Turbo Grafx 16/ PC-Engine: Worth Getting?

RAZO

Mayor of Southtown
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A few years ago I would have said the pc engine is not worth getting. After messing around with it for a few years now, I've come across some really good games. Winds of Thunder, Ninja Spirits, Gate of Thunder, JC Action Kung Fu are just a few of the games that I love playing. I would say now give it a shot. Pick up a Duo-R and a turbo everdrive and enjoy.
 

Metalslug

Cham Cham's Banana,
20 Year Member
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Duo-Rs are expensive. I remember about 10 years ago turbozone direct has brand new duos for sale. I wish I jumped on that. Besides ebay where can I get a duo-r?
 

Hans Grösse

Banned
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126
Duo-Rs are expensive. I remember about 10 years ago turbozone direct has brand new duos for sale. I wish I jumped on that. Besides ebay where can I get a duo-r?

Pc engine fx forum, one for sale now that's been modded get that.
 

Tron

Test
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Check the pcenginefx.com messgae board for a deal,though it's the turbo-duo that is expensive not the duo-r or rx.
 

MCF 76

Metal Slug Mechanic
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Damn you guys are making me want to get one of these. I use to have a TG-16 years ago but only had like 5 games for it. Should have got a PCE instead back then the library sucked for the TG.
 

Geddon_jt

Creator of the Master List,
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I was fortunate to complete the Us Turbo set many years ago. It's an awesome system, maybe my second favorite next to the Neo. I have the advantage of growing up with one in 1989 and I must admit playing the games back then helps a lot in enjoying them now. Turbo R Type is probably my favorite shooter ever, period.
 

Neodogg

Dogg-Father,
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pics or it didn't happen!

I was fortunate to complete the Us Turbo set many years ago. It's an awesome system, maybe my second favorite next to the Neo. I have the advantage of growing up with one in 1989 and I must admit playing the games back then helps a lot in enjoying them now. Turbo R Type is probably my favorite shooter ever, period.
 

KRiSX

King's Dry Cleaner
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Posts
376
Check the pcenginefx.com messgae board for a deal,though it's the turbo-duo that is expensive not the duo-r or rx.

the DUO-R isn't expensive? saw one go for $256US this morning... seems kinda pricey to me or is that about right?
 

Atro

Who?,
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Joined
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Posts
9,216
the DUO-R isn't expensive? saw one go for $256US this morning... seems kinda pricey to me or is that about right?

I don't care about that price.

All I care is that you keep that avatar and post often.
Spam a lot.

Get the RX instead.
 

greedostick

Obsessed Neo-Fan
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the DUO-R isn't expensive? saw one go for $256US this morning... seems kinda pricey to me or is that about right?

They normall sell bin on EBay $300 or over. If you ate patient and find one you can bid on much less. There's a fella selling a component region nodded one here on the forums and it looks very clean and is $360.00 I think. Gregori or something is his name.
 

Geddon_jt

Creator of the Master List,
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That is the full set of all US releases. I have most of the cardboard boxes but I don't store the games in them because they damage easily and are hard to get to.

I prefer to "color code" my Turbo games because I am anal and ridiculous. I think they look better lined up this way though. On the top left (the orange games) are all of what I call the "first gen" Turbo titles. Games like R-Type, Legendary Axe, Military Madness, Neutopia, etc and the Sega ports (Space Harrier, Fantasy Zone). These are the real nostalgic ones for me. After that you have the later huCard releases which for the most part weren't as good. The final 20 or so huCard releases did not come with plastic cases like these games. I keep them stacked (loose in sleeves) on the top left of the pic, except for Magical Chase, which is the only one that I have a "custom" case for. It's stuck in there with the rest of the orange-striped shooter games.

On the bottom, starting 3 from the left, are the CD releases. You start with the regular CD games like the Ys games, then you get into the Super CDs which these days are very rare and expensive. Those are very hit and miss, you have some crappy US-developed or FMV games (Camp California, Madden) mixed in with some truly amazing Japanese games (Dungeon Explorer 2, Dynastic Hero). Then at the far right, you have 2 of the last Working Designs turbo games, Vasteel and Exile 2, with the hard to find outside cardboard sleeve (that style of packaging is unique just to those 2 games).

Turbo collecting in the past 4 years has become rather cost prohibitive. Another thing I love about the Turbo is the system had the ability to run certain games at a very high resolution. Games like Cratermaze and Ordyne run at this high res and with the combination of the great color palette, sometimes these games look much better than even SNES and Genesis.

Back on point, to answer the OP's question, YES, every retro gamer should try to enjoy this system. As others have said, a Japanese Duo is much better than a US system, and many games are much cheaper and readily available in Japanese form, although even that is changing these days. Good luck!
 

LoneSage

A Broken Man
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damn, i knew the turbo library was small, but that's just sad.
 

KRiSX

King's Dry Cleaner
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I don't care about that price.

All I care is that you keep that avatar and post often.
Spam a lot.

Get the RX instead.

lol no problem :p

They normall sell bin on EBay $300 or over. If you ate patient and find one you can bid on much less. There's a fella selling a component region nodded one here on the forums and it looks very clean and is $360.00 I think. Gregori or something is his name.

ah ok, good to know... like i said earlier in this thread... this is pretty much the only console left i want to get my hands on, at least i've now got an idea of ballpark price and what to look for!
 

Yodd

Iori's Flame
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Joined
Feb 7, 2002
Posts
8,214
damn, i knew the turbo library was small, but that's just sad.

