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[Dragoon En Regalia]

Did an LTTP for Thexder, since everyone missed it last night. I played the DOS version, though most versions don't have enormous differences (Apple IIgs version eliminates your end-of-level bonus for all levels when you use a shield!).

 

[foobarry81]

Did an LTTP for Thexder, since everyone missed it last night. I played the DOS version, though most versions don't have enormous differences (Apple IIgs version eliminates your end-of-level bonus for all levels when you use a shield!).

Think I never played the game. I always seem to mix it up with Theseus (a bit of an odd stick man action platform game with wonky jumping mechanics), which I tried once at a fair.

 

[Dragoon En Regalia]

Hibiki Godai of Thexder worked on Theseus (main reason for starting w/Th). I still need to play it someday, though it's much more a platformer and maze game than Thexder. Most if not all of ASCII's in-house games and demos were included on CD-ROM with a memorial edition of MSX Magazine.

Spoiler

Please bump the LTTP sometime, guise, I refuse to believe old-timer GAF would ignore this!

 

[foobarry81]

^^
But I don't really have anything to say about the game.


Cross-post from the "retro game prices are insane" thread.

Wow... I thought this was never going to happen, but someone actually forked out €400 (~US$506) for Final Fantasy MSX.

(The Buy It Now price was €600 (~US$759), btw, but it was open for bidding.)

http://www.ebay.fr/itm/Final-Fantasy-msx-ultra-rare-/141433460034

 

[sixteen-bit]

^^
But I don't really have anything to say about the game.


Cross-post from the "retro game prices are insane" thread.

Wow... I thought this was never going to happen, but someone actually forked out €400 (~US$506) for Final Fantasy MSX.

(The Buy It Now price was €600 (~US$759), btw, but it was open for bidding.)

http://www.ebay.fr/itm/Final-Fantasy-msx-ultra-rare-/141433460034

long con paid off

 

[ResidentDante]

The Road to Metal Gear Solid.

Really nice video by Youtuber Strafefox about the origins of the Metal Gear franchise.

I love the videos from this channel! It's amazing to see how many of the ideas in MGS were used in the previous MG games on the MSX

 

[foobarry81]

long game paid off

Really glad I got my own copy for nowhere near that amount.

I love the videos from this channel! It's amazing to see how many of the ideas in MGS were used in the previous MG games on the MSX

Kojima had only just started working at Konami at that point, yet he apparently had so many ideas already, and managed to implement them quite successfully too despite all the restrictions the platform put on his creativity. It's really quite remarkable.

Konami's dedicated MSX team had been working with the MSX for a couple of years already though, so Kojima definitely found a very fertile ground to plant and harvest. If it weren't for that team, Metal Gear would never have happened.

 

[ResidentDante]

Kojima had only just started working at Konami at that point, yet he apparently had so many ideas already, and managed to implement them quite successfully too despite all the restrictions the platform put on his creativity. It's really quite remarkable.

Konami's dedicated MSX team had been working with the MSX for a couple of years already though, so Kojima definitely found a very fertile ground to plant and harvest. If it weren't for that team, Metal Gear would never have happened.

Sometimes great games are a nice combination of a persons visions and ideas combined with a team that's familiar with a certain hardware and does the best of what they have.

I'm not that familiar with the MSX, I recently came across a few on a holiday in Japan, what is it comparable to in terms of power? Would someone enlighten me? Is it 8/16 bit or something in-between, and what's the power difference between MSX 1 and 2?

 

[Dragoon En Regalia]

8-bit era, though the final wave of Japanese games came out during the 16-bit transition (i.e. Illusion City and 2001 Snooky).

MSX1s have Zilog Z80 CPUs and a TMS9918A VDP (32 monochrome hardware sprites, but was a hassle to port games from other platforms to). The MSX2 platform allowed for greater color variety than competing Japanese platforms (PC-88/98, FM-7, &c.), they had squared the amount of minimum RAM allowed for MSX1s, and the Yamaha V9938 VDP had multi-color sprites and other big advances.

 

[ResidentDante]

8-bit era, though the final wave of Japanese games came out during the 16-bit transition (i.e. Illusion City and 2001 Snooky).

