cj_iwakura
Member
I had no idea there was an Oh My Goddess game, it looks great.
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I love the look of PC98 games aka the Anime PC game machine
- Thread starter Trojita
- Start date
D.Final
Banned
A selection from Otome Senki on PC-98 Part 2!!!
Amazing
I absolutely adore PC98 art, both for the aesthetic style and the superb pixel work. Though I've always wondered if it was drawn by hand or they had a compression tool/graphics converter or something - I've seen people say it was done by hand, and others say that there were tools to compress the images down to 16 colours without losing clarity. Not sure if anyone in here would know, but did such a tool exist? (...and is there any information on it?)
CitizenHal
Neo Member
The vast majority of PC-98 games were created by hand using programs like this:
A lot of these had tools for dithering and palette editing similar to Deluxe Paint etc. Powerful tools for pixel art.
Here are examples of hand drawn art:
However, there are a few games that use art that has been digitised directly down from larger pieces. Here are some examples of digitised art:
I think as the years went on people (and software) got better at working with media and graphics. Towards the later years of the PC-98 artists started doing pretty fancy stuff with aliasing and vectors to achieve smoother manga/anime styles. As much as I love the pixel art from that era, it seems that the actual artists creating stuff on the PC-98 were enthusiastic about making it look more realistic.
A lot of these had tools for dithering and palette editing similar to Deluxe Paint etc. Powerful tools for pixel art.
Here are examples of hand drawn art:
However, there are a few games that use art that has been digitised directly down from larger pieces. Here are some examples of digitised art:
I think as the years went on people (and software) got better at working with media and graphics. Towards the later years of the PC-98 artists started doing pretty fancy stuff with aliasing and vectors to achieve smoother manga/anime styles. As much as I love the pixel art from that era, it seems that the actual artists creating stuff on the PC-98 were enthusiastic about making it look more realistic.
It's probably going to be a long while, but Puu the Japanese developer who is working on the Sharp X68000 FPGA core he's porting to MiSTer, and just released a PC-88 core has said he's developing an NEC-9801 core. That's the very early 8086 based PC, but hopefully, the 386 and 486 models will come in somewhere down the road.
The console and arcade cores get the main focus of people talking about the MiSTer. But the computer cores are fun to tinker with and don't require 30-40-year-old hardware that wasn't as widely produced as the consoles.
The console and arcade cores get the main focus of people talking about the MiSTer. But the computer cores are fun to tinker with and don't require 30-40-year-old hardware that wasn't as widely produced as the consoles.
Thanks very much for the explanation, CitizenHal! I ask as I've been trying my hand at making PC98 style art, and spent a long time looking over pieces from different games to get a feel for the limits of the technology and the type of things the artists used to get around that. Some of the more complicated ones look like traditional art just ported into the PC98 wholesale, but I guess they did just have to draw it straight into the art software until it looked right (though very interested in those art programs you showed, I'm going to take a look at those...)
dase211
Neo Member
A lot of PC-98 games are adult games. So that takes a good whole chunk of the PC-98 library.
Some people have gave estimates of the percentage of adult games on the system like 90%, but according one site that compiles info on PC-98 games its over 80%. So its safe to say that 80~90% of PC-98 games are adult games.
Some people have gave estimates of the percentage of adult games on the system like 90%, but according one site that compiles info on PC-98 games its over 80%. So its safe to say that 80~90% of PC-98 games are adult games.
dase211
Neo Member
The PC-98 wasn't capable of sprites unlike its rival the FM Towns. Because of this drawing the screen took longer than you would expect for a game.
This is the same reason why a lot of IBM PC action games from the 80s were stiff and jerky.
So that's why there are a lot of eroge for the PC-98.
Speaking of graphics, here's a good page that goes over various graphic cards for the PC-98: http://radioc.web.fc2.com/column/pc98bas/pc98disphw_en.htm
This is the same reason why a lot of IBM PC action games from the 80s were stiff and jerky.
So that's why there are a lot of eroge for the PC-98.
Speaking of graphics, here's a good page that goes over various graphic cards for the PC-98: http://radioc.web.fc2.com/column/pc98bas/pc98disphw_en.htm
PumpkinPie
Banned
I love that aesthetic, it's amazing.
Mendax89
Member
PC-98 Emulation For Beginners
A guide for helping people get into PC-98 emulation. Includes info on where to get games, how to play games, and what games to play.
gang-fight.com
SurprisedPikachu
Member
Now that's a name I haven't heard for a very long time.
stranno
Member
Yes, for some reason certain emulation websites refuse to die.
Spanish website Emulatronia began in 1995 and it is still live (no updates since 2015 tho).
MrRichard999 used to post on Romhacking, but he has been banned, idk why.
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Danny Dudekisser
I paid good money for this Dynex!
Arcadeathome and CPS2Shock are still up, too. Hell of a nostalgia trip. That was an exciting time that I don't think people could really appreciate today.
