PC-Engine Demo VHS Tape

[roflmao]

So I was digging through my boxes of VHS tapes in the garage and found a tape labeled "PC-ENGINE DEMO".  

It's a tape someone on the Turbo Mailing List put together back in late 1996 containing clips of PC Engine games.  Here is the Title of Contents (typed as it was written on the case):

Magical Chase, 1941, Aldynes, Unknown Platform, Battle Ace, Gouls & Ghosts, Batman, Gomola Speed, Bubblegum Crash, Street Fighter II:CE, Parodius, Twinbee, Advanced V.G., Brandish, Dracula X, Unknown Hentai Poker, Unknown, RPG (part 3), Dragon Knight II, Dragon Knight III, Dracula X, Flash Hiders, Gradius, Unknown Platform, Martial Champion, Unknown Puzzler, Battle Mahjong Dragon's Eye, (?) Stay With You, Sylphia, Unknown RPG, Mad Stalker, Strider, Art of Fighting, Fatal Fury 2, Saphire, YS IV, Star Parodia, Operation Wolf, Bomberman '94, Unknown Platformer

I remember being completely blown away when I received this tape in the mail.  I had been a Turbografx-16 fan from Day One but this was my first real  window into what we were missing here in the States.  Remember this was roughly 15 years ago - before you could look up any game that ever existed on YouTube.

Digging though the Turbo Mailing List Archives, I figured out that it was Chuck Smith that compiled this demo tape and sent it out to fellow list members during late 1996 and early 1997.  My tape is numbered 14.  I don't know how far in that is.  The Turbo Mailing lists' archives start in 1997 and there's only one post pertaining to this demo tape and it's his final notice that he's not making any more tapes.

It's a little over 2 hours in length, but I'd be willing to capture it and post it in chunks to Youtube if anyone would be interested in watching this rare piece of history.  It's a 15 year old VHS tape with ONLY game footage (no commentary or whatnot) and you can probably find better quality game footage on YouTube of each of these games, but there's something special about watching this compilation that was put together before this stuff was easily obtainable.

Anyway, if there's some interest, I'll capture it, break it into 15-ish minute chunks (for some reason my Youtube videos can only be 15 minutes in length) and upload it to YouTube.  Alternatively, I could capture it and ship out DVD versions to people who are interested.

The Vids:
1996 PC-ENGINE DEMO VHS Tape Part 1:

1996 PC-ENGINE DEMO VHS Tape Part 2:

1996 PC-ENGINE DEMO VHS Tape Part 3:

1996 PC-ENGINE DEMO VHS Tape Part 4:

1996 PC-ENGINE DEMO VHS Tape Part 5:

1996 PC-ENGINE DEMO VHS Tape Part 6:

1996 PC-ENGINE DEMO VHS Tape Part 7:

1996 PC-ENGINE DEMO VHS Tape Part 8:

1996 PC-ENGINE DEMO VHS Tape Part 9:

[roflmao]

OK...  here's something totally random.

Just a couple of days ago I ordered an AC Adapter for my TurboExpress from retrogamecave.com.  Great price - it's a knockoff and the cable is a little on the short side, but it fits the bill and was half of what Radio Shack wanted for one of their AC adapters.  As it turns out, retrogamecave.com is run by the same Chuck Smith that released this  VHS tape way back in the day!

What a strange coincidence that I ordered this adapter and dug up his 15 yr old VHS tape in the span of a few days.
 

[Tatsujin]

Yeah, that chuck was very active back in turbo times. Also was his friend george palamara, which had about ever piece of pce hardare ever existed. Dunno what happened to that fellow over the years.

[CGQuarterly]

You should totally copy that to a DVD.  I'd definitely take one.

Chris

[SuperPlay]

I love finds like this :-)  I would be interested

[Mathius]

What a crazy coincidence. I'd be interested too.

