The pc engine would have been just as successful here. Had they released it alongside the NES and SMS in 1987-88. Instead, NEC decided to delay the western release (for Oliver a year!) based on focus groups showing that Americans like bigger boxes. So TG16 had to compete with the likes, the Sega Genesis. When SNES was rumored to be coming out, TG16 was dead.
Between them both I favored the TG16 over the NES. The lineup for the NES was plentiful and the most common in my group of friends. The TG16 was the hidden jem with limited, but awesome games.
The PC Engine is an historic video entertainment juggernaut. IMO there is no comparison between it and the NES. The PC Engine with CD ROM² attachment even outshined the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo on occasion. Just look at Castlevania Dracula X Rondo Of Blood or Ys Book I&II or Gate Of Thunder/Lords Of Thunder or Blazing Lasers/Gunhed or Ninja Spirit or Ginga Fukei Densetsu Sapphire..... the list goes on and on with such EPIC titles! Let's be real; the PC Engine is the first true 16-bit console and should be celebrated as such.
When I got the cd add-on for the TurboGrafx way back in the day, it absolutely blew my f*cking mind. I was only 10 or 11 at the time, it was the most futuristic thing I’ve ever seen. My friends couldn’t wait to get to my house after school.
From a technical standpoint, that's absolutely true. But from a library breadth standpoint, I'd take the NES every day. Of course, I'm very much a platformer/RPG guy, so there's a ton to love on NES. If I could *read* more PC Engine RPGs, though, I'd probably give it more of a nod. It would certainly have been interesting to see if it had managed to take off when it was here in the States.
This is such an underrated channel. It’s funny and the way you record the crt screen while highliting the console’s controller is genius. Earned a sub!
I was the only kid in my neighborhood with a TurboGrafx. I got into a couple of schoolyard fights defending its honor against the Genesis. But I feel like it’s an apples to oranges comparison. I love the TurboGrafx because it’s a shooter’s fan heaven, and it has so many games that are just plain weird, which I think is kinda cool. But the NES has such a massive library covering every genre. I don’t know man, I love them both I guess.
I was in the same boat, accepted I just told them to come over and try it. I had everything BUT the CD attachment, it was just a bit too much for my parents, I remember the whole purchase was just a bit shy of a grand. I had to pass my black belt testing to get it, but after months of drooling they did come through mostly. Everyone that played it fell in love with the system, though it helped that I had Bonks Adventures and, of course, Splatter House. The tragedy to me was, at least, were I lived, the system was only sold at a small mall outlet electric store that was notoriously expensive and only one location in driving distance. The NES, on the other hand, was in Walmarts everywhere, the games so prolific that Walgreens even sold them, and the system and all basic accessories costs was something like a third or quarter of the price of the TB-16!
I'm 44. I've been dipping my toes into retro gaming over the last few months and devouring a ton of RUclips retrospectives on the topic, and possibly the most bewildering thing throughout this process has been the fact that I'm only learning about HuCard technology for the first time in 2024. It says a lot about how bad the TurboGrafx rollout was in the US, and I feel gypped! PC Engine was badass! 😩
In spite of the 8-bit CPU, I consider TG-16 to be a 16-bit gen console. Its graphics/sound are closer to genesis/SNES quality, especially the CD games. That said, I love both for what they did best.
It has a 8bit CPU to run code directly from cartridge. Physical connectors are really expensive. 8088 probably was too expensive? And 68008 even more? With graphics it is clear which assets you need. Somehow code is a mystery for gamedevs . But the CPU only has 64k address space. So it can’t even pull code randomly from the cartridge! The page registers are bigger than the CPU. They should rather have added real address registers to be used with those addressing modes.
Yeah, and the number of 'bits' really isn't the deciding factor for how powerful it is. The PC Engine CPU can even at times arguably outshine the Mega Drive one. It's also nice that developers who knew how to code for the 6502-based NES could also easily jump over to making PC Engine games.
I had a TG16. It was a step below the genesis and SNES. It couldn’t compete with the NES on quality and quantity of games. But it was a in- betweener for the 8 and 16 bit generations.
I never got to play a TurboGrafx-16 as a kid, but I do remember seeing marketing for it when it released and it was way ahead of its time. Though, I didn't know the PC Engine was actually in a tighter race with Nintendo in Japan. I slightly prefer the NES overall, but I've played the TurboGrafx-16/CD and it is a fantastic console as well. As a huge shmup fan, I appreciate the sheer amount of shmups to choose from!
Just to provide a bit of context to the sales, what happened was that the Famicom had reached a point of market saturation after having been out for as long as it had. By 1987, most people who wanted a Famicom had one. Then there was the disk system add on that not everyone got. When the PC Engine was new, some people were ready to move on from the Famicom. So the PCE benefited from being new and there was more room for sales growth and the possibility of beating Nintendo in some monthly sales. It's possible that PCE software may have beaten Famicom games as well in certain months. Something like R-Type would be the kind of game that could do it as it was really impressive when it was new and was considered a system seller. The Famicom sold way more units overall, but after it had been out for several years, there was room for an emerging competitor to outsell it as it reached the later stages of its life cycle. And Nintendo was concerned enough to try to divert attention from these competitors, but also was strong enough in the market to know their next system would be a big hit in Japan.
TG16 was my favorite system as a kid. But having only one controller port and the lack of games really made it a niche system. Yet Bonk is still my favorite game of all time. And HuCards are still the best cartridge format ever invented.
I'm a huge TG16 fan! I actually did a collection vid last year, and loved people's reaction to it. These days, there are a TON of people that have never heard of the console, let alone played it. I consider it in an in between generation. Firmly between the NES and Genesis/SNES era, it was really cool. Awesome video... I hope this leads people to checking out some of the amazing titles like Ninja Spirit, Blazing Lazers, Neutopia, Legendary Axe, and of course Splatterhouse!
That's a tough question. the TG16 its was mostly for shooters, but has great platformers games too. To this day its still an awesome console. The main problem was the distribution. I knew & played TG16 around 1991 and I liked it a lot. If this console was well distributed worldwide, I'm very sure it would put a very serious fight on the 16bit era.
