Jeff Masser of Chicago, Illinois is a proud father and honorable veteran. He’s also an incredibly enthusiastic videogame collector with a fondness for the three-decade old TurboGrafx-16, a game console that’s notoriously expensive to collect for these days. Called PC Engine in Japan, its wide array of excellent games helped the system become a legitimate competitor to the Nintendo Famicom in its home country. In the U.S., it helped kick-start the 16-bit era, but was never a true competitor to the then-newly launched Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo, released in 1991.

For those who were lucky enough to play TurboGrafx-16 and its various add-ons and accessories, they knew what the Sega and Nintendo fans were missing out on. As the years went by – 30 on August 29, 2019 – more and more collec- tors and gamers were able to experience those great, very Japanese videogames too, and in turn, respect for the system and its library increased exponentially. Because of this admi- ration and relative scarcity associated with a failed system, the value for hardware and certain games has been driven up dramatically to what would have been unimaginable heights even a few years ago.

In honor of the system’s 30th anniversary, Masser was kind enough to sit down for an interview explaining his relationship with the system and how he built one of the finest TurboGrafx-16 collections in the world. Following the interview, Masser was kind enough to share photos (all photos courtesy of Masser) of some of the greatest and most interesting pieces in his impressive collection along with his commentary.

If you have any grasp of TurboGrafx-16 collecting you will understand how impressive these museum-quality pieces are. For everyone else, be impressed. What Masser has amassed is truly amazing.

OSG: What does TurboGrafx-16 and its library mean to you? What feelings does it conjure when you think about it all?

Shmups (short for “shoot ‘em ups”) were a mainstream genre decades ago, but have since become a persistent niche. Some of the more popular and notable shmups include Radiant Silvergun, Ikaruga, M.U.S.H.A., and Raiden. Certain classic consoles including TurboGrafx-16, Sega Genesis and Sega Saturn are popular for being “shmup machines,” as there are a high concentration of excellent original titles and arcade ports for these systems. Shmups usually consist of vertically (“Tate” in Japanese) and horizontally (“Yoko” in Japanese) scrolling titles, though there are exceptions. While horizontally scrolling shmup arcade ports translate well to the home, many vertically scrolling arcade ports only take up a small part of the screen if viewed in the proper aspect ratio, akin to watching video taken in portrait mode on a smartphone on your TV. While some vertical shmups do allow for a proper full screen mode, it requires the user to rotate a television vertically to play. Some shmup fans have gone to great lengths to play in Tate mode, but it has been a hassle until now.

Enter the Flip Grip, a $12 piece of plastic that turns a Nintendo Switch into a Tate shmup fan’s dream machine. Setup is easy: insert the Switch screen vertically into the Flip Grip’s dock and slide the Joy-Cons into the Flip Grip’s rails and start playing. It’s that simple. Certain buttons and ports are obscured while using the Flip Grip such as those used to control volume, but there is a way to manipulate sound while playing. Once assembled, you’ll notice how solid the Switch feels and looks with the Flip Grip attached. It’s
very handsome and sturdy, and feels as if it were a first-party product brought to market by Nintendo. If I were to offer some criticism, inserting the screen into the Flip Grip feels a little too snug for my taste. It
seems as though Flip Grip is leaving faint marks on top of the Switch after inserting and removing it a few times. This may be a design flaw or it may be an error on my part. Regardless, it didn’t detract from my
enthusiasm for the product.