56 votes

The strange world of Japan’s PC-98 computer art scene

12 comments

  1. [5]
    Lapbunny
    Link
    Pretty confused how this completely misses talking about the music for the platform, which is a huge piece of its technical-aesthetic history... It had the Yamaha YM2203 chip for FM Synthesis,...

    Pretty confused how this completely misses talking about the music for the platform, which is a huge piece of its technical-aesthetic history... It had the Yamaha YM2203 chip for FM Synthesis, similar to the Sega Genesis in style. (Same as a couple Capcom machines like Space Harrier, apparently?) FM composers like Yuzo Koshiro worked on the platform, and Ryu Umemoto in particular made a name for himself pushing its boundaries.

    For anyone who wants a good starting place on the platform, I'd really heavily suggest the ero visual novel YU-NO. There's a recent remake with contemporary style (and it's probably a good idea to support the official release), but there's an older TLWiki translation patch for the PC version floating around the internet that basically ports the original PC-98 graphics and music over. There's also a more recent PS Vita patch with the PC-98 aesthetics that does the same. The game itself is a crazy, winding sci-fi mystery story where the main character is left a device that basically allows him to drop save points through the story; he can return to the drops with the inventory he collects but backwards in time, and he's armed knowing certain characters are scheming against him. You have to get past a very long and winding narrative that's very difficult to traverse without a guide, and a lot of very useless porn. (My favorite review blurb from Wikipedia - RPG Site counted three instances of incest and called two of them "unnecessary and gross". What was the third?? ) But it's cool to look at how the platform's technology shapes its story, and it's utterly fascinating watching a 1996 game with this much meticulous care tackling an enormous plot which becomes unbound by save slots.

    11 votes
    1. [3]
      Heichou
      Link Parent
      I myself would very much like to know what RPG Site considered justified incest lmao

      I myself would very much like to know what RPG Site considered justified incest lmao

      3 votes
      1. [2]
        CptBluebear
        Link Parent
        If I'm being charitable, sex within a story should serve the story lest it becomes gratuitous and perhaps in that one instance, the incest porn did indeed serve the story.

        If I'm being charitable, sex within a story should serve the story lest it becomes gratuitous and perhaps in that one instance, the incest porn did indeed serve the story.

        6 votes
        1. Lapbunny
          Link Parent
          There is one scene that's well-written where he's lying with a partner and in a vulnerable state she picks apart his maturity, regarding his inability to change the self-destructive adults around...

          There is one scene that's well-written where he's lying with a partner and in a vulnerable state she picks apart his maturity, regarding his inability to change the self-destructive adults around him despite his willingness to step up and save people around him. It gives the MC insecurity and more depth than the typical ero protagonist.

          (This is also not that third scene. lol)

          2 votes
    2. parsley
      Link Parent
      YuNo was also great in that it switches from the common at the time menu based interaction format to a more modern point and click with (some) inventory puzzles. Spoiler story, about the wikipedia...

      YuNo was also great in that it switches from the common at the time menu based interaction format to a more modern point and click with (some) inventory puzzles.

      Spoiler story, about the wikipedia review Regarding the incest, I suppose the non objectionable one is Ayumi (who has been your stepmom for a couple years? and is probably 4-5 years older than you tops). The other two (Kanna and ...I guess Yuno?) you don't even know they are your time/dimension-travelling children, and then a throwaway line in the epilogue explains that kids in the epilogue dimension get adult bodies super fast, so Yuno (and maybe Kanna) are potentially very underage by out world standards.
      3 votes
  2. drannex
    Link
    I think this fits better in ~tech than ~arts, purely because it does focus on the technical history than the art itself.

    I think this fits better in ~tech than ~arts, purely because it does focus on the technical history than the art itself.

    5 votes
  3. redwall_hp
    Link
    Interesting read, but I'm surprised that it somehow managed to not name drop the most famous thing to come out of the PC-98 scene: Touhou Project. It's still one of the most massive centers of...

    Interesting read, but I'm surprised that it somehow managed to not name drop the most famous thing to come out of the PC-98 scene: Touhou Project.

    It's still one of the most massive centers of doujin activity (or vinyl wraps for cars...), right up there with Vocaloid and various mobile games. Everyone probably at least knows Bad Apple.

    5 votes
  4. [5]
    cfabbro
    (edited )
    Link
    Whoa... WTF. What a very very strange coincidence. I actually grew up with the author of this article. We went to elementary and high school together. And we also raved together for many years. He...

    Whoa... WTF. What a very very strange coincidence. I actually grew up with the author of this article. We went to elementary and high school together. And we also raved together for many years. He had a Tildes account for a brief time too, but eventually got banned. :(

    I didn't know he wrote articles on this site though. I wonder if any of the other authors on the site are people I know too. (Edit: Doesn't look like it, I don't recognize the others.)

    Out of curiosity, how did you find this site/article, @drannex?

    p.s. If you like DnB, his YouTube channel has some great music:
    https://www.youtube.com/@HCKRSDNB

    13 votes
    1. [2]
      slashtab
      Link Parent
      whoa!! those are some nice DNB mixes. Thanks for recommendation. call him back to tildes :)

      whoa!! those are some nice DNB mixes. Thanks for recommendation.

      call him back to tildes :)

      3 votes
      1. cfabbro
        (edited )
        Link Parent
        I'll let him know you enjoyed his mixes. :P He was a rave promoter, and touring DnB/Jungle DJ + producer for many years. So yeah, he's got talent for sure. Sadly, I don't think he wants to come...

        I'll let him know you enjoyed his mixes. :P He was a rave promoter, and touring DnB/Jungle DJ + producer for many years. So yeah, he's got talent for sure.

        Sadly, I don't think he wants to come back to Tildes though. I already tried to convince him to appeal the ban. :(

        4 votes
    2. [2]
      drannex
      Link Parent
      Not sure to be perfectly honest? I'll try to retrace my steps and get back on this if I can (or come back across it), but small digital world we have here!

      Not sure to be perfectly honest? I'll try to retrace my steps and get back on this if I can (or come back across it), but small digital world we have here!

      3 votes
      1. cfabbro
        (edited )
        Link Parent
        I told Biz this old zine article of his popped up here on Tildes, BTW, and now he's also wondering how the heck you managed to come across it too. So hopefully you can remember or manage to...

        I told Biz this old zine article of his popped up here on Tildes, BTW, and now he's also wondering how the heck you managed to come across it too. So hopefully you can remember or manage to retrace your steps somehow, since we're both really curious how this happened. It's such a bizarre coincidence. Small world indeed. :P

        4 votes