Blazing Lazers... still rocks! (Introduction)

[tppytel]

Hi all!

I'm new here, but I've had a certain admiration for the TG16 ever since it was released. I remember being at a sleepover at my friend Scott's house in 7th grade (1989) and being absolutely blown away by Blazing Lazers. I've been playing consoles since the Atari, but I don't think any game before or since has seemed so completely awesome on the first play in the context of the technology of the time. I saved and hustled my way into my own TG16 shortly thereafter only to release that 1) Blazing Lazers was pretty tough for my shmup skills at the time, 2) there weren't many other decent TurboChip games, and 3) I would *never* be able to afford the CD drive. I'd guess I'm not the only one with that story, especially #3.

Fast forward to today... just set up a TG16 wheel on my HyperSpin installation for my new 65" screen and have been playing a few titles. I'm thinking about getting into original hardware, but I don't know... it's ferociously expensive and if anything I'd prefer to drop the cash into a later system that's harder to emulate well. I'm sure my mom still has my old TG16 in her basement, but that's such a small part of the puzzle. We'll see... I won't be buying any hardware until the next batch of OSSC's come in at any rate. But Blazing Lazers? It still f'ing rocks! Fired up a game just now and got into Area 4 with only one death before pausing it. Not amazing, I know, but I haven't played in 25 years or so, and I don't think I ever passed Area 4 as a kid. And it's a great shooter with a cool weapon system, sharp graphics, and some snappy chiptunes.

Any recommendations for interesting games to try are welcome. (For the ethically minded, if I'm going to seriously play a game via emulation, I always purchase it if it's still available - for example, on the Wii Virtual Console - in order to support the content owners.) I played the Bonk games back in the day, and I might have played Neutopia 1. I've got the English translation of Dracula X ready to go (only played a bit on the Wii when it released a few years back), but I'm in the middle of CVIII right now - the only early one I hadn't played back then. Any other quirky adventure/RPG games to try? Any other favorite shooters, maybe JP ones that didn't make it over here and don't need much translation? I've not played Gate of Thunder, and I know that's supposed to be epic. But I think I'll play some more BL first and try to live out my childhood dream of beating it.

Anyway... nice to be here and I hope to stick around. Seems like a cool community, very dedicated and knowledgeable.

--Todd

[MNKyDeth]

Welcome to the forums.

Blazing Lazers is a great shooter.
Gate of Thunder is also pretty amazing. Super Star Soldier and Soldier Blade are also incredibly good. If your into shooters.
Also, there are a ton of great shooters on this platform.

I would recommend not limiting yourself to cartridge only. A lot of the better games are on the cdrom format.

Dungeon explorer 1 and 2 and Neutopia 1 and 2 are amazing games as well.

Not being sure what your overall favorite types of games to play are I would say.... Read up on the games. Try them out and in the end decide what ones you like most on this system.

[Necromancer]

Welcome aboard!

Since you like shewties, you gotta try Soldier Blade, Air Zonk, Magical Chase, and Coryoon (I'm a wuss, so I gravitate towards easier ones).  If hypserspin does discs too, give Gate of Thunder, Lords of Thunder, Cotton, Steam Hearts (I'm a perv!), Sylphia, and Spriggan.

For adventure / RPG games, check out Dragon's Curse, Neutopia, Neutopia 2, Order of the Griffin, Dungeon Explorer, and Energy (the translated rom isn't terrible).  For CDs, you gotta try Ys 1-4, Xanadu 1 and 2, Dragon Slayer, Loom, and Beyond Shadowgate.

[majors]

...Seems like a cool community, very dedicated and knowledgeable.

Well, we are better than Neo-Geo (sets the bar low).

Another way to enjoy some turbo without investing in hardware is to hit some game cons like AVGC in NJ (selfish plug), MAGFest in DC or MGC in WI (I would mention Portland Retro but I dunno their obey count). You can hang out with like minded individuals and get some games in.

