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80s Japanese PCs are so cool
- Thread starter SRO7
- Start date
I came expecting the X68000 and I'm a little disappointed. I still like the PCs in the OP, though, so I'm not that disappointed.
I love these money sinks too much. Check out the OT I made in Gaming Hangouts for a huge write-up and tons of pictures.
https://www.resetera.com/threads/re...s-ot-power-to-make-your-dream-come-true.7708/
https://www.resetera.com/threads/re...s-ot-power-to-make-your-dream-come-true.7708/
Arcade perfect, almost.
Of course it's NSFW (about half way through).
Japan had some cool looking consoles in the 80s, too. The Super Grafix looks like early cyberpunk gear.
They really are. One day, I'll own a Sharp X68000.
The X68000 was notable because it had a lot of the same or very similar hardware as many arcade machines of the time, so it received a lot of amazing ports of arcade games. It also got one of the best Castlevania games! (CV Chronicles)
The X68000 was notable because it had a lot of the same or very similar hardware as many arcade machines of the time, so it received a lot of amazing ports of arcade games. It also got one of the best Castlevania games! (CV Chronicles)
That game is hard as hell and unfair but I love it. This is a great example of one of my favorite parts of the machine, the ability to effectively choose soundtrack based on which sound module you select. Of course, like everything else with the X68000, there's a huge cost involved in doing so.
Acorn Archimedes was mindblowing for me at the time. My first exposure to a WIMP interface.
I miss old school Japanese industrial design. They managed to make things look futuristic with such ease.
Yes, this is true. But this isn't actually exclusive to the X68000. IBM PCs (and other PCs with a MIDI port) also could utilize the same external MIDI synthesizers that the X68000 could. Many old DOS games, for example Sim City 2000, Doom, and King's Quest, also had several soundtracks.
If you're interested, check this video out about the MT-32, which is the predecessor of the SC-55 which Castlevania, Doom, Duke 3D, etc. can use:
One of my favorite IBM PC soundtrack comparisons is Tyrian. In my opinion, just like Castlevania, most tracks sound better using FM Synthesis, but some sound better using the SC-55.
The Sharp X1 in red is a thing of beauty.
Like phones, computer designs are so boring these days. Just everything homogenized into slabs of aluminum and plastic. Bleh.
Like phones, computer designs are so boring these days. Just everything homogenized into slabs of aluminum and plastic. Bleh.
The Sharp X1 in red is a thing of beauty.
Like phones, computer designs are so boring these days. Just everything homogenized into slabs of aluminum and plastic. Bleh.
This is the one I wanted to see. Such a great looking design. I believe there is an FM Towns that has the CPU and Monitor integrated that is also great looking. Great industrial design. Can't find the image at the moment.
The Sharp X1 in red is a thing of beauty.
Like phones, computer designs are so boring these days. Just everything homogenized into slabs of aluminum and plastic. Bleh.
I need that keyboard.
The Sharp X1 in red is a thing of beauty.
Like phones, computer designs are so boring these days. Just everything homogenized into slabs of aluminum and plastic. Bleh.
Yup, I love its aesthetic.
I own a few MSX systems, I posted pictures of my Sony HB-F1XD in the retro Japanese Computer thread
Amazing to think that the ARM architecture that began on those machines is now everywhere in our world.
They even sometimes got better conversions of western games then the originals.
FM TOWNS had some superb lucasarts ports, especially a graphically updated Zak Mckracken, and the X68K has the best faithful (IE non-snes, which is almost remake territory) port of Prince of Persia.
FM TOWNS had some superb lucasarts ports, especially a graphically updated Zak Mckracken, and the X68K has the best faithful (IE non-snes, which is almost remake territory) port of Prince of Persia.
RGB lighting is literally the opposite of the dark times. It's the blindingly bright times.
I think we can blame beige IBM clones of the 80s and 90s for sweeping away great industrial design in computing, long before the rise of the PC gamer and their glowing green bullshit.
RGB lighting is the equivalent of having a golden toilet, like the orange oompla loompa president.
The best thing about the Sharp X1: it functions as a cheap broadcast and TV monitor. You can pass TV input through the monitor using a peripheral IIRC, letting you tune externally. Sharp might have sold more of their units that way than through enthusiast appeal to programmers, but I'm not sure.
Japanese micro-computers are so interesting in their variety, and in how they adapted to their market Galapagos-style. So many PCs focused on resolution and internal memory over processing speed and gaming-specific graphics hardware. Rendering Kanji on these older PCs was a huge priority, as was designing keyboard standards to facilitate typing in Japanese on otherwise roman paradigms.
I hope we get more fully machine-accurate emulators of many Japanese PCs in due time, more than just emulators built around games. But the biggest way to get non-Japanese into the vintage Japanese PC scene is through games, so there's that.
Japanese micro-computers are so interesting in their variety, and in how they adapted to their market Galapagos-style. So many PCs focused on resolution and internal memory over processing speed and gaming-specific graphics hardware. Rendering Kanji on these older PCs was a huge priority, as was designing keyboard standards to facilitate typing in Japanese on otherwise roman paradigms.
Some enthusiasts (aka old, office-imprisoned Japanese micro-computer geeks) have been selling replica X68k cases designed for modern PC cabling. You can refurbish X68k shells to house lower-end computers with enough work, and that's likely how they're doing it unless they're 3D-printing the shells.
I hope we get more fully machine-accurate emulators of many Japanese PCs in due time, more than just emulators built around games. But the biggest way to get non-Japanese into the vintage Japanese PC scene is through games, so there's that.
Consumerism. Instead of people becoming crafty, frugal hackers and engineers, we became dumb, lazy consumers and all the know-how distills to a fraction of people. And the tech isn't made to last.
This also includes the weird out-there stuff:
Stippling and dithering for days~
When the day comes that I can drop a grand or two without too much worry, I will be getting an X68k and accessories.
