In Japan, the system was launched as a competitor to the Famicom, but the delayed United States release meant that it ended up competing with the Sega Genesis and later the Super NES.

[8] In Europe, the Japanese models were grey market imported, modified, and distributed in France and the United Kingdom beginning in 1988,[4] but an official PAL model (named simply "TurboGrafx" without the "16") planned for 1990 was cancelled following the disappointing North American launch with the already-manufactured stock of systems liquidated via mail-order retailers.

By pure coincidence, NEC's interest in entering the lucrative video game market coincided with Hudson's failed attempt to sell designs for then-advanced graphics chips to Nintendo; In July 1985, Hudson Soft approached and pitched them a new add-on for the Famicom that played games using their patented Bee Cards, which they had experimented with on the MSX computer.

However, as the technology for it was expensive, and that they would have to pay royalties for each card sold, Nintendo instead decided to pass on Hudson Soft's proposal.

They found out that there was a lack of enthusiasm in its name "PC Engine" and also felt its small size was not very suitable to American consumers who would generally prefer a larger and "futuristic" design.

[8] The TurboGrafx-16 (branded as the TurboGrafx-16 Entertainment SuperSystem on the packaging and promotional material) was eventually released in the New York City and Los Angeles test markets in late August 1989.

Unlike NEC, Sega did not waste time redesigning the original Japanese Mega Drive system, making only slight aesthetic changes.

NEC's decision to pack-in Keith Courage in Alpha Zones, a Hudson Soft game unknown to western gamers, proved costly as Sega packed-in a port of the hit arcade title Altered Beast with the Genesis.

NEC sold this stock to distributors; in the United Kingdom, Telegames released the console in 1990 in extremely limited quantities.

[20] In an effort to relaunch the system in the North American market, in mid-1992 NEC and Hudson Soft transferred management of the system in North America to a new joint venture called Turbo Technologies Inc. and released the TurboDuo, an all-in-one unit that included the CD-ROM drive built in.

In May 1994, Turbo Technologies announced that it was dropping support for the Duo, though it would continue to offer repairs for existing units and provide ongoing software releases through independent companies in the U.S. and Canada.

The final licensed release for the PC Engine was Dead of the Brain Part 1 & 2 on June 3, 1999, on the Super CD-ROM² format.

The add-on allows the core versions of the console to play PC Engine games in CD-ROM format in addition to standard HuCards.

On March 12, 1994, NEC introduced a third upgrade known as the Arcade Card (アーケードカード, Ākēdo Kādo), which increases the amount of onboard RAM of the Super CD-ROM² System to 2MB.

It also uses the revised HuC6280A CPU, but the sound and color palette were not upgraded, making the expensive price tag a big disadvantage to the system.

The reduced price was made possible by removing the expansion port from the back, making it the first model of the console that was not compatible with the CD-ROM² add-on.

It has a 2.6-inch (66 mm) backlit, active-matrix color LCD screen, the most advanced on the market for a portable video game unit at the time.

The PC Engine LT is a model of the console in a laptop form, released on December 13, 1991, in Japan, retailing at ¥99,800.

Outside North America and Japan, the TurboGrafx-16 console was released in South Korea by a third-party company, Haitai, under the name Vistar 16.

TurboGrafx-16 games use the HuCard ROM cartridge format, thin credit card-sized cards that insert into the front slot of the console.

Another controller known as the TurboPad was also launched separately with the console, which added two "Turbo" switches for the I and II buttons with three speed settings.

The TurboDuo would revert to using the same controller port that the PC Engine uses, resulting in new TurboDuo-branded versions of the TurboPad and TurboTap peripherals, known as the DuoPad and the DuoTap respectively, to be made.

Other similar joystick controllers were produced by third-party manufacturers, such as the Python 4 by QuickShot and the Stick Engine by ASCII Corporation.

Hudson released the Ten no Koe 2 in Japan, which enabled the ability to save progress in compatible HuCard titles.

In North America, the system featured Keith Courage in Alpha Zones as a pack-in game, a conversion of the PC Engine title Mashin Eiyuuden Wataru.

Hudson brought over many of its popular franchises, such as Bomberman, Bonk, and Adventure Island, to the system with graphically impressive follow-ups.

Namco contributed several high-quality conversions of its arcade games, such as Valkyrie no Densetsu, Pac-Land, Galaga '88, Final Lap Twin, and Splatterhouse, as did Capcom with a port of Street Fighter II: Champion Edition.

The console is also known for its platformers and role-playing games; Victor Entertainment's The Legendary Axe won numerous awards and is seen among the TurboGrafx-16's definitive titles.

[38] In North America and Europe, the situation was reversed, with both Sega and Nintendo dominating the console market at the expense of NEC.

In 2010, Hudson released an iPhone application entitled "TurboGrafx-16 GameBox" which allowed users to buy and play a number of select Turbo Grafx games via in-app purchases.