Before Windows 95 was released, the PC-98 was the business computer of choice in Japan. Since it featured higher resolutions than typical computers of the era, it was better-equipped to handle Japanese text. The computers naturally became popular with game developers as well, and its architecture made it a perfect platform for adventure games, RPGs, dating sims, and other genres that relied heavily on text. Its large install base was able to support thousands of games, and a steady flow of fan-made titles kept the community engaged for decades. The PC-98 library is particularly noteworthy for its abundance of eroge content, and the machines were the most prominent smut delivery systems of their day. H-games were released by the hundreds on the PC-98! If naked anime babes aren’t your thing, then I suggest you tread lightly if you intend on researching the system further.
- If you’re new to the world of PC-98 emulation, here are some tips. First up, a small explanation of the PC-9800 series of personal computers. What you’re emulating is a really old Japanese computer, basically. It comes with floppy disk drives and hard drives, which are the main methods you use to actually load up games and other software.
- The opening theme is also completely different – the PC version uses the (outstanding) track titled “Old LA 2040”, while the other versions use a variation on the main theme “End of the Dark”. “Old LA 2040” can only be heard in the console versions on Hojo’s CD rack, which acts as an in-game sound test.
- A playthrough of the PC-98 version of Policenauts. Sign in to like videos, comment, and subscribe.
ポリスノーツ pc-9821専用ソフトとして1994年発売。 コナミ pc9821専用ソフトと銘打った中では不朽の名作であり、 pc-98シリーズの憂愁を迎えた時期. Policenauts is a Japanese-style adventure with action elements, similar in many ways to Snatcher. The player interacts with the environment in a point-and-click fashion: positioning a cursor over an object allows the player character to examine it or perform other context-dependent actions.
Chitty Chitty Train is difficult to describe because there aren’t really a lot of games like it. It’s basically a real-time train-routing puzzle game. Your objective is to watch over trains as they move along the map and prevent any derailments from taking place. Players aren’t given any control over the trains themselves, and instead direct them by operating switches placed at various intersections. It’s a simple concept, but the trains move very quickly so its almost impossible to plan ahead. You have to watch over multiple trains at the same time, and the courses have many paths for the trains to take. Even though the switches are controlled by a simple mouse click, it’s hard to keep up with the action. It’s possible to slow trains down momentarily by placing stop lights on the map, but this often causes other trains to crash into them. You’ll inadvertently cause thousands of derailments when playing the game, but the upbeat music helps lighten the mood. Chitty Chitty Train has the happiest music this side of Bubble Bobble.
Popful Mail is a bright and colorful 2D platformer with some RPG elements thrown in for good measure. The game follows the exploits of an enthusiastic elf, a naïve wizard, and an adorable bat dragon thing. Each character has their own unique abilities, and players are free to switch between them at any time. Although versions of the game were subsequently released on the Sega CD and Super Famicom, the PC-98 version is different by virtue of the fact that there is no attack button. Enemies in the game are defeated by jumping on them or by simply running into them. Optical flares after effects cc. This is similar to how combat works in the Y’s franchise, and it’s a lot of fun to mow down enemies in the game. The action sequences are supported by traditional RPG conventions. You’ll visit shops, find new equipment, and spend a lot of time talking to people. This is time well spent, however, since the characters are charming, the dialogue is witty, and the game is genuinely hilarious at times. So many games on the PC-98 were aimed at adult audiences, so a whimsical adventure like Popful Mail was a breath of fresh air.
There’s no reason why Rude Breaker should be so obscure. It’s seldom mentioned on the Internet and even Wikipedia seems to be unaware of its existence. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, Compile pretty much dominated the world of vertically-scrolling shooters. Regardless of what system they were working on, they always seemed to push the hardware further than other developers could. Rude Breaker was no exception. The game moves fast, the scrolling is smooth, and there’s no slowdown even when the screen is filled with enemy ships. I’d be remiss not to mention that the game’s soundtrack is almost as intense as the action is. Like most Compile shooters, Rude Breaker gives players are a wide range of weapons to use and many opportunities to upgrade them. Rude Breaker is a lot more accessible than most shooters because getting shot by an enemy doesn’t result in instant death. Instead, it simply causes the player to lose their sub-weapons. Unfortunately, this makes the game a little too easy. The game only has five stages and can be completed in a half hour with relative ease, but it’s always fun to jump into.
