MY ‘HIGH 54’ TURBOGRAFX-16 / PC ENGINE GAMES (CD & CARTRIDGE) THAT ARE STILL FUN PLAYING NOW
As I mentioned in my other top/fave retro video games lists, 2020 was the year I got back into playing retro video games from my youth. This was heavily influenced by me ordering a Sega Mini to hook up to the 50-inch flatscreen tv I won at a local pub’s Super Bowl party right before the world went on a long-running lockdown quarantine — remember those days?
However, the thing that really kicked the new hobby up a notch was realizing that my Sega Mini could be ‘hacked’ to add ANY old retro video game from any old retro video game console — BECAUSE — once one goes down that online retro video game rabbit hole, one eventually realizes that one could have been playing any old retro video game right on one’s old iMac the whole dang time (not to mention you can just buy emulators pre-loaded with every dang game that came out from back in the day from online retailers, not to mention all the retro releases on modern consoles & etc).
I guess that’s why they say hindsight is 20/20.
I have since passed on an Unclefied version of my “hacked” Sega Mini to my little nieces during Xmas ‘21 — the yellow sticky notes are the games I added to customize the 42 games that show up on their system (their age range was 6-12 at the time + I only wanted to add games that worked with the Sega Mini emulator).
And after blahg’n about some of my own Sega Mini adventures, I started noticing that my most visited website pages, month after month, were my blog posts about retro video gaming (even though I was always more of a ‘not a music blog, not not a music blog’ kind of website). And most of those visits were coming from Google’rs.
So, since I also did a lot of searching for “best TurboGrafx-16 / PC Engine games” or “most underrated TurboGrafx-16 / PC Engine games” or “best TurboGrafx-16 / PC Engine games that are still worth playing today” (and doing similar searches with TurboGrafx CD and PC Engine CD games) back when I was also googling the same “how to hack a sega mini” queries that had started directing people to my blahg on the regular… I figured I should put together some console specific lists myself — because SEO, innit?
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Please keep in mind that this list is not really in a strict ranking order and it is definitely not an attempt at creating a “best TurboGrafx-16 / PC Engine / CD games ever” list (so prepare to adjust your “how could you not include ___?!” outrage accordingly). This is just a list of games that I still find personally enjoyable playing as an elder millennial in the 2020s. And please note that I don’t personally care much for button-mashing fighting games or turn-based strategy RPG games (no matter how ‘critically acclaimed’ they are on the Youtubes & Reddits by more serious gamers).
I will also note that I added some ‘eBay search affiliate links’ to my personally recommended games, which means I may earn a small commission if someone snags a game after clicking away to eBay from this post (which, if it happens, that money will go towards keeping this blog online — same thing with the Google ads that have been added) ✌️
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AND NOW THAT WE’VE GOT ALL THE EXPLAINERS & DISCLAIMERS OUT OF THE WAY… HERE’S MY LIST OF 54 TURBOGRAFX-16 / PC ENGINE (carttidge & CD) GAMES THAT ARE STILL FUN PLAYING TODAY:
#1 BONK’S REVENGE + #2 BONK’S ADVENTURE + #3 BONK III: BONK’S BIG ADVENTURE
You can’t really talk about the TurboGrafx-16 without at least mentioning one Bonk game. And you need to mention Bonk not only because he was kinda the console’s Mario/Sonic mascot (at least according to my memory of how the TurboGrafx-16 was marketed in 1990s Canada) — BUT — also because the Bonk games are all still pretty fun to play + they’re all very nice & colourful to look at (as for gameplay, they’re your basic platformer sytle game, except instead of jumping on baddies you ‘bonk’ them with your head + there’s an assortment of powerups). For me, Bonk’s Revenge seems like the most polished of the 3 Bonk titles, but you really can’t go wrong with any of them… in an “if you like one, you’ll like the others'“ way.
