I was one of those lucky kids that had a Turbo with all it's attachments and the handheld unfortunately I only got the radio tuner for the handheld and was never able to get my hands on the tv tuner. lol we was a Turbo family My mother, grandmother and myself had a Turbo. I like Keith Courage way more than Legendary axe, but the sequel Legendary axe 2 and it's music is one of my favorite games on the TG16. Galaga 90 is a port of the arcade game Galaga 88, the only diff between the 2 really is the turbo version is more colorful and the arcade version has some ending scenes that the turbo doesn't. Collecting the warp drives does more than just skip levels it also raises the difficulty. to fight the final boss and get the real ending if you can actually call it that is to take all the warps afap to get to the hardest tier of stages and complete it. To this day the TurboGrafx 16 is still my favorite console of all time. If you haven't i would suggest trying out the CD game Last Alert some of the voice acting is cheesy but it's a great game with a killer sound track.
Back in December 92, when I was 15, I got my first Turbografx-16. Got Keith Courage with the system, Bloody Wolf, Legendary Axe, and Alien Crush. I basically played all of them equally in those first few months. Loved the hell out of Keith Courage and beat it a couple times back then as a teen. It's got this right balance between the visual aesthetics with a great example of how the system could handle colors and large sprites, paired with catchy music, and unique sound fx. Coming from the Master System and Nes, nothing else I had played back then looked or sounded like it.
That's awesome that you got to go from the 8-bit generation straight to the turbo like that. I think that's how it shines brightest. You still play those games on occasion I hope!
I am currently revisiting a few TG16 games. Splatterhouse, Somer Assault and Legendary Axe 2. Love them all. I grew up with this thing and loved those games, JJ and Jeff, Alien Crush, and, yes, double dungeons. I know that's a hot take, but i enjoyed it as a kid. I have always loved TG16. A personal favorite console.
Nice video! I'm a total PC Engine/Turbo head, so no surprises here, but I'm always happy to see more videos on the system. :) Absolutely LOVE Power Golf! I don't golf, but my brother and I (and when we can get our dad to play him too) would have a blast playing it. Not sure why. It just works. My brother and I will typically have a whiskey or two, then play Power Golf, for one of the Neo Geo golf games. Mario Golf is great too!
@@Johnnygrafx You're correct. Parasol Stars is great. Graphics, music, sound effects, gameplay. The whole enchilada, yet no one ever mentions it when talking about the best Turbo games.
I've recently been enjoying a TG-16 game called "Cratermaze". It was released in 1989 and developed by Hudson Soft. It's a deceptively easy game at first, but eventually ramps up to a challenging quest as you run around a maze gathering treasure chests and powerups and defeating enemies by digging craters for them to fall into and then burying them in them. One of the few games to feature a cross as a grave marker.
You've been blessed with a nice voice and the way to speak. Keep it up! ;) This Turbo gfx world is pretty unknown to me. Great content here. Thanx! Some talent to me liking here. Will subscribe.
I love this, great content! After playing the heck out of Kung Fu on my NES, years later I immediately recognized the DNA it brought to Vigilante- and learned later Irem was of course behind both. Kung Fu Master (American) had a sequel that was eventually made into Vigilante in arcade by the same team at Irem. As a port, the TG16 version deserves a lot of attention for how accurate it was to its arcade counterpart.
For me, Keith Courage is to the Turbografx what the album The X-Factor is to Iron Maiden's discography. For those who aren't Maiden fans mid 90s they switched singers but for that one album they tried a totally different sound & song writing approach as well as it was still the "Alternative Rock" era. In both cases I get why people are fans of them, but I have tried time and time again since both were released and it just doesn't click with me at all. Vigilante is a good game for the style of game that it is with the era it's inspired by. The problem is despite it being the best looking version on a console The Master System version wipes the floor with it. It's hit detection is so messed up you can punch enemies from across the screen making boss fights way more entertaining than they ever should be.
I'm so glad I bought one along with, like 20 really really good expensive games, I always loved it as a kid, it was my uncles, but he will let me play it, but now is an adult I'm so glad I got one.
Dude Vigilante is so awesome, using the turbo button with the nun-chuks….amazing lol, also love boxy boy as I always play boxxle on the Game Boy…great puzzle games! Galaga is great! That’s what I was playing at the video game museum in my video, it’s a great version 🤷🏼♂️ Power Golf is one I like playing on the plane when I’m traveling, great list my friend! I knew this vid would not disappoint 😉❤️🎮
Glad you enjoyed! Yeah I forgot to use turbo while capturing the vigilante footage for some reason lol but yes, turbo nunchucks are the way to go! Thanks for checking out the video man 🙂
I only hit the mostly now well know titles Cadash, Legendary Axe, The Crush games, but a Turbo CD game that I don't think get nearly enough love is Comic Fantasy 2. During a time that Anime was still wild west era, not watered down by network censorship, Cosmic Fantasy 2 was a great CD based RPG with a good story, brazen characters, fun cut scenes, and a heavy does of early 90's anime in a sci-fi meets fantasy genre we still don't see enough of today.
I liked Power Golf a lot. On that same note I think World Court Tennis and Final Lap Twin with their RPG modes are fun titles. I put a whole lot of time into those.
Boxy Boy is almost identical to Shove It! On Sega Genesis, but BB has a few extra tools in the box. I Love these tropes of games. I want to play all of these! Another great video in the repertoire, Johnny. 😎😁
Hey Johnny !! Great video as usual. I loved my PC Engine with CD growing up. Those cards were pretty impressive too up against the other two rivals. Glad to find you through the Retro Gaming Guy. Need to come back for another collaboration video!! 😁
As a kid, Keith courage and vigilante are what initially sold me on getting a tg-16. I had seen both the Genesis and tg16 on display at a store. The decision to pick Keith courage and vigilante over Altered Beast and Tommy lasorda baseball was an easy decision.
