I grew up playing mostly with the childhood gaming system like SNES and SEGA Genesis/MD are the tech giant of the 16-bit era which was best known for various of arcade ports and many killer software titles that attracts many attention to buy the system, starting from fighting games to beat em ups, arcade style sports to fast-paced racing, platformer to shoot em ups, turn-based RPGs to action-adventure, and Italian plumber to blue hedgehog as a favourite gaming mascot heroes which is the reason why I loved the 16-bit gaming console that defines my gaming nostalgia.
But there's one of the obscure console that many of you may never heard of it before which is a NEC's PC Engine/TG16 started out as a very first 16-bit system in late 80's way ahead before the forthcoming of SEGA Genesis/MD and SNES in early 90's.
While it was initially successful in Japan, the US release had done poorly job on console marketing, lack of 3rd party support, and couldn't compete with the rivalries such as SEGA Genesis/MD and SNES which outperformed the NEC's home system.
Despite the poor commercial sales, the system was being known for its own library of games including Hudson Soft's own popular series (such as Bomberman, Adventure Island, and Bonk), large portion of shoot-em-ups titles, and has own unique CD-ROM based games for add-on consoles that made the system quite special back in early 90s.
It was later being re-made as a mini variant called PC Engine CoreGrafx (A.K.A TurboGrafx mini in US and PC Engine Mini in JP) which is a dedicated console developed by M2 and manufactured by Hori being released in 2020 featuring many built-in games and it is the first release of official hardware of the TurboGrafx-16 family since the closure of Hudson Soft in 2012, so I had the mini console back in last month that I've already reviewed the system that I am happy with the choices of classic games they add, the quality controller with long-size cables, has near-perfect hardware emulation, and impressive overall of graphics and sound designs which is the reason why I've enjoyed my PC Engine/TG16 experience.
I wanted to make my own 5 favourite games that I finding it quite fun to play as my opinion, so I decided to split this blog into two's because this will be the first part of the blog post focuses on mostly HuCard games which I will cover the CD-ROM based games for sometime later in part 2.
So without go further do, here is my top 5 PC Engine/TG16 Games (Part 1 - HuCard Titles)
5 - Blazing Lazers
Like I've mention about the Shoot-em-ups games were mostly common on PC Engine/TG16, Blazing Lazers is a vertically scroll shooter game developed by Compile, a same team behind Puyo Puyo, M.U.S.H.A, Aleste, and Devil's Crush.
It is also known as Gunhed in Japanese release which is based on the Japanese film of the same name in 1989.
You're taking control of the Gunhed Advanced Star Fighter must battle against the enemy space armada called Dark Squadron and its Super Weapons to save the galaxy.
What made the Blazing Lazers so great on the PC Engine/TG16 is the fast vertical scrolling gameplay and a wide array of weapons for the player to use that really adds the intensity of game itself.
It features 9 vertically areas to playthrough contains one or more bosses to defeat, and it has numerous types of weapons can either be upgraded or changed by collecting various numbered power-ups and purple orbs starting from rapid-fire main cannon to long-range plasma lazers. You can collect optional power-ups to help fight through the game such as multibodies, homing missiles, shields, and enhanced firing capabilities, so these are the weapons are fast and responsive works effectively against the large enemy's ship that took time to defeat which requires a much stronger weapon adds up a difficulty pretty nicely.
The level design is crispy and detailed in each areas from space station to alien's organs, desert planet to big floating bubbles which I am very impressed with the use of scrolling effects, colors details, and background visuals really fits the graphical capabilities of hardware itself showing much appreciate to its quality, and it has the incredible use of sound design with no sign of scratchy noises and it definitely has the best soundtrack of all PC Engine/TG16 library with outstanding percussion and melody throughout the game.
Blazing Lazers is regarded as one of the better shoot 'em up video games for PC Engine/TG16 system is must play for the fans of the genres.
Despite the closure of Wii's Virtual Console service since this version got re-released in 2007, I was hoping this game should deserve another re-release for Switch (via eShop) in future or if any of you preferred to play it on actual hardware instead then be warned the actual copy of the game cost around between £170 and £200 making it harder to find it online.
4 - Splatterhouse
If you're grew up watching a horror film mostly in 70s and 80s like Friday the 13th and Nightmare of Elm Street, then you probably may heard of the horror-style beat em ups title like Splatterhouse created by Namco.
It was originally released for arcade system in 1989 where as PC Engine/TG16 version was released sometime later after the arcade releases.
The arcade releases had received positive reception with praised for gruesome graphics, haunting music and intense gameplay, but the game had been edited on PC Engine/TG16 releases made numerous of cut backs such as toned-down gore, loss of graphical detail, and removal of some sounds due to system's less powerful hardware, but still also received praise for their faithful recreations of the arcade game.
