Abstract
This chapter describes the changes that occurred in the PC gaming market from the late 1980s to the early 1990s. During this period, computers were becoming more powerful, and PCs for personal hobbyists were also shifting to 16-bit. In particular, the PC-9801VM released by NEC in 1985 became the de facto standard and lasted until the mid-1990s. This stalled technological innovation. This chapter also discusses the piracy problem and R18 games as social issues that arose with PC games.
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Notes
- 1.
The X68000 was the best PC for learning the 68,000 CPU operation, and there were examples of it being used in the twenty-first century in technical schools that teach game development.
- 2.
This protection is the biggest problem when archiving past games. Since the actual machines become inoperable over time, the games are archived on the premise that they will run on an emulator environment, which is a virtual version of the operating environment of the time on the current PC. To run on the emulator, the data on the disk must be sucked out and converted into an image, but if there is any protection on the disk, the image cannot be sucked out, so it must be removed by hacking. This is to recreate what the backup tool companies did back then.
- 3.
When you need to make a phone call during the game, the phone number is only written in the newspaper that comes with the game, the map of the game world is only included in the package and you cannot find your way without it, and you need the deciphering chart written in the manual to solve the cipher, etc.
- 4.
The Strawberry Porn series for Koei Microcomputer Systems (Night Life (1982), Danchizuma no Yuwaku (Temptation of the Apartment Complex Wife) (1983), Oranda zuma ha denki unagi no yume wo miruka? (Does the Dutch Wife Dream of Electric Eels?) (1984), Enix’s Lolita Syndrome (1983), Nihon Falcom’s Joshidaise private (Female College Student Private) (1983), etc.
- 5.
At the House of Representatives Accounts Committee in 1986. It was taken up by Shozo Kusakawa, a member of the Komei Party. The details can be read at
http://kokkai.ndl.go.jp/SENTAKU/syugiin/107/0410/10710210410001a.html
- 6.
With the improvement of drawing know-how of PC game companies, the drawing of pictures has become more detailed. However, there were some games in which the genitals were not mosaicked, or in which the mosaic was removed by certain hidden commands.
- 7.
At the time, Fairytale had released several games under the “X-rated” brand, all of which were designated as harmful.
- 8.
For reference, quote a newspaper article from that time. The names of the suspects have been changed from their real names to alphabet.
Asahi Shimbun, evening edition, November 25, 1991: “Trader arrested for selling obscene computer game software.”
On November 25, the Kyoto Prefectural Police Juvenile Division arrested Kirara, a software distributor in Takadanobaba 1-chome, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, Just, a software distributor in Miyasaka 3-chome, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo, and an electronics store in Shimogyo-ku, Kyoto, for selling obscene computer software. A total of four locations were raided on suspicion of possession with intent to sell obscene documents. The suspects, H, 27, head of the delivery office of Kirara, and S, 35, president of Just, were arrested on the same charges and software and other items were seized. There are a number of video games on the market that feature naked women or sex scenes, and some magazines specializing in them have appeared, making them popular among junior and senior high school students.
- 9.
Industrial policy in Japan is not based on direct regulation by laws or ministerial ordinances, but rather on indirect regulation by having industry groups established to self-regulate and monitor the industry groups. The game industry is following this custom.
- 10.
Since there were no clear statistics for PC games at the time, it was not clear what the best-selling game title was. Among them, Xanadu was declared the best-selling PC game title in Japan by Nihon Falcom on its web page. Other than that, T&E Software’s Hydlide is said to have sold one million copies ported to various PCs and one million copies ported to Famicom.
Reference
(1) Japanese-language Document
ASCII Shoseki Henshubu. (ed.) (2006). [The revival of the PC-8801] (Yomigaeru PC-8801 Densetsu Eikyu Hozonban), Ascii
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Koyama, Y. (2023). PC Games (2) Establishment and Stagnation of the PC-9801 Long-Term Regime. In: History of the Japanese Video Game Industry. Translational Systems Sciences, vol 35. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-1342-8_6
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