Keith Courage would be great if you just stayed in the suit, am I wrong? Vigilante is like a better looking Kung-Fu! I'm going to look on my Gameboy Rob gave me to play some of these again, nice video AND AUDIO as always my guy!
Yyyeeeah the underworld levels are definitely more fun. But yeah get on that! Plenty of games on there i haven't even mentioned on the channel yet. Glad you enjoyed bro!
Keith Courage as a pack in was I guess a fine contrast to Altered Beast being packed in for the Genesis. One one hand you have a recognizable arcade property with a good for its time home version, but ultimately a very straight forward and brief gaming experience. On the other side you get with Keith Courage an unknown commodity but a solid if unspectacular game that is more like an action adventure with larger, sprawling levels and two types of zones, and the extra layer to upgrade your equipment. Altered Beast was more immediate (and ultimately I chose the Genesis at launch, but that was also due to me being an existing SMS owner) but you could probably get more mileage out of KC. Thing is that no matter which launch game NEC chose it would have been obscure as they didn't have a well established property to offer at launch, but at the same time us gamers (USA region) who were first on board with the 16-bit generation in 1989 were pretty much all over the magazines and already were researching and picking out the upcoming games that were looking good. As for underrated Turbografx 16 games I'd go with: Legendary Axe II Bloody Wolf Neutopia Neutopia 2 Sinistron
That's a fair comparison. Too many people bash Keith Courage for it being the included game (I happen to love the game), but Altered Beasts only took like 20 min or so to beat it when you first opened your Genesis. At least Keith Courage gave the gamer much more to work with.
Agreed, Altered Beast was a poor pack-in game. Although I think the problem may have simply been that they didn't have any other launch titles that would have been a *better* pack-in. It may have been chosen simply as the least-bad of what they had. Plus, at least it had 2P co-op so people had a reason to buy that 2nd controller.
@@jasonblalock4429 I think that as far as pack-in games--that most consumers back then would be familiar with ahead of time--Altered Beast and Super Thunder Blade were the choices at launch, and between the two Altered Beast was probably the better option. Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle is another option as a mascot game pack-in but that effort would have made a weak first impression, as it was a disappointment as a direct follow-up to Miracle World.
@@jasonblalock4429 well part of it was they wanted to show off the “Arcade” feel at home. In some aspects, ReGenesis version was better than the arcade version of altered beasts. I do enjoy playing it from time to time, but when they switched to doing the pack in as sonic the hedgehog, that made a lot of sense!
@@popixel Yeah, I agree. I do like the MD/Gen version better than the arcade. But it's just so short and relatively easy. I feel bad for anyone in 1989 who bought a Genesis and didn't buy any other games. They probably beat Altered Beast within an hour or so, and didn't have anything else to do.
Loved Keith Courage. It later the TurboGrafx-16 did have Bonk's Adventure as in extra pack in, at least where I lived. These are 10 lesser talked about games that are must owns if you own the console in alphabetical order: 1) Ballistix 2) Cadash 3) Chew Man Fu 4) CraterMaze 5) Dead Moon 6) Fantasy Zone 7) Final Lap Twin 8) Hit The Ice 9) Jackie Chan's Action Kung Fu 10) New Adventure Island
Legendary Axe 2 - Hucard. Last Alert aka Red alert - CD 2 great exclusives with soundtracks that will haunt you for the rest of your life in a good way =)
@@alexisjohnson good choices. I'm looking for some obscure stuff, possibly with a bit of a language barrier. I'm pretty familiar with the popular PC Engine library.
Visually, NEC titles like Vigilante was and still are fantastic. Since I love Kung Fu Master, this game was right up my path of happiness. I worked at Radio Shack in the early 90s and I promoted this console and game, big time. I agree that Keith Courage was not a system seller and feel that NEC thought that Nintendo sold with a platform,so it was a no brainer to sell with one too. Too bad Keith Courage was nothing like Mario.
Since my machine is a PC Engine most of my ”underrated” games don’t count. I haven’t played Time Cruise enough to give it a solid recommendation, but first impression was good! I like Alien Crush a lot, but it’s good to have alternatives. I mean, TurboGrafx has 3 pinball games and it’s pretty cool that all of them are quality titles!
8:20 wait, Vigilante came out in 1998?! That can’t be correct, the TG was long dead by then!! I own a lot of these games, my opinion the TG is good for shoot ‘em ups, pinball and certain platformers the system is an “acquired taste”
The console manufacturing was discontinued in 1994, but games where made for it up to June of 1999. Vigilante was released on arcades 1988 and on Turbo 1989.
That’s a nice list! I remember being blown away by the graphics for Vigilante. I think it is a significant upgrade and advancement from Kung-Fu Master with the nunchakus, better controls, and rather satisfying attacks you can do. The junkyard stage was my favorite when it comes to showing off the game’s graphics. For Power Golf, I haven’t given it a serious shot, but maybe I will try again after looking at the manual online. I have it on the PC Engine Mini. Oh, and I always liked the revolver enemies in Keith Courage! Thanks for the video!
Wait a minute, you can't say Vigilante was an 80's style beat me up and call it a day. Renegade, Double Dragon, and Final Fight were all 1980's beat em ups. Final Fight was the precursor to Streets of Rage. Addendum- I chose to go with the Sega Genesis in 1989 for Ghouls n' Ghosts but the screenshots of Vigilante absolutely blew my mind in 1989. The background for the junkyard was unlike anything I had ever seen before.
My step-brother got a TurboGrafx-16 in 1991 or so with about eight to ten games. The game I played the most was Keith Courage in Alpha Zones. Of course the game I played second most was Battle Royale. So take that as you will.
I loved the original Turbografx-16 upon playing Keith Courage (definitely not a bad game), but the love really increased when I played Splatterhouse, the Bonk games, Legendary Axe and Galaga 90! I finally got my hands on the classic version and I wasn't disappointed!!!
