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The '''[[wikipedia:NEC PC-9801|NEC PC-9801]]''' ('''PC-98''' for short) is a series of personal computers developed by NEC, equipped with 16 and 32-bit [[wikipedia:x86|Intel x86]] CPUs. While outwardly similar to IBM's [[wikipedia:IBM PC compatible|PC and compatibles]] including use of [[wikipedia:DOS|DOS]], it was for the most part a proprietary architecture. It succeeded NEC's Z80-based [[wikipedia:NEC PC-8801|PC-88 series]] computers. "PC-98" is also a term to describe the first five ''[[Touhou Project]]'' games.
The '''[[wikipedia:NEC PC-9801|NEC PC-9801]]''' ('''PC-98''' for short) is a series of personal computers developed by NEC, equipped with 16 and 32-bit [[wikipedia:x86|Intel x86]] CPUs. While outwardly similar to IBM's [[wikipedia:IBM PC compatible|PC and compatibles]] including use of [[wikipedia:DOS|DOS]], it was for the most part a proprietary architecture. It succeeded NEC's Z80-based [[wikipedia:NEC PC-8801|PC-88 series]] computers. "PC-98" is also a term to describe the first five ''[[Touhou Project]]'' games.


All the ''[[Touhou Project]]'' games from ''The [[Highly Responsive to Prayers]]'' (the 1st Touhou game) to ''[[Mystic Square]]'' (the fifth Touhou game) were developed for this platform. They're distinguished from "the [[Windows]] games" (the 6th Touhou game onwards) for having been distributed by [[Amusement Makers]]. Upon his graduation and subsequent employment, and the release of ''Mystic Square'', ZUN paused development of ''[[Touhou Project]]'' games.
All the ''[[Touhou Project]]'' games from ''The [[Highly Responsive to Prayers]]'' (the 1st Touhou game) to ''[[Mystic Square]]'' (the fifth Touhou game) were developed for this platform. They're distinguished from "the [[Windows]] games" (the 6th Touhou game onwards) for having been distributed by [[Amusement Makers]]. Upon his graduation and subsequent employment, and the release of ''Mystic Square'', ZUN paused development of ''[[Touhou Project]]'' games. At the time when the PC-98 games were released, the PC-9801 series of computers were already on the decline (replaced mainly by [[Wikipedia:Windows 95|Windows 95]]). Because of this, the games weren't considered as well known.  


On 19 September 2002, ZUN ceased sales and support for the games. Except for ''Highly Responsive to Prayers'', it's still possible to download the trial versions of the games<ref>http://www.kt.rim.or.jp/~aotaka/am/get.htm</ref>, but compared to the Windows games their circulation is very small, and it's extremely difficult to obtain them. During the time ''[[Lotus Land Story]]'' was released, only 200 to 300 copies were sold,<ref>[http://twitter.com/#!/korindo/status/8951043502 twitter message on 2010 February 11]</ref> while only fewer than half as many copies of ''[[Phantasmagoria of Dim.Dream]]'' as ''Lotus Land Story'' have been sold<ref>According to [http://web.archive.org/web/20050410015719/http://www16.big.or.jp/~zun/cgi-bin/diary/nicky.cgi?page=0 a post by ZUN on 2005 April 01].</ref>.
On 19 September 2002, ZUN ceased sales and support for the games. Except for ''Highly Responsive to Prayers'', it's still possible to download the trial versions of the games<ref>http://www.kt.rim.or.jp/~aotaka/am/get.htm</ref>, but compared to the Windows games their circulation is very small, and it's extremely difficult to obtain them. During the time ''[[Lotus Land Story]]'' was released, only 200 to 300 copies were sold,<ref>[http://twitter.com/#!/korindo/status/8951043502 twitter message on 2010 February 11]</ref> while only fewer than half as many copies of ''[[Phantasmagoria of Dim.Dream]]'' as ''Lotus Land Story'' have been sold<ref>According to [http://web.archive.org/web/20050410015719/http://www16.big.or.jp/~zun/cgi-bin/diary/nicky.cgi?page=0 a post by ZUN on 2005 April 01].</ref>.
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Unlike incidents that have happened in the [[Windows]] games, the incidents mainly involves youkai destroying the Hakurei Shrine, where Reimu has to go out and solve the issue. Other character who may also solve such incident may have their own personal reason rather than seeing the shrine destroyed.
Unlike incidents that have happened in the [[Windows]] games, the incidents mainly involves youkai destroying the Hakurei Shrine, where Reimu has to go out and solve the issue. Other character who may also solve such incident may have their own personal reason rather than seeing the shrine destroyed.


