Msx2 was incredible. I still have my MSX2 that i purchased when i lived in Japan. It still works !! Every compile shooter is legendary regardless of the platform it is on.
I originally discovered this system from listening to some Ys and Snatcher soundtracks and always found it fascinating how the MSX (and X6800) were such a success in a nation that's known for mostly gaming on consoles.
Refreshing to see a Metal Gear that's not overly long(to me). A few hours total is more my style. MSX is an interesting platform. Very enjoyable video.
Made a Let's play video of Treasure of Usas when Let's playing was a new thing. It was a good game. Many frustrating recording sessions though since a lot of recoding softwares were unreliable at best and had a tendency to crash and burn if you exceeded recording limit they were capable of which was anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes depending on their mood in that session.
MSX computer is extremely popular in South Korea, it's like NES in North America. they have their native product named "Zemmix", which is basically a consolized MSX 2, and even translated games and original titles which is cool. Nearly every 70's or 80's Korean gamer knows what Zemmix is I'm pretty sure. seems like they also port many MSX games to the master system, awkward though, but it's the way Zemina did.
Korea back then was like China. Anything was fine when it came to ripping off IPs. Samsung were even making a so called original scrolling brawler for the Mega Drive although it's obviously a game using Bare Knuckle 2 / sor 2 assets. Funnily, the game was never released. I wonder why.
totally right. and for the arcade, they're similar too. I remember Korean game companies produced and imported many arcade machines during 2000-2003, tho the hardware is inferior to the time, still impressive. Taiwanese company IGS did the same job, but they have a better hardware. Asian gaming history is interesting, unique and kinda mysterious.
I think the controllers are probably my favorite part of the MSX2 next to the games, so many home computers seemed to actively hold back console style control but the MSX instead embraced it. Decent base hardware which seemed to share and trade with Famicom in a lot of instances for software, sprite performance and flicker seem about on par with the NES. The sound quality is different than NES but I like it. :) Heh different strokes, there are actually people that don't play action games because they want stealth exclusively, I quite enjoy hybrids like Deus Ex. I can see how Space Manbow is considered great, beautiful fun game it is.
Yeah, I'm so glad the MSX has console style controllers. It also helps when making games as there are two individual fire buttons rather than the obviously nit enough 1 button that western home computers stuck with all the way through from the Commodore 16 to Amiga and ST.
Nice to see the MSX get some more love! I'm surprised you didn't note anything about MSX-music, though -- the system you're using doesn't support it (unless you have an FM-PAC or similar expansion cartridge in the second slot, anyway), but quite a few of the games you played DO support it (Aleste, Psycho World, etc.) and sound a LOT better with it. It's like the FM expansion on the Sega Master System -- it makes a tremendous difference, and its absence *may* be the reason you were unable to get Aleste 2 running (as I know Aleste 2 has an FM soundtrack, but it's possible it may not have a PSG soundtrack for players with incompatible systems like Aleste 1 does). Also, in the final montage, you have one game listed as "21 Seiki Man," which would translate to "21st Century Man"... but that's not actually the game's title! That game is "Seikima II," based on the popular jpop band Seikima II (who are kind of like the Japanese version of KISS). Just figured I'd let you know!
Great video! I'm from Argentina and when I was in elementary school, we learned some "computing" in MSX Talent computers. Sadly, all we did was some Logos, and some sort of history quiz laberynth game. I remenber that game being monochrome and had some non translated leftover text in portuguese. Also, I remember there where some ¿external? 5 1/4 diskdrives laying around. I think the teacher's msx had one attached and she saved our class progress on a disk... May be all the msx's in the classroom where networked or something. Never knew how cool this computer could be untill I was in my mid twenties, thanks to the magics of the internet.
Hi Alexis and thanks for watching. The MSX is indeed a very underrated machine. It was quite versatile for its time. Cool to hear you used them in school. When I was in school (30 years ago) we used BBC micro computers.
Here in Brazil, there were the Hotbit from Epcon and Expert, from Sharp. The Expert had a 3 1/2 disk drive. But I had a Hotbit, so there were some companies that made 5 1/4 floppy disk drives for it. You connected on the MSX through a cartdridge. I also had a Megaram. It was a big cartdridge with 512kb memory extension to run bigger games. (but the biggest were 256kb on the MSX1, so the 512kb I had was a waste of money). The downside of not having the original cartridges for these games (they were not even sold on Brazil. I think Epcom and Sharp never produced anything other than 16 or 32kb games, and I think they didn´t even pay royalties... Brazil had a computer market reserve at the time) was that you were stuck with the original sound, with only 3 channels... Logo was cool man. Me and a friend made a game on it, with a gello main character... I think it had two levels. We did it for the computer fair in our school.
This is very intersting. I have seen the MSX2 on one of the Japanese Ebay stores I use. I had never seen one in action until now. It looks really cool.
great games but what surprises me is that although MSX2 is somewhat discontinued in graphic power against consoles such as MarkIII and Famicom, has games that are unthinkable in these same consoles; for example the games of Graphic Adventures that abound here a lot and in the consoles are very rare. about this I am surprised that MSX2 has more cinematic than 16-bit consoles.
Yeah, I agree. The MSX2 has games which consoles of the time just couldn't handle. Even games that were on both the MSX2 and consoles were mostly better on the MSX2 with Contra being the massive exception.
Oh wow! The MSX2. A spectacular unit that I always wanted to have in my collection Mark. Really glad that you had the chance to show us this unique piece. I've been in the market for one for quite some time. After seeing this, I'm now looking for one as of now. 8^) Well done as always Mark. Thank you for sharing this with us. 8^) Anthony..
Thanks for watching, Anthony. Yeah, the MSX2 is a lovely 8bit computer with so many great games. As with most old stuff now the prices can be quite high.
It is a good machine and looks the part, you should check out the homebrew version of bomb jack done by Kralizec thats how you do an arcade port. The magic tree is also an excellent game. the only problem with the phillips machines was the front facia is always prone to cracks mine is no exception to this although the are only minor.The only problem with MSX is the cartridge prices they are expensive as hell im after a Konami cart with the extra sound chips.
You should had also mentioned those MSX games that when plugged into an MSX2, had some extra features, like Nemesis 3/Gofer no Yabô Episode 2. BTW, get an FM-PAC ASAP. It was funny, interesting and (moslty) awful, hearing the Aleste soundtrack in PSG. One more thing is manbou not manbau. The kana spelling in the box shows it: スペース マンボウ
I enjoy Dragon Slayer 4 for the MSX2. It was developed at the same time for the Famicom, the latter releasing 1 week after the MSX2. In 1989, it was released in North America for the NES as Legacy of the Wizard. MSX1 received some love by eventually receiving a port.
I was under the impression the MSX line only supported one button on their controllers. Apparently not, makes me wish we had more than one button on our old 8 bit computers back in the day, wasn't till i got an IBM compatible till I could use more than one. Excellent Video as always!
