After a lengthy nine-month hiatus, Larry Flynt Publications re-enters the Turbo universe with a new magazine: DuoWorld. Thankfully, the editors of VG&CE were still at the helm and they wisely retained the overall format, layout and staff of TurboPlay. Sure, there were some changes to the old formula, but this was necessary to keep apace with the changing times: now the TurboDuo was TTi's flagship console and fighting games were all the rage. Yes, many Turbo fans wondered if Street Fighter II would be available for the TurboDuo, since the original Street Fighter (re-titled Fighting Street) was one of the first games available for the TurboGrafx-CD in 1990.
Released for the PC-Engine in June of 1993, Street Fighter II: Championship Edition—known in Japan as Street Fighter II ' ("dash")—was the largest HuCARD ever released (20 megabits). As you might expect, a six-button Avenue Pad was designed specifically for SFII' (a prototype of the pad is pictured in this issue, in fact). Although NEC Avenue, not Capcom, spearheaded the PCE conversion of SFII', the PCE port holds up quite well to the SNES and Genesis ports…
Continued below…
Table of Contents for DuoWorld #01▲
- 01 Cover: Bonk 3: Bonk's Big Adventure (1993, HuCARD). Artist: Unknown.
- "Bonk ushers in the first issue of Duo World, your best source for Duo and TurboGrafx-16 information. Look on page 16 for the review of Bonk's latest journey, Bonk 3: Bonk's Big Adventure.
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- 02 Advertisement: Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective, Volume II (1993, CD•ROM2).
- "Murder never looked so good. With TTi DUO's Sherlock Holmes II, not only do you get to solve three of the world's most baffling mysteries, you also get to see the world's best digitized video on any game system. Pick up a copy today. And find out what a killer game this is."
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- 03 Table of Contents for issue #1.
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- 04 DuoMail: Letters from our loyal readers. 04 05
- "Say howdy to DuoWorld's merry mailman, who will handle all the burning questions you need answered."
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- 06 Advertisement: Bomberman '93 (HuCARD) & Coupon. 06 07
- "I never thought maiming four of friends could be so much fun. Coupon: Free 5-player tap!"
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- 08 DuoNews: Street Fighter II, 6-button PCE pad, PCE DUO.
- "Get the lowdown on the Japanese introduction of Capcom's popular Street Fighter II' (for the PC-Engine), how you can get game tips from TTi and check out the new streamlined version of the PC Engine Duo that's just hit Japan."
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- 09 Advertisement: DuoWorld Magazine Subscription.
- "Yes! Sign me up for six bi-monthly issues of DuoWorld for the low subscription rate of $9.95"
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- 10 Closer Look: HuCARD and CD Game Reviews. 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
- "DuoWorld's reviewers take on Bonk III: Bonk's Big Adventure, Camp California, Cotton (Fantastic Night Dreams), Dungeon Master: Theron's Quest, Magical Chase, Riot Zone, Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective, Volume 2 and Vasteel."
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- 18 TurboTips: Codes, Tips and Tricks. 18 19 20 21 22 24
- "We launch the first installment of DuoTips with with a super special selection of tricks for such games as Chase H.Q., Shockman, Gate of Thunder, Air Zonk, Bomberman, Cadash, New Adventure Island, Somer Assault, Samurai Ghost, Soldier Blade, Gate of Thunder, Time Cruise, Chase H.Q., It Came From the Desert, Dead Moon, Forgotten Worlds, Exile, Shadow of the Beast, Cosmic Fantasy 2, Somer Assault, Jackie Chan's Action Kung Fu, Splash Lake, Time Cruise and (yet another code for) Somer Assault."
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- 23 Advertisement: Exile: Wicked Phenomenon (1992, CD•ROM2).
- "An ancient tower. A hostile land. A deadly secret. Exclusively for the Turbo CD•ROM2 System!"
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- 25 Advertisement: Dungeon Master: Theron's Quest (The Saga Continues) (1992, CD•ROM2).
- "Demonic Powers. Medieval torture chambers. Black magic. Where do I sign up? The only first-person point-of-view role-playing game available on CD that lets you experience first hand what it was like to be a medieval dungeon master, without having to wear tights and a bowl haircut."
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- 26 Games Around the World. 26 27
- "Victor Ireland looks a the hottest software that's showing up for Japan's PC-Engine, sister system to the TurboGrafx-16 and DUO consoles. Take a peek at what might be imported to these shores soon: Bonanza Brothers, Genocide, Pop 'n' Magic and Rayxanber III."
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- 28 Coming Soon: Game Previews.
- "Senior editor Chris Bieniek gives you the first looks of games that will be in your local stores in upcoming months: Dungeon Explorer II, Exile: Wicked Phenomenon, John Madden CD•ROM2 Football and Robotech / Macross 2036."
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- 29 Advertisement: SimEarth: The Living Planet (1992, CD•ROM2).
- "It's kinda like being God, except the graphics are better."
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- 30 Special: Urusei Yatsura (anime) and Urusei Yatsura: Stay With You (PCE CD).
- "Read about one of the most popular anime comics and tv shows, Urusei Yatsura, and how it looks as a PC-Engine game. Did you know that the Urusei Yatsura PC-Engine CD game included a bonus nine-track audio CD with game music from popular PCE CD titles?"
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- 31 DuoWorld Contest.
- "One grand prize winner will receive 5 games. Five runner-ups will receive one game apiece."
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- 32 Advertisement: Vasteel (1992, CD•ROM2).
- "Two powerful brothers, two deadly armies, one survivor. One or two players! Arcade action! Intense strategy! A gaming experience only possible on CD. Turbo-CD, that is."
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STREET FIGHTER II', THE HUCARD…
As we all know, SFII' never made it to the TurboDuo. The licensing fees associated with SFII were expected to be greater than the profit derived from DUO's software sales, so the game never really had a chance of making it stateside. Oh well. Also, it is interesting to note that SFII' was the second and final game in the Street Fighter franchise to appear on an any NEC console. This is somewhat surprising, given the popularity of the fighting genre in general (and the Street Fighter series in particular).
Speaking of fighting games, PC-Engine fans would be treated with excellent ports for many popular SNK titles (i.e. World Heroes 2, Art of Fighting, Fatal Fury 2, etc.), but none of these games ever made it to North America, although Working Designs and TTi were certainly entertaining the prospect of doing so. Part of the problem was that these fighting games required an upgrade from System Card 3.0 to the Arcade Card.
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POP CULTURE 101…
Well, the feature on Urusei Yatsura (examining the anime series as well as the PCE CD game "Stay With You") in this premier issue of DuoWorld is a sign that DuoWorld will be offering slightly more content variety than its predecessor, TurboPlay, which rarely delved into areas of pop culture outside of video games.
A wonderful primer on the history of PC-Engine consoles and peripherals can be found in this issue. Many folks are confused by the panoply of PC-Engine hardware variations released in Japan and North America…so this piece remains relevant and informative even today. Nice (but small) photos of the consoles (including the SuperGrafx, PC-Engine Shuttle and the new DUO) accompany the text. Flip forward a few pages and you'll see the newly-released DUO-R console.
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