Happosai
Hold onto your panties
I still had a few of these installed on one of my ThinkPads until a couple years ago. It would be nice if they put a ton out in a collection.
Man, now I want to play some PC98 games on a CRT.
Also yes, if you played some english translated Japanese games in DOS, they were probably ports of PC98 games.
SlimeGooGoo
Party Gooper
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SlimeGooGoo
Party Gooper
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Allnamestakenlol
Member
I want one.
S0ULZB0URNE
Member
When I think of PC98 I think of.....
SlimeGooGoo
Party Gooper
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Belmonte
Member
They were awesome artists, no doubt about that. But another thing which, at least to me, make the visuals so appealing is the 80s anime aesthetic! Even when it isn't as good, even when it has generic lines, I strongly prefer 80s anime generic than modern generic.
There are even times when I prefer 80s generic art than masterful modern art. This is very intriguing to me since I work as a 2D artist. Sometimes I wonder if it is nostalgia or it is the rawness and charisma but either way it is something very special which I want to borrow for my own work, even if I don't draw anime exactly. I'm definitely a wannabe! But a legit and madly respectful wannabe! I know better artists who feel the same way.
I wish 80s anime aesthetic gets popular again someday. How cool would be if Scarlet Nexus had this kind of art! We wouldn't have the extra rawness and awesome tech vibe of the PC98 pixels but it would be cool as well.
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SlimeGooGoo
Party Gooper
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Lupin the Third
Member
I love the way they handled outlines in this one. What game is this from?
searching the picture I came up with Chick's Tale.
Lupin the Third
Member
Uhhh after a quick Google for more screens, I will not be looking up any more about this one. Ick.
yeah...
stranno
Member
New 9801 translation.
www.romhacking.net
Chitty Chitty Train
"Help! The control systems at Chitty Chitty Train Corp have been sabotaged and the trains are
Krizalidx11
Banned
Reminds me of the smell of cigarettes in internet cafes when i used to play them
SlimeGooGoo
Party Gooper
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hybrid_birth
Gold Member
Some are chitty but you can put up with it knowing you are going to bang some hot anime chicks in the games.
Thus the term Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was born.
SlimeGooGoo
Party Gooper
By all means.
eyesabitdull
Banned
Welp, if you're gonna necro bump, I'm glad you at least had a good reason to.
Please do post them, would love to see them!
SlimeGooGoo
Party Gooper
I mean, the last message was April 13th, so it's far from a necro bump.
Any bump in this thread is welcome, actually.
SlimeGooGoo
Party Gooper
There's a Youtube channel that frequently uploads PC98 videos, so that might be a good start
Good luck
Buchidot
Neo Member
SlimeGooGoo,eyesabitdull,thanks!
The original gif is over-spec, but I made it in 16 colors, OC.
PC-88 style digital 8-color, double-high pixels. OC
No use of color codes #000000 and #FFFFFF." UMA MUSUME"
Original gif and other works at Tumblr.
I've been studying backgrounds lately.Nice to meet you!
The original gif is over-spec, but I made it in 16 colors, OC.
PC-88 style digital 8-color, double-high pixels. OC
No use of color codes #000000 and #FFFFFF." UMA MUSUME"
Original gif and other works at Tumblr.
I've been studying backgrounds lately.Nice to meet you!
SlimeGooGoo
Party Gooper
I like how you use your colors. Your art is very convincing indeed.
Buchidot
Neo Member
Thanks!I like how you use your colors. Your art is very convincing indeed.
While the color restrictions are in keeping with the style, the expressions are more contemporary and include illustrations.
Buchidot
Neo Member
I am Japanese, and I am using a translation tool to write this article, so please forgive my poor language skills.
I can read Japanese text and may be able to help.
eyesabitdull
Banned
Oh!
I saw the first post and it said 2016, and didnt check recent postings. My apologies then.
eyesabitdull
Banned
Lovely work!SlimeGooGoo,eyesabitdull,thanks!
The original gif is over-spec, but I made it in 16 colors, OC.
PC-88 style digital 8-color, double-high pixels. OC
No use of color codes #000000 and #FFFFFF." UMA MUSUME"
Original gif and other works at Tumblr.
I've been studying backgrounds lately.Nice to meet you!
I wonder if there's more Gaf users who do the same, perhaps we should make an OC game art thread
Buchidot
Neo Member
Thanks!Lovely work!
I wonder if there's more Gaf users who do the same, perhaps we should make an OC game art thread
I'll be sure to post more of my work when it's done!
German Hops
GAF's Nicest Lunch Thief
So...
... The PC98 is basically a hentai machine?
... The PC98 is basically a hentai machine?
