Japanese Retro Computing : The NEC PC-9821 Home Computer

[@Michirin9801]

It sure is great to see the PC-98 getting more coverage in English! I love the system, especially the sound, it's probably my favourite FM synth soundchip, and so many of its games have spectacular soundtracks!

[@MMSZoli]

For me this system is completely new, and that Yamaha sound really blew me away! It is unfortunate, that the OPL2 Adlib/Soundblaster became the standard on PC, not this OPL4 one. Because of the OPL2 sound, the PC guys needed something more serious, and Gravis Ultrasound and other standards grew up from nothing. I think if there Would be a card with THIS FM sound + a stereo 16bit PCM for Digi, that could rule the PC market.

[@WASasquatch]

That sound is literally why I loved my Sega Genesis so much, it was amazing. Everyone loved their SNES and I couldn't get enough of the Genesis's FM soundchip. I'd listen to title screen music all the time just to jam.

[@marisakirisame867]

Yep those OPN2 chips is cool

[@YuutaTogashi0707]

The PC-98 used OPN and OPNA depending on the sound card actually@@marisakirisame867

[@xMrCh33s3x]

I've first heard about the PC-98 from Touhou so I went to this video for more info. Really did make me smile seeing Lotus Land Story in your list of favorite games for the system.

[@Isaac-gh5ku]

I am wondering if PC-98 Touhou games are compatible with the PC-9821 CX computer.

[@obsoletegeek]

A hidden gem for sure. So many Compile exclusives. Definitely a lot of great games for very little money.

[@nekonekopanicnekonekopanic7335]

Not state wide it is so hard and expensive to find a games let alone a working system

[@scottbreon9448]

It's a damn good computer for sure, although my favorite Japanese PC is the Sharp X68000

[@Lee.Moriya]

Really, really cool video. Gotta be honest I only know of the PC-98 due to the early era Touhou games (Which I'm glad you included!) Interesting to learn more about it and hear that awesome FM Soundcard, definitely worth the price of acquisition. Great setup, I'm jealous!

[@marisakirisame867]

I'm buying this PC just for touhou

[@Yuureiki]

One thing I like about PC-98 is that it can run Touhou 1-5.

[@legacyeevee8045]

This is what I was expecting

[@theluminousone5883]

Well I mean, they were literally made for the pc-98

[@marisakirisame867]

Well, their FM synth sound pretty cool ( I'm just done making touhou 6 PC-98 edition )

[@galemannman]

I have to run a special program to run them now 🥲

[@BAKU2K2]

​@@theluminousone5883Specifically the PC-9821 series.

[@meowmix6782]

some really awesome looking shooters, love old pc-98 music thanks to chiru.no online radio, that Valkyrie fighting game looks great too

[@ToddsNerdCave]

dat FM sound! The machine sounds brilliant.

[@fr_schmidlin]

Nearly all Japanese machines feature brilliant FM soundtracks. Tip: Search on KZbin for FM soundtracks on the MSX, Megadrive and X68000 too. :)

[@Trimint123]

By the way, Sega Genesis/Mega Drive also used the same FM sound chip.

[@viscountalpha]

It's very cool! I couldn't help but watch your demo running behind you.

[@mattsephton]

Stumbled upon this old video of yours. Loving it

[@PSx1991]

Who came here after "16 bit sensation: another layer" anime?

[@BushidoBrownSama]

Not me, do you reccomend it?

[@Elytrii]

Me!

[@slimbob777]

Not me, i watch anime because i've already know what pc-98 is by the time i watch😂

[@BinglesP]

3:24 Happy to see the Touhou PC-98 entries get a mention here! They're still very fun to play in my opinion, and I absolutely love the dark, vintage anime art style they have. And the characters, too, obviously.

[@Chrispynutt]

I really like how the upgrade slots are handled, that's so slick.