The story of the ''[[Touhou Project]]'' drastically changes when the [[Windows]] started after the PC-98. They both share the same series name "Touhou Project", but it was never stated that the location setting in the PC-98 was "[[Gensokyo]]". [[ZUN]] stated that it was a "clean sweep" when ''[[Embodiment of Scarlet Devil]]'' started, which he states that the setting of the ''Touhou Project'' really was coming together. Hence, no PC-98 [[character]] was ever shown in the Windows era exept for [[Reimu Hakurei]], [[Marisa Kirisame]], [[Alice Margatroid]] and [[Yuuka Kazami]]. There's been no information about [[Mima]] and her relation with the Hakurei Shrine in the Windows era, but [[ZUN]] has mentioned in at least two interviews that [[Genjii]] is "probably living in the lake at the back of the shrine."<ref name="MU talkshow DoT">[[Meiji University talkshow "Dawn of Touhou"]]</ref><ref name="ZUN's Genyou Denshou Lecture">[http://www.gensokyo.org/archives/92#more-92 Notes on ZUN's Genyou Denshou Lecture]</ref> In addition, there's no mention of the [[spell card] rules in the PC-98.
==Additional Information==
==Additional Information==
*It has been shown in an interview that ZUN still owns a PC-98 computer, where he played ''[[Highly Responsive to Prayers]]'' for the first time in years. He felt nostalgic.
*It has been shown in an interview that ZUN still owns a PC-98 computer, where he played ''[[Highly Responsive to Prayers]]'' for the first time in years. He felt nostalgic.

Revision as of 13:39, 23 July 2014

The NEC PC-9801 (PC-98 for short) is a series of personal computers developed by NEC, equipped with 16 and 32-bit Intel x86 CPUs. While outwardly similar to IBM's PC and compatibles including use of DOS, it was for the most part a proprietary architecture. It succeeded NEC's Z80-based PC-88 series computers. "PC-98" is also a term to describe the first five Touhou Project games.

All the Touhou Project games from The Highly Responsive to Prayers (the 1st Touhou game) to Mystic Square (the fifth Touhou game) were developed for this platform. They're distinguished from "the Windows games" (the 6th Touhou game onwards) for having been distributed by Amusement Makers. Upon his graduation and subsequent employment, and the release of Mystic Square, ZUN paused development of Touhou Project games. At the time when the PC-98 games were released, the PC-9801 series of computers were already on the decline (replaced mainly by Windows 95). Because of this, the games weren't considered as well known.

On 19 September 2002, ZUN ceased sales and support for the games. Except for Highly Responsive to Prayers, it's still possible to download the trial versions of the games[1], but compared to the Windows games their circulation is very small, and it's extremely difficult to obtain them. During the time Lotus Land Story was released, only 200 to 300 copies were sold,[2] while only fewer than half as many copies of Phantasmagoria of Dim.Dream as Lotus Land Story have been sold[3].

Games for this platform

System Details

ZUN targeted the PC-9821 series for these games, which include Intel 386 or 486 processors. Various expansion cards could be installed in PC-98s, including more capable video or audio cards, but only the base hardware is required for the Touhou games. The PC-98 uses dual µPD7220 video display processors, one for text and one for graphics. In graphics mode, they can display sprites with four 16-color palettes selected from 4026 possible colors.

ZUN specifies a 486 at 66MHz as a bare minimum, but suggests that even then the games may still chug.

As for sound hardware, the PC-9801VX came default with the PC-9801-26k soundcard. This in turn includes the Yamaha YM2203 FM synthesizer, providing 3 FM synthesis channels plus the three channels of the on-board YM2149 SSG unit. Users could replace this with the PC-9801-86 soundcard with the much more capable YM2608, doubling the amount of FM channels plus a number of other features. As such, the PC-98 games have two versions of the in-game music, for either 3 or 6 FM channel hardware. All of the music was programmed in MML and M. Kajihara's Professional Music Driver (PMD), except for Highly Responsive to Prayers which used Mdrv2 for the music driver. Story of Eastern Wonderland also supports outputting to a MIDI device.