It is a sidescrolling beat em up with platform elements where you take control of Rick Taylor being resurrected by Terror Mask goes on a rampage through the dungeon and the mansion grounds, killing hordes of monsters, and searching for his missing girlfriend Jennifer Willis.
The game is fairly simple, so you have ability to punch, kick, jump, and of course pick up and use various weapons placed in the levels which is pretty straightforward to learn few basic moves that does not require many additional buttons, and it also has alternative pathways through sections of the house are possible by falling down through holes or jumping up onto ladders can lead into an alternative levels.
The boss battle is quite intense to play which requires you to memorise their patterns adding a fun overall challenge, so it has large teeth worms, bagheaded guy weids with two chainsaws, rotating 6 severed headed guys, grey floating fetus, and more to fight.
I also liked the ongoing segments throughout the levels such as avoiding ground spikes, the bouncy room with bunch of furniture going ape shit everywhere, fighting with fake Rick shattered from bunch of wall mirrors, and beating crap of the floating ghosts really adds the fun factor of the game.
Despite the PC Engine/TG16 are not look nearly good as the arcade originals, the game's presentation is pretty good for its dark and gloomy settings, so you have stuff like outside forrest, creepy altar room, libaries piled up with bookshelf , basements full of guts and intestines, and more gross stuff included in the game really adds the game's appeal.
I highly recommend to those who are a fan of the horror films and beat em ups genres in general should able to enjoy a gruesome beat em ups action.
Thankfully you can able to find this game on video game compilation such as Namco Museum for Switch (via eShop) released in 2017 which is cheaper option than the actual PC Engine/TG16 copy.
3 - Neutopia
There's one of the game that I've discovered on the mini console I had which is Neutopia created by Hudson Soft, a same team was best known for their popular franchise behind Bonk, Adventure Island, and Bomberman.
I'm quite surprised to see development team wanted to make their own Zelda-style Action-Adventure game being on the PC Engine/TG16 system which I got to say is that I'm very into with these types of style which has overhead perspective, the exploration, and dungeon puzzle stages similar to Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda.
It is a Overhead Action-Adventure title where you play as the hero named Jazeta went for his quest to retrieve the eight stolen medallions, defeat evil demon Dirth, rescue Princess Aurora, and save the land and its people.
In order to gains access to the North Pole where Dirth resides, the game has four levels called spheres which Jazeta must explore and recover the two medallions from each levels are hidden in crypts, where each medallion is guarded by a boss.
The game plays just like Zelda, so you have two basic actions such as weapons or use items, scroll through messages, access the status screen, and collecting information from other NPCs are located in caves throughout the overworld in which some can be uncovered by burning objects with fire, blowing up walls with bombs, and pushing certain rocks.
These useful items will allow you to shoot fireballs with fire rod, illuminate dark rooms with moonbeam, crossing the small gap with rainbow drop, falcon shoes boost you with speed, medicine which refills your life meter, transforming tough enemies into weaker ones with magic rings, freezes enemies with hourglass, and warping back to the safe place with wings.
You can also obtain sword, shield, and armor upgrades throughout the game which can increase attack power, increase defense against projectiles, and decrease enemy damage ranges from bronze to silver to strongest.
The gameplay plays decently with the choice of upgradable weapons and accessible items works effectively well throughout the exploration and puzzles, while the boss battles in each crypt is actually pretty good for learning patterns and difficulty giving a full Action-Adventure experience that you may not going to be disappointed at all which proves that this game is just as good as the Nintendo's 8-bit Zelda game.
The graphics is colorful and detailed throughout the levels with simplistic environments, bold textures, and has nice use of animation on sprites looks pretty amazing for PC Engine/TG16 standards, and I also liked the game's overall presentation starting from greenry looking overworld to more darker looking dungeons fits the mood of the game's settings.
The game also received an sequel with exact same things in terms of visuals and gameplay, but I much preferred more on the first game which makes Neutopia an surprising Zelda clones title that I highly recommended to all fans of the genres to go check out the game.
I'm still assuming that the game also available on Wii U platform if the Virtual Console services are still active today or better yet the game still needed to re-release for later platforms in future(??? maybe just maybe).
2 - Bomberman 93
Back in my days of retro gaming, I've played many of great Bomberman games such as Super Bomberman 3 (SNES), Mega Bomberman (Genesis/MD), Saturn Bomberman (Saturn), Atomic Bomberman (PC), Neo Bomberman (Neo Geo), and Bomberman Blast(Wii) which the whole series was known for its addicting local multiplayer, amazing single-player action, and of course an recognisable video game protagonist that we all love back then.
One of the game that are surprisingly fun to play which is Bomberman 93 for PC Engine/TG16 is a puzzle-action game where you get to play as White Bomberman went for his quest to retrieve all missing seven chips been scattered across several planets of the Magellan solar system stolen by Black Bomberman.
