Just want to ask you something, do you know anything about The Number Nine Revolution IV? A friend gave me his custom built machine of 98’ and he forgot about it. And I can barely find any info on it.
I also have a crippling addiction to Yahoo Auctions so I know that feel. It's tough these days now that shipping from Japan costs an arm and a leg. Edit: Also just wanted to express my appreciation for the quality content you've put out over the years. Thanks
This console just sums up my experience of huge powerhouse Japanese multinationals who just 'dont get it'. NEC and Matsushita both had amazing technologies and developers who really could work magic but they just didn't understand what they had. I worked with NEC in the 2000s and you could see they were just this huge oil tanker of an organisation, with hundreds of departments doing their own thing and not really able to see a big picture or pivot when they had something (the PC Engine) that could take over the world (from the NES which had CREATED a market for japanese platform, shooting, fighting games and arcade conversions). Matsushita were the same with the M2 - I think someone like Trip Hawkins said something like "Sony took a console and behaved like a consumer entertainment company, whereas Matsushita took the M2 and acted like a consumer electronics company. Clint is kidding himself if he thinks that 3D video processor was on a par with the Saturn or PS. I have an old Edge magazine with an interview at the CES with the guy from NEC and it's clear he just doesn't 'get it' either. He is basically saying what's the point in 3D power when you can just play a video. He also says something like "the 3D computing capabilities of this machine are unlimited ...... because it doesn't have any" - but with no sense of irony at all - he totally believes not being able to generate 3D on the fly is the same as having infinite resources to do so. A totally bizarre interview. I was really excited for this machine and bought one when it came out, but soon realised that FX Fighter was a load of old rubbish and everything else was niche-japan only FMV.
They also were partners of Videologic for PowerVR technology. While the first generation (PCX1/PCX2) was pretty decent, even surpassing the Voodoo on some games, the second could have crushed the Voodoo 2 in 1998. It was far, far more capable (something like 2x more) and it had a 2D core. It was basically as fast as Voodoo2's in SLI while cheap and adding an excellent 2D core. Instead of focusing on it, they sold it to Sega for the Dreamcast. While 10 million of chips for the console isn't bad, they missed the opportunity to have a solid long term foothold on this market. They could have been partners for the upcoming PowerVR3 which was, again, a excellent graphics chip (as fast as a Geforce2 GTS for the price of a Geforce2 MX, and it was with good old SD-RAM memory). STMicrolectronics & Hercules took advantage of it instead of Nec.
Man, someone needs to make a whole retro history bit on how much developers and companies totally overlooked 3D graphics in favor of "multimedia PCs". The MMX standard was a WACK thing.
Whoever leant this to you with permission to open it all up & remove packaging, is a very generous soul indeed. And because of them, we were able to experience some period tech largely lost to time! Having you do the honors was a great choice, bringing all this rare oddware & vintage tech into the spotlight.
Did he have to unwrap anything though? I was under the impression that what he received had already been opened. He burned copies of the packed-in CDs to keep them in their shrink wraps after all!
I dreamt I was a dragonfly. When I awoke, I was I and not a dragonfly. Was I a dinosaur dreaming I was a dragonfly, or am I now a dragonfly dreaming I am a dinosaur?
I bought an NEC Home Theater receiver back in 1988 and it was a very advanced unit. NEC was ahead of their time. Enjoyed the video, especially the dinosaurs and dragonfly sequence. Thanks for another excellent video!
My son (13) and I really love your channels, especially the thrifts, but really just enjoy watching your videos overall. Very entertaining and informative. My son loves and collects old tech. Your videos make our day! Thanks!!
Ive seen that card on the 1st floor of NEC Manila office as design. My brother works at NEC Manila. We park on his office building indtead of the mall no parking fee. Next time I send you pics of old Hardware from NEC I'll take a pics of it in the building after pandemic.
That card feels like a development machine made commercial. Theoretically, you can load your own PC-FX builds onto it, and have pretty much a full PC-FX console ready to go on a second monitor. It would be like instead of a Net Yaroze PS1 being a separate, stylist black console you connect to the PC, it's just a card you slot in and plug into your TV. Funky.
@@chairulamin6427 I wasn't suggesting it was but it was similar to what Daniel M was suggesting. It would have been cool if it had been sold to hobbyists like the Net Yaroze though.
With watching all your most recent videos, while eating cooking and drinking milk(of course!!!😊) now it's time to watch some of the older content. Thank you, LGR, for years for entertainment. I always look forward to your next upload!!! Thanks again !!
I thought the same thing. It caught my eye immediately. I googled it and could find literally nothing about it. I mean, Yamaha makes dirt bikes and also keyboards. Perhaps Kubota dabbled im producing chips at some point? Edit: Yes, apparently in ‘86 Kubota began producing electronic circuit boards. Don’t know if they still do but that answers that. Apparently they actually make vending machines today too if you were curious.
@@Yomom12388 Yamaha is a piano company that started making motors. Anything yamaha motors related is not "Yamaha." I'm also probably one of the few people that gives more of a shit about Yamaha's audio business then their motor company. Their logo is also 3 tuning forks in a circle so. it's partly because yamaha's audio business is one of the most well respected world wide. not for any particular quality, but they are good for what they do at the price they do it. nothing they make instrument wise is especially high end but it's not cheap either. their consumer audio equipment is also good, but they can't make speakers if they aren't studio monitors.
Nissin makes ramen noodles and brake components for motorcycles / automotive.
4 роки тому+7
For me it evokes a memory of cheap rubber slippers you'd buy in Poland, in open air markets in the '90s, the crazy decade of randomness. Even more hilarious. They're kind of a cult item around here these days.
One thing I was not expecting to see in the video was the kubota logo on that aurora chip! Learned something new about the tractor and equipment manufacturer today so thanks!
