1up.com: Saving the System - TurboGrafx-16

[KingDrool]

1up just posted an article about "failed" consoles, what went wrong with them, and how they could've been saved. The first one they covered was the TurboGrafx-16. As with most mainsteam gaming websites, it has a few questionable parts, but I think it's a pretty well-done article overall.

Thought I'd share it with you guys:
http://www.1up.com/features/saving-the-system-failed-consoles

[Joe Redifer]

That was a pretty good article.  Although they only barely toughed on it, one of the biggest failures of the system was the necessity to buy extra adapters for multiplayer, composite video/stereo sound, etc.  That's just extremely stupid design.  The PC Engine has that same beyond-idiotic design in Japan.  Seriously, how stupid can they be?  Morons.

[BigusSchmuck]

But by buying the turbo tap you can go up to 5 players! Not a bad deal considering there are a ton of 5 player games....

[DragonmasterDan]

The single controller port was one of those problems that really should have been identified before it hit the market.

[SignOfZeta]

The US system should have had the multitap built in. Also, stereo, composite...hell, you could build a toilet and a satelite dish into the TG-16 its so damned huge.

Looking at the PCE core system, space is obviously more in demand. The single controller port was kind of rough, but because of it everyone ended up buying a tap, giving them a max of five. With other systems multitaps are pretty fringe items, but the PCE everyone has one. Honestly, its kind of one of the most multi-player of all systems, ironically.

The more I think about it, the more I'm convinced that the TG-16 was basically doomed. No amount of marketing or strategy could have saved it. Its a hella Japanese system where most of the best games had tons of text. Twenty years ago Americans were even more illiterate and xenophobic than they are now. NEC couldn't have changed that.

[nodtveidt]

I've explained the tap thing before but people don't usually tend to understand it, heh. The system was designed for multiplayer from the start, and the single-port setup was a serious advantage for developers because the system was mind-numbingly easy to code multiplayer games for. An easy system to work with = more potential developers = more games produced = more money made = more happy kids.

[DragonmasterDan]

The more I think about it, the more I'm convinced that the TG-16 was basically doomed. No amount of marketing or strategy could have saved it. Its a hella Japanese system where most of the best games had tons of text. Twenty years ago Americans were even more illiterate and xenophobic than they are now. NEC couldn't have changed that.

It definitely could have done a lot better, but I agree with you in the sense that I don't think it would have had any chance of being as popular as the SNES considering the circumstances.

The biggest problem was really that the best games were on CD, and CD-ROM prices at that time were just way too high to be competitive as a mass market item. Using HuCards only, even if the system got everything that came out for the PC Engine, and then a little more it still wouldn't have had a chance. It would have done better as a niche market item, but it never would have "won" the console war.

[DragonmasterDan]

Oh and Nintendo's third party licensing restrictions in the late 80s and early 90s certainly were a contributing factor.

[c0ldb33r]

great article. I didn't know that there was ever talk of Mortal Kombat on the duo. That would have been great. I wonder what it would look like.

One thing that could have happened would be to release older unreleased PCE games on the American Duo. Licensing fees would be a lot less with older games  and you'd basically get 2/3/4 games on one CD. I think that would have pushed some systems.

It would be kind of like the PCE compilations released on the PSP.

[BigT]

That's an interesting article.

I agree that it would have been hard for NEC to take the #1 spot in the US, but #2 or at least a large profitable niche were attainable.

Here are my initial thoughts:

* In terms of controllers, a pack-in (or built in TurboTap) would have been nice... a pack in would have helped with a couple problems, i.e., only one port and short cable length.  Also, a 3-button controller would have been nice around the time of launch (many games use run for this function anyways, and as silly as it seems, I recall my friends pointing out how superior the Genesis was because of an extra action button)... two buttons, just made it seem NES-like.

* They should have focused on the CD aspect of the system earlier on.  E.g., include a pack-in game and lower the price... or just market an integrated system from the start (CD plus core system portion side by side would be about the same size as the turbografx-16)... they did not abide by the current concept that you sometimes have to take an initial loss on hardware and then make it up on software sales)... making it an expensive add-on made the installed CD-rom base ridiculously small.  In 1989, they might have been able to get away with charging $149 for the base system initially with $249 for the CD with a bundle discount of $349 for both... with then price drops to $99, $199, and ~$249-279 when possible... that could have made things more palatable.

* In the end, more games and third parties would have helped as well... as soon as Bonk came out, that should have been added permanently as a pack-in along side Keith Courage.  Getting EA on board earlier would have helped... John Madden Duo showed that the system could handle those games... NHL was a huge reason I ever even touched a genesis... the TV Sports series (aside from TV Sports Basketball, with which I have a strange fascination, just did not compare).  Of course, the issue of actually localizing more games has been beat to death before.

[Arkhan]

Oh and Nintendo's third party licensing restrictions in the late 80s and early 90s certainly were a contributing factor.

This is the real problem.  Getting f*cked out of games = lame.

Konami's presence on the TurboGrafx-16 was barely there. 
Capcom's was.. yeah.

We had no Contra, Jackal, MegaMan or Castlevania for the Turbob.  That blew


There are tons of games on the PCE that are not text haevy that should have made it to the US.  Why they didn't is beyond me.   Tons of shooters for one. 

It's like they just gave up and didn't bother.

[Damon Plus]

Nec should've tought of taking the European Market. Nintendo wasn't as strong/interested in it, and look Sega was number 1 here. But Nec did even worse than Nintendo. They released the Turbografx too late in 1992 in small quantities in UK, France, Spain, and I think, Italy. I still ask myself if it was a test market, or small importers who did that.

[nat]

I have to believe it was a test market, or just a ridiculously small legit release. The PAL TurboGrafx stuff has NEC labeling all over the packaging, I'm fairly sure if it hadn't been a legit release someone would've been facing some major legal action.

[DragonmasterDan]

Nec should've tought of taking the European Market. Nintendo wasn't as strong/interested in it, and look Sega was number 1 here. But Nec did even worse than Nintendo. They released the Turbografx too late in 1992 in small quantities in UK, France, Spain, and I think, Italy. I still ask myself if it was a test market, or small importers who did that.

It was in 1990.

I have to believe it was a test market, or just a ridiculously small legit release. The PAL TurboGrafx stuff has NEC labeling all over the packaging, I'm fairly sure if it hadn't been a legit release someone would've been facing some major legal action.

Yeah, it was a legit release, not only that but the system is design wise different from the US TurboGrafx, different colored plastic, different clock speed, AV coming out of the system itself. This wasn't a gray market import.

[c0ldb33r]

did the PAL games run at regular speed?