Johnny Turbo was a mascot made to advertise the Turbo Duo, a hybrid Turbografx 16 and Turbografx CD system. He replaced Bonk, which moved onto other systems. Unlike Bonk, Johnny Turbo never starred in any games.
He and his partner Tony were pitted against androids from a company called "FEKA" (a parody of Sega), which, in the comics, mislead children into wasting their money by claiming that their CD system could work by itself. Sega of America never made such a claim with their real-life console. The advertising campaign made by Turbo Technologies Incorporated, a venture of NEC and Hudson Soft, failed.
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 and alleged sexual parter of Johnny Turbo, is based off of Tony Ancona.
