Msx Thread !!!

[RetroMan]

So ..... to ALL MSX ENTHUSIASTS!!!

I bought a MSX Computer some days ago (Philips VG-8010). The problem was, I got no Cartridges, no disk or other storage media. Now I thought, how could I get games from the Net to the MSX ?? Solution is simple ...... There are MSX games, that came on tape (lots of them), so I build a cable, that connects my PC Soundcard to the MSX Tape Recorder Plug .... All I had to do after that, is type RUN"CAS:" at the MSX and play the tape file on my PC as a WAV file with any Media Program like WinAMP, WMP or whatever you like to use :D ...... Two things :

1.) The games MUST be in .WAV format ;)
2.) If you have .CAS games (to use in Emulators) you have to decode them back to WAV, I found a Util for that, but i´m currently testing to get the correct BitRate, so be patient ....

P.S : Here you go AKIRA, READ AND REPLY !!!! :D:D:D

[Akira]

Originally posted by RetroMan
2.) If you have .CAS games (to use in Emulators) you have to decode them back to WAV, I found a Util for that, but i´m currently testing to get the correct BitRate, so be patient ....

P.S : Here you go AKIRA, READ AND REPLY !!!! :D:D:D

There, read that. there are no emulators that support RAW TAPE FORMATS, only that .CAS format. That's what I tried to say and I failed :)

BTW I moved this thread, it has to do with retrogaming! Remember the Off-Topic forum is the trashcan of the board :P Don't post stuff that's good in there!

[RetroMan]

Originally posted by Akira


There, read that. there are no emulators that support RAW TAPE FORMATS..............

Also not QUITE true :) you can load .WAV format games into MESS and use it :D

Inside the MESS archive there´s also the tool to convert .CAS files back to .WAV, it´s called IMGTOOL !! oh well, gotta go playing JETSET WILLY on my MSX ;)

[Akira]

Then MESS does. Anwyay, WAV is still not a raw image of a tape :D

Yes, I'm being a nitpicker on you :D:D:D

I need to get a 5 1/4 drive to transfer stuff to the MSX, cant wait to play it damnit :(

Where did you get teh schems to make this cable btw? might keep me entertained while I buy a 5 1/4 drive

[Fissuras]

When I first got my MSX there was no disk drive available. I had many tapes around. I was quite used to tapes since my TK 85 (ZX81 with a whole 16Kb RAM) didn't had any other input device (besides the keyboard, if one can call that a keyboard).

It took quite sometime to get a disk drive. It was quite expensive, I recall it was more or less the same price a new MSX.

What happened to those tapes? I don't know. I remember seeing them (and some ZX81 tapes) two years ago at my parent's house. But they should be uselesses by now.

[RetroMan]

Ever read the MSX FAQ ?? Great piece of Website, a MUST read : http://www.faq.msxnet.org/

Also there are ALL connector descriptions and so on :) The cable took me 7 minutes to build, oh and btw. I would suggest getting a 3 1/2" Disk Drive for your MSX, cause then you can write software to disk, using the PC and just plug the disk into the real MSX :D

Edit : @fissuras : if you get the chance to get hold of your old tapes, get them and transfer them to PC via the Soundcard (there are utils to do so, also the emu VIRTUAL MSX can read REAL tapes and save them to PC HD afterwards) .....

[Akira]

Thanks for the link, Retroman. I will kick Shatterhand in the neck for not pointing me to that direction! :)

Anyway, I CAN'T connect a 3 1/2 drive to my MSX because my FDD interface has a slightly older Western Digital IC that does not allow me to use 720KB disks (it's one very rare old FDD controller, one of the first). I still can transfer stuff to the MSX using 5 1/4 disks. I just need to get a WORKING 5 1/4 PC diskdrive... mine is busted!

[RetroMan]

Hmm, ok then lemme look ....... I still have 5 or 6 old 5 1/4 disk drives, if ANY of them are still working (I´ll check at weekend) you can have one, just have to pay shipping, you want it ?? Anyway, i´m still in search for some SHMUPS on tape, so if anybody got a link, please reply :D

[birdy-scc]

I never used an msx, but I just got the BRMSX emulator,

It comes *without* instructions !! But (after looking around) found out that I need to press the mouse button to bring up the file loader.

When I do this the program crashes. Any ideas?

[RetroMan]

Originally posted by birdy-scc
I never used an msx, but I just got the BRMSX emulator,

It comes *without* instructions !! But (after looking around) found out that I need to press the mouse button to bring up the file loader.

When I do this the program crashes. Any ideas?

You got all the needed Rom files ?? lile MSX.ROM etc. ??? Without them, the emu will crash ....

[Ian]

Originally posted by birdy-scc
When I do this the program crashes. Any ideas?
It might be because it's an unstable beta:)

What OS ya using Birdy-Scc, if it's Windoze try RuMSX, I used to use it when I was going through my MSX fetish;)

[Fissuras]

Well, the BrMsx emulator comes with no roms at all... you must have got a crippled version.

Here are some Goodies:

BrMsx site (latest version = 2.06):

http://www.lsi.usp.br/~ricardo/brmsx.htm

You can read the online user's manual in many languages:

english (1.160)
dutch (1.160)
spanish (1.160)
portuguese (1.155)
italian (1.145)
french (1.136)

Here is a copy of the english BrMsx manual (ops. it is version 1.160):

[Shatterhand]

Oh man, I am so excited to reply in this thread ! The MSX is my fav machine ever, it's more inside of my heart than even the Amiga. It's a bit like the C64 for your english guys.

I think I have a lot to say here, so I'll take slowly and easily

@Akira

I GAVE you this link, probably eons ago. You probably lost it or something, and I also told you I've lost all my MSX Urls. Now you have the MSX faq.. :-)

ALL msx games can be put in tapes if you want. You can even put 128 Kb games in tapes (If the tape is that big), but it will take ages to load, obviously. I just had an idea, there are MSX programs that copy files from disk to tape and vice-versa. I had a program that does this in my MSX collection, but I don't know if I kept it after transfering all my tape games to disks. I'll take a look later, maybe using this program you can copy .DSK files to .TAP files using the emulator, and then put it in a tape using the program Retroman was sepaking about. If I don't have this program, I bet won't be hard to find it. I''ll take a look at BRMSX page, as it has a link to the author site, and I bet he has a program that does this disk-tape-disk copy.

There are NO .CAS format, when you use Run"Cas:" you are just telling MSX to search the next file in basic format in the tape. If you use Bload"Cas:",r you are telling the MSX to load the next binary file in the tape,and run it.

About emulators, I use FMSX-DOS with a front-end (FMSX-Shell) most of time. There are a few games not working with it, but the emulator is fast in a Pentium machine, the sound emulation is perfect (even SCC, only the FM cartridge isn't as good as the real one, but maybe that's my soundcard). For speed sake, get BRMSX, IF your machine can run it. The author himself say his target public is people using 486s and DOS 6.22. . Most people have problems using it in modern machines. BRMSX is also compatible with nearly everthing for MSX. You may also use NO$MSX, a very fast emulator, with good sound support and runned EVERY game I tested. The DOS version only supports .DSK files, but the Windows versions supports .ROM files too. If you want Turbo-R emulation, RuMSX is the one (Only use RuMSX for Turbo-R emulation, everything else sux on this emu). There's also MSX-KISS, this emulator is the one recommended by the BRMSX author, so it gotta be good. I never tested it.

And about tape support. FMSX-DOS supports tapes, in .tap files, but I don't know how those files work. I use it to save games in "Metal Gear" and "Pay-Load"

About how many MSX roms exist: I don't know how many games in ROM format exist. Although most classics come in cartridges, not all games were selled in cartridges, and actually, there were more games sold in disks than in cartridges. I have about 1000 MSX games in my collection, and I am sure I am not even close to have all games. There was a spanish site called D-MSX that had about 3000-4000 Games. (And we're speaking of COMERCIAL games, not PD).

I belive most games Fissuras had in tape are also available in disks. There were just a few games sold in "Tape-only" format, and they were all converted to disk later. (And all those games were crap ZX Spectrum ports, like Shinobi or California Games)


Aff, I'm tired of typing, I'll may say a little more later :)

[RetroMan]

I´ve found this site : http://msx.hop.to

There you can download a bunch of games in .WAV format and also there are utile, to make .WAV out of .ROM (Cartridges)..... I haven´t slept until now and it´s now 8:00 AM in the morning and I have to go to work .... but I´ve tested these fine Utils for some hours now and it WORKS :D ..

So now it´s possible to create tapes out of your fav. Cartridge Dumps (.ROM) !!! Also there are utils to extract the .bin files out of .dsk files ..... My next thing I´m planning is, convert all games I find to .wav, burn them to CDR and use my Portable CD Player on my MSX to load the games :D:D:D

[Twistin'Ghost]

There has been some really thorough, huge MSX floods in usenet (again, alt.binaries.emulators.misc) with gads and gads of MSXware.

[RetroMan]

Seems, that I got to set up Usenet once again :D anyway, I got a problem here, maybe someone got a solution ..... As I stated above, I have a Philips VG-8010, well it IS at last MSX1 standard, BUT it only got 48KB, not 64KB like most MSX computers got :( so all I can use on that neat little machine are 32KB Cartridges, so I sorted them out, and put them to an extra directory ....

Now I trying to convert to .WAV which works out fine, the Problem is after typing RUN"CAS:" (or BLOAD"CAS:",R if it´s a binary) the MSX only returns to the MSX-DOS screen with an OK prompt :( May it be, that some 32KB Cartridges require 64KB ??? or is there another problem ?

One more thing, I have read that there was a 16KB Ram Cartridge Expasion Module for the VG-8010, does anyone got it and would sale it to me ? Or swap ? ...... ah well, as I said, I had to be really lucky with this, but it IS worth a try ;):):D

[Twistin'Ghost]

Maybe everything you are trying to dump has already been dumped? Why don't you post a list of the MSX stuff you are trying to dump and I will see if I have it already, in which case I can send it to you somehow.

[RetroMan]

@Twistin'Ghost

I´m not trying to dump those carts *again* .... These are .rom files from the Net and I doubt you allready have them as .WAV file, do you ??

[Fissuras]

I have found this litte program... "MSXCas2Files"

eh.. I didn't really find it... I just read a note about it on EMULATRONIA...

Here is what the author has to say:

"MSXCas2Files is a Visual Basic made program for record the files contained in an audio tape into a MSX emulator.

I am referring on those prehistoric games recorded in three / four minutes tapes (each side), which sounded something similar to: "Piiiiiiiii-ouch! piiiiiiiiiii grgrgrgrgrrrgrgrrrrjjj...".

What MSXCas2Files does is reading the sounds from a WAV file, analyzing it, and if everything goes OK, it generates some files in your hard disk: the files which were in the tape.

Then, you just save them as a .DSK file in order to use it with the emulator and, let's play!"

here is the address:

http://www.terra.es/personal7/miguel.colom/msx/msx_en.htm
(english version)

http://www.terra.es/personal7/miguel.colom/msx/msx.htm
(spanish version)

In the links section there is a link to a site called "Wav Games"

http://www.dlcsistemas.com/msx/html/body__wav_games.html

It seems to be offline, but it is said to have a lot of utilities and stuff for MSX, games in WAV format and an explanation of how to convert binary files into sound files, just the inverse process of MSXCas2Files...

happy hunting

[Fissuras]

I've found this other link too

"The author(s) of the No$MSX emulator also made a tool to use cassettes in emulators. It is a DOS program called TAPE2HDD. Look here for details and download."

http://www.work.de/nocash/tape2hdd.htm

It may be usefull, who kows?

[Shatterhand]

I don't know much about tapes really, as I never used them on my MSX other than to save games...

@retroman

NO Game worked at all, or this is happening just with a few games? Maybe those dumps don't work at all? And when you say it gets back to "MSX-DOS", you mean you go back to "MSX Basic", right?

Now, are you SURE your MSX has just 48 Kb of ram, or you made a test or something? (I know some MSXs haven't 64 Kb of ram, even being the standard.. some Spectravideo MSXs had just 16 Kb of ram.. I don't know about your model.) . I doubt you'll need 64 Kb of ram to run 32 Kb games. Try to run a 16 Kb game to test it anyway. And don't worry, I only saw 2 or 3 64 Kb games ever. And you wouldn't be able to play 128 Kb games anyway :)

[Akira]

Yes, his MSX has 48KB. It;s one strange machine :)

Neener neener, my MSX has 64KB :P

[Shatterhand]

Bah
Mine has 512 Kb.. :) :) :) :) :)

Some Spectravideos models had 16 Kb of ram.

Most MSX enthusiastic has 1 Mb those days. I've seen many MSXs with 4 Mbs, and I know a guy who said to have 64 Mbs on his MSX.

