Naked elf girls, side scrollers with lesbian bondage, and a detective awoken from cryosleep; it can only be a list of the best PC 98 games of all time.
This console is one of the oddest I’ve ever encountered in my line of work. On one hand it’s aimed at an adult audience who like mech warriors with a dollop of hentai on the side, and on the other it’s an RPG paradise with some epic strategic adventures that really engage the brain.
I guess it covers the best of both worlds and really does have something for everyone.
The console cost ¥298,000 back in the 90s which is £1,953 in today’s money! That’s more than a MacBook Pro! It sold 18.3 million units which is pretty impressive considering the cost and garnered a pretty strong following for some of its games.
Whether that was due to the content or the quality of the sex-heavy storylines remains a mystery…
If you’ve managed to get hold of one of these consoles and are looking to start a collection that covers all bases, then this list of the 15 best PC 98 games should kickstart your back catalogue with some ‘interesting’ titles.
WARNING – The content in this article is not suitable for under 18s. Read on at your own risk.
Table of Contents
15. Dragon Knight 4
Dragon Knight 4 kicks off the list of pervy, panty-shot titles in this compendium of the best PC 98 games of all time.
Fans of the Dragon Knight series will undoubtedly know all about this game, from the regular ‘sessions’ with naked elf girls to the Fire Emblem-esque turn based strategy battles.
From ass-slapping Anime characters to Gauntlet Legacy-style warrior classes, this Erotic RPG sees player boosting skills, battling armies, and watching lots of sex scenes.
The main character is a huge fan of the ladies, and many of the women in this game enjoy getting naked to thank him for his services.
It’s a very seedy title, but then again, a lot of the games in this list are. Still, while the title has strong adult themes, the storyline and gamplay that are hidden inbetween them are very engaging and well put together.
Expect randy bearded dwarf warriors galore in this one!
14. Night Slave
Night Slave marries frequent lesbian bondage sex scenes with giant mech warrior battles… a sentence I never thought I would write on Retro Dodo…
Yes, for some reason, this game has a pornographic cutscene inbetween each stage. I don’t know whether that’s a reward to the player or a way of enticing people to play the game. I guess sex sells!
Players take humongous robot fighters through a series of different worlds that look very nice indeed. Looking past the porn, the PC98’s sprites work overtime in this title. The level backgrounds are seriously impressive, and no expense has been spared on the finer details…
… that goes for the cut scenes too.
Like Dragon Knight 4, this title is an Erotic RPG. Players have the ability to upgrade their mech warriors by collecting items through the game.
Build the ultimate warrior by grabbing orbs hidden within the different levels, and then watch the pilots grab each other… amongst other things.
13. Eve Burst Error
Honestly, this console is just pure filth, so we might as well talk about Eve Burst Error next and then give you a little chance to take a breather.
Eve Burst Error is an erotic novel adventure title. Yes, I never knew that term existed either before I first came across this game. We’re talking full-blown hentai here folks, people peering in on sex scenes and everything.
This game was a humongous hit, so much so that people can grab a copy for the Nintendo Switch and play handheld mode in the comfort of their own homes…
… that sounded so wrong.
The gameplay elements require players to communicate with other characters and parts of the surroundings in order to proceed.
Imagine Professor Layton with tonnes of naked girls and no puzzles, and you’ll get an idea as to what this game is like.
A little like the early Resident Evil games, players follow two characters and need to swap between them in order to play out different storylines.
If you like naked girls playing spin the bottle, then this game should be in your collection… that will be a stupid question for a lot of people I’m sure…
12. Puyo Puyo 2
Puyo Puyo 2 takes the 12th spot in this list and is a much more family-friendly PG title.
By that I mean it doesn’t have any naked ladies in it.
Fans of Dr Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine will take to this title with ease. It’s essentially the same style of game, with players connecting coloured blobs in order to clear screens and move to the next level.
Like all the screen clearing shape-dropping games, pulling off meaty combos can put your opponents in real hot water.
Grey garbage blobs stop other players from joining coloured blobs and make their pile grow sky-high in a matter of seconds. One false move and its game over.
Puyo Puyo 2 is one of the greatest arcade games ever made, brought into homes through the might of the NEC. It’s one of the best looking games on the console and a real winner that should feature in every collection.
11. Bomb Jack
Bomb Jack might not be as famous as Bomberman, but this PC 98 game is a cracking side-scrolling adventure that has feels of Donkey Kong Country and Alex Kidd about it.
The gameplay premise is pretty simple. Bomb Jack has to collect all the bombs on each level while trying to avoid a series of bizarre enemies.
Enemies such as Egyptian Mummies fall to the bottom of the screen and turn into flying saucers before heading back up to the top once more. It’s a tough world, but Bomb Jack is up to the challenge.
Like the K.O.N.G letters in Donkey Kong Country, Bomb Jack can collect different letters to turn enemies into collectibles or unlock special abilities for a short period of time.
Likewise, collecting all bombs located in the five stages unlocks other secrets and special rewards for players to enjoy.
And no, it’s not naked elf girls.