*****
#4 - BOXYBOY
Boxyboy is probably not the kind of game that I would have liked as a 90s teen. But as an old millennial in the 2020s, puzzle games just seem to grab my interest a lot more. Beating up bad guys is more of a young man’s game, I guess. There was a similar game to Boxyboy on the Genesis that I tried called ‘Shove It!’, but even though both games just involve pushing boxes onto little dots, Boxyboy does a noticeably better job in both the looks and gameplay and sound (also, being able to reverse your box pushing if you make a mistake goes a long way from keeping this game from just becoming annoying/frustrating). Now, I haven’t made it past the first 20 levels, and apparently the puzzles start getting quite big & complex to the point of looking overwhelming, but so far I can’t help but find this game quite enjoyable and addicting. It’s like video game Sudoku.
*****
#5 - AKUMAJŌ DRACULA X - CHI NO RONDO
Also known as ‘ DRACULA X - RONDO OF BLOOD’, this is the highly regarded PC Engine entry into the Castlevania series — which got a ‘not nearly as good, but still not too bad’ port-ish version on the SNES called Dracula X. And even though I have only tried the non-translated version of chi no rondo on the PC Engine CD, there’s no denying the quality on offer here (and if you’ve played any Castlevania games before, you can get the gist enough to play on and appreciate without everything being in English).
*****
#6 - BATMAN
I think what I like the most about this version of Batman is that it is nothing like any other other Batman game you’ll find on the old video game consoles. And by that I mean, this isn’t one of those ‘beat em up’ platformers where you go left-to-right pushing the same buttons over and over again beating up bad guy after bad guy. This is more like an overhead puzzle game, where you walk around maze-like levels collecting items and throwing your batarang at Joker minions to temporarily stun them so you can then kick them off screen for a little while. At first it almost seems too easy, but the challenge increases just enough to keep you interested to see where things go + every level starts off with Seinfeld-like bass lines.
*****
#7 Super Star Soldier + #8 Final Soldier + #9 Soldier Blade
Having not grown up with much TurboGrafx in my life, it took me more than a minute to clock that these 3 games are all from the same shooter series, as they’re not quite named how you’d expect for a series. But there’s no denying that the smooth controls and similar high-quality shooter experience soon made it obvious that these three bear similar soldier DNA. And what great DNA it is — some of the best shooters on a console known for shooters, each game feels like a slight improvement on the previous already really good.
*****
#10 -
Star Parodier
When you’re this good, you get parodied… and the ‘Soldier series’ mentioned above got a Star Parodier reimagining that gives you one more way to get that high-quality shooter experience from the ‘Soldier’ series, but this time in a cutesy parody version (where your jet can be Bomberman or a PC Engine). Looks good + handles good = good good.
*****
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#11 -
CRATERMAZE
Cratermaze is one of those games that can almost feel too easy at times—you just walk around maze-like levels collecting treasures and digging holes for bad guys to easily fall into before they touch you—but there’s also something soothing and addicting in just walking around maze-like levels collecting treasures. Like most games, I’m sure it will continue to get harder the further along you go, but sometimes it’s also just nice to pick up and play a game where you can get through a few levels without dying a bunch of times.
*****
#12 - CHEW MAN FU
Suprise! It’s another puzzle game. In this one you control a little girl who needs to move coloured balls around—surprise!—maze-like levels and place each ball on the matching coloured tile. To make things more difficult, there are bad guys all around and if they touch you, they kill you. Luckily, you can kick your balls at them and make them disappear for awhile. This one is extra cute and colourful and fun to play by yourself, or, if you should be so lucky, with a friend where you can work together kicking balls at evil hedgehogs and monkeys and etc. A very charming little game.
*****
#13 - Lords of Thunder
Right from the opening cutscenes, Lords of Thunder makes it clear this is a shooter steeped in heavy metal fantasy vibes. From guitar riffs galore to nordic mythology and just general fast-paced shooter bad-assery, you can almost feel your hair growing longer as you play. One of the biggest challenges with this game (besides the onslaught of enemy projectiles) is figuring out how to hold your controller while also making the devil horns at the same time. If there was ever a retro game built to justify CD technology, this is one of them.