Vigilante was a game I believe I got with my TG-16 for Christmas. I had played the arcade & was amazed at how, what seemed at the time, arcade perfect a port it was. I believe it's also the sequel to Kung Fu.
Love the Turbografx! Y's 1 and 2; Neutopia 1 and 2 are some of my favorites! Soldier Blade, Blazing Lazers, Keith Courage, Last Alert are also super fun! Cheers!
Keith Courage is a prime example of taking an anime based game, and completely butchering the entire story and characters. Spirit Machine Wataru is what the game is based off of, and Nurse Nancy is not a nurse in the anime, but a tough little fighter who serves as comic relief in a comedy anime, and the Shopmaster is Wataru's sidekick swordsman whom he refers to as sensei, even though he isn't. In the anime Wataru also has access to a mech that talks that he can use to fight, surprisingly the US version kept the mech aspect. Also Vigilante didn't come out in 1998, came out much earlier.
It seems obvious now that there was a huge backstory to KC that they simply never bothered to explain, thanks for the context. Now I'm curious about JJ & Jeff.
You know, I HAVE a TG-16 and an TurboEverdrive, so I can load PCengine games as well, I really should take some time to go through and try some of these.
I just need to point out that despite how many times you called it a 16 bit system, it was only a 16 bit Graphics engine on top of an 8 bit gaming system. While it was a VISUAL step forward, the actual base processing was the same as the NES/Famicom and Sega Master System. A LOT of the 'limitations' you spoke of were because of that distinction.
Thinking Rabbit also did Rockman World II/Megaman II on GB which though not terrible is more mediocre than a Megaman game should be. Apart from a FDS platform puzzler game with magnets, they seem to have done mostly point and click stuff on NEC PC-88.
They did several versions of the Soukaban games, Boxxle 1 and 2 are pretty much like Boxy Boy seen here, and Shove It The Warehouse game on the Genesis. Soukaban seems to be their most well know games.
Ooh, cannot agree with Keith Courage and Vigilante. Vigilante is just too twitchy for a beat-em-up, and Keith Courage is not engaging enough, especially for a pack-in game. And both are terribly repetitive. I would say most of the overlooked games on TG16 are CD titles because most of us in North America just didn't have a Turbo CD or Turbo Duo. Especially when considering the Japanese only titles that were absolute bangers, and some that were cross platform titles that genuinely stood out on PCE CD-Rom². The Turbo was a fickle beast because NEC just failed to appropriately market to the western demographic. There were games that should have absolutely came west that didn't, and others that they should have waited on until that had a more solid footing in the market.
Without the suit, "Keith" moves like he's concealing a load in his diaper. 🙄 That alone made the game annoying. It didn't help that--yes--as you mentioned, the graphics looked more like an NES game. Something like "Crackdown" would've been a ton better for the TG-16 to market themselves around. But doing a sort of Wonderboy meets discount Master Blaster? Nah. 💩
When compared to my Genesis with Altered Beast, Keith Courage made me feel like I had made a very poor choice buying the TurboGrafx 16. Poor music/sound effects (omg that repetitive ear piercing music!!!), no parallax scrolling, so many leap of faiths, silly enemy patterns, etc etc etc. Never had I disliked a pack in game as much as Keith Courage, terrible choice by NEC and it pretty much was the beginning of the end for the TurboGrafx 16 in North America. Harsh? Nope, it was a fact. NEC was so cheap they didn’t even give the North American TurboChip cards nice graphics like they received in Japan. Wasn’t till 1992/93 when TTI took over distribution in NA did we receive colorful TurboChip artwork but that was too little too late. I did play Vigilante & Galaga 90’ for a bit but it really wasn’t till R-Type, Legendary Axe & Bonks Adv that I’d finally spend a good amount of time with my TG16 and even those pale in comparison to what we received on the Genesis. With that said I still have my original TG16 complete in box and almost all of my games but when I see that Keith Courage game I simply close my eyes and turn my head left to right remembering all the mistakes NEC made, the PC Engine games left in Japan and the frustrations as a TG16 owner back then. When thinking about the TG16 I can only spend my time playing the 20 or so “heavy hitters” and nothing else.
I had a turbo in 1991. I have no nostalgia for the system what so ever. Had about 20 games for it. Most of the games are shallow experiences. Best game in my opinion is Ninja Spirit.
Eh, I'd say they're about as shallow as most other games from the time. Remember, most of these games were made between '87 and' '91. So by the time you got your turbo most of them were already old-hat. But yes, Ninja Spirit is certainly one of the best ones 🙂
I can agree to a certain extent, but games like… 1. Keith Courage 2. Bloody Wolf 3. Tailspin 4. Bonk’s Adventure 5. Vigilante … are what made me a happy owner of the Turbografx 16 system. I also enjoyed the option to play those same games portable even though I did not own a TG16 Express until decades later. Bloody Wolf is the highlight game for me out of the few I owned at the time. Ninja Spirit is a game I would have liked, but I did not get it until decades later and still have not played it as I have a huge backlog of games to play across at least 15 different home consoles/dedicated handhelds. During that era, the Super Nintendo was/is my favorite 16-bit system and really one of my all-time favorite consoles!
Stuff like Parasol Stars, Jackie Chan Action Kung Fu, Jigoku Meguri (Bonze Adventure), the 3 Bomberman games, the Bonk games, Air Zonk, Airbuster/Aeroblasters are some of the better games for the system. We played games not for depth back then, we played them for the fun they contained.
You must of had some crappy games. The TG16 had some killer games and with the exception of a rerelease that came out in the past few years the turbo is still the best way to play Castlevania: Rondo of blood which is a phenomenal game.
You missed out then. Some had great soundtracks. And RType was amazing for the time. I'm guessing you didn't have the CD either. That had some bangers. Especially the Ys games.
