What year did you first start gaming on the PC Engine/Turbografx??

[gekioh]

My first experience with a Turbo Grafx was way back in like 1991 or 92' at a store called Incredible Univers in Wilsonville, OR. Now its called Fry's Electronics, anyways I was hooked, and every subsequent trip to my local Fred Myers' store who also had a TG-16 demo unit set up thing resulted in me playing while my mom shopped. I finaly got my own console in 2001 when I bought it off a friend. I paid $100 for it with 14 games(all Hu's) and 2 controllers and the multi tap. 2 years later I bought a TG-16 and CD Rom set up for $50 with 2 controllers and 15 games. That was I have to this day.

[gekioh]

I mean That IS what I have to this day!  :oops:

[MottZilla]

The first time I played PCE was via emulation with MagicEngine sometime in 2000 or 2001 most likely. The reason being I was a fan of Castlevania and had read about Dracula X on the internet. Sometime I guess maybe in late 2005 or more likely in 2006 I bought a boxed PC-Engine DUO. Basically I just wanted to play games like Dracula X on the real deal. I think the only HuCards I bought were Street Fighter II and the Arcade Card DUO. I just burned CD-Rs I'll admit. Then sometime in late 2006 I decided to sell it. I forget now what I wanted the money for now. And part of my reasoning was that the Xbox could emulate it. And it probably didn't help that I didn't have the money or want to spend the money to get various HuCard games.

But recently I was looking for something to get to play with and the contenders were a Famicom Disk System (It's pretty cool too), the 3Ds when it comes out (shiney new consoles are fun), probably some other things that crossed my mind..., and the PC-Engine. Since my last and first PC-Engine, I'd bought a nice RGB monitor and gotten SCART RGB cables for my SNES, Genesis, Saturn, and PS1 so when browsing ebay awhile back I was very tempted to buy a great looking DUO-R that was RGB modded. But I didn't bite. Then when I looked later they were all gone. While being tempted to buy the FDS I checked for DUO stuff and saw another.

I gave it some thought and big surprise, I decided I'd rather buy and collect PC-Engine stuff than FDS stuff. It didn't help the FDS's case that I have the NES PowerPAK so I have my Nintendo 8-bit addiction covered. Meanwhile I have no PCE/TG16 hardware at all. And just giving a quick thought about the DUO I knew I could get Lords of Thunder, Dracula X, and Super Raiden which are all games that I think are top notch titles for all time. Meanwhile the FDS the top titles I think of are also on US carts I own or could buy like Zelda, Kid Icarus, Castlevania, etc. So the FDS lost out, while it is nifty the PC-Engine is more appealing especially since while I plan to build a neat collection of HuCards and CD-ROMs this time around, some CD-Rs can tide me over until then.

The only bad thing I can think of is that it's not so simple to play Turbo Chips on a Japanese console which is a bit of a bummer as I'd like to play things like Neutopia which I think it helps to be able to read the in game text. Not sure I'd be too comfortable opening an expensive DUO-R and soldering things or cutting traces. I was thinking if I ever do anything I'd rather do the pin 29 thing but then use a converter rather than mess with the card slot.

So now I'm going to be waiting on my DUO-R to show up. Definitely excited to be again adding a PC-Engine to my collection.

[JapanTokei]

Mottzilla - you made the absolutely right choice to collect PCE vs FDS    It is a wonderful system to get into.  the history is so super interesting too, with all the varieties of add-ons, etc.  Check out Henrycsc's posts on the poster of the PCE/TG linage. 

The first time I played PCE was via emulation with MagicEngine sometime in 2000 or 2001 most likely. The reason being I was a fan of Castlevania and had read about Dracula X on the internet. Sometime I guess maybe in late 2005 or more likely in 2006 I bought a boxed PC-Engine DUO. Basically I just wanted to play games like Dracula X on the real deal. I think the only HuCards I bought were Street Fighter II and the Arcade Card DUO. I just burned CD-Rs I'll admit. Then sometime in late 2006 I decided to sell it. I forget now what I wanted the money for now. And part of my reasoning was that the Xbox could emulate it. And it probably didn't help that I didn't have the money or want to spend the money to get various HuCard games.