As a fan of anime from this era, I find this system's software lineup interesting. I looked through it, apparently there was a Tenchi Muyo visual novel on there. Zenki was apparently animated by the same studio as Ranma 1/2. Honestly, though, this machine looks cumbersome and impractical to use, unlike the 3DO card which felt more like it added functionality to the computer. I guess it makes more sense in Japan where people in small apartments are more likely to have their TV and computer adjacent.
My eyes were wide open the whole video. Thank you LGR for providing all this relevant information on the NEC PC FX computer graphics System. It really is making me appreciate how far computer graphics technology has come over the last three decades. You are bringing your wealth of knowledge to us
A Dragonfly "You crushed my flower, dinosaur. I'm gonna lead you off a canyon, somehow become five times my normal size, catch you on my back mid fall, and introduce you to my family."
While Chinese DOS usually got the correct \ sign because both GB2312-80 and Big-5 doesn't alter the standard 7-bit ASCII encode, with the down side being there is no half-width yen sign available, and things can get messed up easily if one byte of a wide character is missing. Though there is an unrelated quirk that the screen shows less lines to allow 16px character to be shown properly, at least for some eariler Chinese environments. (It's not my personal experience, though, by the time I start using computer the oldest thing I would use is Windows 98 which has Chinese support built into the DOS environment.)
I always wonder what sort of meeting results in such a product: “Let’s make an PC ISA card containing a game console, and let’s make sure it can’t use the PC’s monitor!”
@@michelvanbriemen3459 Japan has always been game console adverse hence the NES being marketed there as the Family Computer and had a Basic module with keyboard. So they probably decided they might sell more games if they sold a space saving card that put the video game system on a card you put in a PC.
Oh my, you've got a rare masterpiece! I'm talking about the CD with pink jacket, the 3dcgs were created by team DoGA, a former group of 3dcg creating company DoGA(doga.co.jp). They were just a hobby computer club of Kyoto University and Osaka University but they had united and decided to start up a new company.
@@Dtr146 I wouldn't think so. The card would run (since it runs without the host computer actually finishing booting), but how would you access an optical drive?
Man, I loooooooooovvvvvvvveeeeeeeee when you go over console-comouter related stuff (especially sega related). Keep it coming. Also, your videos + jazz intros = pure gold!
This was such a great console, just released at a bad time. There are some amazing games here, despite only having 64 of them. I really wish NEC were to come back to consoles and be on top again.
Of the things I'd reasonably expect to see on LGR, it wouldn't include Satoshi Urushihara art. Granted, only a few moments' worth, but what a pleasant surprise! Great video as usual.
9:15 For anyone wondering, "RUNボタンを押してください" means "Please press the run button," while "テレビでゲームをお楽しみ下さい" means "Please enjoy the game on your TV." Thanks for covering this old piece of tech LGR, I had no idea that a version of the PC-FX like this even existed. As a translator I've always been fascinated by old consoles like the PC Engine and FX that have had a whole library of games never brought over to the English speaking market. Hopefully, one of these days in the future after I finish my translation project for the PC Engine game Galaxy Fraulein Yuna, I'd eventually like to get around to translating Galaxy Fraulein Yuna FX for this console. Hopefully, sometime in the future, more and more translators will begin to look into consoles like this instead of primarily focusing on the Famicom and Super Famicom all the time.
LGR: apparently this game is worth $1000 for some reason but whatever Game collectors: first of all how dare you. This is such a crazy piece of hardware. It’s crazy to think that having an inexpensive console quality controller solution on your pc is a relatively new concept. The sidewinder came close but most had to settle for the gravis pad .
I ended up getting a heap of old Sidewinder stuff over the past few years and absolutely love all of them. Not had the luck to get an original Gravis controller though, only the Xterminator Digital, which is awesome, if a bit glitchy.
@@Ametisti I only got the Sidewinder Freestyle Pro pad that has build in motion controls. While the motion controls seem to work surprisingly well, the D-Pad is just horrible. Also got a Logitech WingMan Precision which seems far better (only gave it short test under DOS 6.22) but under Windows 98 SE I'm actually using a 8BitDo M30 which works even though it's a modern device. Of cause only because my Retro PC (Pentium 233 MMX) has one of the first ATX motherboards and comes with two USB ports.
@@moomah5929 The Logitech WingMan Precision and its successors, the F310 and F710 have some of the worst D-Pads I’ve ever used. Makes the 360 controller’s D-Pad look better in comparison.
@@JackBandicootsBunker While this might be true, the Freestyle Pro's is 100 time worse. More or less unuseable. There is a reason why I'm using the M30 instead of the WingMan. xD
Langrisser! Oh that is cool. The original aesthetic is so good. It exists for the Switch (maybe Steam) now, with translation This is really a fascinating device honestly. Thank you a lot for making us discover all kind of weird and lovely things like this
@@ozzyp97 that’s pretty much every South Korean company’s MO; diversify into as many industries as you can: case in point is Daewoo; they make everything from construction equipment, to ocean going ships, to cars (that last one really didn’t work out here in the US)
Those games are worth so much... They are super awesome too! I love this era and Japanese games in particular. I remember as a kid wanting to learn Japanese just to play games early or that didn't come out in NA lol. Great vid as usual man!!!
We NEED a raw upload of that animation. It's too beautiful to leave hidden on a disc and seen only through a CRT on a camera. Its full glory must be seen.
I have been following this channel for a hot minute. Love the OG tech for the OG techi. And dude your voice is smooth so you in the right spot. But I was there with ya when that dragonfly video cam on. It was lit.
oh man those CGI demonstrations were glorious. This truly is rare to see. I'm guessing they planned a 3D acceleration add on for PC-FX there's those screenshots of a 3D Star Soldier floating about.
that super star soldier demo (which looked like wing war type flat polygons) was running on the alternative 'iron man' hardware which was a parallel successor to the PC-Engine project that got canned in favour of this white elephant. Total missed opportunity, but nothing to do with the PC-FX
@@sandycheeks7865 intersting, thanks. I always thought the Iron-man hardware was the basis for PC-FX. Recall seeing stories of its "morphing" of 2d images capability heh.
