Johnny Turbo
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Johnny Turbo is a fictional character created to advertise the Turbo Duo, a hybrid Turbografx 16 and TurboGrafx CD system, in North America.
NEC used Bonk (i.e. Bonk's Adventure, Bonk's Revenge, Bonk's Big Adventure) as TG-16's original mascot. Later, continuing this theme, TTi would adopt Air Zonk (a cyborg-Bonk who starred in horizontal shooters Air Zonk and Super Air Zonk ) as the mascot for TurboDuo. While the Johnny Turbo ads have been seen by some as quite amusing, their significance has been overstated and is now the stuff of urban legends. Air Zonk, not Johnny Turbo, was featured on the TurboDuo console packaging, appeared in countless advertisements, all brochures and catalogs, trade show appearances (i.e. the Consumer Electronics Show), etc. The purpose of Johnny Turbo was not so much to sell the TurboGrafx CD as to plant the idea in the reader's mind that competitor Sega had acquired its commanding market share (the Sega Genesis was at the time the #1-selling game console in North America) by dishonest means.
Unlike Bonk or Zonk, Johnny Turbo never starred in any games. Instead, his only appearances were in three comic book-like advertisements published in gaming magazines of the day (i.e. Video Games and Computer Entertainment and Electronic Gaming Monthly).
Johnny Turbo and his partner Tony were pitted against androids from a company called "FEKA" (a parody of Sega, pronounced Fake-ah), which, in the comics, mislead children into wasting their money by claiming that their CD system could work by itself. SEGA never made such a claim with their real-life console, which was always marketed as an add-on to the Genesis. NEC itself had previously sold a Turbo CD add-on, which, like the Sega CD, could not function alone. The advertising campaign made by Turbo Technologies Incorporated, a venture of NEC and Hudson Soft, failed; in 1992, when the comics appeared, the TurboDuo system, competing against the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo Entertainment System, was already a distant third in the market.
Today, the ads are a minor web phenomenon among older video gamers. They are considered badly drawn, badly written, campy, and ridiculous. Quotes from the comic, such as the hyperbolic "They're not even human!" (in reference to Feka) are met with recognition and ridicule, much like "All your base" (though much less popular).
Johnny Turbo is the alter-ego of Jonathan Brandstetter, who is based on a real life game developer, John C. Brandstetter. After the advertising campaign, John had a son named Jonathan Brandstetter. Tony, the sidekick of Johnny Turbo, is based on Tony Ancona.
[edit] Plot
Three issues were published in various game magazines. Each issue consisted of four pages. The issues were numbered 43 through 45.
The first issue, "The Master Plan!," opens with Mr. FEKA and some sinister-looking FEKA agents discussing the company's master plan: to convince children their system is the first and only CD console available. "Computer expert" Jonathan Brandstetter learns of this, and, as Johnny Turbo, confronts FEKA agents selling their console on the streets. He says the Turbo CD was the first to market, claims its games are "more intense" than FEKA's, defeats the FEKA agents and reveals them to be "not even human" (the FEKA minions have glowing red eyes).
The second issue, "Let 'em Dangle!!," opens with Mr. FEKA assuring his underlings that they can get rich as long as kids are convinced the FEKA CD is a complete system. Johnny Turbo, coming fresh from a comparison between the TurboDuo's pack-in software (Gate of Thunder) and the FEKA's (a game which "doesn't even compare" -- Sol-Feace), interrupts a FEKA sale at a local toy store, reveals the truth about the FEKA system, and promises that Mr. FEKA can't hide from him. Observing from a control room, Mr. FEKA decides it's time to teach Johnny Turbo a lesson. Johnny Turbo appears at the end of the issue to pitch the "CD shooter" Lords of Thunder (The screenshot shown its in fact from Gate of Thunder).
The surrealistic third issue, "Sleepwalker," opens with Tony heading to bed, and in his dream he hears Johnny Turbo's voice, telling him about Gate of Thunder and Lords of Thunder, and even telling him a code to access Bomberman on a three-in-one disc. Many readers feel this issue is saturated with homosexual innuendo. For instance, in the background of one panel, there is a key going into a lock which has the word " sugar " written on it, while Tony is in a state of orgasmic jubilation.
[edit] External links
- Scans of the Johnny Turbo ads with a (somewhat profane) running commentary
- "Sleepwalker" animated video at youtube.com
