Remembering BT

Who remembers the Turbo List?

 

Many moons ago, the best way to stay in the Turbo loop was to be a member of the Turbo List mail group. Founding members BT Garner complete with conversations that carried on for many years with various members of the Turbo community. Even before PCEngineFX or Magic Engine forums, the Turbo List was the perfect way to trade games, talk secrets and share tips. 

--- Turbo List Information ---------------------------------------------

The File Server has thousands of bytes of information to help you get the 
most out of you system.  Send a message to the turbo-list-request address
with the command DIR for all the names file.  Use GET to access the file.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

For a trip back down memory lane, you can check out the digest archive at this link here!

I was such a Turbo nerd back in the day (and still am, proudly!) that I contributed a few times giving comments here and there, offering trades, and even attempted to write reviews for a couple games.  Oh my... I dug a bit, and found my very own review series... haha

I give you, the 1st of I believe 3 editions of "The Turbo Sage Speaks!"

-Welcome to the Turbo Sage Speaks.  #1  March 26, 2003

In todays column I would like to review a game.  Have you ever been interested in a good racing game for the Turbo Duo?  Racing games are one of the few dark spots for Turbo owners.  For how powerful this system was for its time, there should have been sweet racers for us to enjoy.  But alas we were treated to..... Victory Run. 

Key- ***********************

1.0 Stay far away from this pile!

2.0 Wow!  nothing special here.

3.0 May appeal to some.

4.0 For collectors

5.0 Average

6.0 Got some bright spots, but just not the best

7.0 This is worth playing, possibly owning

8.0 Very Special game indeed

9.0 Not just a game, an experience.

10 Perfection

The Game- Victory Run was a very difficult game.  Were you had to make it to checkpoints within the given time limits.  Sounds like just about every other racer made in the late 80's early 90's.  The further you went in the game the more money you got to spend on certain parts of your car.  Sort of like Gran Turismo.... Don't get excited yet.

The Sound-  Ok, Well The game sounds pretty much like older sounding Turbo games like JJ and Jeff or Keith Courage.  I found my self humming the tunes a bit so I can't say its all that bad.

The Grafx- This is were the game goes down hill. Ok, The Turbo was advertised as the first ever 16-bit monster.  But these grafx were not any better, if not worse than the NES's Rad Racer.  Matter of fact someone not in the know could think I was paying the Nintendo classic!

The Control- Not to say that it was great, but I really had no problem with the control.  Maybe if it were tweaked a bit the game could be more playable.  I have to say its a little irritating when the cars come flying across the screen at you when you can't even get out of the way.

Over all- After playing and failing at the game several times, I decided to hang up my driving boots.  I give this game a 4.0 out of 10 for a decent at best racer for the Turbo Duo.  Like the key says, if your looking for every single game, Victory Run ain't to bad.  You could find this slightly below average racer for less than $10 on ebay for sure.

Do you agree with my grades?  Let me know!

Turbo Sage Speaks out!

I am a Turbo Collector and major fan for over 8 years now.  I have just hit the 100 game mark recently and am very proud of it.  But aside from all of that I would like to talk today about Turbo ISO's.  Are they BAD or are they OK? 

My theory is this.  I consider ISO's a good way for people to keep their collectable and extremely expensive games in there protective cases.  I guess thats the rule right? Everyone that buys an ISO has to be buying them for back ups.  I have back ups for games like Dracula X and Y's I-IV.  And I think that its a good idea for the most part.

I also understand that some people just buy ISO's and have hundreds of them, and call themselfs Collectors.  To me I think this is LAME.  I think Collecting for Video game systems is the thrill of the hunt and finding the HUGE deals on Ebay or Message boards. 

I feel that ISO's have another use though.  Some games are extremely rare and cost an arm and a leg.  On top of that I'd be willing to bet that there aren't any places to rent Turbo Duo games.  To me renting is always a great way to see if you like a game enough to buy it.  So some could consider Buying an ISO for $2 a pop to be a good way to try out a game.  to see if its really worth spending $80 or more on.  I still will play it safe er Un-Safe and collect the old fashioned way.  Its a tuff hobby, but in the end it will be all worth it.  Sometimes you get burned- $75 for Sailor Moon Collection (YIKES) and sometimes you win big time- Dracula X, Snatcher, Shubibinman 3 bundle $97 ( A steal!!)  I know for me it probably evens out.

So long story short-  ISO's good for Backups.  ISO's bad for just buying and stocking up on them.  ISO's possibly good for trying out games you intend on buying.

That's the opinion of the Turbo Sage.