That's just the US side of things.

JP could fill a whole wall up. There were over 400 CD/Super CD releases alone. Not including another nearly 300 hucard games. Plus there has been many, many homebrew releases over the last decade or better. Some of them easily as good as the original retail stuff.

NEC really fucked up the American TG16 release as far as the lack of games go.
 

LoneSage

A Broken Man
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yeah i meant US side. marketing for the turbo was terrible, no presence in game stores, either, from what i remember as a child.
 

Jeneki

Enemy Chaser
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Jan 22, 2013
Posts
1,166
Turbografx was the console that taught me to import. Luckily back then, there were three local game stores that carried imports for it. I probably would have lost interest in the console long ago if I only had access to domestic games, but thanks to the imports it's one of my favorite consoles.
 

SNKNostalgia

Gal Ageise's Demon
Joined
Jul 11, 2005
Posts
2,068
Damn you guys are making me want to get one of these. I use to have a TG-16 years ago but only had like 5 games for it. Should have got a PCE instead back then the library sucked for the TG.

I had a similar experience. I got a TG-16 with Keith's Courage and Final Lap Twin on X-mas '91 when my mom went to California to visit family. This was when I wanted a SNES (even a Genesis would have been nice). Problem was... I lived on a Navy Base in Puerto Rico and couldn't buy games for it until late '92 when they opened a EB Games off-base. I was only able to get Cadash just before moving back to MS and then nothing due to the system dying out by late '93.

I didn't get back into it until I bought a new US Turbo Duo from Turbo Zone Direct in late 2000 and found a 3 in 1 Gate of Thunder disc in a CD bin at a Hudson's Treasure Hunt outlet store (Dirt Cheap is the other name they changed to) months just before. I bought Ys 1 + 2 and Final Zone 2, then shelved it until 2007 and bought 12 games for it up to 2009. Some of the better ones being Lords of Thunder, Bomberman '94, Super Star Soldier and SF2:CE. After that, I just burned high quality CD-Rs and soon will be getting a Turbo Everdrive.
 

Metalslug

Cham Cham's Banana,
20 Year Member
Joined
Jun 9, 2001
Posts
273
Wow nice collection. I looked on the forums and those duo-rs have been sold. Can anyone help me find one? What exactly does a everdrive do? Basically you put roms on a SD card?
 

Dr Shroom

made it in japan
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Dec 19, 2005
Posts
23,275
yeah i meant US side. marketing for the turbo was terrible

JohnnyTurbo.jpg
 

Tron

Test
15 Year Member
Joined
May 20, 2004
Posts
8,149
the DUO-R isn't expensive? saw one go for $256US this morning... seems kinda pricey to me or is that about right?
Boxed yes but loose $100.00 plus unless modded it really bumps up the price.
 
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Neodogg

Dogg-Father,
20 Year Member
Joined
Nov 27, 2002
Posts
5,635
nice, you know your colors aren't really in order until you have them in the proper hue/chroma, lighter to dark of that color. just saying...



That is the full set of all US releases. I have most of the cardboard boxes but I don't store the games in them because they damage easily and are hard to get to.

I prefer to "color code" my Turbo games because I am anal and ridiculous. I think they look better lined up this way though. On the top left (the orange games) are all of what I call the "first gen" Turbo titles. Games like R-Type, Legendary Axe, Military Madness, Neutopia, etc and the Sega ports (Space Harrier, Fantasy Zone). These are the real nostalgic ones for me. After that you have the later huCard releases which for the most part weren't as good. The final 20 or so huCard releases did not come with plastic cases like these games. I keep them stacked (loose in sleeves) on the top left of the pic, except for Magical Chase, which is the only one that I have a "custom" case for. It's stuck in there with the rest of the orange-striped shooter games.

On the bottom, starting 3 from the left, are the CD releases. You start with the regular CD games like the Ys games, then you get into the Super CDs which these days are very rare and expensive. Those are very hit and miss, you have some crappy US-developed or FMV games (Camp California, Madden) mixed in with some truly amazing Japanese games (Dungeon Explorer 2, Dynastic Hero). Then at the far right, you have 2 of the last Working Designs turbo games, Vasteel and Exile 2, with the hard to find outside cardboard sleeve (that style of packaging is unique just to those 2 games).

Turbo collecting in the past 4 years has become rather cost prohibitive. Another thing I love about the Turbo is the system had the ability to run certain games at a very high resolution. Games like Cratermaze and Ordyne run at this high res and with the combination of the great color palette, sometimes these games look much better than even SNES and Genesis.

Back on point, to answer the OP's question, YES, every retro gamer should try to enjoy this system. As others have said, a Japanese Duo is much better than a US system, and many games are much cheaper and readily available in Japanese form, although even that is changing these days. Good luck!
 
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RAZO

Mayor of Southtown
15 Year Member
Joined
Dec 2, 2006
Posts
8,791
Boxed yes but loose $100.00 plus unless modded it really bumps up the price.

More like $200 plus. Typically a stock duo-r w/ controller go's for $200-225 loose. Duo-Rx fetches for more. A few years ago douijdance was selling Rgb modded systems for like $175. Now he sells them for close to $300. They have gone up in price.
 
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Opethian

Basara's Blade Keeper
10 Year Member
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Dec 22, 2009
Posts
3,672
The RX is pointless to get, the 6 button controller is terrible. The Avenue 6 controller is better if you need a 6 button.
 
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