⚙️ The 8 best TurboGrafx-16 games
This is our pick of the PC Engine essentials: the games that have aged best and are worth coming back to the console for. For each one we explain what makes it special, with a couple of tips, and every one of them plays right now in your browser — no downloads, with keyboard, gamepad or touch controls.
#1Blazing Lazers
1989 · Shooter · Vertical
Released in Japan as Gunhed and developed by Compile, this vertical shooter puts you in a small fighter pushing through planets and fortresses packed with enemies. It moves fast from the start: constant waves, large bosses and a screen full of fire, with very little slowdown. Picking up numbered orbs switches between several main weapons, and each power chip you collect makes your current one grow until it covers much of the screen. It is remembered for that steady build-up of firepower, its smooth pace, and for showing early on how well the console could handle a genre that ruled the arcades.
Tip: Pick one main weapon and stick with it; switching often leaves you with a weak shot just as tougher enemies arrive.
▶ Play Blazing Lazers
#2Bonk's Adventure
1989 · Platformer
Bonk's Adventure puts you in charge of a big-headed caveman who settles nearly everything with his skull: he headbutts dinosaurs head-on, dive-bombs them from above and climbs walls by biting into them. The prehistoric stages move through plains, caves and cliffside climbs, and eating meat turns Bonk into a stronger, temporarily powered-up form that stuns enemies. The goal is to defeat King Drool and rescue the princess. It became the face of the PC Engine against other consoles' mascots, and players remember its goofy humor, expressive animation and controls that have more nuance than they first seem.
Tip: Tap jump repeatedly in midair to spin and fall slower, which helps you adjust landings and clear long gaps.
▶ Play Bonk's Adventure
#3Bomberman '93
1992 · Puzzle · Multiplayer
Hudson Soft took its bombs-in-a-maze formula across a series of themed worlds here, each with several stages and a boss waiting at the end. On every screen you drop bombs to blast through blocks, take out enemies and reach the exit, picking up power-ups for extra bombs, longer blasts or more speed. The challenge lies in judging exactly where each blast will reach without boxing yourself in. Still, what people remember most about Bomberman '93 is its battle mode for up to five players with the multitap: short, chaotic, fiercely competitive rounds that filled many evenings around the TV.
Tip: Before dropping a bomb, check your escape route; most lives are lost by trapping yourself in a dead-end corridor.
▶ Play Bomberman '93
#4Splatterhouse
1990 · Action · Horror
Rick and Jennifer shelter from a storm in a mansion on the edge of town, and when he wakes she is gone and he is wearing a mask that gives him monstrous strength. This conversion of Namco's arcade game is a side-scrolling beat 'em up: you push through corridors and cellars punching and kicking slimy creatures, grab planks, cleavers or a shotgun, and face grotesque bosses whose patterns you need to learn. It is short and demanding, soaked in B-movie horror atmosphere. Splatterhouse is remembered for its blend of gore, dark humor and a surprisingly sad story.
Tip: Use the low slide to knock down small enemies and floor-crawling creatures before they reach you.
▶ Play Splatterhouse
#5Bonk's Revenge
1991 · Platformer
Bonk is a caveboy with an oversized head, and in this sequel he once again uses it as his main weapon against King Drool. You work through prehistoric stages headbutting dinosaurs and odd creatures, climbing walls with your teeth and spinning in midair to slow a fall. Meat transforms him into stronger versions of himself, and the levels hide secret corners and bonus rounds. It is a relaxed, colourful platformer full of visual humour, remembered as one of the most recognisable faces of the PC Engine library. Bonk's Revenge refines the original's formula without making it more complicated.
Tip: Dropping head-first onto enemies from above is usually safer and stronger than charging into them straight on.
▶ Play Bonk's Revenge
#7Military Madness
1989 · Strategy
Military Madness is a turn-based strategy game played on a hex grid, set during a futuristic war on the Moon. Each map is a self-contained battle: you move tanks, artillery, aircraft and infantry, pick your targets and try to make the terrain work for you. Infantry can capture factories that supply reinforcements, and surrounding an enemy with several units makes your attacks more effective. Matches are short and readable, yet the computer punishes careless advances. Developed by Hudson Soft and released in Japan as Nectaris, it is remembered as one of the games that showed turn-based strategy could thrive on a console.
Tip: Move as a group: units that surround an enemy attack with an advantage, while a lone unit tends to get picked off quickly.
▶ Play Military Madness
#8Ninja Spirit
1990 · Action
Ninja Spirit brings Irem's arcade game home, putting you in control of a ninja pushing through forests, caves and fortresses while enemies drop in from every direction. You switch freely between a sword, shuriken, a chain-sickle and bombs, and make huge leaps to dodge attacks or strike from above. What players remember most are the shadow clones earned through power-ups: they mirror every move you make and multiply your attacks. This version adds a mode with a life bar, gentler than the arcade mode where a single hit ends your run. It is fast, demanding and rewards precise play.
Tip: On a first run, pick the mode with a life bar to learn the stages before trying the one-hit arcade mode.
▶ Play Ninja Spirit
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