which one? I talk about multiple kinds

​@@wyatt8740the classic genesis. I really dont like the cross design or the 4 button playstation kind either

still can't get through that stage :p Maybe some day though!!

I don't know for sure if it would or wouldn't. It could just be to reduce the noise of an already loud keyboard slightly.

these videos are pretty easy to make, and I like playing this game, so I'm happy to keep making them as I get better. :) Thanks for the encouragement!

I'll be trying to do more videos soon, still not got a job but still have the desire to do vids. Makes me happy someone notices when I'm gone :) Also got a few things I didn't upload because they're somewhat botched/gory projects. But I'm thinking about uploading them anyway even though the result is bad just for the learning experience :)

The VA5 and VA6 are identical except the Japanese units have a different region setting on the motherboard (can be changed). And one other different chip - the chip that contains the actual TMSS boot ROM. VA5 has no TMSS, VA6 does, but otherwise board layout is identical so the sound should be identical. I love how my VA1 mega drive looks, I think you'll like the VA5.

I usually don't have things set to be held for review, so that's probably youtube's fault :( What's the question I helped answer? BTW, I use mine with an 86 sound card.

It will not run early DOS games well. Anything that was made for a V30 CPU has a chance of being way too fast unless it's capping its blitting based on the passage of time rather than CPU cycles. Post apocalyptic is exaggerating, though. Yes. For Touhou, a newer model is actually *better.* But even in Japan people talk about the later models as having lost their "98-ness," and I tend to agree, especially for systems without C-Bus slots (like Valuestar V200). Might as well get an IBM at that point, when an earlier system will run ancient games at closer to the right speed. Bubblegum Crisis for instance. Interesting about the SB16, did not know that. My friend got a Cereb C200 for Touhou and it has both OPL and OPN built-in (although it's a "CanBe" since it uses something like YMF288 instead of a 2608). My Epson had a built in 2203 but I highly, highly recommend getting 86 sound if you can stomach the price. The window accelerator problem is for games that use 200 line video modes. Ranma for instance. And for monochrome modes. They aren't awful options, but a 486 or older machine will more reliably be able to play DOS games, and won't have as much built-in hardware you can't disable eating up IRQ's.

@@wyatt8740 I mean yes, I'm sure some really old 8 color-era games from the 80s would be problematic on them but to be honest even the beloved Ce2/Cs2 (I have a Cs2 btw) struggles with some of them too (such as Ys and Return of Ishtar having graphical corruption) so it's nothing unique. But really imo, for the majority of 90s games they are just fine. You can find various videos proving this with people happily playing games on models like the V13, Pentium PC-98 laptops, etc. Oh, and Flame Zapper is another game that really does benefit from a faster machine, on a 486 the 60fps mode is unplayable. The 200 line problem sounds more like GDC not set to 2.5mhz to me, which I think all 9821s allow you to change. I remember trying the Screamer (200 line game) and it looking messed up until I realized it was set to 5mhz. Also if you run a 256 color game like Puyo Puyo 2 then run a 16 color one afterwards they can glitch out, but just reset the machine and it fixes it. Really the problem I have with saying some of the later models "loosing their 98-ness and became more PC-like" is that it implies the later ones can run Commander Keen now or something, and that never happened even all the way to the end. Also, just because some (like the all-in-one Cu13) lack C-Bus slots, doesn't make them totally worthless either imo. They still play Kamikuishiki Village and that's all that really matters. If I recall btw, NEC released a DOS utility to adjust IRQs on models that have both C-Bus and PCI slots.

@@thepirategamerboy12 The GDC speed has absolutely nothing to do with that actually. That might be a timing bug for your specific game though. There's something you can run in BASIC to cause the problem under either speed. radioc.web.fc2.com/column/pc98bas/pc98disphw_en.htm 90s stuff is fine, but you can play *almost everything* on a Ce2/Ap2/Epson with 86 card/whatever, and the pentiums miss out on about a full decade of software. Oh yeah and policenauts won't have PCM on a pentium system with canbe sound. And stuff like the Valuestars often don't have any kind of OPN at all, just OPL3. And yes, there is a PCI config utility that mostly works but won't let you disable things like a built in modem. They lost their 98-ness because they ran the same exact *windows 9x* software everyone else ran. WinQuake, etc.. And they used OPL sound like sound blaster cards, which was inferior to OPNA (objectively; OPL is a subset of the capabilities of OPNA). And analogue gameport joysticks instead of MSX style ones. Nothing wrong with having a pentium, it just is much less interesting and unique to me. And to me Ys is an argument for getting something from the 80's with a V30 and a mechanical keyboard if you're thinking of buying a second machine. BTW the 486GR also has this problem with Ys. I suspect it's a 486 thing. There's much less DOS stuff that really wants a pentium or higher, and for Win9X i have an IBM compatible with Japanese Windows on it.

