanese version! Same goes for splatterhouse.
Really fun video. Something about the Turbo music that really brings me back
It's great music! Definitely my favorite soundchip of the era.
Woooo!
I feel like you really hit the highlights here- and I agree with most every choice and opinions about the games- Legendary Axe 2... was the best. Too many gamers missed out not getting to play this.
Should’ve been on the mini. The first one, but especially the second one.
So many weird choices with that one
Legendary Axe, Spilterhouse, The Bonk's games, Blazeing Laser, Alien 👽 Crush, Devil Crush, and more are the best of the best. 😀👍🎮
Honorable mentions - Dragon's Curse (Wonderboy 3), Galaga 90, Keith Courage, R-Type, Military Madness, Ordyne, Ninja Spirit, Dungeon Explorer, Double Dungeons, Dragons Spirit, Dead Moon, Dragon Egg, Cyber Core, Sinistron.
We shall wait and see what part 2 has!
Nice video. I've commented on this in other videos, but the one thing that the TurboGrafx-16 brought to the table was its quality arcade ports. R-Type, Splatterhouse, Bloody Wolf, Klax, Vigilante, Ninja Spirit, and Side Arms really showed what the system could pull off.
Yup it was one of the first systems to really do a good job with arcade ports.
Love this video!
Nice video. Great work. 👍🏾💯
Great picks, makes me want to play them all over again!
You should!
Klax was also on the Game Boy Color. The lack of music was actually a good thing because the way the sfx kept changing and the continual rhythm of moving pieces it created its own music. (Well it did on the Game Boy Color anyway.) Hard to describe but It felt like the game was half game, half musical instrument.
Yeah you're right the different noises the tiles made were definitely musical.
Great video! Subscribed👍
Oh yeah! Let's turbo up.
Silent Debuggers man, my first taste of what 3D games would become. The next time I got that adrenaline rush wax the Alien game on ps1. Good times.
Alien Trilogy was INTENSE. Love that game.
The Gamingbolt voice
Blazing Lasers, Devils Crush
Bloody Wolf was my fav. Ghost Mansion and Adventure Island were pretty cool.
My only issue with the TG16 back when it came out (I'm old) was that it was marketed as a 16 bit console... yet many of the games only look marginally (and in many cases not at all) better than what was on the NES at the very same time.
That and the cost.
I would like to have one for my collection though, no doubt.
Come on, now. The worst game on TG-16 looks better than the best game on NES, its not even a contest. Are you kidding here!?
I have the turbo mini, (i have the nes,snes,geneses1,genesis2, and tg16 mini) the tg16 i enjoy alot, mostly because i didnt even know it existed. I had nes, genesis then snes on up. I wish i had the tg16 or the duo when i was a kid
The mini is a pretty good sampling honestly. Hopefully one day a jailbreak comes out for it and you can just load up more games.
I've never played a TurboGrafx though got to admit I feel like I missed out
Yeah, but still worth getting into!
This is a great video.
Nice review! Been on the look out for this item. Would you mind trying this with Midnight resistance and forgotton worlds. Cheer ❤
Love those games!
Turbografx was the first system I owned, so it's always cool to see what someone else believes are the best games on the system. Hard to pick the best on the system since there were so many greats that spanned so many genres, but some of my personal favorites (other than the ones you already mentioned) were Cadash, Might and Magic III: Isles of Terra, Loom and Dynastic Hero.
On a funny side note, since it was my first system, growing up I used to call the Zelda games Neutopia Clones. 😂
Yup! Glad you enjoyed! It was my first system too so I felt the same way about neutopia lol 😂
TG-16. Age:51. Current innocence retained.
Klax is truly awesome!
As a kid (we all go through a stupid phase) I was all about my Sega Genesis/Sega CD and Snes. While I almost got a TG-16 in 1989, I invariably chose the Genesis and I'm happy I did. I don't know when it happened but at some point I began seeing the TG-16 as an inferior console. As the 16-bit wars heated up I began ignorantly thinking I dodged a huge waste of time especially after getting my Snes in 1991. I missed out on so many games and if it wasn't for Konami...
In 2020 Konami did something I still can't believe. They released a mini TG-16/PC Engine/Core Grafx mini with over 50 games on them. I tried like Hell to get a TG-16 mini but they were all sold out. I basically felt I deserved this for acting the way I had...and then it happened. I was able to secure a Core Grafx mini and I love it! It is the best mini on the market bar none and I'm so thankful that I got it. NEC and Hudson you made an incredible machine and I'm sorry it took so long for me to realize that. Rock on Turbo, rock on.
I was stoked for the Turbo before it even came out in the US. Wasn't disappointed (and Ive still not played Bonk).
What! How have you not played bonk
I don't have a good excuse. Got the Turbo when I was in HS. By the time Bonk came out I was putting gas in my car, hanging out with friends, and wasn't gaming as much...
Still was a fan of Bonk as I thought the Turbo really needed a mascot of some kind.
@@Johnnygrafx I don't know. Short on money when it was new, and was moving off to college and all that... By the time I began seeing it for sale used my Turbo was already back in its box and stowed away in another town somewhere.
Just add "yet" to your question and maybe we can both hope I still get around to playing it eventually.
Now that I'm older I do regret not being more excited by it.
Younger me just said "too cartoony, no parallax scrolling".
Really miss the old turbo flipping because you could fly around the screen with it and juggle enemies
I played TurboGrafx games but via emulator, which is Magic Engine, and I have 38 games in my collection. I will not list all of the games, but there is some that I really like. For example: The New Adventure Island, Batman, Bloody Wolf, Cadash, Chase H.Q, City Hunter, Jackie Chan's Action Kung-Fu and few others.
