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

[Necromancer]

1990.  Got it for my 13th Birthday.  I put the system away when I went off to college, and sold it at a yard sale before I moved to NJ 6 years ago.  Damn....that was dumb.  Because now I'm back into it, and I've had to reacquire everything that I once had.

You were dumb twice. 

[billyh455]

I got my Turbografx Christmas of '90. I don't remember if I saw it in EGM first or on display at Toys r Us, but I talked my parents into getting me the setup as a Christmas gift.  I only got a few games for it over the years, but they were pretty fun ones for the time. R-type: I can still only get to a certain point in this game and die repeatedly. Splatterhouse: this was awesomely gory for an eleven year old at the time and my dad almost didn't let me buy it.  Cratermaze: I played this one a lot. Bonk's Adventure and Revenge: what can I say, these were a blast to play. Takin it to the Hoop: meh, I had fun playing it back in the day though. Blazing Lazers: still one of my all time favorite games. I sold my Turbo stuff around the ps 1 era to get games for that system.

In about 2000 I bought a small collection off of a guy who had a beat to hell Duo, but had some sweet games with it like Y's 1+2, Y's 3, Air Zonk, Lords of Thunder, and a few others.  I found a number of great games and had a cool collection going but sold all that a couple of years later to help get out of debt. I don't regret doing that for an instance, but I do miss all the rare cool stuff I used to have.

About a month ago I watched a couple of videos on Youtube of vintage game reviews and had to get an old Turbo system again. It's just not the same on an emulator so I bought a Duo-R collection with a lot of loose Hucards, most of which require a little too much of the Japanese language for me, and have been trying to get some of the games I used to enjoy years ago.

Well, that's the short version of my Turbo story. I hope to keep my game collection this time around 

[esteban]

Oops year was 1989.

Welcome, turbogirl. As someone else mentioned, feel free fondness any stories you remember from your job at NEC.

[gekioh]

Man you know what really sucks that I am just now realizing again, when I got my own Turbo in '2001, I remember coming across the TZD site several times and among other game selling site while vigorously searching for import games on Saturn. And I remember when games like SAZ, Bonk 3, Dynastic Hero etc etc were actually cheap, man who the hell woulda thought that id hate myself for not ever buying those games just cause i didnt have a cd set up till 2004, even then i still could have bought them, but was still way into SNES, Saturn and PS1(still am mind you).

[Firebomber7]

Not much to say really.
I definitely knew about the TG-16 from reading Gamepro since issue 1 and early EGM issues. I first played Keith Courage at a Toys 'R US when the system first came out, but that was it. When Bonk came out, one of my friend's friends got it for his TG-16. I remember playing it there for a few hours one day, and that was it for a LONG time. I always wanted to get into it more, but I'm from a small town in Canada. It literally was not for sale in any stores where I lived, and of course no game rental places had Turbo games. That made the choice between a Turbo and a Genesis pretty easy. I got a Genesis.

Fast forward to maybe 1996 or 1997. "The Dump", a cool emulator website around at that time, led me to Magic Engine. I spend quite a while playing all of the TG-16 games that I'd missed (as well as a lot of Shining Force II...). I familiarized myself with the TG library, but I wouldn't get one until 2007 or so when I was living in Japan. I picked up a PC Engine Duo for a great price, and would later buy/sell most of the various PC Engine incarnations (everything from the CG, to the Express and Shuttle and RX, but no LT...). I became a huge PC Engine fan in the process, and guys like Tatsujin from this site just fueled my interest in the system. It is not probably just shy of the Saturn as my favourite all time console. I would say that it definitely has more "charm" than any other system out there.

[Mathius]

Not much to say really.
I definitely knew about the TG-16 from reading Gamepro since issue 1 and early EGM issues. I first played Keith Courage at a Toys 'R US when the system first came out, but that was it. When Bonk came out, one of my friend's friends got it for his TG-16. I remember playing it there for a few hours one day, and that was it for a LONG time. I always wanted to get into it more, but I'm from a small town in Canada. It literally was not for sale in any stores where I lived, and of course no game rental places had Turbo games. That made the choice between a Turbo and a Genesis pretty easy. I got a Genesis.

