PC98 Area
When the PC98x1 series of computers was started in 1982, NEC only intended it to be a business computer. Back then there were no games for it, only productivity apps and the like. It was the first 16-bit computer released by NEC, and probably one of the first 16-bit micros around.

The first model released had an Intel 8086 CPU running at a whopping 5Mhz and a massive 128KB of main memory! It was capable of producing graphics at 640x400 with 8 colors.

Released in 1985 was the best selling version of the PC98: the PC9801vm. It was upgraded to contain an NEC V30 processor at 8Mhz and 384KB of ram and two 5 1/4" floppy drives. The follow up to the VM was the PC9801vx. It had an i80286 at 10Mhz and 1 MB of memory. The resolution remained the same, but the color capability had doubled to 16 colors from a total of 4096 colors. These two machines pretty much set the standard for the other computers in the series.

However, in 1992, NEC released the PC9821. This was a huge upgrade from previous versions containing an i386SX and a whopping 4MB of memory. It was capable of Super-VGA quality graphics, had a CD-ROM drive, a 40MB hard-drive and many other new features. In recent years, the latest models shipped with Windows95 installed and Pentium II processors, equivalent to standard PC's.

The 9821 hosted a variety of popular games such as Policenauts and the Doom series of games, which unfortunately, cannot be run in any emulators at the moment. The 9801 on the other hand was home to a very large number of Japanese first-person perspective adventure-style games, many of which were of the hentai persuasion (^_~).

Overall a very nice series of machines capable of great visual quality and tremendous sound. A must try for any Japanese game enthusiast.