The Turbo/PCE is awesome. The ability to display so many colors at once and handle scrolling so smoothly coupled with a strong sprite limit helps it punch way above its weight class, and lets it feel like a 16 bit console no matter what the specs say. Library-wise, yeah, NES just has more, but once the Japanese stuff gets into the mix, it's a lot closer. Still a clean win for the NES, but life's a lot better with both.
But isn’t it a pity that most of this 16 sprites circuitry idles most of the time? If there was at least zoom as on C64, we could have had many pseudo 3d racing games.
@@ArneChristianRosenfeldt I truly don't know how the hardware is inefficient to be honest. All I know for sure is that I enjoy a lot of games for both!
TG-16/PCE has one of the most fascinating game libraries, very few games from it get modern ports and I'd love to play so many cool games from it :) I wish they'd made the TG/PCE mini library as a retro compilation like those MD/Genesis compilations for consoles after the Mini sold out.
I love the PC-Engine mini. Especially since it was backed by Konami. If a collection was released it would probably be Hudson games or what is licensed for the system. That’s usually the advantage of having a mini for 3rd party licensed games.
There is always a moment in all your vodeos at which I just burst to laughter and smash the like... In this case it's been the appearance of the snes controller modified to mimic the level of comfort of the nes one... Great stuff!
The TurboGrafx-16 has wonderful games that are fun. But I love the NES more and I played many games of both of these wonderful gaming consoles NES and TurboGrafx-16 are amazing and fun. Cool video. ^_^
I grew up with Atari and NES but never got my hands on a TG-16. I remember seeing magazine ads for Splatterhouse and how awesome that game looked compared to nes games. No stores in my area ever carried it though, and that includes rental stores. Oh and keep up the good work on these videos as I genuinely look forward to my weekly retro fix from you!
I ended up trading my TG16 for a 32X back in the day because TG16 games were hard to come by in Canada, and I really wanted Virtua Fighter and Virtua Racing which didn't disappoint like Keith Courage did.
TurboGrafx16 needed good action games and sports games to compete with Nintendo. But should came with the Supergrafx components to compete with Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo.
If you're talking about sales and size of library, of course the NES wins. But if you're talking about performance, even the most basic configuration of PCE is far superior to the NES. Kind of like how the ColecoVision was a big step up from the Atari 2600.
PC Engine/Turbo Grafx is better but the masses went with the NES also price comes into play I’ve been blessed to see and have all from 1980-Now every console as well as thousands upon thousands of games what a life of gaming throughout the decades
Because the TG-16 was so expensive, I bought a Coregrafx system a few years ago with an Everdrive, and it allowed me to play many games it would have been difficult for me to play otherwise. Standout titles for me were: The Bonk games and Keith Courage: Great side scrollers Blazing Lazers: Awesome shoot-em-up that looks and plays great Dragon Spirit: Same as on the NES, but prettier Final Lap Twin: RPG where you battle enemies by racing against them! and my favorite Dragon's Curse: Wonderboy III on the TG-16! I didn't know about this game when I loaded it, and it hooked me to the end! There are many others, of course.
PC Engine is such a fun system as far as exploring the library and discovering new things. Dragon Saber, the sequel to Dragon Spirit, is one of my favorites on the system. It's a good game and quite a solid port from the arcade original.
I loved the Turbo Grafx 16 for its uniqueness. As for the mini consoles that’d been released in the prior years, the Turbo Grafx Mini had the largest game library in both US and Japanese titles
While I did get a NES for Christmas in '88 or '89, I remember having a lot of fun playing Bonk's Adventure on my cousin's TurboGrafx 16. It's pretty interesting to view these consoles in hindsight, great video.
I remember Turbografx16. It has a special place in my heart. Something that was smart that the NEC did was ride the fame of the new Laser Disc technology. When CD's first came out, everyone loved them and considered it as high tech. Turbografx16 showed that some of there games were available on CD and people were eager to get one.
NES was my first console in '93. I didn't even know about the TG-16 until my late 20s. I think they're both great but I find myself going back to the NES a lot more since I'm not the biggest fan of shmups. They're fun for a little while.
The PC Engine is most likely going to be my next investment. It’s undeniably a good time. I’m also most likely going to get the Duo as well. Straight forward and I think it looks nice
Had a TG-16 growing up in the early 90's. Was my first official console. We had 3 video stores located in a 1km radius and only 1 of them had TG16 games to rent. I owned few games for it but happened to try Silent Debuggers, Military Madness and Splatterhouse which are 5 star games for the console back in like 1992.
I bought a TG16 in 1990 with my own money, it was the first gaming purchase I ever made and also the first brand new gaming anything I ever had. I had a couple of hand-me-down devices like an Atari 2600 in 1983 and a Coleco Adam Computer in 1987 that played games from Colecovision cartridges and also tape games. Never had an NES, but played tons of it at friends houses
I know I'm late to comment on this particular video; but thoroughly enjoyed it. I never got to play the TurboGrafx back in it's heyday; ( since I was mainly an NES kid growing up.) But I was always fascinated by this console that existed somewhere between the NES the Genesis. I remember playing it at a kiosk at a KB Toys as a kid (with Bonks Adventure being the only playable game.) It was only as an adult that I saw Rondo of Blood, as well as Alien Crush; and Devils Crush; (not to mention the PC Engine ports of Splatter house and R-Type) That I really felt that we had missed out on something special in the U.S. Plus, I just found the Hucard format to be something nearly otherworldly for the time.
TG16/PCE has been a massive point of interest to me. Never seen one before outside of videos and pictures, and even though I'm horrible at them, I love me some shoot-em-ups, so it's been on my gaming bucket list for quite a while now. I think I'm with you on the controller too, that 2 button one just looks right.
I respect the PC-Engine/TurboGrafx-16, I've thought about getting one many different times. Unfortunately, the library just doesn't woo me with a lot of exclusives, or games I'm into. I like shoot 'em ups at a casual level, the R-Types, Galaga's, those sort. While there is R-Type and Galaga '90 on the TGX, their both over $150 Canadian each. Aside from that, I don't like other shoot 'em ups, so the others don't interest me. A couple cool platformers, but nothing I'm desperate to play or something I can't play elsewhere. NES wins in this comparison, honestly, most popular consoles win in comparison, simply because of that lacklister library.
