What game would YOU have packed in with the Turbo?

[esteban]

I wonder if they tried running the game at 256 pixel-wide resolution.

I also wonder if millions of copies of early SNES games were returned because they didn't run at normal or consistent speeds.

I hear you.

I actually like Gradius III on SNES, but that game was soooooo sloooow at times that I honestly wondered if it was about to eject itself from my SNES!

How many returns did Gradius III have?

Instead of returns, the SNES only spawned the first generation of Nintendo zealots like A Black Falcon, who reverse engineer reality to claim that Super Gradius III is the best and definitive version and that when slowdown happens frequently enough, it becomes the new standard and is in fact creating new and superior gameplay experiences. I really wish that was sarcasm and not literally a sampling of ABF's cross-forum preaching over the years.

If the SMS had been about as successful as the NES in North America, we would have had these guys a generation earlier. But the SNES not only being the first Nintendo console with real competition, but coming in late to the party and underperforming out of the gate, led to the first generation of console fanboys since perhaps the pre-8-bit generation. The Nintendo 64 following right after under similar circumstances but lacking the quality library of the previous Nintendo consoles, only hardened their resolve.

It's unfortunate, because I find that most blind fanboys don't really appreciate the SNES library and spend most of their time defending its lackluster games or praising the typical top game list entries, instead of discovering all the great games that receive little fanfare, which they are completely oblivious to.

I hear you

However, I want to go on the record to state that, IMHO, Gradius III is not broken by slowdown/flicker, I actually enjoy playing it.

My reasoning is simple: the presence of flicker/slowdown, in and of itself, does not ruin a game. Some of the best NES games have moments of flicker/slowdown that do not cause any real harm. If slowdown/flicker creates an inherently unfair situation, then I can't excuse it. But I have never had this problem with, say, Konami's games.

It's true: I fantasized that Konami would have revisited Gradius III and released a "remixed" version that included the  + "original" SNES version in a new "improved" form (optimizing/streamlining code to reduced flicker/slowdown)...but that was nothing but a daydream.


HOWEVER, none of the aforementioned should be used to Fan the Flames of Fanbois.




ASIDE: I do find it amusing that we (PCE community) are probably seen/labeled as fanbois for simply suggesting that PCE games are not inherently weaker than SNES/MegaDrive libraries.

[Gentlegamer]

Don't let the spirit of Sega-16 seep into this forum, where any discussion that mentions any technical thing turns into a fanboy dig at SNES accompanied by the usual strawman attacks.

Don't be like the Sega Babies.

[Dicer]

On the topic of Rastan, the PCE should have gotten a port of the first not the second which is abysmal, and even worse still is the third, WTF happened...

Also sorry for repeating a topic, didn't know it was discussed recently.

[EmperorIng]

Nothing is worse than Rastan II, nothing. III is a decent beatemup with great sprites. Not bad at all. Apparently no one who worked on Rastan had anything to do with the sequel, which is kinda funny.

[neopolss]

Totally agree.  Rastan 2 was the worst.  But is it worse than china warrior?

[esteban]

Some people like the slowdown as it makes games easier.

Over the weekend I had some friends over, one of whom wanted to try the PAL TurboGrafx to see if it made playing a particularly tough game easier.

I think this is why I don't mind it in Gradius III, ha!

So, did PAL make the TG-16 games easier?

[DragonmasterDan]

I think this is why I don't mind it in Gradius III, ha!

So, did PAL make the TG-16 games easier?

See for yourself.

[esteban]

I think this is why I don't mind it in Gradius III, ha!

So, did PAL make the TG-16 games easier?

See for yourself.

Tatsujin is still challenging, even @PAL, ha!

THOUGHTS
(1) I'm good at the "tunnels" in AeroBlasters, but dodging in those mazes of tunnels would probably be much easier @PAL.

(2) •••••• Anyway: the shootemups that work "best" with @PAL are ones that allow you to adjust speed and/or collect tons of speed-ups...you could probably crush games by achieving a "normal" speed for your fighter, but with all opponents and projectiles slowed down by __% @PAL (I forget, is @PAL 10-15% slower?).  ••••••••

(3)?However, even the music is slowed down @PAL, correct? That would probably irk me.

NOTE: I was going to use "@" gratuitously throughout this post.

[DragonmasterDan]

(3)?However, even the music is slowed down @PAL, correct? That would probably irk me.

