Welcome to the Turbolog, an ongoing series intended to educate Robot Panic readers about the Turbografx-16 and Turbo Duo library. In each entry, I’ll be giving brief information about a game in the Turbo library as well as the game’s rarity and my personal rating, both on a scale of 1-5. We’ll be working backwards alphabetically by title. If you’d like to read all the entries in the Turbolog, simply click the “Turbolog” tag below each article.

“THE SKINHEADS HAVE TAKEN MADONNA HOSTAGE.”

This is still one of the most hilarious opening scenes in video game history, and never has there been a better reason not to play a game. Nevertheless, Vigilante is a fun beat-em-up in the style of Kung-Fu on the NES. One of the first titles to appear on the Turbografx-16, Vigilante was an early showpiece for the system with colorful backgrounds and large, detailed characters. With great music and an awesomely cheesy 80s plot, it’s always fun to pop Vigilante in the Turbografx and beat down fools with chains and crowbars.

The one major downside to Vigilante is the lack of a multiplayer mode. What made old-school beat-em-ups great was the ability to team up with friends to save the day. Unfortunately, Vigilante was a solo affair – and a repetitive one at that – meaning it doesn’t rank very highly when stacked next to classic arcade brawlers like Double Dragon, Final Fight, or Streets of Rage. Nevertheless, don’t hesitate to pick this one up. But when you beat the game, just tell the Skinheads they can keep Madonna; the world will be a better place.

Rarity/Cost (1-5): ** A fairly common game, Vigilante can be found easily on eBay or at retro game shops for reasonable prices.

Rating (1-5): *** A good, cheesy, 80s brawler that doesn’t quite reach the heights of its contemporaries. Vigilante is repetitive and archaic by today’s standards, but is still worth a look.

Welcome to the Turbolog, an ongoing series intended to educate Robot Panic readers about the Turbografx-16 and Turbo Duo library. In each entry, I’ll be giving brief information about a game in the Turbo library as well as the game’s rarity and my personal rating, both on a scale of 1-5. We’ll be working backwards alphabetically by title. If you’d like to read all the entries in the Turbolog, simply click the “Turbolog” tag below each article.

Another unlicensed sports title in the Turbo library, World Class Baseball substitutes familiar Major League Baseball teams with the Bangkok Buddhas, Tokyo Ninjas, Chicago Winds, and the Rome Togas. Amusing, yes, but this was no R.B.I. Baseball, which featured recognizable stars like Andre Dawson and Mark McGwire. Nevertheless, the game itself was an above average representation of video game baseball in the late 80s. The Pennant Mode requires players to defeat all sixteen of the team’s leagues before getting to the elusive Turbo Tigers. Most curious is the Watch Mode, which is exactly as it sounds: players sit and watch the computer face off against itself. Thrilling!

World Class Baseball looked slightly better than many of its contemporaries, but lacked the pizazz of the more popular baseball titles of the day. Unfortunately, as it’s the only baseball title on the console, Turbo gamers weren’t left any choice if they wanted to go nine innings.

Rarity/Cost (1-5): * There’s a good chance your local retro game shop has a stack of World Class Baseball HuCards lying around. These things are everywhere, and you should never have to pay more than $5 for a copy.

Rating (1-5): ** World Class Baseball isn’t a bad game by any means. It just wasn’t that great in its day and hasn’t aged very well over time. But if you’re jonesing for a simple old-school baseball game, you could certainly do worse.

Welcome to the Turbolog, an ongoing series intended to educate Robot Panic readers about the Turbografx-16 and Turbo Duo library. In each entry, I’ll be giving brief information about a game in the Turbo library as well as the game’s rarity and my personal rating, both on a scale of 1-5. We’ll be working backwards alphabetically by title. If you’d like to read all the entries in the Turbolog, simply click the “Turbolog” tag below each article.

The “World” sports series continues with World Court Tennis. Billing itself as the “world’s first tennis role-playing game”, WCT is probably the most unique take on Tennis gamers had seen way back in 1989 when it was released. A simple round of tennis could be played in single player or in multiplayer using the TurboTap, but the real meat of the game was in “Quest Mode”. Here, the player needed to go through the equivalent of a Tennis-based Dragon Quest game in order to defeat the evil Tennis King and restore the purity of tennis to the land. Completely cheesy, right? Wrong! It’s absolutely AWESOME!

The game follows all the standard RPG cliches. You wander around town getting hints from NPCs, you buy items and equipment – tennis equipment, of course – from shopkeepers, and when you leave the town you deal with random battles, the difference being that rather than bludgeon enemies with axes and swords, you challenge them to a friendly game of tennis. The best part is that you can choose to decline the challenge and simply move along with your game. It’s all quite charming and corny, and surprisingly enjoyable.