Not that you may want to know, but yesterday in a channel about emulators in Brasnet (the most used IRC server here in Brazil), a girl was asking for help to set-up the MSX emulator, because she wanted to play the "game with a little clown" (Circus Charlie), The Goonies, and the "racing game with stages in the city, the beach & the bridge" (Road Fighter)

She was so happy when she runned The Goonies. :)

[RetroMan]

@fissuras

The link you posted for "WAV GAMES" is the old link, the new one is that I have posted : http://msx.hop.to

@shatterhand

Well, the roms i´ll try are running on the emulator, so I think they also SHOULD run on a real MSX as well..... here´s a list of what games I´m able to play until now (all self converted to .WAV) :
- The Goonies
- Fruit Panic
- JetSet Willy II
- and 3 other games I really don´t know the exact names as they are in japanese ;)

now for the good news : I hopefully get a TURBO-R tomorrow, hardly can´t wait for it :D:D:D the MSX got a fixed place in my all-time-fav computers now and I think I will establish the Turbo-R as my second main computer, right after the A1200 ;):)

keep MSX´ing guys, this thread is kewl :D

Oh btw. does anyone got an overview list, of what games are available for the Turbo-R (I mean Turbo-R-Only games, are there any ??)

[Shatterhand]

Well , The Goonies is 32 Kb, so it's not memory...
maybe the dumps are bad or something...

YOU'RE GETTING A TURBO-R ????? How did you get one? How much it costed?????

I am envy of you.. and I am sure I am not the only one here to be :)


Well, Turbo-R only games.. there's a few of them. There's Illusion City, a huge RPG (It comes in 11 disks), Zone Terra (a vertical shmup), 2001 snooker, a Fight game I can't remember the name now... Ragnarok's fight, or something like that, it plays better than SF2 in Amiga :). Sonyc runs beautifully in the Turbo-R too (in a MSX2+ it's already pretty smooth, but it rocks in a Turbo-R), I also saw a video of a FANTASTIC shmup in a MSX fair this year, and someone said it was a new game, and it was turbo-r only.

www.aamsx.org it's a good place to search for new msx games... most of them take advantage of the Turbo-R

[RetroMan]

Originally posted by Shatterhand
Well , The Goonies is 32 Kb, so it's not memory...
maybe the dumps are bad or something...
Well, if the dumps were bad, they wouldn´t run in the emu I guess, but they do :(
YOU'RE GETTING A TURBO-R ????? How did you get one? How much it costed?????
A friend of mine bought it a year ago on a Book-Market and since then, NEVER used it ;) So I went over to him and asked, if he would like to sell.... I´m not sure about the price he wants to have, but maybe I get it for swap with some PC goodies like a HD or something, that´s what I got here laying around :D

[Akira]

ARGH! I wanted to bring one from Japan, a Panasonic A1ST. Almost got it! :(

I feel like Shatterhand :) Anyway, be sure to play FRAY with the Turbo R!

And post pics of your machine once you get it :)

[RetroMan]

Originally posted by Akira
ARGH! I wanted to bring one from Japan, a Panasonic A1ST. Almost got it! :(

I feel like Shatterhand :) Anyway, be sure to play FRAY with the Turbo R!

And post pics of your machine once you get it :)

Sure, only problem is, my DigiCam is broken, so I will take the normal Cam and scan the photo´s afterwards ;) Anyway, it seems that I have to wait one more week for my Turbo-R :( since my Friend will be away to work outside our Hometown for a week ! BUT, I just got a Sony HitBit HP75D and maybe I´ll get a extern FDD Drive (think it´s called HP30 or something) ..... at least that one got REAL 64KB :D:D:D I´ll also post pics of that one l8r :)

[Akira]

That HitBit is wicked, wtf do you live? Japan or Brazil? :D

How about finding one for me mate? I pay top dollar :D

(btw, which Turbo R model are you getting?)

[RetroMan]

Originally posted by Akira
That HitBit is wicked, wtf do you live? Japan or Brazil? :D
Nope, Germany .... look at "Location" at my Avatar :D

How about finding one for me mate? I pay top dollar :D
Well, the HitBit is a MSX1 also, thought you were looking for a MSX 2 ??????????

(btw, which Turbo R model are you getting?)
AFAIK my friend has a PANASONIC FS-A1 GT, but I´m not quite sure !!!

[Shatterhand]

Uhuhuhu

Retroman is getting all MSXs around :)

Yeah, Fray has a dedicated Turbo-R version, it's probably smoother and prettier than the MSX 2 version. Pretty good game, if you like Jap RPGs.

The Turbo-R also has the FM chip built-in (Like the MSX2+), so you'll be in a treat in the sound department.

Now maybe you could buy a cartridge slot expansor, and get an IDE interface, an Scsi Interface, CD-Rom, Zip-Drive, HD, CD-ROM, Modem, then you install Uzix, and browse the web with your Turbo-R :) (by the way, you can do this all with you MSX1 too :) )

[RetroMan]

Originally posted by Shatterhand
Retroman is getting all MSXs around :)
Yep :)

Yeah, Fray has a dedicated Turbo-R version, it's probably smoother and prettier than the MSX 2 version. Pretty good game, if you like Jap RPGs.
Think I have to try that one later ;):D
Now maybe you could buy a cartridge slot expansor, and get an IDE interface, an Scsi Interface, CD-Rom, Zip-Drive, HD, CD-ROM, Modem, then you install Uzix, and browse the web with your Turbo-R :) (by the way, you can do this all with you MSX1 too :) )
Uhhh, calm down a bit ..... I don´t have THAT much money, I´m just getting those I have posted above, cause I´m able to get them cheap (for example cause People don´t know, what they got in their hands :D:D:D )

@Shatterhand

Could you perhaps make a little TOP 10 with your personal fav. MSX games ??? Would like to know .....

[Akira]

Uhmm.. got confused again, now with the Sony models too :P I know you live in Germany, my comment was a bit of a joke :)

Anyway, isnt the A1GT the one that brings a Moonsound module instead of the FM-PAC?

You are in for a treat nonetheless.

[RetroMan]

All I know about the sound is : "PCM sound chip which can produce digitized sound up to 15 KHz "

That one´s inside the little Baby :D

[Shatterhand]

No no, afaik, there's NO msx model with a MOONSOUND inside.
The moonsound is really INCREDIBLE, when I was in that MSX fair, someone was playing Sonyc, and someone came and said "Wait a sec, while I plug the Moonsound"...

Then, suddenly WOOOSHH, you get clear, perfect, fantastic, loud sound. Everyone in the room instatly looked to that MSX to see what the hell was that..

My fav MSX games? Huh.. it will be hard to choose only ten.. I'll try to keep my list as short as possible

Aleste 1, 2 & Gaiden (All MSX2), excellent shmups
Metal Gear 1 & 2 (Both MSX2), arcade adventure
Penguin Adventure (MSX 1). that's an MSX classic, everyone loves this one.
F1-Spirit, The Way to Formula 1 (MSX1) - Racing game, it looks like Road Fighter, but it plays a lot better, with lots of different categories to race (from Stock Cars to F-3000 and F-1)
Treasure of Usas (MSX 2) - Take a look at the "fav platform thread"
Zanac & Zanac EX - More excellent shmups from the shmupmasters, Compile
Knightmare (MSX1) - Another MSX classic, another nice shmup set in medieval times
Eggerland Mystery (MSX1) - Puzzle game, much like "Chip's Challenge". It's the game that originated the "Lolo" series for NES
Puyo Puyo (MSX2) - Puzzle game of the Columns kind (MSX Columns is also great)
Castle & Castle EX - You're getting this one today :)
Fiirebird (Hinotori) (MSX 2) - Shmup with some adventure and exploration
Pennant Race 2 (MSX 2) - My fav baseball game ever!
Space Manbow (MSX 2) - Fan-tastic horizontal shmup
Firehawk - Thexder 2 (MSX 2) - Shooter platform game, better than the PC version.
Nyancle Racing (MSX 2) - Cute racing game with overhead view
Pay-load (MSX 1) - one of the most original game ever, guide a truck through japan, delivering cargos, paying taxes to pass through highways, watching out for the cops and fatigue. It's like Elite on a truck :)players competitive mode
Konami's Ping-Pong (MSX 1) - Conversion of the arcade game
Super Laydock 2 (MSX 2) - Shmups with horizontal and vertical stages
Super Runner (MSX 2) - Great platform game, with a very cool 2
Konami's Soccer (MSX 1) - One of the best soccer games ever! :)

Aff.. it seems to be much more than 10 games :) those are the games that I most play on my MSX.

[Shatterhand]

For some reason my post above got fucked-up

After payload, it should appear
"Super Runner (MSX2) - cool platform game, with a great 2-players competitive mode"

Actually, Super Runner is only worthy for the 2 players mode, as playing it against the CPU gets boring too soon...

[RetroMan]

@Shatterhand

Hmm, seems I got to download all those games and test them intensivly :D

Btw. the Turbo-R my friend got is broken .... THIS SUCKZ :bash
I will get it, no matter if it´s broken, but I´m not sure if I can fix it (well I´m sure I can if I only find the error :( )

Anyway, I got a new oportunity to get a MSX2 (Philips VG 8325 or something like that) ..... and hopefully at the weekend the Sony HitBit arrives here, can´t wait to get those ;)

Yesterday I played Bomberman on MSX which is quite funny, no overkill game, but quite funny .....

[Shatterhand]

Bomberman.... :) Most people think Bomberman was born in the PC-Engine system, but actually he first appeared in the MSX! :)

To be honest, I think 90% of Hudson games for MSX are just average or worse. The only GOOD game from them I can think now is Star Soldier (Yeah, another sucessfull Hudson series, was born in the MSX too)

Hope the problem in the Turbo-R can be easily fixed, it would be a shame to have such a great computer, and never be able to use it..

Oh well, you're getting other MSX.. how many of them do you have now? 20? :) Where did you find this MSX 2? it's hard to find MSXs 2 around as, who knows its value doesn't want to sell it, and who doesn't know just throw it away in the bin... :(

[RetroMan]

Well, currently I only got ONE msx computer (Philips VG-8010), I HAVE BOUGHT the Sony HitBit HB75P, but it´s not here yet and I want to buy a MSX2 which I saw in the newspaper (it only says : "Old computer for sale, Phone ......... ") so I called and he told me the name that´s standing on the case ;)

Edit : btw. CASTLE is great, I played it more that 7 hours until now (just for some rest in the moment :D )

[Akira]

Originally posted by RetroMan
Well, currently I only got ONE msx computer (Philips VG-8010)

Ahh weakling, at least mine has 64KB of RAM :D

I want a Sony HB-F1XDJ! Or an HB-F1XD

I love the red FDD :)

[Shatterhand]

I told you, The Castle & Castle EX is 2 of the finest games EVER done, and it's a big shame they aren't as known as they deserve to be... hope you're playing with an emulator able to "save states", as Í know it's damn hard to play it with just 5 lives (as you lose a life when you save a game.. the guys who made this game really didn't want you to finish it :)). In my MSX disks, I have Castle EX with 255 lives, and The Castle with 255 Lives, All Keys and Invencibility. Interested?


Quite funny, the guy selling a thing he doesn't even know what is.. you probably will get a good price for it :)


Oh yeah, and let's not start saying who has the best MSX...mine has 512 Kb and a zillion of games :D :D :D

[Akira]

You damned showoff :D

[RetroMan]

Originally posted by Shatterhand
Oh yeah, and let's not start saying who has the best MSX...mine has 512 Kb and a zillion of games :D :D :D

Hmm, I got an Amstrad CPC with 512 KB :D:D:D

[Shatterhand]

I don't know if you guys are still interested...

www.msxprojetos.com.br

that's the site of a guy who is PRODUCING FDD carts, Megarams, IDE and SCSI interfaces, and is also developing an USB interface for MSX

in www.msxprojetos.com.br/comprar.htm you'll find a form where you can buy his products..


the site is all in portuguese, and I have no ideia if he will sell to other countries, but it's worthy trying it anyway, if you want to buy MSX stuff..

use one of those webtranslators to read the page :)

[Akira]

He prolly sells to me since I live so close, eh? :) Will take a look!

Im still getting the megaram from you mate :)

[RetroMan]

...... and I really hope to get the Parcel with my HitBit today, cause I want to play all those classix on a real MSX since the VG-8010 only plays some of them :(

Anyway, I mailed the guy from above, wether he is selling to europe or not !! If not, maybe some of you could be so kind and buy something for me and send it to Europe afterwards ?? Would be cool ..... but we´ll see, after he replied to me (hopefully) ....

[Akira]

I have no problem in buying from him and sending to you. Just keep in mind the shipping cost will go a bit higher since the pack will have to do two trips! (but shipping from Brazil to Argentina is cheap)

It would still be a deal if the guy doesnt sell straight to you.

