The Official TurboGrafx-16 Sports Thread

[vestcoat]

The sports titles rarely get mentioned, even in the "short shift" thread.  In fact, there's only four threads with "sports" in the subject line outside of the sales and general forums.   So here's your chance to give them some love/hate!

Admittedly, as an RPG-playing, Ultima lover, I used to hate sports games.  I played Blades of Steel on the NES, Reggie Jackson on the SMS, and that was about it.  Recently I've made some attempts to finally play all those cheap sports Turbochips I've collected.  My interest was sparked when I started playing (real) tennis last year.  I'm also intrigued by the fact that so many of them are for 2-4 players, as well as their use of back-up ram and ability to save games and customized players.

[vestcoat]

Here goes...

I got my ass kicked in Super Volleyball last night.  I kind of like the graphics and minimal music.  Play control is a chore as I constantly referenced the manual trying to remember how to do the special moves.  Tried to save a team, but didn't have room on my Turbobooster.  Are there any screen-shot comparisons or reviews between the Turbochip and the Genesis version?

Next up was Davis Cup Tennis.  Lost an exhibition and proceeded to whack balls in the training mode.  I like this game a lot.  Nice voices for a Turbochip.  DCT was apparently supposed to be two-player Express compatible, but the feature wasn't included.  Anybody get into this game?  It's usually overshadowed by World Court Tennis.  I'm also curious about its origins with the original copyright being 1983 (same year as Timeball!)

[_joshuaTurbo]

John Madden Duo Football is in my top 20 favorite TG games list!  Everyone should like this game, great mechanics, awesome FMV's and the ending (When you win the world championships) is just one of the most amazing things I've ever seem.  It was like a tribute/ final fair well to all of the Fans that stuck with the system for all those years.

Great soundtrack, great graphics... just all around a really great game, that BLOWS away the Madden games that came out the same year for SNES and Gens.

[nat]

Here goes...

I got my ass kicked in Super Volleyball last night.  I kind of like the graphics and minimal music.  Play control is a chore as I constantly referenced the manual trying to remember how to do the special moves.  Tried to save a team, but didn't have room on my Turbobooster.  Are there any screen-shot comparisons or reviews between the Turbochip and the Genesis version?

TurboGrafx-16                               SEGA Genesis

[esteban]

Damn, Nat beat me to it.

I got into Davis Cup Tennis back on the day. I felt that it controlled well and I became invested in it. Can you name your player and evolve your stats? See, I honestly can't remember doing that, but that would have been the "hook" I needed to play a tennis title.

I played a bunch of TV Sports titles (all of them) with 3-5 players which was kinda fun but, to be honest, it was the goofing around (eg completing ridiculous plays on Football) that made it so much fun. The games themselves were never a big draw.

I got into the Quest in, what is it called? World Court Tennis? This was probably the most fun I had in a TG-16 sports game, but I was annoyed that they didn't put more effort onto making the quest mode BETTER and MORE IMPRESSIVE. I know I should be grateful that the RPG quest exists at all, but I would kill for a revamped version (same goes for Final Lap Twin).

I'll be honest, I spent many hours playing World Class Baseball, but it was a far cry from SNK's NES Baseball Stars (the absolutely greatest sports game ever made, for any platform, ever). Neo Geo Baseball Stars was cr@p compared to the amazing NES title.

[_joshuaTurbo]

I'll be honest, I spent many hours playing World Class Baseball, but it was a far cry from SNK's NES Baseball Stars (the absolutely greatest sports game ever made, for any platform, ever). Neo Geo Baseball Stars was cr@p compared to the amazing NES title.

Baseball Stars wasn't as cool as Baseball Simulator 1.000!  That IS the greatest baseball game ever!  Well, till SUPER Baseball Simulator 1.000 on SNES that is.  lol

I actually had a pretty good time with TV sports Hockey.  I think the quality is a little better than Football or Basketball.
One game that was a BLAST, but is only available in Nippon is Kickball!  I love Kickball, my friends and I would literally play it all night long once we started, and of course it includes some of the raddest characters of Turbo/PCE lore- SHOCKMAN!!!


