I've been visiting PCENGINE FX for many years now, but finally just got around to asking for access to the forums as my PC Engine/Turbo love has been reignited!
Just wanted to jump in and say hello to everyone here and share my Turbo Grafx Story. (warning this is a little long)
Back when the Turbo was released, I was at an impasse. I was visiting my local Toy's R Us fairly frequently to try to decide which new 16-bit machine to buy. Sure the Genesis looked great, but I lacked confidence in SEGA as at the time the Master System was just not appealing to me. I recall the many many times I shuffled from the 2 different display units showing off each system. I spent many an hour internally debating which to get. Both had their pros and cons, but in the end only one had R-Type! Truthfully I was floored by how much like the arcade it was and that, along with the promise of new experiences made me go full throttle into the TG16.
Well as many of you know, the Turbo releases were few and far between. Even worse was that so many games released after launch were not as good as the launch line up games (Legendary Axe, R-Type, Blazing Lazers, Dungeon Explorer). It tough being a Turbo owner waiting for each new release and being constantly disappointed in 1 maybe 2 games coming out per month. But I still loved the Turbo, and seeing the promotional material for the upcoming CD attachment help sustain the long stretches between releases.
Once the CD came out, I recall telling my parents that I would be buying it and at the price they thought I was crazy, but I had to have it! It took a while to save up that kind of money but when I opened that behemoth of a box I really felt I got my money's worth. They came a release drought even worse than that of Hu Cards! Boy, it was really brutal. If memory serves I had Fighting Street, and Monster Lair and it was quite some time before anything else of note came out. I essentially had a super expensive bulky portable CD player.
All that changed once Y's Book 1 & 2 came out.
I was absolutely floored and quickly finished the game, loving everything and being amazed at what a CD to bing to gaming. The music, man the MUSIC! It was my junior year in High School and I had joined the wrestling team at my friends urging. Once day after practice my buddy and I were hanging out with a few of the wrestlers. Talk eventually went to Sega vs. the Turbo.
I was still in high school and worked as a bag boy after school when not attending practice and had a fairly meager salary. With said salary I put together a pretty respectable Turbo library and had an area where I stacked all my games and CD's.
I was mainly debating with one person in particular and he kept extolling the virtues of the Genesis. "Yes," I told him, "I agree with what you're saying, but what I'm telling you is you haven't seen a game on CD yet, CD is the future!"
He kept telling me "no way" so I invited him over to my house. I had hooked up my TG/CD up to a portable boom box and turned on Y's for him. It was actually quite dramatic, I had the lights dimmed, and the boom box cranked up. Holy shit, when that introduction came on his jaw hit the floor. He was flabbergasted, by the sights, sounds, and graphics he saw.
The next day he didn't show up to practice, and after practice I went home to find, my house broken into and the only thing stolen was my Turbografx with CD.
The next day I went to school, but he didn't show up. Not that day. or any after it.
The time following was a dark period in my gaming life. It had taken me quite some time and money to get my games and system to where they were and it was all gone in one fell swoop. Pretty disheartening to say the least.
It made me get away from the turbo as once I got back into games, I decided the wounds were still to fresh to jump back to Turbo collecting. I went and picked up a Genesis and started a new path.
Many, many years later, I realized I never stopped loving the turbo, it was always and still is the underdog of consoles, but it's always kept a place in my consciousness. In the years leading up to today, I would check in on websites about turbo games, and always landed on PCEngineFx as as far as I can remember it was the best place to find info on my once beloved console. Some years ago, I purchased a Duo and a handful of games, to try to rebuild my library. That didn't work out as I got distracted and refocused my efforts on other consoles.
Today, I find myself reliving my old fond memories of Hu Cards and CD's and making new ones in the form of PC Engine titles. I think I've finally gotten over the vacuum the theft hand and am able to truly enjoy the Turbo again!
TL:DR Hello!
Topic: New member here, just wanted to say hello! (Read 664 times)