Odd ware is always a great look at tech I wouldn’t have imagined otherwise. That T-Rex was just amazing. Thank you for sharing another great look into the could have been of yesteryear.
The fact that they went through the trouble of making this thing and then they didn't bother to convert the signal to digital so that users could at least use the same monitor is baffling. Also, as a member of a half-japanese household, it makes perfect sense.
I think at the time most TV CRTs had better fidelity than PC monitors, so that could be one reason. Either that, or they didn't want the 224p of the animations to look worse on a higher resolution PC display. I know I said two things that sound contradictory... Yes
@@Rikorage Nope, at the time this card was made most TV CRTs had much worse fidelity - you could run stuff at 1024x768 even on 15" monitors (even on some 14" monitors, but software with non-adjustable font and image sizes it could get a bit hard to make out the details), but with mos TV's you could get 800x600 at best and often only 640x480 and even then it would not be the crisp graphics - the games often looked better to me on consoles running on TV screens when I was younger but it was just a kind of "smoothing effect" that actually reduced the sharpness of the image that made them seem better. The same thing made 80-column character display on TV look messy and pretty much forced a choice between a TV with 40-column text or an actual computer monitor - that or using 4-pixels wide font which leaves zero cap between many characters and not enough detail for the characters to look good. Even in the 2000's I could not get a crisp output on CRT TV's that had no VGA (nor HDMI/DisplayPort/DVI/etc...) and you had to use S-video or composite output of video card to get the thing to show up on TV - I wanted to run terminal with IRC-client (irssi) on TV back then but gave up the idea because even at ridiculously low "character resolution" (columns x rows) it still looked messy and 40x25 was not enough for my needs. But I digress... 244p animation on PC monitor would not have looked like it had less fidelity, but it *would* look more pixelated because of greater fidelity and sharpness; which actually does translate to the animation looking *smoother* and thus better on CRT TV but the reason is the opposite of what you said in the first sentence - but as you said yourself, you wrote two things that sound contradictory, so... I just wanted to clarify this thing :D Afterthought: I recall actually thinking in the 90's that it would be cool to run games on TV because the monitors most had at the time were 14" or 15" "big" and TV's were often larger, which could give you larger image and you could play without being right in front of the display - which would have been better in many cases despite the lower resolution and sharpness. Also with games often being lower resolution anyway, often 320x240, the less sharp graphics on TV screen would have looked smoother without even losing graphical details. Then the 3D accelerators came which could smooth any pixelated graphics without losing ability to show razor sharp details (example being 1st person shooters with smooooth texturing but sharp edges) and CRT TV's became simply worse in all ways, but we weren't quite there yet at the time so that's a whole different topic ;) In the end the real contradiction here is that sometimes the technically worse could be aesthetically better :)
I mean, it's kind of part of the reason it failed; back in the 90s video games, especially console games, were still seen as kid's toys even in Japan, and while porn games thrived in the PC scene since messing around with PCs was a niche thing to begin with, nobody was ready to buy on the idea of a console "for adults" the way the idea was presented with the PC-FX. I mean, beyond all the jokes and memes the truth is that the general japanese populance looks down on otakus and otaku media in general much like most people in the west. Now look at something like Chip-chan and tell me how marketable you think that is for a console game.
@@inendlesspain4724 At launch I was actually put off buying a PS2 due to the fact that almost every launch title seemed to involve shooting cops, and breaking the law in other ways. i suppose that is considered to be good clean Kiddie's fun.
@@MrDuncl Well, you know, the PS2 came out during the early 2000s, where games were striving to be more mature, but in a more "dark and serious" kind of way, you know, something more marketable for mainstream audiences than anime porn.
Great episode. Didn't think I'd ever see any DOS/V or NEC stuff on LGR. And a shout-out to Flux! I had no idea anyone remembered that game. First commercial project I ever got a credit in :)
I get the distinct impression that when I move somewhere with space to spare, I'm going to end up building several PCs of various vintage eras just to soak in the nostalgia.
Dude I'm subbed to you and I NEVER see your videos pop up in my feed I changed my notifications now but several times I've gone months without watching your videos and you're literally one ofy favorites
"Yeah, this things renders 3d polygonal graphics on top of the motion jpeg fmve and 2d sprite work of the original pcfx console" wow... I understood every word of that... I've watched a lot of lgr
"Greetings, and welcome to LGR Oddware, where we take a look at hardware and software that is odd, forgotten, and obsolete." One of the best greeting messages in a video!! 😄
Yay! Oddware is back! I seriously can't get enough of this series! This NEC-PCFXGA is pretty dang amazing and it's awesome that you were able to get your hands on one so you could make this video! This little device is basically the definition of oddware and it was great to actually be able to see it in action after reading about it a long time ago! This is about as close as I'll ever get to getting one these. LOL! But what I really, really what to know is...If it's basically an entire system on a board, doesn't really use any of the PC components except for the CD-rom drive, and requires the use of a separate TV...Than what actual purpose does it serve and why would anyone buy this instead of just buying the original console? I'm really having hard time trying to figure out who exactly they were marketing this to and what reason someone would have to buy it when it first came out? The only reason I can think of, is that NEC were trying to target people who might not ever buy any kind of gaming console because of that "it's a childish toy" mindset and that thought by integrating into a PC somehow would help rid itself of that image by making it seem more "advanced" and like a "serious" piece of hardware instead and thus increase it's marketshare and potential customer base?
Yo Clint, I just wanted to thank you for all this time you've been uploading in 4K. It really sets a difference and I can just think about a couple of other channels I'm subbed to that do 4K uploads. I'm glad I decided to subscribe since those Sims 3 days.
I also have a crippling addiction to Yahoo Auctions so I know that feel. It's tough these days now that shipping from Japan costs an arm and a leg. Edit: Also just wanted to express my appreciation for the quality content you've put out over the years. Thanks
It's incredible what these classic consoles are capable of, especially in the form of an expansion card. If only companies would quit releasing newer consoles every so often and just push the existing ones to their max.