I own a pristine NA TG16 with the CD attachment and I love it. I did have to replace the aged CD gear (did that by myself) and send it off to someone else to replace the CD eye. I also have the Turbo Everdrive and I can play any game from all regions. This is an amazing console that I enjoy very much. This is a great comparison video. Thank you. Would have liked to see a comparison of various TG16 knockoff games... Neutopia/Zelda, for example (The most obvious one.)
I'm considering getting one of these if i can find one in person. I prefer not to buy things online if i can avoid it. But i was born in 91, the only systems i ever owned were Nintendo, playstation or xbox. The only sega thing i owned was a gamegear. Now that I'm an adult I want to drastically expand my collection with more consoles. I've always loved consoles and i would just love to have as many as i can get my hands on
I saw a T16 in toys r us and was fascinated. I begged my mom to get it for my bday, and got it instead of a Genesis (which my friends scorned me for harshly). I got Cadash, Bonk 2, and Neutopia along with Keith Courage (came with console). We had a blast and two of my friends ended up grabbing one shortly after.
I did a little bit of PC Engine collecting about 10 years ago. I picked up a few base systems, and a bunch of games. There's something so interesting about the PCE that I'm more willing to try some random games, which I have done in both games I purchased and stuff I tried through emulation. I've long thought that the two year gap between the release in Japan hurt it, along with other things. In Japan, the PCE was the first home system to make the first impression for the types of games we would associate with the 16-bit era(arcade style visuals) and did so a year before the Mega Drive. In the US, it basically launched at the same time as the Genesis and didn't have a year head start to impress people. In the US, for most people, it was the Genesis that made that first impression for 16-bit and helped it in the market. But as for PCE vs. Famicom/NES, the PCE library is less balanced. For shooter fans, it's like a paradise. Personally, I don't enjoy most NES shooters either, so it's not even close there. Other genres are more sparse compared to the NES, so a case could definitely made for the NES as well. Batman for the NES, shown in the video, is one of my favorites along with the likes of Shatterhand and Power Blade, and the PCE doesn't have anything quite like that. But there's a lot of quality stuff on the PCE and it's a fun system in general.
Shatterhand and Powerblade are quite unique, they were made very late into the life of the NES, I call these NES 2.0 games, which have 0 to do with the ancient looking junk that is Zelda 1 or Mario Bros. NES 2.0 was so good at times, it often had games impossible on the SNES. I don't think Power Blade could be made on the SNES, it does not have enough CPU power for it. The Mega Drive could do these games, but somehow nobody at Sega decided to get good platformers to the MD.
I love this system the entire library is a hidden gem. I highly recommend getting the Analogue DUO instead of getting the old hardware. Not only is the retro hardware more expensive but the capacitors and disc drives of this generation are horrible and all need refurbishment.
The white PC Engine is having no ageing issues at all, you can find it for 50-75 bucks, and since it has a EXTbus, you can still make it run CD games from an SD card and output clean RGB video. No need to overspend on a DUO.
It's hard collecting for it, I got the system a cpl years back I don't buy online I go to retro stores play on og hardware software, but it's such a cool system I didn't even know about it I was an nes kid then sega never heard of it I was only 5 when the nes dropped...it's a great system
I remember noticing as a kid how good the graphics were but because I lived in America, I didn't see as many great games for it as the NES. Also, I think by the time I was aware of it, stuff like the SNES and Genesis were out
the turbografx has been in the back of my head as a console that i wanted to pick up but i could never justify it. while there are a couple diamonds in the rough like rondo of blood and bonk, the library just seems lacking compared to other consoles in the 80s and 90s.
Especially of you go Japanese, it's completely loaded with great games. The US library being much smaller still has a very high percentage of quality games. If I was looking to start a new collection right now, the worry wouldn't be the library- it's great. It'd be the disproportionately high cost. Especially US stuff (and some Japanese) is pretty overpriced right now. For most folks, emulating or the mini is probably the way to go. If you don't mind the price, though, and if you like arcade-style games, it's a fantastic library.
Still, donkey konging is jumping over barrels on magenta girders and climbing ladders. Not a horizontal version of Minion Rush: collecting banana's on 3 different "tracks" while avoiding some barrels making a monkey sound.
I love both consoles but I have a special soft spot for the Turbo Grafix. The only problem with the Turbo was that a lot of the best games weren’t realized outside of Japan, but now that we have the internet and emulation, you can play the entire library. I would recommend Rondo of Blood, Blazing Lasers, Ninja Spirit, Salamander (Lifeforce), Splatterhouse, all of the Bonk games, Yokai Dochuuki, Devil’s Crush, Gekisha Boy, and Be Ball (Chew Man Fu in the west).
I think it really comes down to the game library. The NES had a really great game library, and the TG-16 had more impressive graphics and hardware. Wish I could have had both as a kid, but if I could only have one system, I'm glad it was the NES.
Loved playing the TG-16 at my buddies house during elementary school as I had a SNES & Genesis at the time, but haven't played it since. That's about to change though as I just picked up the adapter for my Analogue Pocket, though I don't be able to play the CD games.
I would say depends on the type of industrial scale. Both systems could do far more than software companies pushed them to. However the graphics of the TG16 were next generation
Sometimes popular doesn't necessarily mean better. The TurboGrafx-16 was definitely more powerful than the NES but the NES was much more successful. Does make me wonder though. What was better? I'd say over all the NES has a lot more classics to choose from but then again it was so popular that there were so many more absolutely atrocious games on the NES and not as many of them on the TurboGrafx-16
NES came out 1983 . PCEngine 1987. So 4 years were the NES was alone on the market. How can you ignore that? Hudson soft as a NES developer became tired of all the chips it needed to put in the NES cartridges to extend the life of the NES.
