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NEC TG-16/TE/TurboDuo => TG-16/TE/TurboDuo Discussion => Topic started by: pc_kwajalein on January 07, 2013, 08:48:53 AM

Title: Remember That One REALLY Great Day with Your TG-16/Duo?
Post by: pc_kwajalein on January 07, 2013, 08:48:53 AM
Yesterday I was rummaging through my consoles and games to find a folded piece of paper tucked away in the corner of an old plastic bin I've had since time immemorial. The paper turned out to be a receipt; and even though it was yellowed and the ink was faded, I could make out what item was purchased and where I purchased it from. The receipt came from KB Toys. The item purchased? Jackie Chan's Action Kung Fu for the TG-16. 

The memories flooded my mind at that moment. I remembered buying JCAKF on a Sunday afternoon sometime in January of '94. The very next day, my city had 5.5 inches of snow dumped on it (in North Carolina, that's a lot). It was like a divine force was cutting me an awesome break!  :pray: School was cancelled, the ground outside was blanketed in snow, my parents trudged out to their cars and left for work, while I remained at home with my Turbo Grafx along with my new JCAKF, and titles I already had like Cadash, Bonk's Adventure/Revenge, Legendary Axe, and Alien Crush.

The gaming went uninterrupted throughout the day (save a brief 2 hour nap). Obscene amounts of Nestle strawberry Quik were consumed as were countless numbers of Totino's pizza rolls.  :)

What was your really great day with a Turbo-Grafx/Duo like?
Title: Re: Remember That One REALLY Great Day with Your TG-16/Duo?
Post by: turboswimbz on January 07, 2013, 09:07:54 AM
thanks for sharing this man. great story!
  I myself remember a day long ago in 91'  on the second floor of an old farm house, a tg-16 plugged into an old CRT TV with rabbit ears.  Watching my dad play bonk's revenge.  time stood still until bam Drool was knocked down.  OMG! I get to play after this, I'm now where good enough to make it to the end, but I have a blast.  It was the second time I got to play the Turbografx-16!

 
Title: Re: Remember That One REALLY Great Day with Your TG-16/Duo?
Post by: vestcoat on January 07, 2013, 09:26:42 AM
Snow days and TurboGrafx are two of the most awesome things in the world. Together, it's easy to imagine how awesome that day was.

I had a fairly unremarkable library during my first bout with the TG (KC, Pacland, Victory Run, Deep Blue, Parasol Stars, LAII) so my most memorable days were spent with the NES and SMS as a kid. Still, there were two pretty awesome days when I finally got a Duo in '97:

1) The arrival of my "Giant Mail Order from Game Dude." Mailman dropped it off on a snowy Saturday while I happened to have a friend over. I got the 4-in-1 disc, Riot Zone, Valis II, Prince of Persia, Super Air Zonk, Forgotten Worlds, Fighting Street, Exile, and Shadow of the Beast. Unfortunately, they sent me a Reverse Duo Tap instead of a Duo Tap, so we couldn't play two player. Still, it was one of the best weekends ever.

2) My brother's birthday in September '97. We dragged a second TV into the living room and had nine people playing five-player Bomberman '93 on the Duo and four-player Super Bomberman II on the SNES. Controllers were passed back and forth and we played for at least four hours.
Title: Re: Remember That One REALLY Great Day with Your TG-16/Duo?
Post by: Bernie on January 07, 2013, 09:29:09 AM
Mine is knowing that I had gotten a Turbo Duo for Christmas, but it was wrapped under the tree, along with the games.  I unwrapped the system, and stuck a pair of jeans in the box for weight, then wrapped it back up.  I unwrapped a game, cant remember how I chose.  It happened to be Dragon Slayer!  :)  I hid the system under my bottom dresser drawer by taking the bottom out and then putting it back in.  I was able to play for almost a month or so before actually opening the empty box Christmas morning.  lol  My mom asked me to open it, and I told her I would open it later.  :)  HA!  I actually revealed this secret to her last year, lol.
Title: Re: Remember That One REALLY Great Day with Your TG-16/Duo?
Post by: Necromancer on January 07, 2013, 09:29:30 AM
What was your really great day with a Turbo-Grafx/Duo like?

