Four New Turbografx-16 Game Coming to the VC!

Today Hudson announced four new Turbografx-16 titles that are headed to the Nintendo Wii Virtual Console in April and they include: Bravoman, Bonk's Revenge, Battle Lode Runner (a japan-only title originally), and Shockman. While Bravoman isn't a terribly good game, the other three titles are pretty solid and should give Turbo fans a lot to look forward to during the month of April. Click on the logo to visit the Virtual-Turbo "Preview" page.

Forgotten Favorites - Cotton 2

If you're a shooter fan, like myself, then you're probably at least a little familiar with the Cotton series of shoot em' ups. If not, let me give you a brief summary. Cotton is a cute shooter featuring a broom-riding little witch named Willow. Although the games are traditionally cute, the challenge is far from anything remotely close to what I would call "cute." Cotton 2 for the Sega Saturn system is the sequel to the original arcade and PC Engine shooter title and features some absolutely stunning visuals and music. As with most other Cotton titles, the difficulty level is also at it's usual high point. If you have access to a Sega Saturn system that will play Japanese titles, track down a copy of Cotton 2 or Cotton Boomerang (a slightly tweaked version of Cotton 2) and enjoy! Easily one of my favorite cute em' ups.

Dragon's Curse Coming to VC on April 2

Hudson is getting set to release the hit Turbografx-16 action/adventure game Dragon's Curse on to the Wii Virtual Console on Monday, April 2. After getting the amazing Splatterhouse, it seems that Hudson is on a roll. You can click on the logo to head over to Virtual-Turbo and check out a preview of the game.

Forgotten Favorites - Gate of Thunder

It pretty much goes without saying that if you're a shooter fan, you should own at least one of the PC Engine/Turbografx-16 consoles. If you don't own one, then you need to grab one as soon as possible because many of the greatest shooters ever made reside on these systems, including one such favorite that I'm talking about in today's post. Gate of Thunder was one of the first games released for the PC Engine/Turbografx-16 system's Super System Card. This upgrade Hucard added a more optomized bios as well as additional RAM. While this may seem like a very slight upgrade, it actually made a world of difference in terms of both visuals and load times. In fact, you'd be hard-pressed to find a better looking game on these systems, even by the later Arcade Card upgrade standards. If ever there were a reason to purchase the Super System Card, Gate of Thunder was it.

As I said above, very few games on the PC Engine/Turbografx-16 systems can hold a candle to the stunning visuals and multi-level paralax scrolling found in Gate of Thunder. You'll even catch yourself just staring at the many settings in the game, and wondering how the hell they were ever able to pull this off on what is essentially a souped up 8-bit system. As if the drop-dead gorgeous graphics weren't enough, there's also one of the greatest rock soundtracks ever to grace a video game included as well. But despite all of this eye and ear candy, the one thing that makes Gate of Thunder such a phenomenal shooter is it's intense gameplay. Everything in Gate of Thunder comes at you with full force and the tight and responsive play control always gives you the opportunity to make all the right maneuvers to come out clean on the other side. Of course the mammoth firepower doesn't hurt either. To further illustrate my point, let me make this statement: I own over 100 shoot em' ups, and Gate of Thunder is in the top ten. If you've never played this game, please do yourself a favor and grab it. They just don't make them like this anymore.

Super Paper Mario Coming April 10th!

I got my greedy little hands on Super Paper Mario this afternoon and let me tell you, it's one amazing game. I haven't been able to put this game down since I got it and I'm seriously considering calling in sick to work tomorrow. While the game doesn't make as much use of the motion-sensing controls of the Wii as I was expecting, it still has enough to offer those who were expecting more waving around of the Wii Remote. I'm going to get back to the game and I'll post a full preview of the game tomorrow night. But trust me, if you own a Wii, put this one on your wish list NOW! This game is definitely a contender for Wii Game of the Year!

A Shooter Fan's Dream!

Just uploaded the newest addition of Turbo Talk on the Virtual Turbo web site. This article deals with the Top 10 shooters available on the Turbografx-16 and PC Engine game systems. Click on the Lords of Thunder screenshot to take a look at the article.

Give Your Wallet a Workout!

I was unpacking from my recent move into a new house, and I found my PC Engine collection that had been packed up for several months. It reminded me of some of the more rare titles I had, some that go for over $400 on ebay at various times. So I've been on a PC Engine kick as of the past few weeks, so I thought I'd write up an article about some of these rare and expensive titles. Click on the picture to see the full article.