Unfortunate Turbo/PCE Beginners Guide

[DragonmasterDan]

You're right that dates were unspecific, but Zelda LttP does have a reported US release day, at least... while with the TG16, we aren't even sure what year the Turbo CD released in!  I know the current guess is June 1990, but what proof is there for that?

There was some magazine coverage at the time when it came out, I think there was a promotional video of like Computer Chronicles where they showed it off and mentioned it came out in June of 1990. But is June 100% certain? no.

Added in edit:
Also, if Link to the past has a reported US release date there's a good chance it's wrong. Without "street dates" like we have today even qualifying what counts as a release date might be arbitrary. Is a game released when it first reaches the publishers warehouse, when it hits distribution centers for retailers, when it's actually in a retail store on the shelf. These things can actually vary quite a bit.

[A Black Falcon]

You're right that dates were unspecific, but Zelda LttP does have a reported US release day, at least... while with the TG16, we aren't even sure what year the Turbo CD released in!  I know the current guess is June 1990, but what proof is there for that?

There was some magazine coverage at the time when it came out, I think there was a promotional video of like Computer Chronicles where they showed it off and mentioned it came out in June of 1990. But is June 100% certain? no.

If magazines first mention the Turbo CD in June, that would be some evidence towards that... but when several games, and the system, have 1989 dates in them, it is weird that it took six months after that before the thing released.

And of course, on the other end, it's weird that Godzilla and The Dynastic Hero have 1993 dates on them, when it seems quite likely that they didn't actually release until early '94 (when who knows in the first 4+ months of the year, right?).  And the Japanese versions of both games do say 1994 in them, weirdly enough.

Added in edit:
Also, if Link to the past has a reported US release date there's a good chance it's wrong. Without "street dates" like we have today even qualifying what counts as a release date might be arbitrary. Is a game released when it first reaches the publishers warehouse, when it hits distribution centers for retailers, when it's actually in a retail store on the shelf. These things can actually vary quite a bit.

True, those specific days well might be wrong... but how do they determine that now?  I mean, today all games have a set release day.  It's the day it appears in stores, yes?  So I'd think the release day should be the first day it was available in stores, for older games.  We rarely know the specific day, but just getting the month right's good enough I think; there are many games where all we have is the year, if that.

[DragonmasterDan]

True, those specific days well might be wrong... but how do they determine that now?  I mean, today all games have a set release day.  It's the day it appears in stores, yes?  So I'd think the release day should be the first day it was available in stores, for older games.  We rarely know the specific day, but just getting the month right's good enough I think; there are many games where all we have is the year, if that.

Most games today have "Street Dates" which is the date they're supposed to be put on sale at retail. Usually though not universally they're sent out before that (especially for big blockbuster releases so larger stores that receive all of their inventory through a warehouse rather than direct mail can have them ready to be put up for sale on launch day), and there's always stories of people going to their local Wal-Mart, Target or what have you and getting the latest mega blockbuster release a week or so early because the store employees decided to make an exception for them, or put it up for sale by mistake.

With that said, not ALL games even today have a set release, lots of very small releases just arrive when they arrive.

[seieienbu]

Stuff didn't have launches or street dates back then. One of the first games I remember having an actual street date was Sonic 2.

I remember in 1992 calling Babbages daily from March into April until Zelda: A link to the past was released. They knew it was coming, they didn't know when and there was no street date.

When I was in fourth grade a friend of mine and I would ride our bikes to the Wal Mart near where I lived almost every day for over a month waiting on Zelda 3.  We finally got it a couple of weeks into May.  Perhaps it wasn't the best store to get games from, but on the other hand I bought Mortal Kombat almost a week before Mortal Monday as advertised in a ton of comic books.

[esteban]

RELEASE DATE DETECTIVES: Has anyone, ever, found an old invoice (shipping invoice) from a retail store? I know they are inherently boring, but I thought it would be fun to see some. The dates wouldn't be release dates, per se, but they are documented (no-later-than) dates.

ANECDDOTE: I think I got CONTRA as soon as it was available at big retailers. I was STOKED. I actually didn't know much about the NES game (I played the arcade version, though), but I always purchased games released by Konami (later, ULTRA) because they were RELIABLE and I felt I was less likely to get screwed.  Brand reputation...trust...

[Black Tiger]

I remember Monster Lair and Fighting Street being released before the Turbo-CD. Other people have mentioned this over the years as well. They may very well have come out in 1989.

[A Black Falcon]

I remember Monster Lair and Fighting Street being released before the Turbo-CD. Other people have mentioned this over the years as well. They may very well have come out in 1989.

I remember Monster Lair and Fighting Street being released before the Turbo-CD. Other people have mentioned this over the years as well. They may very well have come out in 1989.

Wait... those two games may have been released six months before the CD drive is believed to have been released?  Oh NEC...