It's a video showcase not a look at how good i am video so the cheating is irrelevant and it's not an online multiplayer so it doesn't matter if he cheats or not.
@@alexisjohnson I understand it's a video showcase. However saying a game offers little challenge, while you are literally getting hit every two seconds is a bit goofy. He's putting forth the effort to record. Why not just do honest gameplay and use that to substantiate his claims?
@jamesburchill7522 I would say cause not all youtube game reviewers are good at all games nor have the time to get good and cut corners to get their content out. I agree it looks odd seeing it, but his claims are still accurate. The game is easy once you learn the patterns but still ramps up harder towards the end and the majority of the difficulty is the blind jumps. The bosses could pose more of a challenge but there is a cheap way to kill them. Walk up to where there is only a couple pixels of their sprite showing then you can projectile them to death with no resistance, lol.
Not that it matters, but I didn't do any "cheating" in this video ftr. Not every hit Keith Courage takes removes a heart. So I wasn't just cruising through it on god mode. I'm not even sure if KC has a god mode 🤷♂️
@Johnnygrafx Only with an emulator. If I remember correctly the only cheats was a level select and getting the best sword early and several cheap tactics on bosses.
Yeah but the GPU is 16 bit. So it's debatable either way. For me though, given that it existed alongside the genesis and the SNES much longer than the NES and SMS, it just feels more like a 16-but system to me 🤷♂️
@@Johnnygrafx Yeah, I know the GPU is 16 bit; and I definitely agree that it does feel a little more like a 16 bit system. I just wanted to make sure that you as a content maker wasn't I'll informed. Great video though.
@@alexisjohnson Wrong. By that logic the Sega Saturn was 64 bit because it had two 32 bit processors. But it's not considered 64 bit; it's 32 bit just like the PS1.
You said Vigilante was came out in "1998, with the TurboGrafix version coming out a whole year later"... Obviously you meant 1988 but I still thought I'd point this out for anyone who heard the same thing but didn't know that it was said in error.
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #60 РОЖДЕНИЕ ЛОЛОЛОШКИ [Финал] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YoR0pAV9FVQ/mqdefault.jpg)
"Having a longer sword is definitely useful..." Huh huh huh. Huh huh huh.
Heh. Hehheh hm heh hehheh.
Beavis and Butt-head, well done😆
Shut up Beavis 😡 ✊
I was one of those lucky kids that had a Turbo with all it's attachments and the handheld unfortunately I only got the radio tuner for the handheld and was never able to get my hands on the tv tuner.
lol we was a Turbo family My mother, grandmother and myself had a Turbo.
I like Keith Courage way more than Legendary axe, but the sequel Legendary axe 2 and it's music is one of my favorite games on the TG16.
Galaga 90 is a port of the arcade game Galaga 88, the only diff between the 2 really is the turbo version is more colorful and the arcade version has some ending scenes that the turbo doesn't.
Collecting the warp drives does more than just skip levels it also raises the difficulty. to fight the final boss and get the real ending if you can actually call it that is to take all the warps afap to get to the hardest tier of stages and complete it.
To this day the TurboGrafx 16 is still my favorite console of all time.
If you haven't i would suggest trying out the CD game Last Alert some of the voice acting is cheesy but it's a great game with a killer sound track.
Back in December 92, when I was 15, I got my first Turbografx-16. Got Keith Courage with the system, Bloody Wolf, Legendary Axe, and Alien Crush. I basically played all of them equally in those first few months. Loved the hell out of Keith Courage and beat it a couple times back then as a teen. It's got this right balance between the visual aesthetics with a great example of how the system could handle colors and large sprites, paired with catchy music, and unique sound fx. Coming from the Master System and Nes, nothing else I had played back then looked or sounded like it.
That's awesome that you got to go from the 8-bit generation straight to the turbo like that. I think that's how it shines brightest. You still play those games on occasion I hope!
I am currently revisiting a few TG16 games. Splatterhouse, Somer Assault and Legendary Axe 2. Love them all. I grew up with this thing and loved those games, JJ and Jeff, Alien Crush, and, yes, double dungeons. I know that's a hot take, but i enjoyed it as a kid. I have always loved TG16. A personal favorite console.
Don't forget that Keith Courage was also based on the anime called "Mashin Eiyuuden Wataru".
Please forget
@@Malkasphia why?
@@jasontodd8071 what?
Who could forget ?
Nice video! I'm a total PC Engine/Turbo head, so no surprises here, but I'm always happy to see more videos on the system. :) Absolutely LOVE Power Golf! I don't golf, but my brother and I (and when we can get our dad to play him too) would have a blast playing it. Not sure why. It just works. My brother and I will typically have a whiskey or two, then play Power Golf, for one of the Neo Geo golf games. Mario Golf is great too!
Same 😎 Glad you enjoyed!
Definitely agree with the picks here! That Golf music is so catchy.
Parasol Stars would be my #1 underrated game on the Turbo followed by World Court Tennis.(RPG mode was fun)
Very logical choices there! Those are great ones but aren't really talked about much
@@Johnnygrafx You're correct. Parasol Stars is great. Graphics, music, sound effects, gameplay. The whole enchilada, yet no one ever mentions it when talking about the best Turbo games.
I've recently been enjoying a TG-16 game called "Cratermaze". It was released in 1989 and developed by Hudson Soft. It's a deceptively easy game at first, but eventually ramps up to a challenging quest as you run around a maze gathering treasure chests and powerups and defeating enemies by digging craters for them to fall into and then burying them in them. One of the few games to feature a cross as a grave marker.
Yeah I love cratermaze! Honestly I think the hard mode is the best way to play it too.
Loved this one. Spot on with your description.
So glad I stumbled upon this channel! Now to binge! Great work
Glad you enjoyed! Love your stuff too, man!
Great job highlighting Keith Courage - one of my childhood favorites 😊
Glad to be of service!