I said too much information at the same time and it freaked me out a bit. XD cool stuff I love seeing these crazy oddities! Thanks for being a champion. 🏆
Langrisser is a long running series that is really similar to Fire Emblem. There was one english release for a loooong time only on the Genesis and they renamed it "Warsong". One of my favorite games
The full version of "A Dragonfly" in now available for your viewing pleasure:
ua-cam.com/video/KSweaD7PWqw/v-deo.html
So we Dragonwave now?
Thank you.
Better love story than...
Just want to ask you something, do you know anything about The Number Nine Revolution IV? A friend gave me his custom built machine of 98’ and he forgot about it. And I can barely find any info on it.
I also have a crippling addiction to Yahoo Auctions so I know that feel. It's tough these days now that shipping from Japan costs an arm and a leg.
Edit: Also just wanted to express my appreciation for the quality content you've put out over the years. Thanks
13:06 "I'm not here to review the games", says Lazy Game Reviews, truly honoring the first third of his name
This console just sums up my experience of huge powerhouse Japanese multinationals who just 'dont get it'. NEC and Matsushita both had amazing technologies and developers who really could work magic but they just didn't understand what they had. I worked with NEC in the 2000s and you could see they were just this huge oil tanker of an organisation, with hundreds of departments doing their own thing and not really able to see a big picture or pivot when they had something (the PC Engine) that could take over the world (from the NES which had CREATED a market for japanese platform, shooting, fighting games and arcade conversions). Matsushita were the same with the M2 - I think someone like Trip Hawkins said something like "Sony took a console and behaved like a consumer entertainment company, whereas Matsushita took the M2 and acted like a consumer electronics company. Clint is kidding himself if he thinks that 3D video processor was on a par with the Saturn or PS. I have an old Edge magazine with an interview at the CES with the guy from NEC and it's clear he just doesn't 'get it' either. He is basically saying what's the point in 3D power when you can just play a video. He also says something like "the 3D computing capabilities of this machine are unlimited ...... because it doesn't have any" - but with no sense of irony at all - he totally believes not being able to generate 3D on the fly is the same as having infinite resources to do so. A totally bizarre interview. I was really excited for this machine and bought one when it came out, but soon realised that FX Fighter was a load of old rubbish and everything else was niche-japan only FMV.
They also were partners of Videologic for PowerVR technology. While the first generation (PCX1/PCX2) was pretty decent, even surpassing the Voodoo on some games, the second could have crushed the Voodoo 2 in 1998. It was far, far more capable (something like 2x more) and it had a 2D core. It was basically as fast as Voodoo2's in SLI while cheap and adding an excellent 2D core.
Instead of focusing on it, they sold it to Sega for the Dreamcast. While 10 million of chips for the console isn't bad, they missed the opportunity to have a solid long term foothold on this market.
They could have been partners for the upcoming PowerVR3 which was, again, a excellent graphics chip (as fast as a Geforce2 GTS for the price of a Geforce2 MX, and it was with good old SD-RAM memory). STMicrolectronics & Hercules took advantage of it instead of Nec.
Man, someone needs to make a whole retro history bit on how much developers and companies totally overlooked 3D graphics in favor of "multimedia PCs". The MMX standard was a WACK thing.
The T-Rex and dragonfly animation is what sent this episode over the top
Very Sega Saturn-y.
Very Japanese
It's damn impressive for its time
That was legendary. 90s Japan, when they were just finding certain areas of Japanese mainstays and voices... Epic.
@@SolidSonicTH it would have been in 2D with like, screwy 3D or FMV added lol
"No Plug N Play here, suck it up and do it yourself" is my new theme phrase.
That's how we did it back in the day!
(Get off my lawn intensifies)
Whoever leant this to you with permission to open it all up & remove packaging, is a very generous soul indeed. And because of them, we were able to experience some period tech largely lost to time! Having you do the honors was a great choice, bringing all this rare oddware & vintage tech into the spotlight.
It's possible he was having Clint test the card because Clint has most of the stuff needed to run it without complications (the ¥ in particular).
Did he have to unwrap anything though? I was under the impression that what he received had already been opened. He burned copies of the packed-in CDs to keep them in their shrink wraps after all!
Ikr💟
I agree but my question is he says he's maybe not gonna play all the games. Why, he gotta return it. But hey LGR is absolutely getting things done
“Crippling addiction to Yahoo Auctions Japan - Send Help!” GLOL 🤣😂
Yeah, I laughed at it too - had to skip backwards and play it again. Like four times :D
3:22
The t-rex riding the dragonfly is 90's poetry
It looks like something that would belong to The Mind's Eye.
Clint just sounds so out of his element with the Japanese games and I love it for some reason
Finally someone unmarred by the degeneracy!
@@shocktnc ಠ_ಠ
That moment the dinosaur fell down the cliff and was catched by that dragonfly was genuinely one of the most hilarious things I have seen in a while.
10/10
This is dangerous close to Cool 3D World levels of CGI weirdness
The shot framing and music really takes it to the next level.
I dreamt I was a dragonfly. When I awoke, I was I and not a dragonfly. Was I a dinosaur dreaming I was a dragonfly, or am I now a dragonfly dreaming I am a dinosaur?
Plot twist!!
I bought an NEC Home Theater receiver back in 1988 and it was a very advanced unit. NEC was ahead of their time. Enjoyed the video, especially the dinosaurs and dragonfly sequence. Thanks for another excellent video!
Oh hey it's Big D
@@Ashquacks - He’s outta herrrrrre
It's interesting that NEC is still around
The dino riding the dragonfly needs to be a t-shirt!
Would make a great LGR shirt!
I'll get right on it. Computer animation peaked when dragonfly met dinosaur.