10. YU-NO – A Girl Who Chants Love At The Bound Of This World
Speaking of naked elf ladies, YU-NO – A Girl Who Chants Love At The Bound Of This World takes the 10th spot in this list of the best PC 98 games of all time!
Yep, we’re back to the smut fest once more, but this time it’s less about thumbing in sex to sell a game and more about a deep, underlying story that compliments the erotic anime overtones.
That’s right, I did just write the phrase ‘erotic anime overtones’…
There’s lots of sex scenes and fumbling in the dark, but there’s also an engaging storyline to lose yourself that is both cunning and creative. Expect philosophical problems to encounter and a tale that keeps players on their toes with multiple play paths and a neat time travelling feature.
That’s right; players can literally go back and change the way they made certain decisions in this game. Each choice has an effect on this reality and alternate ones, leaving you too confused to notice the panty shots and nude girls skipping across the screen.
YU-NO has a stunning soundtrack and stellar graphics too, showing off the true capability of the PC 98 in one nicely packaged title.
9. Power DoLLS: Detachment of Limited Line Service
Power DoLLS: Detachment of Limited Line Service is up next in this list of the best PC 98 games of all time.
Power DoLLS marks another RPG for the console, providing more brain-tickling turn-based action. It’s very similar to Night Slave minus the lesbian bondage… which may or may not be a good thing depending on what you’re into!
The Power Dolls are female freedom fighting force from the 25th Century. They’re battling to free Omni from Earth’s control, and gamers go up against epic robots through top-down skirmishes.
Gamers have the chance to customize their robo-warriors, so fans of souping up cars in Need for Speed will feel right at home here.
Battle against other robots and military weaponry through two different modes, playing out interstellar scenarios and stopping Earth from colonising any more of the galaxy. It’s more akin to the best PC FX games and true credit to the console.
8. Thexder
Thexder carries on the ginormous robo warrior theme with run ‘n’ gun action that’s impossible to put down.
Many of you might have played this game on the Famicom (NES), but it looks so sweet on the PC 98 that it would have been a crime not to have included it in this list.
This Japanese title sees gamers piloting yet another mech warrior. I’m starting to see a pattern with what the team at NEC liked back in the day… Sex, Robots, Battles, Repeat.
Gamers take a transformer-style robot through a series of 2D levels, blasting enemies with ease thanks to the Space Harrier 3D-style auto aim. It’s pretty impossible to not find the mark in this game, which makes it a great title to just kick back and relax with.
The mech fighter can become a plane at will, allowing gamers to soar through levels with extra firepower. It’s an explosive title that, while a little simple visually, is a nice game that won’t tax your brain too much.
7. Rusty
Imagine Castlevania with a leather-clad lady taking the helm. That’s Rusty in a nutshell, bringing Dominatrix action to a ghoulish world at Number 7 in this list of the best PC 98 games of all time!
It might look like a copy of Richter’s Dracula hunting adventures, but Rusty employs lots of impressive mechanics that help it stand out as an original title.
Unfortunately, this title is so rare these days that we can’t find a copy of it anywhere on the internet for any system. This is a first for Retro Dodo, but we’ll keep searching and update the article as and when we find stock online.
For one, it’s fast paced and there’s a lot more going on than in the Castlevania games. Hard to believe, I know, but these levels have different segments to explore and springboards to contend with as players chose paths and tackle insane gaps that most characters would quiver at the sight of.
As ever, the game contains cut scenes featuring the main character in some pretty raunchy situations, sometimes alongside other busty ladies. It’s not as outrageous as Night Slave by any stretch of the imagination, though there is definitely an intended audience in mind.
Listen, this is a great game and one that could have helped the PC 98 soar to great heights. With an eagle familiar and bad-ass whip action, this is one Dominatrix you don’t want paying you a visit…
Or maybe you do. Again, we’re not judging.
6. Policenauts
Konami enter the fray with the next title on our list of the best PC 98 games of all time; Policenauts.
This is a stunning adventure game that follows an ex-astronaut turned detective tracking down suspects in an illegal trafficking organisation and searching for the killer of his ex-wife.
Yeah, I’ve got chills just talking about it. What a storyline! It’s like something you might find in a spy movie, never mind on NEC’s sex-savvy machine!
Policenauts sees players controlling Jonathan Ingram, a cool cop who’s mixed up in a mixed up world. He’s been woken from cryogenic sleep 24 years after an accident in a space station, and now he’s heading back to solve some mysteries
The game covered some pretty deep topics such as the black market organ trading scene. It’s also set in space, which makes it a sure fire winner for everyone aged 8 to 80.
The gameplay and cutscenes are classic NEC, though without the nipples and leather-clad sexual deviants this time. The character designs are all spot on too, creating an all-round immersive adventure that we recommend you try immediately.
5. King’s Bounty
King’s Bounty takes the 5th spot in this list of the best PC 98 games of all time.
There’s no surprises for guessing the genre of this game; the cover should give it away if you’re a little unsure!