Neutopia was def one of my favorites
You've been blessed with a nice voice and the way to speak. Keep it up! ;)
This Turbo gfx world is pretty unknown to me. Great content here. Thanx!
Some talent to me liking here. Will subscribe.
Glad you enjoy it! 🙂
I love this, great content! After playing the heck out of Kung Fu on my NES, years later I immediately recognized the DNA it brought to Vigilante- and learned later Irem was of course behind both. Kung Fu Master (American) had a sequel that was eventually made into Vigilante in arcade by the same team at Irem. As a port, the TG16 version deserves a lot of attention for how accurate it was to its arcade counterpart.
I've always suspected those games had some common DNA, but wasn't sure. Makes sense!
For me, Keith Courage is to the Turbografx what the album The X-Factor is to Iron Maiden's discography.
For those who aren't Maiden fans mid 90s they switched singers but for that one album they tried a totally different sound & song writing approach as well as it was still the "Alternative Rock" era.
In both cases I get why people are fans of them, but I have tried time and time again since both were released and it just doesn't click with me at all.
Vigilante is a good game for the style of game that it is with the era it's inspired by. The problem is despite it being the best looking version on a console The Master System version wipes the floor with it. It's hit detection is so messed up you can punch enemies from across the screen making boss fights way more entertaining than they ever should be.
I'm so glad I bought one along with, like 20 really really good expensive games, I always loved it as a kid, it was my uncles, but he will let me play it, but now is an adult I'm so glad I got one.
Dude Vigilante is so awesome, using the turbo button with the nun-chuks….amazing lol, also love boxy boy as I always play boxxle on the Game Boy…great puzzle games! Galaga is great! That’s what I was playing at the video game museum in my video, it’s a great version 🤷🏼♂️
Power Golf is one I like playing on the plane when I’m traveling, great list my friend! I knew this vid would not disappoint 😉❤️🎮
Glad you enjoyed! Yeah I forgot to use turbo while capturing the vigilante footage for some reason lol but yes, turbo nunchucks are the way to go! Thanks for checking out the video man 🙂
I used to love Vigilante. I now see it's kind of a follow up to Kung-Fu Master, also made by Irem. Galaga 88 was my favorite PCE game.
@@Johnnygrafx Always! You’re welcome!!!
@@MattFurniss nice my friend!
*The UA-cam algorithm had suggested this video to me* ... Seeing that this video JUST came out 15 hours ago. 😊
I only hit the mostly now well know titles Cadash, Legendary Axe, The Crush games, but a Turbo CD game that I don't think get nearly enough love is Comic Fantasy 2. During a time that Anime was still wild west era, not watered down by network censorship, Cosmic Fantasy 2 was a great CD based RPG with a good story, brazen characters, fun cut scenes, and a heavy does of early 90's anime in a sci-fi meets fantasy genre we still don't see enough of today.
the wizard from Keith Courage is directly plucked from Dragonball Z
Is that the one that throws the cards?
I liked Power Golf a lot.
On that same note I think World Court Tennis and Final Lap Twin with their RPG modes are fun titles. I put a whole lot of time into those.
Same! I really need to find an excuse to cover those two games at some point.
The crowbar guys in Vigilante are totally Bobby the Brain Henan.
Boxy Boy is almost identical to Shove It! On Sega Genesis, but BB has a few extra tools in the box. I Love these tropes of games. I want to play all of these! Another great video in the repertoire, Johnny. 😎😁
Reminds me of Boxes World on the GameMachine 4000 plug n play
Thanks man! Yeah I dig all those box moving games too 😎
Keith Courage is one of my favorite game of all time. Chill section with intense action. The music is one of the best.
Yeah, I was definitely humming those KC tunes a lot last week while I was editing this lol. Thanks for stopping by man 👍
I can hear the end music in my head right now !
Yeah, I like it regardless of the few things that drive me nuts 😡 about it.
Hey Johnny !! Great video as usual. I loved my PC Engine with CD growing up. Those cards were pretty impressive too up against the other two rivals. Glad to find you through the Retro Gaming Guy. Need to come back for another collaboration video!! 😁
Absolutely! Glad you enjoyed👍
As a kid, Keith courage and vigilante are what initially sold me on getting a tg-16. I had seen both the Genesis and tg16 on display at a store. The decision to pick Keith courage and vigilante over Altered Beast and Tommy lasorda baseball was an easy decision.
I guess I lucked out with my TG-16. It had both KC and Ninja Spirit packed in when I bought it.
Keith Courage would be great if you just stayed in the suit, am I wrong? Vigilante is like a better looking Kung-Fu! I'm going to look on my Gameboy Rob gave me to play some of these again, nice video AND AUDIO as always my guy!
Yyyeeeah the underworld levels are definitely more fun. But yeah get on that! Plenty of games on there i haven't even mentioned on the channel yet. Glad you enjoyed bro!
@@Johnnygrafx ALL DAY!!!
Keith Courage as a pack in was I guess a fine contrast to Altered Beast being packed in for the Genesis. One one hand you have a recognizable arcade property with a good for its time home version, but ultimately a very straight forward and brief gaming experience. On the other side you get with Keith Courage an unknown commodity but a solid if unspectacular game that is more like an action adventure with larger, sprawling levels and two types of zones, and the extra layer to upgrade your equipment. Altered Beast was more immediate (and ultimately I chose the Genesis at launch, but that was also due to me being an existing SMS owner) but you could probably get more mileage out of KC. Thing is that no matter which launch game NEC chose it would have been obscure as they didn't have a well established property to offer at launch, but at the same time us gamers (USA region) who were first on board with the 16-bit generation in 1989 were pretty much all over the magazines and already were researching and picking out the upcoming games that were looking good. As for underrated Turbografx 16 games I'd go with:
Legendary Axe II
Bloody Wolf
Neutopia
Neutopia 2
Sinistron
That's a fair comparison. Too many people bash Keith Courage for it being the included game (I happen to love the game), but Altered Beasts only took like 20 min or so to beat it when you first opened your Genesis. At least Keith Courage gave the gamer much more to work with.