[RetroMan]

@Akira

Thx mate, I will come back to that offer if I´ll not be able to get something directly from him ..... untill then, I just have to say : DAMN PARCEL SERVICE here in germany :( still no HitBit :( Ah well, another day, another chance ;)

[Akira]

Das Postpaket
Schnell und sicher
___
/\/ / /
/\/ \|
------

:D

[Shatterhand]

Akira, I know you will get it from me, now I know I am selling it to you for a very good price :)

I must admit I haven't seen the posting price yet, I've been sick those days (with the Flu), spending most of time in the bed.


Now I've heard the guy selling this stuff isn't the easiest guy to handle with it... If you guys don't have luck contacting him, just tell me, as I have a few friend who may find him...

[RetroMan]

Just got a call from my wife at home, that the Sony HitBit was delivered to me :D:D:D This rox, I can´t wait to get home from work to play CASTLE ;):) As I promised, I will post some pics later, I got my DigiCam fixed yesterday :D

MAN, WHAT A DAY ....................................... YES ...............

oh, btw. I will eventually get a VC20 these days too .... have I said "what a day" ?? I should call it "WHAT A WEEK" ;)

[RetroMan]

As I promised here´s the first pic from my MSX :) btw. the Thingy on the right is the most expensive "tape drive" in the world :laugh :laugh :laugh

[Akira]

hah! thats neat!

I know you posted about this somewhere, but can you gomem a link again to where should I find this pc-to-msx tape hookup? I thought you were transfering stuff from PC to tape and then using an MSX data recorder...

I will be able to use my minidisc on teh MSX like on the Speccy!

[RetroMan]

Here ya go, I posted at the beginning of this thread : http://msx.hop.to

There´s all ya need .... btw. I will burn all those WAV´s to CD and use my CD-Man :) Anyway, I´m off to play GREEN BERET now on my NEW MSX :D

[Akira]

hot dang, thanks heaps! I will try this the weekend!!!

not having a 5 1/4 on my PC is killing me :P I dont have one for being a lazyarse! but i want to try this method. MDs are much more convenient :D

Thanks again!

Forgot to tell you, you caught one snazzy nice MSX. good condition, congratulations!

/goes hut down a Sony FX1DJ

[RetroMan]

Yes, the condition is really nice, even the "It´s a Sony"-Sticker is in a VERY good condition, I got that from EBay btw. for US$ 20 (roundabout) ..... heh @Shatterhand : I just converted the CASTLE.ROM to CASTLE.WAV and fired it up to my HitBit, works really fine and I allready cleared 22 rooms with 7 lifes left .... think I will complete this one without 255 lifes :D but if I need the hacked version, I´ll cry for help for sure ;) thx mate for this fantastic game :)

Edit : nearly forgotten ;) are there any strategy games for msx ?

[Akira]

It has to be korean non-standard shiznit! It doesnt have such a casette plug, mine has a more complicated 6-pin DIN pluG!

Now how thr fuck to make a conversor? it MUST be standard (like all MSXs) so it must have an AUDIO IN pin somewhere over there... GRRRRR

[RetroMan]

Well, my HitBit as well as my VG-8010 both have a 8 pin DIN plug..... but the 5 pin also fits .... anyway, if you cannot find a connector, just use pin 5 as INPUT and pin 2 as GND and connect to a plug for your PC Soundcard output ..... tell me your MSX model, maybe I can find something out !!!

[Akira]

AHH! so thats how its done (in the page you showed me the bast has an EAR port, we dont have that!) I thought my MSX was shite :)

Well, my sister said 6 pins, but it prolly is 8! (I called home to check how my port was :))

With the data you give me I will be able to build an adapter easily! Will have to find pinouts anyway, I have a Talent DPC-200 (its the same as a Daewo IQ-1000). Just like this one:

http://www.tni.nl/msxbanzai/computers/daewoo.html

Thanks for your help Retro :)

[RetroMan]

No problem @Akira :D

btw. you find all Pinouts from MSX on the MSX FAQ site I posted at the beginning of his thread ;) hope you have fun ..... I just converted GALAGA to .WAV and I´m for a good round of shooting Aliens now ..... :D

[Akira]

Well, I can't wait to play stuff on my MSX. And my eBay finger got itchy so I bought myself a Gradius 2 cartridge, CIB!

For twice the price you paid for your MSX :P Sometimes you got to pay for the privileges!

http://www.loose-logic.com/auc/2001-10-06/msx-2-1.jpg
http://www.loose-logic.com/auc/2001-10-06/msx-2-2.jpg
http://www.loose-logic.com/auc/2001-10-06/msx-2-3.jpg

I see Shatterhand being jealous :)

[RetroMan]

Man, I would love to play Nemesis (Gradius) but since I got no MegaRom (yet), I´ll have to stick to the CPC Version ;) Anyway, a little hint to you ..... if you want to convert .ROM to .WAV yourself (and you will have to, since there aren´t much .WAV games on the net) ..... allways remember : a 32KB cartridge consists of 2 bin files (so you also have 2 .WAV files) and you have to merge these with WAVGLUE ..... ALLWAYS set the "-p" option to get a pause between the two wav files in the final one, and be sure to type into your MSX the following : BLOAD"CAS:",R:BLOAD"CAS:",R to have both parts loaded after another ..... else you´re not able to play the game ....

(as you might guess anyway, a 16KB cartridge has ONE .bin file and a 64KB has 4 of them ;) )

[Akira]

Well, I have that cart now so no need to loadrom it :) BUt thansk for teh tip. I will try the cable next week , i found no time for making it this week ;(

Once Shatterhand sends me the megarom and I find a 5 1/4 drive for my PC, Im in for a TREAT :D

[RetroMan]

Hehe and I´m still playing CASTLE, you played it allready @Akira ? Btw. I wonder if Shatterhand got another MegaRom Cart for sale ? ;):)

[Akira]

I think he has the sole one and it's mine :)

Have yu got a reply from that other guy? If not ask Shatterhand t o contact him, so you can get a megaram.

Perhaps you are better getting an euro replacement!

[Akira]

HelP! :)

DIN 8 pins (female)


7 6 1 GND 5 CMTIN I
3 8 1 2 GND 6 REM + O
5 4 3 GND 7 REM - O
2 4 CMTOUT O 8 GND



What the hell should I connect? CMTIN and GND are the pins I need?

[RetroMan]

Yup, pin 5 and 2 (CMTIN and GND) for transfer from PC (or MD or CD) to MSX ;):)

[Akira]

I have bought the needed cables but I didnt find an 8 pin DIN, the good electronics shop was closed.

anyway i will wire the cables directly to test this out im dloading the needed tools and some lame wav games :)

[Shatterhand]

Great MSX Retroman, as you said, it's in a fantastic condition...
About strategy games.. well, there's Bokosuka Wars, a classic that I personally hate, Laser Squad (I love this one, and I think the MSX version has the best gameplay of all versions) and Gengis Khan for MSX 1.. there's some strategies games for MSX 2, but I don't know most of them. Koei made a few games for it, there's also "Great Strategy" (the title is in japanese, that's how the game was known), Herzog (The prequel of the Mega-Drive game "Herzog Zwei", a great combination of strategy and shoot em up) , Strategic Mars (Strategy in the space, with 3D sections like Wing Commander and stuff), Campaign (I never played it, I even believe it has some connection with the Amiga game, as it has tanks), Special Operations, Battle for Midway, ... humm... Flight Deck also has some strategy elements on it, and I recommend it a lot.

And about Castle, well.. 22 rooms may semm like 22% of the game, but believe me, you are probably only made 10% of the game.. :) you'll go back to those 22 rooms still a few more times :)
I told you it's a fantastic game, you'll be playing it for ages until you finish it..

In the other side, Green Beret for MSX sucks pretty much. It's the worse konami game for MSX, and I believe the guys who made it were fired after this, because it's too much below the Konami average.

I also don't think you have to "glue" both .wav files, but whatever, if it's not broken, why fix it?

@Akira
great game... and it's in the original case... and the original manual.... and you now have a SCC chip.....and I don't.... duuh.. :)
Nemesis 2 is generally regarded better than Nemesis 3, although I disagree..

To be honest, I don't have one single MSX original game, I have only 2 cartridges games (Frogger and Decatlhon), and both are pirates anyway..... :(

I still didn't see the shiping price, I am sorry... I've been sick those days, most of time is being spent at bed or in front of the computer. At least I reviewed a C64 shmup for your site, so you will have the first C64 review for shmups.com :)


Oh yeah, about the Megaram cart..
I have 2, one is going to Akira, the other one is for my personal use. BUT.. even before I readed that, I was thinking about selling my other megaram cart too, as I also have the Memory Mapper. I'll need to see if all games I have (or at least my favourites ones) work with Loadrom. If they do, I'll sell my Megaram. Then I tell you about it.. :)

[RetroMan]

@Shatterhand

kewl, can´t wait till you tested :D

btw. to "glue" the wav files means make one out of two ;) else you have to load in both parts manually on the PC, so why not make it load in one instance ? Oh and btw. after getting the red key at CASTLE in went up and now nearly completed roundabout 60 rooms :D think I´ll complete it at the weekend but I only got 4 lives left, ah well, maybe I´ll get some extra lifes soon ;)

[Shatterhand]

There are 2 red keys in the game.. :) I remember when I 1st got the red key, I said "What the fuck is that???" :)

Are you playing The Castle or Castle EX? Considering how fast you're progessing, I believe you're playing the castle..


BTW, how much memory do your MSX2 has ? If you have 256 mapped Kbs, you can use loadrom to play the bigger roms...

You can also play disks games if you have just 64 Kbs, like Nyancle Racing, Famicle Parodic 2, Quinpl, and.... ALESTE 2!! (yeaaah :) )


oh yeah, and Akira also has something to say, but I'll leave to him :)

[RetroMan]

Sadly I didn´t get the MSX2 yet :( perhaps he´s just ignoring the phone or on holliday, who knows ..... and about the disk games ??? my HitBit got 64K, how the fuck am I able to play ALESTE 2 ????????????

oh ..... just missed it .... yes, I´m playing the CASTLE not CASTLE EX yet :)

Hmmmm, @Akira ? Here I am ....... ;)

[Akira]

I said 15 minutes you bugger :)

YEsterday I hooked up the PC to teh MSX. Got all teh tools, made two waves out of 16KB roms.. all good, lets load Boulder Dash... it kept giving me an I/O error... I rechecked teh cables... (btw i didnt find an 8pin din so i hooked tehcables traight into the ipns :P)

After a while it worked... loaded bloulderdash... disconencted the cable and conencted my pcs audio to teh amp, teh MSX's audio to the PC, ready to play some abbo boulderdahs..


No sound in one channel.. shitr, i must have conencted teh cable wrong..

I put my headphones on, play an MP3... dead chanel!

THE MSX KILLED MY SOUNDCARD!

Now WTF happened man! How can the soundcard get killed if it was outputting signals, not receiving them!?!?!?!?! Does your laptop works or did you kill the card too? :P

Man you betetr start paying for my soundcard, you didnt write a disclaimer in yoru posts, so I regard you responsible for my acts!

:D I am happy, I could play Boulderdash on the MSX. Screw these fucking PCs!

I should have loaded Mappy man :D

[RetroMan]

Originally posted by Akira
I said 15 minutes you bugger :)
I really don´t care :D
YEsterday I hooked up the PC to teh MSX. Got all teh tools, made two waves out of 16KB roms.. all good, lets load Boulder Dash... it kept giving me an I/O error... I rechecked teh cables... (btw i didnt find an 8pin din so i hooked tehcables traight into the ipns :P)

After a while it worked... loaded bloulderdash... disconencted the cable and conencted my pcs audio to teh amp, teh MSX's audio to the PC, ready to play some abbo boulderdahs..
Boulder Dash rocks ;)
No sound in one channel.. shitr, i must have conencted teh cable wrong..

I put my headphones on, play an MP3... dead chanel!

THE MSX KILLED MY SOUNDCARD!
Only thing I could imagine is, that you have somehow put GND and CMTIN together ...... not good :(
Now WTF happened man! How can the soundcard get killed if it was outputting signals, not receiving them!?!?!?!?! Does your laptop works or did you kill the card too? :P
Laptop is fine :p
Man you betetr start paying for my soundcard, you didnt write a disclaimer in yoru posts, so I regard you responsible for my acts!
No way, you missed the hidden message in my post ..... Tataaaa ;)
:D I am happy, I could play Boulderdash on the MSX. Screw these fucking PCs!
Well, happyness is way more worth than a f**king PC Soundcard, throw it away :cool
I should have loaded Mappy man :D
Uhhh, must check it out ......