Check out these sites, I check them Daily-    www.darkcityproductions.com  www.pcenginefx.com

Thanks for reading, Next time I will Review The Turbo Classic Shock Man (Shubibinman 2 for PC Engine) and speak out about where I think the Torch was TRULY passed when the Duo Died in America.

TS (Joshua)

The Legend of .... Neutopia?

Neutopia gets a bad rap for being an unapologetic 'Zelda Clone' almost EVERY time it's brought up. I mean.. yeah- the visual similarities are pretty obvious and the gameplay style is very carefully copied from the original Zelda on the NES, but really... can we blame Hudson for trimming some of the most charming elements of the beloved Nintendo 

Well.. hold on now... How much of a Zelda clone really is our Turbo action RPG? The first Neutopia game developed for the PC Engine was released on November 17th, of 1989 then later brought to the US for the Turbografx-16. While no one should argue which came first as the original Zelda was released in February of 1986 which Neutopia takes most of it's inspiration from. Sure.  But, then in 1987, Nintendo developed the sequel - Zelda II: The Adventures of Link, and brought it to the US in 1988. Zelda II takes an entirely different spin on the action RPG genre as it has more in resemblance to games like Faxanadu or Legacy of the Wizard (Xanadu series).  

Was Nintendo taking the Zelda series in a different direction? Were they going to create a third Zelda game in the fashion of a 2D side scroller or traditional action/RPG?  We wouldn't find out until 1991 in Japan and 1992 in the US when Zelda returned to it's original form with the stellar "Link to the Past". 

It could actually be argued that Zelda III- A Link to the Past borrowed ideas and style from Hudson's Neutopia games while in development. I mean, Neutopia could be considered the evolution step between both Zelda (NES) and Zelda III (SNES). Perhaps Hudson did some of the work for them? Neutopia basically did everything that the original Zelda did, but better, and then Zelda III took those efforts and advanced them further... right?

Is any of this to be taken seriously as an argument on which series is better?... of course not, Neutopia is a fun 2 game series, but never truly holds a candle to the entire Legend of Zelda series.  What I truly needed was an excuse to share my recent playthrough of Neutopia II playlist below, so if you're really bored and want to see me play this game for hours on end, feel free to check it out and listen to my rambling about the series in the below playlist!  Thanks for reading!

Obeybrew PCE and Turbo Homebrew Tutorials and more!!

 Click here to check out Obeybrew's tutorials online!

Have you ever been interested in development for the Turbografx-16 or PC Engine game libraries? Do you have killer ideas and want to put them to fruition?  Then you should check out Obeybrew, a website put together by our very own Rover/Nodveidt of Mysterious Song and FX Unit Yuki fame. 

This site was last updated sometime in 2013 (as of this writing) so most of the links are no longer valid, so it's best to just stick to the tutorial section to get an idea of what you're doing, but feel free to bop around and see what you can discover!  Also, it wouldn't hurt to bug David to make an update to the site for all of those up-and-comers looking to develop using HuC. ;)

Dive in, become a developer and let's see what cool creations you can make for the beloved Turbografx/PC Engine! <3 

EVEN MORE HOMEBREW coming to Turbografx!!?!?

 

Homebrew Turbo developers have been churning out more and more frequent content on our beloved Turbo Machine, with most recent releases like Mindrec's VAX collection  which released earlier in 2022 on Super CD-rom2. There have been some serious home runs like Sarumaru's FX Unit Yuki, Bold Game Studio's Cleopatra's Curse, and the incredible Space Ava 201!! 

The excitement continues this fall with Billy's Bad Day on Turbografx (HuCard and TurboChip).  This will be the second official release on HuCard as most of the releases we've seen on Turbografx/PC Engine have been on CD. The first ever original release on Turbografx in the form of an "abCard" (special version of the HuCard) was Aetherbyte's Atlantean. 

Atlantean is an incredible shoot 'em up romp with right and left directional gameplay (similar to Defender) that includes an original soundtrack, some badass parallax scrolling and boss fights!  I completely suck at this game, and should spend some more time with it, but I'm told the further you get the more impressive the game gets!

Like Atlantean, Billy's Bad Day will be available in digital download AND physical release!  And the pre-orders are OPEN NOW!!  Jump in and grab a copy today!

If you'd like a teaser to see what the game is like, try this link to play a demo of one of the stages as well as check out some extras!  Click HERE

As you can see the box art and packaging looks incredible! All done by the very talented MegaBox Productions. If you have any manual or case needs you should definitely check them out!

Anthologies books on the horizon!

 

When it comes to publishers of classic video gaming tomes, there is none better than the French Geeks-Line Publishing! With a stable full of awesome retro gaming anthologies, you can trust in these guys developing and delivering a high quality page turning book.

