A new PC Engine visual novel is all about arguing over retro hardware

Indie developer HOSSIE has released Ishi no Ura ni Iru!?, a retro visual novel for the PC Engine built around console hardware culture and retro gaming debates. Available as a free browser game or as a downloadable ROM for real hardware via itch.io, the story follows three high school students arguing about classic gaming inside their clubroom.

The release arrives alongside a 22-minute audio drama episode created by Geroneko on YouTube. Styled after 1990s Super CD-ROM² skits, the episode introduces Hoshikuzu High School's unofficial Ishi no Ura Club, an offbeat student group forgotten by the student council. The club's entire purpose is collecting, playing, and passionately debating classic software and hardware formats.

I wish I knew Japanese!

HuCards, white boxes, and clubroom clutter

The inaugural episode, titled "Bushitsu no Shiroi Hako" (The Clubroom's White Box), focuses on the physical design of the original 1987 PC Engine. First created through a collaboration between NEC Home Electronics and Hudson Soft, the system gained fame across Japan for its tiny 14 by 14 centimeter footprint and paper-thin credit-card-sized HuCard media format.

The dialogue balances technical history with slice-of-life comedy as club president Bucho and members Chikaku and Ren compare the PC Engine against modern consoles. When Chikaku remarks that the compact white console resembles a bento lunchbox, Bucho insists that holding real hardware and lining up game cases on a shelf is essential to the hobby. The discussion quickly shifts into practical problems, including a clubroom floor buried under power supplies, video cables, and stacks of games.

Not exactly plug and play

Players can run the visual novel directly in standard web browsers using its integrated EmulatorJS setup, which relies on a Beetle PCE core snapshot. Alternatively, retro hardware fans can download the raw ROM files to run on dedicated PC Engine emulators or write them to flash cartridges like the Turbo EverDrive for play on original consoles. Each chapter is distributed as an independent ROM file, meaning save files and progress do not carry over between episodes.

The project connects to an interesting period in console history. When NEC released the CD-ROM² add-on in December 1988, the PC Engine became the first home system to run software from optical media. That upgrade introduced high-fidelity redbook CD audio and recorded Japanese voice acting years before the Sega CD or PlayStation hit store shelves. Ishi no Ura ni Iru!? mirrors that technical format by pairing traditional 8-bit visual novel sprites with fully voiced character dialogue in its accompanying video releases.

I'm curious to see whether future chapters will tackle other platform rivalries, like the Megadrive or Super Famicom. For now, this first episode offers a charming, self-aware look at the habits, debates, and cable-management headaches that come with collecting classic hardware.