[Black Tiger]

The Turbo Guru has been venturing out across the internet to spread his knowledge and correct idiots everywhere.


What is the best 8-bit RPG?



It's typical of NeoGAF that almost all of the replies are random non-RPG NES games. But TheTurboRetard, operating under one of his many aliases, showed up shouting "Don't let them mislead you! The Turbo Duo is the best 8-bit game system on the market!"

Faxanadu

like, not even the best in the 8-bit series. Legend of Xanadu and Legend of Xanadu 2 were so much better:

You sure those Legend Of Xanadu games are 8 bit? They look too good to be 8 bit.

They're on the PC Engine, which is an 8-bit console.

EDIT: "bits" has nothing to do with graphics unless you are talking color depth (in which case the NES isn't 8-bit).

Is Quest for Glory 8 bit or 16 bit ?

It was only released on 16-bit and 32-bit CPUs.

PC Engine/Turbografx 16 actually has an 8-bit CPU.

That comes off more as a pedantic technicality than following the intent though (NES/Master System/MAYBE GameBoy/GameGear if you're following full technical capabilities rather than a specific era), it's like asking the best 32-bit FPS and answering with Halo or Half Life 2 because the Xbox CPU is actually 32-bit... nevermind if you factor in PC and 32-bit OSes then well shit.

I'd say arguing it isn't an 8-bit machine comes off more as being ignorant to what defines 8-bit entirely. It's not pedantic, it's correct. You're using some extremely loose arbitrary definition of 8-bit if you exclude the PC Engine. What definition are you using? The time period? The PC Engine released 1 year after the Master System. Is it the graphics? Nothing about the NES or SMS's graphics are 8-bit.

    I'm saying it's pedantic because it's focusing on specific technical details (that the TG16 had an 8-bit CPU, though it does have a pair of 16-bit GPUs which for gaming hardware tend to matter far more anyway) rather than the seeming intent of the question (NES/SMS RPGs if not early RPGs in general.) If we were talking about earlier TG16 games there's something to be said because they'd likely be far closer to NES/SMS RPGs than SNES/Genesis ones anyway, and PC RPGs need something harder in lieu of discrete consoles... but The Legend of Xanadu games specifically came out in 1994 and 1995, not only knee deep in the 16-bit era and looking the part but in the years the PS1 and SS came out across the globe. And whatever you want to classify the TG16 as it's undeniably far ahead of the NES/SMS, doubly so with the CD attachment, so again it's like trying to boast Xbox released FPSes in response to "what is the best 32-bit FPS?" when the intent of such a question would typically be about what PS1/Saturn/maybe N64 FPS is best, even if the last one is a 64-bit system while PCs went with 32-bit processors and OSes for a long, long time that we're STILL not fully out of for some reason.

    Actually now that I double check things the Dreamcast would probably be a far more fitting modern(-ish) analogy if it lasted as long as the TG16 did, it even came out about as far ahead of the PS2/GC/Xbox as the TG16 did its contemporaries. Though the TG16 had at least a few upgrades (CD and an upgrade to that) which actually caught on so that period in gaming was all kinds of weird anyway.

And yet, one of the most popular answers in this topic was released in 1992, just 2 years prior to the games you have contention with. Further, since you seem to define the 8-bit era as the SMS/NES era, what of, say, the C64 or Atari 8-bit?

The OP defined the perimeters of the discussion, people have abided by them. Your sound like you're upset that people are listing consoles that you personally didn't consider, when they are perfectly valid responses.

as the PC-Engine definitely competed with the 16-bit machines of the era.

This is the worst kind of western revisionist history. The PC Engine primarily competed against the Famicom, where the twilight years of its life were just when the Super Famicom began taking off in popularity in that region.

Further, these posts dwelling on "but I just don't feel like it's 8-bit!" are mind numbing and extremely US centric. Refer to "8-bit" in Europe and people will undoubtedly think of the 2nd generation of video games, namely the Atari 8-bit line.

    What revisionist history? I suggest you back up your argument with facts before going the aggressive route.
    While it's true the PC-Engine was conceived as a machine to go against the FC, 4 years after the later mind you, it was quickly confronted to the 4th gen consoles, first the Megadrive, released just 1 year after, then the SFC. The PC-Engine was only 3 years old at this point. NEC tried to make it's own next-gen console with the SuperGrafx but failed miserably. That's where the Super CR-ROM2 comes in, to make the PC-Engine competitive against the new consoles.
    And are you really trying to argue Super CR-ROM2 games aren't on par with 4th gen games?

The Super CD-Rom2 games add nothing but ram. It's a ram upgrade. This is like saying the RAM expansion for the N64 made it compete against the dreamcast.