MSX1s have Zilog Z80 CPUs and a TMS9918A VDP (32 monochrome hardware sprites, but was a hassle to port games from other platforms to). The MSX2 platform allowed for greater color variety than competing Japanese platforms (PC-88/98, FM-7, &c.), they had squared the amount of minimum RAM allowed for MSX1s, and the Yamaha V9938 VDP had multi-color sprites and other big advances.

Could MSX1 run MSX2 games, or were they hardware specific?

 

[foobarry81]

Could MSX1 run MSX2 games, or were they hardware specific?

No, MSX2 games typically made use of the much improved (video) capabilities of the MSX2, so they couldn't be played on a MSX1 machine.

This is why you saw quite a bit games around the 1986-1990ish period that got 2 separate releases, an MSX1 and an MSX2 release. E.g. King's Valley 2, Zanac/Zanac Ex and Dragon Quest.

The MSX2 release of those games was typically the remarkably better looking one.

Konami's MSX team went a step further even and added a proprietary music chip in their cartridges, called the SCC (Sound Custom Chip). This added 5 extra music channels to the default 3 ones typically present in an MSX or MSX2. Because of that (and the talent of the composers) some of these games have spectacular sound for 8-bit games.

After the MSX2 came the MSX2+ which further enhanced the MSX standard. They fixed the choppy scrolling, but only very few games actually showcase this. Some MSX2+ machines also feature a built-in MSX Music sound chip, which allows for great music too. In the MSX2+ era, some games were developed that work both on MSX2 and MSX2+ machines, but have some enhanced features when played on the MSX2+. Examples are Space Manbow which is best played on MSX2+ for smooth scrolling. And in Quarth for example the only difference I know of is the opening animation which is absent when played on an MSX2.

And finally there is a 16-bit machine in the MSX family. It's called the MSX Turbo R. Only 2 models were released, and only by Panasonic. The Turbo R has a lot more RAM than most MSX machines (where the default was 64k RAM), and most importantly it had 2 CPUs. A Zilog Z80 one (for backward compatibility with older MSX machines) and a brand new 16-bit one.

There are around 8 or so games that make use of the Turbo R's 16-bit processor, and obviously they can't be played on any other MSX.

 

[sixteen-bit]

And finally there is a 16-bit machine in the MSX family. It's called the MSX Turbo R. Only 2 models were released, and only by Panasonic. The Turbo R has a lot more RAM than most MSX machines (where the default was 64k RAM), and most importantly it had 2 CPUs. A Zilog Z80 one (for backward compatibility with older MSX machines) and a brand new 16-bit one.

There are around 8 or so games that make use of the Turbo R's 16-bit processor, and obviously they can't be played on any other MSX.

Coincidentally, this just showed up on my youtube feed. That Turbo-R seems pretty awesome

 

[foobarry81]

Coincidentally, this just showed up on my youtube feed. That Turbo-R seems pretty awesome

It is, but I can´t find myself putting down somewhere between €300-€500 for an ST or a GT. Way too few games that actually use the 16-bit processor to make it worth my while. I think a Turbo R is really only worth it if you actually want to do some programming yourself for that machine.

And my Panasonic MSX2+ already has most of the other features on board that the Turbo R´s have. It even has a near identical design.

But nevertheless a very cool machine indeed.

 

[ElectricThunder]

Jorito continues to show that the MSX Moonsound definitely has more juice to it than it got a chance to show and delve into at the time:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qjz9X27h1vk

 

[Rydeen]

Just wanted to drop in and mention that the MSX exclusive Gradius 2 has an AMAZING soundtrack, that first level theme gives me chills, it's so good. As much as I love most of Konami Kukeiha Club's classic output, this is really firing on all cylinders.

http://youtu.be/X-_EOZ8f4JM

Edit: Whoops, fixed that link there.

 

[foobarry81]

Just wanted to drop in and mention that the MSX exclusive Gradius 2 has an AMAZING soundtrack, that first level theme gives me chills, it's so good. As much as I love most of Konami Kukeiha Club's classic output, this is really firing on all cylinders.

