Difference between revisions of "Doom in Japan"

Revision as of 14:53, 21 April 2016

3D Alien Busters version of Doom

Doom is known in Japan as ドゥーム(katakana literally transliterated as Duumu, but understood as 『DOOM』). Official ports of Doom were released in Japan under license from id Software by publisher Imagineer Co., Ltd. and distributor SoftBank. This included versions of the PC Doom, Doom II, and Doom95, as well as multiple console versions in their Japanese releases.

PC-98

Ports of Doom to the NEC PC-98 architecture were programmed by Infinity Co., Ltd. Though based on Intel processors like the IBM PC, the NEC PC-98 series featured a custom bus and different video hardware which made it binary incompatible with most PC software. Versions of the Doom games for this architecture were released on 5.25" and 3.5" floppy disk as well as on CD-ROM.

Minimum system requirements

• PC-9801/Fellow, PC-9821/Mate/Multi, or Epson PC-386/486 clone system
• i386SX processor or later
• MS-DOS 3.3 or later
• Supported sound devices: Sound Blaster 16, PC-9801-86 (OPNA), or PC speaker
• Supported music devices: Sound Blaster 16 (OPL3 or MIDI daughterboard), PC-9801-26K (OPN), PC-9801-86 (OPNA), Roland MPU-PC98 (MIDI), or MIDI over RS-232
• Most VGA-or-higher equivalent PC-98 graphics adaptors are supported

PC-98 release gallery

• 

  Doom on 5.25" floppy discs

• 

  Doom on 3.5" floppy discs

• 

  Doom on CD-ROM

• 

  Doom II on 3.5" floppy discs

• 

  Doom II on CD-ROM

DOS/V

Equivalent releases of all games were made for the standard IBM PC architecture, with minor tweaks for the DOS/V version of IBM PC DOS with full Japanese language support. Unlike the PC-98, ordinary PC software could execute under DOS/V on standard hardware without modification.

3D Alien Busters

At least one release by Imagineer in their DOS/V Series 6 was uniquely entitled DOOM 3D Alien Busters (ドゥーム), or 3D Alien Busters DOOM, depending on the context.

DOS/V release gallery

• 

  Doom II on 3.5" floppy discs

• 

  Doom II on CD-ROM

Windows 95

Windows 95 dual-CD release

A double-disc release of Doom II along with Doom95 was also coordinated by Imagineer, containing versions for both the PC-98 and standard PC on each disc. This release touts compatibility with the Imagineer PCPad controller, and like some American releases, it includes an offer for free time on the DWANGO network, which had recently expanded its franchise territory into Japan.

Console games

The following console versions of Doom series games were given Japanese releases, some with specific localizations:

External links

• DOOM at the Japanese-language Wikipedia.