PC-98: Unterschied zwischen den Versionen

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 the 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.

 

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 the circulation of the full versions is very limited, and it's extremely difficult to obtain them. Only 200 to 300 copies of ''[[Lotus Land Story]]'' were sold during the time of its release,<ref>[http://twitter.com/#!/korindo/status/8951043502 twitter message on 2010 February 11]</ref> with ''[[Phantasmagoria of Dim.Dream]]'' selling fewer than half as many copies<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>.

 

==Games for this platform==

*{{HRtP}} ([[Amusement Makers]]/[[ZUN Soft]] 1996)

==System Details==

ZUN targeted the PC-9821 series for these games, which included [[wikipedia:Intel 80386|Intel 386]] or faster processors. Various expansion cards could be installed in PC-98 systems, including more capable video or audio cards, but only the base hardware is required for the Touhou games. Said base hardware includes dual [[wikipedia:NEC µPD7220|µPD7220]] video display processors, one each for text and graphics. In graphics mode, they can display sprites with four 16-color palettes selected from 4026 possible colors.

ZUN specifies a [[wikipedia:Intel 80486|486]] at 66MHz as the bare minimum for play, but suggests that even then the games may have issues with slowdown.

 

 

==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's equivalent usually is {{nihongo|"Touhou old works"|東方旧作|Touhou kyuusaku}} or more commonly {{nihongo|"old works"|旧作|kyuusaku}} for short; [[ZUN]] has used both the Japanese and English term. This terminology is supposed to distinguish the games from the modern Touhou series from ''[[Embodiment of Scarlet Devil]]'' onwards. The term is also used to reflect the [[wikipedia:Frequency modulation synthesis|FM Synthesis]] music, [[wikipedia:16-bit|16-bit]] colour graphics, basic stories and characters that only occur in these games.

The place is inhabited with various [[human]]s and [[youkai]], with [[demon]]s living throughout said list of locations. There's known to be a young [[shrine maiden]] called {{nihongo|[[Reimu Hakurei]]|博麗靈夢}} who lives at the shrine with [[Genjii]], having [[Marisa Kirisame]] visiting her at times and [[Mima]] being notable around the shrine for tormenting Reimu when bored.

Unlike the incidents that have happened in the [[Windows]] games, the incidents in the PC-98 mainly involve youkai destroying the Hakurei Shrine, with Reimu going out to find out why. Other characters who may also solve such incidents may have their own personal reasons rather than figuring out why the shrine was destroyed.

The story of the ''[[Touhou Project]]'' drastically changed when the [[Windows]] era started after the PC-98. 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 was where the current setting of the ''Touhou Project'' came together. Hence, no PC-98 [[character]] has ever appeared in a Windows era game except 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 or use 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, on which he played ''[[Highly Responsive to Prayers]]'' for the first time in years. He felt nostalgic.

*Since any software made for Windows 2000 or earlier can be run both on the IBM-compatible Windows 2000 and the PC-98 Windows 2000 without compatibility problems, technically all 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 ''[[the Embodiment of Scarlet Devil]]'' ask for a 500MHz Pentium) this is generally not viable in practice.

*Because PC-98 computers are no longer sold, many fans use an [[wikipedia:emulator|emulator]] to play these games on modern PCs. The emulators most commonly used for the PC-98 games are [http://www.zophar.net/pc98/anex86.html Anex86], [http://www.zophar.net/pc98/t98-next.html T98-Next], and [http://yui.ne.jp/np2/ Neko Project 21] (for the latter it's advised to use the unofficial fmgen builds that're linked from [http://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,11117.0.html here] instead).

*There are [[wikipedia:Frequency modulation synthesis|FM Synthesis]] remixes of many of ZUN's creations that mimic the PC-98 style. One notable example is the album ''[[PC-98 Perfect Cherry Blossom]]''. There's also artwork of modern Touhou characters drawn in the PC-98 style.