"Is the TurboGrafx-16 Better Than the NES? - Retro Bird" In every conceivable technical way that I'm aware of, yes. In terms of the library of games, it's up for debate, although not on any technical level. in terms of sales, it got obliterated*. And, in terms of which one I'd rather have personally right now, it's the PC Engine without hesitation. I hope that answers about all the questions and curiosity people might have. *And, just to be clear, even if the PC Engine did randomly outsell the NES during a couple of months or whenever in Japan apparently, the NES ultimately sold over 19 million units there, while the PC Engine managed less that half of that at 8 million. So, yeah, the NES utterly dominated the PC Engine in terms of sales, even in Japan. Any claim that PC Engine wasn't totally dominated by the NES is really just pushing a false narrative. And it's best not to try and bend history like that imo. I've seen a little too much of that happening around some of these retro consoles in recent times, and I'm not a fan of it at all.
your wife in the banana costume at the convention was so funny. you should get her in your videos in some way. i mean, one goofy wholesome nerd is good. but two goofy wholesome nerds? your wife deserves to donkey kong.
I love the NES and if ultimately I had to choose I would pick it over the PCE, however I treasure my TurboDuo and handful of HuCards and CD-ROM games. That also looked like the Mini in your first pan shot of the system.
Great video! As an owner of a TG-16, I don’t really know much about the great games in the PC engine library. Would you do a “best of” video or series for the PC Engine?
Turbo Grafx 16 fans get salty when you even hint at TG16 being an 8bit console. I think they did it a huge disservice trying to pass it as a 16bit console because it wouldn't be a fair competition. Most American's aren't aware that the TG16 in Japan was released to compete with the Famicom... not the Genesis or the Super Nintendo... and it did quite well, and persisted to do well a considerable time into the 16bit generation (In Japan). The PC Engine has a massive library and it was bleeding edge technology for it's time. It was a big mistake to bring it to the US when they did and try to brand it as a 16bit console because it was really a sheep in wolfs clothing when presented that way and it didn't take long for the American consumer to figure this out. This isn't a slam at the TG16/PC Engine... this is a slam at the American marketing decisions. From a technology standpoint, the PC Engine stood apart from the Famicom as much as the Famicom stood apart from the Atari 2600, and was the earliest home gaming console to have a CD-ROM. To further pour gasoline on the fire for marketing, the system was priced higher than its competition... they made it unnecessarily large, they didn't do simple inexpensive things they could have like adding a second controller port and the box art is comically bad for most titles compared to the Japanese cover art which is some of the best of it's time. If NEC had found a way to release this in the US in 1988 a year after it did in Japan and only a year AFTER we got the NES... we might be looking at a completely different landscape of video games than we have today and its a timeline we'll never get to see sadly. I absolutely love the TG16/PC Engine, and it is a marvel what they were able to achieve in it's proper generation, and although when decided to put it into the 16big category and it was the clear loser to that competition... it still really shined and deserves credit for lasting as long as it could have.
If we look at the different regions, the PC Engine gave the Famicom more of a run for its money than the TurboGrafx-16 did the NES. Of course, that was primarily due to how Nintendo of America had an iron grip on third parties. Also, NEC made some less than ideal choices when marketing the TurboGrafx-16 in North America. It could have been a serious contender (it was in Japan) since its hardware was better than the Famicom's/NES'. It's a great system that has gotten some of the recognition it deserves in the last couple of decades (possibly more) in the retro scene.
Games played: DuckTales (0:00), Batman (0:15), Bonk 3 (0:55), Soldier Blade (2:25), Gate of Thunder (3:20), Parasol Stars (5:00), Splatterhouse (6:00), Air Zonk (6:30), Castlevania III (7:00), Bucky O'Hare (8:39)
I was gonna suggest naming the games being played in the video. Then I saw this comment :) silly me
I have to admit that Gate of Thunder really impressed me.
The background felt like a 3D stereoscopic or something.
There is no way anybody can convince me that Bonks Adventure for regular NINTENDO is better than the TURBOGRAFX-16 version.
😮 glad to find you!
R-Type was impressive at the time.
TG-16 if you love shooters. NES if you like platformers. Both, now you’re speaking my language!
Was about to type pretty much the same! 😆
Exactly. I feel like they compliment each other well.
Absolutely 👍
Emulator with everything
Both: Contra.
I used to look forward to Fridays because it meant the work week was over. But now it's just because I get to watch a new RetroBird video.
😂 I just found his video and I like him! I'm trying to get monetized too
The TurboGarfx-16/PC-Engine is my all time favorite home console.
Did you like the express? I did. Street fighter 2 champion edition on the express was insane!
The pc engine would have been just as successful here. Had they released it alongside the NES and SMS in 1987-88. Instead, NEC decided to delay the western release (for Oliver a year!) based on focus groups showing that Americans like bigger boxes. So TG16 had to compete with the likes, the Sega Genesis. When SNES was rumored to be coming out, TG16 was dead.
The turbografx 16 versions of splatterhouse and vigilante are practically arcade perfect :-)
Between them both I favored the TG16 over the NES. The lineup for the NES was plentiful and the most common in my group of friends. The TG16 was the hidden jem with limited, but awesome games.
Wait are you talking Gabbonese? That Gabbo guy got mentioned in a Retro Bird video? Wow, happiness, now I can die in peace 🙌👏🙏🎉
The TG Duo holding a knife to the Saturn really got me. 😂
The PC Engine is an historic video entertainment juggernaut. IMO there is no comparison between it and the NES. The PC Engine with CD ROM² attachment even outshined the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo on occasion. Just look at Castlevania Dracula X Rondo Of Blood or Ys Book I&II or Gate Of Thunder/Lords Of Thunder or Blazing Lasers/Gunhed or Ninja Spirit or Ginga Fukei Densetsu Sapphire..... the list goes on and on with such EPIC titles! Let's be real; the PC Engine is the first true 16-bit console and should be celebrated as such.
You know well what are you talking about
When I got the cd add-on for the TurboGrafx way back in the day, it absolutely blew my f*cking mind. I was only 10 or 11 at the time, it was the most futuristic thing I’ve ever seen. My friends couldn’t wait to get to my house after school.
Agreed
From a technical standpoint, that's absolutely true. But from a library breadth standpoint, I'd take the NES every day. Of course, I'm very much a platformer/RPG guy, so there's a ton to love on NES. If I could *read* more PC Engine RPGs, though, I'd probably give it more of a nod. It would certainly have been interesting to see if it had managed to take off when it was here in the States.
