How to impress?

[guyjin]

You have some Snerd or Genesissy friends over. They comment on your 'weird' TurboGrafx. Since everyone knows you never get a second chance to make a first impression, you only get one chance to impress them with Turbo Power.

What game do you pop in?

[PunkicCyborg]

Wonder Momo obviously

[martinine]

Depends on what type of gamer your friend is.
Shooter: Soldier Blade (so many here, but I think this one has the wow factor)
Platformer: Bonk's Revenge, Samurai Ghost, Ninja Spirit, Legendary Axe 1 or 2, Splattterhouse,
Puzzle: no substitute for Klax

I'm assuming all Hueys here.

[BigusSchmuck]

Bomberman 93 and 94. Then some Rondo of Blood and then some Dungeon Explorer. And then some Gate of Thunder. Too many to show off at this point.

[DragonmasterDan]

You have some Snerd or Genesissy friends over. They comment on your 'weird' TurboGrafx. Since everyone knows you never get a second chance to make a first impression, you only get one chance to impress them with Turbo Power.

What game do you pop in?

If we're sticking with Domestic releases Air Zonk looks great, plays great and is a big eye turner. Lords of Thunder is another good game to demo with friends.

If you jump into imports yes Rondo of Blood is a good pick. If you go to arcade card games, Sapphire is an obvious choice.

[seieienbu]

5 player Dungeon Explorer or Bomberman instantly spring to mind.  I don't see how 5 people could play those and Not have fun.

[crazydean]

JJ and Jeff.

[bob]

I was in this situation not long ago, sort of. But long story short, i went to sapphy

[HailingTheThings]

Legendary Axe is one of my first picks.

[WoodyXP]

What game do you pop in?

Air Zonk.  But if I had access to a CD ROM I'd play Nexzr.  Show those bitches what's up.

[ParanoiaDragon]

Drop Off, & then drop the mic! 

Seriously, Lords/Gate of Thunder, Air Zonk, Drac X, Spriggan 1 & 2, Sapphire, Street Fighter 2, the SNK fighters, Bomberman 93/94, 3x3 Eyes, Bonk's Revenge.

[ClodBuster]

Bomberman 94 and Winds of Thunder get my vote. The one for the multiplayer aspects, plus how much colorful graphics and good sounding chiptunes you can get out of a small Hucard. The other one for showing off the excellent electric guitar soundtrack, lots of onscreen action (explosions and stuff), some cutscenes and the shop owner's crystal clear voice acting, if you own the JP version.

And both play really nice. They're approachable for both novice and experienced players.

[Necromancer]

In addition to the other fine suggestions, show 'em Legend of Xanadu 1 and 2.  There's codes that'll let you view the cut scenes and play the side scrolling parts, so you don't have to invest much time to get to the most impressive bits.

Better yet, don't have SNERDs or FEKA agents as friends. 

[Warbucks]

It's a trick question...

They are all good games....

(Well except Gunboat and Falcon   )

[Black Tiger]

You can't just pick sure-bet games to impress everyone. You have to first get a feel for what someone is actually impressed by and capable of perceiving.

Most retro game enthusiasts can't tell good animation from bad or smooth from choppy, variety of artwork and detail, quantity of sprites or variety of sizes, etc. Most just look for what they think their favorite console is best at or wait until youtube tells them which games are or are not impressive.

Remember when Johnny Turbo showed off the world's first DVH shooter and the PBS guy dismissed Lords of Thunder as "just your basic shoot-em-up game" and "not the greatest use of technology."?