*****
#14 - Gate of Thunder
Take everything that’s great about Lords of Thunder and swap out the flying Viking-guy with a spaceship — and now you’ve got Gate of Thunder. It’s another excellent horizontal shooter, but this time you’re blasting through sci-fi enemy hordes instead of mythical landscapes (and the “Thunder”— aka: riffs — are still very much present). The weapons feel snappy, the backgrounds are big and colourful, and the action rarely lets up. Just like with LoT, GoT doesn’t waste CD technology on FMV fluff — it goes all-in on RNR (ie. Rocking N Rolling). And that’s exactly why CD games like this hold up so much better than a lot of the junk the Sega CD was pumping out (here’s looking at you Sewer Shark).
*****
#15 - Gain Ground SX
Gain Ground is the kind of game that starts off feeling pretty basic in its presentation and gameplay… but after a while, that simplicity becomes part of the charm. You choose different characters with different weapons and attack ranges, then carefully work your way to the exit — or kill every enemy on the screen. Rescue fallen teammates, experiment with who works best on each stage, and then do it all again on the next level. It’s repetitive in theory, but pleasantly addictive in practice.
*****
#16 - CIRCUS LIDO
Circus Lido is a unique puzzle game where you play as some kind of chameleon lizard thing that has to eat bugs and then spit those bugs into the mouth of some venus-fly-trap looking plants, all the while using your tail to climb around on certain parts and using your noggin’ to figure out what the hell you’re supposed to do in other parts (ie. I’ve had to watch the ‘longplay’ on Youtube a couple times to figure out what I was supposed to do on some levels). All in all tho, it’s a good little puzzler that very much has it’s own style & feel.
*****
#17 - BLAZING LAZERS
Even though I’m not really a big fan of the ‘shooter’ games, it’s pretty hard to put together a TurboGrafx-16 list without putting on some shmup’s. Not only is that probably the genre that the TG-16 was best known for doing well, but without a massive collection of games like the SNES and SEGA, ignoring the shooter games would involve ignoring a large % of the total games. Also, the fact that the TurboGrafx controller had built-in ‘turbo’ buttons (ie. it gives you the feeling of pushing the shoot button really fast by just leaving your finger on the shoot button when turbo is engaged) even a cynic like me can eventually start getting into some shooters (which really become more about dodging). And perhaps the most revered shooter on the console is Blazing Lazers… and I can confirm that it definitely looks and handles and sounds great (even if I keep getting blown up and having to start over again).
*****
#18 CYBER-CORE + #19 DRAGON SPIRIT
A bit like Blazing Lazers in the sense that it’s a vertical shooter where you’re flying up the screen with your finger permanently glued to the trigger — but with Cyber-Core (and its close relative Dragon Spirit), you’re either blasting alien bugs or breathing fire as a dragon while juggling two attack buttons: one for airborne enemies and one for ground targets (all while keeping an eye out for power-ups that make the shooting even more enjoyable). These shooters don’t quite have the same visual polish as Blazing Lazers (though they’re a noticeable upgrade from the NES versions you may have played before), but they handle really nicely and settle into that familiar rhythm of shooting everything in front of you while trying not to get shot right back. If you enjoy one of these games, you’ll almost certainly enjoy the other — they’re basically the same formula with a different skin (bugs or dragons… pick your poison), and that’s why they both earn a spot on the list.
*****
#20 Air Zonk + #21 Super Air Zonk: Rockabilly-Paradise
Don’t let the Zonk fool you… this is Bonk turned into a cute-’em-up shooter. Whether you’re playing the HuCard original or the CD-powered Rockabilly-Paradise sequel, you’re strapping into a very solid horizontal shooter that might actually be the unofficial TurboGrafx mascot at his most enjoyable. The Zonk’d version of Bonk just feels right blasting across the screen instead of headbutting his way through the dinosaur age. The CD sequel leans harder into animated cutscenes and a rockabilly soundtrack, but both versions keep the action fast and colourful. While Mario and Crash got mascot racing spin-offs, it makes perfect sense that Bonk ended up in a shooter instead — especially on a console that built its reputation on them.
