Now that I've finished playing all of the games that launched during the first year of the TurboGrafx in the United States, I thought it would be good to review my time with the TurboGrafx's games thus far, before I move onto the games released in 1990. what it would have been like if I were a kid who received a TurboGrafx for Christmas in 1989.
The pack-in game for the TurboGrafx was Keith Courage in Alpha Zones, and three other games also released alongside the console:
I have been playing through all of the TurboGrafx releases in rough chronological order, so I started with Keith Courage, being the pack-in title, then proceeded to play Alien Crush, Victory Run, and The Legendary Axe.
Keith Courage is a reasonably fun action/adventure game, but its also very easy. I can't see a lot of replay value in that one, and being the pack-in title was a very strange choice.
Alien Crush is a fun video pinball game that looks great, plays really well and has excellent music. Some people regard the game VERY highly, and I do think its a good console-exclusive, but I can't see myself playing a ton of it over the long term. If I had it back in the day, I would probably play from time to time as I got bored with other games I had, or needed a break, but it wouldn't be a core title I couldn't live without.
Victory Run is a very interesting Outrun-like game with additional strategic gameplay elements (like car wear-and-tear and part upgrades) but honestly these kinds of games just frustrate me, and I wouldn't choose it as a game I would own, given other options. Well made game for sure, and it certainly has its fans, but just not for me.
The Legendary Axe is probably the strongest of the console launch games, and the last one I played in this group. It has been likened to the TurboGrafx's version of Castlevania, and while I'm not sure about that, it does have decent graphics, good music and interesting gameplay. Much better action game than Keith Courage, and the only other action game at launch. It's a difficult one though. I hope to finally beat it someday.
Now to put the launch games in perspective, let's take a look at the rest of the U.S. video game landscape in 1989, leading up to August when the TurboGrafx first launched.
- December 1988: Zelda II and Ninja Gaiden are released on the NES (just in time for Christmas)
- May 1989: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is released on the NES, and Sega releases Golden Axe in arcades
- July 1989: Nintendo launches the GameBoy with pack-in game Tetris, and Capcom releases Mega Man 2 on the NES
- August 1989: Sega releases the Genesis with pack-in game Altered Beast (on 8/14/89), and Dragon Warrior releases on the NES
- Late August 1989: The TurboGrafx releases in select U.S. markets
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| TurboGrafx-16 ad in GamePro December 1989 |
After the initial console launch and the few games that launched along with it, there weren't any releases until November of that year, but they certainly made up for it.
Just a few months after its initial launch, NEC released the TurboGrafx-CD add-on for $399.99, and two games for it: Fighting Street (a home port of Capcom's arcade game Street Fighter), and Monster Lair (a home port of Sega's Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair).
When you think about it, it's kind of crazy that the TurboGrafx-16 console released in late August, and by November they already released a CD add-on that was more expensive than the original console, and only released two games for it before the holiday season (and believe me, neither was a system seller).
In addition to the TurboGrafx-CD, there were five new Turbochip games released in November:
After playing the November games, I can confidently say they had some pretty strong releases, even though their marketing and visibility was very weak.
China Warrior is probably the worst regarded of the line-up, but I actually had a lot of fun playing it. Blazing Lazers is a great shmup, with excellent music. Dungeon Explorer is a very interesting mix between the gameplay of Gauntlet and more traditional RPG elements. R-Type is a near-perfect port of the arcade, but with more forgiving difficulty which makes it more fun to play. And Vigilante is a great mix between Double Dragon, Bad Dudes and Kung Fu Master; lots of fun with that one.
The main challenge at this point (outside of weak marketing and awareness) was the system was still missing a console-seller title; something so desired and compelling that gamers would actively choose to pickup a TurboGrafx over the other video game options available that same year (like the Sega Genesis with Altered Beast, Nintendo GameBoy with Tetris, NES 1989 hits like Ducktales, Dragon Warrior and Strider).
Having played all the games released in December, I can confidently say the TurboGrafx lineup did not improve considerably over the games released up to this point.
While Dragon Spirit, Fantasy Zone and Side Arms were all good arcade shmup ports, and Side Arms especially was a great improvement over the arcade, there weren't any killer games in the lineup to drive holiday console sales, even though many of the games are fun and well made.
The sports games were generally enjoyable, and there could have been some families that decided to buy a TurboGrafx because of Power Golf (excellent by the way) or World Class Baseball, but generally I can't see any of them moving console sales in any significant way (which looking back, they didn't).
Furthermore, in looking back at the Sears Wish Book from 1989, the TurboGrafx doesn't appear to even be listed (at least in the scanned versions I was able to find online). Kids today probably wouldn't understand, but the Sears Catalog, and more importantly their holiday Wish Book, was one of the main sources for Christmas lists and parent present buying inspiration back in the day.
The TurboGrafx was featured in the Toys R Us 1989 holiday circular, but as you can see, it didn't match up very well when put side by side with the Sega Genesis and NES. $199.99 for the TurboGrafx-16 while the Sega Genesis, also released in 1989, was $189.99, and then there's the good old NES, which still had amazing games releasing consistently, sitting at $99.99.
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| click to enlarge |
Overall, the TurboGrafx-16 had a decent launch year, with a solid line-up of quality games, and was the first video game console to have a CD add-on, but honestly it seems like the timing, lack of quality marketing, and pricing mistakes, really hampered its success (although there may be additional reasons as well).
By holiday 1989, the TurboGrafx had 19 games available (including the two CD games), and many of them looked great, played great, and had excellent music. The trouble likely was, that the competition in 1989 was just way too strong, and the launch plan was too weak, for the TurboGrafx to really have a chance to be competitive.
If I were to assign a letter grade to the TurboGrafx's launch quality, I would give it a B. Good hardware and a solid lineup of good to great games, but no killer system-seller.
However, if I were to assign a letter grade to the TurboGrafx's marketing, including pricing and launch timing, I would give it a D.
So between the two factors, I think the TurboGrafx launch gets a solid C, which is passing, but not good.
While I would hope kids who received a TurboGrafx-16 for Christmas that year had a really good time with it, I would wager that most kids either didn't know it existed, or their parents went with other options.
For me, in Christmas 1989, I think I had just received an NES Power Set either earlier that year, or the Christmas before, and I would have wanted new games for it.
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| Not "my" NES Power Set, but an example on eBay |
Neither the TurboGrafx, nor the Sega Genesis were on my radar. After all, I had just received a new video game console recently, and I was trying to build my library for it.
I remember receiving Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for the NES, but I can't recall if it was for my birthday that year, or for Christmas. Either way, it certainly took up a lot of my time, and while it wasn't the arcade game I had been hoping for, it was still TMNT and I loved it.
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| Yes, this is my TMNT for NES - loved it and still have it! |
Now that I've finished playing all the launch games, and I've taken the time to review the TurboGrafx's launch year, it's time to move onto the next game released for the TurboGrafx...
Final Lap Twin! Released in January 1990.
Can't wait to see how this one plays.
Until next time...
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