The PC Engine Is Love

I promise there's some good posts coming this week, but for the moment, let's take some time to appreciate the PC Engine.

A Weekend Report Of 3 Days

A glorious three day weekend has passed and alas now I must resume my normal schedule. Much rest was had as well as much put off household work had been done. There's a lot of details about housework below, you've been warned. Details you probably do care about would include some shopping Saturday morning.

We looked at what Halloween merchandise Target and Walmart had out. Normally they're fully stocked by Labor Day Weekend, but since last year it's been the weekend after. Weird considering At Home starts stocking Halloween in June, but I'm sure there's a reason. I'm sure it's stupid. Regardless, some stuff came home with us including some of the new Halloween Kinder Surprise Eggs. This years theme is these great little trick or treating mini figures. I'll be posting on those later this week.

I also grabbed a bag from the new Godzilla bag clip figures wave. This series is Heisei era themed and lucky me, I got the chase Mothra! I then finally found both Slitherfang and the last wave 2 Cyberverse Tiny Turbo Changer I needed. Thinking about it, I didn't open Slitherfang yet. I'd been really looking forward to him too, what the hell self?

Grabbed Origins Skeletor at Walmart as they had a pile of him and nobody else. I just hope I can find wave 2 of the MOTU Minis easily. I had all the Transformers they had, so I just didn't buy any Transformers at Walmart. My Vintage Blaster should be showing up next week, so there's that. They also had the glow in the dark Dino Strike balls, so I grabbed one. Got a pterodactyl with cool glow in the dark armor. 

The rest of Saturday was a mix of sleeping and watching ghost videos on YouTube. Ok, also watched some Trvl channel. Which is just ghost shows. I like ghost shows. Somewhere in the middle I ate some frozen chicken wings and fires, don't worry, I cooked them first. 

I'm totally at work right on my computer and the cleaning dude just farted. Nasty ass.

Sunday was a mixture of household chores. Both regular and long overdue ones. Several things we've put off since moving in and some just needed to be done. Got most of the put off stuff done, though there's a weekend of putting up curtains upstairs in my future. In between the work was a massive order of Red Lobster as the wife hadn't had it before and we had decided on ordering a ton of food for Sunday. It was a good idea. So many cheese biscuits.

After a long food coma induced nap, I assembled some matching bookshelves for the wife's hobby room. Afterwards I was a little worn out from sitting on the floor for a few hours. So I spent the rest of Sunday night playing my Turbografx 16 Mini. I kinda needed that. 

Early Monday morning was spent doing some organizing in my toy room before lunch lead to a long ass nap. I woke up and started the grill for some burgers and hot dogs. It was Labor Day, you kinda have to grill out. I'm usually looking for an excuse anyway. The said food was ate while watching more ghost videos and Halloween stuff. Which I also watched while doing house work. Some people's favorite thing to watch is Gilmore Girls, mine is ghost videos and old Halloween stuff. I'm exciting.

We got halfway through Trvl Channels special on Ed and Lorraine Warren before the need to go to bed hit. The wife works a normal persons schedule and I was somehow still sleepy. We'll finish it up next weekend and probably won't delete it from the DVR. We're both fans of the Warrens. I've grown up enjoying their stories and we both like the Conjuring movies. I'm not too concerned on the legitimacy of them or anything, I just really like the stories. BTW, have you seen Trvl Channel's Ghostober commercials for this year? They are awesome.

Tuesday was my Monday and I spent it as I normally do a Monday. Odd chores, watching TV, and napping before work. I recorded this month's Transform Squadron and hope to have it posted soon. Just waiting for it to go up on the network. I spent a lot of time with those Kinder Surprise Egg toys, which is probably why I didn't play with Slitherfang. Holiday breaks have a way of throwing everything off.

Space Harrier PC Engine

Turbografx-16 Mini And Auto-Correct Is Being Gross

It took a few days later than I had wanted for Amazon to fulfill my pre-order (auto-correct suggested pee-order) for the Turbografx-16 Mini (not counting the initial covid-19 related delays) as they lost the freaking thing. The replacement for here on Friday and man it was a breathe of pure happiness finally holding it in my hands.

Of course, like I've said here a few times already, I'm moving. Which probably sounds like I'm making a much too big deal of, but in reality, it's been a pretty hard move so far. Preparations and packing have all been affected by covid-19 and a bunch of other things popping up making everything harder than it should. We physically move next week, so here's hoping that goes smoothly after the headache of the pre-game (auto-correct suggested pee-game) has been. So I didn't get to play my new console until Sunday evening after my wife and I stopped packing for the night.

The first game I played was Splatterhouse. Despite having multiple copies and versions of the game, playing it on an actual TG-16 was pure joy. I flew threw the first stage before switching games. Since I was just spending a little time with my new console, I just wanted to give it a test (auto-correct suggested tryst.. what the crap?) run for a while. After I move and get things (it just suggested thighs, what?) set up, I'll spend some more time with individual games. I've got a plan to attempt streaming on Instagram and games is probably going to be a common subject. I plan overall to do more video work there as well. Once a million things stop running opposition to my plans. It's been a weird year.

I really love the simulation the micro provides. As the game selection features both American and Japanese releases, it has them separated (it just suggested perpetrated) between regions. Each menu has an onscreen representation of the console and games are in their jewel boxes. When you select the game, you get a great animation of the HuCard going into it's slot or the CD-ROM loading up a game. I'm sure you can skip it if you're just wanting to get to the game, but for right now it's a little extra that I'm loving.