@@SomeGuy_GRM if you made that shirt i might actually buy
My son (13) and I really love your channels, especially the thrifts, but really just enjoy watching your videos overall. Very entertaining and informative. My son loves and collects old tech. Your videos make our day! Thanks!!
Ive seen that card on the 1st floor of NEC Manila office as design. My brother works at NEC Manila. We park on his office building indtead of the mall no parking fee. Next time I send you pics of old Hardware from NEC I'll take a pics of it in the building after pandemic.
Send it to his Twitter account.
Oh cool, didnt know they have office here in the Philippines.
@@WingMaster562 Their office is in Makati. They offer broadcast solutions such as transmitters and encoders for Digital TV.
This is the oddest oddware in the history I guess.
Paying 46,000 JPY and turn your PC into just optical drive / power supply.
I love it.
That card feels like a development machine made commercial. Theoretically, you can load your own PC-FX builds onto it, and have pretty much a full PC-FX console ready to go on a second monitor. It would be like instead of a Net Yaroze PS1 being a separate, stylist black console you connect to the PC, it's just a card you slot in and plug into your TV. Funky.
You mean like the DTL-H2000?
@@stellated I did not know about that. Wow, that's really neat!
@@stellated it was rare to find that PlayStation ISA devkit...
@@chairulamin6427 I wasn't suggesting it was but it was similar to what Daniel M was suggesting. It would have been cool if it had been sold to hobbyists like the Net Yaroze though.
Exactly my thought. Gaming seems to be secondary. The killer feature is being able to push code to it (and rapidly test it).
That dinosaur animation vs the PlayStation dinosaur animation
ok the dragonfly just happened!!!! NO CONTEST!
The nec dinosaur section was all pre-rendered video. The ps1 was doing it in realtime.
Dragonfly just wins, hands down no contest "Flawless Victory". That Dragonfly video has filled a void in my heart.
"The PlayStation can produce mind-boggling effects."
To be fair, the PSX dinosaur demo had no background objects/textures. Still think it was far better than this $450 card though!!
With watching all your most recent videos, while eating cooking and drinking milk(of course!!!😊) now it's time to watch some of the older content. Thank you, LGR, for years for entertainment. I always look forward to your next upload!!! Thanks again !!
It's really weird seeing computer chips branded "Kubota", because the most common thing that company is known for making is farm tractors.
I thought the same thing. It caught my eye immediately. I googled it and could find literally nothing about it. I mean, Yamaha makes dirt bikes and also keyboards. Perhaps Kubota dabbled im producing chips at some point?
Edit: Yes, apparently in ‘86 Kubota began producing electronic circuit boards. Don’t know if they still do but that answers that. Apparently they actually make vending machines today too if you were curious.
@@Yomom12388 Yamaha is a piano company that started making motors. Anything yamaha motors related is not "Yamaha." I'm also probably one of the few people that gives more of a shit about Yamaha's audio business then their motor company. Their logo is also 3 tuning forks in a circle so. it's partly because yamaha's audio business is one of the most well respected world wide. not for any particular quality, but they are good for what they do at the price they do it. nothing they make instrument wise is especially high end but it's not cheap either. their consumer audio equipment is also good, but they can't make speakers if they aren't studio monitors.
Nissin makes ramen noodles and brake components for motorcycles / automotive.
For me it evokes a memory of cheap rubber slippers you'd buy in Poland, in open air markets in the '90s, the crazy decade of randomness. Even more hilarious. They're kind of a cult item around here these days.
Seeing that made me do a double take. I had no idea!
One thing I was not expecting to see in the video was the kubota logo on that aurora chip! Learned something new about the tractor and equipment manufacturer today so thanks!
Scary thing is those 4 games are a little over 6% of the total library. Yes the PC-FX has that small of a library.
@@hyperslime64 at least 4 Virtual Boy games is a 6th of library...
Poor thing didn’t stand a chance
@@redpup6931 Good for eyeball vision loss and headaches,the VBoy!
There is more CDi things lol
Clint's jubilation during the dragonflies is so genuine. What a great vid dude, you're wonderful!
Clint's reaction of unadulterated joy at 25:19 is why I watch every one of his videos.
Is it just me or does anyone else love the PC-FX boot animation? Like, it feels really satisfying.
As a fan of anime from this era, I find this system's software lineup interesting. I looked through it, apparently there was a Tenchi Muyo visual novel on there. Zenki was apparently animated by the same studio as Ranma 1/2. Honestly, though, this machine looks cumbersome and impractical to use, unlike the 3DO card which felt more like it added functionality to the computer. I guess it makes more sense in Japan where people in small apartments are more likely to have their TV and computer adjacent.
Any pc engine or msx types they are the most Japanese things ever. Games are so 80s 90s anime. Awesome
Somehow I knew Tenchi Muyo would be associated with this thing! I kept thinking about it while he was playing through the Zenki game.
My eyes were wide open the whole video. Thank you LGR for providing all this relevant information on the NEC PC FX computer graphics System. It really is making me appreciate how far computer graphics technology has come over the last three decades. You are bringing your wealth of knowledge to us
A Dragonfly
"You crushed my flower, dinosaur. I'm gonna lead you off a canyon, somehow become five times my normal size, catch you on my back mid fall, and introduce you to my family."
Would of been made perfect, if they had the TRex wave farewell to the Dragon flies as they fluttered away.
Did the Dragonfly grow or the Dinosaur shrink ? We will never know.
@@MrDuncl I feel like that was the mother butterfly or something
3:10 Korean MS-DOS and Windows(including Windows 10) also replaces backslash with currency symbol(₩), at least with Korean fonts.
While Chinese DOS usually got the correct \ sign because both GB2312-80 and Big-5 doesn't alter the standard 7-bit ASCII encode, with the down side being there is no half-width yen sign available, and things can get messed up easily if one byte of a wide character is missing. Though there is an unrelated quirk that the screen shows less lines to allow 16px character to be shown properly, at least for some eariler Chinese environments. (It's not my personal experience, though, by the time I start using computer the oldest thing I would use is Windows 98 which has Chinese support built into the DOS environment.)