[Akira]

I really dont thing gnd and cmtin got together. i would have screwed up teh msx to, dot you think? unless, when i took off teh cables, i mixed them up. Whatever, teh soundcard is in the trashcan and my MSX is happy that it has been loaded with a game after all those years of inactivity :)

Thanks for the tip, I love it! I'll be using this method until my lazyarse gets a 5 1/4 drive :D

[Shatterhand]

@ Retroman
sorry, I got a little confused, I thought you had got that MSX 2

Aleste 2 runs with 64 Kbs MSXs models. It was originally made as a 3 Disks game, so it's supposed to run with standard MSXs 2..

my MSX is happy that it has been loaded with a game after all those years of inactivity

I nearly dropped a tear reading this line :)

[Shatterhand]

Hmm . I think my last post wasn't clear enough

I meant, Aleste 2 isn't a Cartridge (rom) game, it's a 3 Disks game, so you don't need to load it all together in the computer memory like you do with a cartridge. The game loads the intro, asks for changing disks, load stage 1, you play, then loads stage 2, and so on.

And just because I am in mood, here goes a pic of Aleste 2 cover :)

[Shatterhand]

Erm
I forgot again.. You also need a 720 Kb drive to play Aleste 2.

Or find the hacked version to run in 360 Kb drives (It comes in 6 disks)

of course, all this is only needed if you have a MSX 2 system, if you have just a MSX 1, just forget about it :)

[RetroMan]

Why forget ??? You said I could play it on a standart msx1 :confused or not ?
So all I have to do is, extract the disks and make wav files, then put the intro on the wav first, then level 1 and so on :) then I should be able to load level by level ..... ah well, I should really get a disk drive, but these are hard to find ;)

[Akira]

Nope, Aleste 2 is MSX2 only. Yo ucant run it on a feeble MSX1

And since its a disk game you wont be able to load parts and make it like a rom, the routines in it are prepared for disk. i mean you would have op replace its diskloader for someting else!

Talk about Galahad0like crackinG! ;)

[Shatterhand]

Bleh, I was trying to help and only made things worse.. :)

Aleste 2 needs this minimal configuration to run:

MSX 2
64 KBs of Ram
720 Kb Disk-Drive
Fm-Pac optional

you DON'T NEED any memory expansion to play it

that's what I wanted to say from the beginning

[RetroMan]

Now I got it :) Ah anyway, I´m still trying to complete The Castle so no need for a new game yet ;) But I have tried KNIGHTMARE (SHMUPS) and MAGICAL KID WIZ (JUMP`NRUN) yesterday they are also very kewl, especially KNIGHTMARE rox :D:D:D

[RetroMan]

Just seen that currently is a TOSEC MSX flood on alt.binaries.emulators.misc :D:D:D:D

Edit : these are the ones I grabbed :

Bouken Roman (1986)(Systemsoft).ROM
Famicle Parodic (1988)(Bit2)(Jp).rom
1942 (1987)[Bad].ROM
Legend Of Kage, The (1986)(Taito)[a1].ROM
Knight Mare (1986)(Konami)(SCC).rom
Boulder Dash (1986)(Orpheus).rom
Dragon Quest 2 (1987)(Enix)(Jp)[a].rom
Famicle Parodic (1988)(Bit2)(Jp)[b3].rom
Famicle Parodic (1988)(Bit2)(Jp)[b2].ROM
Famicle Parodic (1988)(Bit2)(Jp)[b].rom
Crusader (1986)(Pony)[b].rom
EElslid (19xx)(NCS)(Jp).rom
Druid (1987)(Dexter)[b2].rom
Druid (1987)(Dexter)[b].rom
Druid (1987)(Dexter).ROM
Dragon Slayer 4 - Drasle Family (1987)(Falcom)[o].rom
Zexas Limited (Y)(Db-Soft).rom
Skyjaguar (1984)(Konami).ROM
Wedding Bells (1984)(Colpax).rom
Snake It (1986)(Eaglesoft).ROM
Twin Bee (1986)(Konami)[a1].rom
Konami's Baseball (1984)(Konami)[a].rom
Konami's Tennis (1984)(Prosoft)(RC-720).rom
Konami's Synthesizer (1986)(Konami).rom
Gun Fright (1986)(Sammi).rom
Zaxxon (1981-85)(Sega).ROM
Young Sherlock (1985)(Amblin-Paramount).Rom
Yie Ar Kung-Fu II - The Emperor Yie-Gah (1985)(Konami)(SCC).rom
ZZZ-UNK-Nergooli (1985)(TecnoSoft).rom
Xevious (1988)(Namcot).rom
Xizolog (1984)(Taito).rom
Xizolog (1984)(Taito)[Alt].ROM
Kimpo (1984)(Boram By Klaus).rom
Dragon Quest 2 (1997)(Enix)(Jp)[b2].ROM
King's Valley (1985)(Konami)[a].rom
Video Hustler (1984)(Konami)(SD Snatcher RAM SCC+).rom
Venus Fire (Y)(Victor Musical Industries Inc.).Rom
Dragon Quest 2 (1987)(Enix)(Jp)[b].rom
Twin Hamer (1989)(Best).ROM
Flicky (1985)(Sega)[b].rom
Twin Bee (1986)(Konami)(The Snatcher RAM SCC+).rom
Super Soccer (1985)(Sony Corp & Takara).rom
Super Golf (1984)(Comtec Co. Ltd.).rom
Star Force (1985)(Tehkan And Hudson Soft).rom
Spy Vs Spy II (1986)(Orpheus).rom
Sokoban (1983-84)(Ascii Corp.).rom
Sinbad (19xx)(-)[b].ROM
Senjyo (1984)(Tehkan Ltd.)[a].rom
AAndrogynus (1988)(Telenet)[b3].rom
Artic (19xx)(Pony Canyon).ROM

any rare ones ?? Shatterhand ??

[Shatterhand]

Most games in this list are good... who are those guys behind this Tosec stuff for MSX? Knightmare and Yie-ar Kung-Fu 2 has NO SCC. and what the hell is "Twin Bee (1986)(Konami)(The Snatcher RAM SCC+).rom " ?

Twin Bee has NO SCC, The Snatcher is a game in disk format, and SD Snatcher is a game in disk format that asks for a SCC+ to run..

Eelslid, Wedding Bells, ZZZ-UNK-Nergooli . Twin Hamer and Super Golf are games from this list I've never heard about it.. I would like to take a look at them.. :)

Xizolog is spely with Y (Xyzolog) and Aandrogynus is spelt just Androgynus

Bah, I could join the Tosec team and teach a few things to them :)


Knightmare is indeed fantastic.. Magical Kid Wiz is fun, nothing great.

Oh yeah, maybe you would like to take a look at my list of MSX games... Those are the ones in my PC HD, I have more in MSX disks :)

[RetroMan]

Soooooo, I was able to get some more, btw. I really don´t care about TOSEC renaming, anyway, if you want some, please make a list here and I´ll send them to you (E-Mail ???) ..... i´ll have a look at your list soon too :D

Damn, I really have to get myself a disk drive (AND a MegaRom *hint*hint*hint* :D )

[Shatterhand]

hey, good colection you got there, I don't have a few of those games...

There are some brazilian games in this collections, and others cracked by brazilian groups (Like Nemesis) :)

Just a warning, be ready, because you got a few really shitty games.. :) (Corsarios, Chicagos 30 and The crap Bubble Bobble from Zemina are a few to mention.. always avoid games from Opera Soft and Zemina, as they are the crappiest from the crap.. Zemina wasn't even a legitimate softwarehouse, they only made l bootlegs, and unoficial conversions (like this Bubble Bobble you got, the oficial is from Taito for MSX 2). Their only good games are Super Boy 2 & 3, clones of Super Mario Bros. And I can't name one single good game from Opera Soft )

I would like to get my hands in a few of those games.. I won't ask all I don't have, just the ones I got interested:

Boynight. Haunted House. Yokew (1986)(Casio)(Jp).rom ( I bet this is Haunted Boys, as some Casio games are known with many different names. If isn't, I believe it's the only Casio game I don't have)

Exterminator (1987)(Bytebusters).dsk
Ghostflisters. Ghost Flipper (1984)(Ascii).dsk
Hard Boiled (1987)(Methodic Solutions).dsk
Hero X (1985)(-).dsk
Ice World (1985)(Casio).dsk (Ok, I lied, if this isn't Ski Commander, I don't have this one too.)
Hostages (-)(Infogrames).dsk (Do u have any idea if this is working? ALL disk versions of Hostages I got didn't work, they all crashed in the 2nd part of the game)
International Karate (1986)(Aictive).dsk (My copy stopped working :( )
Kimpo (1984)(Boram By Klaus).rom
Macattack (1986)(Bytebusters).dsk
Mega Desolators (E)(-)(Colin Dooley).dsk (Desolator from Colin
Dooley it's one of the best Defender clones ever, and if this Mega Desolators isn't the same game, it gotta be good)
Wedding Bells (1984)(Colpax).rom


For now, I just want those :) If you don't mind, zip them and send them to lima83@bol.com.br , and I will be thankfull :)

[Twistin'Ghost]

Heck, zip 'em up and post to the zone, as I wouldn't mind grabbing that set, as well. Just be sure and include Boynight Haunted House as well, regardless of which version!

[RetroMan]

Ok, the games are in THE ZONE :D

@Shatterhand

Sorry, but I didn´t found any time yet, to test those games, so I couldn´t say, if any particular game is working or not.....

Have fun with those .....

[Twistin'Ghost]

Thanks. I can add these to the rest of that massive MSX thread from usenet. I missed most of the previous MSX thread (The MSX Story, as it was dubbed), so I was ecstatic to see it get another go, if under a new name. All of those tiny obscure 8-bit formats get reposted in that group probably three times a week and that gets old.

Thanx again, Retroman!

[Uukrul]

I'm thinking about getting a MSX2 with a 3.5" drive in the near future but there is a lot of models and manufacturers, so what is the best MSX2 model and company (Sony or Phillips)?

Also, if anybody wants msx disks I have a lot of TOSEC disks, so just ask for it.


Originally posted by Shatterhand
Just a warning, be ready, because you got a few really shitty games.. :) (Corsarios, Chicagos 30 and The crap Bubble Bobble from Zemina are a few to mention.. always avoid games from Opera Soft and Zemina, as they are the crappiest from the crap

MSX games from spanish company Opera Soft are crap coz they're shitty spectrum conversions. If you want a good Opera game and can read Spanish try 'La Abadia del Crimen', this is simply the best CPC game ever.

[RetroMan]

Hmmm, that´s only my opinion, but I think Sony built better MSX1 and Philips built better MSX2 .............

[RetroMan]

Hmmm, anyone got $200 for me :rolleyes

http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1285486776

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh I would die for such baby :p

[Akira]

OH SHIT! this seller is great, i bought Gradius 2 from him...

Retroman, I think Sony did GREAT MSX2 machines, teh HBF1XDJ is a fabulous sleek machine.

I'd go for a (what brandwas it?) Wavy... Great MSX2+ model.

[RetroMan]

Oh damn, I wish I would have that much money now :( But I think shipping from Japan to Germany would cost another $50 or anything around it :crying That´s not fair :(

Ah well, I think I will complete THE CASTLE today, I got the second red key and still 8 Lives left ...... after that I will play some games out of the Tosec flood on a.b.e.m :D

@Akira : did you allready tested THE CASTLE ?

[Akira]

50 bucks by surface :)

Anyway, NO I didnt try any other frigging game after my soundcard got busted! And Im not trying again, pilf PC soundcards. I rather make a proper cable OR buy a stupid 5 1/4 drive for my PC.

Then im in for fun :)

[RetroMan]

Hmmm, I mentioned it before, I got 5 or 6 disk drives here (5 1/4") and I would send you one (shipping would be like $15 or so), just tell me if you want one ...... if so, I would test all of them this weekend and send you one 100% working .... that would be no problem at all .... :)

[Shatterhand]

Thx Retroman, I'll download the pack as soon as I read all new posts, and I'll test them by myself :)

@ Uukrul
I know only a few MSX models, so I can't help yah about. I bet Akira and Retroman, being the retro-enthusiastics they are, know better than me :)

And about Opera Soft, I know all they did was shitty Spectrum conversions (Actually, they also made a few souped up MSX 2 games, one of them are Goody), but Topo Soft and Dinamic are 2 companies who only made spectrum conversions too, and they did some very good games for MSX.

Opera soft games were crap already in the Spectrum :)

And about La Abadia Del Crimen.. well, yeah, I know this game, it and indeed is a favourite between 9 out of 10 MSX users.. but I am the 1 out of 10 who doesn't like it. It may even have a cool plot, but the game it's too obscure, it took me about a week to figure out that I had to sit in the right position of the table in the dinner to not be banned from the abadia, and those change camera angles when you leave a room makes too easy to get lost in the abadia.

The game is SO obscure that I only say a complete solution for it in 1996...

If you like it so much, look for the recent remake of it for MSX 2 :)

[Uukrul]

The Philips 8245 is a good MSX2?