Agreed, Altered Beast was a poor pack-in game. Although I think the problem may have simply been that they didn't have any other launch titles that would have been a *better* pack-in. It may have been chosen simply as the least-bad of what they had. Plus, at least it had 2P co-op so people had a reason to buy that 2nd controller.
@@jasonblalock4429 I think that as far as pack-in games--that most consumers back then would be familiar with ahead of time--Altered Beast and Super Thunder Blade were the choices at launch, and between the two Altered Beast was probably the better option. Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle is another option as a mascot game pack-in but that effort would have made a weak first impression, as it was a disappointment as a direct follow-up to Miracle World.
@@jasonblalock4429 well part of it was they wanted to show off the “Arcade” feel at home. In some aspects, ReGenesis version was better than the arcade version of altered beasts. I do enjoy playing it from time to time, but when they switched to doing the pack in as sonic the hedgehog, that made a lot of sense!
@@popixel Yeah, I agree. I do like the MD/Gen version better than the arcade. But it's just so short and relatively easy. I feel bad for anyone in 1989 who bought a Genesis and didn't buy any other games. They probably beat Altered Beast within an hour or so, and didn't have anything else to do.
Loved Keith Courage. It later the TurboGrafx-16 did have Bonk's Adventure as in extra pack in, at least where I lived. These are 10 lesser talked about games that are must owns if you own the console in alphabetical order:
1) Ballistix
2) Cadash
3) Chew Man Fu
4) CraterMaze
5) Dead Moon
6) Fantasy Zone
7) Final Lap Twin
8) Hit The Ice
9) Jackie Chan's Action Kung Fu
10) New Adventure Island
Always interested in TurboGrafx recommends. If you know good PC Engine exclusives, would love videos on that.
Legendary Axe 2 - Hucard. Last Alert aka Red alert - CD 2 great exclusives with soundtracks that will haunt you for the rest of your life in a good way =)
@@alexisjohnson good choices. I'm looking for some obscure stuff, possibly with a bit of a language barrier. I'm pretty familiar with the popular PC Engine library.
@@mscottjohnson3424 Kaze no Densetsu Xanadu 1 & 2
Vigilante and Galaga 90 were arcade ports. Galaga 90 was known in the arcades as Galaga 88.
I love my PC Engine Duo. Vigilante and Keith Courage are awesome.
Ohh you got the Duo R or RX?
Visually, NEC titles like Vigilante was and still are fantastic. Since I love Kung Fu Master, this game was right up my path of happiness. I worked at Radio Shack in the early 90s and I promoted this console and game, big time. I agree that Keith Courage was not a system seller and feel that NEC thought that Nintendo sold with a platform,so it was a no brainer to sell with one too. Too bad Keith Courage was nothing like Mario.
Since my machine is a PC Engine most of my ”underrated” games don’t count. I haven’t played Time Cruise enough to give it a solid recommendation, but first impression was good! I like Alien Crush a lot, but it’s good to have alternatives. I mean, TurboGrafx has 3 pinball games and it’s pretty cool that all of them are quality titles!
Yeah time cruise is legit!
8:20 wait, Vigilante came out in 1998?! That can’t be correct, the TG was long dead by then!! I own a lot of these games, my opinion the TG is good for shoot ‘em ups, pinball and certain platformers the system is an “acquired taste”
Maybe a script typo.
I guess he meant 88. I got it in 1990-91
Yeah it was '88. I just misspoke when I recorded the voiceover and somehow it slipped by during editing 🤐
@@Johnnygrafx gotcha! 😊
The console manufacturing was discontinued in 1994, but games where made for it up to June of 1999. Vigilante was released on arcades 1988 and on Turbo 1989.
Agree with these games being good. I played a lot of golf and I don’t even like golf!
That’s a nice list! I remember being blown away by the graphics for Vigilante. I think it is a significant upgrade and advancement from Kung-Fu Master with the nunchakus, better controls, and rather satisfying attacks you can do. The junkyard stage was my favorite when it comes to showing off the game’s graphics. For Power Golf, I haven’t given it a serious shot, but maybe I will try again after looking at the manual online. I have it on the PC Engine Mini. Oh, and I always liked the revolver enemies in Keith Courage! Thanks for the video!
My Dad and I loved playing Power Golf Alot!!!
Wait a minute, you can't say Vigilante was an 80's style beat me up and call it a day. Renegade, Double Dragon, and Final Fight were all 1980's beat em ups. Final Fight was the precursor to Streets of Rage.
Addendum- I chose to go with the Sega Genesis in 1989 for Ghouls n' Ghosts but the screenshots of Vigilante absolutely blew my mind in 1989. The background for the junkyard was unlike anything I had ever seen before.
Totally missed out on this version of Galaga, looks great! Good video!
Thanks man! Glad to see ya
It's the best version of Galaga. 90 of turbo, 88 on arcade.
Power Golf is probably the greatest 16-bit(ish) golf game; it even holds up pretty well against Neo Turf Masters. Good pick.
My step-brother got a TurboGrafx-16 in 1991 or so with about eight to ten games. The game I played the most was Keith Courage in Alpha Zones. Of course the game I played second most was Battle Royale. So take that as you will.
Wow pretty big gulf between the two! I cant get into battle royale myself 🤷
I loved the original Turbografx-16 upon playing Keith Courage (definitely not a bad game), but the love really increased when I played Splatterhouse, the Bonk games, Legendary Axe and Galaga 90! I finally got my hands on the classic version and I wasn't disappointed!!!
Boxyboy looks like a heavy inspiration for the "puzzleboy' segment of smt nocturne. Neat.
yeah, I suspect there's probably a lot of games that function similarly to Boxyboy. Thanks for watching!