[@WASasquatch]

That beauty sounds amazing, and is really appropriate for the time-frame, and games you featured. Definately subscribed for more great content (which I'm sure there is... it's 2019 lol),

[@danielfalin]

wow, amazing is so old FM sound card, had all solid capacitors ?!! I have never seen something like this on a pc hardware from that era

[@Shot97]

Great luck with the cheap "junk" PC-98! Too bad about the shipping. Cool you went the extra mile with the sound card. There were some quality titles and ports put out for some of the Japanese computers, the MSX is another good one. I love seeing some of the Japanese Adventure games, they're all so different to our adventure games and just packed with sexual innuendos.

[@104d_3rr0r_vince]

Best t-shirt on youtube.

[@ModernVintageGamer]

:)

[@ModernVintageGamer]

you havent seen my Charisteas Euro 04 shirt yet ;)

[@ApolloniosIX]

YES! Best Shirt on YT!!! please more of it! :D

[@airthrow]

GREAT video, would love this style for every J-PC that I can't afford right now. I have an MSX2+ though. The sound is amazing!

[@pneptun]

man, your channel is loaded with some fine enterntainment, you totally deserve more subscribers! maybe do a few more colabs with The Obsolete Geek (who's channel is awesome too. actually his mention of your channel in one of his videos is what brought me here) Keep up the good work!

[@artstatedigital]

Great video (as always), and what a nice looking bit of kit. The FM sound is really nice. I may have to fire up an old PC and get my fix. ✌🏼

[@galin3world]

PC98 is one of my favorite computer system of all time and I'm so happy to see some western video about it. thanks for this video.

[@kloakovalimonada]

God I love FM synthesis.

[@josephfrye7342]

me too mate ;)

[@tHeWasTeDYouTh]

so sad that Japan abandoned all of their PCs (PC-98, X68000, MSX, FM TOWNS) for IBM clones in the mid 90s!!!!! There are so many Japanese PC games from the 80s and 90s that will be lost in time because modern Japanese just do not care about PC games. So many awesome hentai games and visual novels!

[@kwizzeh]

It was simply because IBM clones were cheaper and more affordable lol

[@mimichaten]

us trade sanction laws crushed the innovative part of japanese industry, and then it just ended up benefiting china.

[@alpzerlaken]

Literally FM Town = Lifebook PC98 = Versa Pro X68000 = Dynabook = Protége and Tecra

[@alpzerlaken]

@@mimichaten Huawei Matebook won’t be as unique as the PC-98 I can’t believe China kinda take over and we all accept low quality junk electronic from China

[@Longlius]

@@mimichaten The PC 98 died in Japan because Windows got native Unicode support which killed the one selling point of the PC-98 - native kanji support. You didn't need to buy an overpriced NEC machine with a kanji ROM anymore to process Japanese text, so why would you?

[@alex76gr]

Excellent addition for your collection. I wish you enjoy it. Greetings from Greece! :)

[@MsMadLemon]

It's Thanks to 'Bad Apple' and 'Lotus Land Story' that i know of the PC--98.. and now thanks to you that I know all about it. Thanks for the great video! :o)

[@LuteNYC]

What's the song that's playing at the very end?

[@IotaWasN0tHere]

PC 98: A collectors item for Touhou fans

[@MariaAnderssonX]

This is an amazing machine to play old hentai games on^^

[@Isaac-gh5ku]

Maria Andersson official Or even old Corpse Party and Touhou games.

[@dragonwarriorz1]

I went down to the comments to see how long it'd take for somebody to say "hentai". It didn't take long!

[@pikaszablak7933]

That is the main reason I would get a PC98 I love old school anime and eroge.

[@SuperSmashDolls]

@@dragonwarriorz1 The PC-98 is arguably THE reason why Japan assumes "PC gaming" = "filthy, filthy porn".

[@slightlyloyal1442]

Agreed, best breakthrough system to play eroge games i think.

[@sebastienlopezmassoni8107]

thanks for the video, I love the sound chip processor it's sounds like YM 2612

[@porjay]

Love your videos! Great work can't wait for the next one.

[@Lachlant1984]

When you said ICA, did you by any chance mean ISA? Also, why does the sound card have a DC in socket on it? Wouldn't the card get all the power it needs from the interface bus? Clearly I don't know much about these PCs, in fact I know nothing about them.