The actual tennis game plays fairly well for a game of its era. Controls are exactly what you’d expect, and if you’ve played a Mario Tennis game, especially on the Game Boy Advance, you’ll feel right at home.

Rarity/Cost (1-5): * As with most of the Turbo sports titles, World Court Tennis is incredibly easy to track down and remarkably affordable. You should be able to pay no more than $10 for a nearly complete copy.

Rating (1-5): **** Well, it’s 8/16-bit tennis, so there’s that. But the RPG segment of the game makes this one a winner. If you’re a fan of Dragon Quest style RPGs and like to throw down with some old-school tennis, World Court Tennis should be right up your alley.

Welcome to the Turbolog, an ongoing series intended to educate Robot Panic readers about the Turbografx-16 and Turbo Duo library. In each entry, I’ll be giving brief information about a game in the Turbo library as well as the game’s rarity and my personal rating, both on a scale of 1-5. We’ll be working backwards alphabetically by title. If you’d like to read all the entries in the Turbolog, simply click the “Turbolog” tag below each article.

The Turbografx had a healthy library of sports titles, most of which were non-licensed garbage. And while World Sports Competition wasn’t exactly garbage, it was basically a generic title for fans of the Olympics. The box promises that you can “create an athlete who runs, jumps, and throws” in eighteen “exciting” events, and yes, some of the events here are actually pretty fun. Developed by Hudson, WSC includes track events, swimming, rowing, and other standard Olympic events and up to five players can compete using the Turbo/Duo Tap accessory.

Beyond that, World Sports Competition is pretty standard fare for the 8/16-bit sports game era, not really excelling in any particular area. But if you’re into busting out classic consoles with your friends, this may not be a bad one to tinker with.

Rarity/Cost (1-5): *
As is the case with most classic sports game, copies of World Sports Competition are plentiful on eBay and most vintage gaming shops. If you look hard enough, you should be able to find a copy for under $10.

Rating (1-5): **
While the single-player won’t knock your socks off, a bit of fun can be had out of the multiplayer. That said, few sports games age well, and WSP is no exception, and what may have been fun back in the early 90s may not hold up so well today.

Welcome to the Turbolog, an ongoing series intended to educate Robot Panic readers about the Turbografx-16 and Turbo Duo library. In each entry, I’ll be giving brief information about a game in the Turbo library as well as the game’s rarity and my personal rating, both on a scale of 1-5. We’ll be working backwards alphabetically by title. If you’d like to read all the entries in the Turbolog, simply click the “Turbolog” tag below each article.

Haven’t you always wanted to listen to bad digitized versions of Beach Boys tunes while playing video games? Don’t you wish they all could be California Girls? And aren’t you just enamored with late 80s skater-dude lingo? If you answered yes to all these questions, Yo, Bro might just be the best damn video game you’ve ever played. In Yo, Bro you play as a little skateboarding bear named Little Bro, and it’s up to you to save six different California neighborhoods from the evils of Professor Liverhosen. As you skate around town with your trusty slingshot, you’ll face up against dogs on rockets, giant mutant lizards and mice, killer bees, and oil slicks. Damn those dreaded oil slicks! You’ll need to rescue the neighborhood kids before the nasty ghouls get to them.

For the most part, Yo, Bro is a top-down game that controls clumsily and is far too goofy and cheeseball for its own good. But in between stages are little side-scrolling shooter levels where Little Bro flies through the air collecting power-ups (french fries, soda cans, etc.) and avoiding obstacles such as missiles. It’s not riveting gameplay by any means, but these little stages provide nice breaks from the brutally annoying main game.

Yo, Bro certainly isn’t worth seeking out unless you’re interested in the kitsch factor of the Beach Boys licensed music or the cheesy Spicoli-like quotes. Inexplicably, the game received a sequel titled Camp California on the Turbo CD a couple years later, complete with the return of the Beach Boys soundtrack. Camp California is a much different game in terms of gameplay, but equally poor in quality. But we’ll get to that another time.

Rarity/Cost (1-5): **
Yo, Bro is a game that’s not in very high demand. As such, you’ll be able to find it quite easily at online retailers or on eBay for under $20. Chances are, if you’re a collector, this will probably be one of the last games on your list.

Rating (1-5): *
Ok, so the game does make me laugh with its corny text, ridiculous enemies, and horrible soundtrack. But once this amusement wears off, what’s left is a really awful game. Unless you’re a completest, avoid Yo, Bro.

