Best Turbo Story AKA Good Memories

[alexsduo]

I may be a bit nostalgic, but I LOVE hearing Turbo Grafx Stories.  Like I had friends over and we...., or I remember when, or etc.. (not, I almost bought that game, but I didn't and now I am pissed)

I remember being at a babbages and my Mom said I could pick out a new turbo game, and it was such a great feeling...

Also, I am not sure if anyone else remembers or saw these things, but I swear that there were 2 babbages at the my mall, across from each other! (or maybe they moved, one side to another), and they had a crt monitor in the outside of the store, and I swear it was touchscreen! (but I was probably just imagining it... )

I remember seeing the express when it was still being sold, and I saw one in a store and it was $399 I think, and I remember wanting it SO BAD!  My parents looked at me like, "are you fucking kidding me?"  And probably said something like, you already have a gameboy...

Or pictures, Love the pictures of babbages too!  I remember when there was nothing better than just being inside a babbages, but sadly, I do not get that feeling anymore at the largest retailer of games which shall remain nameless...

I have a funny/not funny story though!..

I was one of like 3 kids who had a turbo grafx, and one of my "friends" had it too.... I know I lent him bonk's adventure/revenge (thank fucking goodness it was not my Airzonk!, bastard didn't know what it was thankfully) and in a transaction right around the same time he sold me his minty fresh but loose Express for $20, as I guess he did not use it anymore, which made me pretty damn happy.  Maybe a month or two went by, and I asked for them back, and he like ignored me, or said he would get them back to me.  And then he dropped out of school or something, and then I found out later from his friend or someone, that he needed money to buy some "drugs" (not even sure what that meant) and that he had pawned my games.  Payback is a bitch, especially when you mess with another man's woman or turbo paraphernalia..

[nat]

I remember one particular trip to Toys 'R Us back in the day to buy a new Turbo game. I didn't have enough money for a new title (new ones were like $50 IIRC), so I was looking at the back of the boxes on some of the older, cheaper titles. I narrowed it down to Dungeon Explorer and Fantasy Zone. I ended up picking DE for $14.99 based on the back of the box alone. I had no idea what to expect, but DE turned out to be one of the best games for the console.

[DesmondThe3rd]

For me it was seeing my high score for Air Zonk in EGM #45. I submitted a tape about a week before the contest ended and I was totally surprised to see my name at the top when the magazine finally printed the results.

[alexsduo]

Fantasy zone is a great game too! 

OMG, I remember all the trips to Toy's R' US, for Nes/TG, those were the days...

Desmond, that is so cool!  Do you have the magazine?

On a side note, I read recently that they bought "used" games and gave you a store credit. I went to the store and they confirmed this..

 Will someone take MC/ KC / Bonk 3 and Tv Sports and see what they would offer?

[DesmondThe3rd]

I don't have the magazine anymore but I still have the page at least. Ryan Genno is my real name there by the way.

I also showed it off in a video recently too after my flood problem here.

[lord_cack]

I don't have the magazine anymore but I still have the page at least. Ryan Genno is my real name there by the way....

Whats funny is I had that issue (Now BlueBMW has that issue I believe) and I recall looking at that score and thinking that it was awesome. I loved that game and suck something terrible at it so the score was impressive.

I also really loved that screen they chose, the enemies and that Background are some of my fav's.

[alexsduo]

Wow that is badass!  I recently called heard a guy on the radio say he had a super nintendo in the studio, and it was hooked up to his 19 inch tube tv, so I perked up a bit, I thought I would win something cool, but alas not really.....  I think this is funny.  BTW, he asked me my favorite system, and of course, I stated, The Turbo Grafx 16 (which was cut off, as that bastard did not include it on the air, and he didn't know what I was talking about)

https://soundcloud.com/redundantmedia/bi-winning-final

recorded it with my phone, kinda funny...

[machomadness]

Wow that is badass!  I recently called heard a guy on the radio say he had a super nintendo in the studio, and it was hooked up to his 19 inch tube tv, so I perked up a bit, I thought I would win something cool, but alas not really.....  I think this is funny.  BTW, he asked me my favorite system, and of course, I stated, The Turbo Grafx 16 (which was cut off, as that bastard did not include it on the air, and he didn't know what I was talking about)

https://soundcloud.com/redundantmedia/bi-winning-final

recorded it with my phone, kinda funny...

