Did anyone else neglect Hucards back in the 90's?

[kazekirifx]

I was always a gamer since the NES days, but after I got my first CD Rom-based consoles (the Duo and Sega CD at the same time) I wanted everything to be on a CD. I was so taken by real recorded music on redbook CD audio I detested chiptunes on all consoles. I all but stopped buying HuCards after I traded in my TG16 for a Duo. I couldn't even understand why folks on the Turbo list would bother even talking about 'good' hucard games anymore. (How can it be good? It's not a CD!) Consequentially, there were lots of excellent hucard games I never obtained until much later, after they had become "retro games". Only relatively recently have I bothered to obtain some of them like Magical Chase (Japan version) Coryoon, Devil's Crush, and Neutopia II. I've also bought quite a few auction lots of random hucards in recent years and am enjoying the not-so-excellent but still okay ones as well. (Lately, Psycho Chaser has been a fun mediocre but good challenging daily dose of gaming.)

Nowadays, I have shifted to almost the exact opposite opinion from the one I held back in the 90's. Pre-recorded music seems 'way too easy', and I am far more impressed when I hear the internal sound processor of a retro system being put to good use. I love the unique sound each retro system has, and even listen to mp3's of classic chiptunes on my Android phone sometimes when I travel. Great CD soundtracks like Lords of Thunder and Ys are still great in their own right, of course, but I am really into the retro electronic sound now. Consequentially, nowadays I can be a little bored when I play a PCE CD game that has mediocre music, or boring CD audio cutscenes, even though I used to love them back in the day... They can still be good in a nostalgic way I guess.

Anyway, can anyone else relate? I've always had the impression that I might be in the minority here. Others have always seemed to have a more balanced opinion of hucard vs. CD than I've had.

[Black Tiger]

I tried to get games that might be fun to play. I preferred PCE imports, but they were expensive, a crap shoot and took a while to arrive. I returned Loom after completing it several times because it was super buggy and was much happier with Air Zonk, which I got in its place. Street Fighter II was also much more fun than many CD games I could have got instead and was the best fighting game for consoles. There were also fewer Turbo CD games and releases were slow, so I just bought the best newest games that were available wherever I found them.

Since you mentioned the Turbo List, I'm guessing that you got into the Turbo after it was discontinued. I still loved picking up random PCE HuCards that I found at pawn shops and fleamarkets. I also still packed my Turbo Express with me while transit was my only means of getting around. It was fun discovering games like Tatsunoko Fighter, Yokai Douchuki and Mr Heli and experiencing them without knowing anything about them beforehand.

[Keith Courage]

I played quite a bit of hu cards at that time. Mainly because hu cards were cheaper being that my dad bought a copy of each game they had at a local video rental store for me at only $5 a piece. I think he ended up getting around 35 games in all. I owned a Turbo CD drive as well but only bought myself like 2 CD games a year.

[kazekirifx]

Since you mentioned the Turbo List, I'm guessing that you got into the Turbo after it was discontinued.

What? No. Did I imply that? I guess I might have made it sound like I was on the Turbo List when I first got my Turbo. No, that's not the case. Got the TG16 in 1992 and Duo just a year later in 1993. But I guess I'm including the late 90's here too during the PS1 days when the Turbo List was around. I was still very much a CD-ophile during those times. (To be fair, I did buy and enjoy SF2, Bonk 3, Soldier Blade and others even after owning the Duo. I still wished they had CD soundtracks )

I hated the N64 too because it was cartridge based. Even now, I still don't have the nostalgia for that system that many other aging gamers do, even though my bro did own one and I was quite familiar with the N64 library. I was quite a supporter of the Saturn and, to a lesser extent, the PS1 because I favored CD technology over cartridge. I saw Nintendo's choice to make N64 a cartridge based system as a stubborn refusal to admit they were wrong, since they had already spent some time scorning Sega's choice to make a CD peripheral after they had decided for sure not to release one for the SNES.

[vestcoat]

Back to the OP, I can't relate.  Being unable to play TG-CD games until '97 did create a backlog of CD titles I was itching for, but I continued to buy Turbochips alongside them through the rest of the Nineties.  Although the system was discontinued, I had access to anything I wanted between Radioshack, TZD, and the late, great, Games to Go in Richfield, MN.

I've never had any particular affinity for chiptunes.  Some of them are great, but the only hits that spring to mind are Dungeon Explorer, Insanity, Bonk's Revenge, and a few others.  There are many more CD tunes I will never forget: Gate of Thunder, Lords, Ys, Valis 2, Splash Lake, Exile 1 & 2, etc.

[kazekirifx]

...and the late, great, Games to Go in Richfield, MN.

Well, we can relate on that at least. Without Games to Go I wouldn't have been able to start buying PCE imports in a time  when trading on the Net was still in its infancy. I owe a lot to them.

[soop]

Nah, I've always held cartridges in high regard, higher than all other media.

Although I did put a hard drive on some Hucards the other day, and then I was like "oh wait, magnets"  Still work though.

[NightWolve]

I hated the N64 too because it was cartridge based. Even now, I still don't have the nostalgia for that system that many other aging gamers do, even though my bro did own one and I was quite familiar with the N64 library. I was quite a supporter of the Saturn and, to a lesser extent, the PS1 because I favored CD technology over cartridge. I saw Nintendo's choice to make N64 a cartridge based system as a stubborn refusal to admit they were wrong, since they had already spent some time scorning Sega's choice to make a CD peripheral after they had decided for sure not to release one for the SNES.