And about spanish games, you'll find all of them (8 and 16 bits) and also a crappy Abu Simbel Profanation remake for Amiga :) here: http://www.computeremuzone.com/

[RetroMan]

Well, the Philips NMS 8245 is a rather rare one .... it was one of the first MSX2 that appeared and got 128KB of RAM ..... I really can´t say much about it, since I never saw one :( But since it´s rare, it´s allways cool to get one :D

Edit : Just wanted to say, that I just got myself a 3,5" Disk Drive with FDD Controller from Ebay for about $20 :D:D:D I call this a BARGAIN !!!!!!!! :D:D:D

[Shatterhand]

bah, damn Tosec renaming... Mega Desolators indeed was Desolator, and Nightboy indeed was Haunted Boys..


About La Abadia Del Crimen... this game was also released for PC, in a time when Opera was also publishing 16 bits titles. I know they published stuff for Amiga too, so who knows, maybe there's a version for Amiga? :)

@retroman

way to go :) now you can have lots of games and load them quickly and safely (i.e. , not running the risk to blow your soundcard like Akira.. :D )

[Akira]

The Phillips one might be nice UUkrul, but I always preffer japanese computers. Dunno why :)

The Wavy is my fave MSX2+ :)

[RetroMan]

Uhhhhh, why am I allways SOOOO short on money :( Someone just wants to sell me TWO Philips VG 8235 (which are quite rare ones since they are one of the first MSX2 Models) and a MSX Plotter/Printer for $280 !!!!!!!! THATS A DAMN NICE PRICE ... but I have no money, I just mailed him, if I may be able to buy them from him at the beginning of the next month *PLEASE*PLEASE*PLEASE* :crying

Edit : I just received an EMail, he will keep the two MSX2 untill the beginning of the next month, anyone wants one of those :) ?? Since I will receive 2 of them, I would give one away to another MSX Enthusiast, no joke :)

[Akira]

I am, of course, interested, but next month, when i get some cash :P

[RetroMan]

As I stated above, I will receive them not before 1. November, cause I also need some cash to buy those :) So if you´re seriously Interested, just tell me and I´ll have a look about the shipping costs .....

[Akira]

BEsides shipping, you have to tell me how much the machine itself would cost :P

Gradius 2 is terrific, I recommend this mega-rom cartridge to everybody! :)

[RetroMan]

@Akira

Well, do simple math, I get two for $US280, so you get one for $US140 + shipping ..... I would get more for it by selling at Ebay, but I would prefer, that the machine comes to a person, that really loves such things and I know it comes to lovely hands ;)

[Akira]

Hey Hey hey,

<Scrooge_McDuck_mode=on>

TWO Philips VG 8235 (which are quite rare ones since they are one of the first MSX2 Models) and a MSX Plotter/Printer for $280

Two computer AND A plotter/printer fror 280, so lets make it 200 for both, thus a hundred parts from me ;)

<Scrooge_McDuck_mode=off>

[RetroMan]

Originally posted by Akira
Hey Hey hey,

<Scrooge_McDuck_mode=on>

Two computer AND A plotter/printer fror 280, so lets make it 200 for both, thus a hundred parts from me ;)

<Scrooge_McDuck_mode=off>
Well, the Plotter has NO cable and cover and the guy couldn´t tell me if it works anyway, so I assume he only wants to get rid of it ;) Have I said the 2 computers are in mint condition ? no ? So try to get one of those baby´s anywhere else for that cheap price :D you won´t I promise ..... let me tell you what, let´s wait and see, I mail you a photo and then you decide, ok ?

[Akira]

Sure, im joking with you :) I have to decide what to do, you know I dig japanese computer a lot more, so if I cant find a Wavy I might get yours.

let's wait ;)

So, I got my DiskDrive yesterday incl. the DiskDrive Interface BUT it´s broken :crying just sorted out that the interface is working properly, I get MSX DISK BASIC on screen and that brings me to a point .... which commands do I have to use to access a disk :confused

[RetroMan]

And once again my firewall screwed me :(

[Akira]

well,do you have an MSX-DOS disk? if so, use normal commands like DIR etc.

If under basic.. hmm. damn, I forgot the command.. Shatterhand?

[Uukrul]

Just type FILES

[Akira]

Uukrul, that's the one :) I assume you were an MSX owner, living in spain and all that jazz :) What happened to your msxie?

[RetroMan]

Something good to report :) After a long search I found the part of the electronic inside the FDD, that is broken, now I will buy a new one tomorrow, hope it works out :D I´ve allready transfered 56 MSX1 Disk Images back on 3,5" just to wait for the BIG moment ;):)

[Uukrul]

I was a 386 with an MSX emu owner :) (a fantastic emu programmed by a dutch team of MSX fans -CJS-). I spent a lot of time playing SD Snatcher and Treasure of USAS (Konami rules!)

My only and first computer was a CPC 464 with a green monitor until I killed it (I plugged it to a cheap power supply - how stupid I was -) but next week I'll get a CPC 6128 with the drive broken for 8$ but with the 3.5" drive of my (now dead) 386 I'll be able to play all CPC games, yeah!

[Shatterhand]

CJS is very good and fast, as fast as BrMSX, and it was the 1st emulator to play SD-Snatcher properly :)


And just updating what Uukrul said

Files shows the contents of the disk

Run"filename" runs a BASIC program (most game loaders are in basic, they usually have the extension .BAS )

Bload"filename",r runs a binary program (some game loaders may be in this format, and they usually will have the extension .BIN)

If you get a "Direct Statement in File" error it means you are trying to run a binary file with RUN
the error if you try the other way around varies from what basic version you're using (Brazilian basic gets an "Acesso Incorreto" error, what's very weird, as it's one of the few erros in stated in portuguese)

If you get an "E/S error" , it means you disk is fucked up :)

Oh yeah, and if you get an "Out of Memory" error while running certain european games, try booting the MSX holding the Control key, as this free up some memory...

Thx for all that BASIC commands :D I just printed out, so I can remember later on :)

Oh btw. another question, after plugging in the Disk Drive Interface, it seems that I have MUCH more free space in basic :confused (before 28000 or something, afterwards 36000 Bytes :confused) is it also a RAM expansion or is it used to deal with the Disk-Basic ???

[RetroMan]

And again the Firewall screwed me :(:crying

[Shatterhand]

That's weird!

Without a Disk-Drive connected, you usually have about 28000 bytes, as you said.
When you connect a FDD, this usually go down for something about 22000. (Because of Disk-Basic, and memory for the Disk-Drives. I don't know why a disk-drive needs memory, but it needs.). If you press Control while booting the MSX, you turns-off the support 2nd disk-drive, thus having about 25000 bytes free.

Even if you only have 1 drive, it will free memory for 2 drives.
If you boot MSX holding SHIFT, you will turn-off both disk-drives.


Now I have NO IDEA why you are getting 36000 bytes. Even if the FDD was also a ram expansion, it shouldn't be available for the user in Basic.

When I have contact with the more "techie-guys" in the MSX scene, I'll ask them about that.

[RetroMan]

I´ll make a screenshot of my TV when I get home ..... thx for the info anyway :)

[Akira]

I suppose his FDD controller has some extra mem allocated for the drive's use? Perhaps as a cache?

[RetroMan]

Hmm, some more good new, and some more bad ones :( I managed to repair the FDD so that´s the good news .... now I got the problem, that the disks won´t be read properly (maybe dirt in the drive :confused) I get the index with 'FILES' but if I try to load anything, I´ll get a DISK I/O ERROR or if I try to format a disk with 'CALL FORMAT' I get DISK ERROR :( that´s the bad news ....

[RetroMan]

YES !!!! I got my FIRST out of THREE msx2 computers some minutes ago when I was home for lunch :great I really wanted to go to the doc and say I lost a leg or something so I must not go back to work but ..... ah well....... anyway, I really can´t wait to get home and test that baby :bounce:bounce:bounce Oh btw. it´s a VG-8235 with 64K ROM, 256K RAM does that mean, I can play MSX1 MegaROM games with it ??? damn this is AWESOME :D I really hope it´s not broken, like this Philips FDD I got some days ago, then I would :crying ......... (to be continued ......)

[Akira]

keep me posted abuot those MSX2s, ok? :)

Try changing the disk drive. Its a normal PC drive AFAIK. Shatterhand can provide more info about this.

[RetroMan]

Nope, it´s an 360KB Disk Drive and not a normal PC Drive, you can obviously use a 720KB one, but you have to change the DiskROM to gain access to it ;)

[Akira]

It's a normal, PC, 360KB disk drive! ;)

Are you sure you have to change the controller IC?

[RetroMan]

No it isn´t ANY PC drive, sorry ..... the VG-8235 has got a 14 Pin internal connector and even if I could in any way a normal 360KB PC drive, where should I find one :( Only Philips disk drives fit in there :crying

[Akira]

you are stuffed then :)

i think your phillips is similar to my dpc-200.... the actual FDD controller is inside the disk drive... once you open it you find the controller, the PSU and a normal PC drive... then again you might not have a normal PC drive, more like a mac superdrive (small connectors!)

[RetroMan]

Ok, I just fiddled a bit around and YES, I got the FDD working in my MSX2 ....... BUT ........ if I format a Floppy in the MSX2, I can use it, save to it and so on..... but my PC won´t recognize it :( So I formated on the PC and the MSX2 won´t recognize it :crying What´s going on, I allways thought, MSX uses DOS-Format :confused so what´s the deal ???

[Shatterhand]

If your MSX2 has 256 Kb, yes, this mean you can play Megarom games with it :) It has a Memory Mapper, get Loadrom, and you'll be able to play all those .ROM files bigger than 64 Kb :)

MSX USES DOS format... maybe it's something about your PC drive not reading 360 Kbs disks ?

[RetroMan]

@Shatterhand

No, it´s not about the PC drive, I finally tested in SEVEN different PC´s and the same result in every single PC :( The problem seems to be the MSX Drive itself, cause I think its out of range, there´s a screw I can turn and I get different results, so I keep on trying to mess with that screw and we´ll see :)

Edit : I MADE IT WORK :bounce Yep, at least I have a working MSX2 with FDD :) First game I tested was Metal Gear :D soooooooo, now some important questions ....

I would like to have a list of MSX2 ONLY games, that I should test out :) ..... and @Shatterhand : are there any MSX2 RPG´s in english :confused btw. I will post some pics later .... :D MSX2 ROX :D

[Akira]

There is a version of Metal Gear 2 in english. most recommended

GET ALESTE!!! And Aleste 2 :))

[Uukrul]

If you want an awesome english RPG, get SD Snatcher from Konami. Most MSX2 RPGs are japanese only but that one beats all of them.

[RetroMan]

@Akira

I allready got Metal Gear 1 + 2, the problem with ALESTE is, the disk it came on is 360KB (image) but I cannot extract it to real floppy, dunno why :confused try it later I think .... ALESTE 2 comes on 3 x 720KB disk, so I have to split it up to 6 x 360KB and that´s a lot to do, will also try later ....

@UUkrul

How much memory does SD SNATCHER require and where can I find it ??? The Problem is, the info printed on my MSX2 is kinda wrong .... it says 256KB RAM, but in fact, I have 128KB RAM and 128KB VRAM (Video RAM) so I think I can only use 128KB games (like Metal Gear)

I allready started to build my own compilations, cause nearly all games come on 720KB DSK images, I´ll rip them out and put on a REAL 360KB disk and I also wrote my own boot sequence with Menue and all that stuff :D calling it "GREAT GAMES COMPILATION VOL. # done by RetroMan in 2001" :laugh It´s really fun to code on these machines :) Allthough I hate M$, but they made a GREAT Basic for the MSX after all ;)

[Akira]

It sucks that you have a 360KB drive.. MSX2s all are supposed to have 720KB drives. Or so Shatterhand told me :)

[Uukrul]

I think that SD Snatcher disks use a custom format (at least Spanish version can be only copied with disk-copy program Teledisk) so they can not be transfered to a 360 KB drive. Solution: Get a 3.5" drive :(

I forgot the link :)

http://www.gameart.com/hosted/snatcher/sd-s.zip

[RetroMan]

Originally posted by Uukrul
I think that SD Snatcher disks use a custom format (at least Spanish version can be only copied with disk-copy program Teledisk) so they can not be transfered to a 360 KB drive.
Well, I found 720KB Disk images in english, let´s see :)
Solution: Get a 3.5" drive :(
Uhhhmmm, my 360KB Disk Drive IS a 3,5" Drive :confused Anyway, at least I have a MSX2, I can deal with that Handicap :D Btw. I just loaded up MSX-DOS :laugh and I played Hostages :) Man the MSX Version is nearly as good as the Amiga Version..... nice :)

[Uukrul]

Download this text files with the TOSEC MSX2 disks names (if you want a game in particular just ask for it)

[RetroMan]

Thx :) I allways wanted to have the MSX2 list from PE2000.NET :D no to be serious again ;) I´ve seen most of them there, but things like AD&D seems to be corrupt after download :(

Edit : And once again I did it :) breaking up the ALESTE ROM into little binary pieces and put them on disk :D hope it works hehe ;)

[Akira]

Mad hacker, Aleste 2 is a 720KB disk-only game. Unless you recode the game's loader to meke it work from 4 disks... :D you better try to get a new drive or something! The game is worth it :)

[Shatterhand]

the best RPG in english is undoubtly SD-Snatcher. The original needs an SCC+ cart , or else it won't work. Of course, there also cracked versions of it that work without the cart. Dragon Slayer 6 is a favourite among MSX players, and there's an english version of it (it comes in 6 disks). And I believe both games require just 64 Kbs to run.
Oh yeah, there's also the Ys series, and the XAK series, both have been translated. The Xak series is very good indeed (And it's not everyday you see me recommending an RPG... but SD-Snatcher still is the best)

Metal Gear 2 needs 512 Kb to run . Back in the 90s, there was a version of it that worked with 256 Kb, but I never saw it in the Internet.

