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[Kazza]

I haven't watched any of his videos for ages (too much clickbait for my liking), but Richie recently put out a really good video on the NEC Turbo Express:




With it being $250 compared to the Gameboy's $80 and the Game Gear's $150, it's no wonder it didn't sell that great, but it must have been great to own for those with the cash (or who managed to convince their parents to put up the cash for it). It's amazing that they produced what was a (close to) current gen console experience in a small handheld (Sega's Nomad and the Switch could both be said to be previous gen tech). Rich gives a good perspective on the system from the viewpoint of young kid in the 90s. I especially liked his story of his Dad powering on his Genesis during road trips and then using the Turbo as a monitor via the TV Tuner add on:

I suppose you could attach the PS4 or Xbox X to it nowadays? (I've seen people do it with the Game Game using its TV Tuner).

I never had one myself. Was anyone lucky enough to own one in the 90s?

 

[jufonuk]

My Dad did and he gave it to me. Really enjoyed it.

 

[Kazza]

My Dad did and he gave it to me. Really enjoyed it.

Could you connect it to a big TV (like the Nomad and Switch)?

 

[jufonuk]

Could you connect it to a big TV (like the Nomad and Switch)?

If I remember I think it had a TV tuner add on for it ? I would love to boast I had it. But my Dad lived in the USA around the time he gave it to me. I lived in PAL land U.K.

I’m going from my memory but I remember I video output. On the side. Like the same shape as the mega drive /genesis output.

I was given it when I was probably around 14/15 maybe ? So like 92.


What is interesting to me is at the time time I didn’t know why my Dad had it. But looking back through some old photos after he passed there was a picture of my Dad playing super Mario world on the SNES with my two brothers (I don’t like using the term half-brothers)

So my Dad was a gaming geek on the quiet lol

 

[Kazza]

If I remember I think it had a TV tuner add on for it ? I would love to boast I had it. But my Dad lived in the USA around the time he gave it to me. I lived in PAL land U.K.

I’m going from my memory but I remember I video output. On the side. Like the same shape as the mega drive /genesis output.

I was given it when I was probably around 14/15 maybe ? So like 92.


What is interesting to me is at the time time I didn’t know why my Dad had it. But looking back through some old photos after he passed there was a picture of my Dad playing super Mario world on the SNES with my two brothers (I don’t like using the term half-brothers)

So my Dad was a gaming geek on the quiet lol

Thanks for the story. You must have had fun showing the machine off in the playground where most of the other kids probably had Gameboys.

 

[jufonuk]

I think I was told it was worth a lot so I just played it at home and showed it to my mates.
Plus because I had never seen it before I was sure it was rare and worried people would steal it.

I enjoyed the machine yeah but I’m enjoying the memories of my Dad.

 

[NeoIkaruGAF]

I don’t even want to imagine how fast that thing burnt through a fresh pack of batteries.

Not enough people nowadays take a minute to appreciate how cheaper gaming has become today compared to then. An era when there were half a dozen or more consoles on the market, and a handheld with a postage-stamp size screen with a minimum of color and lots of blur would easily cost more than a full-fledged console that connects to your TV. Stuff like this was never meant to make numbers. Bringing one to the playground was just begging for trouble, and good luck finding someone to play 2P games with...

Still, it’s cool that this stuff existed. It was so unique, and helped improve technology.

 

[wondermega]

Turbo Express was a beast, a machine that dreams were made of. I didn't own one, but like many I lusted after it. Fortunately my friend had one with a bunch of games, and I had a Lynx, so we swapped for a few weeks or so.

The device was like nothing else, it felt like an expensive sports car compared to the Gameboy. It was unheard of that you could play your same console cards in this thing, and they really looked great on that gorgeous screen! Of course the screen was tiny, so only certain games were really enjoyable to play on it - no games were actually "designed for it" (that screen size), they were all console games and they sure as hell weren't going to design alternate game modes, this thing was still a kids toy. So really any game with text in it (RPG) was kind of no good because it was too tiny to read, usually. And then there were the shmups- the dominating genre on the platform - but honestly they could be very difficult to play as well. Again the screen was so tiny, and it was hard to see all the zipping bullets/maneuver your ship so precisely in some of those games. The real kicker (aside from the massive battery drain, if you weren't just using the AC adapter) was that eventually the company shifted focus away from card to CD Rom gaming, which was certainly exciting and innovative, but meant an end to the support of this device. Ah well. It was fun while it lasted.

 

[Kazza]

Turbo Express was a beast, a machine that dreams were made of. I didn't own one, but like many I lusted after it. Fortunately my friend had one with a bunch of games, and I had a Lynx, so we swapped for a few weeks or so.

The device was like nothing else, it felt like an expensive sports car compared to the Gameboy. It was unheard of that you could play your same console cards in this thing, and they really looked great on that gorgeous screen! Of course the screen was tiny, so only certain games were really enjoyable to play on it - no games were actually "designed for it" (that screen size), they were all console games and they sure as hell weren't going to design alternate game modes, this thing was still a kids toy. So really any game with text in it (RPG) was kind of no good because it was too tiny to read, usually. And then there were the shmups- the dominating genre on the platform - but honestly they could be very difficult to play as well. Again the screen was so tiny, and it was hard to see all the zipping bullets/maneuver your ship so precisely in some of those games. The real kicker (aside from the massive battery drain, if you weren't just using the AC adapter) was that eventually the company shifted focus away from card to CD Rom gaming, which was certainly exciting and innovative, but meant an end to the support of this device. Ah well. It was fun while it lasted.

Wasn't there a rechargable battery pack for it? It always annoys me when people tak about the Game Gear battery life - what kind of crazy person kept buying batteries rather than simply buying the recharger pack!?

How was your experience with the Lynx btw? I remember playing it a bit, but can't quite remember where or how - maybe borrowed from a friend? It was impressive to have a 16-bit colour handheld way back then.

 

[jufonuk]

Yeah batteries went. I think it took four in the back.

No six.

I also had an OG game boy. Less batteries more play time and I could find games.

Guess which I played more?

I honestly cannot remember what game had with the Turbo Express

I’m saying some kind of shmup and bomber man ?

 

[wondermega]

Wasn't there a rechargable battery pack for it? It always annoys me when people tak about the Game Gear battery life - what kind of crazy person kept buying batteries rather than simply buying the recharger pack!?

How was your experience with the Lynx btw? I remember playing it a bit, but can't quite remember where or how - maybe borrowed from a friend? It was impressive to have a 16-bit colour handheld way back then.

I really liked the Lynx. It was so different from the other game systems of its day, as it was fully western developed hardware and software - which was extremely unusual at that time. Technically the thing was quite noticeably powerful (it could do hardware sprite scaling like an arcade machine, it had a huge color palette, it had essentially unlimited sprites) - all this stuff added up to making visually impressive experiences compared not just to other handheld units, but full consoles as well. The only big kvetch in that case was the resolution, which was notoriously low, though not a deal breaker.
The library was strong, although limited. At the time support was pretty weak so Atari had to basically shepherd everything out themselves, although this wasn't unusual in the Nintendo dominated late 1980s. Things did feel a little one-note, and it was a little dull not to get games that competes with the more interesting platformy and adventuring titles which were pretty common on the Gameboy, although Lynx did receive a healthy amount of Atari Games ports based on their really well-done arcade machines at the time (Atari Games arcade division was really strong and interesting at that time, as good as anyone else actually). Overall my experience with the Lynx was that it was an odd and powerful system, ultimately I'm glad it took a different path than just being a "color Gameboy" and I think it's legacy has held up quite well.