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introduction
& background information: |
In 1992, System Soft (which is still
publishing software in Japan) ported the original 1989 PC-Engine Nectaris
to two very popular computer platforms: NEC's PC-9800 and
Sharp's X68000. Since neither of these personal computer series
was popular (or even available) outside of Japan, these two ports are
virtually unknown to a substantial number of Nectaris fans.
I discovered the PC-98 version by accident one day (a few years ago)
when I was scouring Japanese auction sites for Nectaris
paraphernalia. I didn't even know that System Soft released an
X68000 version in tandem with the PC-98 title until Lawrence ( nfgman
) provided the documentation and the scans (thank you!) to set the
record straight. Now, while these are the least-known titles in
the series, they seem to be straight forward ports of the original game
and offer no surprises.
The PC-98 (MS-DOS) port of Nectaris was released on both
5.25" and 3.5" floppy disks (on that note, check out the bottom
panel
of the package listing the system requirements -- note the MS-DOS
logo). ABOUT THE
HARDWARE : The PC-9800 was not IBM PC compatible. The PC-98
was actually an Intel X86 based Japanese personal computer with
original architecture (though there were some similarities to IBM
PC architecture, and it ran ported versions of MS-DOS and, later, MS
Windows). With 40% - 50% market share during its' 15-year history
(1982-1997), the PC-98 was a tremendously successful platform in Japan.
In 1997, NEC shifted its' business model and started making IBM PC
clones.
Anyway, judging from the screenshots on the
back
of the PC-98 package, this release appears to be a faithful port of the original
PC-Engine game (with minor cosmetic
alterations in the menu interface). As far as I can tell,
SystemSoft, not Hudson, was responsible for this port.
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The
original PC-Engine screen layout.
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Note
the slightly modifed layout of the PC-98 & X68000 ports.
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SystemSoft
also ported Nectaris to the X68000 platform (Sharp's line of personal computers) at the same time they were working on the PC-98
version. I
would assume that the PC-98 and X68000 versions were developed and
released in tandem with one another, because the printed instruction
manual lists
both versions on the cover.
If the PC-98 and X68000 versions of Nectaris shared the same
manual, then it is safe to assume that both ports are essentially same,
save for some aesthetic flourishes resulting from hardware differences (i.e. sound cards and music, video
cards and graphics).
QUESTIONS : Did PC-98 and X68000 offer an improved SAVE feature? Or did you still
have to use the password system? I doubt they offered a map
editor... If you can help answer these questions, please contact
me !
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