Potentially more accurate list of 1989 TG16 releases...

[Jibbajaba]

Obviously, because of the nature of my YouTube channel, release dates of old video games are of particular interest to me. A few years ago I got some help from a few folks here in trying to piece together the likely launch lineup for the TurboGrafx-16, but since then I have found a great resource for release information from back then, in the "Computer Entertainer" newsletter. Every month they had a list of games for each system, which included both the expected release month of games not out yet, and more importantly marked games that had shipped out to stores since the last newsletter.  So say in October you might see "Blazing Lazers" listed as expected to release, and then the following month it would be marked as having already shipped. So you can more or less narrow things down to the month that they came out. So with that in mind, here is a list of the TurboGrafx-16's releases for 1989.

Aug/Sept 1989 (Initial Launch)
Alien Crush
Dungeon Explorer
Keith Courage in Alpha Zones
The Legendary Axe
Victory Run

October 1989 (National Roll-Out?)
Blazing Lazers
China Warrior
Power Golf
Vigilante

November 1989
Dragon Spirit
Fantasy Zone
Galaga '90
R-Type
World Class Baseball

December 1989
Moto Roader
Side Arms Hyper Dyne
World Court Tennis

[Punch]

This is great, thanks for sharing. Any sources for post 1990 releases?

[Jibbajaba]

This is great, thanks for sharing. Any sources for post 1990 releases?

Computer Entertainer was published into 1990, but the issues have never been scanned.  There is always Usenet, of course.  The Google archive of the old newsgroups seems incomplete, though.

[esteban]

Obviously, because of the nature of my YouTube channel, release dates of old video games are of particular interest to me. A few years ago I got some help from a few folks here in trying to piece together the likely launch lineup for the TurboGrafx-16, but since then I have found a great resource for release information from back then, in the "Computer Entertainer" newsletter. Every month they had a list of games for each system, which included both the expected release month of games not out yet, and more importantly marked games that had shipped out to stores since the last newsletter.  So say in October you might see "Blazing Lazers" listed as expected to release, and then the following month it would be marked as having already shipped. So you can more or less narrow things down to the month that they came out. So with that in mind, here is a list of the TurboGrafx-16's releases for 1989.

Aug/Sept 1989 (Initial Launch)
Alien Crush
Dungeon Explorer
Keith Courage in Alpha Zones
The Legendary Axe
Victory Run

October 1989 (National Roll-Out?)
Blazing Lazers
China Warrior
Power Golf
Vigilante

November 1989
Dragon Spirit
Fantasy Zone
Galaga '90
R-Type
World Class Baseball

December 1989
Moto Roader
Side Arms Hyper Dyne
World Court Tennis

Comrade, this is great, please scan the covers + relevant pages for us (me!)... you know, highest possible resolution for future-proofing!

Thank you!

Wait...  thank you, again!



I remember when we were simply trying to determine the YEARS titles were released... and then possibly the “launch tiles”...

...this is the sort of source that we needed (no it’s not definitive, but it sure is helpful...especially since it was for retailers...


BIG QUESTION: (1) what was the turn-around time with a publication like this? Is it accurate within a month or two (which would be good enough for me)

(2) were all titles equally available from distributors/NEC (do we know of NEC handled third party sales? Probably not? So how did that work? Most titles were purchased from NEC, but retailer had to have accounts with ____ for third-party accessories, software, etc.?)

I don’t have any experience with retail... so....