Did you say "some marble game"? Could it be that we'll be getting Marble Madness on the DS?? I would kill for that!

that marble game sounds like Magnetica, which is a clone of zuma.

How is Zuma different from Marble Madness?

Zuma is a puzzle game while Marble Madness is not.

Thanks, I've never played or seen it. I do recall MM having some puzzle elements, but it was mostly about the skill of guiding the ball.

Finally got a chance to play Princess Peach and Metroid for an hour or so each.

Got past the first boss in Metroid. Not impressed yet. The control is just awkward as their's now good way to hold the thing to use the d-pad, l-button and stylus at the same time and double tapping to jump is fairly awkward as well. Haven't tried online yet as my cable internet was down the past day and a half and just came back up.

Peach I'm loving. Great level design and love having to look for the 3 toads in each level. Looks like a good bit of other stuff is hidden as well (puzzle pieces, music etc.) giving you a lot of incentive to explore.

Whats Turbografix?
Thats interesting Nintendo will allow downloading of Mega Drive (Genesis) games, how come? I thought it was just restricted to the Nintendo systems.

New Castlevania DS to be revealed next month in Nintendo Power.

TurboGrafx 16
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TurboGrafx-16

Manufacturer NEC
Type Video game console
Generation 16-bit era
First available September 1, 1989 (U.S.)
(See also: PC Engine)
Media HuCard, CD-ROM
Controller input {{{controllers}}}
Online service
Units sold {{{unitssold}}}
Top-selling game
For information on the Japanese version of this console, see PC Engine

The TurboGrafx 16 is a video game console released by NEC in 1989, for the North American market. It was the North American version of NEC's popular PC Engine video game console. A PAL version of the system also saw a very limited release in the UK and continental Europe in 1990 as "Turbografx" (sans the "16" in the title).

The TurboGrafx-16 was an eight-bit system with a 16-bit graphics chip, capable of displaying 512 colors at once. The TurboGrafx-16, unusually, used a thin memory card storage medium called a HuCard (also referred to as "TurboChip" in North America), instead of the then-standard cartridge format. "HuCard" (Hudson + Card) was derived from Hudson Soft, who co-developed the system with NEC. The cards were smaller than the size of a credit card (but slightly thicker) and thus were somewhat similar to the card format used by the Sega Master System for budget games. Unlike the Sega Master System, however, the TurboGrafx-16 used the cards exclusively.

On March 23, 2006, at the GDC Conference in California, it was announced by Nintendo president Satoru Iwata that Nintendo will offer virtual backwards compatibility of the TurboGrafx-16 with their upcoming game console, the Nintendo Revolution.[1]

Mascots Bonk and Zonk

Bonk, a "Cave Dude with an Attitude", was the most visible face for TG-16 and was NEC's mascot like Nintendo's Mario or Sega's Sonic. Bonk, of course, starred in a series of video games (including many of TG-16's most popular titles, such as Bonk's Adventure and its sequel, Bonk's Revenge). Later, TTi (a company jointly owned by the creators of the TG-16, NEC and Hudson) would adopt Air Zonk (a cyborg-Bonk who starred in a horizontal shooter of the same name) as the mascot for TurboDuo. Despite the recent popularity of "Johnny Turbo vs. FEKA" advertisements, Johnny Turbo was never the mascot for TurboDuo and was not featured in any TurboDuo promotional material (outside of the comic book ads, of course). While the Johnny Turbo ads are quite amusing, their significance has been overstated and is now the stuff of urban legend. Air Zonk, not Johnny Turbo, was featured on the TurboDuo console packaging, countless advertisements, countless brochures and catalogs, trade show appearances (CES, E3, etc.)

Bonk is the localized name for TG-16's mascot. In Japan, Bonk is known as "PC-Genjin" (a play on "PC-Engine"). Similarly, Air Zonk is known as "PC Denjin Punkic Cyborg" in Japan (again, another play on PC-Engine).

TurboGrafx-CD: Pioneering CD-ROM console

The TurboGrafx-16 was the first video game console in North America to have a CD-ROM peripheral (following the pioneering spirit of the PC-Engine CD-ROM add-on in Japan, although the FM Towns Marty was the first console to have a built-in CD-ROM). The TurboGrafx-CD debuted at a prohibitive $399.99 (and did not include a pack-in game). Monster Lair (a.k.a. Wonderboy III: Monster Lair) and Fighting Street (a.k.a. Street Fighter) were the initial TurboGrafx-CD titles. Ys Book I & II soon followed and was instantly recognized as the "must-have" TurboGrafx-CD game (and continues to be highly regarded today). The TurboGrafx-CD catalog grew at a snail's pace compared to the library of TurboChip (HuCard) titles.

The TurboGrafx-CD came packaged in a very large box, 85% of which was filled with protective styrofoam inserts. By some accounts, no other video game console (or peripheral) has been packaged in such an overkill manner. To be fair, though, the TurboGrafx-CD did come with a large plastic "carrying case" that could comfortably hold the TurboGrafx-16 base system, TurboGrafx-CD, all AC adapters, 2–3 controllers, and a few games. Still, it was a rather large box.