[@初生之鸟]

C-BUS has a rather weak power output, cards that need external power are common.

[@warcatbattalion]

16 bit sensation

[@allanreyesr1623]

😂

[@mikepartin571]

oh man, PC-98 gear! Can't believe I haven't found this before now.

[@HsienKoMeiLingFormerYANG]

It’s can download or play around 6000 game plus Doom, possibly Wolfenstein 3D, SimCity, Space Hulk and other western game. Lord Monarch, Corpse Party, Brain of the Dead, Policenauts and Slayers (SFC/SNES) were one of best classic. For 120$, That play more than actual pay console.

[@scottbreon9448]

It's a damn good computer for sure, although my favorite Japanese PC is the Sharp X68000

[@NemanjaVuj]

So many V-scroll shooters... Is this the most typical genre for the system or your personal preference?

[@ModernVintageGamer]

personal preference, there is a wide range of games for the system. Be warned though there is an abundance of japansese 'hentai' games also

[@Toyaddict81]

Great machine indeed. What is the name of the song at the end of the video (or what game does it come from)? @ 7:41

[@Lachlant1984]

Were there any ports of PC-Engine/Turbografx games released for the PC-98 platform? In particular, games such as Bonk's Adventure or Bomberman or Blazing Lazers or other such games.

[@Lachlant1984]

Well considering that Bomberman was a Hudson Soft title, I'd be somewhat surprise if it wasn't released on the PC 98 since Hudson Soft and NEC both worked on the Turbografx system.

[@NesNyt]

Oh jeez here we go.....mine kept restarting and selected whatever it wanted on screen. Turns out a quarter was stuck between chassy and motherboard just sitting there shorting away

[@felenov]

Versions of this architecture are still coming up on industrial machines from Asia. It's quite interesting looking st how those things sre built

[@Dvach_Hikka]

Lately I saw a NEC PC-9821 laptop on the market, and I'm total noob at PC-98. Do NEC laptops worth it?

[@funknotik]

Does anyone know if the pc 98 had a way to make music on it? Like a DAW or a tracker software like teh one on amiga machines?

[@madson-web]

I wish there were more about japanese machines

[@JD-jx6gw]

How did an Aussie end up in the states?

[@seireiart]

I believe this is the same computer ZUN have used to develop the first 5 Touhou games.

[@costelinha1867]

Yes, because that's literally where the first touhou games came on, MVG even showed footage of one of these games in the video.

[@facudscgamer]

great video. it was very useful, I want one of these and I didnt know that yahoo japan had an auction site

[@cyber-7878]

This is probably the only old PC I'd buy for the games it has instead of just emulating

[@zangl2955]

Amigas are pretty fuckin cool too

[@ShmupsBR]

Hello! What monitor do you use with it? I see it's a NEC AccuSync, but I can't read the model number. Thanks!

[@PeterKr79]

Which is a model of nec monitor?

[@TransKingFormers]

is there anyway of emulating this on a jailbroken console such as original xbox,wii,360,ps3 or rasperry pi?

[@usateiusatei]

Do you have an original copy of Louts Land Story from Zun himself, or did you get a copy off the internet?

[@ModernVintageGamer]

i wish ! i would love to source an original Lotus Land Story - i found an image of it online instead

[@usateiusatei]

That'd be amazing if you did - I've seen prices going for about 1.5 million yen! Have you checked out Mystic Square yet?

[@aretard7995]

l o u t s l a n d s t o r y

[@jonnyretro3128]

Awesome mate, those games look cool !

[@MrBamcito]

The games are so smooth! :O

[@djwille88]

About that compact flash. I'm running a bunch of 9821x's at work (very old machines) I'd like to know what adapter you used to get this to work.

[@averagechadlegionary5824]

Can it run the Sims 1 Complete Collection? RetroArch has a core for this system which would in theory let me play the Sims 1 on IOS I think.

[@meowtrox1234]

Amazing BGM!