No "on occasion." More like a worthy competitor.
This is such an underrated channel. It’s funny and the way you record the crt screen while highliting the console’s controller is genius. Earned a sub!
I was the only kid in my neighborhood with a TurboGrafx. I got into a couple of schoolyard fights defending its honor against the Genesis. But I feel like it’s an apples to oranges comparison. I love the TurboGrafx because it’s a shooter’s fan heaven, and it has so many games that are just plain weird, which I think is kinda cool. But the NES has such a massive library covering every genre. I don’t know man, I love them both I guess.
I had one with 6-7 games, my whole family used it every day for years. Hew man fu was a favorite, so was blazing lazers.
I was in the same boat, accepted I just told them to come over and try it. I had everything BUT the CD attachment, it was just a bit too much for my parents, I remember the whole purchase was just a bit shy of a grand. I had to pass my black belt testing to get it, but after months of drooling they did come through mostly.
Everyone that played it fell in love with the system, though it helped that I had Bonks Adventures and, of course, Splatter House.
The tragedy to me was, at least, were I lived, the system was only sold at a small mall outlet electric store that was notoriously expensive and only one location in driving distance. The NES, on the other hand, was in Walmarts everywhere, the games so prolific that Walgreens even sold them, and the system and all basic accessories costs was something like a third or quarter of the price of the TB-16!
I'm 44. I've been dipping my toes into retro gaming over the last few months and devouring a ton of RUclips retrospectives on the topic, and possibly the most bewildering thing throughout this process has been the fact that I'm only learning about HuCard technology for the first time in 2024. It says a lot about how bad the TurboGrafx rollout was in the US, and I feel gypped! PC Engine was badass! 😩
I like Zelda, but I like Y's even more, especially with the Turbo CD soundtrack.
Retro Bird is the coolest crazy guy ever.
I found retro birds burner account
@@dennisrees9615 must be epic.
In spite of the 8-bit CPU, I consider TG-16 to be a 16-bit gen console. Its graphics/sound are closer to genesis/SNES quality, especially the CD games. That said, I love both for what they did best.
it has a 16 bit graphic processor
It has a 8bit CPU to run code directly from cartridge. Physical connectors are really expensive. 8088 probably was too expensive? And 68008 even more? With graphics it is clear which assets you need. Somehow code is a mystery for gamedevs . But the CPU only has 64k address space. So it can’t even pull code randomly from the cartridge! The page registers are bigger than the CPU. They should rather have added real address registers to be used with those addressing modes.
Yeah, and the number of 'bits' really isn't the deciding factor for how powerful it is. The PC Engine CPU can even at times arguably outshine the Mega Drive one. It's also nice that developers who knew how to code for the 6502-based NES could also easily jump over to making PC Engine games.
@@BasementBrothers why not the 65816 from 1983?
I had a TG16. It was a step below the genesis and SNES. It couldn’t compete with the NES on quality and quantity of games. But it was a in- betweener for the 8 and 16 bit generations.
My first Turbo Grafx game was Keith Courage. Mind blowing at the time.
If you like 2D, and have explored Nintendo and Sega, you have to try the TG-16. Getting the mini console was one of the best purchases I've ever made.
I picked up an Analog Duo. I've been burning CD-ROM games for it. I also own a TG-16, but I only have 9 physical games for it.
Oh sweet, I thought there wasn’t an upload this week! Appreciate you managing to upload so frequently making the quality of videos you do.
I never got to play a TurboGrafx-16 as a kid, but I do remember seeing marketing for it when it released and it was way ahead of its time. Though, I didn't know the PC Engine was actually in a tighter race with Nintendo in Japan. I slightly prefer the NES overall, but I've played the TurboGrafx-16/CD and it is a fantastic console as well. As a huge shmup fan, I appreciate the sheer amount of shmups to choose from!
Just to provide a bit of context to the sales, what happened was that the Famicom had reached a point of market saturation after having been out for as long as it had. By 1987, most people who wanted a Famicom had one. Then there was the disk system add on that not everyone got. When the PC Engine was new, some people were ready to move on from the Famicom. So the PCE benefited from being new and there was more room for sales growth and the possibility of beating Nintendo in some monthly sales. It's possible that PCE software may have beaten Famicom games as well in certain months. Something like R-Type would be the kind of game that could do it as it was really impressive when it was new and was considered a system seller. The Famicom sold way more units overall, but after it had been out for several years, there was room for an emerging competitor to outsell it as it reached the later stages of its life cycle. And Nintendo was concerned enough to try to divert attention from these competitors, but also was strong enough in the market to know their next system would be a big hit in Japan.
TG16 was my favorite system as a kid. But having only one controller port and the lack of games really made it a niche system. Yet Bonk is still my favorite game of all time. And HuCards are still the best cartridge format ever invented.
I'm a huge TG16 fan! I actually did a collection vid last year, and loved people's reaction to it. These days, there are a TON of people that have never heard of the console, let alone played it. I consider it in an in between generation. Firmly between the NES and Genesis/SNES era, it was really cool. Awesome video... I hope this leads people to checking out some of the amazing titles like Ninja Spirit, Blazing Lazers, Neutopia, Legendary Axe, and of course Splatterhouse!
That's a tough question. the TG16 its was mostly for shooters, but has great platformers games too. To this day its still an awesome console. The main problem was the distribution.
I knew & played TG16 around 1991 and I liked it a lot.
If this console was well distributed worldwide, I'm very sure it would put a very serious fight on the 16bit era.
The Turbo/PCE is awesome. The ability to display so many colors at once and handle scrolling so smoothly coupled with a strong sprite limit helps it punch way above its weight class, and lets it feel like a 16 bit console no matter what the specs say.
Library-wise, yeah, NES just has more, but once the Japanese stuff gets into the mix, it's a lot closer. Still a clean win for the NES, but life's a lot better with both.
I love this attitude!
But isn’t it a pity that most of this 16 sprites circuitry idles most of the time? If there was at least zoom as on C64, we could have had many pseudo 3d racing games.
