I can't believe the divide on Dragon's Curse we got going on here! I always thought it was a pretty solid game even if you didn't love the style (which I personally do).
As for Dungeon Explorer, I'm a fan (especially music-wise) but I can't herald it as the best game for the Turbo. You have to admit it's a little generic looking. (and I say this from a place of love!) Air Zonk, Lords of Thunder, Bonk's Revenge, etc.. Are the games you wanna show the naysayers to impress.
One of the things I love about DE and which converted me from being a Genesis fanboy was how unique the aesthetics are. The variety of settings and memorable bosses and polished pixel art. Every combination of number of players is a unique experience, let alone the many different classes you can play as and how they compliment each other.
Zonk seems to be pretty overrated by newer members and although Bonk' Revenge is a good game, I don't think that
showing it to someone is going to be more impressive than many other Turbochip games, especially so-called naysayers. Lords is strictly SCD as far as I know.
I'm not a huge Air Zonk nut necessarily and I've owned my TG-16 since 1989, but I do think Red Company had some of the best graphics and style on the system. I wouldn't call Air Zonk or Bonk's Revenge overrated at all in my book, but that's just an opinion. They're well deserving of high marks. I didn't own Air Zonk personally (maybe one day) but I grew up with BR and I have always considered it to be one of the most colorful and artful looking games at the time. I played DE to death and it is memorable in many ways, but it doesn't really fit my definition of polished pixel art. Something about the overuse of gradients and blandness of the background assets. But, as you said, great bosses, multiplayer (I really only played single player except for once or twice), and great music. I look forward to finally getting a copy of DE II because I feel like the cinematics and other added bits and pieces might have given a little more character to the overall aesthetic.