There is a very small selection of western 8bit computer games that use more than 1 button but yeah, not many at all. It really is dumb that they never did introduce another button as 1 was clearly not enough for over half of the games released.
Some suggestions of other good MSX2 games that you skipped (I know the video couldn't be 1 hour long, but other people could use those suggestions :D) Ashguine was a series with 3 games on MSX 2, not all of them are good, but I think it's wothy mentioning them. All those games are pretty good MSX 2 games: Undeadline, Famicle Parodic 1 and 2, Quinpl, Valis 2, Fray, the YS games, the XAK games, Firehawk: Thexder 2, Herzog, Feedback, Greatest Driver, Super Runner, Bubble Bobble, Arkanoid 2, Blade Lords, SD Snatcher, Puyo Puyo, Columns, Eggerland 2, Kyokugen, Pleasure Hearts, Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, Golvellius (It was an original MSX 1 game but Compile later made an *amazing* MSX 2 version that puts even the SMS version to shame ) I would also add Laydock 2 and F1 Spirit 3D Special, but those are MSX2+ exclusives, they wont run on an MSX 2.
Higemaru Makaijima on is actually a Famicom port of the sequel of the original Higemaru, and it was gonna come out in the States as Makai Island, but got cancelled The only close sequel we got after that was Shinji Mikami's Goof Troop game on SNES
Retro Core give it another go, just without thinking about the Mickey games. You could mabye play it with your kid since it's a nice pick up and play title for 2 players
Hello mark for Some games for cartridge systems have been sold with extra audio hardware on board, the konami SCC Soundchip used in certain arcade boards and game carts for the MSX. Unlike with pitfall 2 for the Atari 2600 and several late Famicom titles This chips add to the existing MSX sound capabilities.
Unlike SCC extra audio hardware on board late famicom titles from the 80's and 90's using MMC will adds additional audio to stock famicom soundchip the 2A03 such as VRC-6, YM-2413 on VRC-7, Namco N163 wavetable synthesis, and sunsoft FME-7
I still own a Philiphs VG 8235 and a Sony HBF-700F Many people say the Amiga was the first to have MIDI capabilities but MSX's Music Module and it's keyboard was first (I still have them)
Hinotori was a Manga released in the 50s in Japan, the Game was based on a Animated Feature based on the game released on the 80s. That's why both MSX and NES got games titled Hinotori even though they are completely different games :D The MSX game is awesome and IMO it has the best MSX PSG soundtrack coming from Japan. (.... the best MSX soundtracks are from European games IMO, not japanese ones. But Hinotori soundtrack is awesome :D)
Great overview, but still many great games missing that started out on the MSX, e.g. Snatcher or the Hydlide series (not sure if it was on MSX or on PC-8801).. MSX was also quite popular in Spain, so that many Spanish games were produced for the system, most will have never heard of (or only from the C64/Speccy release).
Most spanish games unfortunately were just piss-poor spectrum ports, many of them even badly ported running a lot slower than the Spectrum originals (Though the bigger guys, Dinamic, Topo and Opera, actually tried to optmize code a little bit on the MSX or even add a few exclusive features, though most of time they were 100% identical ports, not using the superior MSX features - Opera even made a few MSX 2 games and made some good MSX 1 ports using its hardware properly like The Last Mission and Goody, and Topo Soft actually made a couple of exclusive MSX games)
Hehe, obviously. The Amiga was a much more powerful machine that cost much more. Its kind of like saying the Amiga ain't as awesome as the holy powerful Sharp X68000!!!!! 😁
With interactice movie is a video game that presents its gameplay in a cinematic, scripted manner, often through the use of full-motion video of either animated or live-action footage. The first arcade laserdisc video game was Sega's Astron Belt, an early third-person space combat rail shooter featuring live-action full-motion video footage (largely borrowed from a Japanese science fiction film) over which the player/enemy ships and laser fire are superimposed. Many of laserdisc video game on arcade from the 80s ported to MSX Platform either the Laserdisc or the VHD videodisc format.
I think we never saw the MSX line of computers in the US, because there were already way too many competing architectures on the market at the time. The C64 would have probably eaten it's lunch, if it had. That was THE computer to own in the early to mid-80s after it replaced the Vic-20. I mean you had the Apple II in schools here, but in the home, Commodore was king...right until they shat the bed at least. Though I don't have to tell you how awesome the C64 is, you grew up in a region where it was even more popular than it was here.
saw this in my feed this morning and I knew it would be best to wait until after work and enjoy it with a nice bit of whiskey to sip to really do it justice - cheers! Excellent job as usual on this episode, Konami had alot of love for the msx :D
Hehe, I check all the videos I make before uploading them mostly while under the influence of alcohol too 😁 Konami sure did like the MSX. They must account for almost a quarter of the games on the platform.
MSX was big in Brazil, and, was a good effort by Microsoft. The times they worked hard for something, before they became the lazy monopolistic company, laid on its market power and churning out buggy version after buggy version of windows. Perhaps, ASCII was the culprit for MSX being a very cool and decent computer standard.
Check out the FM-PAQ. It was quite easily available the last couple of years. And definitely not too expensive: 40 euros. Alas, it's out of stock at the moment at the producer.
They are actually pretty cheap these days if you know where to look. They are still in production actually. You can get it and other awesome expansion carts at the 8bits4ever website. I recently got a Carnivore2 in the mail and can't wait to use it!
The Carnivore 2 looks great! Apparently it loads games from a memory card, has FM-PAC and SCC sound plus some other extras. I already own an FM-PAC and a MegaFlashRom, but if you don't have any of these, this looks like a pretty essential piece of kit.
Sebastian Lambinon - Oh yes, that's why I got one as it has pretty much all the essential expansions all in one single unit which is great. It is probably the only expansion cart you'll ever need, and won't ever have to use floppy disks ever again. If I had to point out any negative it would be that it uses Compact Flash cards vs something more common like SD or MicroSD, but that's a very minor quibble and not worth fretting over. CF syncs up with IDE perfectly anyway so its very easy to use
Thanks a bunch for making this vid! Am from the good ole U.S. and just recently picked up a Panasonic FS-A1 myself in addition to a Carnivore2 cart and am looking forward to trying them out. Your vid actually made me realize that a Genesis or SMS pad won't work with it which is a darn shame. Sounds like it's just two pins on the controller port that are different, so it probably wouldn't be too hard to modify a Genesis or SMS pad to work with it. May try to mod one soon to use with it. What I REALLY wish is that it were possible to get SMS games running on the machine since the hardware is similar. That would be amazing! I wonder if it's possible with an expansion cart of some kind...
Actually, you can sort of use a Master System controler on the MSX but from memory the controls are messed up. Pushing down would activate a button press for example. Also not all directions would be available. You'll really like your FS-A1 when you get it. It's trully a nice machine. So much so that I kept it over the Sony HitBit MSX2 I had.
