The PC-8801, almost always shortened to PC-88, is the personal computer range launched by NEC in Japan in November 1981, following the PC-8001. Built around a Z80A, the machine stood out for its 640×200 display, already very readable for Japanese text, and for a range that spanned about ten years and some thirty models.
The decisive model is the PC-8801mkII SR, released in 1985: it added a Yamaha YM2203 FM sound chip and an improved graphics mode, and became the de facto standard so quickly that publishers started printing "SR or later" on their boxes. Together with the Sharp X1 and the Fujitsu FM-7, the PC-88 forms the trio of Japanese home computers that carried computer gaming in Japan, while the Famicom ruled the living room.
Several major series were born on the PC-88: Ys and Xanadu from Nihon Falcom, Hydlide, Thexder, as well as the first big Japanese adventure games. The machine was never sold outside Japan: its library is almost entirely in Japanese, and many titles expect keyboard input.
It is the only emulator offered for this system, and it is available on every board, from the Raspberry Pi 3 and Pi Zero 2 up to the PC. Netplay and softpatching are not available with this core. RetroAchievements are supported on this system, as is CRT output.
A keyboard is mandatory on this system: the PC-88 boots into its BASIC, and most games ask at the very least for a confirmation key, often for full typed input. A pad is optional and does not replace the keyboard; the mouse is not used.
The core cannot boot the machine without its ROMs. Every BASIC ROM listed below is mandatory, only the Kanji ROM is optional. Several MD5 values are accepted per file: they correspond to the different ROM revisions of the successive models of the range.
| File name | Description | MD5 | Emulators |
|---|---|---|---|
quasi88/n88.rom |
N88-BASIC ROM (mandatory) | 22be239bc0c4298bc0561252eed98633, f7cba6a308c2718dbe97e60e46ddd66a, 4f984e04a99d56c4cfe36115415d6eb8 | QUASI88 |
quasi88/n88_0.rom |
N88-BASIC extension #1 (mandatory) | e28fe3f520bea594350ea8fb00395370, c254685f00ca9c31b97203d6ef19f5e2, d675a2ca186c6efcd6277b835de4c7e5 | QUASI88 |
quasi88/n88_1.rom |
N88-BASIC extension #2 (mandatory) | e844534dfe5744b381444dbe61ef1b66, a8e298da7ac947669bcb1ff25cee0a83 | QUASI88 |
quasi88/n88_2.rom |
N88-BASIC extension #3 (mandatory) | 6548fa45061274dee1ea8ae1e9e93910, 9d03154fd9abfc28c4e6d4dc705e6e23 | QUASI88 |
quasi88/n88_3.rom |
N88-BASIC extension #4 (mandatory) | fc4b76a402ba501e6ba6de4b3e8b4273, e1791f8154f1cdf22b576a1a365b6e1f | QUASI88 |
quasi88/n88n.rom |
N-BASIC ROM, the BASIC of the PC-8001 (mandatory) | 5d6854624dd01cd791f58727fc43a525, 93cd1d78b7b9c50b80041ed330332ece, 2ff07b8769367321128e03924af668a0 | QUASI88 |
quasi88/disk.rom |
Floppy controller ROM, required to load disk images (mandatory) | 793f86784e5608352a5d7f03f03e0858, 01b1af474fcabe93c40d779b234a3825 | QUASI88 |
quasi88/n88knj1.rom |
Kanji character ROM, required to display kanji (optional) | d81c6d5d7ad1a4bbbd6ae22a01257603 | QUASI88 |
Place your BIOS files like this:
/recalbox/share/bios/quasi88/
├── n88.rom
├── n88_0.rom
├── n88_1.rom
├── n88_2.rom
├── n88_3.rom
├── n88n.rom
├── disk.rom
└── n88knj1.rom
Without
disk.rom, disk images will not load: this is the most frequent cause of a game stuck at startup. The BIOS checker built into Recalbox lists missing or incorrect files.
Put your games in:
/recalbox/share/roms/pc88/
Accepted extensions: .d88 .m3u .t88 .cmt .zip .7z
A few pointers about these formats:
.d88 is the PC-88 floppy disk image format, used by nearly every game;.t88 and .cmt are tape images, for the oldest titles;.zip and .7z archives run without being extracted.Many PC-88 games span several floppy disks. Create an
.m3ufile listing the images in order, one per line, and launch that.m3u: disk swapping is then done from the RetroArch Disk menu.