Policenauts is a graphic adventure game and the spirtual successor to Snatcher. Some will debate whether graphic adventures and visual novels can even be considered games in the first place, but there is no question that they helped define the PC-98. Policenauts uses a menu-driven interface that allows the player to talk, examine, and investigate in order to gather information. The point-and-click gameplay is pretty limited, but the real draw of the game is the compelling storyline and intriguing characters. The game was written and directed by Hideo Kojima and adopts a hard science fiction storyline in lieu of the cyberpunk motif employed by Snatcher. Many allusions to past works are made, and the main characters bare strong resemblances to Riggs and Murtaugh from Lethal Weapon. The story itself is a lot more straightforward than most of Kojima’s games, but the characters are memorable and the world is interesting. Players spend most of the game investigating a murder, but the “buddy cops in space” dynamic keeps things lighthearted.
Flame Zapper Kotsujin is one of many fan-made (or “dōjin”) games that was released on the PC-98. You’d never guess by looking at it, but the game was made by a team consisting of only two developers. The game still manages to outperform the vast majority of games on the platform. The graphics are detailed, the music is intense, and the gameplay is way smoother than most shooters on the PC-98 were. Flame Zapper Kotsujin is pretty generic, but I mean that in the nicest way possible. Many other shoot ’em ups on the PC-98 had gimmicks to help them stand out. Galt-Rio was a story-driven shooter that bombarded players with walls of text while Steam-Heart’s featured naked catgirls. Flame Zapper Kotsujin sticks with the fundamentals. You fly a spaceship, collect power-ups, and take down massive bosses. The concept is pretty simple, but the game is extremely challenging. The game could be classified as a “bullet hell” shooter and throws a ridiculous number of enemies and projectiles at the player. There are cool weapons to obtain (including extremely useful homing lasers and various types of bombs), but the focus is on avoiding bullets rather than destroying enemies.
YU-NO is a visual novel developed by ELF. This means that you can expect to see a plethora of panty shots and awkward sexual encounters throughout the game. (The taboo-breaking third act is downright depraved.) Beneath the erotic content, the game deals with complex issues like mathematics, philosophy, history, and religion. YU-NO takes a very creative approach to storytelling and is a lot more engaging than typical visual novels. Games with branching dialogue trees often leave players wondering how things would have turned out if their responses had been different, but the time traveling dynamic in YU-NO gives players the chance to explore the possibilities. Being able to jump back to previous events and discussions essentially lets players rewrite history. One of the most compelling aspects of the game is how the timeline is physically mapped out. Players are given a visual representation of how their choices in the game are leading to alternate realities. It would be easy to write the game off due to its porny exterior, but YU-NO was a revolutionary visual novel with intriguing characters, a compelling storyline, and one of the best soundtracks to come out of the PC-98.
Night Slave is a side-scrolling action game that borrows heavily from Cybernator on the SNES. The game puts players in control of large mechs and takes them through environments ranging from rainy jungles to alien bases. The variety of stages is impressive, and each area of the game looks completely different from the next. The attention to detail in the backgrounds and the quality of the sprite animations go beyond what you’d expect to see in a typical PC-98 action game. The most interesting aspect about the game is its Gradius-inspired upgrade system. By obtaining orbs throughout the game, players can improve their shields, increase their health, or level-up their weapons. These light RPG elements add a lot of depth to what would otherwise be a fairly straightforward action game. Upgrading the mechs actually changes their appearance in the game, and this ultimately makes your progress feel more significant. Another noteworthy aspect about Night Slave is the graphic depictions of lesbian bondage that are shown between each stage. These adult cutscenes don’t add a lot to the game and can be turned off entirely, but I’m not complaining either way. Giant mechs and hot lesbian action sounds like a winning combination to me.