Every day with the Turbob is a really great day.  :mrgreen:

Sorry, I've no specific stories to tell.
Title: Re: Remember That One REALLY Great Day with Your TG-16/Duo?
Post by: henrycsc on January 07, 2013, 10:33:55 AM
Great story pc_kwajalein.

Maybe not my greatest, but perhaps my proudest Turbo moment to date happened last week Sunday, December 30, 2012.

My mom, who will be 75 in March, asked me to set up a TurboGrafx in her house so that she can play BoxyBoy - her favorite "TV" game of all time. 

I'm not sure why her slack-bastard son waited so long, but she now has BoxyBoy and official OBEY in her home!

I also gave her Tricky Kick because she doesn't like feeling pressured by a clock or enemies.

Title: Re: Remember That One REALLY Great Day with Your TG-16/Duo?
Post by: jelloslug on January 07, 2013, 01:16:24 PM
It would have to be the first time me and my friends did a complete play through of Dungeon Explorer from start to finish.  That game is so much fun with four or five players.
Title: Re: Remember That One REALLY Great Day with Your TG-16/Duo?
Post by: ProfessorProfessorson on January 07, 2013, 01:44:12 PM
Most of my best gaming memories from from playing or beating TG titles. That first time I went up against the last boss in Splatterhouse, my mind was blown. At the time anyway, nothing really compared to that. For me Vigilante was a real arcade favorite too, so when I got it on TG-16 for the first time I played it for days on end. I just loved the game, and still do. Its arcade perfection. Nothing complicated, just fast action, and if you get fast enough and focused, you can go through the game rather fast and feel accomplished in how many lives you did not lose beating it.

Bloody Wolfs boss battles were rather exciting and memorable for me too, and the first time I played it, well, to me, nothing else could touch it. It even surpassed Rambo III on Genesis and even the arcade version of Bloody Wolf on many levels. There were other titles that I have fond memories of too. It doesn't just amount to one certain day or game though. I mean, basically every xmas break from 92 to 94 I was getting new Turbo games and all to enjoy on my hardware. For me it was the first time "real" arcade quality games came home, compared to the Nes or Genesis where more often then not arcade ports amounted to so so and average work at best.
Title: Re: Remember That One REALLY Great Day with Your TG-16/Duo?
Post by: pc_kwajalein on January 07, 2013, 02:49:12 PM
Wow, we got excellent stories here!

Snow days and TurboGrafx are two of the most awesome things in the world.

I want to be this sentence's BFF.  :)
Title: Re: Remember That One REALLY Great Day with Your TG-16/Duo?
Post by: esteban on January 07, 2013, 04:14:05 PM

My mom, who will be 75 in March, asked me to set up a TurboGrafx in her house so that she can play BoxyBoy - her favorite "TV" game of all time. 

I'm not sure why her slack-bastard son waited so long, but she now has BoxyBoy and official OBEY in her home!

I also gave her Tricky Kick because she doesn't like feeling pressured by a clock or enemies.



AWESOME. Simply awesome. (http://junk.tg-16.com/images/pcgs.png)

Xmas Break '90?

5-player Bomberman battles.

5-player MotoRoader (for real! we played this game way more than we thought we would)

5-player Dungeon Explorer...
Title: Re: Remember That One REALLY Great Day with Your TG-16/Duo?
Post by: Jibbajaba on January 07, 2013, 04:29:35 PM
That's like asking someone with kids to remember "that one really great day with them."  Every day that I spend with my Turbo is a great day!