Why the hell you got Aleste in a disk image? Aleste is a ROM game, just get the rom, get Loadrom, MSXDOS, put all in a MSX disk, and use "Loadrom Aleste.rom ", and presto! :) I unfortunately don't have Loadrom here, but I won't mind searching for it.

Aleste 2 comes in 720 Kb, I KNOW there's a version of it (cracked) in 6 360 Kb disks, again I never saw it in internet.


Did you get in the 2nd part of MSX hostages? I got it, but I didn't test it yet (Actually, I did, but I forgot how to change the soldiers, and just gave up :) ), my old version didn't get past of the 1st part.

And, some MSX 2 recommended games:

Zanac EX - Another great shmup in the same vein of Aleste
Space Manbow - Fantastic horizontal shmup by Konami
Bubble Bobble - Not essential if you emulate the arcade version, but I think it's the best home version available, it's a pixel-perfect conversion by Taito itself
Firebird (AKA Hinotori) - Another great shmup from Konami, similar to Knightmare
King's Valley 2 - great platform/puzzle game. P.P. Hammer reminds me this game a bit
Super Laydock 2 - Another fantastic shmup from T&E Soft, with both vertical & horizontal levels
Treasure Of USas - One of the best platformers game ever !
Firehawk: Thexder 2 - The best version of this great game
Psycho World - Fantastic platform game
Super Runner - Fun platform game, great with 2 players
Akanbe Dragon - Hmm.. Think about Archon with cute gfx :)
Columns - Again, not essential if you have acess to the arcade version, but I think this one is even better than the genesis version
Puyo Puyo - My fav puzzler ever! :) the 2 players options pales in comparision to others versions, but it has an exclusive "puzzle" mode
The Great Giana SIster - need no introduction :)
Herzog - great shmup/strategy game, very original

That's what came in top of my mind now.. I can make a better list later, and send it to you if you want :)

[RetroMan]

Think that list gives me enough to test for now :) Anyway, could you perhaps have a look for the cracked Version from SD SNATCHER without SCC+ chip usage ??? I can´t find it ..... Ohhhhh btw. :) I found loadrom and it didn´t work for me :( now I know why, it´s a MSXDOS program, not a BASIC program :laugh ah well, everyone makes mistakes at the begining, thx for the info :)

[Shatterhand]

I'll look for SD-Snatcher for you, no prob :)

Somehow, I forgot to mention the Bit² games, Quinpl, a great platform/puzzle game, and Nyancle Racing, a race with cats! Both games are also very recommended..

[RetroMan]

Well, seems that there is no DSK image of english Metal Gear on the Internet :( First I thought it´s my MSX2, cause every time I enter one of those trucks right at the begining, I only get gfx garbage and when leaving the truck, the game crashes :( So I fired the image up in fMSX and ..... the same, so it´s definitely an image problem .... anyone got a working copy ???

Now to something different .... I got big problems with LOADROM .... my computer got (as I said before) 128KB RAM and 128KB VRAM .... and now I tried to fire up a 256KB ROM (which fails of course, NOT ENOUGH MEMORY, btw. it was ALESTE) so I tried with several 128KB ROMS, which should work like PARODIUS, GRYZOR and others .... loadrom says : ROM found : 006 and then counting 1.....2....3456 ............... and then ?? NOTHING !! It just hangs :( I can start 32KB ROMS without any problem, is LOADROM perhaps eating that bits of memory so I cannot use 128KB ROMS :confused:confused:confused I wonder because I can play Metal Gear by Konami, which is also a 128KB game (allthough it´s on disk) ...

Looking forward to any answers :)

[Shatterhand]

I have Metal Gear in .ROM format in english, and I also have Metal Gear english in my 5.25 disks,but I need to transfer this one to PC..

I never used Loadrom, I don't know how it works... maybe you have to set some switch or something...

I'll look for the solution for you, as I also will look for SD-Snatcher ..

[RetroMan]

Thx @Shatterhand, any help appreciated :) Anyway the Snatcher thingy is *kinda* solved .... the link Uukrul provided above IS the english version which works WITHOUT a SCC chip .... BUT I cannot access the files on the DSK image to put them on a real disk :( I´m working on it ..... I also found a Metal Gear ROM, only problem is, I have to split that ROM to .BIN files, each of 16000 Bytes, but the only program I have for that, can only split 32KB roms :( ......

Oh well .....

Edit : Never mind Metal Gear, I found a fully working english version :D

[Shatterhand]

I just had an idea..

with those special disks types, we could run an emulator, set drive A: as the disk-image, drive B: as the PC Disk-Drive, and with a good copier, just copy the files to the disk, and presto, we have a working MSX disk! :)

At least in theory... :) I think that should work...

[RetroMan]

I also though about that, but the problem is, then we have 720KB disks, but I need them 360KB ...... but it´s worth a try to get the files of the disk then .... btw. I got another 128KB game to work on my MSX2 machine and I played the hole night : KINGS VALLEY 2, that one´s really great :)

[RetroMan]

I just found out, that there is a GameBoy Emulator for MSX2/Turbo-R called GEM !!! Anyone tested yet ?? I want to, but I need MSX-DOS2 and I only got Disk 5 (out of 8???) :(

[Shatterhand]

Yeah, I've heard about GEM, but I never tested it... what I've HEARD is that in a 7 Mhz MSX , you can make it run faster than a real gameboy, and in 3.5 Mhz it's pretty satisfatory..

I don't have MSX-DOS 2 here, but I don't think it would be hard to find..

I need to sign-up to the MSX mailing list again, I changed my e-mail and forgot to do it...

@Retroman

You could sign-up it too, as many people there (With MUCH MORE knowlodge than I :) ) could help you...

Just be ready to receive tons of e-mails.. :)

[RetroMan]

Hmm, could you a) tell me where to find the MSX mailing list, and b) how it works :confused I never used joining a mailing list, so ....

[Akira]

HEY, this thread used to be 5 pages long... who butchered it? :(

[RCK]

The number of displayed post / page has been increased.
Idem for the "View new post fonction"...

[RetroMan]

I allready guessed it, since the number of replies was still the same as before ;)

[Shatterhand]

@Retroman

That's the problem, I LOST the Mailing List e-mail, I am waiting 'til I see one of my MSX buddies to be online, so I can ask :)

A Mailing list is like that:

People send an e-mail to the mailing list, everyone who is subscribed to it receive it. So you can answer the e-mail to the list, and everyone will be able to read it too.


And about the size of the thread, I don't remember of any other thread being as big as this one :)

[RetroMan]

Thanks for helping out with the definitetion of a mailing-list ;) be sure to post it ASAP :D

Anyway, head over to the Wings of Fury Thread, there is a MSX related question and maybe the answer belongs here ! :)

[Shatterhand]

To subscribe to the international MSX mailing-list

send an e-mail to majordomo@stack.nl
subject : subscribe msx
body : subscribe msx

that's all :)
there you can find real PROs with the MSX , people who are developing hardware and software stuff...

They will be much more help than me :)

[RetroMan]

Thx a lot :) I will subscribe ASAP ;)

[Uukrul]

Well here is: A getright download list with 512 MSX1 roms :)

Download them quickly and have fun !!

P.S. Files will be saved to c:\MSX

[RetroMan]

@Uukrul

After messing around with the SNATCHER ISO from Emuchina, I got a problem here :( Fisrt of all, the game don´t want to work on my real SegaCD, but I know why, since it´s USA regional code and I got an european SegaCD ..... but I found SCDCONV to change the regional code inside the ISO :D ..... anyway, now it boots up fine and I start to play, but after the first mission (?), the factory, I have to get back to HQ and my SegaCD won´t load anything right there :( only a black screen and nothing happens for ages :confused Is this an ISO problem ???

[Uukrul]

Hey Retroman, this is a MSX thread !!!

I'm playing this awesome game with GENS and AFAIK isn't an ISO problem coz I passed that scene without problems and played a lot more beyond that point.

[RetroMan]

I know that this is a MSX Thread :D I just posted here, cause SNATCHER is MSX related :laugh So, if it isn´t ISO related, it must be because of the conversion from US to EUROPE :( That means I will never be able to play the game :crying

[Uukrul]

I was just joking!! :D

Play it with GENS. This game is so good that playing it on the real thing isn't important and btw GENS is almost perfect.

More off topic :D http://www.nec-ro-pole.fr.fm/

[Unregistered]

Originally posted by Uukrul
I was just joking!! :D

Play it with GENS. This game is so good that playing it on the real thing isn't important and btw GENS is almost perfect.

More off topic :D http://www.nec-ro-pole.fr.fm/
YOU CANNOT BEAT THE REAL THING (c)(tm) :D Since I have the real thing I won´t play it on any emulator, not under ANY circumstances, NO WAY !! But maybe I have a clue ;) I´ve found three different isos of that game, maybe one works :)

[RetroMan]

Damn UNREGISTERED GUESTS :D hups, my fault :laugh

[Akira]

Check me out:

http://www.stuffjapan.com/ebay/msxa1fm.jpg

Panasonic A1FM MSX2

[RetroMan]

Cool :cool You bought one finally ???

[Unregistered]

Originally posted by Unregistered

YOU CANNOT BEAT THE REAL THING (c)(tm) :D Since I have the real thing I won´t play it on any emulator, not under ANY circumstances, NO WAY !! But maybe I have a clue ;) I´ve found three different isos of that game, maybe one works :)

Where?

[Akira]

Originally posted by RetroMan
Cool :cool You bought one finally ???

HELL YEAH!

Here's the drill:

Panasonic A1FM MSX2

Excellent condition MSX2 computer. Panasonic A1FM with built in floppy drive and 300/1200 baud modem. System works flawlessly. Drive belt is brand new, replaced with an original Panasonic part. Guaranteed to work for years! Modem is untested but assumed working.

Also includes:
RGB output for SCART or monitor use
NTSC AV outputs
720k floppy drive
2 cartridge ports
built in power supply
numeric keypad

System also includes three cartridges:
Sky Jaguar,
Rollerball
Lode Runner.

All three are guaranteed to work and are in perfect condition.

Four manuals are also included:
Disk Basic / MSX DOS
MSX Basic
A1FM Operations Manual
A1FM Software Manual


:D How much you think I paid for this? (minus shipping)

Aleste 2 HERE I COME!!!! Now if I had spare 100 bucks I could buy an original of that ;P

Now you can sell your Phillips on eBay for lots more ;)

[RetroMan]

Originally posted by Akira
:D How much you think I paid for this? (minus shipping)
Uhmmm, dunno :confused about $100 to $150 ??? US$ I mean ;)

[MethodGit]

Christ, this must be the busiest thread I've ever seen on EAB!!! :) ;) I mean, 5 pages and counting... A new record! :p

[Shatterhand]

Yeah Marz, that's because MSX rocks! It's better than that shit computer you guys like to talk about.. what was its name again? Amigo, or something.. :)


Hey Akira, doesn't this A1FM comes with a FM built-in ? It may be a silly question, but with a name like that, maybe it has a FM..

then you don't need to buy a FM-Pac, get the Moonsound instead :)

To be quite honest, there just a VERY small number of game that uses Moonsound... but the sound of it is really great...

[Akira]

That's what I thought, but I think it has no FM-PAC. we'll see...

Anyway, it costed me 79 dollars. However shipping is another 100 (I thought it was 35, what a drag! :P) but I'll think I'll go the fully expensive way and ship it EMS.. I want this baby now! Damn, this baby's gonna cost a damn lot :P

[Uukrul]

Will that NTSC MSX (or other NTSC machines) work on a PAL TV with SCART?

[Akira]

Yes, as long as the MSX has an RGB output you can connect it to ANY SCART TV you might have, provided you have the proper cable.