[roflmao]

Excellent.  I'll try to get it captured today and I'll whip up DVD menus, packaging, etc over the next couple of days.  I'll also upload it to youtube as time permits and post the links here.

Anyone interested in a DVD just PM me your address and I'll get it shipped out as soon as I can.  I think $6 ought to cover the materials and shipping to the US.  I may have to do a little bit of digging to figure out how much it'll cost to ship to other countries.

Yeah, reading through the old list archives brought back a lot of memories.  George Palamara, Bt Garner, David Shadoff...  I had all but forgotten these names.

Here's a link to Chuck Smith's online shop:
http://www.retrogamecave.com/

[ParanoiaDragon]

I'm deffinitly interested, though, not sure if I'm interested in having a dvd or not

[roflmao]

Ok, the first clip is up on youtube.  I updated the original post above with the link.  Parts 2, 3, and 4 have been rendered and part 2 is currently uploading to youtube.  I'll post a link to it tomorrow.

[GameFreak]

That's cool. Thanks for uploading that.
I have no idea what that last game was in part-1.

[roflmao]

Parts 2 and 3 are now up.

[roflmao]

Part 4 is up. 

I may not get any more updated today.  I have to capture the second hour, chop it into 15 minute segments and transcode before uploading to YouTube.  And each clip takes roughly 2 hours to upload.   I need to get some more real work done before getting back to this.

[roflmao]

Part 5 is up.

[SuperPlay]

Great work roflmao :-) Thanks

[roflmao]

Thanks, Superplay, but I'm just the messenger.  Chuck over at retrogamecave.com was the guy to put this together roughly a million years go.  I was just crazy enough to hold onto it for so long.  When I emailed him to ask for his permission to post it to YT, I think he was just as eager to see it again as well.

But I am glad to be able to contribute to this awesome community.

Oh yeah, parts 6 and 7 are up now.  Part 8 is uploading now and I probably won't get part 9 (I think the final part!) until tomorrow.  I'll be going out of town for a few days tomorrow afternoon so hopefully I'll get it uploaded before I leave.  I'm glad you guys are digging this! 

For those of you that PM'd me about getting a DVD of this, I'll ping you again when I get get back.  Now that you've had a chance to see the footage, it wouldn't hurt my feelings if you don't want a DVD anymore. 

[roflmao]

Part 8 is up.

[NecroPhile]

Thanks for converting and uploading these. 

[SignOfZeta]

I think most of us back in the day had a tape like this that we all made of our own stuff. Of course PCE games weren't sitting on eBay by the thousands for $10 each like they are now though so unless you had serious cash and special connections your tape was never going to be as good as these.

Very fun to see!

[roflmao]

Cool.  I'm glad you guys are digging it.  It doesn't look like I'll be able to get out the final part before leaving on our trip this afternoon (packing up the RV always takes more time than one would think) but I'll be back on Saturday so hopefully on the 3rd or 4th the rest will be up.

Zeta:  I know a lot of people made tapes of their games, but for some reason, I never did.  I LOVED watching other peoples tapes, though. One of the extras on one of the Turbo Vision DVDs is some of his old VHS footage - which is awesome.  Of course back in those days I didn't have quite the diverse collection of games and systems that I do now (which is still pretty modest compared to a lot of other classic video game fans).

I miss the old days when people shared mix tapes of their favorite bands and mix VHS tapes of their favorite games. 

[roflmao]

Well, the final part (9) is up.  I had no idea there'd be such positive feedback on this tape.  So glad to have been able to finally contribute something to this most excellent community.

For those of you that messaged here or PM'd me about getting a DVD copy of this (or anyone new) please PM me again if you're still interested.  Now that it's all up on YouTube, it wouldn't hurt my feelings if you're no longer very interested in picking up a DVD copy of it.  But if you are, I'd still be more than happy to throw it on a disc (with a little menu and the games select-able by chapter) for the cost of the media and shipping.

Thanks!