Fast forward to maybe 1996 or 1997. "The Dump", a cool emulator website around at that time, led me to Magic Engine. I spend quite a while playing all of the TG-16 games that I'd missed (as well as a lot of Shining Force II...). I familiarized myself with the TG library, but I wouldn't get one until 2007 or so when I was living in Japan. I picked up a PC Engine Duo for a great price, and would later buy/sell most of the various PC Engine incarnations (everything from the CG, to the Express and Shuttle and RX, but no LT...). I became a huge PC Engine fan in the process, and guys like Tatsujin from this site just fueled my interest in the system. It is not probably just shy of the Saturn as my favourite all time console. I would say that it definitely has more "charm" than any other system out there.

Charm is right sir! The NEC consoles in general had tons of charm that I could never ignore. Also, they are most definitely the most fascinating.

[Jesse813]

just started gaming on the PC Engine about 2 years ago, never knew about the system when I was younger back than i grew up w/ a SNES and was busy playing Super Mario World and DKC games, while i still love the SNES, I also now the PC Engine and its excellent selection of games

[Mathius]

just started gaming on the PC Engine about 2 years ago, never knew about the system when I was younger back than i grew up w/ a SNES and was busy playing Super Mario World and DKC games, while i still love the SNES, I also now the PC Engine and its excellent selection of games

The excellence only keeps getting more excellenter! Hee-hee

[SaturdayMorningRobots]

My first NEC system was the TG-16 in 1989. I first learned of the TG-16's existence in a comic book Ad. My favorite game on the system back in the day was Legendary Axe 2, but I was also pretty fond of Silent Debuggers.

[ddd1234]

I had a Turbo duo with the following-

Dracula X
Gate of Thunder
Soldier blade
Super Star Soldier
Gunhed
Jackie Chan
Space harrier
Raiden
Bonk 1,2,3
Air Zonk
Super Air Zonk
Dungeon EXplorer II

I sold it all in order to get a Ps3 and some games. I fell for the hype..
I

[turbogirl]

I first played TurboGrafx 16 when I applied for a job at NEC Technologies in Wood Dale (IL).  A friend and I both applied for the job and both got the job for a new Customer Service Helpline that was going to offer customer service for its newly launched game system, called the TurboGrafx 16.  I had played Nintendo before, and had Customer Service background, so I thought, how cool is that? On the job interview they asked all sore of questions, but I will never forget hat one of he questions was "What is a boss?" in a video game.  I remember thinking what a weird question, but I guess I answered correctly because 5 minutes later they invited me to work there, and my training day was going to consist of playing the game that came with the system, Keith Courage.   Wouldn't you know I came to hate that game because I got stuck on one level and couldn't pass the level.  One of the Gamer Guys secretly put in a code they knew , probably taking pity on me, since I was new.  He opened up a whole new world to me because I didn't know about codes before that!I realized that our job was to play all the games!  I was like, how wild is this?  Best job ever! I will never forget playing my first game, even if it was Keith Courage because it was the start of the best 3 years of my life!  : )     

Was it level 4? I got stuck on that level 4 boss for ages when I was a kid. Summer of '91 I wrote a letter to your customer service department (probably the same department you worked in) asking how to beat him. While I waited for a response, I actually figured it out on my own.

Yes, it was level 4, and gosh I hated that game!  Sorry to say, but it wasn't the best game to showcase the graphics!  I do remember that occasionally we did get letters when the system came out, and I actually remember someone bringing a letter into the dept, with that question.  I don't know if anyone ever replied to it...but I remember some staff talking about how to respond, and I remember that if someone put their phone number on their letter, someone from our dept. would call them back with the hint, when we were still the 1-800 number.  Did you ever get a response?