Although the TurboGrafx-CD library was relatively small, North Americans could draw from a wide range of Japanese software since there was no region protection on TG-CD / PC Engine CD-ROM software. Many mail order (and some brick-and-mortar) import stores advertised Japanese PCE CD and HuCard titles in the video game publications of the era.

NOTE: While there was no region-protection on CD games, there were several different CD formats: CD, Super CD (SCD) and, later, Arcade CD (ACD). TurboGrafx-CD, equipped with the original System Card (version 2.01), could play all Japanese and North American CD games. TurboGrafx-CD, equipped with the updated Super System Card (version 3.01), could play all Japanese and North American SCD and CD format games. The Arcade System Cards (for playing Arcade CD titles) were never released in North America.

Rivalry with Nintendo's NES and Sega's Genesis

Initially, the TurboGrafx was marketed as a direct competitor with the NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) and early television ads (i.e. airing on WPIX in autumn of 1989) touted TG-16's superior graphics and sound. These early television ads featured a brief montage of TG-16's launch titles: Blazing Lazers, China Warrior, Vigilante, Alien Crush, etc. Of course, TG-16 was also in direct competition with the Sega Genesis, which launched in North America shortly after TG-16 (Note: the launch dates are debatable; some sources claim that Sega beat NEC to the U.S. market; part of the confusion, perhaps, lies in the fact that TG-16 was test-marketed in major U.S. cities first, then given a national launch). The Genesis launch was accompanied by an ad campaign mocking NEC's claim that the TurboGrafx-16 was the first 16-bit console.

Another problem factor for the TG-16 were hardware limitations: while the Genesis only came with one controller, the TG-16 only had one controller port (plug-in). Players who wanted to have more than one player were required to buy the Turbo Tap, an addition which permitted five controllers to be plugged into the system, in addition to extra controllers. The Genesis only required players to buy one more controller. Another problem in the battle against the Genesis were the pack-in games (game included with purchase): The Genesis originally came with the impressive arcade translation of Altered Beast (1989), which included big, bold sprites and colors as well as impressive digital sound effects. The TG-16's initial pack-in game was Keith Courage in the Alpha Zones (1989), a modest action plaform game that did not show off the capabilities of the TG-16 in nearly the same way Altered Beast did for the Genesis (or Super Mario World later did for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES)).

The Genesis' Japanese counterpart, the Sega Mega Drive, was less popular than the NEC console, the PC Engine. In North America, however, the situation was reversed, and the Genesis is mainly remembered there for its rivalry with the Super Nintendo, not with the TurboGrafx 16.

Both Sega and NEC released CD peripherals (Sega CD versus Turbo CD), color handhelds (Sega Game Gear versus TurboExpress), and even "TV Tuners" for their respective handheld systems. While Sega outperformed NEC in North America, both companies' peripherals and handhelds were not terribly popular overall.

In 1994, comic book-like ads featuring Johnny Turbo were published by TTi. The ads mocked Sega, in particular the Sega CD. By this point it was too little too late, the TG-16 had been defeated by the Genesis in the marketplace, which was by then dominated by the battle between the Genesis and the Super Nintendo.



This was the first console I bought after Atari 2600 in the late 70's and they had many great games on there, one being Miltary Madness. I spent hours and hours playing that game.

Chris

Hope it has some new wrinkles. Love the metroidvania's, but they're getting a little stale.

Is there a list somewhere which tells you all the Japanese DS releases with an english option? Or if anyone knows any particular titles please mention them. Just wondering what I can safely buy over here .

If it is anything near as good as Dawn of Sorrow, it is a must buy!

When was the Phoenix Wright re-rlease supposed to start showing up?

two weeks ago. Try walmart & j&R music

Looks like the subtitle to the new Castlevania is "Dual Moons."

I'll be buying as I've loved the 4 gba/ds games so far. Hope it's not another Aria sequel starring Soma though. Would like it to go back in time out of the futuristic setting and star a Belmont personally.

I think I'm done with the Metroidvanias. Hopefully, IGA does something new this time, but I won't be holding my breath.

Love the Metroidvanias; can't wait for Dual Moons and Metroid Dread.


Anybody know when Children of Mana is coming to North America?

You give up on a series because, even though they are great, they are too similar? To me, each 2-D Castlevania adds a little something not there before, but honestly, I dinn't care about that. The level design and gameplay is what grabs me.

Castlevania is still the best DS game ever in my opinion so the next entry is a must buy for me.

I'll definitely buy as I love the series. But I can see where Ralph is coming from, especially if its another Aria sequel. I liked those, but they still rank behind Symphony of the Night and Harmony of Dissonance as the level and character design isn't quite as good IMO.

But I'll be there at launch regardless. Can't pass up 2D gaming goodness.

I also can't wait for more castlevania on the DS. Iga has proved time and again that he just can't do 3D castlevania's, they just never seem to turn out good, it sucks too because the music is awesome, the character drawings are awesome, and the graphics aren't half bad either, they just aren't fun to play like the 2D castlevania's.

That's just it, though: I don't think they're "great". The extreme lack of difficulty was easy to overlook with SoTN and CoTM, but I can't forgive it any longer. The Sorrows, in particular, have been horribly unbalanced. Throw in my growing distaste for the pseudo-non-linear structure, absence of platforming and increasing focus on tedious collect-a-thon aspects, and I'm just not having fun with them.

Time for Part III