Well said, I had a similar feeling when the industry came to that crossroad: stick with expensive cartridges or switch to the cheap 3 cent CD medium, the future... I felt Nintendo was screwing us with continued use of expensive carts which I remember reading cost $15-$25 to manufacture versus a 3 cent CD, plus $2-$3 bucks for manual and jewel case! So after years of NES/SNES love and loyalty (played/beat hundreds of NES games, too), I had to part ways with Nintendo and go with Sony's PS1; I simply avoided the N64... Other factors included learning that Squaresoft was jumping ship and was excited about the games that it would be able to produce on Sony's CD based system, so that was all I needed to know to say good-bye to Nintendo. I do miss Zelda and Metriod, though... Mario, eh, not so much, but I'm sure they were a lot of fun.

I did kinda feel the industry screwed us with the move to CD and not seeing that much of a reduction in the average cost of a game, though... They had their explanation ready, of course, that production costs for these next generation games had skyrocketed so tough noogies, etc. I suppose it's defensible, and mostly true, but still...

Oh, and to your question, no, I played all my games out till I was sick of 'em, HuCard, Cart, or otherwise.

[kamiboy]

I remember back in the early CD age, my SEGA CD owning friend would religiously call some sort of dealer on the phone and ask about each new title, but does it have full motion video?

It was at that point that a lot of FMV games circulated through his console. By deuce those game were utter rubbish. Just like 3D graphics the introduction of CD's set games back a bit in the beginning before coming into its own.

Needless, pace breaking, overwrought animated cutscenes and redbook audio tracks might have been wondrous to the technology addled young mind of the day, but it took a while before developers actually made better games thanks to these, not in spite of them.

I see the 16bit CD days as a sort of dark age for the technology. You lost the benefits of carts, such as no load times and chip tunes were made passe and you got very little worthwhile in return. 16bit consoles didn't have the processing power to take advantage of all that extra space anyway, so it was too much, too early.

The same can be said for the first generation with 3D graphics. I think with consoles such as Saturn and PSX we lost more by beautiful 2D pixel art going away than we gained by the crude clumsy 3D graphics and experimental awkward gameplay that replaced them. It wasn't until a generation later on the DC, PS2, Gamecube that 3D graphics really proved its mettle.

[td741]

I like chiptunes, especially when you get to hear how people got around alot of the technical issues. I would boot up games on the C=64 and Amiga just to hear the music (and a few PC and SNES titles).

That said, I wasn't too impressed with the TG-16 until I saw and played a Duo.  My experiences with early HuCard/TurboChip games left alot to be desired and I didn't like the sound/music in many of the games I had casually played.  On contrast, the CD soundtrack of the games for Turbo were, I felt, better then most of the other CD systems that I had encountered.  I shunned most Chip games in my early days and concentrated on SCD and CD titles.  That said, I had a chance to get acquainted with some chip games that had great music and got me over my original issues...  That said, some soundtracks still grate on my nerves...

[soop]

I would boot up games on the C=64 and Amiga just to hear the music (and a few PC and SNES titles).

Me too!

And well said NightWolve, I totally agree.

[majors]

Anyway, can anyone else relate?

Yes. After I got my TG-16 CD-ROM add-on, I forgot about Hu's. I would still look over Hu's for sale at flea markets and used stores, but it was all CD for me from '91 til about 5 years ago when I rediscovered the joy of a cards. I was forced to play Hu's when my CD-ROM drive broke (I did have MagicEngine that I used for a bit to play CD's).

I prefer HuCards now over CD's. Most games are quick to get into(I find my time to play has severely diminished) and I can use my Express when I'm at the ladies place.

[jeffhlewis]

Anyway, can anyone else relate?

Yes - I had literally the exact same experience, only with the Sega CD. I got one about the middle of its lifespan, and once I bought it I played nothing but CD games pretty much - Sonic CD, Final Fight, Lunar and all of the Working Designs games and the handful of good shooters available. I even played dreck like Sewer Shark, just because it had FMV.

For anyone who didn't grow up gaming during that time in the early-mid 90's, redbook audio and FMV were so amazing in those early days that people would play shit games just to see video or hear CD soundtracks - cartridge FM/synth tunes all of a sudden seemed passe and obsolete.

Of course now, FMV games were largely a joke and I vastly prefer good chiptune music to redbook audio because the magic of a CD-drive just playing a song in the background is gone.

[Necromancer]

I can't really relate, since I bought games mostly based on how fun they looked.

I see the 16bit CD days as a sort of dark age for the technology. You lost the benefits of carts, such as no load times and chip tunes were made passe and you got very little worthwhile in return.

No way!  Many CD titles have minimal load times (look at Gate of Thunder), the sprite animation found in titles like Forgotten Worlds and Dracula X is far better than their cart equivalents, and you're nuts if you don't think Ys is a better game with its redbook tunes and cut scenes (few though they may be) than it would be without.

[Black Tiger]

If you love chiptunes then you have to play CD games which have dozens of great chip-only soundtracks which are at least as long as the average HuCard soundtrack.

For pretty much every genre, CD games had more pros than cons over cart games. RPGs in particular had the best overall experience on CD.