[turbogirl]

I first played TurboGrafx 16 when I applied for a job at NEC Technologies in Wood Dale (IL).  A friend and I both applied for the job and both got the job for a new Customer Service Helpline that was going to offer customer service for its newly launched game system, called the TurboGrafx 16.  I had played Nintendo before, and had Customer Service background, so I thought, how cool is that? On the job interview they asked all sore of questions, but I will never forget hat one of he questions was "What is a boss?" in a video game.  I remember thinking what a weird question, but I guess I answered correctly because 5 minutes later they invited me to work there, and my training day was going to consist of playing the game that came with the system, Keith Courage.   Wouldn't you know I came to hate that game because I got stuck on one level and couldn't pass the level.  One of the Gamer Guys secretly put in a code they knew , probably taking pity on me, since I was new.  He opened up a whole new world to me because I didn't know about codes before that!I realized that our job was to play all the games!  I was like, how wild is this?  Best job ever! I will never forget playing my first game, even if it was Keith Courage because it was the start of the best 3 years of my life!  : )     

LOL wow I would of killed for that job as a kid.  good for you!

It was fun while it lasted!  : )  Thanks!

[nat]

I first played TurboGrafx 16 when I applied for a job at NEC Technologies in Wood Dale (IL).  A friend and I both applied for the job and both got the job for a new Customer Service Helpline that was going to offer customer service for its newly launched game system, called the TurboGrafx 16.  I had played Nintendo before, and had Customer Service background, so I thought, how cool is that? On the job interview they asked all sore of questions, but I will never forget hat one of he questions was "What is a boss?" in a video game.  I remember thinking what a weird question, but I guess I answered correctly because 5 minutes later they invited me to work there, and my training day was going to consist of playing the game that came with the system, Keith Courage.   Wouldn't you know I came to hate that game because I got stuck on one level and couldn't pass the level.  One of the Gamer Guys secretly put in a code they knew , probably taking pity on me, since I was new.  He opened up a whole new world to me because I didn't know about codes before that!I realized that our job was to play all the games!  I was like, how wild is this?  Best job ever! I will never forget playing my first game, even if it was Keith Courage because it was the start of the best 3 years of my life!  : )     

Was it level 4? I got stuck on that level 4 boss for ages when I was a kid. Summer of '91 I wrote a letter to your customer service department (probably the same department you worked in) asking how to beat him. While I waited for a response, I actually figured it out on my own.

Yes, it was level 4, and gosh I hated that game!  Sorry to say, but it wasn't the best game to showcase the graphics!  I do remember that occasionally we did get letters when the system came out, and I actually remember someone bringing a letter into the dept, with that question.  I don't know if anyone ever replied to it...but I remember some staff talking about how to respond, and I remember that if someone put their phone number on their letter, someone from our dept. would call them back with the hint, when we were still the 1-800 number.  Did you ever get a response?

I did.

It took a few months, but I finally received a response. Ironically, the strategy they advised in their reply was different from the strategy I devised on my own for beating the boss. I think mine actually works better/is easier.

[thrush]

I started playing in 1993.  I had read reviews for TG16 games but never got the chance to play one until a close friend if mine bought a Duo that year.  He had a wide collection of consoles and a much broader appretiation for games than I did at that age (we were both 14).  Probably he also had a bigger budget.  My household was strictly Atari & Nintendo, and I recall him always trying to interest me in Sega stuff and what I considered his other "weird" systems.  Nothing ever struck me as particularly worthwhile until he got his Duo -- then my much-loved SNES finally felt second-best.

I played a wide variety of Duo titles with him regularly throughout highschool, and have wanted to own one of my own ever since.  Not until this year were the stars right for that....  But, I've got a Duo-R on the way at last, so I'm excited to make up for lost time!  I enjoyed many of the games I played back then, but looking back it's deffinitely Valis 3 & Cosmic Fantasy that left the strongest impressions on my teenage years.

[SaturdayMorningRobots]

I am really glad for you. You won't regret it. Last year there were a bunch of cheap Cosmic Fantasy 2's on ebay. I don't know what the situation is like now, but I too really loved that game.