5 ms·

> this now-forgotten art style native to Japan is known, shorthand, as “PC-98” I'm really into retro computing having collected over a hundred 80s 'home' compu

> this now-forgotten art style native to Japan is known, shorthand, as “PC-98” I'm really into retro computing having collected over a hundred 80s 'home' computers (all non-PC/Mac), including at least a dozen Japanese models, but have never heard the term "PC-98" to describe a particular style of pixel art, probably because I don't speak Japanese and haven't lived there. However, I do see some traits in how the examples shown were constructed which strike me as unique beyond just the obvious Japanese aesthetic of the content. While the article highlights that Japanese computers had greater memory and graphics capabilities earlier due to the need to represent more complex fonts, there's another factor I suspect is behind the differences I'm seeing in those images. Japanese business computers tended to have analog RGB output and displays earlier and more commonly than those in the U.S. Of course, analog RGB was available in the U.S. around the same time but it wasn't usually considered worth the increased cost for mainstream desktop use in the early 80s. Monochrome or 4 colors were generally considered sufficient for 80-column capable text displays (~640 pixels wide). Some of the dot patterns I'm seeing in those examples work well on RGB displays but wouldn't work as well on composite video displays or TVs. In the US, early home computer pixel art targeted resolutions like 256 x 192 and 320 x 200 in 4 or 16 colors but generally assumed the pixels would be displayed on a TV or composite monitor and so leveraged the pixel blending and additional artifact colors composite video can uniquely create to enhance their artwork. These composite-exploiting blends and colors are lost when those images are displayed in RGB, leaving only the original pixel patterns which aren't what the original pixel artist saw or intended when they created the image (which is why original composite-targeted pixel art is best viewed on a composite CRT or CRT emulation). I think these Japanese artists being able to target analog RGB output is behind some of the subtle (but cool) uniqueness I'm seeing in the "PC-98" pixel patterns.

jordibunster 1y ago
I remember trying to install Slackware as a 16 year old living as an exchange student in Japan and not getting anywhere. Turns out PC98 needed a patched kernel.
aidenn0 1y ago
IMO PC-98 is unique because it sits between EGA and VGA in capabilities; it is still a 16 color display, but from a much broader palette (4096 vs 64). EGA is very distinctive because of the limited palette.
- mrandish 1y ago
  Indeed, starting with IBM's initial 5150 design, early PC graphics made cost, memory and capability trade-offs which would soon be seen as unfortunate from a graphics and gaming perspective. Although IBM specced the platform and chose Motorola's 6845 video display chip, I assign some blame to Motorola too for not having created a range of video chips with increasing capabilities to choose from. We'll never know if IBM would have ponied up a few dollars more for a chip with at least a 256 color palette or a few other niceties but it's always possible. Strangely, Motorola did eventually decide to get serious about offering more capable graphics in the form of the RMS chipset but not until it was already too little and too late. They announced the RMS chipset in 1984 and tried to drum up interest among system designers but eventually cancelled it before release amidst lukewarm response and bugs in the early prototypes (https://retrocomputing.stackexchange.com/questions/10977/fate-of-mystery-motorola-rms-graphics-chipset-68486-68487 https://retrocomputing.stackexchange.com/questions/10977/fat...). It certainly didn't help that other options like TI's 99x8 VDP chips were now getting cheaper and the pre-Commodore Hi-Toro company was shopping around their Amiga chipset to all the major consumer computer manufacturers in 1984.
  - michalpleban 1y ago
    The Motorola 6845 CRTC chip is quite versatile, and one of its unique characteristics is that it knows and cares nothing about the resolution or number of colors on the screen. It is just a display address generator, which is meant to provide some external hardware with a memory address that contains data to be displayed at some part of the screen. What to do with this address and data is completely up to the computer hardware, which can interpret it whichever it wants. So there is nothing in the 6845 chip that prevents using it to display 256, 4096 or 16777216 colors on the screen.
aidenn0 1y ago
I didn't read your comment all the way to the end; later EGA games used similar dithering patterns (Loom[1] was one of the later and most visually impressive EGA games) 1: https://www.superrune.com/tutorials/loom_ega.php https://www.superrune.com/tutorials/loom_ega.php
- mrandish 1y ago
  Those Loom comparisons between EGA and VGA are cool. Very impressive work that they did back then. It really highlights how much 16 color palettes forced artists toward simplified cartoon or comic-like representations yet adding just a couple hundred colors enabled the best artists to evoke almost photographic dimensionality, texture and lighting effects. If you haven't seen it, you might find this site useful. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_color_palettes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_color_palettes. I use it as a reference when I'm exploring original retro pixel art from various platforms.
sponaugle 1y ago
'I'm really into retro computing having collected over a hundred 80s 'home' computers (all non-PC/Mac)," I like where you are going with this! I have a small collection of vintage hardware, but a bit more cross brand: https://youtu.be/XHvdqB6LSg0 https://youtu.be/XHvdqB6LSg0 The dot pattern example reminds me of Starlfight, which took advantage of the color effects on composite output from a CGA card. Great stuff!
- mrandish 1y ago
  Very nice collection. I was purely focused on all-in-one 'keyboard home computers' that were designed to connect to a TV or composite monitor since that's the first kind of computer I got (circa 1981). So I have all the Ataris, Amigas, Commodores, Sinclairs, Apples, etc which fit that description. Plus a bunch of overseas models from all over the world. Well over a hundred unique models now, including some extremely rare ones. Fortunately, I started my collection in the early 90s and finished by around 2000 (since I pretty much had one of every machine that fit my style). Gathering them when everyone was just giving away or trashing those machines meant I never paid more than $25 + shipping for any of them. My teenager started looking them up on eBay and said got to over $100,000 in current value before doing even half of them. I told her to stop because they aren't worth anything since they're not for sale. I wanted them them when they were trash no one cared about and that hasn't changed now that they're "vintage collectables" :-)