Retro Core - Yeah, it would need rewired to fix the pinouts from my understanding. Shouldnt be too hard to do, although in the meantime I just ordered an official Panasonic MSX2 controller to go with it. Can't wait to find time to use it, am excited :) Would really love to see more video's made about the MSX2, namely stuff about how the hardware works and how to boot software and such and about all of the different expansion carts and such that are out there floating around.
Right, I am actually familiar with those, but to me those feel kind of like cheating as they basically contain almost all of the main chips from a Master System, and it requires its own power and video out if i'm not mistaken. At that point it almost feels like the MSX2 itself is doing nothing. I would much prefer a bare minimum way of doing it, a way where everything would be going through the MSX2 itself. Perhaps that just isn't possible due to the hardware design, I dunno.
skins4thewin well, the SMS videochip is like the MSX1 VDP, but it has an extra mode with smooth scrolling and palettes. That mode is not compatible with the MSX2 video modes, so you need to put that videochip in the MSX to run SMS games. And that's what Franky does. The program actually still runs on the MSX CPU.
I own a joystick that is compatible with MSX (Quick Shot) it has a switch on the bottom for Commodore, Atari, Amstrad, Sega and MSX :) its the joystick I mainly use for my C64.
Never tried it.. If it works on the Master System then the two individual buttons should work separately, A & B.. When using on C64 switched to Commodore mode both triggers/buttons do the same thing.. I try it soon.
Ah, the MSX2, I'm a bit disappointed by the omission of Metal Gear 2, it's entirely different from the better known NES game and improves open the first game. Nice episode either way though.
The fact you're lacking the FM cartridge not only makes everything (bar the Konami SCC games) sound worse, but also misses the point of what makes the MSX such an interesting platform. Pluggable modules and mixing cartridges to get extra features was really commonplace and has never been repeated, I can't think of another system that mixed hardware and software in such a freeform way, and it makes all the classic European 8-bits look like toys.
I recently replayed Metal Gear on my MSX after oh so many years without touching it. 1) I remembered the bosses being freaking hard. They are not, they are *VERY* easy. What 20+ years of gaming experience won't give us, uh? 2) You can skip the tank battle (but I won't tell you how :D) 3) One particular puzzle is EXTREMELY obscure and, honestly, I don't think you can ever figure it out without a shitload of trial and error (which was how I figured it out when I first played it) 4) Replaying the game recently I noticed you can basically speed through nearly the whole game ignoring soldiers most of the time. Back at the time the stealth mechanics were incredibly, nowadays they feel so poorly implemented, it's very easy to just not give a crap to the enemy soldiers and just let them see you, run through them and let the alarm turn off on the next screen (the !! alarms are harder though :D )
Yep, Metal Gear these days is quite an easy game. Especially the stealth sections compared to modern games. I think the game takes new players a while to complete is mostly down to back tracking and wondering where the hell they should be going rather than actual gameplay.
@@RetroCore Yeah I did a little bit more looking into it yesterday.......I underestand the hardware is similar to the sega SG1000 .......also as youll know early models had issues with scrolling Downloaded an emulator, quite likeable in its own way.
Need help to run Aleste 2? You really should try it, the game is freaking awesome. You are probably having trouble swapping disks. I've heard this thing about the Master System Aleste game being the original one before, but I find really weird how the Master System has the "Reprogrammed Game" notice Sega usually put in ports, while the MSX one has no mention of an "original" game. I still think the MSX was the original one (even more considering at that point the MSX still was the main system Compile developed for)
Yeah, Aleste 2 is great. I've played it many time. I was using a real MSX2 for the games in this video but my copy of Aleste 2 wouldn't work. It has done in the past. Nit sure what it wrong with it.
Akumajo Dracula was released as Vampire Killer on the West. Castlevania was a name never used on MSX. I was really wondering if you were going to completely skip it, I would find really weird :D
Another fantastic and very informative video, Mark Smith. I'm actually heading over to Japan starting Friday of next week at the time of this message. If I may ask, since I'll be checking Japan's game stores, how much does a used MSX2 go nowadays, used and/or refurbished?
Retro Core = That’s actually a nice deal. I look forward to seeing the stores. I’ll be in Japan for 12 days starting next Friday, so hopefully I get to meet you in person as well.
Sadly it's a crappy dull graphic adventure. I love Masion Ikkoku but sadly all the games are by Micronet and we all know they are not a good developer. They also developed the Bubblegum Crash game :(
MSX computers can run at both 50 and 60Hz. If you start a Japanese game in a European MSX, it would typically switch to 60Hz. European machines just default to 50hz because of PAL and games for the European market would run at 50hz. While this often meant that such games ran a bit slower, they also often had less slowdown because all MSX machines were exactly as fast in terms of CPU speed etc
The MSX2 is for me one of the most interesting machines. It's actually the only non Atari system I'd like to own. It's a bit of a shame that you treat computers as consoles. I'd be very interested in what was available for it, application wise etc as well as new stuff that come out from the community.
To be honest I have no interest in old computers as a tool but I do enjoy the games they have. I know many love using old computer applications but for my I'm happy with my PC for stuff like that.
The MSX is a system Im not that familiar with sadly, as I mainly know if for Metal Gear (especially Metal Gear 2, which is brilliant) and Snatcher. To me it seems like it did for Japan what the C64 did in the west, mainly allow alot of developers to have their big break , without having to be tied down by Nintendo or Sega's practices. I think Final Fantasy got an MSX port too. The reason Metal Gear has the stealth mechanic was because of technical limitations, Kojima wanted a game that ran well , and thus the stealth aspect is there to make sure there aren't alot of sprites onscreen. Id have to imagine that PAL MSX systems would be somewhat limited , given a smaller library and 50hz speed.
Yeah, the MSX basically was like Japans C64 or speccy. So many great game developers started life there. In Europe the MSX mostly got crappy ZX Spectrum ports which was a great shame. I beleive only really the Netherlands made anything worthwhile for the MSX in Europe. Probably because Phillips had their own MSX computers.
PAL MSX2s are fine for most games. For a system of that age they're unusual in that they can be switched between 50 and 60Hz modes. Japanese MSX2 cart games will almost always switch to 60Hz on their own, and the system can be switched to 60Hz through basic instructions for disk games. I don't have any to test, but MSX1 games might be more problematic as I don't think MSX1 machines were designed to be able to switch modes. I'd like to collect more for my MSX but the price of a lot of the good games is rather prohibitive.
The video chip in the MSX1 machines are dedicated for PAL our NTSC output, indeed. And the MSX2 one can be configured for PAL/NTSC. The CPU runs at the same frequency, all you notice in practice is that the interrupt frequency changes between 50 and 60 Hz. On MSX, PAL/NTSC isn't a big thing at all, especially if you use RGB output.
