It's been a while, but a new Retro's Blog is up and I wanted to talk about Johnny Turbo. I actually went over this in October last year in an article titled TurboGrafx 16: A Lost and Forgotten Console. I mentioned in that article about how this character was truly NEC last attempts to promote the brand. From 1989 to 1994 saw the TurboGrafx feature some of the worst marketing in the industry. It didn't matter if it was the magazine and TV ads or their promotional video tapes, it was overall terrible. As I mentioned in the earlier article, NEC and Turbo Technologies were going in too many directions. The constant releases of console models would obviously confuse consumers. They even came out with the Turbo Express to compete with Nintendo's Game Boy and Sega's Game Gear. The problem for the portable is it played Turbo Cards only with no exclusive games and was quite expensive.
Its evident NEC learned nothing from Atari's terrible business plans from the 80s. Atari did the same thing with releasing too many consoles between the 2600, 5200 and 7800. They also made the Lynx in 1989 which was a more powerful system that had color compared to the Game Boy. However, it would find itself in those bargain bins in places like KB Toys, FuncoLand and Toys R Us. You could tell I'm old especially if you kiddies don't know that FuncoLand was once GameStop :p. That's where Johnny Turbo comes in, and he would get sent through a sea of mascots that eventually become forgotten. His character as already mentioned was to promote the console by releasing three short comics. Unlike the other mascots, he was a gaming superhero instead of the usual cartoonish anthropomorphic being like Sonic. After witnessing the terrible marketing, it should make you wonder how bad this company could mess this up. Is Johnny Turbo the Worst Superhero Ever?
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A new edition of Retro Corner is up, and I’m checking out Super Star Wars for the Super NES. It's another year and a new Star Wars movie hits theaters next week once again from the Mouse Empire. Ever since Rogue One saw a release in 2015, Disney has come out with the “Star Wars story” as one of their yearly films. We all know why Disney is producing these annually movies and its to make back those 400 billion dollars they spent on Lucas Film. The Mouse Empire, after releasing the creative disaster known as the Last Jedi last year, is now trying to get back the viewers they lost. Now, gee whiz why is that? Maybe it's because the Mouse Empire produced the worst Star Wars movie ever? Of course, Disney is trying to capture the Original Trilogy fanboys and Purists with a Han Solo film. As for the review, Super Star Wars was part of the lineup for the Super NES where it would follow the Original Trilogy. As you noticed by the title picture, the game follows A New Hope as you go across Tatooine and the Death Star facing off against the Empire. Unlike the NES version, the Super NES edition saw development from Lucas Arts, a game studio under Lucas Films. That means this isn't considered a license title when the company owns the studio that produces it. The gameplay is that of a 2D action platformer as you take control of Luke, Han and Chewbecca. The Star Wars title also takes advantage of the Super NES's Mode 7 graphics. It was a special effect in gaming that was often used for games such as F-Zero, Super Mario Kart and Contra 3. Of course, this was before the Super FX 1 and 2 Chips came out for gaming during the Mid 90s. The developers used this style for certain levels as you will see during the Death Star space level. Super Star Wars (Super NES) Review The console wars are often a competition between two or at times three console providers. For decades gamers of their preferred system and the companies have compared themselves with these features each system offered, so they could claim superiority. Of course, the generation that best exhibits this was from the 16-bit wars between Nintendo and Sega. I'm sure you have heard the same mantra from us Golden Age Gamers numerous times regarding this time. That era of gaming always stood out to me the most unlike today when 2/3s of the console providers are not actual game companies. Its true that Sony has dished out stronger first and second party IPs lately especially against Microsoft. However, it doesn't come close to the magic I felt when Nintendo and Sega faced off in a legendary match. That brings us to a new segment I wanted to bring to Retro Corner. It's called Retro Arena and in these editorials I compare two games of the same kind to find out who's the better game.
In this first edition, we compare Capcom's Super NES port of Final Fight to Sega's Streets of Rage on the Genesis. I already reviewed both games on this site about two years ago when I started writing. Unlike today where the consoles are trying to emulate PC gaming. The home systems in the 80s and 90s tried emulating the arcade experience as a selling point. It's among the reasons both the Super NES, and Genesis had arcade ports and if not games built around their concepts on these consoles. The games both come from the brawler genre or beat 'em ups as another way to call them. Technōs Japan might have made brawlers popular with Double Dragon, but I believe it was Capcom and Sega who left a greater impression on the genre. Final Fight and Streets get paired up for a reason, so who will prevail in this retro match up? Retro Arena: Final Fight (Super NES) vs Streets of Rage (Genesis) |
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