• Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!

The PC Engine / TurboGrafx Must-Play Thread

J

john tv

Member
Help! Help me get all caught up on my PCE/TG16 history by telling me what games were worth playing! Especially RPGs!

I'm currently enjoying playing through all the Ys games on PCE, and after that I'm going to hit up the two Neutopia games and the two Dungeon Explorer games, but aside from those, what was good and worth playing?

Non-RPGs are fine, too. But I'm especially curious about all the old RPGs that I never played. Stuff like Xanadu, Valis, Cosmic Fantasy, Xak, Tengai Makyo, etc. etc.

Impressions, memories, media, whatever! Help me out here!
 
i'm no good for rpgs, but i can rattle off a list of shooters you probably don't care about!

hucard:
blazing lazers/gunhed
super star soldier
soldier blade
mr. heli

cd/scd:
gate of thunder
lords of thunder
seirei senshi spriggan
star parodia

also rondo of blood, of course.

oh, and stay away from final soldier, macross 2036, and spriggan mk. II, which in spite of their pedigrees are crap.
 
Not RPGs, but Alien/Devil's Crush are among the best games ever, and definitely the best pinball games ever.

But you knew that. I just wanted to chime in with some Alien Crush love.
 
In the same vein, I've always wanted a SuperGrafx, are there any of those five or so SG games that are worth buying the console for? SG's can play all the TurboGrafx games as well, right?
 
Blazing Lazers
Bloody Wolf
Ninja Spirit
Veigues Tactical Gladiator


That's off the top of my head.
 
Aldynes - SuperGrafx

Aldynes2.gif

aldynes.png

aldynes-031copy.gif

aldynes-2.jpg



Aldynes has to be the best SG-exclusive game. IMO it is better than Gates of Thunder and even Lord of Thunder. Aldynes isn't as flashy and doesn't sound as good, but it's more fun and plays better. again IMO.


runner up would be Grandzort (or Granzort) which is the sequel to Keith Courage in Alpha Zones
 
I'll add my name to the chorus of people recommending Blazing Lasers. Also worth looking at are Splatterhouse, and, if you can find it, Side Arms.
 
The games that stick out for me just off memory:

Military Madness
Dragon Slayer
Cadash!
Exile I & II
Monster Lair
Dungeon Explorer II

I think Cosmic Fantasy II was aiight for the time but it wasn't any Phantasy Star by any means.... Wished a Tengai Makyou game came out here back in the day though...would have been fun to play it in English instead of Japanese :)
 
Aero Blasters
Bomberman 94
Gunhed
Bonk 1,2,3
Darius Alpha
Darius Plus
Gate & Lords of Thunder
Psychosis
Devil's & Alien Crush
Legendary Axe
Military Madness
Final Soldier
Soldier Blade
Super Star Soldier
Splatterhouse
 
Some of the games I own/some of the games I've played:

Mesopotamia - Strange game where you control a slinky and move through mazes based on the astrological symbols. It's a decent game but definitely gets points for creativity.

Bonk - Most popular mascot series for the TG. I never really got into it, but it's got cute graphics and it's pretty funny.

Gate of Thunder - Fast paced shooter with nice graphics and good buttrock soundtrack. Its sequel, Lords of Thunder, is supposed to be even better. When I got my Duo off Ebay, I got a disk with this game, and the first 2 Bonk games on it.

Dracula X:Rondo Of Blood - The best oldskool Castlevania. Slightly easier than the other oldskool ones. Some of the most impressive graphics for the system (I showed this to my friend, and then mentioned that this was running on an *8 BIT* system, he was shocked). And the music is amazing, a lot of remixed tracks from CVI-III. Expensive but worth it if you like the oldskool Castlevanias even in the slightest.

Tengai Makyo 2 - Awesome, LONG, oldskool RPG with great music and surprisingly clean graphics. Great series, I especially love The Apocalypse on Saturn (which comes as *HIGHLY* recommended)

Xak - Not sure about these. I might pick up Xak III since there was the translation patch made by RIGG. Look kind of like Ys clones.

Emerald Dragon - Came out for a number of systems, including FM Towns Marty and SFC. RPG with nice graphics where you play as a dragon. The story seems pretty good, and the combat has a slight SRPG twist.

Blazing Lazers - Awesome shooter. Great chip music.

Exile - Super easy side scrolling game set in the Crusades. Plays kind of like a fast moving Zelda II. I love the music, it's very housey in style.

Cosmic Fantasy series - Been wondering about this myself. I hear 2 is pretty primitive nowadays adn doesn't really hold up, but IV part 1 and 2 were pretty good.

Military Madness - I hear lots of good things about this game.

Neutopia I and II - Decent Zelda clones, with more emphasis on fighting, less on puzzles

Ys series - But you knew that already...

Xanadu - I have the first one. Heard the second one is excellent, but I couldn't get into the first one at all... It plays like a super primitive version of Ys. Closer to Hydlyde than Ys. Apparently there's also some side scrolling areas, but I never got that far.

Shadow of the Beast - STAY FAR AWAY FROM THIS GAME NO MATTER WHAT!!!
 
