Legacy of the TurboGrafx-16

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The TurboGrafx-16 was first released as the PC Engine in Japan in 1987, and in 1989 in the US. The system ran on an 8-bit CPU, comparable to the Nintendo Entertainment System, but boasted a 16-bit graphics processor capable of displaying up to 512 colors. This superior GPU allowed TurboGrafx games to contain better graphics and higher quality music than it’s competitors.

Rather than using traditional cartridges, the TurboGrafx used a new style of media which was roughly the size of a credit card. These TurboChips (or HuCards as they were known in Japan) had a storage capacity of roughly 20-megabits, 5 times that of an average NES cartridge.

Marketed as a direct competitor of the Nintendo NES and the Sega Genesis, the Turbo Grafx had an early advantage with superior graphics and sounds with games such as Soldier Blade, Bonk’s Adventure, Blazing Lazers, Vigilante, Alien Crush, and the pack-in game, Keith Courage in Alpha Zone.

In 1990 a CD-ROM add-on was released for the TurboGrafx, making it the first home video game console to use optical discs as game media. With the substantially larger storage capacity as well as the ability to use CD quality audio this add-on saw some of the best games the 16-bit era had to offer, such as Fighting Street (better known as the first ‘Street Fighter’), Ys Book I & II, Monster Lair, Exile, and Cotton: Fantastic Night Dreams. 1990 also saw the release of the Turbo Express, a handheld version of the TurboGrafx that could play the same TurboChip games as the home console.

In 1992 Turbo Technologies Inc, the US extension of NEC and Hudson, released the Turbo Duo, a combination of the TurboGrafx-16 and the Turbo CD, plus a Super System BIOS and an extra 192k RAM built into the motherboard. The Turbo Duo brought amazing new games such as Vasteel, Lords of Thunder, Super Air Zonk, and possibly the best Castlevania game ever released, Dracula X: Rondo of Blood.