MSX: Gradius 2 Soundtrack: http://youtu.be/X-_EOZ8f4JM

Your link is broken.

Anyway, great game, great soundtrack. Potentially my favourite game in the entire Gradius series.

Immediately felt like replaying it after clicking the link.

Jorito continues to show that the MSX Moonsound definitely has more juice to it than it got a chance to show and delve into at the time:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qjz9X27h1vk

It was released way too late in the MSX life cycle.

 

[sixteen-bit]

...and a follow up, nice little Turbo R review
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CE-XoXHaoVY

 

[foobarry81]

...and a follow up, nice little Turbo R review
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CE-XoXHaoVY

So, are you getting one for yourself? ;-)

Wouldn´t say ´no´ if I got one offered for cheap. It´s a sexy and quirky machine. But as the review says correctly: way too few games that make use of the R800 processor unfortunately.

 

[Rei_Toei]

No, MSX2 games typically made use of the much improved (video) capabilities of the MSX2, so they couldn't be played on a MSX1 machine.

This is why you saw quite a bit games around the 1986-1990ish period that got 2 separate releases, an MSX1 and an MSX2 release. E.g. King's Valley 2, Zanac/Zanac Ex and Dragon Quest.

The MSX2 release of those games was typically the remarkably better looking one.

Konami's MSX team went a step further even and added a proprietary music chip in their cartridges, called the SCC (Sound Custom Chip). This added 5 extra music channels to the default 3 ones typically present in an MSX or MSX2. Because of that (and the talent of the composers) some of these games have spectacular sound for 8-bit games.

After the MSX2 came the MSX2+ which further enhanced the MSX standard. They fixed the choppy scrolling, but only very few games actually showcase this. Some MSX2+ machines also feature a built-in MSX Music sound chip, which allows for great music too. In the MSX2+ era, some games were developed that work both on MSX2 and MSX2+ machines, but have some enhanced features when played on the MSX2+. Examples are Space Manbow which is best played on MSX2+ for smooth scrolling. And in Quarth for example the only difference I know of is the opening animation which is absent when played on an MSX2.

And finally there is a 16-bit machine in the MSX family. It's called the MSX Turbo R. Only 2 models were released, and only by Panasonic. The Turbo R has a lot more RAM than most MSX machines (where the default was 64k RAM), and most importantly it had 2 CPUs. A Zilog Z80 one (for backward compatibility with older MSX machines) and a brand new 16-bit one.

There are around 8 or so games that make use of the Turbo R's 16-bit processor, and obviously they can't be played on any other MSX.

Which games made use of the Turbo R's capabilities? I think at one point my brother had an Turbo R but I have no idea of we ever played something that was specifically only playable on it.

 

[foobarry81]

Which games made use of the Turbo R's capabilities? I think at one point my brother had an Turbo R but I have no idea of we ever played something that was specifically only playable on it.

First of all there is Fray in Magical Adventure, which is a game in the XAK series. Fray got 2 releases though, MSX2/MSX2+ version and a Turbo R version. They come in different coloured boxes, I believe blue and pink.

Then there is Illusion City, which is a cyber punk themed RPG. Is supposed to be (very) good. Has great music from what I´ve heard of it on Youtube. But I haven´t played it myself.

There´s a game in the Princess Maker series. Which is sort of a dating sim. I haven´t played it, but to my knowledge it´s an MSX2 game with enhanced features for MSX2+/Turbo R.

Also the Ranma 1/2 franchise game and Undeadline are supposed to be MSX2 games with built-in Turbo R features, I believe.

There´s also a game called Moonlight Saga. It looks like a JRPG, but I don´t know a whole lot about it.

There may be a few others, but that´s basically it, I think. Less than 10 in total.

The MSX home brew scene has put out some more Turbo R games though.

 

[Krejlooc]

I ordered a Modulon MSX Slot Expander from SuperSoniq today, $170 after shipping, ouch. Looks ace!

individual on/off switches for each port, plus dust covers for each port with working springs. I need a cart extender specifically for SD Snatcher - I have a translation cart, and the game requires a soundcart to function. I can play the game with just the translation cart and the sound cart, but it will only save to a floppy drive. My HBFB1-II doesn't have a built-in floppy drive, but I do have an external drive. Unfortunately, that means I need 3 cart slots where my machine only has two.