“With a controller dangling out the back like some crt fetish plug” LGR
It's like the card is tentacle'd to your PC.
I had a bet with myself how quickly this would be quoted ... number 3. Bravo
Knowing the PC-FX game library it's not that far fetched 😂
ＤＯＮＧＬＥ
I was gonna comment a related subreddit, but i'm not convinced Clint's userbase is primarilly 18+
I always wonder what sort of meeting results in such a product: “Let’s make an PC ISA card containing a game console, and let’s make sure it can’t use the PC’s monitor!”
Issues with expense of adding the extra feature .. they should have made it a GPU for the pc.. replace the vga card with this...
It might've been a technical exercise to condense the PC-FX to a single board that they decided to throw onto the market for fun
@@michelvanbriemen3459 Japan has always been game console adverse hence the NES being marketed there as the Family Computer and had a Basic module with keyboard. So they probably decided they might sell more games if they sold a space saving card that put the video game system on a card you put in a PC.
Oh my, you've got a rare masterpiece! I'm talking about the CD with pink jacket, the 3dcgs were created by team DoGA, a former group of 3dcg creating company DoGA(doga.co.jp). They were just a hobby computer club of Kyoto University and Osaka University but they had united and decided to start up a new company.
Such an odd bit of gear. I reckon a TV tuner in the PC with the PC-FXGA plugged into it would be cool to see as well.
I wonder if you can use an external ISSA slot adapter to run it by itself
@@Dtr146 I wouldn't think so. The card would run (since it runs without the host computer actually finishing booting), but how would you access an optical drive?
Yeah, if you were going to do that then you might as well track down a physical PC-FX.
@@ianweber9248 yeah good point
Pcfx-ception
Man, I loooooooooovvvvvvvveeeeeeeee when you go over console-comouter related stuff (especially sega related). Keep it coming. Also, your videos + jazz intros = pure gold!
This was such a great console, just released at a bad time. There are some amazing games here, despite only having 64 of them. I really wish NEC were to come back to consoles and be on top again.
its poop
Of the things I'd reasonably expect to see on LGR, it wouldn't include Satoshi Urushihara art. Granted, only a few moments' worth, but what a pleasant surprise!
Great video as usual.
Clint just losing it at the T-Rex animation was fantastic. Not sure I've ever heard him crack up that much at something that wasn't a fart joke 😂
The "PC gaming fetish plug" line got a loud guffaw out of me. Didn't see that joke coming lol
Same
9:15
For anyone wondering, "RUNボタンを押してください" means "Please press the run button,"
while "テレビでゲームをお楽しみ下さい" means "Please enjoy the game on your TV."
Thanks for covering this old piece of tech LGR, I had no idea that a version of the PC-FX like this even existed. As a translator I've always been fascinated by old consoles like the PC Engine and FX that have had a whole library of games never brought over to the English speaking market. Hopefully, one of these days in the future after I finish my translation project for the PC Engine game Galaxy Fraulein Yuna, I'd eventually like to get around to translating Galaxy Fraulein Yuna FX for this console. Hopefully, sometime in the future, more and more translators will begin to look into consoles like this instead of primarily focusing on the Famicom and Super Famicom all the time.
LGR: apparently this game is worth $1000 for some reason but whatever
Game collectors: first of all how dare you.
This is such a crazy piece of hardware. It’s crazy to think that having an inexpensive console quality controller solution on your pc is a relatively new concept. The sidewinder came close but most had to settle for the gravis pad .
I ended up getting a heap of old Sidewinder stuff over the past few years and absolutely love all of them. Not had the luck to get an original Gravis controller though, only the Xterminator Digital, which is awesome, if a bit glitchy.
@@Ametisti I only got the Sidewinder Freestyle Pro pad that has build in motion controls. While the motion controls seem to work surprisingly well, the D-Pad is just horrible. Also got a Logitech WingMan Precision which seems far better (only gave it short test under DOS 6.22) but under Windows 98 SE I'm actually using a 8BitDo M30 which works even though it's a modern device. Of cause only because my Retro PC (Pentium 233 MMX) has one of the first ATX motherboards and comes with two USB ports.
@@moomah5929 The Logitech WingMan Precision and its successors, the F310 and F710 have some of the worst D-Pads I’ve ever used. Makes the 360 controller’s D-Pad look better in comparison.
@@JackBandicootsBunker While this might be true, the Freestyle Pro's is 100 time worse. More or less unuseable. There is a reason why I'm using the M30 instead of the WingMan. xD
@@Ametisti The Gravis gamepad pro was pretty good thought.
i'm not even a PC nerd but i just love how calm and engrossing these videos are
Well i didn’t expect to be watching a T-Rex gloriously fly on the back of a mid 1990 rendered dragonfly 😂
Langrisser! Oh that is cool. The original aesthetic is so good. It exists for the Switch (maybe Steam) now, with translation
This is really a fascinating device honestly. Thank you a lot for making us discover all kind of weird and lovely things like this
A graphics chip designed by Kubota. Imagine a modern graphics card being designed by Caterpillar.
Closest thing I can think of are the Caterpillar branded smartphones, though they contracted out to have them made.
@@draketungsten74 darn, you beat me to it!
That's pretty much what Samsung does today, they produce construction equipment and even combat vehicles such as the K9 Thunder howitzer.
@@ozzyp97 that’s pretty much every South Korean company’s MO; diversify into as many industries as you can: case in point is Daewoo; they make everything from construction equipment, to ocean going ships, to cars (that last one really didn’t work out here in the US)
Imageine a graphics chipset designed by an actual monarch caterpillar.
*edit: spelling and emphasis on the caterpillar
bro, i've been subscribed for the better part of a decade -- this is one of the best LGR videos ever
Those games are worth so much... They are super awesome too! I love this era and Japanese games in particular. I remember as a kid wanting to learn Japanese just to play games early or that didn't come out in NA lol. Great vid as usual man!!!