jordibunster 1y ago

I remember trying to install Slackware as a 16 year old living as an exchange student in Japan and not getting anywhere. Turns out PC98 needed a patched kernel.

aidenn0 1y ago

IMO PC-98 is unique because it sits between EGA and VGA in capabilities; it is still a 16 color display, but from a much broader palette (4096 vs 64). EGA is very distinctive because of the limited palette.

mrandish 1y ago
Indeed, starting with IBM's initial 5150 design, early PC graphics made cost, memory and capability trade-offs which would soon be seen as unfortunate from a graphics and gaming perspective. Although IBM specced the platform and chose Motorola's 6845 video display chip, I assign some blame to Motorola too for not having created a range of video chips with increasing capabilities to choose from. We'll never know if IBM would have ponied up a few dollars more for a chip with at least a 256 color palette or a few other niceties but it's always possible. Strangely, Motorola did eventually decide to get serious about offering more capable graphics in the form of the RMS chipset but not until it was already too little and too late. They announced the RMS chipset in 1984 and tried to drum up interest among system designers but eventually cancelled it before release amidst lukewarm response and bugs in the early prototypes (https://retrocomputing.stackexchange.com/questions/10977/fate-of-mystery-motorola-rms-graphics-chipset-68486-68487 https://retrocomputing.stackexchange.com/questions/10977/fat...). It certainly didn't help that other options like TI's 99x8 VDP chips were now getting cheaper and the pre-Commodore Hi-Toro company was shopping around their Amiga chipset to all the major consumer computer manufacturers in 1984.
- michalpleban 1y ago
  The Motorola 6845 CRTC chip is quite versatile, and one of its unique characteristics is that it knows and cares nothing about the resolution or number of colors on the screen. It is just a display address generator, which is meant to provide some external hardware with a memory address that contains data to be displayed at some part of the screen. What to do with this address and data is completely up to the computer hardware, which can interpret it whichever it wants. So there is nothing in the 6845 chip that prevents using it to display 256, 4096 or 16777216 colors on the screen.

aidenn0 1y ago

I didn't read your comment all the way to the end; later EGA games used similar dithering patterns (Loom[1] was one of the later and most visually impressive EGA games) 1: https://www.superrune.com/tutorials/loom_ega.php https://www.superrune.com/tutorials/loom_ega.php

mrandish 1y ago
Those Loom comparisons between EGA and VGA are cool. Very impressive work that they did back then. It really highlights how much 16 color palettes forced artists toward simplified cartoon or comic-like representations yet adding just a couple hundred colors enabled the best artists to evoke almost photographic dimensionality, texture and lighting effects. If you haven't seen it, you might find this site useful. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_color_palettes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_color_palettes. I use it as a reference when I'm exploring original retro pixel art from various platforms.

sponaugle 1y ago

'I'm really into retro computing having collected over a hundred 80s 'home' computers (all non-PC/Mac)," I like where you are going with this! I have a small collection of vintage hardware, but a bit more cross brand: https://youtu.be/XHvdqB6LSg0 https://youtu.be/XHvdqB6LSg0 The dot pattern example reminds me of Starlfight, which took advantage of the color effects on composite output from a CGA card. Great stuff!

mrandish 1y ago
Very nice collection. I was purely focused on all-in-one 'keyboard home computers' that were designed to connect to a TV or composite monitor since that's the first kind of computer I got (circa 1981). So I have all the Ataris, Amigas, Commodores, Sinclairs, Apples, etc which fit that description. Plus a bunch of overseas models from all over the world. Well over a hundred unique models now, including some extremely rare ones. Fortunately, I started my collection in the early 90s and finished by around 2000 (since I pretty much had one of every machine that fit my style). Gathering them when everyone was just giving away or trashing those machines meant I never paid more than $25 + shipping for any of them. My teenager started looking them up on eBay and said got to over $100,000 in current value before doing even half of them. I told her to stop because they aren't worth anything since they're not for sale. I wanted them them when they were trash no one cared about and that hasn't changed now that they're "vintage collectables" :-)