@@ArneChristianRosenfeldt I truly don't know how the hardware is inefficient to be honest. All I know for sure is that I enjoy a lot of games for both!
TG-16/PCE has one of the most fascinating game libraries, very few games from it get modern ports and I'd love to play so many cool games from it :) I wish they'd made the TG/PCE mini library as a retro compilation like those MD/Genesis compilations for consoles after the Mini sold out.
I love the PC-Engine mini. Especially since it was backed by Konami. If a collection was released it would probably be Hudson games or what is licensed for the system. That’s usually the advantage of having a mini for 3rd party licensed games.
Today I learned that Retro Bird has BBQ sauce running through his veins. Bet that's one tasty bird! Duck Hunt, anyone?
I regret missing out on the TG mini when it was available. Great vid as always!
Grew up in the 80s. Had a 7800 and nintendo and snes and genesis and gameboy and gamegear. Never even knew anyone that had a turbo graphics 16.
There is always a moment in all your vodeos at which I just burst to laughter and smash the like... In this case it's been the appearance of the snes controller modified to mimic the level of comfort of the nes one... Great stuff!
In 89 was looking at the TG-16 vs Sega Genesis
If I had played Rondo of Blood on the PC Engine CD at the time of release I would have thought it was the greatest game of all time.
Yes exactly this!
The TurboGrafx-16 has wonderful games that are fun. But I love the NES more and I played many games of both of these wonderful gaming consoles NES and TurboGrafx-16 are amazing and fun. Cool video. ^_^
I'm a 90s kid from Brazil who didn't know about TurboGrafx16. Pretty nice video, man!
I grew up with Atari and NES but never got my hands on a TG-16. I remember seeing magazine ads for Splatterhouse and how awesome that game looked compared to nes games. No stores in my area ever carried it though, and that includes rental stores. Oh and keep up the good work on these videos as I genuinely look forward to my weekly retro fix from you!
I ended up trading my TG16 for a 32X back in the day because TG16 games were hard to come by in Canada, and I really wanted Virtua Fighter and Virtua Racing which didn't disappoint like Keith Courage did.
TurboGrafx16 needed good action games and sports games to compete with Nintendo. But should came with the Supergrafx components to compete with Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo.
If you're talking about sales and size of library, of course the NES wins. But if you're talking about performance, even the most basic configuration of PCE is far superior to the NES. Kind of like how the ColecoVision was a big step up from the Atari 2600.
PC Engine/Turbo Grafx is better but the masses went with the NES also price comes into play I’ve been blessed to see and have all from 1980-Now every console as well as thousands upon thousands of games what a life of gaming throughout the decades
Because the TG-16 was so expensive, I bought a Coregrafx system a few years ago with an Everdrive, and it allowed me to play many games it would have been difficult for me to play otherwise. Standout titles for me were:
The Bonk games and Keith Courage: Great side scrollers
Blazing Lazers: Awesome shoot-em-up that looks and plays great
Dragon Spirit: Same as on the NES, but prettier
Final Lap Twin: RPG where you battle enemies by racing against them!
and my favorite
Dragon's Curse: Wonderboy III on the TG-16! I didn't know about this game when I loaded it, and it hooked me to the end!
There are many others, of course.
PC Engine is such a fun system as far as exploring the library and discovering new things. Dragon Saber, the sequel to Dragon Spirit, is one of my favorites on the system. It's a good game and quite a solid port from the arcade original.
Shout out to Gabbo!
Bird is the word
I loved the Turbo Grafx 16 for its uniqueness. As for the mini consoles that’d been released in the prior years, the Turbo Grafx Mini had the largest game library in both US and Japanese titles
I want that Ghosts n' Gabbo!!!
While I did get a NES for Christmas in '88 or '89, I remember having a lot of fun playing Bonk's Adventure on my cousin's TurboGrafx 16. It's pretty interesting to view these consoles in hindsight, great video.
I remember Turbografx16. It has a special place in my heart. Something that was smart that the NEC did was ride the fame of the new Laser Disc technology. When CD's first came out, everyone loved them and considered it as high tech. Turbografx16 showed that some of there games were available on CD and people were eager to get one.
I loved my TG-16. Won it in a newspaper video game contest
Who’s got a banana? We need to tempt Retrobird out of hiding… 🍌
So I think the PC engine didn’t release here in the UK until 1990, didn’t really know about it at the time tbh 😂
That Gabbo pun 😂
It was for the people!
NES was my first console in '93. I didn't even know about the TG-16 until my late 20s. I think they're both great but I find myself going back to the NES a lot more since I'm not the biggest fan of shmups. They're fun for a little while.
Thanks for showing Air Zonk a lot!
You're welcome! It's one of my favorites.
Dude you are a riot
The PC Engine is most likely going to be my next investment. It’s undeniably a good time. I’m also most likely going to get the Duo as well. Straight forward and I think it looks nice
Whenever I hit play on your videos I stop and ask myself: do I deserve to Donkey Kong?
My brain shot me back to very early formative days when I saw that Viewmaster pop on screen. 😂😂😂
I enjoy TG16, and own one today...the light Western influence on the library made it something unique, and the shooter library is iconic...
I could see why they had to change the name in the US. PC Engine sounds more like a dev kit than a console.
Had a TG-16 growing up in the early 90's. Was my first official console. We had 3 video stores located in a 1km radius and only 1 of them had TG16 games to rent. I owned few games for it but happened to try Silent Debuggers, Military Madness and Splatterhouse which are 5 star games for the console back in like 1992.
Retro Bird The Man, The Myth, The Legend. Not enough credit given to this channel. Eat your Nanner's and Get on my Lawn. LoL
You, sir, deserve to Donkey Kong!
Great video! I never owned a TG16 but was also fascinated by the console when seeing it as a kid in the stores.
I couldn’t agree more! I have always thought of the turbo grafx as a NES on steroids.