I bet he's one of those people that look down upon gaming. Notice how all of the games he was playing are all COMMON. Fuckin' loser. One big thing to support that theory was the way the host seemed to be disgusted when you said that you were a video game addict....

Anyways, my favorite story is when I was in Forked River, NJ during the summer of 1989. Two of my aunts were there. One bought a Turbo and one bought a Genesis. This led to a war throughout the summer between the two about which was better. What followed was lots and lots of game playing, fanboy bashing, and physical violence. As a three year old, I thought it was hilarious, ESPECIALLY since my godmother happened to have a tape recorder and taped half of the arguments. I wish I had a cassette to MP3 converter to up it!

BTW, alexsduo, about the radio call, let me guess, she dragged you to go buy shoes with her. My fiancee was the same way, God rest her soul. She wasn't an attorney, but she was an architect, so it seemed all I SAW her in were suits and dresses. But, the trips to the mall were made easier as we'd always hit FYE or Gamestop afterwards to pick up something new, so s'all good.....

[CrackTiger]

I don't have the magazine anymore but I still have the page at least. Ryan Genno is my real name there by the way.

I also showed it off in a video recently too after my flood problem here.

Nice work. Now I know that EGM actually accepted high scores from Canadians.

I sent in what would've been the winning high score for Bloody Wolf when it was going to be Game of the Month, but they never used it. It was well within the deadline too.

[DesmondThe3rd]

It was weird, I never recieved any prizes for it and maybe they have a thing against Canadians but I'm still recongized as the Air Zonk World Champion by Twin Galaxies at least.

[Tatsujin]

well done mr. genno

[alexsduo]

JohnnyBlaze:  I am glad you appreciate the contest... I won a lousy gift card, and he didn't even know what turbo grafx was, and he was probably 30-40 years old... Usually people are like "I dunno", and I am like remember Bonk, bald kid who banged his head into things, and sometimes they remember...

Now that I think about it, the guy I got the Express from, was probably the only other person that I knew had a turbo... I am sure a couple others had one, but I didn't know about it!

She wanted to get shoes, so I let her... I used to go to gamestop a bit, but I don't care to go unless they have some game I really need or have buy 2 get 2 free...

You don't need any kind of converter, all you need is a cassette player, 1/8 stereo jack, and a computer.  Get audacity, freeware, plug the headphone jack out from cassette into the line in/ mic of your computer, open audacity and press play and then click record.  You may have to adjust the volume to get a nice sound, but I would love to hear ramblings about which is better from like 20 years ago . PM me if you need more help...

As for Canadians, I did get some excellent AES games from one of "them", so I can't talk too much shit...

And for the non-publishing of your high score, and not receiving prizes, I can smell a class action lawsuit (That is a joke, not serious!)

[Ceti Alpha]

I guess I'll bring out my Ninja Spirit story, again. lol

It was only a month or two after I received my TG for Christmas ('89) and I needed to have Ninja Spirit. I was a little kid and didn't have very much cash on hand, so I emptied out my big bucket of pennies and started the rolling process. Radio Shack didn't exactly have discount prices on the TG, at that time - I think the average price of a game back then ranged from $60 to $80, if not more. The Canadian dollar sucked donkey dick at that time, so that could have been why things were priced so high. I don't know, maybe that was pretty standard pricing. It just seems high looking back.

Anyway, it took me roughly two days of continuous rolling to get enough money together. I wasn't using any type of fancy schmancy As Seen on TV coin sorter, either. It was just me, my pennies, scissors and a ton of looseleaf and scotch tape.

The fun wasn't over yet. Then I walked over a frozen over lake to get to the mall, carrying over $80 worth of rolled pennies in the middle of the winter. It was a cold winter, hence the frozen lake. When I finally got to the mall, the sales guy actually took my pennies and I had Ninja Spirit! Woot!

It was totally worth it.

[alexsduo]

Sounds like your experience turned you into a hardened ninja... I know radioshack had games back in the day, I do not remember any turbo stuff, I will have to meditate on that...

[Ceti Alpha]

Sounds like your experience turned you into a hardened ninja... I know radioshack had games back in the day, I do not remember any turbo stuff, I will have to meditate on that...

