I love the look of PC98 games aka the Anime PC game machine
- Thread starter Trojita
- Start date
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Oh hey, I took that screenshot. Seriously. Pasokon Deacon's my social media handle. I gave a bunch of these screenshots of this game (GAGE, developed by M.N.M. Software in 1992 with Yuzo Koshiro music) to Szczepaniak when he was finishing up his second volume of Japanese game dev interviews.
Anyway, I still need to get working on that J-PC thread I promised you guys months back.
Anyway, I still need to get working on that J-PC thread I promised you guys months back.
I have a bunch of shots from that era. Not all necesssarily PC-98, but some are.
Dio said:
Power Slave:
Youjuu Senki - A.D. 2048:
SVC Chaos:
Knights of Xentar:
Samurai Shodown II:
鋼鐵騎士團:
Uchū no Kishi Tekkaman Blade: Orbital Ring Dakkai Sakusen:
Slayers PC-98:
KOF '94:
If you look closely at that one:
If you're reading this, you probably know Akira inspired a shitload of game backgrounds.
Virgin Angel:
Travel Junction:
Sei Shouju Sentai Lakers 3:
Reira:
Red (it's FM TOWNS)
Another shot of Possessioner, which was on the front page:
Nova:
Kaiketsu Nikki:
AmbivalenZ Niritsu Haihan
Angel Halo
Guernica (I adore the floor in this shot)
Liena Crystal
Merry Go Round
Possessioner yet again
Time Stripper Mako-chan
Toumei Ningen
Toushin Toshi 2
Youjuu Senki - A.D. 2048:
SVC Chaos:
Knights of Xentar:
Samurai Shodown II:
鋼鐵騎士團:
Uchū no Kishi Tekkaman Blade: Orbital Ring Dakkai Sakusen:
Slayers PC-98:
KOF '94:
If you look closely at that one:
If you're reading this, you probably know Akira inspired a shitload of game backgrounds.
Virgin Angel:
Travel Junction:
Sei Shouju Sentai Lakers 3:
Reira:
Red (it's FM TOWNS)
Another shot of Possessioner, which was on the front page:
Nova:
Kaiketsu Nikki:
AmbivalenZ Niritsu Haihan
Angel Halo
Guernica (I adore the floor in this shot)
Liena Crystal
Merry Go Round
Possessioner yet again
Time Stripper Mako-chan
Toumei Ningen
Toushin Toshi 2
One of them led me to find http://tss.asenheim.org/en/ though, so can't complain too much.
SolVanderlyn
Thanos acquires the fully powered Infinity Gauntlet in The Avengers: Infinity War, but loses when all the superheroes team up together to stop him.
Pinning the PC-98 as an eroge machine first and foremost isn't wrong, but it's often a means to deflect conversation and investigation surrounding non-erotic games which featured heavily on the platform (and could also have audiovisuals just as worthwhile). Developers that formerly thrived off of eroge actually transitioned into wargames later in the system's life-cycle (ex. Kogado with both Power DoLLS and the space opera Schwarzschild franchise). Long-time standbys like Telenet experimented more with games like The Grail Hunter, Hioden (the first of which got a port to the Super Famicom, and their point-and-click adventure Tokyo Twilight Busters. I can rattle off more of this knowledge anytime, not that it's done me much good yet.
Definitely not the same platform. There was overlap between the PC Engine and PC-xx development/consumer communities, of course, and the PC-FX was a conscious effort by NEC to bridge the gap more.
Definitely not the same platform. There was overlap between the PC Engine and PC-xx development/consumer communities, of course, and the PC-FX was a conscious effort by NEC to bridge the gap more.
No, the PC Engine is an NEC console, it's the japanese version of the Turbo Grafx 16.
The PC-98 is the successor to the PC-88, also by NEC. They were desktop computers. The PC-88 used an 8-bit z80 CPU, while the PC-98 used the 16/32 bit x86 cpu. They were the most popular PC in japan in their time, but their popularity never reached the levels that PCs reached in the US, or microcomputers reached in Europe.
The PC-98 is the successor to the PC-88, also by NEC. They were desktop computers. The PC-88 used an 8-bit z80 CPU, while the PC-98 used the 16/32 bit x86 cpu. They were the most popular PC in japan in their time, but their popularity never reached the levels that PCs reached in the US, or microcomputers reached in Europe.
Yes, an amazing aesthetic indeed. It's also one of those weird eras where so many of the artists seem to have vanished... there's a huge interest / revival of pixel art in the past 5-10 years, but nothing that looks even close to the old PC engine games. I genuinely wonder who did a lot of that work and what they are doing today, and (if adequately paid) they would ever bust out the old skills and do something like it again.