So stoked to try this out. I've played the beginning of SD snatcher so many times now, I want to be able to save.

 

[foobarry81]

I ordered a Modulon MSX Slot Expander from SuperSoniq today, $170 after shipping, ouch. Looks ace!

individual on/off switches for each port, plus dust covers for each port with working springs. I need a cart extender specifically for SD Snatcher - I have a translation cart, and the game requires a soundcart to function. I can play the game with just the translation cart and the sound cart, but it will only save to a floppy drive. My HBFB1-II doesn't have a built-in floppy drive, but I do have an external drive. Unfortunately, that means I need 3 cart slots where my machine only has two.

So stoked to try this out. I've played the beginning of SD snatcher so many times now, I want to be able to save.

Never realized it was that hard (and expensive) to be able to play SD Snatcher. (Never realized there was something like an SD Snatcher translation cart either.)

It might even have been cheaper to just get another MSX2 that does have a built-in floppy drive.

Anyway, the slot expander you bought does look like a real quality product.

Edit: oh... right... Krejlooc = Cooljerk

 

[Rei_Toei]

First of all there is Fray in Magical Adventure, which is a game in the XAK series. Fray got 2 releases though, MSX2/MSX2+ version and a Turbo R version. They come in different coloured boxes, I believe blue and pink.

Then there is Illusion City, which is a cyber punk themed RPG. Is supposed to be (very) good. Has great music from what I´ve heard of it on Youtube. But I haven´t played it myself.

There´s a game in the Princess Maker series. Which is sort of a dating sim. I haven´t played it, but to my knowledge it´s an MSX2 game with enhanced features for MSX2+/Turbo R.

Also the Ranma 1/2 franchise game and Undeadline are supposed to be MSX2 games with built-in Turbo R features, I believe.

There´s also a game called Moonlight Saga. It looks like a JRPG, but I don´t know a whole lot about it.

There may be a few others, but that´s basically it, I think. Less than 10 in total.

The MSX home brew scene has put out some more Turbo R games though.

Thanks, that confirms it - we had one. I played Fray and Illusion City. Especially Illusion City blew my mind back then (as talked about on previous pages in this thread). The music is absolutely stunning and perfectly compliments the gritty cyberpunk setting. Snatched is often cited as an example of the influence of movies like Blade Runner on certain Japanese games of the era, but Illusion City is, in my opinion, a way stronger game and example.

 

[foobarry81]

Thanks, that confirms it - we had one. I played Fray and Illusion City. Especially Illusion City blew my mind back then (as talked about on previous pages in this thread). The music is absolutely stunning and perfectly compliments the gritty cyberpunk setting. Snatched is often cited as an example of the influence of movies like Blade Runner on certain Japanese games of the era, but Illusion City is, in my opinion, a way stronger game and example.

Well, they are different types of games of course. And Kojima never made a secret of being heavily influenced by eighties Hollywood flicks.

I guess Snatcher is cited more often because it actually got a US release and is thus better known in the West. Since I haven´t played Illusion City yet, I wouldn´t really know. But it does look and sound great. Only, getting a copy of that game and a Turbo R to play it on is a pretty expensive admission ticket to just this single game experience.

 

[Dragoon En Regalia]

Snatcher wasn't the only game exploring Blade Runner's themes and superficial aesthetics. Aside from Illusion City (which also reminds me of Shadowrun with some of its fantasy elements), there was Data West's Imitation City and Great's Imitation is Not Love, both of which are command-selection adventures like Snatcher. Kojima even points to the former as an influence/competitor when developing Snatcher. Imitation is Not Love is commonly rated higher than most other eroge of the era, too. Koei's porn game Do Dutch Wives Dream of Electric Eels? (NSFW article) references Philip K. Dick and some aspects of the movie adaptation, amusing for one of Japan's earliest CRPGs.

 

[foobarry81]

Wow, this stuff looks amazing!