ZUN subsequently released arranged versions of many of the music themes from the PC-98 games in MIDI format onto his old website. ZUN has stated in Akyu's Untouched Score vol.3 that he loves FM music and would continue to create FM music in the modern world.

Overview on the Touhouverse

Terminology

"PC-98" as a term refers specifically to the five first games of the Touhou Project by the Western community. The Japanese community equivalent usually is "Touhou old works" (東方旧作 Touhou kyuusaku) or more commonly "old works" (旧作 kyuusaku) in short; ZUN has used both the Japanese and English term. It's supposed to distinguish them from the modern Touhou series from Embodiment of Scarlet Devil onwards. The term is also used to reflect the FM Synthesis music, 16-bit colour graphics, basic stories and characters that only occur in these games.

Setting

Unlike the modern era of the Touhou Project, there hasn't been much details on the location of the series. Various sources said that Touhou is set in "an Eastern Country", with a statement in Highly Responsive to Prayers saying it's in a "strange world" and Mystic Square calling it the "Human World". There's various locations in the eastern country, such as Makai, Human Village, Dream World, Mugenkan and Reimaden. There's also the Hakurei Shrine at the east, being the prime location in the PC-98.

The place is inhabited with various humans and youkai, with demons living in said list of locations. There's known to be a young shrine maiden called Reimu Hakurei (博麗靈夢) who lived at the shrine with Genjii, with having Marisa Kirisame visiting her at times and Mima being notable around the shrine who torments Reimu when board.

Unlike incidents that have happened in the Windows games, the incidents mainly involves youkai destroying the Hakurei Shrine, where Reimu has to go out and solve the issue. Other character who may also solve such incident may have their own personal reason rather than seeing the shrine destroyed.

The story of the Touhou Project drastically changes when the Windows started after the PC-98. They both share the same series name "Touhou Project", but it was never stated that the location setting in the PC-98 was "Gensokyo". ZUN stated that it was a "clean sweep" when Embodiment of Scarlet Devil started, which he states that the setting of the Touhou Project really was coming together. Hence, no PC-98 character was ever shown in the Windows era exept for Reimu Hakurei, Marisa Kirisame, Alice Margatroid and Yuuka Kazami. There's been no information about Mima and her relation with the Hakurei Shrine in the Windows era, but ZUN has mentioned in at least two interviews that Genjii is "probably living in the lake at the back of the shrine."[4][5] In addition, there's no mention of the [[spell card] rules in the PC-98.

Additional Information

  • It has been shown in an interview that ZUN still owns a PC-98 computer, where he played Highly Responsive to Prayers for the first time in years. He felt nostalgic.
  • Since any software made for Windows 95 or later can be run both on the IBM-compatible Windows and the PC-98 Windows without compatibility problems, and PC-98 editions of Windows exist up to Windows 2000, technically all the Touhou games up to at least Undefined Fantastic Object should be able to run on a PC-98 as long as the appropriate DirectX version is installed. However, since the last PC-98 system was released in 2000 (the PC-9821Ra43, which had a 433MHz Celeron, whereas the system requirements of EoSD ask for a 500MHz Pentium) this is generally not viable in practice.

Fandom

  • Because PC-98 computers are no longer sold, many fans use an emulator to play these games on modern PCs. The emulators most commonly used for the PC-98 games are Anex86, T98-Next, and Neko Project 21 (for the latter it's advised to use the unofficial fmgen builds that're linked from here instead).
  • Many fans will consider the PC-98 in general to be old or obsolete, where to the extent that nowadays the PC-98 can give a bit of nostalgic feeling to some fans who strongly advocate the PC-98.
  • PC-98 characters are commonly shown in fanworks with the modern Windows era characters as though the two canons are connected.
  • There are FM Synthesis remixes of many of ZUN's creations that mimic the PC-98 style. There's also artwork of modern Touhou characters drawn in the PC-98 style.

References