PC-9801DA/U2
Released 1991
MSRP: JPY 448,000 (approx $4.8k)
i386 DX 20mhz CPU
1.6MB RAM

In 2018, I was at the courthouse in Los Angeles waiting for my name to be called for jury duty when I started browsing Yahoo Auctions listings for NEC PC-98 computers.
Looking back, I was definitely crazy... At the time I struggled to even set up games in DOSbox, knew very little about old electronics, and had little to go off of in terms of what machine to buy and how to get it up and running.
But something was speaking to me telling me it was my destiny to play Ys on a 30+ year old Japanese business computer.
And somehow, it worked out and turned into a 7-year journey with many ups and downs.

"Why not just emulate? Why do this? Is something wrong with you?"
Before using the PC98, I'd never held a floppy disk in my hand before.
There's something really exciting about interfacing with old technology on a physical level. It's like being transported somewhere else. When I'm using my PC98, the outside world disappears for a bit. When I'm in that headspace, even the simplest things that technology can do impress me. I sit and think it would be nice if things never got any more complicated than this...

I made this page with the intention of it being "the guide I wish I had when I started out", but in the process of doing research found out there's a lot more beginner-level English resources now than there were back then, so it's probably pretty redundant. Right now it's honestly more of a personal diary about setting up my first retro computer, but maybe you'll learn something useful?

Purchasing the PC98 and peripherals
Burning games to floppy disks
Setting up a virtual HDD (AKA wow i'm starting to think 30 y/o computers are kind of inconvenient)
Parity error?!?!? AKA why you should invest in isopropyl alcohol
Overview of sound hardware and music players

Composing music for hardware playback (+ downloads!)
Drawing on a PC98

Helpful links

My DA in issue 201 of Retro Gamer magazine!

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