*****
#22 Devil's Crush + #23 Alien Crush
Just like with shooter games, I’m not usually a big pinball guy — but the TurboGrafx had a bit of a reputation for doing pinball right. Once I gave Devil’s Crush a proper try (especially after discovering you can switch the speed to “slow” and actually give your reflexes a fighting chance), it clicked. Alien Crush offers the same satisfying multi-table chaos with a slightly different sci-fi skin, and both games end up being far more engaging than you might expect from “just” digital pinball. They’re fast when you want them to be, manageable when you need them to be, and they pair surprisingly well with a podcast or audiobook in the background.
*****
#24 - Super Raiden
Super Raiden is a great port of the classic arcade game. Tight controls, satisfying weapon upgrades, and that steady ramp-up in difficulty keep you coming back to see if you can push a little further (and hopefully your controller setup has a turbo button — otherwise you’ll be tapping that shoot button a lot). The CD soundtrack gives it a bit of extra punch (especially compared to the Genesis and SNES ports), but at its core this is just a solid, straightforward shooter that does what it’s supposed to do — and does it well.
*****
#25 - Seirei Senshi Spriggan
If you’re a fan of the likes of MUSHA or Robo Aleste, you’ll feel right at home here (even if “Seirei Senshi Spriggan” doesn’t roll off the tongue quite as easily). This is a fast, vertical blaster that leans heavily into big weapons, big bosses, and lots of stuff exploding all at once — and the visual style will feel immediately familiar. The CD soundtrack is solid (no Lords/Gate of Thunder, but solid), and there are some impressively large sprites to take down once you get your weapons powered up. It all adds up to a great vertical shooter to jump into whenever you’re feeling the need to get a little vertically challenged.
*****
#26 - GOMOLA SPEED
This is a weird game that I had to watch a video first in order to even figure out what the hell I was supposed to do. And the hell that I was supposed to do was maneuver my mechanic snake thing around, collecting the ball parts of my snake body until I am long enough in mechanical snake length to form a circle around little pellets/balls of food or energy or ?? — all the while you also have to try to avoid these things that will kill you if they hit your snake head, or scatter all your body parts if they hit your snake body anywhere else (making you have to go around and collect all your snake body parts again). And, somehow, that makes for a decent little game (that can sometimes make your left thumb sore from trying to form a snake circle around those little pellets/balls with the d-pad — luckily, I have a controller with joysticks and that makes playing this game much better).
*****
#27 - LEGEND OF HERO TONMA
There’s not a tonne of good traditional platformers on the TurboGrafx-16, and I guess because the console was well known for their shooters, even games like Legend of Hero Tonma that look like they’re going to be a platformer kind of end up being a bit of shooter too (i.e you move around like your typical platformer game, but you need to shoot enemies, enemies that keep reappearing no matter how many times you shoot them, so it doesn’t take too long before the screen is full of bad guys and what you’re shooting at those bad guys, which’ll have you feeling like you’re in another shooter game at times). But, still, it’s a nice looking game that handles well and is pretty fun.
*****
#28 - Riot Zone
This feels like someone took a poor man’s Streets of Rage, mixed it with a knockoff Final Fight, added some mildly rocking guitar riffs, and gave it a very generic title like Riot Zone. In fact… that’s kind of exactly what this game is. Still, as far as beat ’em ups go, there’s something enjoyable about punching and jump-kicking your way through waves of familiar-looking bad guys in familiar-looking stages (of course there’s an elevator level). Nothing revolutionary here, but if you’re ever in the mood for a different flavour of something you’ve already played before — especially since the TurboGrafx isn’t exactly overflowing with beat ’em up options — it might be time to step into the Riot Zone.