In all seriousness, though, I think my favorite Turbo day was the day I hacked up an RGB amp on a breadboard, wired the R,G,B, and ground lines to it from the expansion port on the back, wired that into a 15-pin d-sub that went into my RGB monitor, and saw the Turbo for the first time in all of its RGB glory.  I had been playing The Legendary Axe on that same RGB monitor but using composite video, and suddenly seeing the same game in RGB was like BAM!

I even took a pic for posterity:

(http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/c0.0.403.403/p403x403/31988_406636579728_7512820_n.jpg)

The sad thing is that I used that rats' nest of an RGB amp for a long time before I finally got a modded Duo-R.  I never got around to modding the TG-16 because I couldn't figure out a good place to put the amp inside the system.

Chris

Edit:

Xmas Break '90?

5-player Bomberman battles.

5-player MotoRoader (for real! we played this game way more than we thought we would)

5-player Dungeon Explorer...


That sounds awesome.  I'd love to do something like that, but I don't know 4 other people.
Title: Re: Remember That One REALLY Great Day with Your TG-16/Duo?
Post by: TR0N on January 07, 2013, 07:27:47 PM
Memory fuzzy when i owned a TG16 back in the 90's.Still i remember when i got the console again back in 2005.Mostly because,i never thought id own one again.
Title: Re: Remember That One REALLY Great Day with Your TG-16/Duo?
Post by: NightWolve on January 07, 2013, 07:50:06 PM
When my Turbo Duo had arrived with the 5 pack-in games and I sat down to play "Ys Book I&II." To say that it made a lasting impression would be an understatement having become a lifelong Ys fan ever since and spearheading projects to get Ys IV translated along with most of Falcom's PC line of Ys games, etc.! "Gate of Thunder" also was a great moment for shooters with its absolutely blindingly awesome soundtrack ("Ys Book I&II" as well)! Playing that game with my Sony Surround system blasted was a helluva good time! =)
Title: Re: Remember That One REALLY Great Day with Your TG-16/Duo?
Post by: soop on January 07, 2013, 09:36:04 PM
 :-s

I've related the day I got my first console (a PC Engine GT) before...  SO ok.  Many years ago, probably around 2000/2001, I bought a boxed Core Grafx on eBay, all the way from Japan.  Plugged it in, being a complete noob at the time, with a pin converter.  240v fried the adaptor, and then basically my life got a bit chaotic and it went back in the box and was stowed away.

Then about... maybe 3-4 years ago, when I got a TV in my flat, I remembered it, picked it up from my parents house, and discovered you could play it using a megadrive adaptor.

Hah, I'm getting a little nostalgic actually.  They were good times, when I was building a home with someone I thought .. well, you know.
Title: Re: Remember That One REALLY Great Day with Your TG-16/Duo?
Post by: Mishran on January 07, 2013, 09:42:39 PM
Summer '94, finally convinced my best friend at the time to buy a TG16. His mom drove us to the local Toys'R'Us to pick up his system and two games of his choice. After a bit of further convincing, he picked up Splatterhouse and Final Lap Twin. Spent half that night passing the controller back and forth between levels until we finally beat Splatterhouse with Mountain Dew and popcorn acting as our gamer fuel. Month later, he moved 1400 miles away to Florida. Hadn't heard from him since. Still, it's a memory that floods back every time I slide my copy of Splatterhouse into my own turbo to this day.
Title: Re: Remember That One REALLY Great Day with Your TG-16/Duo?
Post by: FiftyQuid on January 08, 2013, 03:30:42 AM
I remember cutting class all day to play Splatterhouse.  It was winter and there was a ton of snow outside.  My Dad left for work early in the mornings so it was up to me to drag my sorry ass out of bed and get to high school every day.  I woke up close to 9:00AM, and since I was already late for school it dawned on me to just not go.  Back in the 90's my room was in the basement of the house.  It was a fully finished basement.  It even had it's own bathroom, which back in the 90's, was pretty much unheard of.  The laundry was on a landing at the top of the basement stairs, so no one ever came down to the basement.  I even had a side door entrance I use to bring my bike through to bring it downstairs.  