SolVanderlyn
Thanos acquires the fully powered Infinity Gauntlet in The Avengers: Infinity War, but loses when all the superheroes team up together to stop him.
Reminds me that I still gotta try Night Slave.
I'm happy to see that the libraries of older Japanese computer platforms are starting to get a litttttle more recognition these days. If I had more time I'd love to really dig in. I think the last game that I tried and played through was Geograph Seal, but that doesn't really fall under this thread's static high res pixel art premise.
And yeah, these games are gorgeous.
I'm happy to see that the libraries of older Japanese computer platforms are starting to get a litttttle more recognition these days. If I had more time I'd love to really dig in. I think the last game that I tried and played through was Geograph Seal, but that doesn't really fall under this thread's static high res pixel art premise.
And yeah, these games are gorgeous.
The art for these PC-98 games didn't require super-advanced draftsmanship and technical skills to make. I think the real cleverness most J-PC developers excelled at was scanning and dithering artwork to look more crisp and unique than before, after which point it's possible to also recycle assets in a way that doesn't feel lazy and rushed.
A few random J-PC game summary GIFs I've made in a year's time:
The Great Escape (Daidasso), Carry Lab, FM-7, 1985
Amnork, ASCII (programmed by the creator of Derby Stallion), FM77AV, late 1986
Girly Block, likely Compile (published by Telenet...not Nihon Telenet though!), MSX2, 1987
A few random J-PC game summary GIFs I've made in a year's time:
The Great Escape (Daidasso), Carry Lab, FM-7, 1985
Amnork, ASCII (programmed by the creator of Derby Stallion), FM77AV, late 1986
Girly Block, likely Compile (published by Telenet...not Nihon Telenet though!), MSX2, 1987
I think it's a by product of knowing your art is going to be displayed on an RGB monitor rather than an SDTV, and thus they use dithering slightly differently. You see more varied dither patterns instead of pure 50-50 blends like you do in console games.
You see much of the same thing in 16-bit European microcomputers of the time. Amiga art is uniquely blended, but doesn't depend on dithering nearly as much.
You see much of the same thing in 16-bit European microcomputers of the time. Amiga art is uniquely blended, but doesn't depend on dithering nearly as much.
Indeed. Bayer ordered dithering patterns were increasingly popular for PC-98 developers to us, in addition to others. Lots of games have customized dithering of the sort rarely seen in console games from that period because TV machines were built to have better tech rather than the anemic video modes NEC used for the PC-x8 line.
More GIFs:
EUGEA, Kazuhiro Furuhata, MZ-700 (only capable of rendering text/shape primitives vs. custom RGB graphics the PC-88 had), 1989
Chrith, Comix (likely ghost-developed by KOEI), PC-6001mkII, 1984
Olteus (later ported to the X68000), Winky Soft, PC-88VA, 1987 (?)
EUGEA, Kazuhiro Furuhata, MZ-700 (only capable of rendering text/shape primitives vs. custom RGB graphics the PC-88 had), 1989
Chrith, Comix (likely ghost-developed by KOEI), PC-6001mkII, 1984
Olteus (later ported to the X68000), Winky Soft, PC-88VA, 1987 (?)
More GIFs:
EUGEA, Kazuhiro Furuhata, MZ-700 (only capable of rendering text/shape primitives vs. custom RGB graphics the PC-88 had), 1987
EUGEA, Kazuhiro Furuhata, MZ-700 (only capable of rendering text/shape primitives vs. custom RGB graphics the PC-88 had), 1987
Many of these games were ported to Windows. Also for the unlucky few in Japan who had an IBM PC, some, and I have to reiterate only SOME, got IBM PC ports (DOS/V, basically Japanese localized IBM PC DOS as opposed to PC-9801 DOS). And if you lived in China or South Korea many were also ported to IBM PC DOS in those languages, and of course some in English.
Mostly the non-vn / eroge had this. Like games from Koei. But a few prominent eroge devs did do this. Referring to the part on DOS/V for clarification.
Mostly the non-vn / eroge had this. Like games from Koei. But a few prominent eroge devs did do this. Referring to the part on DOS/V for clarification.
Worth noting: Furuhata qualifies as a demoscene programmer, routinely sending in his code to Oh! MZ (Oh! X later) Magazine for others to type into their machines and witness. He even made a couple of animated movies using these same graphical primitives, which are impressive to watch and also seem to tell full stories.
You're correct.
You're correct.