If you were to take Castlevania and replace Simon Belmont with a leather-clad dominatrix, you’d end up with Rusty. This isn’t a bad thing. Who wouldn’t want to play a game with energetic music, impressive boss battles, and a badass whip-wielding protagonist? It would be easy to label the game as a knock-off and call it a day, but there are a number of things that help Rusty stand out from the game it was inspired by. The levels in Rusty are more complex than they are in Castlevania and provide more pathways to explore. Springboards and conveyor belts allow for some simple environmental puzzles, and there are a lot of secrets to find in each stage. The game is also noticeably faster than Castlevania, and the inclusion of a run button makes this even more apparent. Players will need this extra boost of speed to clear large jumps, avoid falling ceilings, and get across collapsing bridges. The game also included a cool eagle sidekick who would attack enemies on your behalf. (This was years before Symphony of the Night introduced familiars to the Castlevania franchise.) The animation is a little wooden at times and some of the areas feel a little empty, but Rusty is easily one of the best games released exclusively for the PC-98 and the type of game that western audiences would have gravitated to.
The most notable franchise to debut on the PC-98 was a series of five dōjin games collectively known as the Touhou Project. These games were made by a one-man team and helped define the concept of “bullet hell” shooters. The series has gained enough notoriety for Touhou Project to be inducted into the Guinness World Records as the “most prolific fan-made shooter series.” (What an oddly specific category.) Touhou games are famous for featuring for a cast of characters comprised entirely of little girls. Despite its harmless exterior, the games are also notoriously difficult. The first several games in series were a little rough around the edges, but the series found its identity in the fourth and fifth games. To date, over 20 Touhou games have been released. Mystic Square was the final Touhou game released on the PC-98 and featured gameplay similar to its Windows-based sequels. The music is upbeat and the graphics are adorable, but the game is agonizing. The game looks like an explosion of color due to the staggering amount of enemy projectiles and explosions on screen at any given time. If dodging the projectiles wasn’t difficult enough, the game also encourages players to take risks by offering more points for collecting items near the top of the playing area. With the exception of pornographic adventure games, no genre defined the PC-98 more than dōjin shooters. This list simply wouldn’t have been complete without Touhou. Singling out the best Touhou game on PC-98 is like opening a can of worms, but Mystic Square simply feels more refined than its predecessors.
Given their reputation for intense action games, it seemed like a pretty big departure when Compile entered the puzzle game arena. The gameplay in Puyo Puyo was a lot more action-oriented than typical Tetris clones from the era, so it wasn’t as big of a leap as you might think. The basic premise in the series is based around colored blobs that fall from the ceiling. By grouping these blobs by their color, players can eliminate them from the playing field. Similar to Dr. Mario, players can set up combination moves to clear several groups at once. By executing combos, players will cause garbage blobs to fall on their opponent’s screen. This creates an interesting risk/reward dynamic. Chaining together combos requires a certain amount of planning, but these plans could easily be ruined if your opponent drops garbage blocks on you before you can act on them. The original Puyo Puyo was a huge success, but the sequel really took the video game world by storm when it hit Japanese arcades in 1994. It became one of the most popular games of the era and was subsequently ported to nearly a dozen different gaming platforms. Puyo Puyo 2 on the PC-98 was basically a bare-bones port of the original arcade game, but the FM synth soundtrack made it stand out. Puyo Puyo 2 is the best puzzle game on the system by a comfortable margin and holds up better than almost every other PC-98 game.
alex9234’s Sunday Review
Happy new year, and welcome back to another episode of Sunday Review. This time I’m going to review the only Hideo Kojima game that has never seen the light of day in the west. But it’s one that is very popular among Kojima fans, and received a major amount of exposure in the gaming media just a few years ago. The game finally got a fan translation for the PS1 version back in 2009, and it’s been one of the most popular fan translations ever since. It’s so popular that even popular YouTubers like Super Bunnyhop have covered it. SPOILERS! He didn’t like it though:
What game is this you ask? Policenauts, which first came out on the PC-98 in 1994, and was then remade for the 3DO (Yes, the 3DO!) in 1995, and was then ported to the PS1 in 1996. However, I’m going to review the Sega Saturn version of the game, which came out in 1996, and is considered the best version of the game.