Where ma bird at
I bought a TG16 in 1990 with my own money, it was the first gaming purchase I ever made and also the first brand new gaming anything I ever had. I had a couple of hand-me-down devices like an Atari 2600 in 1983 and a Coleco Adam Computer in 1987 that played games from Colecovision cartridges and also tape games. Never had an NES, but played tons of it at friends houses
I know I'm late to comment on this particular video; but thoroughly enjoyed it. I never got to play the TurboGrafx back in it's heyday; ( since I was mainly an NES kid growing up.) But I was always fascinated by this console that existed somewhere between the NES the Genesis. I remember playing it at a kiosk at a KB Toys as a kid (with Bonks Adventure being the only playable game.) It was only as an adult that I saw Rondo of Blood, as well as Alien Crush; and Devils Crush; (not to mention the PC Engine ports of Splatter house and R-Type) That I really felt that we had missed out on something special in the U.S. Plus, I just found the Hucard format to be something nearly otherworldly for the time.
In a word, no. However TG-16 does something very unique, it fits almost perfectly between nes and snes.
TG16/PCE has been a massive point of interest to me. Never seen one before outside of videos and pictures, and even though I'm horrible at them, I love me some shoot-em-ups, so it's been on my gaming bucket list for quite a while now. I think I'm with you on the controller too, that 2 button one just looks right.
I respect the PC-Engine/TurboGrafx-16, I've thought about getting one many different times. Unfortunately, the library just doesn't woo me with a lot of exclusives, or games I'm into. I like shoot 'em ups at a casual level, the R-Types, Galaga's, those sort. While there is R-Type and Galaga '90 on the TGX, their both over $150 Canadian each. Aside from that, I don't like other shoot 'em ups, so the others don't interest me. A couple cool platformers, but nothing I'm desperate to play or something I can't play elsewhere. NES wins in this comparison, honestly, most popular consoles win in comparison, simply because of that lacklister library.
That was a major problem back then. Marketing. If it wasn't in the states chances are hardly anyone new about the PC Engine.
I own a pristine NA TG16 with the CD attachment and I love it. I did have to replace the aged CD gear (did that by myself) and send it off to someone else to replace the CD eye. I also have the Turbo Everdrive and I can play any game from all regions. This is an amazing console that I enjoy very much. This is a great comparison video. Thank you. Would have liked to see a comparison of various TG16 knockoff games... Neutopia/Zelda, for example (The most obvious one.)
I'm considering getting one of these if i can find one in person. I prefer not to buy things online if i can avoid it. But i was born in 91, the only systems i ever owned were Nintendo, playstation or xbox. The only sega thing i owned was a gamegear. Now that I'm an adult I want to drastically expand my collection with more consoles. I've always loved consoles and i would just love to have as many as i can get my hands on
I saw a T16 in toys r us and was fascinated. I begged my mom to get it for my bday, and got it instead of a Genesis (which my friends scorned me for harshly). I got Cadash, Bonk 2, and Neutopia along with Keith Courage (came with console). We had a blast and two of my friends ended up grabbing one shortly after.
Kinda feel like the Master System should’ve been included in this one…
I actually did think about this. I felt like there was a lot to tackle as it was though.
@@RetroBirdGaming Maybe do Master System vs Mega Drive. It already wins with better Sonic games than its big brother.
9:46 you don't deserve to Donkey Kong....with that controller!
the thumbtacks got a good laugh out of me 😂
I did a little bit of PC Engine collecting about 10 years ago. I picked up a few base systems, and a bunch of games. There's something so interesting about the PCE that I'm more willing to try some random games, which I have done in both games I purchased and stuff I tried through emulation. I've long thought that the two year gap between the release in Japan hurt it, along with other things. In Japan, the PCE was the first home system to make the first impression for the types of games we would associate with the 16-bit era(arcade style visuals) and did so a year before the Mega Drive. In the US, it basically launched at the same time as the Genesis and didn't have a year head start to impress people. In the US, for most people, it was the Genesis that made that first impression for 16-bit and helped it in the market. But as for PCE vs. Famicom/NES, the PCE library is less balanced. For shooter fans, it's like a paradise. Personally, I don't enjoy most NES shooters either, so it's not even close there. Other genres are more sparse compared to the NES, so a case could definitely made for the NES as well. Batman for the NES, shown in the video, is one of my favorites along with the likes of Shatterhand and Power Blade, and the PCE doesn't have anything quite like that. But there's a lot of quality stuff on the PCE and it's a fun system in general.
Shatterhand and Powerblade are quite unique, they were made very late into the life of the NES, I call these NES 2.0 games, which have 0 to do with the ancient looking junk that is Zelda 1 or Mario Bros. NES 2.0 was so good at times, it often had games impossible on the SNES. I don't think Power Blade could be made on the SNES, it does not have enough CPU power for it. The Mega Drive could do these games, but somehow nobody at Sega decided to get good platformers to the MD.
I love this system the entire library is a hidden gem. I highly recommend getting the Analogue DUO instead of getting the old hardware.
Not only is the retro hardware more expensive but the capacitors and disc drives of this generation are horrible and all need refurbishment.
The white PC Engine is having no ageing issues at all, you can find it for 50-75 bucks, and since it has a EXTbus, you can still make it run CD games from an SD card and output clean RGB video. No need to overspend on a DUO.
I LOVE me some Rondo of Blood! Never got a chance to explore the TG-16 beyond that and Neutopia, though.
Started with Atari and arcades, NES made me a gamer for life, and the TurboGrafx 16 made me go WOW for the first time! Intro to Ys I & II anyone?
It's hard collecting for it, I got the system a cpl years back I don't buy online I go to retro stores play on og hardware software, but it's such a cool system I didn't even know about it I was an nes kid then sega never heard of it I was only 5 when the nes dropped...it's a great system
I remember noticing as a kid how good the graphics were but because I lived in America, I didn't see as many great games for it as the NES. Also, I think by the time I was aware of it, stuff like the SNES and Genesis were out
the turbografx has been in the back of my head as a console that i wanted to pick up but i could never justify it. while there are a couple diamonds in the rough like rondo of blood and bonk, the library just seems lacking compared to other consoles in the 80s and 90s.
Especially of you go Japanese, it's completely loaded with great games. The US library being much smaller still has a very high percentage of quality games. If I was looking to start a new collection right now, the worry wouldn't be the library- it's great. It'd be the disproportionately high cost. Especially US stuff (and some Japanese) is pretty overpriced right now. For most folks, emulating or the mini is probably the way to go. If you don't mind the price, though, and if you like arcade-style games, it's a fantastic library.
