Need some advice about used turbo expresses and the new ones at TZD.

well, I will be picking up a Turbo Express within a week or so. This is my first turbo system so I could use some pointers and info.

What are the best site for info and sources of products?

Tell me any and all bits of info that I need to know.

Also, What are some of the best (cheap to mid priced) games to start out.
Here are some of the ones that are on my mind:
1st TIER TITLES:

Bonks Adventure
Bonks Revenge
Keith Courage
Legendary Axe
Splatterhouse
Blazing Lazers
R-type
Air Zonk
Devils Crush
New adventure Island
Jackie Chans Action Kung Fu (LOVED the NES version)


2nd TIER TITLES:

Alien's Crush
Ninja Spirit
Soldier Blade
Bloody Wolf
Shockman



How are the above games? any others you could recomend?

Thanks in advance.

Those games are all rad, not so sure about Kieth Courage, but it has its fans.

If you liked NES Jackie Chan, the PC Engine music & graphics will wow you.

One thing about used TE/GT units is that often the speaker dies a bit, the sound can be quiet.....but via headphones there is no problem.

Big plus about USA units is that the Jap conveter is more redily available than for a jap machine to play USA games........about prices these days though, i'm lost.

Baseley09 said:

Those games are all rad, not so sure about Kieth Courage, but it has its fans.

If you liked NES Jackie Chan, the PC Engine music & graphics will wow you.

One thing about used TE/GT units is that often the speaker dies a bit, the sound can be quiet.....but via headphones there is no problem.

Big plus about USA units is that the Jap conveter is more redily available than for a jap machine to play USA games........about prices these days though, i'm lost.

Click to expand...

Thanks man.
Yup, I know what you mean about the speaker. I just got off the phone with TZD and I found out a great deal.
I could still use more help guys.
Lemme know what sites are good and what titles i should pick up.
BTW, if I pick up the express I will have only that and I will not be picking up a converter for a while so I need recomendations (pics $ links would be great) on U.S. hue cards only. thanks.

Orpheus-

I <8 my TurboExpress. That said, you should also look into finding:

Devil's Crush... simply the best videopinball game ever designed, IMO.
Alien's Crush... good pinball by its own right
Ninja Spirit... any Turbo owner must own this very fine game.
Soldier Blade... fantastic followup to Super Star Soldier, only not impossibly hard
Bloody Wolf... decent commando schmup; competes with Rambo 3 on Genny

I too have been threatening to get one for a while now, and would buy one new from TZD as well [bought games from them in the past, no probs] and am also VERY curious about the NOS TG express' dead pixel issue. If its one or 2 I can deal, but I don't wanna get one and a full chunk be dead.

I have never bought from TZD, so I can't say if their TEs have bad pixels or not.

But when I bought mine new at Babbages (oh so long ago), it got a bad pixel and I returned it for another. Yes, bad pixels are very visible (bright) for this unit, and I hear that the TE are quite prone to developing bad pixels so even if you have one that is flawless, chances are that it will develop them at some point (which really sucks).

It has been so long since I took mine out so I don't even know if mine has them or not.

Lastblade said:

... I hear that the TE are quite prone to developing bad pixels so even if you have one that is flawless, chances are that it will develop them at some point (which really sucks).

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Virus?

I think my TG Express has one or two dead spots. That's fine with me.........

Sweet, a new TG convert!

Well, having dealt extensively with TZD in the past I can tell you they are good people. It's not their primary business anymore, so Turbo gear isn't their top priority, yet they do a good job with quick shipping.

About TEs, yes they tend to have bad pixels, but I've never seen one with more than 2 dead pixels. And yeah, the speaker can take a shit, but it's a handheld, get some headphones!

I'm tinkering with the idea of modding a TE for video out so you can plug it into a TV. This should be relatively straightforward, just haven't tried yet.

In terms of games, lots of great stuff already mentioned. I'll go so far as to say that Alien Crush is better than Devil's Crush in my book. I think it's the sound track for me. And the mini-games/bonus rounds are more accessible.
Add to the list Neutopia and Neutopia II. Fantastic Zelda clones that are actually better graphically.

Also, I hear http://www.aloofhosting.com/dragsy/ has a lot of games that he's just too lazy to list

EDIT: You can ask TZD to test the unit for you too. I believe they'll do that.

Did Outrun ever get released here in the states? I really want to play it on my TE someday

D-Lite said:

Sweet, a new TG convert!

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Ahhhhh, Ther you are. You were the first one I thought of when I posted this thread.
PM for you my good friend.

Lastblade said:

Did Outrun ever get released here in the states? I really want to play it on my TE someday

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Unfortunately, no, it did not. jap hue card only.

Lastblade said:

But when I bought mine new at Babbages (oh so long ago), it got a bad pixel and I returned it for another. Yes, bad pixels are very visible (bright) for this unit, and I hear that the TE are quite prone to developing bad pixels so even if you have one that is flawless, chances are that it will develop them at some point (which really sucks).

Click to expand...

I too had a couple bad pixels in my Babbages' sold model. I returned it and got another one (wayyyyyyyyy back in the day when I worked there). I bought mine for 199.99, plus $50 for the TV tuner.

More info!

More recomendations!

More, More, More!!!!!!!!!!!!

ORPHEUS said:

More info!