I fired up the TG-16 that morning, shut the lights off, put a sleeping bag on the floor to sit on (damn the short cords on the TurboPads) and fired up Splatterhouse.  The game still gives me chills.  Awesome, awesome day.
Title: Re: Remember That One REALLY Great Day with Your TG-16/Duo?
Post by: DragonmasterDan on January 08, 2013, 03:40:42 AM
I have a lot of memories staying up late in a dark basement playing Keith Courage, Bonk's Adventure, JJ & Jeff, Legendary Axe, Pac-Land, Cadash, Devil's Crush, Neutopia and Blazing Lazers until daylight peered through the windows.
Title: Re: Remember That One REALLY Great Day with Your TG-16/Duo?
Post by: Bardoly on January 08, 2013, 06:00:09 AM

That sounds awesome.  I'd love to do something like that, but I don't know 4 other people who live close enough to me who want to play 20+ year-old video games with me.


Fixed that for you.
Title: Re: Remember That One REALLY Great Day with Your TG-16/Duo?
Post by: KingDrool on January 08, 2013, 06:19:00 AM
I had countless great days with the TurboGrafx and Duo, but the best I can remember is Christmas morning when I opened up my Duo. I knew I was getting it (found it hidden prior to Christmas), but the thrill was still huge when I ripped off the wrapping paper.

The thrill quickly turned to disappointment, however, after I hooked it up to my Grandmother's TV and saw no picture. You see, this was back in the day when AV cables were relatively new. All my prior consoles and VCRs had used coaxial cables. So when I hooked up the Duo and placed the 3-in-1 disc into the tray I expected to pop the TV on channel 3 or 4 and do some gaming. But no luck. I pushed buttons, jiggled cords, yet nothing happened. After my Mom and I messed around with it for a good twenty minutes, we figured the machine was defective and would have to be returned.

Completely disappointed, I sulked on the couch for a while with the TV remote in my hand. Staring at it, I saw a button marked "Video Input". Curious, I went back to the TV, turned on the Duo, pushed this mysterious button, and BAM: GATE...OF...THUNDER!

Best day of gaming EVER!
Title: Re: Remember That One REALLY Great Day with Your TG-16/Duo?
Post by: DragonmasterDan on January 08, 2013, 06:28:42 AM
I had countless great days with the TurboGrafx and Duo, but the best I can remember is Christmas morning when I opened up my Duo. I knew I was getting it (found it hidden prior to Christmas), but the thrill was still huge when I ripped off the wrapping paper.

The thrill quickly turned to disappointment, however, after I hooked it up to my Grandmother's TV and saw no picture. You see, this was back in the day when AV cables were relatively new. All my prior consoles and VCRs had used coaxial cables. So when I hooked up the Duo and placed the 3-in-1 disc into the tray I expected to pop the TV on channel 3 or 4 and do some gaming. But no luck. I pushed buttons, jiggled cords, yet nothing happened. After my Mom and I messed around with it for a good twenty minutes, we figured the machine was defective and would have to be returned.

Completely disappointed, I sulked on the couch for a while with the TV remote in my hand. Staring at it, I saw a button marked "Video Input". Curious, I went back to the TV, turned on the Duo, pushed this mysterious button, and BAM: GATE...OF...THUNDER!

Best day of gaming EVER!