Zombie Incident (web page) is an indie dev/home brew development game that won the MSXdev’11 game development competition.

There is this French guy called Eric Boez who fairly recently opened up a webshop selling some of the best games from the MSX indie/home brew scene, who sells this release, and some others like Uridium.

Disclaimer: I was not involved in any way with the development of this game, and am not involved in any way with that online store either. Just bought this copy and am impressed with it.

 

[Dragoon En Regalia]

Friendly reminder that SCROLL's final issue covers the MSX with a large catalog of games worth looking up.

 

[foobarry81]

Friendly reminder that SCROLL's final issue covers the MSX with a large catalog of games worth looking up.

I had never heard of the magazine, but it certainly looks interesting: http://scroll.vg/issues/12

 

[sixteen-bit]

Friendly reminder that SCROLL's final issue covers the MSX with a large catalog of games worth looking up.

how ironic a magazine called scroll's last issue is about MSX

GAF thread:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=975026

 

[foobarry81]

Youtuber "Banjo Guy Ollie" is reviewing some MSX games in his new item "The MSX Mansion":

King's Valley: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyDB-eg0vtA
Knightmare: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvgwp7lciS0

The intro music is from Usas, for anyone wondering.

 

[sixteen-bit]

LGR looks @ MSX2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDrw7mLRdjs

 

[Dragoon En Regalia]

LGR looks @ MSX2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDrw7mLRdjs

Saw this on the Patreon feed a while ago, great vid and review of that specific model. He's also going to review Thexder at some point in the future, laying my anxieties to rest.

 

[foobarry81]

That butchered King's Valley 2 cartridge.

For those of you wondering: the custom made switch on top of it is to allow home brewers to access the Konami Sound Custom Chip that was built into some of the later Konami games directly.

Glad to see the awesome Space Manbow mentioned
And yeah, I agree that the 8235 isn't the best model out there.

 

[Laws00]

still wondering how the hell my friend ended up with this game collection and it eventually ended up in my hands.

I didn't think much of it till I actually started to read about it.

Damn there were a lot Konami games on this system

 

[foobarry81]

still wondering how the hell my friend ended up with this game collection and it eventually ended up in my hands.

I didn't think much of it till I actually started to read about it.

Damn there were a lot Konami games on this system

Yep, I think 72 or something in total, and quite a bit of true 8-bit classics. That is: 72 Konami games released by Konami.
There were also a couple of games, like Crazy Train or Sparkie, that were developed by Konami, but published by other publishers like Sony.

Those Antiques Collections (PS and Saturn) are just a selection.

 

[foobarry81]

Demon Videogames remade Konami's Knightmare for the Windows platform. Same gameplay, but new graphics, some weather effects and they rearranged the original music. Oh...and they added co-op multiplayer.

You can download it for free on the link:

http://demonvideogames.blogspot.com.es/2015/03/we-lanuch-remake-of-knightmare.html

Not sure if I like this new take. It's a bit harder with more enemies on screen and the bosses taking more hits (as if Knightmare wasn't hard enough already). And their take on the music really just isn't my thing. It's bit too pompous for my liking.

But other than that, might be interesting to some who have never experienced the original. I'm just going to stick to my original cart though.

 

[GayForMaster]

I'm not trying to promote piracy or anything but Is there a way to play roms on MSX hardware easily? I usually like to play fan translated games on hardware (PS1 for example, and I'd use their Japanese version as its case), and MGS2 has an english translation that I'd want to try. Vampire Killer looks like its import friendly but I'm wondering if the MSX2 is also region free?

 

[EBreda]

I really loved Camelot.

I still have my MSX in a box (though it's the first version), along with Konami Soccer, Konami Tennis, Hypersports, Road Fighter and Rambo 3.

 

[foobarry81]

I'm not trying to promote piracy or anything but Is there a way to play roms on MSX hardware easily? I usually like to play fan translated games on hardware (PS1 for example, and I'd use their Japanese version as its case), and MGS2 has an english translation that I'd want to try. Vampire Killer looks like its import friendly but I'm wondering if the MSX2 is also region free?