But recently I was looking for something to get to play with and the contenders were a Famicom Disk System (It's pretty cool too), the 3Ds when it comes out (shiney new consoles are fun), probably some other things that crossed my mind..., and the PC-Engine. Since my last and first PC-Engine, I'd bought a nice RGB monitor and gotten SCART RGB cables for my SNES, Genesis, Saturn, and PS1 so when browsing ebay awhile back I was very tempted to buy a great looking DUO-R that was RGB modded. But I didn't bite. Then when I looked later they were all gone. While being tempted to buy the FDS I checked for DUO stuff and saw another.

I gave it some thought and big surprise, I decided I'd rather buy and collect PC-Engine stuff than FDS stuff. It didn't help the FDS's case that I have the NES PowerPAK so I have my Nintendo 8-bit addiction covered. Meanwhile I have no PCE/TG16 hardware at all. And just giving a quick thought about the DUO I knew I could get Lords of Thunder, Dracula X, and Super Raiden which are all games that I think are top notch titles for all time. Meanwhile the FDS the top titles I think of are also on US carts I own or could buy like Zelda, Kid Icarus, Castlevania, etc. So the FDS lost out, while it is nifty the PC-Engine is more appealing especially since while I plan to build a neat collection of HuCards and CD-ROMs this time around, some CD-Rs can tide me over until then.

The only bad thing I can think of is that it's not so simple to play Turbo Chips on a Japanese console which is a bit of a bummer as I'd like to play things like Neutopia which I think it helps to be able to read the in game text. Not sure I'd be too comfortable opening an expensive DUO-R and soldering things or cutting traces. I was thinking if I ever do anything I'd rather do the pin 29 thing but then use a converter rather than mess with the card slot.

So now I'm going to be waiting on my DUO-R to show up. Definitely excited to be again adding a PC-Engine to my collection.

[nikdog]

Not to say that the PC-Engine wasn't the right choice, but Zelda on the FDS sounds wayyyyyy better then the cart version. FM Synth Zelda > regular Zelda, even with the loading for dungeons.

[Jared4781]

It was around 1991 and I would always play the TG-16 setup at the Toys R Us here.
Finally the price for the base turbo went down to $99 and that did it for my mom, she purchased one for me.
Soon after Toys R Us begin clearing out their stock and I grabbed a Turbo Express and games.
Then I got an offer in the mail from TTi about trading in your TG-16 for a Duo for a small fee.
My awesome mom once again agreed and we did the trade. I still have all of it to this day.

[MottZilla]

Not to say that the PC-Engine wasn't the right choice, but Zelda on the FDS sounds wayyyyyy better then the cart version. FM Synth Zelda > regular Zelda, even with the loading for dungeons.

The RetroZone PowerPAK allows me to play the Disk version with the FDS sound channel. I can't say I was blown away by it. Don't get me wrong, if I had money to collect for both systems right now I would. But for now I'd rather focus on the PC-Engine games I want.

[Eltigro]

I don't remember the exact year, but it was when I was still in High School so it was probably about 90 or 91.  My parents got it for me for Christmas.  We lived in East Texas and they drove to Shreveport to find one.  We had a shop in the local mall, a McDuff's Electronics, that sold them, but I told my parents about a special deal package that came with a coupon for a free game.  They had to call around and then go to Louisiana to find a store that had the coupon package.  I ordered Blazing Lazers as my free game, and I also got The Legendary Axe that Christmas.  Anyway, I still have the same TurboGrafx and box to this day.

Later on, I added more games and accessories via shop closings, clearance deals, pawn shops, ebay, and TZDirect.

[esteban]

Xmas 1989.

Word up.

[nat]

Xmas 1990. Word!

In the 90s (94 through 98 or 99, can't remember anymore) I ran a dialup BBS (remember those?) in the Seattle area. I didn't have any actual friends with Turbos, but one of my BBS users who lived downtown had a Turbo and we'd trade Turbo games back and forth periodically. We'd meet up at Red Robin once every 4-6 months and trade. I once traded him Pac-Land for Bonk 3, this was right after Bonk 3 came out. I hadn't even HEARD of the game yet, but he already owned it. It was because of this trade that I ended up buying a copy for $49.99 from TZD shortly thereafter.