Everyone is gonna chime in with go PCE (import) to save money and open the door to more games. I did, never looked back. I traded all my US stuffs from the 90's I had for JP counterparts.

[tppytel]

Since you like shewties, you gotta try Soldier Blade, Air Zonk, Magical Chase, and Coryoon (I'm a wuss, so I gravitate towards easier ones).

Ooo.... easier ones! Easier ones are good. I have great respect for serious shmups players (I've browsed the shmups forums for years casually), but I'm nowhere close to skillful enough to properly hang there. I never had the kind of steady access to arcades (and quarters) growing up to get good at shooters. Blazing Lazers and R-Type on the TG16 were some of the first high-quality arcade ports around, and those were towards the end of my serious gaming time. By late high school I was too busy to put in the hours and shmups were too imposing when I came back to gaming as an adult. Besides the TG16 stuff (and CVIII on NES), I've been putting in some real practice time on Dodonpachi via MAME. I'm still pretty bad at it, but I'm getting a little better.

Thanks for all the recs - I'll check those out. I'm pretty flexible when it comes to genre. I've played more adventure/RPG stuff than anything else. I only play pure platformers occasionally, but throw some platforming into an adventure shell (a la Castlevania) and I'm all over that. About the only thing I don't play at all are sports games. And true fighting games, much like shmups, are a genre I totally respect but never had the opportunity to dive into.

Well, we are better than Neo-Geo (sets the bar low).

So I hear. I only have vague memories of the AES system from back in the day as an unobtainable item in a display case somewhere. Even my one friend (Scott, from the OP) whose family had enough money to get him the TurboCD couldn't swing a Neo-Geo. But my arcade time was a little before all those Neo-Geo fighters hit anyway, so I've never had much interest in the system. The TG16/PCE seems more interesting as a home console.

Another way to enjoy some turbo without investing in hardware is to hit some game cons like AVGC in NJ (selfish plug), MAGFest in DC or MGC in WI (I would mention Portland Retro but I dunno their obey count). You can hang out with like minded individuals and get some games in.

Good suggestion. I'm in Chicago, and I know there are a few events and locations there. It's been hard to do much of that for a long time to due to family and kids. But I'm hoping my son (10yo) gets into some retrogaming now that I've got the nice emu setup, and a retro event would be a nice outing. The kids were a big motivator for spending all the time setting up the emu in the first place. Kids these days... their brains go all mushy from soft, modern game design that never punishes them for anything. I don't want to return to the days of "NES hard", but I think we've gone too far in the opposite direction.

Everyone is gonna chime in with go PCE (import) to save money and open the door to more games. I did, never looked back. I traded all my US stuffs from the 90's I had for JP counterparts.

I've researched enough to recognize that that's totally sensible advice, which I'll unfortunately pass on. Spending a few hundred bucks on a JP Duo R is far enough into the realm of stupid that I might as well go whole hog and spend a few more on the TG16/CD setup I always wanted. Which is why the prices are so inflated... I know. And they're less reliable... I know. I totally get why the JP route is better, and if it were any other console I would go that way. But the American TG16 has a particular nostalgia for me.

[seieienbu]

Welcome aboard!  Yeah, everything Turbo related has gone totally crazy in price lately.  That being said, if you wanted to use the TG16 you had as a kid, you can get an Everdrive for like $80 or so allowing you to play the entire library of HuCards from both the US and Japan. 

[gex]

Dracula X ready to go (only played a bit on the Wii when it released a few years back)

Hell yeah, that's how I was introduced to Rondo / the entirety of PCE. I'm so glad they released Rondo on the virtual console, I read about it coming to the virtual console in Nintendo power and downloaded it the day it was released. I picked a good year to subscribe to NP, as that was the only year I ever did.

People like to slam the virtual console because of its dimmed graphics, but that's a minor setback IMO. Especially to someone who'll most likely never have hardware to play it otherwise.

Anyways though, the shmups Necro reccomended are pretty much my go to's as well. Some of the translated PCE RPG's are amazing too, highly recommend checking them out

[esteban]