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Turbo Express: A Loving Tribute
Written by Señor Cha Cha on Friday, May 5, 2006
Oh Turbo Express... your batteries lasted a just a couple hours and your library wasn't all that great, but we loved you anyway. A tribute, to this most classic "portable" system!
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The wrapper...
The box that the system comes in is decent enough. The system adorns the front of the package and that's all well and good, though I'm a bit put off by the game that it's running. I suppose that football is a very neutral image to display (Splatterhouse would just be too violent), but there were certainly more colorful and popular games for the Turbo back in the day, such as...umm...ok so the great ones were all violent in some regard.
The back is far more interesting. Here, NEC is attempting to convince you to purchase some HuCards (TurboChips), the oh so delectable TurboVision TV Tuner Accessory, a Car Adapter (mentioned, but not shown), and finally, the handy dandy Communication Link, which supports up to two people. I can't speak for you, but if I have a credit card back in 1990, I'm sold!
The system...
The real shocker is when you remove the Turbo Express from its packaging. This sucker's huge! It's also got some serious heft to it, which makes me appreciate the DS Lite even more. But the screen is just ok. Not only is it quite small compared to the Lynx and the Game Gear, but the picture quality isn't the best. Furthermore, images are sometimes temporarily imprinted into the screen, so if you begin a game, often times you'll see the title screen burned into the background. However, this effect disappears over time.
As you can see by the front of the unit, the Turbo Express has a standard d-pad and two face buttons labeled I and II, a strange decision on NEC's part, seeing as how I doubt Nintendo has the copyright to A and B, but it is different than all the rest, so I'm willing to give NEC some leeway for being somewhat original.
Also note the Turbo Controls, which are labeled II and I and positioned directly underneath the face buttons. These switches, each of which has three settings, increase/decrease the amount of turbo fire. Lastly, there's the Select and Run button, Run meaning Start.
On the right side of the machine is the hub for the TV tuner, while on the left you have the AC power jack, headphone jack, volume, and brightness controls. Unfortunately, I have some issues here. First, the volume is too low even on the maximum setting. Everything's golden once you plug in headphones, but without them, you'll never hear much of anything while traveling, particularly on a plane. Also, the brightness control isn't very helpful. The medium setting, which is that sweet spot between too bright and too dark is just fine, and I've never run into a situation where I actually had to fiddle with it, so why it's even there is somewhat baffling.
The back is where the HuCards go. They just slide right in and snap into place.
Overall, the Turbo Express has a very nice feel to it. It is a bit heavy and it's certainly not as portable as today's systems, but it's still an attractive device.
Battery park...
These days, the thought of plugging in an AC adapter and not having the system's internal battery charge is just ridiculous, but fifteen years ago that was unheard of. And so, when you plug in the Turbo Express' AC adaptor, it does nothing but supply power to the system. It's also a fat little bastard, as you can clearly see in this picture. And not only is it crazily enormous, but it's quite heavy. You can definitely break windows with it.
Of course, if you want to take the Turbo Express outside...well...never take it outside on a nice day because the sun glare makes it almost useless, but if you want to travel with it you'll need batteries, as in six AAs. And if you thought the PSP's battery was bad, you haven't played with a Turbo Express. You'll be lucky to get six hours of continuous gameplay from it, and in some instances you may get a lot less.
posted May 8, 2006