[@slightlyloyal1442]

Damn this was the first PC i've ever seen back in the days. Seeing this video, made me realise how underrated and the ridiculous amount of potential in this PC had to offer. Absolute beast of a computer. I was visiting a great old friend of mine who was himself was Dutch/Japanese and had a older brother who owned this PC. We played games on the PS1 and somewhat on the PC-98 with Windows 95 installed i believe. He had many games that we played like Touhou-series is what's called right? (fantastic series) i self was fundamentally speaking to little to even understand something, but i did know he played also playee some eroge games aswell lool. His library was insane. Is the PC available somewhere?

[@CRTcade]

Hey buddy, how's it going? Awesome machine and what deal, a machine listed as junk, in perfect working order. Great buy, and games look great!

[@SatoshiMatrix1]

What of a controller port? I can't imagine playing shmups with nothing but the keyboard.

[@tfilefan]

Satoshi Matrix PC-9801-86 Sound Card has an MSX compatible controller port which is directly connected to YM2608. Its DB-9 connector isn't compatible with ATARI joystick.

[@unebonnevie]

Japan web site you bought your PC-9821? Thanks!

[@Acierer]

Do you need to supply power to the DC-In on the sound card?

[@ShaneStrife]

It’s optional. It was put in there in case you had a lot of other cards eating up power on the 12V rail, and couldn’t power the sound card as well. As far as I know, they didn’t even come with power adapters in the box!

[@crunchsixfoe]

Love that stuff that's listed as junk and turns out all good

[@thepirategamerboy12]

Is a voltage transformer required to safely use this in the US?

[@Longlius]

You shouldn't since the US and Japan use almost identical voltages and frequencies, and it's likely just a standard switching PC power supply.

[@thepirategamerboy12]

I see, but I still bought the transformer anyways. I really just wanted to be safe.

[@Zero.Requiem]

Can i ask what is the brand and model of the monitor that you use? Thanks

[@twoquickcapri]

I won one from Yahoo Japan for 1000 yen but I can get it to turn on. Did open it to take a quick look but didn't see anything out of place. Will have to dig into it later when I have the time.

[@ModernVintageGamer]

Yeah I've opened it up a few times. Does the standby light come on at all ? Hopefully it's nothing too serious.

[@twoquickcapri]

The system does nothing. No lights, no fans, and no bleeps. Hopefully it just a fuse in the power supply.

[@twoquickcapri]

I just realize that my 9821 doesn't have the the RAM expansion in the front like your system does. Will your system turn on with out it? standby light? I saw the simm slot next to the CPU thinking it was the RAM for the system but I'm now thinking it's for cache.

[@snessy]

Aaaand he never replied back.

[@cortexauth4094]

I saw Touhou whoa, I wasn't wrong when I subscribed you earlier

[@dave4shmups]

Excellent video! How did you use Yahoo Japan auctions?

[@soilbroker]

Great video, loved the shirt!!..Greece rocks!..waiting for Charisteas T-Shirt!!!

[@dave4shmups]

How did you get Yahoo Auctions Japan to display in English?

[@hokman1]

i know u can run iso's but isn't the whole point of this era is to have the cd-rom to play cd-rom games that really came to its prime at that time? And authencity is what makes the experience unique to have retro obscrue hardware?

[@jendorei]

Oh god, I want to buy this.

[@meowtrox1234]

were some of the games here predecessor of ROCKMAN?

[@gamerdude0]

Very cool thumbs up

[@joseph0126]

May I ask the CF card and IDE adapter specifications, thanks.

[@badmeme486]

I can't seem to find any videos with it's original monitor

[@josephfrye7342]

ahhhh yes there it is one and only computer.

[@joefell5311]

Very nice and niche system

[@TheLemminkainen]

What abou the video chip was it standard VGA?

[@InsaneWayne355]

Does it not output any sound effects? All I heard was music.

[@mauriceh7558]

get a better hs and or speakers

[@hehe42069-k]

these days buyee shipping is pretty reasonable, import charges arent even bad. But the last time i imported a lot of things was a year ago so maybe times have changed again lol

[@NekohitaTenko]

The MASTA RACE !