The Duo was the first system I ever owned that did not include an RF switch. I had a similar experience having my game consoles hooked up to an older TV in my basement. Fortunately the VCR hooked up to the TV had mono composite in jacks and I was able to connect the system through the VCR to the coaxial only TV.
Title: Re: Remember That One REALLY Great Day with Your TG-16/Duo?
Post by: KingDrool on January 08, 2013, 07:30:38 AM
Yeah, after Christmas, when we took the Duo back home from my Grandma's, we had to go to the local electronics store to buy an adapter that would allow the AV cables to run through the back of our ancient TV.
Title: Re: Remember That One REALLY Great Day with Your TG-16/Duo?
Post by: Necromancer on January 08, 2013, 08:14:54 AM
Heh, I had a similar experience when I got my Duo.  I knew it needed composite and thought I was good to go with the VCR, but it took me quite a while before I found the magic button to switch to that input.
Title: Re: Remember That One REALLY Great Day with Your TG-16/Duo?
Post by: vestcoat on January 08, 2013, 08:26:28 AM
I had the same problem when I bought my Duo in '97. I shit a brick when I found a store that sold used Duo's and dropped over $200 on a deck with Ys, Lords, CF2, and Vigilante. The forty-five-minute drive home nearly killed me as I was hopping out of my seat waiting to play my first CD games. I ran in the house to hook it up, but alas, my family was still using a coaxial TV and we didn't even have a proper VCR - we had a VCP without any inputs. It was 8pm and Radio Shack was closed. I called some techy friends to see if they had any adapters. They didn't. I put a game in, pressed "run", and watched the LED turn on and the disc spin. I listened to random game music on the headphone jack... it was a long night.

The next morning I was downtown as Radio Shack opened. The clerk told me I needed a $40 RF modulator. I'd spent almost all of my money on the Duo, so I had to walk back home and cash in my coin jar. All told, I waited nearly 15 hours to play the system.
Title: Re: Remember That One REALLY Great Day with Your TG-16/Duo?
Post by: syphic on January 08, 2013, 12:57:18 PM
Best memory for me was getting my TG16 CD system for Christmas. I had left hints for my parents all month long all over the house of pictures and brochures of the TG16 Cd and had highlighted the places to get it. It was right when they lowered the price to $149.99. I remember it being midnight and my dad pulling this giant box out of his Chevy Blazer barely able to get it thru the door. I was trembling! I knew right off the bat what it was and couldnt believe it! Opened that bad boy up, set it up and just had a blast messing with it and blasting Carcass's Necroticism album. Unfortunatley didnt get any games for it so I suffered for about a month till I was able to finally save up to buy my first title Fighting Street. Ahhhh good times!
Title: Re: Remember That One REALLY Great Day with Your TG-16/Duo?
Post by: Jibbajaba on January 08, 2013, 05:26:44 PM

That sounds awesome.  I'd love to do something like that, but I don't know 4 other people who live close enough to me who want to play 20+ year-old video games with me.


Fixed that for you.

Well, my point was simply that I don't have 4 friends.

Chris
Title: Re: Remember That One REALLY Great Day with Your TG-16/Duo?
Post by: Necromancer on January 09, 2013, 01:57:31 AM
Well, my point was simply that I don't have 4 friends.

What about Andy, Baily, Jennifer, Johnny, and Les?  That's 5!
Title: Re: Remember That One REALLY Great Day with Your TG-16/Duo?
Post by: Bardoly on January 09, 2013, 02:06:15 AM

That sounds awesome.  I'd love to do something like that, but I don't know 4 other people who live close enough to me who want to play 20+ year-old video games with me.


Fixed that for you.


Well, my point was simply that I don't have 4 friends.

Chris

And what are we?  Chopped liver?
Title: Re: Remember That One REALLY Great Day with Your TG-16/Duo?
Post by: galam on January 09, 2013, 04:27:53 AM
Sophmore Year of high school, winter break, a friend and I spent three days straight with cosmic fantasy 2.
Literally, we didn't even know the days passed.
Title: Re: Remember That One REALLY Great Day with Your TG-16/Duo?
Post by: _joshuaTurbo on January 09, 2013, 08:27:54 AM
I put a game in, pressed "run", and watched the LED turn on and the disc spin. I listened to random game music on the headphone jack... it was a long night.