The only cartridge I know of that is region locked is Metal Gear (the first game). European Metal Gear carts don't work on Japanese machines and vice versa. Other than that I think ALL cartridges should work on ALL MSXs. (Except of course for MSX2 carts that don't work on MSX1 computers.) There are even cartridges that change language depending on the region of your computer, e.g. Usas.

There probably are some Japanese floppy disk games that don't work on European MSXs too. I believe Tetris to be one of those.

As for your other question: there is a device called Mega Flash ROM (google it) which allows you to play homebrew on your MSX computer. I guess you could technically dump the image of your original game cartridges and store them on such a device so that you have multiple games on a single cartridge and don't have to swap out cartridges all the time. Or patch the roms of your games with translation patches and play them that way on the original hardware.

If you want to play Metal Gear 2 in English though, and don't want to advocate piracy, and at the same time don't own the original game cartridge, then you might as well buy a PS2, PS3 or PSVita and get a copy of Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence, Metal Gear Solid HD Collection or Metal Gear Solid The Legacy Collection. The two original MSX Metal Gear games are on all of those, in English.

I really loved Camelot.

I still have my MSX in a box (though it's the first version), along with Konami Soccer, Konami Tennis, Hypersports, Road Fighter and Rambo 3.

There is a Rambo 3?

Edit: seems like one of those early cassette tape games. The only Rambo games I knew of were the two Pack-In Video games: "Super Rambo Special" and ... "Rambo".

 

[RiverBed]

I had this system by blood right- kind of:

And I am not encouraged by the title of the thread being subtitled by an 'unknowon' game. As an MSX 'experiencer', I would think better of you, OP. Penguins, maybe- if you had to subtitle it. But 'snake'? Ha!

 

[foobarry81]

I had this system by blood right- kind of:

And I am not encouraged by the title of the thread being subtitled by an 'unknowon' game. As an MSX 'experiencer', I would think better of you, OP. Penguins, maybe- if you had to subtitle it. But 'snake'? Ha!

Is that one of those Sakhrs?

I'll admit the subtitle is mainly to lure in people who haven't experienced MSX gaming before. People, like you, who have, shouldn't need a subtitle to join in. ;-)

 

[GayForMaster]

The only cartridge I know of that is region locked is Metal Gear (the first game). European Metal Gear carts don't work on Japanese machines and vice versa. Other than that I think ALL cartridges should work on ALL MSXs. (Except of course for MSX2 carts that don't work on MSX1 computers.) There are even cartridges that change language depending on the region of your computer, e.g. Usas.

There probably are some Japanese floppy disk games that don't work on European MSXs too. I believe Tetris to be one of those.

As for your other question: there is a device called Mega Flash ROM (google it) which allows you to play homebrew on your MSX computer. I guess you could technically dump the image of your original game cartridges and store them on such a device so that you have multiple games on a single cartridge and don't have to swap out cartridges all the time. Or patch the roms of your games with translation patches and play them that way on the original hardware.

If you want to play Metal Gear 2 in English though, and don't want to advocate piracy, and at the same time don't own the original game cartridge, then you might as well buy a PS2, PS3 or PSVita and get a copy of Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence, Metal Gear Solid HD Collection or Metal Gear Solid The Legacy Collection. The two original MSX Metal Gear games are on all of those, in English.



There is a Rambo 3?

Edit: seems like one of those early cassette tape games. The only Rambo games I knew of were the two Pack-In Video games: "Super Rambo Special" and ... "Rambo".

I've got the HD Collection actually, but part of me wants to play it on MSX heh. Thank you very much for the info. I actually have another question... What MSX2 device do you feel is the best to procure? And is it capable of doing rgb scart, or is it vga only?

 

[foobarry81]

I've got the HD Collection actually, but part of me wants to play it on MSX heh. Thank you very much for the info. I actually have another question... What MSX2 device do you feel is the best to procure? And is it capable of doing rgb scart, or is it vga only?

I think most MSX2 computers have an RGB output? I own a Philips NMS 8280 (MSX2), Philips NMS 8245 (MSX2) and a Panasonic FS A1 WX (MSX2+). And I can connect all of them to my CRT TV using SCART. I also own a MSX1 (Philips VG8020), but I´d have to check if it has RGB output. Probably not.

