What Are The Best TG16/PC Engine Games For Today?

[racketboy]

Which Tubrografx 16 / PC Engine / TurboDuo game actually hold up best for today?

[fastbilly1]

The two TG16 games I have always loved are Dragon Spirits and Tatsujin/Truxton (even though I prefer the Genesis version). They are both shumps and just a blast, even if Dragon Spirits does tend to get easy. The gameplay and graphics still hold their own in this modern world of ploygons, well truxton does atleast.

To be honest I only really got back into the TG16 last year. I havent had enough time to delve into it what with work and the crazy schemes I am trying to make work (multimonitor f-zero is the thought right now).

[Ramatut4001]

I'm glad you're exploring this topic now, as I just got a PC Engine Duo this weekend.

[marurun]

Let me tell you, I probably have a longer history with the TG-16/PCE than anyone else on this forum.

Are you calling on CD games or HuCard games? There are some major differences in quality and capacity, here.

Well, anyway, let's start with CD games because those are the ones I enjoyed the most.

Gates of Thunder and Lords of Thunder hold up incredibly well graphically and musically as shooters. Less from the bullet-hell vein that's been popular lately, but I'm not a big fan of those anyway.

Dracula X holds up very well as well, especially next to it's GBA and PSX/Sat bretheren. I mean, considering it was used as the starting point for every Castlevania game since then...

The Neo Geo fighting game ports held up well then but do pale a little compared to even the PSX-generation conversions. Not by much, mind you, but some. These include Art of Fighting (best port I've seen), World Heroes 2, Fatal Fury 2, Fatal Fury Special, and Shin Kabuki Den (which isn't so much a Neo Geo port as a different version of a game that also came out on the Neo Geo but still fits into the same vein).

There were lots of Japanese RPGs that were cool in places but, really, what's the joy in playing an RPG when you miss most of the text?

As for HuCards, all the Bonk games, including Air Zonk, are lots of fun and hold up well, but IMO Bonk's Revenge is the best of the bunch. Control is smoother than in Bonk's Adventure and it's not so complicated and confused as Bonk 3.

Ninja Spirit is an excellent arcade conversion that kicks ass, and so are R-Type and Splatterhouse.

And I can't forget the BEST action puzzler every made, IMO, and the successor to Bubble Bobble, Parasol Stars. Best game in the series and it really only exists on the PCE. The music is also insane and does things I didn't realize the TG-16 sound chip could do, especially in terms of speed. It's hyper-spaz music in places.

The Street Fighter 2' port was pretty darn good, equal to the SNES versions in its own way.

Dungeon Explorer was a cool Gauntlet clone that can be fun but very hard. I'm not sure how well it holds up, however.

Alien Crush and Devil's Crush are still just about the best console pinball games ever, and Time Cruise isn't so bad, either.

For shooters, Gunhed (Blazing Lazers) rocks, but the Soldier series (Super Star Soldier and Soldier Blade, and to a degree Final Soldier) rocks the house. Not to mention EXCELLENT Gradius and Pariodus ports, and Gradius 2 was on SCD and was an excellent port as well.

I could go on, but I think I've given you someplace to start.

[kinn]

I think marurun has covered all the main PC engine games!

My favs, which I happen to own! are:

SF2
Gunhead (Blazing Lasers)
PC Kid1 and2
Ninja Spirit
Ninja Warriors
WonderBoy (not sure which one it is...its in Japanese!)
Chase HQ
Drunken Master
Shinobi
Vigilante