The Plot
Policenauts follows the story of Jonathan Ingram, who has been chosen as one of the 5 “Policenauts” – astronauts with Police training – to ensure the safety of the first batch of immigrants to mankind’s first space colony, Beyond Coast, in the year 2013. Among Jonathan in the “Policenauts” crew are Gates Becker from Great Britain’s Scotland Yard, Joseph Sadaoki Tokugawa from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police, Salvatore Toscanini from the NYPD, and Jonathan’s partner from the LAPD, Ed Brown. While testing out a new type of space suit in a space walking experiment, Jonathan’s suit malfunctions and drifts away deep into space in front of the other Policenauts. And thanks to the cold sleep module on his suit, Jonathan goes into cryogenic sleep, which preserves his youth. He is then found 25 years later and brought back to earth. We are then taken to the year 2040, where Jonathan works as a private investigator in a district of Los Angeles called “Old L.A.”. There, he is visited by his ex-wife, Lorraine, who asks him for his help in finding her current husband, a Japanese man named Kenzo Hojo. The only clues that were left behind by Hojo are a torn leaf, a set of pills, and the word “Plato.” Unsure on whether to take on the case or not, Lorraine decides to let Jonathan think about it for a while and leaves. However, after Lorraine leaves his office, Jonathan looks out the window and notices a man in a black biker suit holding a remote control. He tries to get Lorraine out of harm’s way, but the man presses the button on the remote control, destroying Lorraine’s Rolls-Royce and severely injures Lorraine. Jonathan chases after him, and after firing several shots at him, notices that he was bleeding out white blood. Jonathan then returns to Lorraine, who tells him that her daughter, Karen, is sick, and asks to help her. However, Lorraine then succumbs to her injuries and dies in Jonathan’s arms. He then decides to take on Lorraine’s requests, and heads out to Beyond Coast.
While on his flight to Beyond Coast, Jonathan is sitting next to a strange and different looking human. The man introduces himself as Tony Redwood, and says that he is a “Frozener” – a race of artificially-conceived human beings who possess genes best suited to the environment of outer space, and have artificial white blood. Jonathan finds him to be suspicious, but he leaves him alone – for now. Upon arrival, he then heads to the Beyond Coast Police Department, where he meets up with his former partner Ed Brown, and asks him for his assistance in investigating Hojo’s disappearance and Lorraine’s murder. Though Ed turns him down at first, he eventually agrees to help Jonathan. The two of them go out on their investigation, only to eventually find out that the people who they thought were their friends had become their enemies, and that there may be no way to get out of this investigation alive…
The Gameplay
Policenauts is a point-and-click visual novel, so you can move the cursor across the screen and have Jonathan analyze objects in the area or have him talk to other characters that are with him. In the PS1 and 3DO versions, you can move the cursor by using the controller’s D-pads, but with the Sega Saturn version, you can use the Japan-only Saturn mouse accessory to move the cursor across the screen. You can save at any point in the game, though you can also save at the end of each chapter. Also, this version, unlike the PS1 and 3DO versions, has scenes that are from the original PC-98 version.
Like it’s predecessor Snatcher, there are shooting segments where you aim the cursor across the screen to take out enemies before your health is completely depleted. While you are only given the option to aim with the D-pad in the PS1 and 3DO versions, the Sega Saturn version gives you the option to use the Saturn Light Gun accessory in the shooting segments if you hook it up in the second controller port.
The Fanservice (LOL)
You know what? Fuck it. Believe it or not, this game has A LOT of fanservice, which is very unusual for a Kojima title. There is tons of cleavage, and there are scenes where Jonathan will say very sexual things about the female characters that you encounter throughout the game. Here…are…some examples:
Moving on…
The Characters
Jonathan Ingram – Age: 30 – The main character of Policenauts. He was one of the original five “Policenauts” who were assigned to protect the first batch of immigrants to mankind’s first space colony Beyond Coast in 2013. However, due to his space suit malfunctioning, he fell deep into space, and entered a state of cryogenic sleep until he was discovered by an exploration crew 25 years later. He now works as a private investigator in Los Angeles, often taking on cases which involve victims of drug and organ smuggling rings.
Policenauts English Download
Ed Brown – Age: 55 – Ed was Jonathan’s former partner during his LAPD days, but now he is the chief of the Beyond Coast PD’s Vice Unit. He was also one of the original five “Policenauts” who were assigned to protect the first batch of immigrants to mankind’s first space colony Beyond Coast in 2013. He is also a single father and has two children – his daughter Anna, and his adopted son Marc. He eventually teams up with Jonathan once again and is determined to help him find out who killed Lorraine and investigate Hojo’s disappearance.