The game featured two playable modes such as single-player and multiplayer. The single-player game consists of seven themed worlds, each containing eight stages consists of a block filled maze with enemies scattered throughout, so your goal is to defeat many enemies as possible and heading to finishing portal which leads to the next stage opens within time limit.
The game is quite simple to play, you just using bombs by placing anywhere to destroy blocks in their path and killing off enemies, and you will have power-ups are hidden beneath certain blocks which allows you to increased bombs and firepower, as well as useful abilities like being able to kick bombs.
It also has a boss battles in eighth stage of each world which I got to say it's quite engaging to play, so you have green-tophat digger unleashing with blue flames, purple-blossom petunia duplicating bunch of minions and 4 spinning wheels rotating around, blue-flying blastbat blows out green flames, big-headed el-baal releasing multiple hands from ground, red-crawling cockle twins, and ice-age creature grumpus can trigger bomb blasts with his jumping really adds the elements of game with different enemy's patterns to memorise.
The best part of the game that what made Bomberman series being known is the local multiplayer that allow you to play up to 5-players to compete against one another in a timed deathmatch, so you will need a multi-tap device which plugs 5 controllers in order to play this sort of game modes.
Bomberman 93 is clearly being not just being the best puzzle-action game, but also a best multiplayer title for the system that all family and friends can enjoy themselves blasting each other through the mazes is what made the game quite fun.
The game also available on Wii U Virtual Console released in 2017.
1 - Bonk's Adventure
The side-scrolling platformer was quite popular back in mid-80s thanks to Nintendo's heavy hitters like Super Mario Bros are regarded as being the greatest game of all-time and also a commercially successful title had helped the sales of the NES hardware.
The success of the game had influenced other titles like Alex Kidd, Wonder Boy, Sonic The Hedgehog, Donkey Kong Country, Kirby, and Rayman are the main examples that made 2D platformer genres so successful in gaming industry.
NEC Home Electronics wanted their own 2D platformer title which is the reason why Red Company had bought Bonk's Adventure for PC Engine/TG16 in 1990, and it is also known as PC-Genjin in Japan.
The game follows a bold-headed cave protagonist Bonk went on mission to rescue Princess Za, a small pink Pleisiosaur-type reptile who has been kidnapped by the evil King Drool, a large, green, Tyrannosaurus-type dinosaur.
You're taking control of Bonk in side-scrolling perspective bonking bunch of anthropomorphic dinosaurs and other prehistoric enemies throughout the stage.
You will start with three hearts worth of health which are depleted to blue as Bonk takes damage, and three extra lives. Bonk's health can be restored in increments by collecting fruits and vegetables.
You bonk them with the large forehead to attack enemies, while you can also perform a landing headbutt in midair, and has ability to climb up to higher path with grinding teeth.
You can also collect pieces of meat as power-ups which gives him a special abilities and make him stronger such as stunning enemies by pounding on the ground and becoming temporarily invulnerable which is just like from Nintendo's Super Mario Bros where you do the same with collecting power-ups to use fireballs and becoming invincible throughout the stage.
The gameplay is easier to get into thanks to linear design of stages and simplistic controls are much easy to learn works really well in the game. The hit collision on enemies seems responsive, the platforming segments are straightforward, and of course the boss battles is incredibly entertaining to play.
The graphics are fully cartoony and imaginative really adds the appeal of the game itself, so I love the colorful background details, bold animation, and visual effects that made the level design look amazing for PC Engine/TG16 standards, and I also liked the prehistoric themes of presentation in each levels like bright and blue skies with erupting volcanoes, meaty looking stages of inside dinosaur's guts, tropical sandy places with palm trees, greenery forrest with big huge river, dark looking caves, deep blue underwater stages, and thick and icy looking castle.
The music and sounds in the game is pretty solid overall for its happy and cheery soundtrack, and has impressive sound design which is quite well done throughout the game.
Bonk's Adventure is not just my number 1 favourite game on this top 5 list, it is a definitely better looking platformer title of all PC Engine/TG16 libraries that everyone especially with fans of the genres in general can get a hands on with a colourful and unique 2D side-scrolling game.
The game was also ported to other platforms such as NES, GB, Amiga, and Arcade are still worth for checking out if you much preferred playing it on these versions, but I say the PC Engine/TG16 version are far more superior platform is what made this game quite recognisable.
Honorable mention:
Alien Crush
Bloody Wolf
Legendary Axe
Jackie Chan's Action Kung Fu
Vigilante
Dungeon Explorer
Valkyie no Densetsu (Legend of Valkyie)
Ninja Spirit
R-Type
Gradius
Raiden
Soldier Blade
New Adventure Island
Air Zonk
Dragon Spirit
Okay that's the part 1 done, so please stay tuned for the next part of this top 5 soon will focus on mostly CD-ROM based games.
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This is Zeeshan Mirza's Blog and I'll see you next time, happy blogging everyone
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