More recomendations!

More, More, More!!!!!!!!!!!!

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You got it.

Cadash Consider the best port has all four, chacaters unlike the Genesis verison.
SideArms
Bomberman
Shinobi Jap Hucard only,still i hear it's a good port.
SonSon II agian Jap Hucard only.
ShockMan it's the U.S version of Shubibinman 2 nice, mix of shooter and action platformer.
R-Type
New Aventure Island
Galaga 88
Hit the Ice this is a hockey game, from Midway i think,it's more arcade style to it.

That's all i can think of at the moment.

Forget the TG-Ex,grab a PC-GT.

More bang for your buck,unless playing RPGs/strategy games on a tiny screen is your thing.

BIG-

Here's my experience with buying mine yrs back..

When I went to look on Ebay I found the prices to be quite high..
Most were well over $100.00 bid on..
I found a company on Ebay selling NOS Boxed Turbo Express units.. In the auction it stated that for some reason a lot of the units in their stock had bad pixels..
I guess they got a lot of complaints.
It was a warning that though they were new units you may get one with a bad pixel and they had no way to tell since they were NOS.(disclaimer)
They were 125.00 each....

I almost bought one,but I didn't because in all honesty I didn't know how this bad pixel would look..and figuring they were warning about it ,it must of been noticeable enough for people to complain.

Then I found one for $100.00 starting bid on Ebay..it came with a bag/Turbo Express AC Adapter/Turbo Express Car Adapter.

The seller had three for sale/pictures etc...(two noted in auction to have bad pixels)the one that didn't have the bad pixel was over $120.00 already with several bidders.

The seller was very informative when questioned him about one of the bad pixel units.
He said he bought it new and that it had a bad pixel..but was very loud..(and it is)
He offered me 3 free games with it,if I won it....I bid on it and won it for $110.00..$125.00 total with shipping.

When I get it...I can't find a bad pixel..I don't see any bad pixels on this screen,no matter what game I put in.
I have no clue what this seller did,..I figure he sent me the wrong one...but this one is very loud as he said the bad pixel one was.
So,I got lucky with Ebay..
My friend has one with a pixel on the lower left side and it's noticeable but not really a bother..he could care less and sometimes it seems to blend in when certain parts of the games are on screen,.. from what I've seen on his...

When I got mine I had never seen one in hand before..I was very surprised on how thick they are ..comparing to an original Gameboy ..

It's a very cool machine....

I mainly play.....
Blazing Lazers
Alien Crush
Devils Crush
Bloody Wolf
Time Cruise
Bonk's Adventure

TV Sports Hockey
Though I will admit it's kind of hard to keep an eye on the puck..it's so small.

I've had it for around 7 yrs now..no bad pixels...yet..


Remind me to clean the screen before taking a picture...

No bad pixels here...



I'd say..look for a nice one on Ebay, ask a lot of questions and get picks.

What's TZD..?

D-Lite said:

I'm tinkering with the idea of modding a TE for video out so you can plug it into a TV. This should be relatively straightforward, just haven't tried yet.

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I think you may be right.
I've seen a few hacked PCE GT units for sale on eBay with a video-out jack. I think that ling-jr guy was the seller.
They were obviously hacks and the quality of the work was pretty shoddy, but it does seem to be possible.

every TE I have ever seen has had at least 1-2 bad pixels, i've owned 3 over the years and they all had at least one. i'd say expect 1-4 bad pixels if you pick up a new unit or even a used one, you can't even notice them, and half the time they are in corners or whatever. i'm sure there are units without, but at the time the technology was so new, it happened. even new units have them, if your unit doesn't have any, i doubt it will, this seemed to happen in manufactoring. i've even seen GBASP's and PSOne LCD screens with burnt out pixels, so it still happens.

Bigp0ppaLarge said:

Forget the TG-Ex,grab a PC-GT.

More bang for your buck,unless playing RPGs/strategy games on a tiny screen is your thing.

BIG-

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nah, thats O.K. (thanks fior the advice though) I like the asthetic look of the U.S. logo alot better than the PC engine one. It's a mental thing. As a kid I remeber peering through the glass casing at toys r' us and seeing that glorious turbo express running (some football game), then i saw the price tag and realized that it would never be mine......until now . Plus I can just get a converter or just guy a GT later on in addition to my express.

Back to the top.
O.K. guys, thanks for all the help and info.
The only other thing I really need is a few more site recomendations as the ones
I have come across have been outdated, inactive and/or very low quality.
Thanks.

what is the going price for the system and games these days. i have always wanted to pick one up, but havent seen many around lately.

I'm tinkering with the idea of modding a TE for video out so you can plug it into a TV. This should be relatively straightforward, just haven't tried yet.

Click to expand...

OMFG!!! I love this man...only if he wasn't married

I'll go so far as to say that Alien Crush is better than Devil's Crush in my book. I think it's the sound track for me

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You hit that right on target...the erie half metal have 8-bit sounds are classic in my opinion.

I had one a while back and my only comment is that I broke my screen when I died at the final boss of legenday axe II. I'll never forget it, I was in Whistler for a skiing trip, playing it after I got off the hill, got pissed off, and then banged it on my knee. When I looked at the screen, it was a scrambled mess. The moral of the story is that I think you need to take more care than say a GBA, NGPC, etc.