Since all the best titles have probably been mentioned already, I'll just have to back the title, "Silent Debuggers". Its not a game for everyone, but I thought the atmosphere in it was tops and that the game was enjoyable. You should check it out if you can find it. :)
 
Valis games weren't RPGs. That aside:

Neutopia/Neutopia II - these games are identical as far as graphics/gameplay goes. The second one is longer, but it's also more expensive.

Dungeon Explorer/II - again the two games are basically identical for graphics/gameplay, but the second game is a lot more expensive to buy nowadays. The story is nothing special in either game so unless you've got money to blow just buy the HuCard and forget about II.

Cosmic Fantasy 2 - very badly dated now. Biggest flaw is that combat is extremely slow as there is a pause during every round of combat while (I guess) the animation and sound effect for each character's attack is spooled off the CD. Bland graphics, bog-standard plot (outside of the sci-fi trappings), and forgettable music. Very average game.

Tengai Makyou Ziria/Manji Maru - great games, I only finished Ziria, but both of these games were a blast to play. Very common games so they're cheap too.

I never played Xak or Xanadu.

Other RPGs:

LaPlace no Ma - this is an interesting little game mixing survival horror with RPG elements. Kind of like Sweet Home I guess. Not a great game (too short) but it's different. I think there was also a Super Famicom version and (maybe?) a Saturn port.

Shin Megami Tensei - I didn't get very far in this one (damn hard and confusing) but if you like the series it might be worth getting.

Dragon Slayer: Legend of Heroes - I don't know where this fits into the series, but it's a decent RPG. Falcom fanboys take note. My favorite feature was the auto-combat that helped speed through the boring leveling.

Dungeon Master Theron's Quest - port of Dungeon Master. As with so many other games here, it's hard (for me) to play nowadays, but as far as I know it's a faithful port of the computer game (I've never played the Amiga/ST version).

Might & Magic III - another port of a computer RPG. I liked it, it's Western-style so if you can get into those games...

Order of the Griffon - one of the few real RPGs on HuCard. A D&D game like the PC D&D games from the late-80s. I really enjoyed this one, but once again it may depend on whether you like Western-style RPGs or not.

Now for some other game recommendations:

LOOM - superb port of the PC adventure game. Awesome, awesome music/graphics/story.

Beyond Shadowgate - sequel to Shadowgate (I think Turbo-CD is the only platform it appeared on too). Another great adventure game.

Last Alert - if you can find this cheap get it to experience the absolute worst English dub in existence. The game isn't all that otherwise.

Vasteel - futuristic strategy game.

Cadash - side-scrolling action RPG.

Parasol Stars - Bubble Bobble! Actually, I always wondered how this one fit into the series. Fun game nonetheless.

Motoroader - cool top-view racer that supported five players.

Dragon's Curse - port of Wonderboy III: The Dragon's Trap. Get if you don't have the SMS game.

Monster Lair - port of the Wonderboy III arcade game (never could remember how all the Wonderboy games were supposed to be numbered). Side scrolling platforming shooter.

The Dynastic Hero - port of Wonderboy IV (can you tell I like this series?)

Ninja Spirit - excellent port of Irem's side-scrolling ninja game. I like this better than Shinobi.

Double Dragon II: The Revenge - beat-em-ups are a rarity on this system, I don't know why. This one is a port of the NES game. The graphics could have been better, but it still plays well. And the cinemas are awesome for their pure cheesiness.

Popful Mail - side-scrolling action RPG. As far as I know the PC Engine version is different than the Super Famicom and Sega CD games (I have never played those two so I don't know)

Bonk's Adventure - the first game was the best one. Bonk's Revenge was longer but Bonk lost his signature spin move, and Bonk III was a size-changing mess of a game.

Street Fighter II' - worth getting if you have a six-button pad (not the Avenue 6 pad either) just to see what this system could do. Amazing port of the arcade game.

Alien Crush/Devil's Crush - pick up one of these games and your pinball needs are set.

Splash Lake - puzzler with great music.

Shubibinman 3 - not sure if that spelling is right, but this is the Japanese CD sequel to the game released as Shockman on HuCard in the US. Crazy awesome action game.

Shooters:

No comments on these since shooters are probably what most people will talk about. These are my favorites:

Aero Blasters
Blazing Lazers
Galaga '90
Ordyne
Sidearms Special
Soldier Blade
Super Star Soldier
Gate of Thunder
Lords of Thunder
R-Type Complete
Spriggan
Super Raiden
Super Darius II
Download 2
 
great stuff already mentioned.

i also LOVED final match tennis. simple but brilliant. best tennis game ever! i still play it now :)
 
All bases seem covered above, but I was pretty impressed with Exile, Beyond Shadowgate, and Dragon Slayer for RPG/adventureing. Double Dungeons was kinda funny for the co-op. That was nearly two decades ago...don't expect much now.