@@thepirategamerboy12 Pardon my intrusion into the conversation, I believe I have some insight of value to share. For whatever reason I have come into possession of a Cereb along with multiple Ce2 and Cs2 machines. I'm in a rather unique position to adjudicate for myself, and have observed there are significant differences with how (whether because of the Trident card present in the Cereb or not, I can't say with confidence) the Cereb handles games versus the Ce2 and Cs2 - and not just differences attributable to CPU clock speed or RAM. In fact, I have a Viper MULTi CPU accelerator board/"upgrade board" for the Ce2 which raises the CPU speed to as high as 100 MHz and can also be used in the Cs2 with some light modification for improved results (Ce2 has 25 MHz as default, Cs2 33 MHz). I actually have slightly less RAM present in the Cereb than for my Ce2/Cs2 (they are highly interchangeable). My Cereb has roughly ~30 MB (can be expanded) while I have a 32 MB stick compatible with my Ce2/Cs2. So, interestingly, I have "leveled the field" relatively speaking in terms of RAM and CPU clock speed between the Cereb and Ce2/Cs2. The main difference then would appear to be the architecture - the Ce2/Cs2 lack any window accelerator like the Trident present in my Cereb. Interestingly, the Cereb does a better job of handling the very old game of Ancient Ys Vanished/ "Ys 1", while my Ce2/Cs2 cannot run it properly without immediately running into issues - perhaps a case can be made for the Cereb here although I suspect the better solution is to pursue a later PC-9801 rather than an early PC-9821 as the Ce2/Cs2 are. But I digress. Whether using actual floppy diskettes of the original games, or floppies written with the game files, or a Gotek to simulate a FDD (or using actual original CD-ROM discs or burned discs - the Ce2/Cs2 come with a CD-ROM drive) the games run far smoother and stabler with less hitching, stutters, and some visual effects are present which are otherwise absent when run on the Cereb (or displayed incorrectly). The Cereb has a more modern FDD and a more modern CD-ROM drive (my variant specifically is the Cereb C200/C). I've tested the Cereb with what it originally came with, as well as a Gotek to simulate the FDD - and run original games, games written to diskette or disc, and games with a flashdrive and the Gotek. I've tinkered with the BIOS as much as I can, trying varying options (the Cereb BIOS is markedly limited compared to the Ce2/Cs2 BIOS, although not altogether inferior by any means - just less options for compatibility). I've used NEC DOS 5.00A-H, NEC DOS 6.2, and JP Windows 3.1 installs on original HDDs with the Ce2/Cs2, as well as installs of NEC DOS 5.00A-H and NEC DOS 6.2 on Compact Flash cards with the Ce2/Cs2. I've also used these same Compact Flash cards with the Cereb, as well as the original HDD it came with which has JP Windows 98 SE. In short, I've tested quite a bit. Perhaps the Cereb itself, or my particular Cereb, is an outlier (conversely, perhaps my Ce2s + Cs2s, or the particular models I have are outliers). But I'm far more inclined to believe that, as the unique architecture of the NEC PC-98s (and to a lesser extent Epson PC-98s - let's not forget these marvelous machines) was increasingly comprised of more components sourced and built-around Windows in general - their ability to present the most accurate and compelling vision of the games originally conceptualized for them over their lifetime was markedly compromised. I hope my insight is of some value - have a pleasant day/night!!