The question of which console is better could keep a person up at night.
I love how Donkey Kong became a verb. Donkey Konging deserves it.
You don't deserve to Donkey Kong
Still, donkey konging is jumping over barrels on magenta girders and climbing ladders. Not a horizontal version of Minion Rush: collecting banana's on 3 different "tracks" while avoiding some barrels making a monkey sound.
In hardware, yes!
Woah, never been this early to a Bird video! Can't wait to watch
I love both consoles but I have a special soft spot for the Turbo Grafix. The only problem with the Turbo was that a lot of the best games weren’t realized outside of Japan, but now that we have the internet and emulation, you can play the entire library. I would recommend Rondo of Blood, Blazing Lasers, Ninja Spirit, Salamander (Lifeforce), Splatterhouse, all of the Bonk games, Yokai Dochuuki, Devil’s Crush, Gekisha Boy, and Be Ball (Chew Man Fu in the west).
I think it really comes down to the game library. The NES had a really great game library, and the TG-16 had more impressive graphics and hardware. Wish I could have had both as a kid, but if I could only have one system, I'm glad it was the NES.
Loved playing the TG-16 at my buddies house during elementary school as I had a SNES & Genesis at the time, but haven't played it since. That's about to change though as I just picked up the adapter for my Analogue Pocket, though I don't be able to play the CD games.
Retrobird come back! Where are you?
I had a community post letting everyone know I was taking a break. I will be back soon though!
@@RetroBirdGaming who reads on RUclips?! I'm here to watch videos and write angry comments.
I've always considered the TG-16 to be like a hybrid of NES and Genesis.
I would say depends on the type of industrial scale. Both systems could do far more than software companies pushed them to. However the graphics of the TG16 were next generation
Sometimes popular doesn't necessarily mean better. The TurboGrafx-16 was definitely more powerful than the NES but the NES was much more successful. Does make me wonder though. What was better? I'd say over all the NES has a lot more classics to choose from but then again it was so popular that there were so many more absolutely atrocious games on the NES and not as many of them on the TurboGrafx-16
NES came out 1983 . PCEngine 1987. So 4 years were the NES was alone on the market. How can you ignore that? Hudson soft as a NES developer became tired of all the chips it needed to put in the NES cartridges to extend the life of the NES.
"Is the TurboGrafx-16 Better Than the NES? - Retro Bird"
In every conceivable technical way that I'm aware of, yes. In terms of the library of games, it's up for debate, although not on any technical level. in terms of sales, it got obliterated*. And, in terms of which one I'd rather have personally right now, it's the PC Engine without hesitation. I hope that answers about all the questions and curiosity people might have.
*And, just to be clear, even if the PC Engine did randomly outsell the NES during a couple of months or whenever in Japan apparently, the NES ultimately sold over 19 million units there, while the PC Engine managed less that half of that at 8 million. So, yeah, the NES utterly dominated the PC Engine in terms of sales, even in Japan. Any claim that PC Engine wasn't totally dominated by the NES is really just pushing a false narrative. And it's best not to try and bend history like that imo. I've seen a little too much of that happening around some of these retro consoles in recent times, and I'm not a fan of it at all.
I got a PC Engine with a Super HD System 3 Pro to play practically the entire library via roms. Amazing system
Lots of good stuff to play through!
I'm scanning Etsy for that Super Nintendo controller mod. So cool!
your wife in the banana costume at the convention was so funny. you should get her in your videos in some way. i mean, one goofy wholesome nerd is good. but two goofy wholesome nerds?
your wife deserves to donkey kong.
I love the NES and if ultimately I had to choose I would pick it over the PCE, however I treasure my TurboDuo and handful of HuCards and CD-ROM games.
That also looked like the Mini in your first pan shot of the system.
Great video! As an owner of a TG-16, I don’t really know much about the great games in the PC engine library. Would you do a “best of” video or series for the PC Engine?
I think of it like the Saturn and N64. Not a lot of depth, but the short list of greats are truly great.
I love the Turbo. Good Lord, though. If you want to collect for it... hope you won the lotto.
Turbo Grafx 16 fans get salty when you even hint at TG16 being an 8bit console.
I think they did it a huge disservice trying to pass it as a 16bit console because it wouldn't be a fair competition.
Most American's aren't aware that the TG16 in Japan was released to compete with the Famicom... not the Genesis or the Super Nintendo... and it did quite well, and persisted to do well a considerable time into the 16bit generation (In Japan).
The PC Engine has a massive library and it was bleeding edge technology for it's time. It was a big mistake to bring it to the US when they did and try to brand it as a 16bit console because it was really a sheep in wolfs clothing when presented that way and it didn't take long for the American consumer to figure this out.
This isn't a slam at the TG16/PC Engine... this is a slam at the American marketing decisions.
From a technology standpoint, the PC Engine stood apart from the Famicom as much as the Famicom stood apart from the Atari 2600, and was the earliest home gaming console to have a CD-ROM.
To further pour gasoline on the fire for marketing, the system was priced higher than its competition... they made it unnecessarily large, they didn't do simple inexpensive things they could have like adding a second controller port and the box art is comically bad for most titles compared to the Japanese cover art which is some of the best of it's time.
If NEC had found a way to release this in the US in 1988 a year after it did in Japan and only a year AFTER we got the NES... we might be looking at a completely different landscape of video games than we have today and its a timeline we'll never get to see sadly.
I absolutely love the TG16/PC Engine, and it is a marvel what they were able to achieve in it's proper generation, and although when decided to put it into the 16big category and it was the clear loser to that competition... it still really shined and deserves credit for lasting as long as it could have.
If we look at the different regions, the PC Engine gave the Famicom more of a run for its money than the TurboGrafx-16 did the NES. Of course, that was primarily due to how Nintendo of America had an iron grip on third parties. Also, NEC made some less than ideal choices when marketing the TurboGrafx-16 in North America. It could have been a serious contender (it was in Japan) since its hardware was better than the Famicom's/NES'. It's a great system that has gotten some of the recognition it deserves in the last couple of decades (possibly more) in the retro scene.