Coming back years later, and that dragonfly video is still the greatest thing ever seen on UA-cam, maybe the greatest thing ever seen anywhere.
The only "game reviewer" channel where you'll hear 13:05 and NOT be disappointed
25:19 One of the best LGR moments ever begins...
That dragonfly animation is such a work of art, I expected it to end with Fin instead of End.
hey it's punk rock sailor moon dude🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
It says a lot that I decided to look up PC-fxga after watching this and your video is already the first video return on that search
We NEED a raw upload of that animation. It's too beautiful to leave hidden on a disc and seen only through a CRT on a camera. Its full glory must be seen.
What animation would that be?
Well at least one of these you can see here
ua-cam.com/video/5wbz3YdK8vg/v-deo.html
They used the same opening for Zenki FX from the anime lol
I have been following this channel for a hot minute. Love the OG tech for the OG techi. And dude your voice is smooth so you in the right spot. But I was there with ya when that dragonfly video cam on.
It was lit.
I never thought today would be the day I saw a T-Rex riding a Dragonfly...
Neither did I but I'm so glad I did. This had a certain magic to it.
Yeah, I had it in my calendar for a week on Tuesday 😆
I have seen this video at least 8 times because UA-cam keeps recommending it. Worth it for that dragonfly.
That Dragonfly and T-Rex demo was way better than that live action Mulan movie
Less people probably died too
I love how you talk to us like we have the items ourselves
oh man those CGI demonstrations were glorious. This truly is rare to see. I'm guessing they planned a 3D acceleration add on for PC-FX there's those screenshots of a 3D Star Soldier floating about.
There is a video expansion card port, the 3D chip on this dev card is the same 3D chip.
that super star soldier demo (which looked like wing war type flat polygons) was running on the alternative 'iron man' hardware which was a parallel successor to the PC-Engine project that got canned in favour of this white elephant. Total missed opportunity, but nothing to do with the PC-FX
@@sandycheeks7865 intersting, thanks. I always thought the Iron-man hardware was the basis for PC-FX. Recall seeing stories of its "morphing" of 2d images capability heh.
Odd ware is always a great look at tech I wouldn’t have imagined otherwise. That T-Rex was just amazing. Thank you for sharing another great look into the could have been of yesteryear.
The fact that they went through the trouble of making this thing and then they didn't bother to convert the signal to digital so that users could at least use the same monitor is baffling. Also, as a member of a half-japanese household, it makes perfect sense.
vga is not even digital
@@sixdfx You're right! They could have done it without a DAC!
@@djosearth3618 Lotta old video cards had VGA passthrough, I was surprised they didn't do that here
I think at the time most TV CRTs had better fidelity than PC monitors, so that could be one reason. Either that, or they didn't want the 224p of the animations to look worse on a higher resolution PC display.
I know I said two things that sound contradictory... Yes
@@Rikorage Nope, at the time this card was made most TV CRTs had much worse fidelity - you could run stuff at 1024x768 even on 15" monitors (even on some 14" monitors, but software with non-adjustable font and image sizes it could get a bit hard to make out the details), but with mos TV's you could get 800x600 at best and often only 640x480 and even then it would not be the crisp graphics - the games often looked better to me on consoles running on TV screens when I was younger but it was just a kind of "smoothing effect" that actually reduced the sharpness of the image that made them seem better. The same thing made 80-column character display on TV look messy and pretty much forced a choice between a TV with 40-column text or an actual computer monitor - that or using 4-pixels wide font which leaves zero cap between many characters and not enough detail for the characters to look good. Even in the 2000's I could not get a crisp output on CRT TV's that had no VGA (nor HDMI/DisplayPort/DVI/etc...) and you had to use S-video or composite output of video card to get the thing to show up on TV - I wanted to run terminal with IRC-client (irssi) on TV back then but gave up the idea because even at ridiculously low "character resolution" (columns x rows) it still looked messy and 40x25 was not enough for my needs. But I digress...
244p animation on PC monitor would not have looked like it had less fidelity, but it *would* look more pixelated because of greater fidelity and sharpness; which actually does translate to the animation looking *smoother* and thus better on CRT TV but the reason is the opposite of what you said in the first sentence - but as you said yourself, you wrote two things that sound contradictory, so... I just wanted to clarify this thing :D
Afterthought: I recall actually thinking in the 90's that it would be cool to run games on TV because the monitors most had at the time were 14" or 15" "big" and TV's were often larger, which could give you larger image and you could play without being right in front of the display - which would have been better in many cases despite the lower resolution and sharpness. Also with games often being lower resolution anyway, often 320x240, the less sharp graphics on TV screen would have looked smoother without even losing graphical details.
Then the 3D accelerators came which could smooth any pixelated graphics without losing ability to show razor sharp details (example being 1st person shooters with smooooth texturing but sharp edges) and CRT TV's became simply worse in all ways, but we weren't quite there yet at the time so that's a whole different topic ;)
In the end the real contradiction here is that sometimes the technically worse could be aesthetically better :)
Roommate: "...wha- what is this?"
Me: "LGR"
Roommate: "?"
Me: "Don't worry about that. It's Computer Bob Ross."
That's the best way to describe him. I'm going to recommend him this way from now on
It's okay, we don't make errors/glitches in our BASIC program, just happy little farts :)
it is impossible to discuss the PC-FX without at least briefly mentioning the porn
I mean literally 3 out of 4 games had scandily clad women on the cover (and yea while i know langrisser is unfortunately just like that it counts)
Briefly?? The whole video should be about it.
I mean, it's kind of part of the reason it failed; back in the 90s video games, especially console games, were still seen as kid's toys even in Japan, and while porn games thrived in the PC scene since messing around with PCs was a niche thing to begin with, nobody was ready to buy on the idea of a console "for adults" the way the idea was presented with the PC-FX.