[@Link-channel]

Does anybody know where to find that MSDP for DOS?

[@jatlarge6354]

That PC98 got some sort of hardware sprite assistance? The shooters you showed wouldn’t work anything like as well on a regular IBM…

[@SkyeWelse]

Great video! I had question about the monitor you are using. I can see that it is some kind of NEC Multisync, but I was wondering if you could tell me which specific model this is and if you've ever notice anything cutting off on the edges of the screen. I have my PC-98 Ce2 hooked up to a few monitors but they all seem to cut off the screen just a little bit. Thanks!

[@HikariCalyx]

Take a look to the information if it recognize the resolution, refresh frequency and Horizontal Frequency as 640 x 400 @ 56Hz, 24kHz. You just need to display a game's interface then make a auto calibration.

[@whatifindinteresting3067]

very cool videos. you really should have more views. You should reach out to others with similar channels to get some back and forth plugs for each other.

[@ModernVintageGamer]

thank you for the kind words!

[@joseluki]

If it is a 486 is it compatible with any other western 486?

[@simonrichard9873]

The processor itself is the same as any other 486SX-33

[@Longlius]

It's a standard 486. The I/O pins are just wired up differently since the motherboard is a different standard.

[@ahsanahmed3412]

MADE IN JAPAN IS GOLD QUALITY

[@JohnDoe-wi7eb]

Can PC-98 games play on windows 95?

[@costelinha1867]

If I remember correctly, you'd have to reboot into MS-DOS to play these games, even if you have windows installed.

[@AshtonCoolman]

A $120 PC98 is unimaginable in 2018 😂

[@REDMOON982]

Even moreso in 2022

[@TotemoGaijin]

@@REDMOON982 And 2023, lol.

[@aceofhearts573]

Make a video going over as many games as you can

[@atomiswave2]

could you get this to run on dos box?

[@ModernVintageGamer]

no unfortunately you cannot. there is however a PC-98 emulator called Anex86 that should do what you need. i've never used it however so YMMV. thanks!

[@Farsuvon]

There is also the T98-Next and Neko Project II emulators. NP2 has been recently updated and is the best one if you can configure it properly and have the processor power for it. May not work with EVERY game out there. Anex86 works, but the sound quality bothers me. If you use that, you must change the sound setting to -86 to get the full OPNA sound for games like Touhou 4: Lotus Land Story in this video. T98-Next works well. It's a good middle ground for emulating PC-98 games.

[@costelinha1867]

@@ModernVintageGamer I know this comment is really old, but there is a version of Dosbox that emulates the pc98 called Dosbox-X, now it doesn't run on pc98 mode by default, but you can change it to do so in the configuration file and then run touhou quite easily.

[@superbravo666]

Amazing classic cool PC :)

[@MrXabungle]

3:57 *gulps*

[@tchitchouan]

God bless pc98 reimu

[@Miku01624]

Touhou Project

[@4everIRide]

Sweet......................................................................................

[@VigilanteGamer]

this video had 486 views when I watched :)

[@Lachlant1984]

That's awesome. So awesome. You say it had 486 views and this PC has an Intel 486 SX in it, that's such an amazing coincidence.

[@VigilanteGamer]

Jesus... sorry I offended you!

[@Lachlant1984]

You didn't offend anyone. What are you talking about?

[@VigilanteGamer]

I made a lighthearted throw-away comment that I forgot I even posted. Which apparently got you upset enough to make an extremely sardonic reply. I was surprised that anyone would give a fuck, let alone be angry about it. It's almost as if you were "offended". Consider it a figure of speech.

[@Lachlant1984]

I wasn't angry and I wan't upset.

[@NesNyt]

Fave games or all u got

[@maxpainop498]

Does anyone know where to download English patch roms for pc 98 games?

[@yukithesnowman314]

Always wanted one because of Touhou.

[@cristianflores1588]

I came here because of The Disappearence of Haruhi Suzumiya