Vigilante was a game I believe I got with my TG-16 for Christmas. I had played the arcade & was amazed at how, what seemed at the time, arcade perfect a port it was.
I believe it's also the sequel to Kung Fu.
Love the Turbografx! Y's 1 and 2; Neutopia 1 and 2 are some of my favorites! Soldier Blade, Blazing Lazers, Keith Courage, Last Alert are also super fun! Cheers!
Can go wrong with any of those! 🙂
All of these are solid picks, really. I'm not sure if you've mentioned Shocman elsewhere, but that's one I'd definitely consider underrated.
Vigilante was merciless... fastest coin-devouring arcade of my elementary school days...
I was fortunate enough to never have to play it in an arcade. otherwise I'm sure I'd lose a lot of em.
Silent Debuggers. Basically Aliens meets anime.
Keith Courage was my #1 favorite game for this system.
I don't know anything really about turbo games but alot of these look very interesting..I'm going to set up a emulator soon
Keith Courage should have been called "KC in Alpha Zones" or "Mecha Hero Wataru". That sounds much better in my opinion.
Happily beat Power Golf when I was 14, but went back to it recently, oh no I suck again! LOL - - - Also underrated is Ordyne.
Yup! I distinctly remember getting a literal hole-in-one with my dad when I was like 6. I've never been able to do it again, but one day I will!
Keith Courage is a prime example of taking an anime based game, and completely butchering the entire story and characters. Spirit Machine Wataru is what the game is based off of, and Nurse Nancy is not a nurse in the anime, but a tough little fighter who serves as comic relief in a comedy anime, and the Shopmaster is Wataru's sidekick swordsman whom he refers to as sensei, even though he isn't. In the anime Wataru also has access to a mech that talks that he can use to fight, surprisingly the US version kept the mech aspect.
Also Vigilante didn't come out in 1998, came out much earlier.
It seems obvious now that there was a huge backstory to KC that they simply never bothered to explain, thanks for the context. Now I'm curious about JJ & Jeff.
Actually, Vigilante did came out in 1988. February 1988 that is...
Vigilante I think came out in 88, not 98. But I agree definitely an underrated game.
wish you would do something on somer assault. It was always ones of my favorites and no one talks about it for the TG-16.
I think I covered it in a "weird Turbografx games" video I did a few years back. I figure it'll come back up eventually though! 🙂
Great game, I just recently replayed it for nostalgia and the catchy music.
Honestly the best thing about Vigilante is that Japanese cover art.
It's quite an image!
Neo Geo Turf Masters FTW!
Crater Maze was AWESOME!
Love that game!
You know, I HAVE a TG-16 and an TurboEverdrive, so I can load PCengine games as well, I really should take some time to go through and try some of these.
Definitely!
Me and my wife play Galaga 90 almost every week. Fantastic game. Great video
Nice! Yeah Galaga '90 never really gets old! Glad you enjoyed bud 🙂
Best system I ever played next to Dreamcast!
I just need to point out that despite how many times you called it a 16 bit system, it was only a 16 bit Graphics engine on top of an 8 bit gaming system. While it was a VISUAL step forward, the actual base processing was the same as the NES/Famicom and Sega Master System. A LOT of the 'limitations' you spoke of were because of that distinction.
What is that purple light in a tube behind you?
You forgot Stip Fighter 2. 😂
That game is somethin else lol
Power Golf is good once you get used to the sensitivity of the power meter.
Great stuff!
I know i bought a turbo express in 1991 to have while i was in the US navy and when i got out it was conviently lost akanstolen
Power Golf is pretty much the same game as NES Open Tournament Golf which is not a bad thing. I played open golf a lot as a kid for some damn reason.
Vigilante for the TurboGrafx came out in 1998? With the PlayStation, N64 and Dreamcast on the market? Doubt it.
Vigilante was released in 1988
Did u played spaltter house ?
Vigilante is a 16 bit kung fu
Thinking Rabbit also did Rockman World II/Megaman II on GB which though not terrible is more mediocre than a Megaman game should be. Apart from a FDS platform puzzler game with magnets, they seem to have done mostly point and click stuff on NEC PC-88.
They did several versions of the Soukaban games, Boxxle 1 and 2 are pretty much like Boxy Boy seen here, and Shove It The Warehouse game on the Genesis. Soukaban seems to be their most well know games.
I was messing with my hugonew emulator earlier. Looking for some arcane stuff. Not toilet kids.
Galaga 90 is a fantastic game
It really is
Vigilante came out in 1998? I think there’s a script typo. It was closer to 1988.
yeah i rewinded twice to make sure i was hearing it right XD then realized it had to be a mistake
Arcade 88, Turbo 89
Vigilante 1998?
0:01 No. Basically I don't know anything about the TGFX16. 0:07 Oh. Yeah. Everyone knows about those.
Are you the Gaming Bolt voice?
I was for a long time! I quit working with them though.
@@Johnnygrafx your voice is iconic!
Thanks man!
I played a lot of Power Golf back in the day. Maybe it's time to pull the old Turbografx back out of the closet for a bit.
Do it! Just be prepared to get humbled for a while!
@@Johnnygrafx Can't play much worse than I do on the real life golf courses.
Vigilante is just Kung Fu 2, then again, Street Fighter 1 is technically Kung Fu 2 😂
Ooh, cannot agree with Keith Courage and Vigilante. Vigilante is just too twitchy for a beat-em-up, and Keith Courage is not engaging enough, especially for a pack-in game. And both are terribly repetitive. I would say most of the overlooked games on TG16 are CD titles because most of us in North America just didn't have a Turbo CD or Turbo Duo. Especially when considering the Japanese only titles that were absolute bangers, and some that were cross platform titles that genuinely stood out on PCE CD-Rom². The Turbo was a fickle beast because NEC just failed to appropriately market to the western demographic. There were games that should have absolutely came west that didn't, and others that they should have waited on until that had a more solid footing in the market.
