Pasokon History: from 8-bit to 16-bit (Patreon)

These interviews show a historical snapshot of the Japanese computer

industry in 1987. Although much of it reads rather quaint now, it was

an interesting time in Japan for the personal computer, or “pasokon”,

because home game consoles were enjoying unprecedented growth and sales

(the “Famicom boom”). At the same time, hardware technology was

beginning to accelerate at a rate that called into question the

continued viability of 8-bit systems from the first half of the decade,

an anxiety that each of these interviews seek to allay.