I love the Turbografx 16. I've told my personal story of the first time I played one in the SNES anniversary thread, but I didn't own one until 2000, and how I got it is one of my favorite stories for a console.

I worked at FuncoLand at the time, and we didn't carry Turbo stuff. It was getting close to Christmas, and my buddy Tim, who also worked for Funco, was helping out at the Northwest Plaza store for a day with this super cool guy named Ryan. Somebody abandoned their TG16 when the store wouldn't buy it, so Ryan claimed it and was boxing it up to take home. Tim saw it and asked if he could buy it off of him, as for years he had heard me talk about loving the system, and wanted to get it for me. Ryan said no, as he wanted it. Tim said something to the effect of, "Aw, man, I was hoping to get it for Mike for Christmas." Ryan said, "It's for Mike? Take it." Gave it to him for free so he could give it to me. The story makes me even happier than having the system.

My earliest purchases were a pile of loose HuCards I paid 5 bucks a piece for and a boxed Turbo Stick for $5. Stuff like Bravoman, Order of the Griffon, Yo Bro, Ninja Spirit, Tiger Road... it was a fun mix. I have around 115 Turbo and PCE games now, 55 of which are US releases. No, I don't have Magical Chase, but I do have a big chunk of good stuff like the Star Soldier games and BlazingLazers, Cadash, Air Zonk, Exile, Cosmic Fantasy 2, Splatterhouse, Sinistron, the Neutopias, and loads more. Super fun arcade flavored stuff.

I love the shooters, but my favorites are Gate of Thunder and Gradius II... but the dirty truth is that my favorite game on the system is Keith Courage in Alpha Zones. It was the first Turbo game I played, the first I owned, and I still play it to this day. Other favorites are The Legendary Axe games, Samurai Ghost, Ninja Spirit, World Court Tennis, R-Type Complete... I could go on. It's a very good quality to crap ratio in the US library, though I do own a few duds like Timeball and Drop Off... and I have barely even acknowledged the PCE side of things, which is great.

It's become a bitch to collect for, but I'm grateful to have gotten in cheap, and it's a console that has aged very well. My second favorite of the 16-bit consoles... but they were all great. Love it.