@@l_arachel The Cs2 actually *does* have a Windows accelerator in it, a Cirrus Logic of some kind which I didn't even realize myself until I tried Win95 on it and it detected it upon installing. It's capable of up to 1024x768 and is the other difference between the Ce2 besides a faster CPU. Btw, I've been into PC-98 stuff for about 5 and a half years now. The Cereb is kind of an odd model in general, it kinda seems like the PC-98 equivalent of something like the Gateway Destination. The 200 line thing confuses me because I've seen games like Star Wars, Night Slave of course since it's literally a 1996 release, Marble Madness and a number of others run just fine. Idk if this is different or what, Star Wars does the thing where it inserts black lines in between. As far as monochrome mode goes, I have no idea about that at all. As far as I can gather, the later models basically just put the base PEGC hardware into an ASIC and the Windows accelerators have nothing to do with handling that at all, it's kind of like the Voodoo 1/2 in that it takes over the video when needed. There were C-Bus Windows accelerator cards for older 9801s that literally worked just like the Voodoo 1/2 with the whole pass-through cable situation and everything. With Policenauts, I think there is a version of the PCM driver that does work with CanBe PCM though sadly lip flaps don't work. If the machine has C-Bus slots though, you can fix this with a card (though imo not really worth the price). One more thing about loosing the 98-ness... the FM Towns line also very late on got Pentium CPUs and could run versions of Windows up to 95 as well, so why wouldn't you say the same thing about those? And I just think it's cool that my Cs2 can play games like Bomber Quest and Flame Zapper, but Windows games like You Don't Know Jack and Lode Runner the Legend Returns also run well on it. It gives me even more to do on the machine. I don't really have anything else to say, I'm not trying to be mean or anything like that but I do defend these models based on what I've seen from KZbin videos and people I've known with them. I have a Pentium MMX 233 PC and even though most of the parts in it are from around 1998, that thing can play stuff as new as Rayman 2 from 1999 and also Prince of Persia from 1990. That's close to a decade difference. Some even older games will work though many especially early 80s games have issues, but you get what I mean and I feel the PC-98 line evolved in basically the same way. Just like the IBM PCs, not one PC-98 will play every single game ever made for it. The only game I personally know for a fact has problems on these newer 9821s is Quarth, that's literally one game and perhaps there's more but I like to focus more on what it does run (which the list is still huge) rather than what it doesn't. It kind of reminds me of how some say to avoid NTSC Amigas (another thing I disagree with), but perhaps more overblown than that.

Ebay

Because I don't want to destroy a working super famicom pad when I can do it externally with nothing but a 74HC595 chip, and also because a mega drive pad has enough buttons and feels comfy. And as for joysticks, because I like leaf switches! And my comrex. And Sanwa sticks would be quite a bit bulkier. But maybe some day; I just haven't used one so I can't miss what I never had.

EXACTLY. I tried to emulate recently and was like, "WTF is this!?!?" because I knew what it was *supposed* to sound like. BTW this 86 card's been completely recapped, so this is very accurate. (I have another 86 card that all the capacitors have leaked on though).

My guess is that there weren't many captures already because it's hard to record the video from a PC-98. I'm using some custom wired adapters and a VGA distribution amplifier hooked to an OSSC (scaler) which goes into an HDMI capture card. Recording audio through my Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS.

Boo hoo. Yeah the special editions have some poor changes, but others (such as the emperor in episode 5 and the finale song of episode 6) are great changes

Also he didn’t ruin the movies by a few poor changes. They’re still mostly the exact same

@@trentoninnewjerseyno they 100% are not lol. The clunky CGI is so incredibly distracting that it is very difficult to watch the films. Not to mention the abysmal Jabba scenes.

@@HabitualJoker not all the cgi is awful. Also there were a few good changes made (the biggest one is easily Palpatine in episode 5)

@@trentoninnewjersey enough of it is bad for me to not want any of the good ones. The only change that actually improves the film is the additional Biggs scene on Yavin IV. It doesn’t have any CGI in it, doesn’t disrupt the pacing of the film, and adds additional weight to the relationship between Biggs and Luke.

Probably wouldn't get as much slowdown with a 100MHz+ pentium PC98, but the later PC-98 models (pentium era onward and some 486es) have trouble playing the earlier PC98 non-touhou games (and DOS stuff in general) due to their non-removable window accelerator boards. My machine strikes a decent balance and has no accelerator built in... I might be able to boost the bus clock to 33MHz by replacing an oscillator though and increase CPU speed to ~99MHz. Not tried it. System requirements are a 66MHz 486 or better in the readme's.

