TurboGrafx CD

TurboGrafx CD is a video game platform.


Recent Images News Videos Community Guides
There hasn't been any recent activity for this object.

NEC's attempt to boost up it's ailing TurboGrafx 16.

The TurboGrafx CD was NEC's attempt to offer a meatier experience than current Turbochip (Hu-Card) games were offering, in part to compete against the Sega Genesis.  The resulting games on this system, the first CD-based system ever released, are some of the most treasured games in the history of the hobby, most notably the Ys series.

While the system was quite small in Japan (where it was called the PC-Engine CD-ROM2), the TurboGrafix CD was made substantially larger, most likely in order to fit with the enlarged TurboGrafx 16 console.  The enlarging of hardware in the US by NEC was in part due to the perception that Americans simply prefered their things large.  However, this had the side-effect of making the system look far less attractive.  Also, the initial price of $400 made it an unnattractive buy.  Worse off, even the Turbo fanbase would mostly stay away, waiting instead for the Turbo Duo (PC Engine Duo in Japan), which combined Turbochip and CD functionality into a far sleeker system.

In addition to being extremely bulky, the unit required a "System Card" (a TurboChip with information needed to access the CD drive) to be inserted into the TurboGrafx 16's card slot.  Updated system cards were later released to give the unit the same memory capacity as the updated Turbo Duo.

A plus for the unit is that it had an internal RAM, allowing for users to save their gameplay without buying seperate RAM modules for their system.

Full-motion-animation was not used much in games for the Turbo CD, this being before the "multimedia gaming" fad that the Sega CD and the 3DO fell into.  The cinematics in the games were usually anime in nature, which served to partially hide the limits of the unit's 1X CD drive, with some of the most beautiful cutscenes being present in Ys Book I and II, Cosmic Fantasy 2, and the remake of Valis: The Fantasm Soldier.

The system didn't have that many games released for it, but with no region lock on the CDs, it was entirely possible to play Japanese CD-ROM games, so long as they did not require the Japan-only Arcade Card.

TurboGrafx CD games
Edit
Platform Name: TurboGrafx CD
Release Date: Aug. 1, 1990
Online Support: False
Install Base: 0
Original Price: $400
Producing Company: NEC Technologies, Inc.
Total Games: games
Japan
first in
11
Castle
first in
6
Dungeon
first in
6
Cave
first in
6
Town
first in Animal Crossing
5
Temple
first in
4
Space
first in Spacewar!
3
Tavern
first in
2
Church
first in King's Quest II: Romancing the Throne
2
Mine
first in
2
Virtual Console
first in
31
2D
first in Tennis for Two Simulator
28
Non-Player Character
first in
13
Bosses
first in DND
11
Boss Fight
first in DND
11
Women Antagonists
first in
11
Health
first in
11
Nudity
first in Beat 'Em & Eat 'Em
10
Final Boss
first in
9
Death
first in
9
Sword
first in
16
Water
first in
9
Fireball
first in Super Mario Bros.
7
Revealing Attire
first in
7
Bridge
first in
6
Mask
first in
6
Beard
first in
6
Statue
first in
5
Ladder
first in
5
Robe
first in
5


YukoAsho
25 points

Akito01
5 points

Jecrell
4 points

Villainess
2 points

CitizenKane
2 points


You are in Edit Mode. Make sure to save your work at the end!!
  • Submissions can take 24 hours to be moderated.
  • Please leave a comment to explain why you're making this change.
Save Changes Cancel