Radio Shack was the only outlet for the TG, bitd, at least after the initial year or two. At least in Halifax, Radio Shack had the most complete library of games and hardware, though I think Sears and the Bay also carried TG goodies, for a while anyway. A Toys 'R Us eventually opened up, but I can't remember if they picked up the TG, or if they showed up in my town too late in the TG's life and didn't bother.

[blueraven]

well done mr. genno

Seconded

[RR1980]

I guess I'll bring out my Ninja Spirit story, again. lol

It was only a month or two after I received my TG for Christmas ('89) and I needed to have Ninja Spirit. I was a little kid and didn't have very much cash on hand, so I emptied out my big bucket of pennies and started the rolling process. Radio Shack didn't exactly have discount prices on the TG, at that time - I think the average price of a game back then ranged from $60 to $80, if not more. The Canadian dollar sucked donkey dick at that time, so that could have been why things were priced so high. I don't know, maybe that was pretty standard pricing. It just seems high looking back.

Anyway, it took me roughly two days of continuous rolling to get enough money together. I wasn't using any type of fancy schmancy As Seen on TV coin sorter, either. It was just me, my pennies, scissors and a ton of looseleaf and scotch tape.

The fun wasn't over yet. Then I walked over a frozen over lake to get to the mall, carrying over $80 worth of rolled pennies in the middle of the winter. It was a cold winter, hence the frozen lake. When I finally got to the mall, the sales guy actually took my pennies and I had Ninja Spirit! Woot!

It was totally worth it.

aww that story was so cute! You could have asked your parents to go to the bank and gotten paper rolls to roll pennies for you and also you could have just make one roll and then use that one roll as a standard and just stack up other rolls against that one! I used to have to roll hundreds of dollars worth of coins daily so I learned a few tricks hehe it was also very impressive that you had $80 worth of pennies at that age! when I was reading your story I was afraid that you might have slipped and fell and the rolling paper you used might have broken and pennies would have been everywhere on that frozen lake! Actually I believe there is a law (dunno if it's provincial or federal) that states you are only allowed to use  up to I think $10 worth of pennies at a time so it was really nice of that guy at radio shack to accept your pennies and the story had a good ending since you got to play Ninja Spirit!

[Ceti Alpha]

I guess I'll bring out my Ninja Spirit story, again. lol

It was only a month or two after I received my TG for Christmas ('89) and I needed to have Ninja Spirit. I was a little kid and didn't have very much cash on hand, so I emptied out my big bucket of pennies and started the rolling process. Radio Shack didn't exactly have discount prices on the TG, at that time - I think the average price of a game back then ranged from $60 to $80, if not more. The Canadian dollar sucked donkey dick at that time, so that could have been why things were priced so high. I don't know, maybe that was pretty standard pricing. It just seems high looking back.

Anyway, it took me roughly two days of continuous rolling to get enough money together. I wasn't using any type of fancy schmancy As Seen on TV coin sorter, either. It was just me, my pennies, scissors and a ton of looseleaf and scotch tape.

The fun wasn't over yet. Then I walked over a frozen over lake to get to the mall, carrying over $80 worth of rolled pennies in the middle of the winter. It was a cold winter, hence the frozen lake. When I finally got to the mall, the sales guy actually took my pennies and I had Ninja Spirit! Woot!

It was totally worth it.

aww that story was so cute! You could have asked your parents to go to the bank and gotten paper rolls to roll pennies for you and also you could have just make one roll and then use that one roll as a standard and just stack up other rolls against that one! I used to have to roll hundreds of dollars worth of coins daily so I learned a few tricks hehe it was also very impressive that you had $80 worth of pennies at that age! when I was reading your story I was afraid that you might have slipped and fell and the rolling paper you used might have broken and pennies would have been everywhere on that frozen lake! Actually I believe there is a law (dunno if it's provincial or federal) that states you are only allowed to use  up to I think $10 worth of pennies at a time so it was really nice of that guy at radio shack to accept your pennies and the story had a good ending since you got to play Ninja Spirit!

Yeah, I definitely could have made things easier on myself, but I did eventually get a convoluted system going. lol

I think I was really lucky that the sales guy accepted my pennies. Eighty dollars in pennies is rather excessive. haha

[Bernie]

This story is how I cam to be the owner of a Turbo Duo.