The Grafx Are Turbo, All 16 Of Them

The TurboGrafx 16 Mini will FINALLY be released on May 22nd. That's tomorrow or today depending on when you're reading this. Or last year. Either way after Covid 19 moved the release back (and it changed a few times) it's finally getting released and I'm happy. Mine has been pre-ordered and will probably get here sometime next week. Which being exclusive to Amazon is just how it was going to go. Kinda a bummer seeing how I'll get it after the Memorial Day weekend.

I'm moving in a few weeks, the holiday weekend will be spent packing anyway. So I guess it's fine. After all this time, what's a few more days right? I'm pretty excited, this is a pretty big deal for me. I know it was possible to order one from Amazon's Japanese site early. When the US date wasn't too far off, whats the point? If I would have done that, I would have gotten a PC Engine Mini instead. The difference is mainly cosmetic, but it's a good cosmetic. There's also the slightly different game selection to consider. I could be here all day.

I've always wanted one of these, so the mini will suffice just nice. It was a console I could never get my parents to buy me back in the day. For some reason getting one into adulthood was always just out of reach. Thanks to emulation and the games getting put on other systems, I was able to enjoy it kinda. It wasn't that unchecked box of actually owning one though. Not to mention, I've become a fan of micro consoles over the years as they've become a thing. So this is just perfect.

Keith Courage's Cool Cartoon

I was pretty excited for the Turbografx-16 Mini until Covid-19 pushed back the release. I'm still excited for it, but man that hurt a little. One thing I found odd was the exclusion of Keith Courage in Alpha Zones from the console. Keith Courage was the original pack in game for the system here in the states until the release of the Turbo Duo a few years later.

I've always liked Keith Courage and was really hoping to play it on the mini (whenever I get it), it not being included confused quite a lot of people for good reason. It was just one of the games you associate with the system. Most likely it's due to licensing issues as Keith Courage is an Americanization of the PC Engine game Mashin Hero Wataru, which was based on an anime. The anime itself has had a few other series and other games as it's pretty popular in it's own right. Much more than Keith Courage. It's not surprising that essentially Konami wouldn't deal with the licensing all these years later.

There's all sorts of toys, games, and cartoons of Mashin Hero Wataru. If you really liked Keith Courage and wanted more of it, well there's plenty of it to go around. I'm kinda tempted to watch the anime as it looks pretty neat. I feel like I've seen bootlegs of the mechs at discount stores and honestly tempted to get one of the newer figures. Because dude...Keith Courage.

Salamander Famicom

Between the Turbograpx 16 Mini (currently delayed thanks to the coronavirus) and the new Cyberverse Starscream toy, I've been on a Vic Viper kick lately. It's not a bad thing to be on though as it's been inspiring me to look into various Gradius related media. Such a good game series that I'm horrible at.

Konami Makes Signs Fall Over

I'm in full excitement mode for the Turbografx-16 Mini. I don't know just why I'm excited for Salamander as I am. I've played plenty of Gradius, but not as much Life Force. I'm not even good at shoot 'em ups, but I like playing them. One thing I've noticed isn the commercials for Salamander is signs (presumably for the game) falling over not long after their placed.

They did the same thing for Gradius, part of me wonders if this was a Konami thing. Like, did they just have a serious of annoying instances as advertising for their games? They didn't do this for the Famicom version of Gradius. In fact it's a pretty cool little spot.

Are they saying the PC Engine version is annoying and will make you want to punch the nearest person who laughs at your misfortune? Sure, it's usually the most annoying twerp already doing that but... Look at the commercial for the Famicom Gradius II and see what I mean.

The Famicom games, they'rebeating you over the head with how awesome this game is. The PC Engine version is telling you it's got a case of the Mondays. I get a migraine every Monday, remind me not to hang any signs for Gradius on a Monday. Well, the PC Engine version anyway.

Did the USA Kids Club ever give that kid a Turbografx-16?

The good ol' USA Kids Club, part of the USA Cartoon Express, a block of cartoons that came on every afternoon (and even weekends) in the channels better days. Show your allegiance and touch your hand to the screen. The USA Kid's Club was a pretty well beloved institution at the time that usually had some sort of great promotion going on. Here in 1989, they had a kinda high concept contest.

You write Santa by way of the Kids Club and tell him what you want for Christmas, anything you want as long as it's less than five hundred dollars. Then if they pull your letter, that day they'll not only read it on air, but also say the secret password for your letter. Whomever answers the phone in your household MUST answer the phone for the rest of the day with said secret word in order for you to win. Sounds easy right? Yeah, right. First off, they literally didn't even have to call. Like, they could have outright and probably did lie.

Then you add in Grandma not even remembering your name blowing the whole ordeal by not only answering the phone with the secret word, but then yelling at the USA Kid's Club operator for whatever she thinks they're saying. What's the cut off age for thinking every phone call is some sort of criminal activity? Because every single Grandma hits that wall of paranoia. Grandpa? Grandpa don't care. He can't hear the phone ring. If he does, somehow he always manages to have to take his pill then and there. Remember kids, you're going to be a nightmare to deal with when your old. I look forward to thinking the governments out to get me by way of cable boxes.

I remember sending in a letter. I'm sure the day they read it was the one day my parents absolutely had something we had to do after school. I do wonder if that kid got his Turbografx-16. The system was released here in America at that time and I don't think I could imagine anything more amazing than Santa getting you one by way of crazy cable contest.

Super Star Soldier

I'm going to be an emotional mess when I get my TurboGrafx-16 Mini.

It's just so wonderful.

TurboGrafx 16 Mini!

I am officially in mini retro console heaven.