Totally true about the CD and Japanese-only games. I need to cover those more! Thanks for checking out the video 👍
Please put timestamps
9:50 too soon!
Without the suit, "Keith" moves like he's concealing a load in his diaper. 🙄 That alone made the game annoying. It didn't help that--yes--as you mentioned, the graphics looked more like an NES game.
Something like "Crackdown" would've been a ton better for the TG-16 to market themselves around. But doing a sort of Wonderboy meets discount Master Blaster? Nah. 💩
Side note.
Linx 2004 on the original xbox is the greatest golf game ever
Never played it but you've piqued my interest!
Go Steelers!
When compared to my Genesis with Altered Beast, Keith Courage made me feel like I had made a very poor choice buying the TurboGrafx 16. Poor music/sound effects (omg that repetitive ear piercing music!!!), no parallax scrolling, so many leap of faiths, silly enemy patterns, etc etc etc. Never had I disliked a pack in game as much as Keith Courage, terrible choice by NEC and it pretty much was the beginning of the end for the TurboGrafx 16 in North America. Harsh? Nope, it was a fact. NEC was so cheap they didn’t even give the North American TurboChip cards nice graphics like they received in Japan. Wasn’t till 1992/93 when TTI took over distribution in NA did we receive colorful TurboChip artwork but that was too little too late. I did play Vigilante & Galaga 90’ for a bit but it really wasn’t till R-Type, Legendary Axe & Bonks Adv that I’d finally spend a good amount of time with my TG16 and even those pale in comparison to what we received on the Genesis. With that said I still have my original TG16 complete in box and almost all of my games but when I see that Keith Courage game I simply close my eyes and turn my head left to right remembering all the mistakes NEC made, the PC Engine games left in Japan and the frustrations as a TG16 owner back then. When thinking about the TG16 I can only spend my time playing the 20 or so “heavy hitters” and nothing else.
I had a turbo in 1991. I have no nostalgia for the system what so ever. Had about 20 games for it. Most of the games are shallow experiences. Best game in my opinion is Ninja Spirit.
Eh, I'd say they're about as shallow as most other games from the time. Remember, most of these games were made between '87 and' '91. So by the time you got your turbo most of them were already old-hat. But yes, Ninja Spirit is certainly one of the best ones 🙂
I can agree to a certain extent, but games like…
1. Keith Courage
2. Bloody Wolf
3. Tailspin
4. Bonk’s Adventure
5. Vigilante
… are what made me a happy owner of the Turbografx 16 system. I also enjoyed the option to play those same games portable even though I did not own a TG16 Express until decades later.
Bloody Wolf is the highlight game for me out of the few I owned at the time. Ninja Spirit is a game I would have liked, but I did not get it until decades later and still have not played it as I have a huge backlog of games to play across at least 15 different home consoles/dedicated handhelds.
During that era, the Super Nintendo was/is my favorite 16-bit system and really one of my all-time favorite consoles!
Stuff like Parasol Stars, Jackie Chan Action Kung Fu, Jigoku Meguri (Bonze Adventure), the 3 Bomberman games, the Bonk games, Air Zonk, Airbuster/Aeroblasters are some of the better games for the system. We played games not for depth back then, we played them for the fun they contained.
You must of had some crappy games. The TG16 had some killer games and with the exception of a rerelease that came out in the past few years the turbo is still the best way to play Castlevania: Rondo of blood which is a phenomenal game.
You missed out then. Some had great soundtracks. And RType was amazing for the time. I'm guessing you didn't have the CD either. That had some bangers. Especially the Ys games.
Bro. I lost you when I saw you were cheating in video game footage. "once you figure the movement patterns" as you God mode through that shit.
It's a video showcase not a look at how good i am video so the cheating is irrelevant and it's not an online multiplayer so it doesn't matter if he cheats or not.
@@alexisjohnson I understand it's a video showcase. However saying a game offers little challenge, while you are literally getting hit every two seconds is a bit goofy. He's putting forth the effort to record. Why not just do honest gameplay and use that to substantiate his claims?
@jamesburchill7522 I would say cause not all youtube game reviewers are good at all games nor have the time to get good and cut corners to get their content out.
I agree it looks odd seeing it, but his claims are still accurate. The game is easy once you learn the patterns but still ramps up harder towards the end and the majority of the difficulty is the blind jumps.
The bosses could pose more of a challenge but there is a cheap way to kill them. Walk up to where there is only a couple pixels of their sprite showing then you can projectile them to death with no resistance, lol.
Not that it matters, but I didn't do any "cheating" in this video ftr. Not every hit Keith Courage takes removes a heart. So I wasn't just cruising through it on god mode. I'm not even sure if KC has a god mode 🤷♂️
@Johnnygrafx Only with an emulator. If I remember correctly the only cheats was a level select and getting the best sword early and several cheap tactics on bosses.
You keep saying it's a 16 bit system; when in fact, the CPU is actually only 8 bit.
Yeah but the GPU is 16 bit. So it's debatable either way. For me though, given that it existed alongside the genesis and the SNES much longer than the NES and SMS, it just feels more like a 16-but system to me 🤷♂️
@@Johnnygrafx Yeah, I know the GPU is 16 bit; and I definitely agree that it does feel a little more like a 16 bit system. I just wanted to make sure that you as a content maker wasn't I'll informed. Great video though.
@@nickparsons337 all good man 👍
it was 2x 8bit. 8+8=16 so yeah it's a 16bit console.
@@alexisjohnson Wrong. By that logic the Sega Saturn was 64 bit because it had two 32 bit processors. But it's not considered 64 bit; it's 32 bit just like the PS1.
You said Vigilante was came out in "1998, with the TurboGrafix version coming out a whole year later"... Obviously you meant 1988 but I still thought I'd point this out for anyone who heard the same thing but didn't know that it was said in error.