I haven't talked to that guy in 10 or 12 years, I wonder if he's still around and if he's still got his Turbo....

Back to the topic at hand, though I got my first Turbo in 1990 I didn't get a TG-CD deck until 1997. They were just too expensive. I ended up selling that deck to Black Tiger three or four years ago when I finally bought a Duo.

[esteban]

Xmas 1990. Word!

In the 90s (94 through 98 or 99, can't remember anymore) I ran a dialup BBS (remember those?) in the Seattle area. I didn't have any actual friends with Turbos, but one of my BBS users who lived downtown had a Turbo and we'd trade Turbo games back and forth periodically.

Word.

I didn't know what a BBS was in 1991, but my friend's family subscribed to Prodigy and we loved the message boards. We mostly concentrated on music, but I was allowed to occasionally venture into the realm of video games.

I still remember asking my friend, "How does this work? Who has access to this? How much does your dad pay? Why can't I LIVE IN YOUR HOUSE?"

I couldn't believe that there were actual TG-16 fans posting messages in computerland.

[rag-time4]

I don't remember the exact year, but it was when I was still in High School so it was probably about 90 or 91.  My parents got it for me for Christmas.  We lived in East Texas and they drove to Shreveport to find one.  We had a shop in the local mall, a McDuff's Electronics, that sold them, but I told my parents about a special deal package that came with a coupon for a free game.  They had to call around and then go to Louisiana to find a store that had the coupon package.  I ordered Blazing Lazers as my free game, and I also got The Legendary Axe that Christmas.  Anyway, I still have the same TurboGrafx and box to this day.

Later on, I added more games and accessories via shop closings, clearance deals, pawn shops, ebay, and TZDirect.

Shreveport, home of the great Stromile Swift!

Welcome aboard the forum Eltigro!

[GAUGE]

In November of 1989, I remember seeing the TurboGrafx-16 in the display case next to the Sega Genesis at the local Montgomery-Ward. It looked interesting, but I didn't know any of the games and the Sega had all these arcade titles available - so I chose the Sega.

Then later that month, I started reading about the PC Engine in the first EGM I ever bought (#4). It really looked amazing. I remember seeing the white little console with a copy of Vigilante and the unique card-based software format. EGM talked about how the PC Engine already had dozens of games out that were potentially a built in library for the Turbo to choose from.

While I was generally happy with my Genesis, I was very interested in learning more about the Turbo and read a lot about the system in EGM through the spring and summer of 1990. Finally, after saving up some cash, I decided to pick up a TurboGrafx with Bonk. I'm so glad I did. There's just something about the graphics and gameplay on the Turbo that I still, to this day, can't quite put my finger on - it just seems to be more vibrant and responsive than most other systems. Bonk showed this off perfectly. Tunes from Keith Courage and Bonk always remind me of that summer. 

The following summer I saved enough to buy the CD-ROM attachment and Ys I & II. After reading about it in EGM, my expectations were very high. Ed Semrad (one of the reviewers, who I trusted for good reviews) said "the perfect game finally happened." I fully agree. Even today, it's a game I never get bored with. It's so unique and easy to pick up. The story, graphics and cinema cut-scenes blend perfectly. That whole summer was spent playing Ys and Legendary Axe.

So those were my initial, favorite Turbo moments. Those moments have really stuck with me. So much so, that it's been the only system I've never sold.

[turbogrfxfan]

Ys Even today, it's a game I never get bored with. It's so unique and easy to pick up. The story, graphics and cinema cut-scenes blend perfectly. That whole summer was spent playing Ys and Legendary Axe.

So those were my initial, favorite Turbo moments. Those moments have really stuck with me. So much so, that it's been the only system I've never sold.

thats awesome!!! story!  Its the only system I never got rid of but I worked all summer to get my tg/cd and ys copy but man was it worth it and it blew my mind as well!  Welcome to the forum!

[GAUGE]

thats awesome!!! story!  Its the only system I never got rid of but I worked all summer to get my tg/cd and ys copy but man was it worth it and it blew my mind as well!  Welcome to the forum!

Hey man, thanks! I'm glad I wasn't the only one to spend all that cash on the CD-ROM attachment back in the day.