[RetroMan]

Btw. @Akira ..... I got no spare 8235 (yet) for sale, I still only got one out of three, dunno what happened but the guy who wanted to sell, don´t answer my emails :(

Anyway, I´m still having fun playing Kings Valley 2 :D

[Shatterhand]

King's Valley 2 rocks! :)

P.P. Hammer on Amiga reminds me of King's Valley 2, but KV is of course much better :)

[Akira]

Originally posted by RetroMan
Btw. @Akira ..... I got no spare 8235 (yet) for sale, I still only got one out of three, dunno what happened but the guy who wanted to sell, don´t answer my emails :(


As long as you didnt pay for ALL of them already.... dont worry about me, i need nothing but my A1FM :) It has an inbuilt diskdrive, its a damned nice beast! check out where the drive is, in this shot of an A1F... as far as i can tell, the differences between this one and mine are cosmetic, and that mine also has an inbuilt modem. Mine looks cooler becaus ethe keyboard markings are white, not red, and the golden plate on the top is actually silver in mine. much cooler :). Besides, I am not sure yet, but as Shatterhand says it MIGHT have an FM-PAC inbult (being a Panasonic machine et all), and I think it has controls for RenSha turbo and stuff like that.. It seems almost like an MSX2+!

[Akira]

Here's my machine, being gutted to give her a fresh new drive belt :)

http://www.gamesx.com/grafx/panamsx2.jpg
http://www.gamesx.com/grafx/panamsx3.jpg
http://www.gamesx.com/grafx/panamsx7.jpg

There, you saw it naked too now :) I will take proper pics when I get it home.

[RetroMan]

As we speak of Drive belts :( Anyone here with an adress for me, where I can purchase a new drive belt for a Philips VY-0010 external MSX1 Floppy Drive :confused

[Akira]

Have you tried using an elastic band? :P no really! it's as close as you can get!

[Uukrul]

MSX2 Philips 8250

http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1297251062

[Akira]

Nice one, Uukrul! Unluckily I am all out of cash :(

BTW, where is REtroman?? haven't seen him in days!

[RetroMan]

I´m right here my good ´ol friend :D

Btw. I have the chance to buy a SONY F-700 D (MSX2) but unfortunately without any Keyboard :( Is it possible to use a native PC Keyboard instead ???

[Akira]

Perhaps, but im not sure... use that mailing list to ask :)

BTW mt Panasonic is A-COMING! Nyahaha cant wait!! oooer... today i got my Spectrum +3 .:):):)

[Uukrul]

I want a +3 too, but spectrum games look and sound like a big shit :(

BTW, has the +3 composite video output? and is it time for a Spectrum thread :D ?

[Akira]

It might be time for a Speccy thread :)

The +3 has RF output and RGB output, so you can use the later in a 1084 :) The plug is an 8 pin DIN so you should be able to build an adaptor easily.

The good thing too is that it doesnt have an internal speaker, the sound goes through the RF or the phones plug, IIRC (there is a single plug for tape input and sound output! how strange is that?)

The Speccy has some good games and some GREAt sound tools. That's the main reason why I bought one :) Ive got to change its drive belt, and I need a power supply, for mine didnt come with one :(

[Shatterhand]

What the hell guys, I leave for a few weeks, and you let this thread die?? :)

Akira, after all that time, are you still interested in the megaram cart? :) I still am interested in selling it, just waiting for a response of yours.

[RetroMan]

Hey @Shatterhand ..... glad to have you back here :)

I didn´t write to this thread cause I have been real busy these days, I didn´t even got time to play MSX-games :( And since monday I was really ill, today´s the first day I could get out of bed without vomitting all over the place :(

Anyway, it´s really good to have you back here .... oh ... btw. I´m just trying to get a HD-Controller for my MSX2 :D:D:D

[Akira]

HD controller on an MSX2 might be a bit of overkilll.. I wouldnt buy one unless I have a urbo R (planning to :D)

he Shatterhand, Im having disk drive problems :( Seems like my drive works fine on the MSX.. I format and save and load basic programs with it, no prob. But when I stick the disk on my PC, the drive will just give General failure errors, or "missing sector" errors, or whatever the heck the PC wants to. Tried the disks in otehr PCs, and the same shit happened...

Funny thing is, the night I got my machine, it worked just fecking fine! Then I turned it on enxt day, and after playing some Gradius, I was about to play some Castles (brilliant!) and then it wouldnt read the disk it read the night before ! (it gave me a "boot failure" error). After then, it didnt work anymore.

Funny thing is, it does format and read and save, but the PC just wont accept these disks anymore!

While playing Gradius, I accidentally moved the cart and the machine freezed. could it be that someting there got stuffed? I sure hope not :(

I am of course still interested in the megaram, but with the drive not working, is not of much use! Perhaps you or retroman could send me a disk done in your MSXs that works fine, so I can try it on my MSX2?

im really desperate. The machine is BEAUTIFUL :(

(BTW retroman, I might be getting a Phillips NMS 8320, or whatever number it has. The cool MSX2 with genlock capabilities :D)

[RetroMan]

@Akira

I had the same prob as you before with my 8235 :( I really dunno if your MSX2 got the same drive unit as mine, but here´s what I did : I opened up the drive (carefully of course ;) ) and somewhere near the back end (where the cable fits) is a screw with a small metall thing attached to it ! That one stops the read/write-head and should be Cylinder 0/Sector 0 then ! If that one is a bit out of range, your MSX2 might work with that, but your PC cannot find a correct header message of that disk, so try to rejust it (one mm forward or backwards) ..... might be worth a try :)

[Shatterhand]

Are you using the same drive in the MSX and the PC?

With my 5 1/4 drive (i have only one, so I keep changing from the MSX to PC and vice-versa), sometimes things like that happens. Usually the drive can't read ANY disk, then I turn-off the computer for a few minutes, turn it on again, and it magically works again.

Although as you said it happened in other PCs too, maybe that's not the case... try to do what Retroman said, then post back here..

@Retroman

HD is neat, with the new version of Uzix you can even handle partitions bigger than 32 MBs (MSX-DOS2 can't handle more than 32 MBs).


Oh, just an interesting thing..

I am in an "Computer sciences course" to make professionals in the computer area (I can't explain very well in english). Anyway, the school wasn't have classes because federal teachers here in Brazil were in strike, so classes only begun last week (3 & 1/2 months late)...

The PCs there have a freaking fast internet connection, and the 1st thing I did there was download an MSX emulator, then Space Manbow... when I begun to play, suddenly a small crowd of 4 people gathered in front of my computer to see and try the game .. I bet I will discover more MSX lovers there :)

[Akira]

Originally posted by RetroMan
@Akira

I had the same prob as you before with my 8235 :( I really dunno if your MSX2 got the same drive unit as mine, but here´s what I did : I opened up the drive (carefully of course ;) ) and somewhere near the back end (where the cable fits) is a screw with a small metall thing attached to it ! That one stops the read/write-head and should be Cylinder 0/Sector 0 then ! If that one is a bit out of range, your MSX2 might work with that, but your PC cannot find a correct header message of that disk, so try to rejust it (one mm forward or backwards) ..... might be worth a try :)
Yep I've been told it could be an alignment problem... but I fear to screw it up even more. I never touched that screw, how could it happen? :(

Shatterhand: no its not the same drive, Panasonic machines have propietary disk drives which are an arse to find around. So if I cant fix it im completely FUCKED :( I would appreciate if you could send me, along with the Megaram and Amiga disks, one MSX disk that works in your machine, so I try to read it with mine. If it doesnt work, its misaligned.

Oh I forgot one question.. how do you transfer dsk images that are in a special format, like Aleste 2? Disk Manager doesnt work with them!

[RetroMan]

Originally posted by Akira
Oh I forgot one question.. how do you transfer dsk images that are in a special format, like Aleste 2? Disk Manager doesnt work with them!
I use WinImage and/or IsoBuster to get to the files stored inside and copy then one by one to a MSX-formatted disk :D

[Akira]

The thing is, Disk Manager doesnt find any files! so i thought this was in a special format....

Suggestion noted ;)

[Shatterhand]

I think WinImage will do fine, though I never tested it.

Those "special" disks are from more 'recent' games (8891), and I already have them all in disks, so I never transfered then back to my MSX :)

@Akira
don't forget I use 5 1/4 disks here for my MSX (For some reason they were more popular here in Brazil than the 3 1/2 disks back in the 80s), I don't know if a 5 1/4 disk would be of much use to you.

I think Retroman could help you the most in that matter..

About the Megaram, PM me about how and when to send it to you, and stuff.

[RetroMan]

This reminds me, that I never been able to rip the files out of the three SD Snatcher Disks (english Version) :( but I will not stop trying until this baby runs on my MSX2 :)

//edit : and you know what ?? this thread now got 200 posts :cool

[Uukrul]

@Retroman

This maybe interests you :)

http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/Meadows/7278/MSXKIT/NMS8245/8235.HTM

[RetroMan]

Yes, but where should I get a 8245er Disk-ROM :confused :(

[Uukrul]

E-mail Bas Kornalijnslijper baskornalijnslijper@zonnet.nl , this guy is a Dutch MSX guru and I almost sure that he can sell to you that Disk-ROM, or did you forget that you are LuckyMan?

[RetroMan]

:cool Sent an E-Mail :) Thx again :D

[Akira]

Might this be of help?

http://www.aamsx.org/tech-nms8245fdd.php?lang=en

[Akira]

Before I forget.... my MSX2 has 65KB of RAM (do not brag about how much memory yours has shatterhand, we all know it's useless because you dont have a Turbo R :D), and most of today's games work on 128KB of RAM... Will the Megaram cart act as extra memory, or will I have to add memory internally? I would NOT Like to touch this one inside, I rather buy a new machine (I'm arranging things to get a Sanyo wavy PHC 70FD MSX2+ :D)

[RetroMan]

Thx for the link Akira :) Anyway, he allready answered and would sell me the ROM for 9 EUR :cool

Now I just have to find my 2 spare PC Drives and wait for the package from him .... YEEEEEEESSSSS :D

Btw. @Akira : Your MSX2 only got 65KB :confused Crap :(

[Akira]

About the link, they forget t mention one little thing: not ANY PC drive will work, specially NOT 1.44MB DRIVES! You need some special old 720KB drives, those that have dipswitches in teh back or below. That Panasonic JU233 that appears in teh article is a good example. You can use those in Amigas too, after you set teh dip switches right... But most new drives just wont work! So good luck finding a drive that actually works on your mesex :(

Yeah man, all this Panasonic custom garbage is driving me crazy... 64KB of RAM in an MSX2... well, it must be early, since that's how the standard is (64KB RAM 128KB VRAM). Luckily the seller of the MSX told me he will be looking for a Panasonic drive so I can replace my faulty one... I hope he finds one, there's no way I can align this bastard without having any software that I know it works...

Mind providing me with some, Retroman? One disk will suffice :)

[RetroMan]

Hmmm, sure I would, but could you say for sure that single-sided 360KB disks would work on your machine :confused Think that´s mainly the same issue as with Shatterhands disks :(

//edit : funny, but everytime I read something in this thread, I got this little voice in my head : "Play MSX, Play MSX .... Buhuuuaaaaa" ;)

[Shatterhand]

@Akira

depends what game you want to play. If you want to play the old games, (Usually the .ROM games, like Aleste or Space Manbow) then Megaram and Execrom will do fine.

If you want to play most recent games (Like Akin, Blade Lords or Realms of Adventure or Sonyc), then you'll need to add internal memory

If you get the internal memory expansion, you can use Loadrom to load .ROM files like Execrom with Megaram, but it''s known that Loadrom isn't much reliable (I was testing it, and I had trouble with LOTS of games, and soon I discovered I wasn't the only one)

I'd say it's a tough choice, I dunno if you are interested in the most recent games.

[RetroMan]

Hm, could someone actually post some models of Disk Drives that would work in the MSX2 ??? I got one FD from an old PC with Jumpers on the backside, but I´m pretty sure that it is broken :(

//edit : someone for a good/BIG MSX1/2 archive ;) ? Here ya go : http://www.gdicas.com/copa/roms/compmsxr.html

///edit : huuups, you´ll need a password to unzip ;) here ya go : "LINK DA WWW.GDICAS.COM DENUNCIE COPIAS" (without "")

[Uukrul]

Look at this beauty...

http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1309036409

and guess who is its new owner :D

[RetroMan]

Congrats :) Can´t wait to get the DiskRom and my new drive, then we mainly got the same machine :D

[Akira]

Uukrul, good luck with that Phillips :)

Retroman, 360KB disks should work, 720KB drives take both single and double sided disks. About drive models, I really dont know. We were discussing about this on the Spanish MSX list recently. Lemme take a look.... Chinon or Panasonic JU2xx drives use to do the trick. I dont know about others. oh, here's another one: "Easy Options P/N 6063611 YASUKAWA ELECTRIC GP8283023 Rev. A"... Whatever that Is :P

Shatterhand: SHIT. How on EARTH am I to upgrade internal RAM? Is not like I can go to the nearest MSX distributor and get it upgraded :P I need 128KB of RAM! I am definitely interested in the latest games man!!! definitely! Have you seen the games done by Matra? hey work on my machine.. I will buy them! (but I need a diskdrive! :( )

Then again, I rather wait to get that Wavy, or to buy a Turbo R :):):)

[RetroMan]

Originally posted by Akira
I need 128KB of RAM!
Won´t be enough :( My 8235 got 128KB RAM and it is definitely NOT enough for newer games !

