Entertainment Sciences second and final game was “Turbo Sub”. Turbo Sub was developed to be the second title for the RIP Hardware System. In the end, Turbo Sub did make it in to limited production. Although Bouncer was created first, it was decided by marketing that Bouncer would be an update kit…… Unfortunately that day never came.

Turbo Sub is actually a really fun game to play! The graphics and sound are excellent. I hope to put some video up on the site soon.

Ron Clark, President of Entertainment Sciences poses with the prototype cabinet of  Turbo Sub (left) and the production model (right)  Below, Emory Williams, Sales Manager for Entertainment Sciences also poses with the prototype Turbo Sub.

About Turbo Sub

Turbo Sub was the second game produced by Entertainment Sciences for the RIP hardware system.  Most of the cabinets that have surfaced have been converted from Star Wars cabinets, this makes sense considering the game utilizes the same flight yoke.  Later a clone cabinet was made that resembled the Star Wars design. Unfortunately Turbo Sub received only a limited release.  There are a few working Turbo Sub within the collection community. Jason Spindler is the only person I know who has both types of boardsets.  He has the later model (which is common among the known Turbo Subs), and has an older boardset which more than likely old Bouncer hardware.   The older boardsets used 256K EPROMS, while the newer boardsets used 512K EPROMS.  The other noticeable difference is the sound board is two channel on the older model, while the newer model only used one channel.     

Screen Shots From Turbo Sub 

Here are some pictures of screen shots from Turbo Sub showing some of their promotion while they were being test marketed at various arcades in 1986.

The Turbo Sub Cabinet (More Pictures Soon)

Every production Turbo Sub I've seen has been in a Star Wars cabinet.  Most people have seen the pictures of the rows and rows of these Turbo Subs from the warehouse.  I obtained 4 of these cabinets and can tell you that they are in fact Star Wars cabinets.  The Atari stickers are still inside the cabinets.  I've seen two versions of Turbo Sub cabinets.  The first version uses the Star Wars monitor bezel and just placed a new instruction sticker, also the control panel was the same as the Star Wars with new overlays.  The second version uses a different bezel, and uses a new plate for the control panel.  I hope to have some photos soon showing these differences.

The Competition & T-Shirt

To market the game, Entertainment Sciences held several competitions in 1985 with a grand championship in 1986.  Participants received a T-Shirt like the one shown below. These T-Shirts were sent to me by the former CEO of Entertainment Sciences about a year back.  If memory serves me correctly, Jeff Peters was the grand champion.

Meet Dick Keenan – Industrial Designer for Entertainment Sciences, and creator of Turbo Sub

I recently had the opportunity to speak with Dick Keenan, while I knew Dick was responsible for the design of controls, cabinets, layouts, etc, I also learned that Dick Keenan was the creator for the Turbo Sub. Dick made some initial sketches, and showed them to his team. Soon afterwards, he was asked to do the complete story board for the game. Dick was kind enough to make copies of some of his original drawing which I have scanned for your enjoyment. For you Pong and classic computer fans out there, Dick also designed the look and casing for several products for Magnavox.

Original Concept Sketches and Art for Turbo Sub

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Turbo Sub Storyboard (Here are the first few sheets of the storyboard)

The Flyer (click on thumbnail for larger view)

^{Hardware Information}

^{Turbo Sub used Entertainment Sciences RIP (Real-Time Image Processor) System. The RIP has 1 million bytes of memory, 3 eight-bit processors, 1 sixteen bit processor, high resolution graphics, full speech capability, Turbo Sub was reported to use about 400 images.  I hope to have some comprehensive technical documentation in the near future.}

^{Here Are The Facts}

^{1) A flyer for the games exists}

^{2) The game made it to prototype and made it to some distributors}

^{3) Game was horizontal orientation using a color raster monitor}

^{4) The control panel utilized a Star Wars controller}

^{5) All known Turbo Subs are made from converted Star Wars cabinets, with the exception of the prototype shown above.}

^{6) There are several machines (working/non-working) within the collection community}

^{7) A home version of this game was released by Atari for their handheld system "Lynx"}

^{8) A warehouse in Louisiana was discovered with rows of incomplete Turbo Sub cabinets.}

^{9) There are at least two different cabinet configurations for Turbo Sub (Pictures Soon)}

^{My Want List (You Can't Blame Me For Asking)}

^{Here are some Entertainment Sciences items I would like to find.  If you have any laying around please drop me a line chris@turbosub.com}

1) Dedicated Bouncer Machine (working/not working/incomplete), 2) Bouncer PCB set (working/not working/incomplete), 3) Turbo Sub PCB set (working/not working/incomplete), 4) A set of ROMS for Bouncer 5) A set of ROMS for Turbo Sub, 6) Any Manual for Bouncer, 7) Any Manual for Turbo Sub, 8) Any Manual for the RIP System, 9) Schematics for any Entertainment Sciences products, 10) Any internal documents from Entertainment Sciences, 11) Any photos of the Entertainment Sciences facility, 12) Any technical documentation regarding the RIP system, 13) Any parts for a Bouncer machine (marquee, control panel, wiring harness, power supply, RIP cage, keypad, interface boards, side art, etc) 14) the address of this 2nd secret warehouse in Louisiana, and a key if available  15) Any magazine articles about Entertainment Sciences

Here are some other items I'm looking for also

1) Adventure Mr. Do laserdisc game by Universal (any parts), 2) Mrs. Dynamite by Universal (any parts) 3) Super Peirot by Universal (any parts), 4) Marble Madness II: Marble Man (any parts), 5) Journey by Stern (any parts), 6) Dr. Sparkz by Atari (any parts) 7) Shuuz control panel and marquee by Atari 8) Clone by Bally/Midway 9) Masters of The Universe by Bally/Midway 10) Barzoids by Bally/Midway

^{Other Turbo Sub or Entertainment Sciences Links}

^{http://www.turbosub.com/bouncer.htm - My Bouncer Page}

^{http://www.turbosub.com/es.htm - My Entertainment Sciences Page}

^{http://www.ionpool.net/arcade/es/es.html - Entertainment Sciences Warehouse Find}

^{http://www.ionpool.net/arcade/es/bouncer.html - Parts that have been found for Bouncer}

^{http://www.ionpool.net/arcade/es/turbo_sub.html - Parts found for Turbo Sub}

^{http://www.multigame.com/bouncer.html - Clay Cowgill's Information about Bouncer}

^{http://www.klov.com/B/Bouncer.html - Entry in KLOV for Bouncer}

^{http://www.klov.com/T/Turbo_Sub.html - Entry in KLOV for Turbo Sub}

^{Contact Me}

^{If you have any information to add or correct, or you just want to talk about classic video games, drop me a line.}

^{chris@turbosub.com}