The PC-8800 series ( Japanese : PC-8800シリーズ , Hepburn : Pī Shī Hassen Happyaku Shirīzu ) , commonly shortened to PC-88 , are a brand of Zilog Z80 -based 8-bit home computers released by Nippon Electric Company (NEC) in 1981 and primarily sold in Japan .
17-703: The PC-8800 series sold extremely well and became one of the four major Japanese home computers of the 1980s, along with the Fujitsu FM-7 , Sharp X1 and the MSX computers. It was later eclipsed by NEC's 16-bit PC-9800 series , although it still maintained strong sales up until the early 90s. NEC's American subsidiary, NEC Home Electronics (USA), marketed variations of the PC-8800 in the United States and Canada . Nippon Electric's Microcomputer Sales Section of
34-631: A more popular system than the FM-8. The FM-7 primarily competed with the NEC PC-8801 and Sharp X1 series of computers in the early 1980s. It was succeeded by the FM-77 series of computers in 1984, which featured backwards compatibility with the FM-7. The FM-77 series was later succeeded by the 32-bit FM Towns in 1989. The FM-7 is based around the 6809 chip, which was also used in home computers such as
51-564: A semi-sequel to Donkey Kong 3 titled Donkey Kong 3: Dai Gyakushū. The computer also had its own BASIC dialect, N88-BASIC. With D-sub 9pin Atari joystick port. model30（B）is black color model. FM-7 The FM-7 ("Fujitsu Micro 7") is a home computer created by Fujitsu . It was first released in 1982 and was sold in Japan and Spain . It is a stripped-down version of Fujitsu's earlier FM-8 computer, and during development it
68-534: A sequel and been turned into adult OVA series. The character design of the main villains from the -saku series is the company mascot. They are also known for role-playing video games such as the Dragon Knight series and visual novel adventure games such as YU-NO . Many ELF games had been turned into adult OVA series. Three of ELF game series had even been turned into TV anime series: Elf-ban Kakyūsei , Raimuiro Senkitan and YU-NO . Elf
85-519: A temporary built-in internal clock, though if the power is turned off, the time and date are lost. While F-Basic has commands that Color BASIC does not, most commands featured in both versions of the language operate in exactly the same fashion. While the BASIC EDIT command works the same as on Color BASIC, the cursor position is important on the FM-7: there is a small keypad on the upper-right of
102-648: The PC-8801 had shipped 170,000 units. The PC-8801's direct successor, the PC-8801mkII , came with a JIS level 1 kanji font ROM, a smaller case and keyboard, and, in the models 20 and 30, one or two internal 5 1 ⁄ 4 -inch 2D floppy disk drives. This set of PC-8800 computers sold more units than the PC-9800 series at that time. By December 1983, NEC had multiple personal computer lines coming out from different divisions. NEC's Information Processing group had
119-593: The PC-8801mkIISR , which had improved graphics and sound capabilities. A cost-reduced version, the PC-8801mkIIFR , shipped 60,000 units for half a year. Although the PC-9801VM shipments surpassed it, the PC-8800 series was still popular as a Japanese PC game platform until the early 1990s. Throughout the lifetime of the PC-8800, there were four different graphics modes. They are as follows: No entry in
136-755: The TRS-80 Color Computer and Dragon 32/64 , as well as several arcade games . The included "F-BASIC" is an enhanced version of the Color BASIC language used on the TRS-80 Color Computer. Changes include a different character set that includes katakana and a few kanji , the ability to have graphics appear on the default text screen, and several new commands such as BEEP , CONNECT , MON , SYMBOL , INTERVAL , MERGE , RANDOMIZE , SWAP , and TERM . There are also strings for TIME$ and DATE$ , which access
153-658: The Electronic Device Sales Division launched the PC-8001 in September 1979, and by 1981 it consisted of 40% of the Japanese personal computer market. In April 1981, Nippon Electric decided to expand personal computer lines into three groups: New Nippon Electric, Information Processing Group and Electronic Devices Group, with each specializing in a particular series. The Microcomputer Sales Section
170-461: The FM-7 for the Spanish market and specifically for the Spanish government's push towards computers in school, the "Athena Project". There were several models of the computer: ELF Corporation ELF Corporation ( 株式会社エルフ , Kabushiki-gaisha Erufu ) , stylized as élf , was a Japanese eroge studio. One of its most popular games is Dōkyūsei , a pioneering dating sim , which has had
187-698: The FM-7 with cursor-control keys (arrows, INSERT & DELETE), and wherever the user decides to position the cursor, it will move it there and affect whatever is underneath it. Both Microsoft and Fujitsu share the copyright on the BASIC . The FM-7 was sold in Spain as the Secoinsa FM-7 . Secoinsa was a electronics supplier to Telefonica , the main Spanish telecom, and was eventually transformed into Fujitsu Spain. It retained an independent R&D department until Fujitsu's 1990 acquisition of ICL . Secoinsa adapted
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#1732771886957204-712: The PC-8800 series was capable of displaying all four modes. The early computers in the PC-8800 series use a simple internal speaker, like the Apple II and IBM PC , capable of generating beeps and clicks. Later models added FM-synthesis chips for much more elaborate audio. Companies that produced exclusive software for the NEC PC-8801 included Enix , Square , Sega , Nihon Falcom , Bandai , HAL Laboratory , ASCII , Pony Canyon , Technology and Entertainment Software , Wolf Team , Dempa, Champion Soft, Starcraft, Micro Cabin , PSK, and Bothtec . Certain games produced for
221-625: The PC-8801 had a shared release with the MSX , such as those produced by Game Arts , ELF Corporation , and Konami . Many popular series first appeared on the NEC PC-8801, including Snatcher , Thexder , Dragon Slayer , RPG Maker , Sokoban , and Ys . Nintendo licensed Hudson Soft to port some of Nintendo's Family Computer games for the platform, including Excitebike , Balloon Fight , Tennis , Golf , and Ice Climber , as well as new editions of Mario Bros. called Mario Bros. Special and Punch Ball Mario Bros. ,
238-690: The PC-9800 series, and NEC Home Electronics had the PC-6000 series . To avoid competing with itself, NEC decided to consolidate their personal computer business into two divisions; the NEC Home Electronics division dealt with the 8-bit home computer line, and the Information Processing group dealt with the 16-bit personal computer line. The Electronic Device Sales division spun off personal computer business into NEC Home Electronics. In March 1985, NEC Home Electronics introduced
255-417: The machine, such as My Letter ( マイレター ) , Writing ( 文筆 , Bunpitsu ) , and Yūkara ( ユーカラ ) . NEC themselves released Nihongo Word Processor ( 日本語ワードプロセッサ ) which was a rebranded version of Yukara, but it was not a success. In addition to office software, companies like Enix and Koei released many popular games for the system, establishing the PC-8801 as a strong gaming platform. By November 1983,
272-478: Was referred to as the "FM-8 Jr.". Although it was designed to be a cut-down version of the FM-8 (with the FM-7 costing 126,000 yen , compared to 218,000 yen for the FM-8 ), most notably removing the (expensive) bubble memory technology, the FM-7 was given a more advanced AY-3-8910 sound chip capable of three voice sound synthesis, leading to a strong uptake among the hobbyist computer market in Japan and making it
289-806: Was reformed to the Microcomputer and Application Division in June 1980, and was renamed to the Personal Computer Division in April 1981. At that time, Japanese personal computers were mostly used by hobbyists. The division introduced the PC-8801 in November 1981 and intended to expand the personal computer market into the business world. The PC-8801 was capable of displaying Kanji characters via an optional Kanji ROM board. Various companies released Japanese word processor software for
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