More MSX 1 and 2.. I don't own a MSX but I have it emulated on the Wii.. I noticed Rastan is almost identical to the Master System version, but I find the music annoying on the MSX2 when changing screens, the music is good though.. I like the original version of Metal Gear on MSX, The NES version was/is pure crap. I would like to know if there were many exclusive games in Europe..
It's a shame about the slowdown on the MSX Rastan music. Quite an odd issue that. There were some exclusive Euro releases with the best all being Dutch. Most likely because Philips also released a few MSX machines. The Spanish also were big on the MSX but sadly most games were ZX Spectrum ports and some of those were awful ports. Sometimes with no sound and running at half the speed.
Actually, Hinotori is much more based on the Konami vertical shooter for MSX 1 called Knightmare. Here ruclips.net/video/SJM6mxXgW50/видео.html here a remake for PC ruclips.net/video/66rh4e7mo-M/видео.html
Definitely amazing video, & computer! Not as cool as the Amiga though. Fun fact: I'm making a SMW rom hack called "Insert Text Here: the game". I'll be doing the soundtrack first before I start actual work on the hack. Also, I have a playlist based off the mysterious unlicensed 3DS multicart called "Crazeplay 70 in 1". No footage nor screenshots exist for the games nor any scans of the multicart itself. I do know what games it has. Why not check it out, you may find something cool. I also have a playlist full of videos I made for the soundtrack of I.T.H the game. If you have time, you can check that out as well. The Atari 2600 200 in 1 is still on my channel though finished! Man do I have a lot of interesting stuff on my channel.
Are you brazilian? The only people I ever see making relations between MSX and Amiga are the brazilians, probably because Brazil was the only country where both systems were popular and there was one big magazine that covered both systems at the same time, which actually caused a Feud between users of both systems (Which hilariously enough, still carries on to this day) (Though I am kinda surprised to see a lot of support coming from Spain to Amiga, and I know the MSX was popular there too :D )
Quarth is interesting. I designed the inverse of this game in my head recently (just for fun). My idea is falling blocks that stack at the bottom of the screen like a Tetris game and you have to blast the blocks into shape to make them fit and clear rows (then drop any connected blocks with the secondary tractor beam attack). The only problem with the design is blocks cannot be moved to the side but I think my idea is sound. Anyone who reads this and wants to make it feel free to use my idea. :) As regards the MSX2, I don't like it. Bill Gates makes everything boring and somehow managed to make microcomputers boring too. There's just nothing distinctive about the MSX. I prefer the Amstrad and Spectrum with their awful games that just seem to have a bit more personality to them. The sms version of Psycho World (Psychic World) does look better to me and it is a unique platform game even if all you have to do is make yourself invincible over and over again because that ability is practically free. One of my faves on the sms.
@@jaydy71 well I'm not sure why I was being so down on the msx 4 years ago. It's sort of dull I suppose. As much as a loose recommendation of hardware for compatibility across products can be either dull or exciting. Maybe the MSX is actually exciting. Because you can compose music on a Yamaha msx in like 1986 with an OP2FM synthesizer and composition software. Things like that.
@@iwanttocomplain well it's personal I guess. I personally have good memories about the msx because I happened to have one at the time, so of course I thought it was exciting. Lots of great games coming from Japan, lots of expansion options wrt sound etc. I even had a sound expansion that was built in that Yamaha machine to make music. But anyway, happy holidays!
The Aleste series and Space Manbow have a 16-bit look to them and they scroll smoothly. It's kind of weird how some games scroll smoothly while other ones have choppy scrolling. I would guess that the ones that scroll smoothly are the later games. I wonder how they pulled that off? The only way I have ever played MSX games is using BlueMSX. Great emulator! Did you know that there is a Manbow 2? Not sure if it is a homebrew or an unreleased title.
Manbow 2 is homebrew and not even close of being as good as Space Manbow. Space Manbow on this video is running on an MSX2+ (emulated I guess). On MSX 2 you can see the tiles "dissapearing" on the side of the screen. On TVs this would happen on the overscan area so its not to bad, but on Monitors it's a really weird effect. Hydefos is another MSX 2 game that has horizontal smooth scrolling. Sonyc has multi-directional smooth scrolling on an MSX 2. It could be achieved, it just wasn't easy to do it :)
No, this video is running everything on that Panasonic FS-A1 you see me holding. I do not use emulation at all when doing a special on a system. Only really hardware. The video was RGB via a Framemeister to the capture card.
As much as I enjoyed the NES release of Metal Gear at the time of its release, it is a bit butchered. The stealth seems broken at times, so it’s more like Zelda with guns. Snakes Revenge is even worse, but had great music.
The Retro Core videos don't come with time stamps I'm afraid. These videos take weeks to put together so I tend not yo bother with time stamps. Xevious Fardraut and Undeadine are not featured in this video. It's impossible to feature all games I'm afraid. There's going to be a few missing from everyone's personal best list sadly.
Technically we could also include the Dreamcast du to the inclusion of Windows CE. There was also the crappy Microsoft TV. More of a media PC that was though.
I never have MSX2, and my question probably look silly, but I ask anyway, what happen with MSX1 ? Are there actually no MSX1 ? Or MSX1 is office version of MSX2 ? Sorry for my silly question, because I never have or see it despite I play it in my emulator.
Ah, yes there is an MSX 1 which is just called the MSX. An MSX 2 is fully compatable with te MSX 1 so all games from the first MSX will run on the MSX2. MSX2 games will not run on the MSX1 however.
Not in Japan :) they were cleaver enough to understand more than on button was needed for gaming. Apart from the very early machines they all came with pads over here. Of course there were also joysticks.
Quickshot I that came with my MSX, had separate "A" and "B" buttons. But I don't remember what was the case with my second joystick (Quickshot II Turbo), it had 2 buttons, but it's possible they both just had the "A" function. Now I probably would rewire a TAC-2 to support "A" and "B" button.
I live in Luxembourg, Europe and a friend had an MSX in the 80s and was the first computer I'd ever seen and played on. However, over here it was called "Hit Bit" and distributed by Sony. You've sown some nice games, but how could you skip such gems as "Goonies", "Knightmare", and "Maze of Galious"? Shame! SHAAAAME!!!!!!
Hit bit was one of the many models :) The Goonies, Knightmare and Maze of Galious are MSX 1 games, here he was focusing on MSX 2 games. But yeah, all amazing games, even though I have issues with Maze of Galious :)
All Sony made MSX computers use "Hit Bit" branding, all over the world. It's just a name Sony added to their MSX machines, following the MSX standard. Nothing more, nothing less.
Msx2 was incredible. I still have my MSX2 that i purchased when i lived in Japan. It still works !! Every compile shooter is legendary regardless of the platform it is on.
