Japanese personal computer aesthetic is best aesthetic

[Narushima]

what are the best PC-Engine RPGs out there?

Dungeon Explorer I and Dungeon Explorer II (on CD) are quite fun. They're action-RPG, quite similar to Gauntlet and can be played in coop, so you can run around killing baddies as a warrior, with a friend playing a priest and another a robot (that was a hidden character I found in one of them).

The only other one I've played was Dragon Slayer: The Legend of Heroes, on CD as well. It's very classic, nothing really amazing or bad about it.

 

[abnaxus]

 

[Cat Headed Eagle]

This thread is so freaking cool. I love 80s manga art.
To answer one question that was asked before:
The megadrive probably did not have porn games, but the Saturn did. Together with the Vita, it gained a reputation of being the consoles for "that guy", you know what I'm talking about. The vita is still kicking in Japan because it became titty game central, and home for many mid games focused on fan service and the like. Some of the most popular ones have been getting pc ports recently.

 

[Dadd]

this threat needs more scanlines

 

[frajaq]

 

[abnaxus]

 

[SerratedBiz]

Good ol' Hudson Soft.

 

[dreughjiggers]

You are letting this thread die, Licorice. I guess communists are way too used to let everything they make die too fast.

He didn't post 3.

 

[abnaxus]

 

[abnaxus]

 

[frajaq]

 

[Modron]

Not everyday you see a new game made with PC-88/famicom art by someone who made such graphics back then:

 

[430am]

I have to say I absolutely love the YM2608/OPNA sound chip and wish someone modern tried to make music with it. You'd think that would be the case, but it's ridiculously niche in the chiptune community. The closest most popular thing is YM2612, the Sega Genesis sound chip, and it has a really popular tracker for it called DefleMask. Surprising, because the Genesis sound chip is technically inferior to OPNA. There are a couple "trackers" that try to emulate the PC-98 sound chip but they're barely operable compared to DefleMask. As far as I know the reliable way to make music akin to what these games have is to actually use the same method the composers back then used, painstakingly typing out musical notes in a fucking notepad until it works. No wonder barely anyone does it, which is a big shame considering the great soundtracks PC-98 had. Here's what the process looks like, it's insane.

 

[Rean]

I have to say I absolutely love the YM2608/OPNA sound chip and wish someone modern tried to make music with it. You'd think that would be the case, but it's ridiculously niche in the chiptune community. The closest most popular thing is YM2612, the Sega Genesis sound chip, and it has a really popular tracker for it called DefleMask. Surprising, because the Genesis sound chip is technically inferior to OPNA. There are a couple "trackers" that try to emulate the PC-98 sound chip but they're barely operable compared to DefleMask. As far as I know the reliable way to make music akin to what these games have is to actually use the same method the composers back then used, painstakingly typing out musical notes in a fucking notepad until it works. No wonder barely anyone does it, which is a big shame considering the great soundtracks PC-98 had. Here's what the process looks like, it's insane.

infidel Look at this cool shit.

 

[Derringer]

Not everyday you see a new game made with PC-88/famicom art by someone who made such graphics back then:

It's kind of funny seeing it after the shitshow Square Enix did with the Portopia chatbot re-release.

I have to say I absolutely love the YM2608/OPNA sound chip and wish someone modern tried to make music with it. You'd think that would be the case, but it's ridiculously niche in the chiptune community. The closest most popular thing is YM2612, the Sega Genesis sound chip, and it has a really popular tracker for it called DefleMask. Surprising, because the Genesis sound chip is technically inferior to OPNA. There are a couple "trackers" that try to emulate the PC-98 sound chip but they're barely operable compared to DefleMask. As far as I know the reliable way to make music akin to what these games have is to actually use the same method the composers back then used, painstakingly typing out musical notes in a fucking notepad until it works. No wonder barely anyone does it, which is a big shame considering the great soundtracks PC-98 had. Here's what the process looks like, it's insane.

infidel Look at this cool shit.

They probably had to keep a lot of notes to utilize the sounds they wanted.

