At what moment did you realize the PCE was magical and/or awesome?

[wildfruit]

Ys IV was the first time in ages that I felt compelled to play a game through from start to finish. High awesomeness.

[esteban]

Ys IV was the first time in ages that I felt compelled to play a game through from start to finish. High awesomeness.

For another intoxicating drug, try BLODIA.

[majors]

Ys1&2 intro for the first time, shit was magical...still is.

Ditto. 1991, just got a CD-ROM add-on a few weeks earlier(got Valis 2 and Fighting Street b/c not enough money for Ys at t he time). Got it, played intro, and I was fully happy with my $300 purchase. "...ideal utopia..."

Before the CD-ROM, Alien Crush and Blazing Lasers was pretty hype, but nothing compaired to that full screen "anime" cut screens with red book, high production, audio!

[otterboxer]

pretty fresh to the scene but i was like hell yeah! when i devoured Bomberman 93 recently. Also Magical chase is of course awesome as well as the SF2 port and i cant stop playing Devil crash.

[Bonknuts]

My older brother had bought the TGCD unit for my TG16 (we shared systems). The first game we had was Valis II. I absolutely fell in love with CD games; the music was soooo incredible. I showed my father this new technology, but he wasn't impressed - hah. I remember playing Ys I & II next. Blew me away! He ending up returning the CD unit a month later (he needed money). A close friend of mine then bought one, and we continued to enjoy CD games because of him. Later, when the Duo hit the shelves in the first week, my brother bought a Turbo Duo.. and spent the entire time playing Loom.. not GOT ;_; He again returned it to the store a month later. I bought my Duo a few days after that.

 I mean, I was impressed coming from the NES to the TG16 hucard games to begin with, but this.. this was a whole new level.

[KPat]

It was the spring of 2016, I had headed out in the pouring rain to the Vancouver Retro Gaming convention.  I've been really getting in to shoot em ups over the past year or so and had heard whisperings of the glories of the PC Engine library.  Found myself a PC Engine GT that came with R Type 1+2 and Final Soldier.

After playing through Final Soldier twice back to back I knew this was one of the greatest systems I never got to play as a kid.  I had no choice but to Obey.  The crown had been taken from my Genesis. Forgive me for being one of the noob's that are just realizing how magical it is...

[Arkhan]

My aunt was babysitting us in like 1991.

They had Bonk and Neutopia.

My tiny brain couldn't comprehend the awesome.

What drew me in, and what still draws me in, is the way it *sounded*.

It wasn't the visuals.  It was the sounds.

The smooth leads in Bonk, and those nice chirpy noises in Neutopia are legendary. 

I was like why doesn't my SNES or Genesis sound like that.

[Gypsy]

It was when I rubbed a couple of hucards on my nipples.

[mj9123456]

I was trying random games on my Turbo Everdrive, and started playing Parodius Da! What a great game.

[Galder]

When I played Dungeon Explorer: generic title but with an unforgettable personality. Music, atmosphere, gameplay! There is nothing to be jealous of segas or nintendos 

[shubibiman]

In 1990, when I first saw screenshots in french magazines. And then when I first played PC Genjin 2 at a friend4s who had just got his Coregrafx. The second game I played was Jackie Chan and then Final Soldier. I celearly remember EVERY single bit of those moments. All those 3 games blew me away ? How could I have wished a better introduction to the PCE awesomeness ?

[munchiaz]

When i played gate of thunder on my wii. I didn't really experience the turbo as a kid, but i knew when i played GOT that i missed out on something special.

[KingDrool]

I had a TG16 near after launch, and played some games that I thought were awesome (Bonk, Splatterhouse, Bloody Wolf, etc.) But it wasn't until I got the Turbo Duo and popped in Gate of Thunder that my brain f*cking melted. Between that and the Ys 1&2 intro, I was completely indoctrinated into the Church of Turbo.

[MrBroadway]

It was when I rubbed a couple of hucards on my nipples.

Did they bleed?

I was a big Galaga fan, so that was the initial draw, but the Konami shooters made it several notches above the NES. I think Ninja Spirit was the "holy shit this is awesome" moment.

[NE146]

Easy.. around Sept. or Oct 1989. The Turbografx was released some time earlier over the summer, and I had just gotten back to my junior year of college. The NES was king up to that time, but I couldn't pass up on this new tech.. so I remember getting the TG16 and Blazing Lazers along with it, coming back to my apartment with all 6 of my roommates, and starting it up. We were BLOWN AWAY by Blazing Lazers.. it was like suddenly the future had arrived  Anyway yeah that's when I knew it was going to be awesome. For the record, we also got a Sega Genesis and the combination of those two next-gen consoles along with the aging NES made for pure video game goodness all that year.