Welcome to the Turbolog, an ongoing series intended to educate Robot Panic readers about the Turbografx-16 and Turbo Duo library. In each entry, I’ll be giving brief information about a game in the Turbo library as well as the game’s rarity and my personal rating, both on a scale of 1-5. We’ll be working backwards alphabetically by title. If you’d like to read all the entries in the Turbolog, simply click the “Turbolog” tag below each article.

(Image from VNotesChronicle.com) While I love the Turbo consoles, few games in the Turbo catalog have reached that “legendary” retro status. And though I contend that the Bonk series, Ninja Spirit, the “of Thunder” games, and the “Crush” titles stand up there with the best of the 8/16-bit era, none of them are widely regarded as top-tier games by the masses. Ys Book I & II, however, has earned a certain mystique over the years due to the fact that it was one of the first RPGs that was epic in both scope and presentation, thanks to the then-new CD format.. And that soundtrack. My God, man, the soundtrack!

Following two adventures and introducing Adol Christen, the Ys series protagonist, the game is actually comprised of the first two Ys titles, Ys: Ancient Ys Vanished, and Ys: The Vanished Omens. The game is a top-down action/RPG that plays similarly to the original Legend of Zelda, except with a far broader scope. There are dozens of dungeons to explore, a bunch of towns to get hints from, and the awesome music and animation scenes really make this a game worth experiencing. The actual gameplay combat, however, may be a bit too old-school for some. You see, instead of slashing with a sword or even utilizing turn-based battles, fighting an enemy in Ys consists of simply charging at that enemy head-on, and if you’re at the proper angle you’ll do damage. If not, you’ll take damage. It’s a head-scratcher these days, and even back in the day it seemed a bit archaic.

The game’s been released and re-released for just about every console under the sun, including the Master System, Saturn, Windows, and Nintendo DS. But I contend that the first great version was for the TurboGrafx-CD. For its time, it was epic, gorgeous, and provided a gameplay experience like none other.

Rarity/Cost (1-5): **
Ys Book I & II is a snap to find on eBay and in retro shops, if you’re lucky enough to have one. However, it seems that finding a mint copy for a decent price is getting more and more difficult. Fortunately, the game can be downloaded on the Wii’s Virtual Console for under $10, and at that price it’s an absolute must-buy.

Rating (1-5): *****
Alright, so the combat and gameplay are pretty archaic by modern standards. But this game is just so well done and epic that it must be experienced. If you’re planning on getting a TurboGrafx-CD or Turbo Duo, this should be one of the first games on your list. And if you own a Wii, there’s no reason not to have it so you can bask in the soundtrack and old-school gameplay.

Welcome to the Turbolog, an ongoing series intended to educate Robot Panic readers about the Turbografx-16 and Turbo Duo library. In each entry, I’ll be giving brief information about a game in the Turbo library as well as the game’s rarity and my personal rating, both on a scale of 1-5. We’ll be working backwards alphabetically by title. If you’d like to read all the entries in the Turbolog, simply click the “Turbolog” tag below each article.

After Ys Book I&II rocked the pants off of lucky Turbo-CD-owning gamers, the anticipation for Ys III was high. Released in 1991, Ys III’s plot took place three years after the events in Ys II. Red-haired protagonist Adol Christin returns to once again save the day. The biggest difference between Ys III and the rest of the series is that it’s more of a side-scrolling action-adventure game than the traditional top-down action-RPG. If you need a comparison, consider this to be the series’ Zelda II. While a decent game by most standards, Ys III is generally considered to be one of the lesser games in the series, simply because of this change in perspective.

Despite this stigma, Ys III offers a lengthy quest full of the usual RPG conventions like leveling-up and item upgrades. In addition, the Ys series is renown for its amazing soundtrack, and Ys III continues this legacy. If you scour eBay, you’re bound to find plenty of soundtrack CDs for sale.

In the United States, Ys III was also ported to both the SNES and Genesis, though these ports sacrifice much of the great music and presentation of the Turbo-CD version. The game was also completely overhauled for PC in 2005 as Ys: The Oath in Felghana.

Rarity/Cost (1-5): ****
You should be able to find Ys III pretty easily either on eBay or through specialty dealers. Copies won’t be abundant, but you’ll find one or two without too much searching. However, despite the ease of locating a copy, it seems that the prices are slowly reaching absurd levels. I’ve seen a complete copy of the game go for nearly $200, which is insane. If you have trouble locating an original Turbo-CD copy, I’d recommend either picking up one of the lesser ports or waiting for the Virtual Console release.

Rating (1-5): ***
Despite complaints from hardcore fans, Ys III holds up pretty decently these days. As I mentioned previously, it’s a relatively lengthy quest presented very well. Plus, I’m a sucker for side-scrollers.