I’m jealous. I hope M2 releases all of those and gives us a MSX2 Aleste 3 lol
Do you have to play with the keyboard or is there a controller?
@@cd4playa1245 Both
I originally discovered this system from listening to some Ys and Snatcher soundtracks and always found it fascinating how the MSX (and X6800) were such a success in a nation that's known for mostly gaming on consoles.
Refreshing to see a Metal Gear that's not overly long(to me). A few hours total is more my style. MSX is an interesting platform. Very enjoyable video.
I think Space Manbow is really supposed to be Space Mambo since the ship resembles a mambo fish, or sharptail mola.
You know, that just might be true.
Made a Let's play video of Treasure of Usas when Let's playing was a new thing.
It was a good game. Many frustrating recording sessions though since a lot of recoding softwares were unreliable at best and had a tendency to crash and burn if you exceeded recording limit they were capable of which was anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes depending on their mood in that session.
MSX computer is extremely popular in South Korea, it's like NES in North America. they have their native product named "Zemmix", which is basically a consolized MSX 2, and even translated games and original titles which is cool. Nearly every 70's or 80's Korean gamer knows what Zemmix is I'm pretty sure. seems like they also port many MSX games to the master system, awkward though, but it's the way Zemina did.
That's right, Tempest Ararat. Zemmix had many odd looking MSX consoles. I don't think they ever moved on from the MSX 1 though.
true. and I'm surprised Zemmix's manufacturer Daewoo was a huuuge international company lol.
Korea back then was like China. Anything was fine when it came to ripping off IPs. Samsung were even making a so called original scrolling brawler for the Mega Drive although it's obviously a game using Bare Knuckle 2 / sor 2 assets.
Funnily, the game was never released. I wonder why.
totally right. and for the arcade, they're similar too. I remember Korean game companies produced and imported many arcade machines during 2000-2003, tho the hardware is inferior to the time, still impressive. Taiwanese company IGS did the same job, but they have a better hardware. Asian gaming history is interesting, unique and kinda mysterious.
@@RetroCore 재믹스 슈퍼v가 msx2방식입니다
키보드를 써야하는 게임은 할수가 없었죠
Oh I am so on this one! And its 35 succulent minutes of absolute glory!
Hope you enjoy the show!
Stadium ARTs IKR!!!!!!
HD would be nice but if you can use RGB then that is the best option to be honest.
Superb video, as im on holiday in Osaka and Tokyo this week I might have to try and pick up an MSX2
Good luck man. Most are way overpriced. See if you can get a tidy MSX2 for around 10,000 yen with its PSU.
Retro Core Best price I could find for the same model you use in this video was 16800 yen ouch!
I think the controllers are probably my favorite part of the MSX2 next to the games, so many home computers seemed to actively hold back console style control but the MSX instead embraced it.
Decent base hardware which seemed to share and trade with Famicom in a lot of instances for software, sprite performance and flicker seem about on par with the NES. The sound quality is different than NES but I like it. :)
Heh different strokes, there are actually people that don't play action games because they want stealth exclusively, I quite enjoy hybrids like Deus Ex. I can see how Space Manbow is considered great, beautiful fun game it is.
Yeah, I'm so glad the MSX has console style controllers. It also helps when making games as there are two individual fire buttons rather than the obviously nit enough 1 button that western home computers stuck with all the way through from the Commodore 16 to Amiga and ST.
Nice to see the MSX get some more love! I'm surprised you didn't note anything about MSX-music, though -- the system you're using doesn't support it (unless you have an FM-PAC or similar expansion cartridge in the second slot, anyway), but quite a few of the games you played DO support it (Aleste, Psycho World, etc.) and sound a LOT better with it. It's like the FM expansion on the Sega Master System -- it makes a tremendous difference, and its absence *may* be the reason you were unable to get Aleste 2 running (as I know Aleste 2 has an FM soundtrack, but it's possible it may not have a PSG soundtrack for players with incompatible systems like Aleste 1 does).
Also, in the final montage, you have one game listed as "21 Seiki Man," which would translate to "21st Century Man"... but that's not actually the game's title! That game is "Seikima II," based on the popular jpop band Seikima II (who are kind of like the Japanese version of KISS).
Just figured I'd let you know!
Great video! I'm from Argentina and when I was in elementary school, we learned some "computing" in MSX Talent computers. Sadly, all we did was some Logos, and some sort of history quiz laberynth game. I remenber that game being monochrome and had some non translated leftover text in portuguese. Also, I remember there where some ¿external? 5 1/4 diskdrives laying around. I think the teacher's msx had one attached and she saved our class progress on a disk... May be all the msx's in the classroom where networked or something. Never knew how cool this computer could be untill I was in my mid twenties, thanks to the magics of the internet.
Hi Alexis and thanks for watching. The MSX is indeed a very underrated machine. It was quite versatile for its time. Cool to hear you used them in school. When I was in school (30 years ago) we used BBC micro computers.
Here in Brazil, there were the Hotbit from Epcon and Expert, from Sharp.
The Expert had a 3 1/2 disk drive. But I had a Hotbit, so there were some companies that made 5 1/4 floppy disk drives for it. You connected on the MSX through a cartdridge.
I also had a Megaram. It was a big cartdridge with 512kb memory extension to run bigger games. (but the biggest were 256kb on the MSX1, so the 512kb I had was a waste of money).
The downside of not having the original cartridges for these games (they were not even sold on Brazil. I think Epcom and Sharp never produced anything other than 16 or 32kb games, and I think they didn´t even pay royalties... Brazil had a computer market reserve at the time) was that you were stuck with the original sound, with only 3 channels...
Logo was cool man. Me and a friend made a game on it, with a gello main character... I think it had two levels. We did it for the computer fair in our school.
Amazing, thanks Mark! I love the MSX2. I don't own it but I emulate it, haha. Glad you covered this system. Great video!
No worries. It's a great platform that more people should know about.
This is very intersting. I have seen the MSX2 on one of the Japanese Ebay stores I use. I had never seen one in action until now. It looks really cool.
The MSX is quite an interesting system.
Brazil here! Thanks to prepare this content! Please continue with this quality.
Best.
Thank you, Manoel Marques.
The graphic in these games is astonishing and beautiful, especially compared to my ZX Spectrum :)
Damn, I am at work now, when I am finished here I'll rush home to watch this :)
Hope you enjoy the show.
It's something I never experienced before it was mysterious here in America
That's right. Quite odd when Microsoft were involved with the system.
Sonic Thrillington It was so obscure that most think it doesn't exist.
It was basically my childhood here in Brazil in the 80s.
I had HUNDREDS of games on floppy disks.
great games but what surprises me is that although MSX2 is somewhat discontinued in graphic power against consoles such as MarkIII and Famicom, has games that are unthinkable in these same consoles; for example the games of Graphic Adventures that abound here a lot and in the consoles are very rare. about this I am surprised that MSX2 has more cinematic than 16-bit consoles.