There are so many different MSX2 computers out there that it really depends what you´re looking for (and perhaps also what your budget is). If you´re in the US, it might be more logical to get a Japanese computer, because you´d need a separate voltage converter for a Euro computer. Having said that, GAFer Noisepurge has made a buyer´s guide here. I believe he´s pointing towards the Philips NMS 8245 as the best entry model.

If you have a lot of space, you could go for one of the big and bulky Philips models (NMS 8250, NMS8255, NMS 8280), which feature a separate keyboard. The advantage of those, I think, is that they are fairly common in Europe (making them perhaps a tad cheaper), and that it´s fairly easy to find spare parts if necessary. They are also quite easy to mod because of their form factor (e.g. make an MSX2+ out of them, or just add more RAM), if you´re into that. Many of these computers out there have already been modded, btw.

There is also the Sony Hit Bit F500, which is probably a good option if you don´t mind the bigger models.

If design is important to you, you might want to look at other vendors than Philips because most Philips computers look really bland. There are a couple of red models for example, made by Sony. Not sure how many of those are MSX2 and if they support RGB. Some of those Japanese models only offer composite output, and mono sound (you don´t want that). So you´d best look into it beforehand.

Sanyo also has some MSXs with a fairly distinct design.

I really like the design of my own Panasonic FS A1 WX. It´s the same design as the FS A1 WSX and also Panasonic´s 2 MSX Turbo R models, which all look great imo.

A big advantage of the Panasonic MSX2+s (and Turbo Rs) is that they have MSX-Music built in. There are a number of games that support that (FM) sound chip and it will give you a superior audio experience. You can get the same experience though on an MSX2 model is you put an FM-PAC cartridge (or an FM-PAC clone) in the 2nd cartridge slot.

So yeah it depends on what you´re planning to do with your MSX, really.

 

[GayForMaster]

I think most MSX2 computers have an RGB output? I own a Philips NMS 8280 (MSX2), Philips NMS 8245 (MSX2) and a Panasonic FS A1 WX (MSX2+). And I can connect all of them to my CRT TV using SCART. I also own a MSX1 (Philips VG8020), but I´d have to check if it has RGB output. Probably not.

There are so many different MSX2 computers out there that it really depends what you´re looking for (and perhaps also what your budget is). If you´re in the US, it might be more logical to get a Japanese computer, because you´d need a separate voltage converter for a Euro computer. Having said that, GAFer Noisepurge has made a buyer´s guide here. I believe he´s pointing towards the Philips NMS 8245 as the best entry model.

If you have a lot of space, you could go for one of the big and bulky Philips models (NMS 8250, NMS8255, NMS 8280), which feature a separate keyboard. The advantage of those, I think, is that they are fairly common in Europe (making them perhaps a tad cheaper), and that it´s fairly easy to find spare parts if necessary. They are also quite easy to mod because of their form factor (e.g. make an MSX2+ out of them, or just add more RAM), if you´re into that. Many of these computers out there have already been modded, btw.

There is also the Sony Hit Bit F500, which is probably a good option if you don´t mind the bigger models.

If design is important to you, you might want to look at other vendors than Philips because most Philips computers look really bland. There are a couple of red models for example, made by Sony. Not sure how many of those are MSX2 and if they support RGB. Some of those Japanese models only offer composite output, and mono sound (you don´t want that). So you´d best look into it beforehand.

Sanyo also has some MSXs with a fairly distinct design.

I really like the design of my own Panasonic FS A1 WX. It´s the same design as the FS A1 WSX and also Panasonic´s 2 MSX Turbo R models, which all look great imo.

A big advantage of the Panasonic MSX2+s (and Turbo Rs) is that they have MSX-Music built in. There are a number of games that support that (FM) sound chip and it will give you a superior audio experience. You can get the same experience though on an MSX2 model is you put an FM-PAC cartridge (or an FM-PAC clone) in the 2nd cartridge slot.

So yeah it depends on what you´re planning to do with your MSX, really.

Man getting an MSX is going to be perilous heh. I will be looking for an MSX2 (will mostly search for that Philips NMS 8245 model).