Karen Hojo – Age: 26 – Karen is the heroine of Policenauts. She is the daughter of Lorraine and Hojo, and bears a striking resemblance to Lorraine. She is an anchorwoman for a news station on Beyond Coast, and a rather popular one as well. She is diagnosed with a rare type of cancer called secondary aplastic anemia, and in order for her to be cured, she requires a bone marrow transplant from a matching HLA type.
Tony Redwood – Age: 23 – Tony is a member of Beyond Coast PD’s SWAT team called the Advance Police Unit. He is a so-called “Frozener” – a race of artificially-conceived humans who possess genes best suited to the environment of outer space, and carry artificial white blood. He pilots one of the EMPS (Extravehicular Mobility Police Suit), and is Beyond Coast PD’s ace pilot, which got him the nickname “Mr. Goddard”, after the EMPS model used by AP. Jonathan and Ed view him as suspicious, and keep a close eye on him in the second half of the game.
Gates Becker – Age: 56 – The chief of Beyond Coast PD. He was originally an officer from Great Britain’s Scotland Yard, and was one of the original five “Policenauts” who were assigned to protect the first batch of immigrants to mankind’s first space colony Beyond Coast in 2013.
Joseph Sadaoki Tokugawa – Age: 60 – The head of the Tokugawa Corporation in Beyond Coast. He was one of the original five “Policenauts” who were assigned to protect the first batch of immigrants to mankind’s first space colony Beyond Coast in 2013. He was an officer for Beyond Coast PD for a short time, but then took over the Tokugawa Corp., following his father’s retirement. Tokugawa is the most powerful man on Beyond Coast, and pretty much controls the colony’s media.
Salvatore Toscanini – Age: 58 – Head of security at Tokugawa Corporation’s Moon Plant. He was a former NYPD officer, and was one of the original five “Policenauts” who were assigned to protect the first batch of immigrants to mankind’s first space colony Beyond Coast in 2013. Like Tokugawa, he was also a former Beyond Coast PD officer for a short time, but then went to work at Tokugawa Corp., and is now the head of security at their moon plant.
Meryl Silverburgh – Age: 24 – An officer for Beyond Coast PD’s Vice Unit and one of Ed’s subordinates. She was once a member of FOXHOUND, but after FOXHOUND was disbanded, she went to Beyond Coast and joined Beyond Coast PD’s Vice Unit to satisfy her desire for action. And as you all know, she serves as the basis for the same Meryl Silverburgh in the Metal Gear games.
My Thoughts
Well, this game blew me away when I first saw it. I first saw footage of this game in World of Longplays’ Policenauts walkthrough on YouTube, and I said to myself, “I WANT THIS!” I tried to burn myself a copy of the PS1 version, only to find out that I needed a chipped PS1 or a PS1 boot disc that could let me played burned PS1 games. I now have a chipped PS1, but when me and a friend of mine tried burning the PS1 version with the english patch, it wouldn’t work on my chipped PS1. So if anyone can help me in that area, please comment below.
Anyway, when I got a Sega Saturn a few years ago, I picked up the Saturn version, using the script from the PS1 version to help me play through the game, and I enjoyed it very much. The game has tons of great ideas, and is very creative. The plot was solid, and it leaves you guessing the whole way through, with a massive load of plot twists as well. The cast of characters were also decent and some are very likable too, especially Jonathan, who has a lot of hilarious lines when it comes to the scenes with fanservice. Speaking of the fanservice, though there is a lot of it, it’s actually tolerable. There isn’t anything that’s too excessive or oversaturated, like in modern ecchi animes like Rosario + Vampire, Highschool DxD, etc., just some scenes where you make Jonathan touch some boobs or listen to Jonathan talk dirty about the women he encounters throughout the game. Moving on, the gameplay is very good, the point-and-click interface was well integrated and a lot better than the menu interface in other visual novels, and the shooting scenes were also well integrated and provide a fair degree of challenge. The character designs and animation were also very well done too. Overall, Policenauts is an excellent visual novel with tons of replay value, and you should totally check it out if you’re looking for a great visual novel.
Also, the Sega Saturn version got an English patch made for it by the translation group SaturnAR, based in Argentina.
The team is also working to translate the game into many different languages as well.
Policenauts Ps1 English Rom
My score: 9.25/10
Policenauts Pc 98 Opening Back-up
Source: http://metalgear.wikia.com/wiki/Policenauts