Yeah, I agree. The MSX2 has games which consoles of the time just couldn't handle. Even games that were on both the MSX2 and consoles were mostly better on the MSX2 with Contra being the massive exception.
Oh wow! The MSX2.
A spectacular unit that I always wanted to have in my collection Mark. Really glad that you had the chance to show us this unique piece. I've been in the market for one for quite some time. After seeing this, I'm now looking for one as of now. 8^)
Well done as always Mark. Thank you for sharing this with us. 8^)
Anthony..
Thanks for watching, Anthony. Yeah, the MSX2 is a lovely 8bit computer with so many great games. As with most old stuff now the prices can be quite high.
MSX lovely, i have the Phillips one shown at 2:14 the exact same model along with the sdd+ amazing machine .
That's a pretty nice MSX model. Some are really ugly but that one isn't.
It is a good machine and looks the part, you should check out the homebrew version of bomb jack done by Kralizec thats how you do an arcade port. The magic tree is also an excellent game. the only problem with the phillips machines was the front facia is always prone to cracks mine is no exception to this although the are only minor.The only problem with MSX is the cartridge prices they are expensive as hell im after a Konami cart with the extra sound chips.
I've seen the home brew of Bomb Jack,, thats very well done.
You should had also mentioned those MSX games that when plugged into an MSX2, had some extra features, like Nemesis 3/Gofer no Yabô Episode 2.
BTW, get an FM-PAC ASAP. It was funny, interesting and (moslty) awful, hearing the Aleste soundtrack in PSG.
One more thing is manbou not manbau. The kana spelling in the box shows it: スペース マンボウ
Yep, a FM pack is on the wants list. Just need to find one at a reasonable price.
I enjoy Dragon Slayer 4 for the MSX2. It was developed at the same time for the Famicom, the latter releasing 1 week after the MSX2. In 1989, it was released in North America for the NES as Legacy of the Wizard. MSX1 received some love by eventually receiving a port.
I never knew Dragon Slayer got a US release on the NES.
What a lame name though, dragon Slayer sound way more cool that Legacy of the wizard.
I was under the impression the MSX line only supported one button on their controllers. Apparently not, makes me wish we had more than one button on our old 8 bit computers back in the day, wasn't till i got an IBM compatible till I could use more than one. Excellent Video as always!
There is a very small selection of western 8bit computer games that use more than 1 button but yeah, not many at all. It really is dumb that they never did introduce another button as 1 was clearly not enough for over half of the games released.
I think most later Konami games make heavy use of the 2 buttons. Note: not related to MSX2 though, it's just part of the MSX standard since the start.
Some suggestions of other good MSX2 games that you skipped (I know the video couldn't be 1 hour long, but other people could use those suggestions :D)
Ashguine was a series with 3 games on MSX 2, not all of them are good, but I think it's wothy mentioning them.
All those games are pretty good MSX 2 games: Undeadline, Famicle Parodic 1 and 2, Quinpl, Valis 2, Fray, the YS games, the XAK games, Firehawk: Thexder 2, Herzog, Feedback, Greatest Driver, Super Runner, Bubble Bobble, Arkanoid 2, Blade Lords, SD Snatcher, Puyo Puyo, Columns, Eggerland 2, Kyokugen, Pleasure Hearts, Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, Golvellius (It was an original MSX 1 game but Compile later made an *amazing* MSX 2 version that puts even the SMS version to shame )
I would also add Laydock 2 and F1 Spirit 3D Special, but those are MSX2+ exclusives, they wont run on an MSX 2.
Some good recommendations there. I'm actually quite a fan of Golvellius.
MSX2 the NES of computers!
As a big fan of Konami (old Konami not today´s shitty pachinko gym Konami) this episode was pure joy! Thanks a million!
Yep, Konami of pre 2000 were a fantastic company. Now they're nothing more than a shadow of their former self when it comes to games.
Higemaru Makaijima on is actually a Famicom port of the sequel of the original Higemaru, and it was gonna come out in the States as Makai Island, but got cancelled
The only close sequel we got after that was Shinji Mikami's Goof Troop game on SNES
I never liked Good Troop 😶 maybe because I wished it was more like Capcom's Mickey Mouse games.
Retro Core give it another go, just without thinking about the Mickey games. You could mabye play it with your kid since it's a nice pick up and play title for 2 players
Hello mark for Some games for cartridge systems have been sold with extra audio hardware on board, the konami SCC Soundchip used in certain arcade boards and game carts for the MSX. Unlike with pitfall 2 for the Atari 2600 and several late Famicom titles This chips add to the existing MSX sound capabilities.
That's right. The SCC really added a lot to games. Some FC games also by Konami had extra sound chips included.
Unlike SCC extra audio hardware on board late famicom titles from the 80's and 90's using MMC will adds additional audio to stock famicom soundchip the 2A03 such as VRC-6, YM-2413 on VRC-7, Namco N163 wavetable synthesis, and sunsoft FME-7
I still own a Philiphs VG 8235 and a Sony HBF-700F
Many people say the Amiga was the first to have MIDI capabilities but MSX's Music Module and it's keyboard was first (I still have them)
The Atari ST had midi before the Amiga, didn't it?
@@RetroCore I guess 1040 ST
Hinotori was a Manga released in the 50s in Japan, the Game was based on a Animated Feature based on the game released on the 80s. That's why both MSX and NES got games titled Hinotori even though they are completely different games :D The MSX game is awesome and IMO it has the best MSX PSG soundtrack coming from Japan. (.... the best MSX soundtracks are from European games IMO, not japanese ones. But Hinotori soundtrack is awesome :D)
Indeed. I know Hi no Tori quite well. I'm not really a massive fan of it but have read through one or two mangas in the past.
Great overview, but still many great games missing that started out on the MSX, e.g. Snatcher or the Hydlide series (not sure if it was on MSX or on PC-8801).. MSX was also quite popular in Spain, so that many Spanish games were produced for the system, most will have never heard of (or only from the C64/Speccy release).
Most spanish games unfortunately were just piss-poor spectrum ports, many of them even badly ported running a lot slower than the Spectrum originals (Though the bigger guys, Dinamic, Topo and Opera, actually tried to optmize code a little bit on the MSX or even add a few exclusive features, though most of time they were 100% identical ports, not using the superior MSX features - Opera even made a few MSX 2 games and made some good MSX 1 ports using its hardware properly like The Last Mission and Goody, and Topo Soft actually made a couple of exclusive MSX games)
Excellent episode as always Mark 👍 top stuff 😃
wrena79 Retro Core would've said thanks to you. I like it too. Sadly, the MSX2 ain't as awesome as the holy powerful Amiga!!!!!
