TurboGrafx CD
Info, platforms and system requirements for thousands of games
TurboGrafx CD, the small box with a loud library
TurboGrafx CD sits inside the TurboGrafx family that began as the PC Engine, a system born from Hudson Soft and NEC. The CD format brought another lane to a machine already known for variety, and our catalog reflects that spread, with 246 games and release years ranging from 1970 to 2018. If you like your retro history with a bit of hardware drama and a lot of software oddities, this is a good place to linger.
What TurboGrafx CD is
TurboGrafx-CD, called CD-ROM² in Japan, was the disc based side of a system that first appeared in Japan in 1987 and in North America in 1989. The platform used compact discs alongside the original HuCard format, and it arrived as part of a machine known for an 8-bit CPU, dual 16-bit graphics processors, and support for up to 482 on-screen colors. It was also one more piece of a family that could be surprisingly fragmented, which is a polite way of saying the hardware situation could get messy.
That mess did not stop the platform from building a distinct identity. In Japan, the PC Engine was a success with strong third-party support, while the TurboGrafx-16 had a tougher life in North America because of late release, lighter marketing, and a smaller library. TurboGrafx-CD itself was moderately successful, which is enough to make it the interesting middle chapter in a very hardware-heavy story.
Where to start in our catalog
If you want a quick tour of the catalog, start with the names that keep showing up in conversations about the platform. 1552 Tenka Tairan, 3×3 Eyes Sanjiyan Henjyo, 4 In 1 Super CD, A.III: A-Ressha de Ikou III, ADVANCED V.G., Adventure Quiz: Capcom World: Hatena no Daibouken, Ai Cho Aniki, Alnam no Kiba: Juuzoku Juuni Shinto Densetsu, Alshark, Altered Beast, Alzadick: Summer Carnival '92, Ane-san, Art of Fighting, and Asuka 120% Maxima BURNING Fest. give you a useful spread of what this library likes to do, from fighters to quiz games to the gloriously specific oddities that make retro catalog browsing so dangerous to your free time.
The developers with the most games here are Hudson Entertainment, Inc., NEC AVENUE, Hudson Soft, Telenet Japan, and NAXAT Soft. That mix tells you a lot about the shelf. This is a platform with plenty of Japanese flavor, a long tail of releases in our catalog, and enough variety that you can follow a single developer, jump by genre, or simply pick the game with the most intriguing title and trust your instincts, which is how many good evenings begin.
FAQ
What is TurboGrafx CD?
It is the CD based part of the TurboGrafx family, known in Japan as CD-ROM². It added compact disc games to a system that already supported HuCard cartridges, and it belongs to the larger PC Engine and TurboGrafx-16 story developed by Hudson Soft and NEC.
How many games are in your TurboGrafx CD catalog?
Our catalog contains 246 games for TurboGrafx CD. The release years in the catalog run from 1970 to 2018, so the selection stretches far beyond the original era of the hardware.
Which developers appear most often in this catalog?
The developers with the most games here are Hudson Entertainment, Inc. with 18, NEC AVENUE with 12, Hudson Soft with 10, Telenet Japan with 9, and NAXAT Soft with 9. If you like following studio output, there is plenty to trace.
Which games should I look at first?
A good starting set includes 1552 Tenka Tairan, 3×3 Eyes Sanjiyan Henjyo, ADVANCED V.G., Ai Cho Aniki, Altered Beast, and Art of Fighting. They show off the range of the library without making you commit to one narrow corner of it.
Data is based on Steam and may change. Always check the store page.