*****
#29 - Last Alert
There are some genuinely great (and gloriously cheesy) cutscenes here that set the tone right away — complete with english voice acting that somehow makes you want to keep playing just to hear what ridiculous line comes next. This is basically the TurboGrafx-CD’s version of a Rambo-style run-and-gun. You move through a top-down view shooting in multiple directions (with a handy strafe option if you hold the fire button), blasting through enemy waves while a decently rocking soundtrack keeps things moving. The graphics won’t blow you away, but they’re more than good enough for a satisfying playthrough — especially if you’ve got a soft spot for games like MERCS.
*****
#30 - METAL STOKER
Another shooter game, except this time you’re driving around more of a tank like machine instead of your usual flying machine. Which adds a bit more maneuvering around corners / mazes strategy to the usual ‘shoot everything before it shoots you’ shooter gameplay. Which is a nice switch-up. Also, Metal Stoker looks really good and handles really smooth, which always makes for a fun play (which is probably why I also have Granada added to my ‘Sega faves’ list).
*****
#31 - BOMBERMAN ‘93
You really can’t go wrong with Bomberman. And since Bomberman ‘94 is the same as the Mega Bomberman game that I included in my ‘Top 25 Sega Games’ list, I’m going to add Bomberman ‘93 to this list because not only is it just fun to play (again, you can’t go wrong with Bomberman), but if you’re playing games on a Hakchi hacked Sega Mini, I could only get 4-person battle mode to work with the TurboGrafx games. So, if you fancy playing a retro game that all 3 of your nieces can play with you at the same time, a game that is easy enough for the youngest niece to be able to defeat the oldest niece and the oldest niece to not think it’s a lame kids game, you’re going to want to grab yourself some TurboGrafx-16 Bombermen.
*****
#32 - BATTLE LODE RUNNER
Speaking of multi-player games that you can play 4 people at the same time on a Hakchi hacked Sega Mini, there’s also Battle Lode Runner. Which, even though this game has some literal ‘hey… that’s literally bomberman!’ moments in it, the gameplay is a little harder to get the hang of if you are a young niece. So, for the most part, I’ve only played this as a one player game — but once you get used to the strategy that comes with being able to dig holes to your left and right, Battle Lode Runner becomes a fast-paced little action puzzle battle game that’s a good time to play.
*****
#33 - Buster Bros.
OK, Buster, here’s the deal: you shoot a harpoon-like gun upward to split big balls into smaller ones, and you try not to get cornered because, in this world, getting touched by balls will kill you, Bro That’s basically it — but the tension ramps up quickly (especially once you realize you can’t just fire rapidly), and it’s surprisingly addictive once you discover it’s harder to stay alive than the cutesy graphics first made you think. Even better if you’ve got a second player helping clear things out.
*****
#34 - Ginga Fukei Densetsu Sapphire
If you don’t speak Japanese, you’re going to miss some context in the cutscenes and on-screen dialogue — but don’t let that stop you from jumping into one of the best-looking shooters on the system. This one leans into flashy sprite scaling, pseudo-3D effects, and big boss encounters that’ll impress anyone who manages to stay alive long enough to see them. The action is fast, the soundtrack is solid, and the whole thing just looks cool and unique in motion.
*****
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#35 - Down Load 2
As with Ginga Fukei Densetsu Sapphire, not understanding Japanese means you’ll miss some context here — but the opening cutscenes here are stylish enough that the overall vibe still comes through (and a lot of it is visual anyway). Once you’re into the gameplay, it quickly settles into a smooth-handling horizontal shooter where you switch between weapons while trying to clear the screen before the screen clears you. It’s fast, responsive, and just feels polished in a way that makes it easy to jump back into. You might not follow every plot detail, but the “shoot everything in sight” part translates pretty clearly (and the anime-style cut scenes are really well done).
*****
#36 - Galaga '90
This is what happens when you take a classic arcade formula and give it a late-80s glow-up for home console. Galaga ’90 keeps the familiar “move left and right and shoot everything above you” setup, but adds branching stages, brighter visuals, and the ability to combine ships for double firepower. It still feels very old-school — quick levels, tight controls, and that constant temptation to go for a higher score (not to mention the slightly grating sound of your weapon pew-pewing). Nothing overly complicated here, just a polished update to a formula that already did its thing quite successfully.