Hehe, obviously. The Amiga was a much more powerful machine that cost much more. Its kind of like saying the Amiga ain't as awesome as the holy powerful Sharp X68000!!!!! 😁
Retro Core No, that ain't a thing compared to the Amiga CD32.
14:32 You get the _what_ key?
With interactice movie is a video game that presents its gameplay in a cinematic, scripted manner, often through the use of full-motion video of either animated or live-action footage. The first arcade laserdisc video game was Sega's Astron Belt, an early third-person space combat rail shooter featuring live-action full-motion video footage (largely borrowed from a Japanese science fiction film) over which the player/enemy ships and laser fire are superimposed. Many of laserdisc video game on arcade from the 80s ported to MSX Platform either the Laserdisc or the VHD videodisc format.
I think we never saw the MSX line of computers in the US, because there were already way too many competing architectures on the market at the time. The C64 would have probably eaten it's lunch, if it had. That was THE computer to own in the early to mid-80s after it replaced the Vic-20. I mean you had the Apple II in schools here, but in the home, Commodore was king...right until they shat the bed at least. Though I don't have to tell you how awesome the C64 is, you grew up in a region where it was even more popular than it was here.
Yep when I was a kid those with computers either had a speccy or a C64 while few had an Amstrad CPC. In France though the CPC was very popular.
A friend of mine's dad in tokyo has an msx2 he used to play on. he still plays video games today, but mostly point and click games.
Oh and candy crush
Ah, candy crush isn't a game 😅
saw this in my feed this morning and I knew it would be best to wait until after work and enjoy it with a nice bit of whiskey to sip to really do it justice - cheers! Excellent job as usual on this episode, Konami had alot of love for the msx :D
Hehe, I check all the videos I make before uploading them mostly while under the influence of alcohol too 😁
Konami sure did like the MSX. They must account for almost a quarter of the games on the platform.
Love your channel. Great video mate.
Thanks David. Fingers crossed I can get the Neo Geo episode out much quicker than this episode took.
Retro Core Looking forward to your Neo Geo ep.
MSX was big in Brazil, and, was a good effort by Microsoft. The times they worked hard for something, before they became the lazy monopolistic company, laid on its market power and churning out buggy version after buggy version of windows. Perhaps, ASCII was the culprit for MSX being a very cool and decent computer standard.
It was where I first did serious programming in a computer system, with Gen 80(assembly Z80) and Borland Turbo Pascal 3.
Oh, well, you missed some good games: Tetris, Columns, Snatcher. But, could do a follow up video.
Fantastic video as always! But msx2 has too many good games to put in only one 35 min video, so I hope to see in the future the part 2! 😎
You may just see that. I'd also like to include the MSX VHD games too if I make a follow up.
Try getting your hands on an FM-PAC module which will drastically improve the audio quality for games such as Aleste and Psycho World.
I'd love one of those. They're kind of rare these days and cost more than I'd like to spend. One day I'll hopefully get one.
Check out the FM-PAQ. It was quite easily available the last couple of years. And definitely not too expensive: 40 euros. Alas, it's out of stock at the moment at the producer.
They are actually pretty cheap these days if you know where to look. They are still in production actually. You can get it and other awesome expansion carts at the 8bits4ever website. I recently got a Carnivore2 in the mail and can't wait to use it!
The Carnivore 2 looks great! Apparently it loads games from a memory card, has FM-PAC and SCC sound plus some other extras. I already own an FM-PAC and a MegaFlashRom, but if you don't have any of these, this looks like a pretty essential piece of kit.
Sebastian Lambinon - Oh yes, that's why I got one as it has pretty much all the essential expansions all in one single unit which is great. It is probably the only expansion cart you'll ever need, and won't ever have to use floppy disks ever again. If I had to point out any negative it would be that it uses Compact Flash cards vs something more common like SD or MicroSD, but that's a very minor quibble and not worth fretting over. CF syncs up with IDE perfectly anyway so its very easy to use
Hey Mark I was reviewing this great vídeo once more and I beg to you, please make a part 2
Ah, sadly I can't do that. My MSX2 has gone to a new home.
Thanks a bunch for making this vid! Am from the good ole U.S. and just recently picked up a Panasonic FS-A1 myself in addition to a Carnivore2 cart and am looking forward to trying them out. Your vid actually made me realize that a Genesis or SMS pad won't work with it which is a darn shame. Sounds like it's just two pins on the controller port that are different, so it probably wouldn't be too hard to modify a Genesis or SMS pad to work with it. May try to mod one soon to use with it.
What I REALLY wish is that it were possible to get SMS games running on the machine since the hardware is similar. That would be amazing! I wonder if it's possible with an expansion cart of some kind...
Actually, you can sort of use a Master System controler on the MSX but from memory the controls are messed up. Pushing down would activate a button press for example. Also not all directions would be available.
You'll really like your FS-A1 when you get it. It's trully a nice machine. So much so that I kept it over the Sony HitBit MSX2 I had.
Retro Core - Yeah, it would need rewired to fix the pinouts from my understanding. Shouldnt be too hard to do, although in the meantime I just ordered an official Panasonic MSX2 controller to go with it. Can't wait to find time to use it, am excited :)
Would really love to see more video's made about the MSX2, namely stuff about how the hardware works and how to boot software and such and about all of the different expansion carts and such that are out there floating around.
That is possible with the Franky or Playsoniq expansion cartridge. Both contain the SMS video display processor... (and a lot of other stuff).
Right, I am actually familiar with those, but to me those feel kind of like cheating as they basically contain almost all of the main chips from a Master System, and it requires its own power and video out if i'm not mistaken. At that point it almost feels like the MSX2 itself is doing nothing. I would much prefer a bare minimum way of doing it, a way where everything would be going through the MSX2 itself. Perhaps that just isn't possible due to the hardware design, I dunno.
skins4thewin well, the SMS videochip is like the MSX1 VDP, but it has an extra mode with smooth scrolling and palettes. That mode is not compatible with the MSX2 video modes, so you need to put that videochip in the MSX to run SMS games. And that's what Franky does. The program actually still runs on the MSX CPU.
The national/panasonic MSX computer has built in software but you can go back to MSX basic by toggle it to turn it off
Is there an optional soundchip the Y8950 MSX-Audio and YM2413 MSX-Music/FM PAC which is also built in to MSX2+ and Turbo R system
Yes.
I was always surprised that King's Valley 2 never got a Game Boy port. Konami really seemed to treat the Game Boy like a portable MSX, IMO.
They sure did. I guess it may have been on the cards at one point.
I own a joystick that is compatible with MSX (Quick Shot) it has a switch on the bottom for Commodore, Atari, Amstrad, Sega and MSX :) its the joystick I mainly use for my C64.
Maybe you can use the two individual buttons under MSX mode on C64 games that are two button compatable?
Never tried it.. If it works on the Master System then the two individual buttons should work separately, A & B.. When using on C64 switched to Commodore mode both triggers/buttons do the same thing.. I try it soon.