Vampire On Titus
Member
Recently I've been looking up a lot of Japanese adventure games. Not just on the PC98, I ended up looking from the 80s through to the 00s, but my increased interest started with an admiration for the dithered pixel art aesthetic of PC98 games. So I can't speak much to the good strategy, rpg, or action games (although I do know Rusty is a castlevania-like that people seem to enjoy) but here are a few of the more interesting Adventure games I've found for the 98:
Tōdō Ryūnosuke Tante Kohakuiro no Yuigon:
First entry in the Todo Ryunosuke detective series. Similar to Riverhillsoft's J.B Harold series, but a very different aesthetic as it's set in the 1900s. Gather evidence, question suspects and name the correct culprit to win.
Tōdō Ryūnosuke Tantei Nikki: Ōgon No Rashinban:
Second detective adventure in the 1900s series by Riverhillsoft, members of this studio would go on to form CiNG and develop games like Another Code and Hotel Dusk.
Dracula Hakushaku:
Played a little bit of this and it was very weird. You wake up as an amnesiac Dracula, then enter a mansion to find the skeletal remains of your several dead wives. Then some dude you don't know tells you he's your best friend... Also, that you aren't just Dracula, but Jack The Ripper as well. Some 18+ content but not as much as other PC98 games.
Tokyo Twilight Busters:
Mystery game about kids stuck in some underground facility, investigating paranormal mysteries. Puzzles based on character switching and it seems to have other cool mechanics as well. By WolfTeam who also started the Tales series of RPGs and eventually split into Namco Tales Studio and Tri-Ace.
Isaku:
You play as a group of teens trapped in a cabin by some psycho. I played a little bit of this and there's some extremely disturbing content right out of the gate. Looks like a good game but not for the faint of heart. Extremely 18+ and potentially NSFL. Some of the best graphics of the era, though.
RED:
Cyberpunk adventure with occasional shooting gallery set-pieces, kind of like Snatcher. I really like the BG art in this one.
Twilight Hotel:
Really good character designs in this game. Can't remember if there's 18+ content or not but it's safer to assume there is when it comes to PC98.
Mayumi:
Your girlfriends been kidnapped and you've gatta find out where she is and what happened. For such a sullen premise, the game itself looks pretty cheery.
Aegean no Shizuku:
Rare example of a Myst style adventure game from a Japanese dev. There's also a Playstation version that used pre-rendered 3D models, but the less said about it the better.
Makyouden:
Post apocalyptic city where demons have taken over. One of which is a giant crab. This game actually has an English fan translation that you can download here.
Dead Of The Brain:
Fun, schlocky, zombie story. I've played through this completely and it also has an English fan translation. Sometimes it makes you look at everything in an area before you can progress, but besides that its a pretty good time. If you like a cheesy B-Movie type story with a lot of gore, this is a cool game to play.
Marine Philt:
From the same dev as Dead of The Brain, looks similar too, except more of an Alien inspiration than Night of The Living Dead. There's also a radar on the bottom right that shows you when aliens are nearby.
Atlantia:
You play as a journalist given the assignment to land an interview with the sheikh of Harrout while aboard the maiden voyage of a cruise liner named Atlantia.
Hokkaidou Rensa Satsujin - Ohotsuku ni Kiyu:
1992 remake of Yuji Hori's 1984 detective adventure. Sequel to the seminal Portopia Serial Murder cause which was the game that established the blueprint for titles like Famicom Detective Club and Ace Attorney.
As far as playing these games if you don't know Japanese, for one there's the few games with fan translations (the two I mentioned above but there's also one for YU-NO - A Girl Who Chants Love at The Bound of this World which I reviewed in another thread). Aside from that there's also a feature in RetroArch called AI Service. Which basically takes a screen grab of your game, scans it for characters, and sends you back a Google translation layered over the in-game text.
Here's some screen grabs from when I was testing out the feature with Posessioner and a PS1 adventure game called Aconcagua:
The translations, for the most part, are actually not that bad. Some awkward wording at times and sometimes pronouns get mixed up but overall its understandable. But the issue with the AI service feature is that sometimes it fails to scan all the characters which leads to broken sentences or gibberish. Also, for me, it had a tendency to crash RetroArch.
Another option is to use a phone or mobile device to translate the games with the Google Translate app which takes scans characters from photos you take (the app does it very quickly). While less convenient, doing it this way was much more consistent for scanning the characters. Which resulted in around 90% very understandable translations many of which were surprisingly natural to read.
Here's some examples of the translations I got doing it this way:
So yeah, this option is available should you seek it. It's not perfect but, in my experience, I found it to be much better than I ever would have expected. The most persistent issues are mixed up pronouns (I instead of He, She or You). Also, occasional subject/predicate reversal ("I will tonight, go to the store" instead of "I will go to the store tonight" like how Yoda talks). But I never found it hard to comprehend in the context of the story.
I'd probably never play a comedy game like this, where specific phrasing and timing are extremely important to the experience, but I definitely plan to check out more games that I never imagined I'd get a chance to play.