I mean, beyond all the jokes and memes the truth is that the general japanese populance looks down on otakus and otaku media in general much like most people in the west. Now look at something like Chip-chan and tell me how marketable you think that is for a console game.
@@inendlesspain4724 At launch I was actually put off buying a PS2 due to the fact that almost every launch title seemed to involve shooting cops, and breaking the law in other ways. i suppose that is considered to be good clean Kiddie's fun.
@@MrDuncl Well, you know, the PS2 came out during the early 2000s, where games were striving to be more mature, but in a more "dark and serious" kind of way, you know, something more marketable for mainstream audiences than anime porn.
I'm probably one of the few commenters here who actually has a PC-FX. I was always curious about th FXGA. Nice video!
We need an HD remaster of _A Dragonfly_ immediately.
No,no we don't.
@@iladelproductions8820 and the vote is 81 to 1 and he has given it to us
Great episode. Didn't think I'd ever see any DOS/V or NEC stuff on LGR.
And a shout-out to Flux! I had no idea anyone remembered that game. First commercial project I ever got a credit in :)
I get the distinct impression that when I move somewhere with space to spare, I'm going to end up building several PCs of various vintage eras just to soak in the nostalgia.
Dude I'm subbed to you and I NEVER see your videos pop up in my feed I changed my notifications now but several times I've gone months without watching your videos and you're literally one ofy favorites
"Yeah, this things renders 3d polygonal graphics on top of the motion jpeg fmve and 2d sprite work of the original pcfx console" wow... I understood every word of that... I've watched a lot of lgr
old NEC tech from the 80s and 90s is still to date my favorite little gems of Tech history
Wow, MIJ treasure right there. I never ever expected to see Hudson and Kubota logos together. Come on, Kubota is known as Tractor manufacture, man.
Thank you for that Glorious 4k closeup of that board. It was art.
I have 2 PC-FX, over half the library. Great games!
I already hit the like button after “greetings and welcome”. Instantly feeling chilled out.
if you rip that dragonfly clip and post it by itself - that shit will go viral. So amazing!
Dragonfly dinosaur needs to become a star in vaporwave videos
Its on UA-cam.
"Even more FMV, man! Like seriously!"
That's what you get for selecting "Anime Mode" hahaha
oh man! zenki was my childhood, I watched that everytime when i got home from school
"Greetings, and welcome to LGR Oddware, where we take a look at hardware and software that is odd, forgotten, and obsolete."
One of the best greeting messages in a video!! 😄
Hearing Clint laugh hysterically at the end really made my day.
Yay! Oddware is back! I seriously can't get enough of this series! This NEC-PCFXGA is pretty dang amazing and it's awesome that you were able to get your hands on one so you could make this video! This little device is basically the definition of oddware and it was great to actually be able to see it in action after reading about it a long time ago! This is about as close as I'll ever get to getting one these. LOL!
But what I really, really what to know is...If it's basically an entire system on a board, doesn't really use any of the PC components except for the CD-rom drive, and requires the use of a separate TV...Than what actual purpose does it serve and why would anyone buy this instead of just buying the original console? I'm really having hard time trying to figure out who exactly they were marketing this to and what reason someone would have to buy it when it first came out?
The only reason I can think of, is that NEC were trying to target people who might not ever buy any kind of gaming console because of that "it's a childish toy" mindset and that thought by integrating into a PC somehow would help rid itself of that image by making it seem more "advanced" and like a "serious" piece of hardware instead and thus increase it's marketshare and potential customer base?
NEC/PC: For those about to rock, ISAlute you!
🤣
Well played, sir.
Oh god, that PCB looks like a godsend. Even the reflection, how neat is that.
Holy shit, he's got a copy of the original NEC Langrisser II game LOL.
Respecc
I'm seeing them on eBay for like $20? What makes it special?
Yo Clint, I just wanted to thank you for all this time you've been uploading in 4K. It really sets a difference and I can just think about a couple of other channels I'm subbed to that do 4K uploads. I'm glad I decided to subscribe since those Sims 3 days.
TIL kubota is another one of those japanese companies that just makes everything... and here i thought they just made heavy machinery
I think of them making garden sized tractors. Any Japanese heavy machinery we see here in the UK is from Hitachi.
i only knew them making one of those massive tractors lol
@@CupoChinoMusic Yeah. I was like "what is that tractor company doing here" lol
Clint, your content is so funny and easy to watch. I even sneakily watch your videos at school!
Glad to see the Nakamichi drive is working!
Zenki was quite popular in my country during the 1990's. I did not know that it had its own game. Thanks for sharing👍
13:05
“I’m not here to review the games.”
Wow, that is lazy.
This is so cool! Your coolness factor just increased by 10!
I also have a crippling addiction to Yahoo Auctions so I know that feel. It's tough these days now that shipping from Japan costs an arm and a leg.
Edit: Also just wanted to express my appreciation for the quality content you've put out over the years. Thanks
Really enjoy your vids my guy, especially the sims packs reviews are very clear and help me a lot. Just wanted to say thanks!
26:36 "this is the best thing I've ever seen on oddware" followed by the best laugh on oddware.
Clint bro I'm high af and that t-rex had me dying also you busting out laughing just made it even funnier.
It's incredible what these classic consoles are capable of, especially in the form of an expansion card. If only companies would quit releasing newer consoles every so often and just push the existing ones to their max.
Sweet a new Oddware video. All ways learn somethings cool watching theses.
I've always had a soft spot for Hudson. Gotta love all those bees!
BY HADASAN!!!!
You have very calmly voice, i'am always watching you when a go to sleep. Love it
3:17 - Asking an addict for help with your addiction is sure to produce some wonderful warehouse filling results.
I said too much information at the same time and it freaked me out a bit. XD cool stuff I love seeing these crazy oddities! Thanks for being a champion. 🏆
Langrisser is a long running series that is really similar to Fire Emblem. There was one english release for a loooong time only on the Genesis and they renamed it "Warsong". One of my favorite games
That dragonfly/dinosaur video was incredible!