*****
#37 - SKWEEK
Skweek is a cute & colourful little game that sees you running around on squares trying to turn all of them pink before the time runs out (and avoiding and/or shooting baddies that get in your way). Simple, but fun to jump into whenever you’re looking for something colourful & simple to distract yourself with for a bit.
*****
#38 - Puzzle Boy
You’ll need to figure out how to navigate a few menu screens written in Japanese, but once you crack the code (usually by pressing start until the game actually starts), Puzzle Boy has you moving blocks around colourful rooms until you can reach the exit — all while some pleasantly calm music plays in the background. If this game feels familiar, that’s because it is the same block-moving formula that showed up on the Game Boy under slightly more pun-heavy names (and which I also featured in my GB list). And just like those versions, it’s the kind of simple, clever puzzle design that keeps you saying “just one more room” before putting the controller down.
*****
#39 - Ordyne
Ordyne is a colourful horizontal shooter that makes you feel like a small child piloting a flying bumper car while blasting an assortment of cartoon enemies (a cute-’em-up, if you will — although it definitely brings some challenge, especially when you annoyingly lose your power-ups after one hit and fall back to your standard pea shooter).You’ll want to grab as much “money” as you can (ie. crystals floating by on balloons after dispatching of certain enemies) so that when the store pops up in the middle of a stage, you can afford to pop in for an upgrade — even if it’s a shame you can’t buy more than one thing at a time. Not the greatest shooter on the system, but nice to look at and fun to move around in… even if your weapons can sometimes feel a little too weak to really get that full “blasting baddies away” satisfaction.
*****
#40 - Magical Chase
Magical Chase has a similar vibe to Ordyne, except now instead of a kid in a bumper car, you’re a witch on a broom — and things are a bit more forgiving. When the shop pops up mid-stage, you can actually spend your money on multiple upgrades in one visit, and you can take a few hits without instantly losing all your hard-earned power-ups. In other words, Magical Chase feels like a more generous (and slightly more polished) take on the horizontal cute-’em-up formula than Ordyne. It looks great, moves smoothly, and gives you just enough breathing room to actually enjoy the chaos instead of constantly scrambling to rebuild your powerups.
*****
#41 - SPIN PAIR
Spin Pair looks like your fairly common puzzle game style, what with the falling shapes that you need to match & whatnot, but there’s a nice little twist here where you need to make the opposite part of the matching colour shape fall into place in order to make a pair and wipe out any other matching shapes in the row. Which requires some different strategy and thinking than what you originally think you’re going to need. So if you like yourself a Tetris or a Dr Mario, you should get yourself into Spin Pair pretty quickly.
*****
#42 - HATRIS
Speaking of games that will remind you of a Tetris-style puzzle game in its looks (Hatris even puts the reminder straight into the name), this one will have you lining up matching hats on top of heads. You know, like Tetris, but with hats (which is how I imagine the elevator pitch went). And what seems kinda silly at first, ends up being a pretty addictive little puzzle game.
*****
#43 - Dungeon Explorer II
If you’ve ever wished Gauntlet had a bit more story and anime-style flair, Dungeon Explorer II is probably what you’ve been looking for. This is top-down dungeon crawling with different character classes, spells, weapons, and plenty of monsters crowding the screen. The big draw here — if you’ve got the friends and the setup for it — is the up-to-five-player multiplayer. Add in the CD cutscenes and mildly rocking soundtrack and you’ve got a pretty solid upgrade over the already pretty decent HuCard original. If you like dungeons and you also like exploring them, this one’s a must.
*****
#44 - SOMER ASSAULT
This game gets some extra points for uniqueness — and by that I mean you basically play as a weaponized slinky. And, on top of that, you also start the game by entering your birthday and revealing your star sign (which apparently has an effect on how the game plays out). And I can’t think of any other games that do that. It’s also decently fun once you get a hang of how you need to slink around.