I had wanted this system for a LONG time, and my mom knew it.  So, she actually let me show her what I wanted, and she bought it about a month before Christmas.  I want to say it was the year 1992, but it could have been 1993.  Anyway, she bought the system and like 20 games or more to go with it.  Ones I remember in that bunch were Dragon Slayer, both Exiles, Cosmic Fantasy 2, Riot Zone, Shapeshifter, and a bunch of other CD/Super CD games.  My father had a TG-16, so I wasnt interested in Hu-Card games at that time.  I had fallen in love with Dragon Slayer after seeing a friend play it and witnessing for the first time, speech and CD quality music, with animation/cinemas.  She also bought this CD storage cabinet for me to keep my games in.  The catch was I could NOT have it till X-mas, and she wrapped it up and placed it under the tree. 

Needless to say, the package called to me every day.  It wanted me to play it.  So...I carefully opened the Turbo, and took the system out of the box.  I then placed some of my jeans in the empty box to give it some weight, and put it back under the tree.  I dont remember how I got Dragon Slayer unwrapped tho, but I know its the one I got out to play.  Anyhow, I then had to hide the damn thing.  So, my TV was on this entertainment system I had bought, and it had drawers at the bottom, which is where I kept my clothes.  At this time, I had turned my bedroom into my own little living room.  I had a sofa bed that I closed up during the day, and my TV was set up right across from it.  I ended up taking the bottom out of the lower drawer, and hooking the system up under there.  I would just hook up the A/V cables when I wanted to play.  Christmas morning was interesting.  Apon opening the present, she expected me to rip open the box and everything..  Of course I couldnt do that, so I just casually put it aside and took it in my room a little later.  I got away with this, until last year.  I finally fessed up, cuz I felt terrible.  lol.  Aint that crazy?  I was 15 maybe 16, and now I am 35 but I had to tell her.  But, thats my Turbo story.  I loved that system, and still do!!

[Ceti Alpha]

This story is how I cam to be the owner of a Turbo Duo.

I had wanted this system for a LONG time, and my mom knew it.  So, she actually let me show her what I wanted, and she bought it about a month before Christmas.  I want to say it was the year 1992, but it could have been 1993.  Anyway, she bought the system and like 20 games or more to go with it.  Ones I remember in that bunch were Dragon Slayer, both Exiles, Cosmic Fantasy 2, Riot Zone, Shapeshifter, and a bunch of other CD/Super CD games.  My father had a TG-16, so I wasnt interested in Hu-Card games at that time.  I had fallen in love with Dragon Slayer after seeing a friend play it and witnessing for the first time, speech and CD quality music, with animation/cinemas.  She also bought this CD storage cabinet for me to keep my games in.  The catch was I could NOT have it till X-mas, and she wrapped it up and placed it under the tree. 

Needless to say, the package called to me every day.  It wanted me to play it.  So...I carefully opened the Turbo, and took the system out of the box.  I then placed some of my jeans in the empty box to give it some weight, and put it back under the tree.  I dont remember how I got Dragon Slayer unwrapped tho, but I know its the one I got out to play.  Anyhow, I then had to hide the damn thing.  So, my TV was on this entertainment system I had bought, and it had drawers at the bottom, which is where I kept my clothes.  At this time, I had turned my bedroom into my own little living room.  I had a sofa bed that I closed up during the day, and my TV was set up right across from it.  I ended up taking the bottom out of the lower drawer, and hooking the system up under there.  I would just hook up the A/V cables when I wanted to play.  Christmas morning was interesting.  Apon opening the present, she expected me to rip open the box and everything..  Of course I couldnt do that, so I just casually put it aside and took it in my room a little later.  I got away with this, until last year.  I finally fessed up, cuz I felt terrible.  lol.  Aint that crazy?  I was 15 maybe 16, and now I am 35 but I had to tell her.  But, thats my Turbo story.  I loved that system, and still do!!

hahaha. You were a little sneak! Great story, though.

How did your mom react when you fessed up?

[RR1980]

yeah it was a little much to let a kid know there's this great gaming system here but you can't play it for another month hehe

[alexsduo]

I know I got mad turbo gear from TRU, back in the day.  They had those cards where you took it to the front, and they then gave/sold you the game.  I bet that cut down on a lot of fraud...