Remember That One REALLY Great Day with Your TG-16/Duo?

[FiftyQuid]

I remember cutting class all day to play Splatterhouse.  It was winter and there was a ton of snow outside.  My Dad left for work early in the mornings so it was up to me to drag my sorry ass out of bed and get to high school every day.  I woke up close to 9:00AM, and since I was already late for school it dawned on me to just not go.  Back in the 90's my room was in the basement of the house.  It was a fully finished basement.  It even had it's own bathroom, which back in the 90's, was pretty much unheard of.  The laundry was on a landing at the top of the basement stairs, so no one ever came down to the basement.  I even had a side door entrance I use to bring my bike through to bring it downstairs.  

I fired up the TG-16 that morning, shut the lights off, put a sleeping bag on the floor to sit on (damn the short cords on the TurboPads) and fired up Splatterhouse.  The game still gives me chills.  Awesome, awesome day.

[DragonmasterDan]

I have a lot of memories staying up late in a dark basement playing Keith Courage, Bonk's Adventure, JJ & Jeff, Legendary Axe, Pac-Land, Cadash, Devil's Crush, Neutopia and Blazing Lazers until daylight peered through the windows.

[Bardoly]

That sounds awesome.  I'd love to do something like that, but I don't know 4 other people who live close enough to me who want to play 20+ year-old video games with me.

Fixed that for you.

[KingDrool]

I had countless great days with the TurboGrafx and Duo, but the best I can remember is Christmas morning when I opened up my Duo. I knew I was getting it (found it hidden prior to Christmas), but the thrill was still huge when I ripped off the wrapping paper.

The thrill quickly turned to disappointment, however, after I hooked it up to my Grandmother's TV and saw no picture. You see, this was back in the day when AV cables were relatively new. All my prior consoles and VCRs had used coaxial cables. So when I hooked up the Duo and placed the 3-in-1 disc into the tray I expected to pop the TV on channel 3 or 4 and do some gaming. But no luck. I pushed buttons, jiggled cords, yet nothing happened. After my Mom and I messed around with it for a good twenty minutes, we figured the machine was defective and would have to be returned.

Completely disappointed, I sulked on the couch for a while with the TV remote in my hand. Staring at it, I saw a button marked "Video Input". Curious, I went back to the TV, turned on the Duo, pushed this mysterious button, and BAM: GATE...OF...THUNDER!

Best day of gaming EVER!

[DragonmasterDan]

I had countless great days with the TurboGrafx and Duo, but the best I can remember is Christmas morning when I opened up my Duo. I knew I was getting it (found it hidden prior to Christmas), but the thrill was still huge when I ripped off the wrapping paper.

The thrill quickly turned to disappointment, however, after I hooked it up to my Grandmother's TV and saw no picture. You see, this was back in the day when AV cables were relatively new. All my prior consoles and VCRs had used coaxial cables. So when I hooked up the Duo and placed the 3-in-1 disc into the tray I expected to pop the TV on channel 3 or 4 and do some gaming. But no luck. I pushed buttons, jiggled cords, yet nothing happened. After my Mom and I messed around with it for a good twenty minutes, we figured the machine was defective and would have to be returned.

Completely disappointed, I sulked on the couch for a while with the TV remote in my hand. Staring at it, I saw a button marked "Video Input". Curious, I went back to the TV, turned on the Duo, pushed this mysterious button, and BAM: GATE...OF...THUNDER!

Best day of gaming EVER!

The Duo was the first system I ever owned that did not include an RF switch. I had a similar experience having my game consoles hooked up to an older TV in my basement. Fortunately the VCR hooked up to the TV had mono composite in jacks and I was able to connect the system through the VCR to the coaxial only TV.

[KingDrool]

Yeah, after Christmas, when we took the Duo back home from my Grandma's, we had to go to the local electronics store to buy an adapter that would allow the AV cables to run through the back of our ancient TV.

[Necromancer]

Heh, I had a similar experience when I got my Duo.  I knew it needed composite and thought I was good to go with the VCR, but it took me quite a while before I found the magic button to switch to that input.