*****
#45 - Psychic Storm
Psychic Storm is a vertical shooter that looks nice, sounds great, handles smoothly, and isn’t trying to completely destroy you with its difficulty. In fact, the main gimmick here is the transformation button — instead of a simple screen-clearing bomb, you can morph into an invulnerable insect monster and rain destruction for a good chunk of time (and you can even set it to trigger automatically before you completely run out of life). On top of that powerful move, you can take more than a few hits before actually dying, which makes this a shooter that lets you enjoy playing for a long stretch of time — unlike so many others that seem determined to beat you down with their onslaught of difficulty. If you’re looking for an approachable shooter, this might be the one you’re looking for.
*****
#46 - MARCHEN MAZE
This game is in Japanese (or at least the rom I have is), which means I don’t really know what is being said in between levels. But I imagine it says something along the lines of how you are Alice and you are in some kind of Wonderland where you have to shoot balls at people while trying to avoid getting hit by their balls and getting bounced off the ledge. And I know what you’re thinking… isn’t ‘marchen’ a German word? Yes, but look, it’s a video game from the 90s, so don’t worry too much about the words & plot and just focus on the fact that it’s a nice looking game the plays/handles nicely. You’ll get the gist of everything else as you go (alternatively, you could learn Japanese and or look for an English-patched rom).
*****
#47 - DIE HARD
Speaking of games that are in Japanese so you can’t really understand what is being said/written in between levels — but who really cares, as we all know the plot to Die Hard anyways, right? For example, remember how John McClane had to navigate through some kind of swamp entrance to get into Nakatomi Plaza? No? Hmm… well at least they got a Bruce Willis looking character in a white tank top walking around shooting people in an office building right. And as far as 16-bit and below Die Hard games goes, this one is probably the best one (although, tbf, the NES Die Hard game set a pretty low bar).
*****
#48 - ZIPANG
Besides having some really timeless cover art, ZIPANG is just a fun little puzzler in the vein of Solomon’s Key on the NES and Troddlers on the SNES (both games that made my Top 25 lists, so you should already know that I like this ‘vein’). Basically, you make blocks appear and disappear strategically as you work your way to exits and knock off the baddies as you go (and maybe rescue animals too — the plot is a little lost on me + roms don’t really come with instruction booklets). Starts off easy enough to let you get the hang of things, and gets trickier soon enough.
*****
#49 - BARUNBA
Barunba is another nice shooter on the Turbo/PC Engine — but the thing that makes this one a little different (and thus, a little more intriguing to jump into, at least for me) is you can rotate your guns around your little globe of a spaceship as you shoot things from every direction. And the pace is actually quite slowed down compared to your usual frenetic pace of a 16-bit shooter, so that can make for a more relaxing playing experience to jump into when you’re looking for a more casual distraction (which is more often than not for me these days).
*****
#50 - Forgotten Worlds
Forgotten Worlds is one of those shooters that feels different right away — mostly because you’re not flying a jet or spaceship, you’re a flying guy… and you can shoot in a full 360 degrees (kind of like in Barunba). Instead of just holding forward and dodging bullets, you’re constantly rotating your fire to deal with enemies coming from all directions. There are also pop-up shops where you can spend your hard-earned currency on upgrades (so don’t forget to grab all those blue coins). The control setup takes a little getting used to depending on which version you’ve played before — but once it clicks, it’s a pretty unique run-and-gun experience (with this CD version adding a cinematic soundtrack to the mayhem). And the two-player option definitely adds to the awesomeness if you happen to have a friend around.
*****
#51 - BLOODY WOLF
Bloody Wolf sees you playing out a Vietnam like commando game where you have to go around shooting all the baddies and rescuing hostages, all the while trying not to get shot yourself. It’s not a perfect game, but it sill looks and handles pretty good for the system and era + ‘Bloody Wolf’ is a decently cool name (even if the code name that was auto-generated for my character was ‘Eagle’ — not even ‘Bloody Eagle’). So maybe I need to play a bit more to figure out who/what exactly is the bloody wolf here. But if you like games where you go around shooting things at a pace that is less hectic than say a Contra or Gunstar Heroes, Bloody Wolf might be up your alley.