 

[PapaPetro]

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤYesㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

 

[infidel]

I have to say I absolutely love the YM2608/OPNA sound chip and wish someone modern tried to make music with it. You'd think that would be the case, but it's ridiculously niche in the chiptune community. The closest most popular thing is YM2612, the Sega Genesis sound chip, and it has a really popular tracker for it called DefleMask. Surprising, because the Genesis sound chip is technically inferior to OPNA. There are a couple "trackers" that try to emulate the PC-98 sound chip but they're barely operable compared to DefleMask. As far as I know the reliable way to make music akin to what these games have is to actually use the same method the composers back then used, painstakingly typing out musical notes in a fucking notepad until it works. No wonder barely anyone does it, which is a big shame considering the great soundtracks PC-98 had. Here's what the process looks like, it's insane.

Jesus, what a way to write music :D The wiki says this:

Roland released a music production starter kit for PC-98, which combines the MT-32 synthesizer module, a MIDI interface card and a MIDI editing software.[50] Creative Labs developed a C-bus variant of Sound Blaster 16.

It's likely there was other software, too. So if you own the actual machine, you could probably find these. But good luck getting that outside of Japan.

2612 and 2608 aren't that different, it's mainly the lack of ability to play samples and lack of SSG. I can tell you of a better way to use YM2612, namely FMDrive and RYM2612 VSTs in the DAW of your choice. ADPCM is just samples and you can add them through a sampler of your choice on top with maybe lowering the sampling rate. There you go, 95% of the functionality with all the modern conveniences attached. Trackers have annoying limitations if you want to record a solo, for example, or insert notes between BPM rows. It could be that someone in Japan uses 2608 to produce good music but good luck finding that. Since PC98 never sold much outside of Japan, there are not that many translated games aside from ports, that's why there's no active community (again, outside of Japan). Back when I wanted to do PC98-sounding music, I went with those two instead.

Here are the results (shameless plug, FMDrive clean sound):



Unreleased (RYM2612, some with effects on top):
https://mega.nz/file/KINxkTga#Qri8vRazPPZt9CfCTvCK4IF7gCZrEjpDpFOkaPpPigo
https://mega.nz/file/jMUVCDJY#qamdF7hdoYPu19pRR3rBHRROYg5OM0H4ptBW0BouxzA
https://mega.nz/file/LRd0nJRR#C3_FbJtWEEukWFTt8sH8PNntnpcwJ4RjazGkrbTb66g
https://mega.nz/file/yN1ECa7Q#GU_HGupcv0N0-ix8J6VxmJxygWxO23rk089Xlj7XuYo

 

[Rincewind]

Long story short, I've been working on some CRT shaders for DOSBox Staging, then found the game Rusty that uses some really uncommon screen modes (e.g., the 640x200 EGA mode, but it assumes a VGA card so it reprograms the EGA palette to custom colours). Then started researching this and it turns out this is something common for DOS ports of PC-98 games.

Looked into it a bit more because Rusty features some really nice pixel art, then found this huge stash of quite nice 640x400 16-colour PC-98 graphics. Ran some of them through my CRT shaders, and indeed, they look glorious. Turns out PC-98 uses a 4096 colour (12-bit) RGB palette, just like the Amiga, and the Japanese had apparently perfected the art of high-res pixel gfx back in the 90s.

So, the screenshots look good, but my question to you all familiar with the platform: are any of these games worth playing? I mean, if I'm not a sexual deviant... I have zero interest in creepy visual novels with pedo overtones, and the same goes for anything anime. Another problem is that I can't read Japanese, but my understanding is many of these games have English fan translations?

Basically, I'm hoping there are some nice English-translated RPGs or adventures to be found on the PC-98 that are worth checking out. But no weird tentacle sex, please.

moar

 

[Nutmeg]

are any of these games worth playing? I mean

Check abnaxus' posts in the old obscure underrated JRPGs thread.

 

[Lord of Riva]

Another problem is that I can't read Japanese, but my understanding is many of these games have English fan translations?

There aren't really that many fan translations .

I have not come around to testing it but maybe check out the post of WholesaleGenocide here:
https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads/old-obscure-underrated-jrpgs.84254/page-27

That said *a lot* of stuff has adult content and I think you make a mistake by excluding it because of the Pornographic content. Even if you do not like it some stories and games are good despite or because of the adult oriented nature (as in, if you game already features pornographic content no topic is really off the table).

 

[Rincewind]

That said *a lot* of stuff has adult content and I think you make a mistake by excluding it because of the Pornographic content. Even if you do not like it some stories and games are good despite or because of the adult oriented nature (as in, if you game already features pornographic content no topic is really off the table).