 

[foobarry81]

Man getting an MSX is going to be perilous heh. I will be looking for an MSX2 (will mostly search for that Philips NMS 8245 model).

If you had in mind to mainly look for one on eBay, may I suggest to register on msx.org and ask around for one there (Trading and Collecting forums)? In the MSX community over there, chances are better that someone can hook you up with a computer, likely also at a somewhat cheaper price than what eBay wants for it.

There is also a fairly decent offering of hard- and software at Retroclasificados at a bit more reasonable prices once in a while. Spanish only though, but some of the sellers on there do speak English if you contact them.

 

[GayForMaster]

If you had in mind to mainly look for one on eBay, may I suggest to register on msx.org and ask around for one there (Trading and Collecting forums)? In the MSX community over there, chances are better that someone can hook you up with a computer, likely also at a somewhat cheaper price than what eBay wants for it.

There is also a fairly decent offering of hard- and software at Retroclasificados at a bit more reasonable prices once in a while. Spanish only though, but some of the sellers on there do speak English if you contact them.

Yeah I was only trying ebay. Thanks for the suggestions. I'll report back if I find and get an MSX

 

[ElectricThunder]

Suddenly, a Mass of Moonsound~

http://www.msx.org/news/en/dutch-moonsound-veterans-released

In the pre-order announcement for the MoonSound clone Dal-So-Ri the MSX community expressed interest in an OPL4 music disk so that they could use it with their new Dal-So-Ri. MRC webmaster John Hassink spoke these memorable words in the topic: "I could make a selection from my unreleased stuff... it's quite a lot. But I'm not really in the mood to make a menu etc".


Of course that’s an invitation to team up and get some MoonSound music released. So John asked Hans Cnossen and Robert Vroemisse to join, Meits joined and invited more composers of ye olden days and started coding a replayer. In the end this resulted in a collaboration with a lot of famous names from the MSX scene, as you can enjoy music from Master of Audio, Meits, Jorito, Hans Cnossen, DandAN, John Hassink, Robert Vroemisse
, Bart Roijmans, Ruud van de Moosdijk and Omega
. A lot of hard work later (about 9 months!) this beast of a music disk with both classic tracks and new ones is finally a reality: Dutch MoonSound Veterans (DMV) is here for you to enjoy.

DMV is indeed a beast of a music disk and it comes in multiple versions:

A set of 3 disk images, filled to the brim with music
A Full Throttle edition, installable on hard disk (or available as hard disk image) that contains all music of these 3 disk images as well as a selection of tracks that were too big to fit on a normal disk

To use all of this, you need at least an MSX2, a disk drive and a MoonSound. If you want to run Full Throttle, you need a mass storage device and a MoonSound with 640kB SRAM.

To celebrate the release, scene composer Omega will host a listening party on Twitch, which you can join to listen to the music, both the new and the classics and to chat up with fellow MoonSound fans. You can join the party by tuning in to http://www.twitch.tv/omegamsx on Wednesday July 22nd at 21:00 CET. Hope to see you there!

Hopefully they archive that listening party on Twitch tomorrow...as well as hopefully said party being all the tracks from the Full Throttle Edition...

 

[foobarry81]

Suddenly, a Mass of Moonsound~

http://www.msx.org/news/en/dutch-moonsound-veterans-released



Hopefully they archive that listening party on Twitch tomorrow...as well as hopefully said party being all the tracks from the Full Throttle Edition...

Thanks for sharing! Might tune if for that Twitch tonight.

Sadly don't have a MoonSound, and would have to idea where to get one either (or how much it would cost).

 

[ElectricThunder]

Well, they updated the downloadable version with a hotfix release due to some last minute troubles, so there's that.

They also thankfully archived the steam in the past broadcasts on that same channel...next trick is for me to find a spare ~4 hour block, apparently, to listen/watch it all!

 

[Splash Wave]

Can someone just tell me that buying an MSX computer and some games will be prohibitively expensive? A shop recently opened in Akihabara that specializes in this stuff, and I'm scared that I'll spend waaaay to much money once I finally see these computers in person.