Yes, Kings Bounty is an RPG title with more fantasy feels than a party at George R. R. Martin’s House. It’s a D&D-style epic adventure that follows King Maximus’s champion as he embarks on a mission to retrieve a treasured sceptre from the forces of evil.
The main antagonist in this game has the best name ever too – Arech Dragonbreath.
Coincidentally, that’s what my girlfriend calls me when I wake up in the morning.
It’s NEC turn-based action minus the naked Elfling Princesses. Take charge of an army and collect map pieces that allude to the whereabouts of the all-important sceptre.
The great thing about this game is that it’s very unpredictable. Solve the sceptre’s whereabouts and collect it before the King dies. Sure, it sounds simple, but the location of the sceptre changes with every new game, and the King’s lifespan changes depending on game difficulty.
Tackle all the map pieces or guess the location early in the game. How you play is down to you and your detective skills/sheer luck!
4. Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny
Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny is an interactive RPG adventure where the words players say can be just as important as their actions on the battlefield.
Gamers type words into the panel on the right-hand side of the screen to converse with the many NPCs found throughout the game. You can trigger conversations by including certain keywords and must give the right responses to keep conversation flowing.
So, if you’re socially awkward, you might struggle!
Warriors of Destiny marks the fifth Ultima game in the series. Like King’s Bounty, this RPG is dripping with folklore and fantasy elements. Twinned with the D&D-style campaign storyline, this title is a nerd’s best friend.
But what’s it all about? Well, Players find themselves in a world where Lord British, the king of Britannia, has disappeared. An evil villain has taken the throne, and the world has lost its marbles thanks to his insane views.
Fans of Final Fantasy will love the exploration elements of this game as well as the bigger map compared to previous Ultima games. The whole game is supercharged compared to its predecessors with more actions, more battles, and more chit-chat.
3. Touhou Rei’iden: The Highly Responsive To Prayers
Touhou Rei’iden: The Highly Responsive To Prayers is an interesting title that I’ve been looking forward to writing about since this list began.
It’s the first game in the Touhou Project line, a series of crazy shooting ‘bullet hell’ games developed by one dude under the comapany ‘Team Shanghai Alice.
Pretty cool, right?
The name of the game translates as being a Wondrous Eastern Legend, which pretty much sums up the storyline in this epic game.
The attendant to a mystical shrine gets pretty angry after said shrine is destroyed. Wielding a powerful orb, the attendant travels into another dimension to track down and kill the perpetrator.
Told you it was epic!
The gameplay is a little like Pong on steroids. The orb flies around the screen as the attendant tries to control it, sweeping a wooden wand to knock it into enemies and other items.
The Highly Responsive To Prayers is one of 22 titles made by a single developer which we think is amazing. It just goes to show what you can do if you put your mind to it.
2. Popful Mail
Popful Mail takes the second spot in this list of the best PC 98 games and brings a leggy anime lady to the fray once again. We couldn’t end this list without including another weird cover with an animal touching up a woman or something else bizarre.
Honestly, this console has the strangest game collection ever…
How to describe Popful Mail… it’s like a cross between Zelda and a Kamikaze Pilot game. You can’t kill enemies directly with a weapon, but running into them from behind kills them instantly.
If Alex Kidd could do that, then the game would be a hell of a lot easier.
Mail is a bounty hunter who could do with taking some tips from Boba Fett. She’s not very good at her job but doesn’t want to give in, which is pretty admirable if you ask us.
While she looks as though she might be about to jump into some Night Slave-style action, it’s actually a tame side-scroller with a dragons, a wizard, and lots of destroying enemies with her bare hands… well… bare body… not bare… she just runs into them… oh, forget it.
Players can actually control said dragon or wizard through the game alongside Mail; who wouldn’t want to swipe into enemies as a purple bat dragon!
The cutscenes provide all the same anime-style storytelling as the other games in this list and are well designed with lots of stunning visuals. It’s one of the best tame games on NEC’s smutty console and a safe bet for gamers searching for a PG title.
1. King’s Quest V
And finally, King’s Quest V takes the top spot in this list of the best PC 98 games ever made. It’s one of the most stunning retro games of the 90s and a true graphic adventure for players to sink their teeth into.
Plus, ‘Absence Makes The Heart Go Yonder’ is the best sub-title I’ve ever seen on any game.
Instead of using a word typing mechanic like Ultima V, King’s Quest V uses a point and click mechanic similar to Carmen Sandiago, Myst, and Professor Layton. The backgrounds are all vibrant and exciting to look at, and there are lots of mysteries hidden away on each level.
After a shady-looking character puts a spell on Castle Daventry, the castle and the entire kingdom it protects shoot up into the sky. The King returns to find his house has disappeared along with his family. Then, a talking owl manages to give him some information.
A talking owl? Is Kaepora Gaebora moonlighting from the Zelda franchise now?
Expect evil warlocks, wise wizards, magical artefacts, and a white snake (but not the guys who sang ‘Here I Go Again).
With well over 500,000 copies and tonnes of awards under its belt, Kings Quest V was always a natural choice to be the best of the best PC 98 games. A dignified end to a pretty raunchy list, I think you’ll agree!