Their latest campaign on Kickstarter is for an anthology on the NEC gaming systems that wowed us back in the day, the PC-Engine and its many iterations, aliases and also, the PC-FX. Check out the PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16 and PC-FX Anthology Kickstarter now and if you are a fan of their books or the PC-Engine family of gaming systems, then this we’d highly recommend you jump on this right now!

image source: Kickstarter

If you are undecided, read our review of Geeks-Line’s PlayStation Anthology to see what you could expect with their upcoming PC-Engine/TurboGrafx-16 & PC-FX Anthology.

Order of the Griffon review and... patch update?

Some of my all-time favorite gaming experiences growing up are with the classic SSI & TSR "Gold Box" Dungeons and Dragons adventure RPGs. I have fond memories of playing through Pool of Radiance which then got me hooked on the D&D world. So much that I read the collected Forgotten Realms books that correlated to the games! 

When I finally took the plunge into my beloved Turbo Duo universe I quickly sought out any and all RPG style games. I picked up Might and Magic III, Beyond Shadowgate, Dungeon Master: Theron's Quest and finally D&D Order of the Griffon! I was completely hooked on the gameplay style with excellent graphics, great puzzling dungeons, and fun strategic battles. BUT! One thing always bugged me about the game that kept it from truly being a top tier RPG for obey.  The EXCELLENT chip tunes had the strangest of bugs...  The music would at the strangest times totally glitch out and stop at the point of any action or sound effect.

   

Like for instance, while you're in a battle the music pumping out of your speakers rocks and gets you into the mood for WAR!  However, once you select an attack or magic spell and use one on an opponent the music comes to a halt.. and you're left.. in silence..  Often for many minutes while you're in a difficult battle. The music glitch even happens at the beginning of the game when you're selecting your party!  I really LOVE the soundtrack and wound up sitting still for quite a while to hear some of the cool chiptunes to completion, but most would never hear them fully with such a weird glitch. It's like, someone at SSI did playtest this right?

It was even pointed out in one of Spida1's more recent Turbo Views episodes in Turbo Views #120!  You can check out the review here:

In GREAT news, thanks to our awesome modder and homebrew community in the PC Engine scene you can check out a fix that was put together that corrects (most of) the music glitches in the game!  No longer do you have to fear that your awesome chiptunes will hault if you're attacking someone in a heated battle!  You can check out the ROM with the fixed game here!

Space Ava 201 lands on PC Engine and Turbografx Super CD!

 "Space Ava 201: Quantum Field Theory is a single-player puzzle-adventure game for the TurboGrafx-CD.  It features multiple turn-based gameplay styles, a huge array of levels, and a colorful cast of characters who travel across galaxies in order to save the world and reconnect with a lost friend.

Space Ava 201 requires the Super System Card, a PC Engine Duo, a Turbo Duo, or some other compatible system, or it can also be played on an appropriately-configured emulator. Enhancements are available when run on the SuperGrafx or using the Arcade Card, but neither are required to enjoy the game."

Find out more information about Space Ava 201, and get a download link to the game here!

PC Engine Micro PCエンジンPT ???

                           

Not sure how many of you are following the brilliant twitter account for   にわ＠チャンネル,   and this amazing discovery of a MICRO PCE!!  A handheld device is being worked on in his freetime to bring an amazing quality produced PCE handheld Micro!  The build looks to use a mold inspired by the original PCE/Turbo controller look and feel!  Follow the twitter account above to stay on top of this information for this incredible new gadget!   https://twitter.com/NIWAchannel 

 

Cotton: Fantastic Night Dreams Remasters are HERE!!

After nearly two years in production Dark City Productions is ready to ship copies of Cotton: Remastered by Haze!  Limited release is kicking off THIS WEEK with a certain amount of countries getting to the top of the list while others will have to hang tight for a bit. Regardless of when and where you'll get to experience this juicy update to the PCE/Turbo Super CD classic, it's time to celebrate with yet another awesome project from the man himself!

All of the awesome tracks have also been set aside for our CD-players on disc for us to cruise around with awesome disc done by the ever talented Sarumaru! If you have any interest in this project you better head over to DCP ASAP and get your copy today!  For ordering info - Check Here!

Farland Story FX Translation in Progress!

 Great news in the PC-FX scene!

Over at our little group on social media at We <3 PC-FX some amazing news came out about a guy working on a translation of one of the best RPGs on PC-FX!  Farland Story FX is being worked on for the English speakers dreaming to one day play through an FX RPG!