That made me laugh Vest.  My parents didn't allow for the TV to be on very late on weeknights, so I remember specifically sleeping with my Duo next to my bed listening to LoT, GoT and the Ys Opening segments doing this same thing.  I had the menu system for the Thunder games memorized so I could navigate from one track to the next. 

Too funny!!  :)

Loom night!!


It was early '95, I was 15, and two of my best friends and myself were playing around with Loom. I hadn't really put much time into it other than to see the pier and the opening village area.  I had to go to work that night (Bag boy at local grocer store worked 6-10pm) and it was about 5:30, I was getting ready for work, and was about to shut off the Duo and bring my friends home (I was the first to get a license)  finally one of my friends asked me to try grabbing onto a stick that fell in the water after lightning struck a tree.  Bobbin started to float off into the water and a swirling storm came about, a few minutes later we figured out how to get past that point!  It was now 10 minutes until my shift started, and I just couldn't part with our game night!!

I called my work and disguised my voice in a low tone and called as my father saying Joshua was sick.  I was talking to a cashier and she handed it over to the owner.  He just said "Who is this?", and I responded "This is Joshua...........um... that we're talking about....I'm Joshua's dad.......erm."  He just responded with "Joshua?" I said "Yes." he said "You're Fired."  

We went back to playing Turbo for the rest of the weekend and you bet your ass we beat Loom around 3am!  ;)
Title: Re: Remember That One REALLY Great Day with Your TG-16/Duo?
Post by: Jibbajaba on January 09, 2013, 08:37:59 AM

That sounds awesome.  I'd love to do something like that, but I don't know 4 other people who live close enough to me who want to play 20+ year-old video games with me.


Fixed that for you.


Well, my point was simply that I don't have 4 friends.

Chris

And what are we?  Chopped liver?

Well, you ignored my last PM about those games that I wanted to buy, so I figured that maybe I was chopped liver to you.  <shrug>

What about Andy, Baily, Jennifer, Johnny, and Les?  That's 5!

Ever since I got Bailey and Jennifer into that three way, and then Les came popping out of the closet after peeping between the doors, it's been kind of awkward around the office.

Chris
Title: Re: Remember That One REALLY Great Day with Your TG-16/Duo?
Post by: Bardoly on January 09, 2013, 10:20:34 AM

That sounds awesome.  I'd love to do something like that, but I don't know 4 other people who live close enough to me who want to play 20+ year-old video games with me.


Fixed that for you.


Well, my point was simply that I don't have 4 friends.

Chris

And what are we?  Chopped liver?

Well, you ignored my last PM about those games that I wanted to buy, so I figured that maybe I was chopped liver to you.  <shrug>


Ziiinnnggg!   :-#  You got me, friend!  Somehow I failed to get back to your last message after I got 7 more PM's that day.   #-o
My bad, since I consider you chopped liver a friend, let me know how I can make it up to you.   :pray:
... and no, I'm not being sarcastic.  I really just forgot to get back to you.   :oops:
Title: Re: Remember That One REALLY Great Day with Your TG-16/Duo?
Post by: Jibbajaba on January 09, 2013, 10:35:57 AM

That sounds awesome.  I'd love to do something like that, but I don't know 4 other people who live close enough to me who want to play 20+ year-old video games with me.


Fixed that for you.


Well, my point was simply that I don't have 4 friends.

Chris

And what are we?  Chopped liver?

Well, you ignored my last PM about those games that I wanted to buy, so I figured that maybe I was chopped liver to you.  <shrug>


Ziiinnnggg!   :-#  You got me, friend!  Somehow I failed to get back to your last message after I got 7 more PM's that day.   #-o
My bad, since I consider you chopped liver a friend, let me know how I can make it up to you.   :pray:
... and no, I'm not being sarcastic.  I really just forgot to get back to you.   :oops:

I just figured that my counter-offer was so offensive, that you ignored it.  So I'm glad to hear that that wasn't the case.  Sucks, since I wanted to give one of those games to my SS recipient.  No big deal, though. 

Chris