TG-16 Arcade 16 bit Ninja Game

[thesuperkillerxxx]

I am curious as to the name of an old game. It was in a Turbo Grafx 16 Cabinet, $.25 a play, dude in camoflage pants as the first boss, and palette swaps of him later in the game as a boss with more hP.

Main character reminded me of bruce lee if I remember right? (?)

[it290]

TG16 cabinet? Whoa, never heard of that. Anyway, the only TG16 ninja game I can think of offhand is Ninja Spirit, but the first boss in that game is a big statue.

[chtimi-CLA]

"The kung-fu"
it was with tall sprites and played like shit?

[CIT]

Yeah, sounds like Kung-Fu. I think it was one of the very first HuCards, more of a tech demo showing of the PCE sprite capabilities than a game one would want to play.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

NEC did partner with an USA based arcade manufacturing company called United Technologies in 1990 to make special Turbografx-16 arcade cabinet kit that took credits and gave the player a certain amount of time to "try out" the latest TG-16 games. They weren't the usual standard Hu-Card software but bigger specialized game cartridges with a special Jamma compatible TG-16 based motherboard.

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The NEC/United Technologies TG-16 Jamma motherboard kit consisted of the following to be used in a readily available arcade cabinet setup:

*Specialized Jamma TG-16 motherboard PCB

*One game of your choice -- bigger specialized cartridge that contained the entire data of a Hu-Card or Turbo Chip

*Extra wiring loom for the arcade control panel -- joystick, buttons, etc.

*Cool bright neon colored Turbo Grafx-16 arcade control panel

*Backlit Turbo Grafx-16 marquee sign with cool neon colored design
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NEC wanted to give broader exposure for it's Turbo Grafx-16 games and decided that by entering the arcade game business, they decided that it was best to go with an USA arcade PCB manufacturer. Only a few of bigger specialized arcade Hu-Card software cartridges were produced for the specialized NEC/United Technologies TG-16 Jamma motherboard:

China Warrior
Blazing Lazers
Victory Run

However, it was a spectacular failure at best as no more specialized Hu-Card cartridges were released for the failed TG-16 arcade Jamma motherboard. I didn't see the Turbo Grafx-16 arcade cabinet any more after 1991-1992. It became something of an old & forgotten relic from the arcade PCB graveyard of the early 1990's.

I remember trying out the TG-16 arcade cabinet version of "Blazing Lazers" priced at 50 cents per credit at a local arcade in 1990. Once you insert the credits, a "green" colored Start button would begin flashing. Push it and the game starts. After a few minutes, the game would freeze up and if you wanted to continue playing it, you had to add some more credits to continue. Really odd way of playing this TG-16 arcade cabinet setup though. This was back in early to mid 1990 which is why not very many TG-16 arcade cabinets were made though which was distributed in limited numbers across the USA. A very cool collector's item though indeed! ^_~

The mystery TG-16 arcade game with the "kung fu" characters was none other than "China Warrior" (as it was renamed that for the USA Turbo Chip on the TG-16 console platform).

If you check out the February 1990 issue of Video Games and Computer Entertainment magazine, it goes into more detail about this new fangled "Turbo Grafx arcade cabinet" hardware. Cool story about such a rare arcade version of TG-16 motherboard. ^_~

I do recall that such a rare NEC/United Technologies produced Turbo Grafx arcade Jamma motherboard kit was sold on eBay a few years back...went for some serious $$$.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[chtimi-CLA]

is it only the US version that is rare? i know someone who might have a european or japanese version (there were a few of those arcadised PCEs in France)

[PC Engine Fan X!]

is it only the US version that is rare? i know someone who might have a european or japanese version (there were a few of those arcadised PCEs in France)

Those arcadized PCEs were nothing more than a white colored Japanese PCE console surface-mounted to a board & wired to a Jamma fingerboard and could easily change the standard sized Hu-Cards software. I've seen a few of those pop up on eBay from time to time.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Keranu]

Yep, that definitely sounds like China Warrior, or for those ignorant people who refuse to use the American name at all cost, Kung Fu .

[CIT]

...or for those ignorant people who refuse to use the American name at all cost...

LOLerz @ "USA > the world" mindset.

[Keranu]

Hehe

Well actually it's only more appropriate to use the American name in this case since the subject is strictly about a piece of American Turbo Grafx 16 hardware. Plus cheesy American names rule.