"Love to share with you guys first-hand something I've been working on. As a side-hobby I've been learning Japanese for the last two months and thought I could help the community with a English translation of Farland Story FX. I've been working on this for the past month and have reached a stage where I am comfortable to share it with others. If you would like to try it yourself, apply delta patch to your own CD ripped through TurboRip. "

The file is available within that FB group with encryption key. 

The Original poster mentioned; "I think I have spotted most of the text in the binary, I've played till stage 6 and all seems to be well. I will continue play it though to double check. I've also been able to replace some of the graphics tiles for the ingame menu words. However FMV remain untranslated, and the audio only dialogue still remains. Hope you like it!"

Keith Courage Action Figure Box Set coming Feb 2020!

Hot on the heels of the Turbografx Mini coming in 2020 Konami has announced a rare pre-order bonus for those lucky to grab the offer off Amazon last year!

The Nova Suit was made famous in the game Keith Courage that happens to also be the original pack-in game with the Turbografx-16 when it hit state side in 1989. The release was infamous for being rather underwhelming in pushing the limits of the new "16-bit" console stateside. Aside from the goonie overworld area that Keith romped around killing cheese cheetahs and picking up coins to buy stuff from shops, the Nova Suit section proved to be pretty exciting and offered challenging gameplay. Many fans of the game wished the entire game was made up of Nova Suit levels!

TurboGrafx16 mini, PCEngine mini, CoreGrafx mini Due out in March!

It's coming quickly and I am getting very excited! It's coming with 57 games already installed. They are taking pre-orders on Amazon for 99.99 without an adapter and 119.99 with an adapter.

The system uses a standard USB adapter and if your like me you have 10 of those adapters just lying around the house. So you wouldn't need an adapter. It also comes with the system and a controller.

Extra controllers and Turbotaps are sold separately for 24.99 and 29.99. I'm going to hold off on the extra controllers until I see if other USB controllers work as I have 4 of those as well.

But what a great deal. Basically getting the system all playable out of the box for about $1.75 per game. Plus if it's like the other mini systems, you will probably be able to load up every single game ever made for the system. We will talk about that later. It's just a great deal as is. Order your TurboGrafx Mini 99.99 Order your TurboGrafx Mini for 119.99 adapter included

Cosmic Fantasy 2 for 3ds using RPG Maker FES

Hello everyone. Windancer here. It has been a very longtime. I've been working on a 3ds version of Cosmic Fantasy 2 for 3ds using RPG Maker FES. So far I'm really happy with the way it's turning out. 

RPG Maker FES is a bit limited as you cannot make your own assets such as music and sprites. But it comes with quite a few sound files and sprites that I think will get the job done.

So far I have mapped up to where you meet Medoshi Darva and the game is actually playable up to where you fight against Wizda. I'm having a great time doing it so far and I think it's looking good. At my current rate the game should be available to download sometime in March.

If you own a 3ds. All you need to do is download the RPGMaker player from the Eshop, it's a free app. You can then login to the RPGMAKER servers and download many, many free fanmade games by some talented storytellers. There's alot of unfinished games but quite a few finished. Well worth the download. Hopefully if all goes well Cosmic Fantasy will be available in March. Happy Gaming everyone I'm back!

Lastly, I'm so excited to get my hands on the Turbografx mini which comes out in March. I pre-ordered 3 of them. 1 for me of course and the other 2 as gifts for my kids. Let the bomberman wars commence! Pre-order yours at Amazon today!

Where have the forums gone?

It's been a pretty wild ride in the world of OBEY over the last year and a half. Our beloved pcenginefx.com forums have officially been closed (left in read only mode likely forever) after a bit of chaotic admin actions. Now where do we go to chat? Seems that a large chunk of us migrated over to random social media groups like Facebook to seek out conversation and trades, however it should be noted that two excellent sources of forum chatter have risen from the ashes!

One option is over at Sunteam Paul's PC Engine Software Bible forums at http://pcengine.proboards.com/  was the first to take a stand amidst the fall of pcenginefx. Many members that were banished from the forums landed here and the community is still going strong. Now it should be noted that this forum is a fresh start and only has history going back to 2018, so if you're looking for information that was discussed 10+ years ago you can still go through the original read only forums at pcenginefx.com or.....

Our second option is a more recently backed up database of the ORIGINAL pcenginefx forums with ability to post new content! PCEngine Fans over at https://www.pcenginefans.com/ The forum was built off of a backup taken prior to when the forums were taken down and is an excellent resource for all of your Turbo/PCE needs and has most of the rich history still intact.

I fully realize that it's been almost EXACTLY two years since a single post has been published on this blog, and I apologize for that. I'd like to start getting more content here, however finding time to post more is often a challenge with my schedule. If you, or anyone you know would like to contribute to the blog, please feel free to contact me and we can get you set up to post here!