15th June 2022, 9:00 PM
I like the Turbografx a lot, it's a fantastic console! It's one of my favorite classic consoles. Of course, I'd still put it in fourth place for its generation (behind the SNES, Genesis, and Game Boy, in some order), but it's still in my top five all time. The N64 is my favorite console, but considering all consoles of a generation combined (and NOT counting the PC), I'd say that the fourth gen era edges out the fifth since I like the other fourth-gen consoles a whole lot more than the Saturn, PS1, et al. Including the PC the fight gen era wins, but either way it was an amazing era for games and the PCE/TG16 has a pretty large library of really interesting and good games.
The main thing the TG16 library has going for it is the overall best shmup library on any classic console, and perhaps arguably on any console ever. I like shmups so this is a pretty strong point in its favor. The main point going against the TG16's library are its platformers. Rondo of Blood is absolutely amazing, but after that the platformer library drops off, FAST. Hudson's platformers on the system peak out at 'pretty good'. The Bonk series are pretty good. They probably reach the lower end of the A grade of games, I like them for sure and highly recommend getting the first two Bonk games at least. But they aren't original or innovative and compared to Mario World or Sonic and feel decidedly last-gen in design with slow movement and simple presentation. Hudson never really learned from that and over the '90s fell farther and farther behind Nintendo and Sega in the platformer genre. They tried, and did some interesting stuff (Bomberman 64 and Hero on the N64 were two of their last major attempts, for instance, before Hudson mostly gave up on platformers apart from some smaller projects), but couldn't match the best.
And considering that as far as platformers go Hudson was by far the most prolific and highest quality platformer developer on the TG16, that is an issue. The TG16 has an okay platformer library, with one top tier higt and several other great games (the Bonk trilogy mostly). But beyond that, while there are a good number of other platformers particularly on cartridge, most are pretty third gen in design and not exactly amazing. The CD platformer library is VERY thin, and I do NOT like the Valis series' gameplay at all so the four of those games aren't much of a plus in my book. This is a big issue for me because when it comes to fourth gen console games, platformers are my overall favorite genre and the genre I consider most important. Being clearly behind in the most important genre is the main reason why I have the TG16 in fourth for its gen.
But even so, the TG16 is a fantastic console I love to play and collect for so congrats for buying one! I have a lot of TG16 games... or, well, mostly PCE / PCECD games, my US library's not huge because of how expensive American TG16 games are... but regardless it's a system that I don't only buy games for, but I play more often than most of my consoles I've owned for a long time.
The US TG16 uses a version of full sized DIN. You can get adapters between the two, but honestly there is little reason to use the American controller. I pretty much exclusively use a NEC Avenue 6 pad for this system (with a DIN to Mini-DIN adapter since remember, I have a region-modded US TG16 with US Turbo CD), it's a pretty good controller and easily my favorite of the controllers I have for the system. I have regular two button controllers, both US and Japanese, but almost never use them.
As for those other systems you mention, as much as I like Neo-Geo games and have for decades, it's a system I still don't own; the sheer expense of the thing \has always caused me to stay away from buying a real one and to stick to just buying lots of ports of Neo-Geo games for various old and new consoles. Someday I'll probably buy a real one though I don't know if it'd really be worth it...
As for Atari, of course my personal favorite is the quite unpopular Atari 5200. I really like that thing and its game library. The 7800's kind of bad but is maybe worth having since it is fully 2600 backwards compatible. The Jaguar's a mess of a system with lots of issues but I subjectively quite like it anyway.
The main thing the TG16 library has going for it is the overall best shmup library on any classic console, and perhaps arguably on any console ever. I like shmups so this is a pretty strong point in its favor. The main point going against the TG16's library are its platformers. Rondo of Blood is absolutely amazing, but after that the platformer library drops off, FAST. Hudson's platformers on the system peak out at 'pretty good'. The Bonk series are pretty good. They probably reach the lower end of the A grade of games, I like them for sure and highly recommend getting the first two Bonk games at least. But they aren't original or innovative and compared to Mario World or Sonic and feel decidedly last-gen in design with slow movement and simple presentation. Hudson never really learned from that and over the '90s fell farther and farther behind Nintendo and Sega in the platformer genre. They tried, and did some interesting stuff (Bomberman 64 and Hero on the N64 were two of their last major attempts, for instance, before Hudson mostly gave up on platformers apart from some smaller projects), but couldn't match the best.
And considering that as far as platformers go Hudson was by far the most prolific and highest quality platformer developer on the TG16, that is an issue. The TG16 has an okay platformer library, with one top tier higt and several other great games (the Bonk trilogy mostly). But beyond that, while there are a good number of other platformers particularly on cartridge, most are pretty third gen in design and not exactly amazing. The CD platformer library is VERY thin, and I do NOT like the Valis series' gameplay at all so the four of those games aren't much of a plus in my book. This is a big issue for me because when it comes to fourth gen console games, platformers are my overall favorite genre and the genre I consider most important. Being clearly behind in the most important genre is the main reason why I have the TG16 in fourth for its gen.
But even so, the TG16 is a fantastic console I love to play and collect for so congrats for buying one! I have a lot of TG16 games... or, well, mostly PCE / PCECD games, my US library's not huge because of how expensive American TG16 games are... but regardless it's a system that I don't only buy games for, but I play more often than most of my consoles I've owned for a long time.
Quote: It doesn't matter which region you get, the controller cables are SHORT! Three feet... both the Famicom and the Super Famicom committed the same sin, but this one's unique in that it's true for the US as well. This one as well I could probably resolve by finding an extension cable and plugging the multitap into that.The Japanese PC Engine / US TurboDuo controllers use a plug called Mini-DIN. It is the same as a late '80s/early '90s AppleTalk cable. If you look for mini-DIN extension cables or appletalk cables it is easy to find them on ebay. I have one in early '90s Apple beige.
The US TG16 uses a version of full sized DIN. You can get adapters between the two, but honestly there is little reason to use the American controller. I pretty much exclusively use a NEC Avenue 6 pad for this system (with a DIN to Mini-DIN adapter since remember, I have a region-modded US TG16 with US Turbo CD), it's a pretty good controller and easily my favorite of the controllers I have for the system. I have regular two button controllers, both US and Japanese, but almost never use them.
As for those other systems you mention, as much as I like Neo-Geo games and have for decades, it's a system I still don't own; the sheer expense of the thing \has always caused me to stay away from buying a real one and to stick to just buying lots of ports of Neo-Geo games for various old and new consoles. Someday I'll probably buy a real one though I don't know if it'd really be worth it...
As for Atari, of course my personal favorite is the quite unpopular Atari 5200. I really like that thing and its game library. The 7800's kind of bad but is maybe worth having since it is fully 2600 backwards compatible. The Jaguar's a mess of a system with lots of issues but I subjectively quite like it anyway.