Yeah, it's not that I *dislike* any sexual content; for example, I enjoyed the sexual overtones in the Witcher and I love the Leisure Suit Larry and Spellcasting series. It's just that some of the PC-98 games seem focus too much on fetishistic and S&M content (based on my rather superficial research, but this was called out in pretty much any article about them), and that really puts me off, that's all. Especially when they're veering into rape and pedo territory, that's a hard no.

But yeah, I'll explore it a bit, adult orientedness in itself is no problem—but "by weirdos for weirdos" type of content is

 

[Nutmeg]

That said *a lot* of stuff has adult content and I think you make a mistake by excluding it because of the Pornographic content. Even if you do not like it some stories and games are good despite or because of the adult oriented nature (as in, if you game already features pornographic content no topic is really off the table).

Yeah, it's not that I *dislike* any sexual content; for example, I enjoyed the sexual overtones in the Witcher and I love the Leisure Suit Larry and Spellcasting series. It's just that some of the PC-98 games seem focus too much on fetishistic and S&M content (based on my rather superficial research, but this was called out in pretty much any article about them), and that really puts me off, that's all. Especially when they're veering into rape and pedo territory, that's a hard no.

But yeah, I'll explore it a bit, adult orientedness in itself is no problem, by "by weirdos for weirdos" type of content is

The adventure games Misty Blue, Jesus 1 and 2, Snatcher, and Policenauts (PC-88 and 98 versions of the latter two, ofc) might be up your alley.

Dinosaur looks good and has an excellent soundtrack, and is by Falcom so probably doesn't play badly either (though I have not played it).

XZR and XZR 2 have nice art, but are as bit more sketchy compared to the above games.

Koei games Gemfire, Uncharted Waters, and Genghis Khan 2 look gorgeous on their native PC-88 and PC-98.

Also shout out to Final Crisis. It's a shmup, so it's not as full of art as the RPGs and adventure games listed above, but an actually good shmup on the PC-88, and the art it does have in its cutscenes is as charming as anything else I've mentioned.

 

[Grauken]

That said *a lot* of stuff has adult content and I think you make a mistake by excluding it because of the Pornographic content. Even if you do not like it some stories and games are good despite or because of the adult oriented nature (as in, if you game already features pornographic content no topic is really off the table).

Yeah, it's not that I *dislike* any sexual content; for example, I enjoyed the sexual overtones in the Witcher and I love the Leisure Suit Larry and Spellcasting series. It's just that some of the PC-98 games seem focus too much on fetishistic and S&M content (based on my rather superficial research, but this was called out in pretty much any article about them), and that really puts me off, that's all. Especially when they're veering into rape and pedo territory, that's a hard no.

But yeah, I'll explore it a bit, adult orientedness in itself is no problem, by "by weirdos for weirdos" type of content is

This one of those few PC-98 games that got translated always seemed to me the most interesting and ambitious. I only played the seriously cut SNES port called EVO: Search for Eden, and even in that form it was quite fun but the original looked bigger and better.

https://46okumen.com/projects/e-v-o-the-theory-of-evolution/

 

[Lord of Riva]

That said *a lot* of stuff has adult content and I think you make a mistake by excluding it because of the Pornographic content. Even if you do not like it some stories and games are good despite or because of the adult oriented nature (as in, if you game already features pornographic content no topic is really off the table).

Yeah, it's not that I *dislike* any sexual content; for example, I enjoyed the sexual overtones in the Witcher and I love the Leisure Suit Larry and Spellcasting series. It's just that some of the PC-98 games seem focus too much on fetishistic and S&M content (based on my rather superficial research, but this was called out in pretty much any article about them), and that really puts me off, that's all. Especially when they're veering into rape and pedo territory, that's a hard no.

But yeah, I'll explore it a bit, adult orientedness in itself is no problem, by "by weirdos for weirdos" type of content is

This one of those few PC-98 games that got translated always seemed to me the most interesting and ambitious. I only played the seriously cut SNES port called EVO: Search for Eden, and even in that form it was quite fun but the original looked bigger and better.

https://46okumen.com/projects/e-v-o-the-theory-of-evolution/

I'm halfway through it and it is somewhat enjoyable it's definitely worth checking out for the setting but it's not the greatest game around neither gameplay nor story wise (the latter is wierd). Had no time to finish it.