Always wished I coulda tried Cosmic Fantasy and the Neutopia games...not to mention Rondo of Blood.
 
djtiesto said:
Xak - Not sure about these. I might pick up Xak III since there was the translation patch made by RIGG. Look kind of like Ys clones.
Click to expand...
I finally got around to trying the copy of Xak III that I bought in order to play with the translation, and I'm regretting it. It plays like a Zelda game with jumping, but the level design is pretty crap and the sword-swing range is tiny. I didn't find it much fun at all.

I've been messing around trying to find PCE hucard and CD games that I really love for a couple of years now, and nothing has really stuck with me aside from Galaga '88, Dracula X, and Metal Stoker. Too many of the action games are stuck in this bizarro-land between underdeveloped 8-bit mechanics and not-quite-16-bit graphics, so I have a hard time maintaining interest. I need to pick up the Crash/Crush games soon.
 
drohne said:
oh, and stay away from final soldier, macross 2036, and spriggan mk. II, which in spite of their pedigrees are crap.
Click to expand...

How DARE you.....

Spriggan MKII is godlike

Anyway

Y's series
Devils Crush
Many many many shooters

Honestly there is a ton of great gamkes that will be covered in here.
 
I play Military Madness every day at work from 8-9AM... I love it... sure I can beat any level now without cheating or resetting, but I love that game.

I wish I could find a copy of the CDROM for Y's Book I & II... anyone know where to purchase a clean copy... or where to download?

I love JJ & Jeff, very good control for a platformer... I love Devil's Crush and Alien Crush

I probably play TG16 emulation more than any other system out there... in college in the late 80's... I owned every single TG16 game due to a little scam I ran...
 
neo - both of those games are now available for my cell phone here in Japan. Tell me more about Necromancer! I was thinking of downloading it if it's any good.

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone. Keep 'em comin!
 
Boj - You can find Ys Book I and II around on Ebay, in pretty good condition, probably for around $25 or so... It was *THE* definitive TG16 CD game so it's not really hard at all to find.

johntv - Another good game that I haven't heard mentioned, that I thought of... is Time Cruise. I haven't tried the Crush games, but Time Cruise is another pinball game, with a sort of time-travel mechanic and a HUGE board (like, multiple screens, east and west, too). Doesn't quite play like any other pinball game. Plus it has some pretty unique minigames (some almost like the original Pinball on NES), and catchy chip tunes.

Also, there's an RPG series called Startling Odyssey that looks pretty cool, that is supposedly *GIGANTIC* in length. RIGG was working on a translation of the second one but that never got anywhere. Series looked kinda cool. You might wanna look into this.

There's this website... Japan Gaming where the guy has a ton of Japanese only games. Of course the PCE CD had a big Japanese library... brief impressions of more games. Maybe you can find something you like.

P.S. your blog (minna ni naisho dayo) is really cool, keep up the good job!

I need to get some more HuCard games...
 
john tv said:
neo - both of those games are now available for my cell phone here in Japan. Tell me more about Necromancer! I was thinking of downloading it if it's any good.
Click to expand...

based on nowadays standard, it is old school
and you know, it is a game 17 years ago, so I really cannot memorize too much

Necromancer is my first RPG
when the time I played the game, my feeling to the game is :O
while comparing to other RPGs at Famicom (background was still black, enemies didn't move )
enemies in Necromancer were "animated" (each of the models had 2~3 frames/patterns)
Enemy design and the atmosphere are good
and colorful background, no SD-typed characters models

well, the balance in the game is quite bad
sometimes you need to spend certain time on level-up before go to the next area
and the most surprised to me is "you cannot be too strong"
almost near the ending, I remembered my characters' level was around 50
but while I leveled up, the status showed me that I became weaker before level up, weird


I find that the characters in the mobile ver have been becomed SD-typed
and I am not sure whether the port has fixed the balance or not
 
Two less-popular but pretty enjoyable puzzle/action games.

Tricky Kick - Kick two "bad guys" of the same type into one another to make them disappear. Basically a full puzzle game based around the "push the block" concept often seen in RPGs. I find it a lot of fun, but it gets friggin' frustrating on some of the advanced levels.

Drop Off - Sort of like Devilish but with a disk instead of a pair of paddles. Light fun, decent physics, though there are many cheap deaths. Hilariously absurd story/translation in the US version.
 
DCharlie said:
no - they aren't.
Click to expand...

Yes, they are.

Aldynes alone is worth the $50 the machine costs nowadays. Gran Zot is also good (not for everyone--hard as shit for one thing), and 1941 if you can afford it. Plus the best home version of Ghouls n Ghosts.
 
Another good TG-16 game is Veigues Tactical Gladiator. It's a side-scrolling giant robot-esque action game. Pretty nifty game with supe-up-able mechanical bipeds, if a tad on the clunky side.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Lumines Arise review thread (PS5, PSVR, PC)
20
525
calistan replied
  • Poll
Do you play local Multiplayer more on Consoles or PC
12
237
Gaiff replied
[Thurott] Fortnite is Coming to the Xbox App on PC With Xbox Play Anywhere Support
2
94
1K
kevboard replied
Rogue like fans: Domekeeper is a must play
7
677
Comandr replied
Unreal Engine 5.7 is out
News  2
61
2K
dgrdsv replied
Top Bottom