Retro never dies, clearly. Back in the 90’s, a lot of the console gaming was overwhelmingly SEGA in ‘92, the PS1 in ‘94, and the Nintendo 64 in ‘96. And the Atari, which has been around since the 80’s (but that’s beside the point). Since the advancement in console gaming and technology, a lot of these classics have been redone for the modern age, either for the games during the time to be redone for modern consoles, or recreations of the machines to relive the mid-90’s. Or in Atari’s case, the 80’s. But there was one console that, while not as well know, still held on to a lot of cult classics and was a part of that late ‘80’s to the ‘90’s Golden Age of Games. And that being the TurboGrafx-16. The 16, for 16-bit as this console had come out around ‘87.
The TurboGrafx-16, a joint effort between companies Hudson Soft and NEC, had done exceedingly well over in Japan where it was actually named the PC Engine. However, when it came to the states in ‘89, Sega had outrun it when it dropped the Sega Genesis shortly after. But through and through, the TurboGrafx-16 had a good run for its game and third-party connections. However, in 2012 it was essentially discontinued as owners Hudson Soft closed its doors. But when one door closes, Konami opens another one.
During E3, a surprise announcement from Konami came with a revival of a retro gaming console. And guess what? Now it’s smaller. If Sega could bring back the Genesis but smaller, so can Konami. Why? Because back in 2005, Konami had become a parent company for Hudson Soft. And when Hudson Soft closed in 2012, Konami was able to take ownership of names and brands, including the TurboGrafx-16.
As of currently, there are only a few titles that have been released that will be a part of the TurboGrafx-16 Mini upon its release:
- R-Type
- Ys Book I & II
- New Adventure Island
- Ninja Spirit
- Alien Crush
- Dungeon Explorer
However, Ys Book is actually a title from a CD-ROM game, so there is a possibility that there will be some titles from the TurboGrafx-CD which had originally come out during the same time as the 16.
Currently there is no information on how much the TurboGrafx-16 Mini will be, or when it will be released.