Does Dodgeball count?  Do Imports count?  If so- Super DodgeBall from NAXAT/ Technos was one of the best!!

[Obfuscate]

I loved sports games as a kid and had a bunch of them. World Class Baseball ruled back then, so did John Madden. I also loved the Quests in both Final Lap Twin and World Court Tennis.

[nat]

Cyber Dodgeball from Tonkin House is a great game, probably the only sports game I play regularly on the system.

[Tatsujin]

FMT FTW :!:

[Arkhan]

Davis Cup Tennis is the best Tennis game ever made.

[Sparky]

Nice topic vesty....and i have to say i am a sucker for all kinds of golf games... ever since i played "Great Golf" on my SMS which by the way contains a slight up skirt shot if you hit that ball just the right way with the chick player of coarse

So tomorrow night i am going to fire up some tg16 Jacky Nicklaus golf as i dont even think i played a full round, nor have i tried the Turbo version which should be better than the Huey version right?

hahaha... this will fun and i will report back  <<hides a bottle of red in golf bag >>

[Vecanti]

Power Eleven is one of favorite PCE games.  I also always liked World Class baseball.

[henrycsc]

World Court Tennis is still my favorite NEC sport game.  It has a reputation of cheating if you get too good.  That always just made me try harder.  I can't say that I was ever driven to complete the game in quest mode, but it's been historically one of the go-to games when 4 people are available.   Keefe - are you Jimmy Connors?

While we're on that topic, aside from Panza, Nicklaus, and Madden, a lot of pce/turbo games "looked" like they were geared for professional naming rights.  Does anyone know what deals may have been initiated and just fell through, or did NEC just intend to use the lookalike all along?  If so, why then pay for those they did?  I never really cared myself, but I remember people commenting about it because other systems did so much of that.

[esteban]

Cyber Dodgeball from Tonkin House is a great game, probably the only sports game I play regularly on the system.

And it has a truly superb soundtrack. I was really impressed with how many tunes I liked, and how many times I let the soundtrack repeat before moving on to another title.

....and i have to say i am a sucker for all kinds of golf games...

As am I, but I don't even consider golf a "sports" game because it isn't a real sport.

You mentioned Jack Nicklaus (sp?) and even though the graphics are lame, it would have been much better if the pacing was faster. The game plods along—you can hear the wheels and gears inside TG-16 slowly turning. I don't recall playing the CD version for an entire game though. I spent a lot of time with te HuCard because it was one of the few games my friend had.

Anyway, I was able to enjoy Jack Nicklaus HuCard, but I'm partial to golf games.

World Court Tennis is still my favorite NEC sport game.  It has a reputation of cheating if you get too good.  That always just made me try harder.  I can't say that I was ever driven to complete the game in quest mode, but it's been historically one of the go-to games when 4 people are available.   Keefe - are you Jimmy Connors?

While we're on that topic, aside from Panza, Nicklaus, and Madden, a lot of pce/turbo games "looked" like they were geared for professional naming rights.  Does anyone know what deals may have been initiated and just fell through, or did NEC just intend to use the lookalike all along?  If so, why then pay for those they did?  I never really cared myself, but I remember people commenting about it because other systems did so much of that.

WCT, baby.

As for professional licensing—I think it was too expensive for our humble games. The TV SPORTS brand was intentionally designed to save money by not licensing, IMHO. That said, had it been a very successful money-maker, they could have easily added professional rosters to the games.

I'll be honest, I spent many hours playing World Class Baseball, but it was a far cry from SNK's NES Baseball Stars (the absolutely greatest sports game ever made, for any platform, ever). Neo Geo Baseball Stars was cr@p compared to the amazing NES title.

Baseball Stars wasn't as cool as Baseball Simulator 1.000!  That IS the greatest baseball game ever!  Well, till SUPER Baseball Simulator 1.000 on SNES that is.  lol

Oh, yes, I played nearly as hours with BS 1.000. However, this was because my friends had tired of Baseball Stars and wanted a new game.  Personally, BS 1.000 is not nearly as fantastic as Baseball Stars. But that doesn't mean I don't appreciate the runner-up.

[Tatsujin]

Davis Cup Tennis is the best Tennis game ever made.

So not, that is already FMT!