The PC-8800 series, commonly shortened to PC-88, are a brand of Zilog Z80-based 8-bit home computers released by Nippon Electric Company in 1981 and primarily sold in Japan. The PC-8800 series sold extremely well and became one of the three major Japanese home computers of the 1980s, along with the Fujitsu FM-7 and Sharp X1. 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, marketed variations of the PC-8800 in the United States.
History
Nippon Electric's Electronic Device Sales division launched the PC-8001 in September 1979, and by 1981 it dominated 40% of the Japanese personal computer market. 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 the machine, such as My Letter, Writing, and 2=ユーカラ. NEC themselves released Nihongo Word Processor 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, 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 5¼-inch 2D floppy disk drives. This set of PC-8800 computers sold more units than the PC-9800 series at that time. By December of 1983, NEC had multiple personal computer lines coming out from different divisions. Nippon Electric's Information Processing group had the PC-9800 series, and NEC Home Electronics had the PC-6000 series. To avoid confliction, 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 Nippon Electric's Information Processing group dealt with the 16-bit personal computer line. The Electronic Device Sales division span off personal computer business into NEC Home Electronics. In March 1985, NEC Home Electronics introduced the PC-8801mkIISR, which had improved graphics and sound capabilities. Game developers competed in quality of skills in animation and music. 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.
Hardware
Graphics
Throughout the lifetime of the PC-8800, there were four different graphics modes. They are as follows:
V2 mode: 640 × 200 8 out of 512 colors, 640 × 400 2 out of 512 colors
V3 mode: 640 × 200: 65536 colors, 640 × 400: 256 out of 65536 colors, 320 × 200: 65536 colors, 320 × 400: 64 out of 65536 colors
It's important to note that no entry in the PC-8800 series was capable of displaying all four modes.
Sound
Early entries in the PC-8800 series used a simple internal speaker a-la the IBM PC only capable of generating simple beeps and clicks. Later models added FM-synthesis chips, allowing for much more robust audio.