[vestcoat]

I had the same problem when I bought my Duo in '97. I shit a brick when I found a store that sold used Duo's and dropped over $200 on a deck with Ys, Lords, CF2, and Vigilante. The forty-five-minute drive home nearly killed me as I was hopping out of my seat waiting to play my first CD games. I ran in the house to hook it up, but alas, my family was still using a coaxial TV and we didn't even have a proper VCR - we had a VCP without any inputs. It was 8pm and Radio Shack was closed. I called some techy friends to see if they had any adapters. They didn't. I put a game in, pressed "run", and watched the LED turn on and the disc spin. I listened to random game music on the headphone jack... it was a long night.

The next morning I was downtown as Radio Shack opened. The clerk told me I needed a $40 RF modulator. I'd spent almost all of my money on the Duo, so I had to walk back home and cash in my coin jar. All told, I waited nearly 15 hours to play the system.

[syphic]

Best memory for me was getting my TG16 CD system for Christmas. I had left hints for my parents all month long all over the house of pictures and brochures of the TG16 Cd and had highlighted the places to get it. It was right when they lowered the price to $149.99. I remember it being midnight and my dad pulling this giant box out of his Chevy Blazer barely able to get it thru the door. I was trembling! I knew right off the bat what it was and couldnt believe it! Opened that bad boy up, set it up and just had a blast messing with it and blasting Carcass's Necroticism album. Unfortunatley didnt get any games for it so I suffered for about a month till I was able to finally save up to buy my first title Fighting Street. Ahhhh good times!

[Jibbajaba]

That sounds awesome.  I'd love to do something like that, but I don't know 4 other people who live close enough to me who want to play 20+ year-old video games with me.

Fixed that for you.

Well, my point was simply that I don't have 4 friends.

Chris

[Necromancer]

Well, my point was simply that I don't have 4 friends.

What about Andy, Baily, Jennifer, Johnny, and Les?  That's 5!

[Bardoly]

That sounds awesome.  I'd love to do something like that, but I don't know 4 other people who live close enough to me who want to play 20+ year-old video games with me.

Fixed that for you.

Well, my point was simply that I don't have 4 friends.

Chris

And what are we?  Chopped liver?

[galam]

Sophmore Year of high school, winter break, a friend and I spent three days straight with cosmic fantasy 2.
Literally, we didn't even know the days passed.

[_joshuaTurbo]

I put a game in, pressed "run", and watched the LED turn on and the disc spin. I listened to random game music on the headphone jack... it was a long night.

That made me laugh Vest.  My parents didn't allow for the TV to be on very late on weeknights, so I remember specifically sleeping with my Duo next to my bed listening to LoT, GoT and the Ys Opening segments doing this same thing.  I had the menu system for the Thunder games memorized so I could navigate from one track to the next. 

Too funny!! 

Loom night!!


It was early '95, I was 15, and two of my best friends and myself were playing around with Loom. I hadn't really put much time into it other than to see the pier and the opening village area.  I had to go to work that night (Bag boy at local grocer store worked 6-10pm) and it was about 5:30, I was getting ready for work, and was about to shut off the Duo and bring my friends home (I was the first to get a license)  finally one of my friends asked me to try grabbing onto a stick that fell in the water after lightning struck a tree.  Bobbin started to float off into the water and a swirling storm came about, a few minutes later we figured out how to get past that point!  It was now 10 minutes until my shift started, and I just couldn't part with our game night!!

I called my work and disguised my voice in a low tone and called as my father saying Joshua was sick.  I was talking to a cashier and she handed it over to the owner.  He just said "Who is this?", and I responded "This is Joshua...........um... that we're talking about....I'm Joshua's dad.......erm."  He just responded with "Joshua?" I said "Yes." he said "You're Fired."  

We went back to playing Turbo for the rest of the weekend and you bet your ass we beat Loom around 3am!  

[Jibbajaba]

That sounds awesome.  I'd love to do something like that, but I don't know 4 other people who live close enough to me who want to play 20+ year-old video games with me.

Fixed that for you.

Well, my point was simply that I don't have 4 friends.

Chris

And what are we?  Chopped liver?

Well, you ignored my last PM about those games that I wanted to buy, so I figured that maybe I was chopped liver to you.  <shrug>

What about Andy, Baily, Jennifer, Johnny, and Les?  That's 5!

Ever since I got Bailey and Jennifer into that three way, and then Les came popping out of the closet after peeping between the doors, it's been kind of awkward around the office.

Chris