On emultors or on more powerful machines the touhou games have a slowmode option to slow down the game with many bullets on screen when your pc is fully able to play at full speed

Who's the favourite? :) So far, Mystic Square's my favourite too, even though I've not 1CC'ed it yet. Really nicely done and challenging game with some great music.

@@wyatt8740 My favourite character is Remilia. But Mima has always been a favourite for me, because I started from Touhou 1, and I love her dialogue. Maybe I just like villains.😈

It's the best way to play it! No input lag, and I even think the music (especially in the drums/percussion) sounds better. No multitasking OS overhead, either! It's too bad it cost so much to get all the hardware together (shipping was a huge part of it). :(

@@wyatt8740 It is amazing to see.🙏

It still has 2 frames of lag, but true 2 frames (especially on a CRT) is nearly imperceptible. In general, I think that real hardware is probably the optimal way to play the game, but the big drawback is that if you're a keyboard player (like I am) most Japanese computers of the 80s and 90s insisted on an awful diamond layout for the arrow keys which makes games which demand true diagonals like shmups not pleasant to play at all. However, I'm pretty sure there are adapters to use normal AT-layout keyboards with inverted-T arrow key clusters so it isn't such a big deal in practice.

@@netdoll Yeah there are adapters for that now. I know someone on fediverse who uses one with their 98 Note. The arrow key layout messed with my brain a lot, but my Comrex Commander joystick is better than a keyboard IMO, even with inverse T. I play the windows touhou games with it via an adapter too. The one truly awful thing is that touhou 1 and 2 don't support joysticks, so I need to make an adapter that fakes a keyboard or something.

Financially I agree, but in what way is it crazy to you? It feels really nice - no latency, and I can use my (modified for two buttons) atari style joysticks easily enough. Also the music tempo seems much more stable/consistent than in the emulator I was trying.

@@wyatt8740 it seems faster and smoother than any emulator i tried it on,even if my PC is a lot more powerful than a pc98(obviusly) for the music yeah,it seems a bit more in tune,even compared with the T98 emulator(which is usually regarded as the best emulator for touhou music)

@@giuseppepepe4404 maybe it is - but my capture USB is at about half the framerate of the real thing still because I can't afford a better one :p

@@wyatt8740 oh so you're saying it 's even better

WOW! really good eye. I'm amazed that worked myself, looking back at it now. Had to go frame by frame to realize what happened.

If I could play EoSD on my 98 you bet I would. :(

Color would be hell to manage

well the Epson made clone of the real thing but yea

@@nate567987 There's really no difference that I've noticed to date other than the font ROM and it not going "Pi-Poh" (beeping) at startup. I have a friend a couple states away with four 9821's (three Ce2's and a Cs2) and even when i spot a bug in a game she's able to make her Ce2's and Cs2 show the same bugs. It looks like it uses an actual NEC EGC chip, too. And the 86 sound card I'm using is "genuine" NEC. It is a super good clone. I have a writeup on my blog about it

this is 98

@@nate567987 I think and hope this person knows this - because there were never nes/snes touhou games. Assuming not a bot, it's hard to tell these days

​@@wyatt8740 More or less, just riffing on the graphics and making a joke based on nostalgia :P

The EGC privileges over emulator

the color of this video is slightly more saturated.

I'm using a VGA distribution amplifier with two custom-wired adapters to go from and to the PC-98 analogue RGB pinout, and feeding the split signal into an OSSC (Open Source Scan Converter) v1.6 which is doing the scaling for me; that gets fed into an HDMI capture USB (unfortunately it's a cheap one and only good for 30FPS). The OSSC is set up so that its timings match up very closely with the pixel clock of the PC-98's video output, using junkerhq wiki's suggestions with slight tweaks.

@JanxZ Is it? - I didn't realize, but it's pretty hard to get the levels all looking right on my OSSC for these captures. At first it was severely 'under-exposed' (crushed black). Also the gamut of my CRT (which is actually from a PC-8801mkIISR) is slightly undersaturated imo

P.S. I did a video talking about my hardware, too kzbin.info/www/bejne/rXTXi5hpi8qigqs

Touhou will still never die.