NOTE: I was going to use "@" gratuitously through this post.

Yeah, the music is slowed down on all the games we tried which were entirely limited to shooters. But we noticed that with Tatsujin, Raiden, R-Type, etc.

[_joshuaTurbo]

In response to the original post - I'd say R-Type or Ninja Spirit.  Shows off the parallax and proves that the system is just as good (or superior) to the Genesis' releases of '89.  Then they'd pick up Legendary Axe or whatever other type of games at launch to complete a nice launch day.

On a side note, I've always thought NEC should've released a set with Splatterhouse to coincide with the 1990 Halloween to holiday season to grab the older crowd. 

Second side note - Keith Courage is a better game than Altered Beast, but nobody knew what it was.. If Keith had an arcade release in 1988 or early 1989 it's possible that it would have generated some interest....

[DragonmasterDan]

On a side note, I've always thought NEC should've released a set with Splatterhouse to coincide with the 1990 Halloween to holiday season to grab the older crowd. 

With the black and orange color scheme the system always reminded me of Halloween in the first place.

[esteban]

On a side note, I've always thought NEC should've released a set with Splatterhouse to coincide with the 1990 Halloween to holiday season to grab the older crowd. 

With the black and orange color scheme the system always reminded me of Halloween in the first place.

Yes, Every year, a different free game with lots of merchandise give-aways and themed promotions would have been great:

1989 XMAS = Legendary Axe (Jagu magnifying glass)
1990 Holiday = Splatterhouse (Rick Masks + wristbands)
1991 Holidaze = Bonk's Adventure (headbands + aspirin bottles)
1992 Hollandaise = Bonk's Revenge (switchblade mustache comb)
1993 Haul-n-Day = Bonk 3 (Raspberry Beret, fanny pack)

[_joshuaTurbo]

On a side note, I've always thought NEC should've released a set with Splatterhouse to coincide with the 1990 Halloween to holiday season to grab the older crowd. 

With the black and orange color scheme the system always reminded me of Halloween in the first place.

Yes, Every year, a different free game with lots of merchandise give-aways and themed promotions would have been great:

1989 XMAS = Legendary Axe (Jagu magnifying glass)
1990 Holiday = Splatterhouse (Rick Masks + wristbands)
1991 Holidaze = Bonk's Adventure (headbands + aspirin bottles)
1992 Hollandaise = Bonk's Revenge (switchblade mustache comb)
1993 Haul-n-Day = Bonk 3 (Raspberry Beret, fanny pack)

1994 U-Haul Day = Magical Chase (Magicoal pack in, Broomstick)

[seieienbu]

I've always thought Altered Beasts was a very mediocre game.  I've never exactly understood why websites make statements like "Altered Beasts is a triumph of programming compared to Kieth Courage."  I always thought it was boring and bad.  That being said, Kieth Courage isn't the greatest game either.  Of the initial offerings, I think Legendary Axe would probably be the best as a platformer was clearly the way to go in that time period.  That being said, Blazing Lazers was the game that sold me on the turbo.

In magical fantasy land, if you really wanted to compete against Sega in a bid to capture slightly older audiences with an arcade game with some maturity, it would have been cool if Splatterhouse had come out a year earlier and had been included.  Splatterhouse blows Altered Beasts out of the water on just about every conceivable level.

[johnnykonami]

I first played Altered Beast in the arcade when I was a kid, and it was decidedly cool but not that deep of a game really so it wasn't exciting as a Genesis pack-in to me.  My older cousin got the Genny when it first came out, and got a bunch of the release (or close to release) titles that I remember so much more fondly like Thunderforce 2, Last Battle (I might be the only one who likes this game), Ghouls n' Ghosts, and Space Harrier II. (Admittedly not as good as I had hoped being a huge Space Harrier fan at the time)

Given the choice between Super Mario World, Keith Courage, and Altered Beast, I think Keith was still the best pack-in out of the 3 for me.  KC had the anime vibe (and mecha vibe) I was completely into at the time, it also had the underdog appeal and was the least common and most unique among my friends, and that mentality has always worked for me. (I also liked the music and underworld stages a ton, it wasn't all elitist appeal, I honestly liked the game)  I think the last cool Mario platformer to me was SMB3, I just always felt SMW is where everything got washed out and since then, Mario games have just been getting more and more infantile.