*****
#52 - Kaze Kiri: Ninja Action
Not quite on the same level as Shinobi on the Genesis, but Kaze Kiri: Ninja Action is probably the closest thing you’ll find to that style of ninja action on the TurboGrafx / PC Engine (and at times in can feel pretty close). It looks great, sounds great, and once you start experimenting with the different moves and combos, it plays pretty great too. The animation is smooth, the sword combat feels satisfying, and the CD cutscenes give it a bit of extra flair (and definitely scratches that “side-scrolling ninja” itch if you ever find yourself in that situation).
*****
#53 - Tricky Kick
Tricky Kick is another puzzler game, and this one has got some gameplay that might remind you a little of Goof Troop on the SNES. But only a little bit. Like, you can kick things in Goof Troop to solve some puzzles and then you also kick things on Tricky Kick in order to solve puzzles. Except you kick things way more on Tricky Kick. In fact, kicking things is probably the main thing you do. Hence ‘kick’ featuring so prominently in the title. And the other prominent spoiler contained in the title is that this game is actually pretty tricky. Even the first couple puzzles on each level will have you needing to start over and try again, again and again, because you didn’t kick things in the correct order in order to match all the pairs of things you can kick. It’s tricky (tricky, tricky, tricky).
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#54 - TITAN
The TubroGrafx-16 / PC Engine definitely does not have as many games as the more popular consoles of the 1990s, but what they lack in quantity they definitely make up for in… well, I wouldn’t go as far as to say ‘quality’ (I think Sega and SNES had better quality games), but they definitely had a bunch of uniqueness going for them. Or, rather, unique takes on somewhat familiar ideas. For example, Titan kinda feels like a Breakout or Arkanoid type game, but instead of getting a rectangle paddle to hit your ball around, you get this tiny little square (and instead of trying to keep the ball from hitting the bottom of the screen, you have to try to maneuver this bouncing ball around levels that are bigger than what you can see on screen sometimes). Which leaves you with a game that feels a bit different than others you’ve played. Which is a good quality for a retro game to have — because it’s hard to make a game ‘perfect’, but if you can at least make it feel ‘different’, that goes along way for replayability.
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Ok, that’s it for my personal “HIGH 54” Top TurboGrafx-16 / PC Engine Games (cartridges & CDs) That Are Still Fun To Play Now list — I know that there may be some classic titles that seem crazy not to have included, BUT, again, this is not meant to be a ‘Top 54 All-Time Best Ever’ list and it’s also not meant to be your list. Besides, reading another list that just confirms what’s on every other ‘best of’ list is a bit boring and pointless, especially if you’re looking for games that might not be top of mind (and especially when you consider how all this stuff is individually subjective & doesn’t really matter beyond the enjoyment that comes from thinking/talking about your own experiences & finding temporary moments of connection/agreement/discovery with others).
So, on that note, here’s a bunch more TurboGrafx / PC Engine games (the cover art is linked to Youtube gameplay) that are of the kind of quality that have them constantly circling just outside my personally subjective “HIGH 54” list looking for an opening:
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(good counting, I have to come back and finish updating this section with 25 more games)\\
And while we’re listing things, here’s my other lists of retro video games that are still fun playing today… if you happen to be looking for more than just TurboGrafx / PC Engine games to check out (and if you think you might have some crossover tastes in retro games with me):
Finally, please feel warmly encouraged to hit up the comments below if there’s any games that I left off that would definitely be on your ‘Fave TurboGrafx / PC Engine Games’ list (whatever number you cap your list off at; whichever factors you consider more), as I’ve been known to make tweaks to my lists when a new ‘old game’ starts making a stronger case for more of my limited attention span.
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JEREMY / @HI54LOFI
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