display resolutions Japanese text Yamaha FM synthesis sound boards video games PC games Japan PC-98 NEC personal computer
A key difference between early Western and Japanese systems was the latter's higher display resolutions (640x200 from 1979, and 640x400 from 1985) in order to accommodate Japanese text. Japanese computers also from the early 1980s employed Yamaha FM synthesis sound boards which produce higher quality sound. Japanese computers were widely used to produce video games, though only a small portion of Japanese PC games were released outside of the country. The most successful Japanese personal computer was NEC's PC-98, which sold more than 18 million units by 1999.