[Akira]

I will wait until i get a Turbo R for newer games, since playing them in MSX2s is quite stupid anyway, they slowdown (read: Sonyc). But newr MSX2 games do work with 128KB RAM or less... Look at all the GROOVY stuff done by Matra Corporation (http://www.matranet.net) (love the name and design style :)).... All taht shit works on 64KB of RAm, and some games even work with single density drives (lucky you, retroman! buy that game now! ("Dont Cock it Up" is the name))

I dont know if Ill get the Megaram after all Shatterhand... there is this guy who is making FLASH ROM cartridges with 512KB of storage.... more than enough for any game :) I have to ask the dude how it works though, if I need to flash it from within the MSX, im fucked. If it works through the PC, ill get it.

[RetroMan]

Then you could also buy the IDE Interface that comes with 512KB FlashROM :) Only 60 EUR for the interface + shipping :D

[Akira]

Will that allow me to flash any ROM game and play it? I am most interested, havea link? :) The HD could save me because I have no disk drive :(

But will I be able to play disk games from the HD?

Oooh so many questions... Hey go to matra's site and buy some games! And the mousepad sure is sexy :)

[RetroMan]

I´m really not sure about flashing game roms into that cart, I will order it here : http://www.msx.ch (SUNRISE) and after all, it got MSX-DOS2 built in :D

[Akira]

That's what the flashrom is there for, to flash MSX2 DOS to it. The cart Im talking to is 512KB of FLashRAM that you can use to flash, say, Gradius 2, and play it :D

[Shatterhand]

To put more internal memory, you should get one of those euro memory-mappers.

I don't know about those flash-roms.. the IDE I saw surely had NO extra memory, but I saw the brazilian one, dunno which one retroman is seeing

You can definetly run disk games from HD, in the MSX fair I was this year I saw someone running R-Type.DSK form an HD using some sort of MSX-DOS program.

And about the newer games.. well, from what I hear, they all look great, and play like shit (Ok, not like shit, but they are all usually just average in gameplay)

I think the last great company for MSX was Parallax, and they already dropped the MSX (They were doing Core Dump for MSX, a long-waited game, when the HD storing the games files crashed, and the guy didn't have a backup, so this game unfortunately will never see the light, and Blade Lords 2 was canned after that)

Sonyc looks great, and it's technically fantastic, but it's a boring game
I heard more or less the same about Matra games....

[Akira]

I think Matra games are quite fun... and there is a Puzzle Bobble clone being done for the messex as well!

I am interested in that .dsk loading business.. damn nice! that wold be GREAT for my Panasonic...

the Flashrom cart is being done by Padial, you surely know this spanish guy. :)

[Shatterhand]

Oh yeah , I surely know Padial :)

Hmm, funny thing, I just saw Blade Lords cover, and it says "64 Kb ram"... so probably other games from Parallax are 64 Kbs too, and maybe there are more "modern" games that run with 64 Kbs than I thought.

If that's true, look for Akin from Parallax, a DAMN good game :) (Core Dump was going to be its sequel)

and Blade Lords too, one of my favourite MSX games ever.

[RetroMan]

Heya, some news here :D

Yesterday I managed to get my Philips DiskDrive for my MSX1 working again :) So I tried some MSX1 classics and played KINGS VALLEY the whole day .... my problem now is : You don´t get a password like in KINGS VALLEY 2 on MSX2 and you cannot save ..... does anyone here got any POKE´s for the Disk Version of that game, so that I must not start all over again and again (cause there´s no continue also)

Btw. noticed a funny detail :) I now use my MSX1 more than my MSX2 .... oh and I found out that some games aren´t MSX2 compatible (like KNIGHTMARE for example, it just refuses to load on my MSX2) .....

Another thing ..... The cracked, working copy of SD SNATCHER was uploaded to Funet Archiv as XSA Images, give it a try ;)

[Shatterhand]

There's no "save" poke for King's Valley as far as I know, but there are pokes for invencibility and infinite lives, if you're interested...


Now, Knightmare works fine in my MSX 2... that's weird, I only had problems with 4 games.. both Boulder Dashs refuse to work in my MSX 2, the clock in GP World runs much faster, making impossible to finish any level, and Volleyball runs much faster (Actually, making it even more playable)


that's really weird, it must be the crack or something....

[Uukrul]

Originally posted by RetroMan
Heya, some news here :D

Btw. noticed a funny detail :) I now use my MSX1 more than my MSX2 .... oh and I found out that some games aren´t MSX2 compatible (like KNIGHTMARE for example, it just refuses to load on my MSX2) .....

Did you press the CONTROL key while the MSX2 was booting?



Another thing ..... The cracked, working copy of SD SNATCHER was uploaded to Funet Archiv as XSA Images, give it a try ;)

A litte off topic here:

Download the original Snatcher version (PC88)

EMU:
http://www.remus.dti.ne.jp/%7Ecisc/m88/M88_216u.lzh

EMU ROMS:
http://www.jcec.co.uk/pc88roms.zip

SNATCHER DISKS :

http://mame.emuchina.net/Tosec/NEC%20PC8x01%20-%20D88%20(0.01%20full)/Snatcher (1988)(Konami)(Disk 1 of 5)(Program).zip

http://mame.emuchina.net/Tosec/NEC%20PC8x01%20-%20D88%20(0.01%20full)/Snatcher (1988)(Konami)(Disk 2 of 5)(Data 1).zip

http://mame.emuchina.net/Tosec/NEC%20PC8x01%20-%20D88%20(0.01%20full)/Snatcher (1988)(Konami)(Disk 3 of 5)(Data 2).zip

http://mame.emuchina.net/Tosec/NEC%20PC8x01%20-%20D88%20(0.01%20full)/Snatcher (1988)(Konami)(Disk 4 of 5)(Data 3).zip

http://mame.emuchina.net/Tosec/NEC%20PC8x01%20-%20D88%20(0.01%20full)/Snatcher (1988)(Konami)(Disk 5 of 5)(Data 4).zip


Btw Retroman, do you have a disk version of Salamander, Nemesis 2, Nemesis 3 or Space Manbow that works with sound and 128 Kb RAM. All my versions need 256 KB for the sound :(


@Akira

Is this your new machine?

http://www.ibazar.es/voirobjet.cgi?codeobjet%3dKJ231102LL999680

[Akira]

I posted the pics before Uukrul, somewhere in this thread. I dont have a TURBO R! I wish I did... BTW that guy offered to sell me that machine, but he never replied back when I told him I lived in Argentina :(

But now I have yet another MSX 1 machine, and it's a corker...

BEHOLD!!!

http://www.funet.fi/pub/msx/photos/hardware/Sony_HB-201P_3.jpg

Isnt it lovely??

[RetroMan]

I like the look of the case :) But mainly the 201P is the same machine as my Sony Hit Bit HB-75P ! Same ROM, RAM and all ... But still a lovely case :D

[Uukrul]

Originally posted by Akira
but he never replied back when I told him I lived in Argentina :(



Excuse the spanish words:

Akira, espero que la situación argentina no te efecte demasiado con la devaluación del peso, el 'corralito' financiero y todo eso. Aquí en España todos los periódicos abren estos días sus portadas con la situación argentina y desde la lejanía percibimos que la situación puede empeorar todavía más aunque espero que eso no ocurra.

Animo.

[RetroMan]

Espero tan también :)

[Uukrul]

Retro, are you a multilingual Man?

[RetroMan]

My aunt was in Spain for about 6 years, I visited her sometimes :)

[Fred the Fop]

Retrowhore, have you a rough idea how many commercial games were relaesed for the MSX and Amstrad CPC? were most of the MSX games Japanese?

[RetroMan]

Lemme see ..... there are about 5000 games (MSX1 and MSX2) in ROMs and Disk Format and uhhhhh, let´s say 60% are Japanese I guess but many of them got translated to english by some friendly people ;) ......... hmmm about the CPC : I really don´t know about how many there are, but I guess it must be around 10000 to 15000 games (this is a hard one to guess) .........

[Uukrul]

Originally posted by RetroMan
......... hmmm about the CPC : I really don´t know about how many there are, but I guess it must be around 10000 to 15000 games (this is a hard one to guess) .........

Around 2000 to 2500.

[RetroMan]

Ok, my bet was a bit high I admit, but yours is too low for sure !! There are allmost 2800 games on Funet allready and they miss some I have here, if you now add PD/Shareware/Freeware games you WILL definitely come to 4000 to 5000 games !!

[Uukrul]

Yes, 5513 :)

ftp://andercheran.aiind.upv.es/pub/cpc/ftp.nvg.unit.no/docs/all_cpc.zip

[Akira]

The 201P is as sexy as it gets, yes :) However is not the same as your 75, Retro. I think this one has a couple different functions (mine has a pause button, yours has a personal databank. or so says the MSX faq :)). Its a shame I dont have the little stick you put in the cursor keys, but at least I got the box :D

[RetroMan]

Hmm, according to some computer museum sites the 201P also got this kinda office software build in as rom, maybe someone ripped it out :confused I did the same to my 75P, it is annoying to get that software after every reboot :mad

[Fred the Fop]

Thanks for the replies, Retroman and Uukul, I do think retroman's guess was way off, but it was a wild guess. I downloaded the entire Funet collection, and its pretty big. PD and shareware are rarely worth playing in my opinion. Rarely.

[Akira]

Originally posted by RetroMan
Hmm, according to some computer museum sites the 201P also got this kinda office software build in as rom, maybe someone ripped it out :confused I did the same to my 75P, it is annoying to get that software after every reboot :mad

I dont think anybody ripped it out, otherwise Stefan wouldnt have wanted the machine at first... and could the MSX FAQ be wrong? :) Ill let you know whats up once I test the machine, I have it in BA and I havent touched it yet, is waiting for my return :D

I would never rip the firmware out of my A1FM! It can get annoying, but... it wouldnt be the same without it :D

[Akira]

Yes, the MSX FAQ is wrong. Time to make it stand corrected :)

The HB-201P indeed has the same firmware as your HB75...

But my machine is cuter than yours :D

Oh well, the quest for other MSXs goes on. I now need to close a deal for a Sanyo Wavy PHC-70FD MSX2+, and I'm talking it with a japanese for a Panasonic FS-A1GT :D :D :D :D :D

[Fred the Fop]

Well I emulate, and I just threw out all my Amstrad files and started collecting MSX discs and games. I must emphatically say that there is no compare between MSX 2 and Amstrad. I have tried many systems , and I never saw a lamer, uglier and blander bunch of garbage in my life. I counted only a handful of Amstrad games I liked and kept them. But compare Gryzor/Contra on Amstrad - considered by man to be amoungst the best ofAmstrad games-with the NES or MSX-2 versions, and it pales...considerably. But I have found a new collecting bug with the MSX!!:) I love it! Any good ftp's or leech sites, my special MSX loving whores?

[RetroMan]

try the Funet Archiv, they got a lot (ftp://ftp.funet.fi), there are more, I´ll post as soon as I get home ;) Btw. be sure to try KINGS VALLEY 2 on MSX2 :D

[Shatterhand]

Aff, I won´t rewrite again my fav msx games, as they are all too many :)

www.themsxgamesbox.com is a good place to look for games

[RetroMan]

Heyhey, once again back on my fav. Thread on this Board :D I recently bought a second DiskDrive for my 8235 and with it came a bunch of german MSX-Mag discs :) I searched through them and found a Demo called "Horror Demo" now have a look at the pic :D This is really fun, especially as even the noisy ticking from the disc drive is "emulated" :laughing

[Shatterhand]

LOL :)

I once saw a demo for SNES with that old friendly screen :) I'll search for it here, I maybe still have it.

[Shatterhand]

Ha, I was bored, browing my own HD, and I just found this, a file I made sometime ago, exactly because I was rather boring...

[Twistin'Ghost]

Oh, how I love cover art. You notice that even the cover art from the golden age dwarfs cover art for new games? The GBA covers I have seen have look pretty nice, though.

Nice pic, Shatterhand!

[Shatterhand]

I love the art in covers from the 80s...
If you're interested, I could make more files like those, I have like tons of MSX scanned covers here :)


I also suspect that Zanac cover isn't the box cover, but the manual cover... I have another scan here that surely is the box, and I doubt zanac was published in 2 differents boxes...

[Twistin'Ghost]

Sure...can never see enough cover art from the good old days!

[RetroMan]

I just got some carts for my MSX but they had no plastic cover or anything ..... On this one it says "SONY S-RAM" and if I plug it into my HitBit I got an extra menu thingy called "BASIC + DATA CARTRIDGE" ! For what can I use this thingy and how :confused