Yes, I am arguing exactly that. To point out that the Mega Drive and Super Famicom launched shortly after the PC Engine is to ignore the market share entirely. The Famicom was still the dominant console in japan, racing against the PC engine, until about 1993-1994, when the Super Famicom started taking off and the PC Engine began declining in popularity.

The PC Engine was absolutely a product conceived to go against the Famicom, and it primarily did. A mere Ram expansion doesn't make it suddenly a generation ahead.

Fun Fact for all the members new to the Turbo/PCE: The System Card/CD-ROMs do not upgrade the PC Engine hardware, unlike the N64 RAM PAK which actually upgrades the internal ram that the N64 hardware uses for all of its functions. The extra memory in the CD-ROM is simply a larger area to download content to, the same as the Saturn ram carts. It's basically a larger temporary HuCard/cart for the game to operate out of.

    i get that, but it's still not what i'd wager OP meant when he asked "best 8-bit RPG"

So then what did he mean? Some people have said he meant games which were early, as the OP himself claims early games haven't had time to be subject to refinement. Well, if that's the case, several PC engine games meet that criteria, more so than the popular NES choices like Mother and DQIV.

If he meant "game from a machine with an 8-bit architecture" then that is inclusive of the Atari 8-bit, PC engine, NES, and SMS.

If he intended to say "NES and SMS" games, then he chose his words poorly and should have said exactly that. Regardless, PC Engine games are absolutely 8-bit games, there are no ways around it.

Unfortunately, not only is TheTurboRetard still active in forums he hasn't been laughed out of yet, he has been posting more Turbo/PCE guides anywhere people will let him:


What's a TurboGrafx? *NSF56K*



This particular thread inspired this genius comment from another member:

Let's not forget Johnny Turbo, the most retarded videogame brand mascot ever created.

Imagine if we called characters from mainstream game system magazine ads "videogame brand mascots"?






Can you believe that Nintendo used this as the mascot of the Game Boy?!?!


Unfortunately, Nintendo eventually decided to become culturally sensitive and corrected their white washed history of video game brand mascots with this guy:






Until the feminists started complaining and Nintendo's new mascot became this character:

[Necromancer]

That guy is just an idiot; when people say 8-bit, they obviously mean the 8-bit generation and not specifically systems with 8-bit cpus.

And that last advert is pretty awesome.  Here's a similarly classy advert featuring sexy ladies (my favorite is the bikini full of carts).

[Mathius]

Can we please start screening applicants before letting them open their mouths?

[esteban]

Black Tiger, your post just SCREAMS to be expanded and turned into an article called "Misconceptions about the TG-16/PCE" or "Debunking Bullshit that f*cktards Spew Forth" or "David and Lisa"....

 


I loved those Nintendo and Sega ads...I didn't remember any of them.

[Ayce]

STREET FIGHTER II'

Faster than the SNES version. Prettier than the Genesis version. Released before either, Street Fighter II', unknown to many, was actually Turbo Duo exclusive for a while. While the SNES had the original Street Fighter II, NEC had exclusive rights to Street Fighter II' (called championship edition or Hyper Fighting edition in the states) for a while. And it was marvelous. Shows that the PC Engine could keep in step with both systems very easily. Amazingly... this is NOT the best fighting game on the system...

Street Fighter II came out on the SNES in June of 1992 the Arcade version of CE came out a couple months prior to the SNES release. Then in 1993 the SFII' came out on the PCE. But... if you are talking specifically about the CE version then yes I guess the PCE would have come out before Genesis, but SNES never had CE... they skipped it and jumped to Turbo.

[Black Tiger]

STREET FIGHTER II'

Faster than the SNES version. Prettier than the Genesis version. Released before either, Street Fighter II', unknown to many, was actually Turbo Duo exclusive for a while. While the SNES had the original Street Fighter II, NEC had exclusive rights to Street Fighter II' (called championship edition or Hyper Fighting edition in the states) for a while. And it was marvelous. Shows that the PC Engine could keep in step with both systems very easily. Amazingly... this is NOT the best fighting game on the system...

Street Fighter II came out on the SNES in June of 1992 the Arcade version of CE came out a couple months prior to the SNES release. Then in 1993 the SFII' came out on the PCE. But... if you are talking specifically about the CE version then yes I guess the PCE would have come out before Genesis, but SNES never had CE... they skipped it and jumped to Turbo.

The apostrophe at the end represents the Japanese title of CE: "Dash".

Both the Genesis and SNES received ports of CE, which included the Turbo/HF variant as well.

[wolfman]

Guys, be happy and stop complaining about misinformation.

This helps us greatly and btw through this we still get fairly ok prices on games & stuff without too much collectards pushing prices upwards, because it is "just an ok system" competing against all that "cool stuff".

Shouldn´t we "knowing" creatures consider ourselves lucky enough to stand above this?

At least I do. And I sure feel damn great about it.  :-"

Anybody?