1989. I was a strapping young fellow, a mere thirteen years old, when I heard from my buddy Damon that he just got a TurboGrafx-16. I asked him to repeat. Did he truly posses the holy grail of gaming? Could it be that he had a REAL TurbGrafx-16, or was this some sort of cruel joke at my expense? I hounded my parents for hours until they finally agreed to drive me over to his house so I could crash there for a while. We spent countless hours immersed in GLORIOUS 16-bit graphics nirvana. Screw those chumps and their measly 8-bit nintendos and master systems. We were console kings with our mighty 16-bit graphics, not to mention included TURBO SWITCHES right on the standard TurboPad controller!!

My folks didn’t have a lot of money back then, so I never did get a TurboGrafx-16 of my own, but I would spend many a weekend at my friend’s house planted in front of his TG-16. Things are different now. I am old and krusty like the TurboGrafx-16, but now I have a new friend called EBay.

Several months ago, I spent a few weeks scouring EBay for a good deal on a TurboGrafx-16 system. Eventually I found one that looked good and included everything (even the promo fliers and manuals). The price was right so I watched that auction like a hawk and ended up winning the TG-16. I didn’t have a chance to bust it out and play right away, and then we moved and it got lost in all the boxes. Fast-forward to last night, where I happened upon the TG-16 while cleaning out the closet in my office. Thrilled, I rushed to set it all up. I had forgotten how pristine the condition of the TG-16 was. When setting it up, I realized that even the protective film on the console logo and the controller was still intact! I decided to peel them off to get that “just opened” new console rush. What a rush it was…and only 17 years late!!

I decided to photograph this historical setup and “un-peeling” of the system:

TurboGrafx-16 Console (note the film over the logo)	Peeling the film off the logo
Peeling, continued	Fresh TurboPad with film intact
Peeling back the film	Virgin TurboPad!
All set up and ready to go!	Keith Courage in Alpha Zones
Keith after donning his ROBOT battle suit	And finally, Bonk’s Adventure (2), one of the best TG-16 games EVER.