BackgroundThe Wii U eShop will only be open for a limited time so it is worth looking at the games there while there is still time to buy them. In the past few months we looked at all the available eShop games, but we omitted the Virtual Console releases, until now! Nintendo introduced the Virtual Console (VC) with Wii as a way to sell games from previous systems a la carte. That same service continued with Wii U and 3DS before being replaced with a Netflix style service bundled with the Nintendo Switch's Online membership.
The TurboGrafx-16Released in 1989 in North America, the TurboGrafx-16 (TG-16) ushered in the 4th generation of home consoles. While it never took off in the U.S., it did quite well in Japan where it was known as the PC Engine. The console used HuCard cartridges initially and later had add-on and native compatibility with CD based games (TubroGrafx-CD/CD-ROM
2. By 1994 the console was discontinued and the failure of the successor, the PC Engine SuperGrafx, led to the manufacturer (NEC Home Electronics) getting out of the console making business.
The TurboGrafx-16 Virtual ConsoleIn 2006, Nintendo started adding TG-16 games to the Wii Virtual Console (
Link to NWR article). It was not until 2016, when most of the same titles came over to Wii U (
Link to NWR article). The games were priced at $5.99/$7.99 in the U.S. by 2018 40 titles had been made available. Of those, 29 are still on the Wii U eShop for purchase.
Other AvailabilityThe 3DS eShop had four TG-16 titles at one point:
R-Type,
Gradius,
Alien Crush, and
China Warrior, but all appear to be delisted (note: you can still get the NES version of Gradius). More recently, Konami - who now owns Hudson Soft and much of the TG-16 back catalog - threw their hat in the mini-console ring and released the TurboGrafx-16 Mini. This plug and play console includes 57 games, about 20 of which are also on the Wii U VC (
See full list). The overlap is well documented by Discord.RSS in the following thread (
Link to NWR forum topic).
Unlike the Sony and Sega mini-consoles, the TurboGrafx-16 Mini did not stick around long enough to get a price drop and is only available from re-sellers for about $150. Finally, if you still have an active PS3 or Vita, some titles were released in the Playstation Store, though most were Japan only (
See full list). Of those released in North America,
World Sports Competition is the only one not also found on the TG-16 mini.
Since there are only 29 titles we will run the gamut with information in the following order
Game Title (Release year, current US card or disc cost*, NWR review, Availability)
* Loose HuCard or CD only, source:
https://www.pricecharting.com/ - Air Zonk (1992, $124, Recommended by NWR, TG-16 Mini)
- Alien Crush (1989, $31, Recommended by NWR, TG-16 Mini, PS Store)
- Battle Lode Runner (1993, Japan only, Recommended by NWR, Wii U only)
- Blazing Lazers (1989, $48, Not recommended by NWR, TG-16 Mini)
- Bomberman '93 (1993, $121, Recommended by NWR, TG-16 Mini)
- Bomberman '94 (1993, Japan only, One of Neal's Konami Picks TG-16 Mini, PS Store)
- Bomberman Panic Bomber (1994, Japan Only)
- Bonk 3: Bonk's Big Adventure (1993, $304, Recommended by NWR, Wii U only)
- Bonk's Adventure (1990, $47, 8 from NWR, TG-16 Mini, PS Store)
- Bonk's Revenge (1991, $48, Recommended by NWR, TG-16 Mini)
- Break in (1989, Japan only, Wii U only)
- Detana Twin Bee (1992, Japan only, Recommended by NWR, Switch Arcade Archives)
- Devil's Crush (1990, $89, Recommended by NWR, Wii U only)
- Digital Champ Battle Boxing (1989, Japan only, Not recommended by NWR, Wii U only)
- Double Dungeons (1990, $24, Not recommended by NWR, Wii U only)
- Dungeon Explorer (1989, $24, TG-16 Mini, PS Strore)
- Final Soldier (1991, Japan only, Wii U only)
- Gradius (1991, Japan only, Wii U only)
- Lords of Thunder (1993, $131, Recommended by NWR, TG-16 Mini)
- Motoroader (1989, $15, TG-16 Mini)
- Necromancer (1988, Japan only, TG-16 Mini)
- Neutopia (1990, $75, Recommended by NWR, TG-16 Mini, PS Store)
- Neutopia II (1992, $176, Recommended by NWR, TG-16 Mini)
- New Adventure Island (1992, $103, Recommended by NWR, TG-16 Mini, PS Store)
- Power Golf (1989, $10, Not recommended by NWR, TG-16 Mini)
- Shockman (1992, $103, Recommended by NWR, Wii U only)
- Soldier Blade (1992, $232, TG-16 Mini, PS Store)
- Victory Run (1989, $13, TG-16 Mini, PS Store)
- World Sports Competition (1992, $131, Not recommended by NWR, PS Store)
The HighlightsWhile most of the games listed are $5.99 U.S., there are two premium titles:
Bomberman Panic Bomber and
Lords of Thunder that go for $7.99. Ostensibly, this is because they were CD-Rom games. Both are available on the TG-16 Mini but Lords of Thunder is the only one to get a review by NWR.
With limited success in North America it is not too surprising to see the appreciated values on the original HuCards. Many of these titles are over $100 just for the loose card, with the most valuable being
Bonk 3. The third Bonk game was actually released for both TurboGrafx-16 and TurboGrafx-CD and will run you $304 or $325 respectively.
If we filter out just the Wii U VC exclusives that were recommended by NWR we get Mr. Bungle's Final Four:
Battle Lode Runner
Bonk 3
Devil's Crush
Shockman
CommentsI welcome any corrections to the information I found when compiling the list. The information here is for the US so let me know about differences in other regions. Not sure what to comment, consider questions like:
- Did you own a TurboGrafx-16 in the 1990's
- Did you pick up the TurboGrafx-16 mini?
- Why did the TurboGrafx-16 fail in North America?
Next RoundJoin me next week as we Advance to the first hand-held console in our exhaustive review of the Wii U Virtual Console.