Those are good ones!
It’s really weird how there is no sales data on TG16 games. Makes it difficult to gauge 90s game popularity on a slightly more objective basis.
China warrior was a good one too
Legit never heard of Klax - great recommendation!
If only they had popular games TurboGrafx16 probably wouldn't have lag behind in sales. They should took all the popular 3rd party games that was on NES and made them for the TurboGrafx16.
Yeah, that would have been ideal. But Nintendo had most of the big game publishers locked down in exclusivity contracts at that time from what I remember. It was tough to get popular third party games on the TG16. That's why like 90% of the library came from Hudson, Naxat, and Irem.
@@Johnnygrafx So how was Sega able to get games made for their system. Sega and Nintendo had some of the same games. It was Hudson Soft said no to a lot of games Turbo Technologies Inc wanted to bring over to United States.
Yeah I'm not sure! They had more money to dump into it than NEC but other than that I'm not sure.
I loved the TG16. One of my biggest regrets is selling my Duo collection to purchase my day 1 ps3.
Ouch!
Didn't Kanye West once have an album he was going to title 'TurboGrafx-16'? lol
Yeah I kinda wish he had followed through with that. Although with his reputation now perhaps it's best he didn't lol
I'm bummed none of the Legendary Axe games wasn't on the Mini.
Yeah, big omission. Overall still a good selection of games though!
Is the turbo grafx 16/pc engine mono or stereo?? Please help me!! I tried to google but I get no straight answers. I play with only 1 speaker now and need to know if its any idea to i install a second speaker. Anyone who knows??
The system definitely supports stereo. If you hook it up with composite cables (yellow, red, white) you will get stereo sound.
@@Johnnygrafx thank you very much!
Sticking strictly to US Turbo Chip games for my favorites I would say: Bonk's Revenge, JJ and Jeff, Legendary Axe II, Legendary Axe, Soldier Blade, Air Zonk.
But, they may not be great I would also add: Final Lap Twin just for the goofy RPG racing game along with World Court Tennis as well.
Adding Japanese HuCards: Bomberman '94, Street Fighter II' Champion Edition which is my personal favorite version of Street Fighter prior to Super Street Fighter II.
Adding US CD games.... seriously, it gets very difficult. Gate of Thunder, Lords of Thunder, Dungeon Explorer II, and I personally loved Beyond Shadowgate.
Mixing in Japanese CD games adds Dracula X and so many other games....
TurboGrafx-16/PC Engine is my favorite system ever.
I can't understand why this machine has not been added to Switch Online. It would make a killer addition to the library.
Oh yeah for sure. Konami owns most of the IP from the Turbo now, so whatever happens to it has to go through them 😔
@@Johnnygrafx That might explain that, I wasnt aware it was Konami that owned all the Hudson IPs. Might explain why little to no (are there any??) Hudson games are on the Switch Online. I know as a kid I had the NES and the SNES, but I still always drooled over the TG-16. My parents would never let me get one because no one rented the games at all. Later when I discovered emulation in the late 90s, I realized that I did indeed miss out on the probably one of the best libraries of games ever.
Love Klax! I actually beat the Lynx version which might be a tiny bit better than the Turbo game.
The vertical format on the Lynx definitely makes it one of the best versions!
Yes Neutopia was a Zelda clone, in ways, but it had enough different things to make it good and it was a fun game.
Agreed
You forgot Ninja Spirit. TurboGrafx was great to have back in the day. In some ways it was better than Genesis and SNES.
Just saved it for part 2!
I had a perfect working Turbo Duo, most of the TG-16 Games including a few PC Engine. Quite a few Turbo Duo/PC Duo games as well. I had the PC Engine adapter, the CD part was region free. I also had the 4 player adapter and some 2, 4, and 6 button controllers. Unfortunately, I had to sell the collection. Lords of Thunder and the original Street Fighter 2 Champion Edition (Boss names were Mike Bison, then Balrog, then Sagat, then Colonel Vega). The last piece I sold was probably my most rare possession... I had the original Shinobi for PC Engine in the original plastic, mint and unopened. It was the very first console port of a Shinobi game. The guy who bought it sent me a message saying he opened it and it plays great... I almost had a heart attack. Probably the last sealed copy of that game in existence and he opened it!
Wow! Well at least he enjoyed it 🤷♂️
There's no way blazing layers is on this list
I put that one in part 2 🙂
They had one last chance to make a game to save the system and they went with shmup #289?
Legendary Axe II ending is... an ending I guess. And the reason I dont replay it.
Yeah kind of pulls the rug out from under you right at the end lol
@@Johnnygrafx The Japanese version has the same ending but uncensored. I never understood that ending in either release. Not a lot of lore to go on even in the instruction manual.
@scejntjynahl yeah, I always just assumed it meant that the kingdom is just in a perpetual state of turmoil, and sirius' reign was just one in a long line of dethroned kings who get arrogant and get toppled.
@@Johnnygrafx I guess you can make up your own story. Maybe that was a third sibling waiting to dethrone the other two? A jilted lover? An angry slave revolt? Who knows.
Not gonna pick favorites but that was PART 1 lol😅😅😅 whatever
Hot take, but I prefer Neutopia 1 to Zelda 1,
Didn't have this system growing up. So many excellent games to learn about. Play a lot of shmups,the Soldier series is amazing. If you get the chance check out Override technically a PC Engine game but an absolute banger. Thanks be well ☕
Love override! Another data east gem. Very hard too.
Your voice is prefect. I enjoy your video
Thanks! 🙂
Your welcome. Keep up your good work
da hell is military madness and dragon spirit lol the best of them all
Had to make a part 2!