Ah, the MSX2, I'm a bit disappointed by the omission of Metal Gear 2, it's entirely different from the better known NES game and improves open the first game. Nice episode either way though.
The fact you're lacking the FM cartridge not only makes everything (bar the Konami SCC games) sound worse, but also misses the point of what makes the MSX such an interesting platform. Pluggable modules and mixing cartridges to get extra features was really commonplace and has never been repeated, I can't think of another system that mixed hardware and software in such a freeform way, and it makes all the classic European 8-bits look like toys.
I recently replayed Metal Gear on my MSX after oh so many years without touching it.
1) I remembered the bosses being freaking hard. They are not, they are *VERY* easy. What 20+ years of gaming experience won't give us, uh?
2) You can skip the tank battle (but I won't tell you how :D)
3) One particular puzzle is EXTREMELY obscure and, honestly, I don't think you can ever figure it out without a shitload of trial and error (which was how I figured it out when I first played it)
4) Replaying the game recently I noticed you can basically speed through nearly the whole game ignoring soldiers most of the time. Back at the time the stealth mechanics were incredibly, nowadays they feel so poorly implemented, it's very easy to just not give a crap to the enemy soldiers and just let them see you, run through them and let the alarm turn off on the next screen (the !! alarms are harder though :D )
Yep, Metal Gear these days is quite an easy game. Especially the stealth sections compared to modern games. I think the game takes new players a while to complete is mostly down to back tracking and wondering where the hell they should be going rather than actual gameplay.
14:47 this game does have SCC on MSX games on cartridges made by konami
I mini console compilation featuring these would be neat :D
There is the Konami MSX 1 collection for the Saturn however that was only released in Japan.
From what little Ive seen from this computer, it has very NES like graphics.
The MSX original is but the MSX2 is way beyond the NES in every area.
@@RetroCore Yeah I did a little bit more looking into it yesterday.......I underestand the hardware is similar to the sega SG1000 .......also as youll know early models had issues with scrolling Downloaded an emulator, quite likeable in its own way.
Need help to run Aleste 2? You really should try it, the game is freaking awesome. You are probably having trouble swapping disks.
I've heard this thing about the Master System Aleste game being the original one before, but I find really weird how the Master System has the "Reprogrammed Game" notice Sega usually put in ports, while the MSX one has no mention of an "original" game. I still think the MSX was the original one (even more considering at that point the MSX still was the main system Compile developed for)
Yeah, Aleste 2 is great. I've played it many time. I was using a real MSX2 for the games in this video but my copy of Aleste 2 wouldn't work. It has done in the past. Nit sure what it wrong with it.
Why didn't you make some fresh Aleste 2 disks? :)
Best MSX2 Video!!
Thanks, Rick Deckard
Akumajo Dracula was released as Vampire Killer on the West. Castlevania was a name never used on MSX. I was really wondering if you were going to completely skip it, I would find really weird :D
Hehe, I left it until the very end just to see if anyone would comment without actually watching the entire video 😁.
well made games!
Another fantastic and very informative video, Mark Smith. I'm actually heading over to Japan starting Friday of next week at the time of this message. If I may ask, since I'll be checking Japan's game stores, how much does a used MSX2 go nowadays, used and/or refurbished?
Hmm a basic MSX 2 can be had for about 5000 yen unboxed but you may need to buy the cables and PSU separately.
Retro Core = That’s actually a nice deal. I look forward to seeing the stores. I’ll be in Japan for 12 days starting next Friday, so hopefully I get to meet you in person as well.
Quality video!
What's the Maison Ikkoku game like?
Sadly it's a crappy dull graphic adventure. I love Masion Ikkoku but sadly all the games are by Micronet and we all know they are not a good developer. They also developed the Bubblegum Crash game :(
I wonder if Joe from Game Sack knows how much you love his show
I doubt he even knows the existence of my show 😢. My life in Gaming know it though or at least Kory does.
Fact: European MSX2 computers are slower, 50FPS that is.
Japanese MSX2 computers play at 60FPS.
MSX computers can run at both 50 and 60Hz. If you start a Japanese game in a European MSX, it would typically switch to 60Hz.
European machines just default to 50hz because of PAL and games for the European market would run at 50hz. While this often meant that such games ran a bit slower, they also often had less slowdown because all MSX machines were exactly as fast in terms of CPU speed etc
The MSX2 is for me one of the most interesting machines. It's actually the only non Atari system I'd like to own. It's a bit of a shame that you treat computers as consoles. I'd be very interested in what was available for it, application wise etc as well as new stuff that come out from the community.
To be honest I have no interest in old computers as a tool but I do enjoy the games they have. I know many love using old computer applications but for my I'm happy with my PC for stuff like that.
A shame you didn't review any of the madou monogatari games or puyo puyo my favorites on the msx2
Can't say I've ever played any of them on the MSX but I did enjoy the Sega Saturn outing.
The MSX is a system Im not that familiar with sadly, as I mainly know if for Metal Gear (especially Metal Gear 2, which is brilliant) and Snatcher. To me it seems like it did for Japan what the C64 did in the west, mainly allow alot of developers to have their big break , without having to be tied down by Nintendo or Sega's practices. I think Final Fantasy got an MSX port too.
The reason Metal Gear has the stealth mechanic was because of technical limitations, Kojima wanted a game that ran well , and thus the stealth aspect is there to make sure there aren't alot of sprites onscreen.
Id have to imagine that PAL MSX systems would be somewhat limited , given a smaller library and 50hz speed.
Yeah, the MSX basically was like Japans C64 or speccy.
So many great game developers started life there.
In Europe the MSX mostly got crappy ZX Spectrum ports which was a great shame. I beleive only really the Netherlands made anything worthwhile for the MSX in Europe. Probably because Phillips had their own MSX computers.
PAL MSX2s are fine for most games. For a system of that age they're unusual in that they can be switched between 50 and 60Hz modes. Japanese MSX2 cart games will almost always switch to 60Hz on their own, and the system can be switched to 60Hz through basic instructions for disk games. I don't have any to test, but MSX1 games might be more problematic as I don't think MSX1 machines were designed to be able to switch modes.
I'd like to collect more for my MSX but the price of a lot of the good games is rather prohibitive.
The video chip in the MSX1 machines are dedicated for PAL our NTSC output, indeed. And the MSX2 one can be configured for PAL/NTSC. The CPU runs at the same frequency, all you notice in practice is that the interrupt frequency changes between 50 and 60 Hz. On MSX, PAL/NTSC isn't a big thing at all, especially if you use RGB output.
More MSX 1 and 2.. I don't own a MSX but I have it emulated on the Wii.. I noticed Rastan is almost identical to the Master System version, but I find the music annoying on the MSX2 when changing screens, the music is good though.. I like the original version of Metal Gear on MSX, The NES version was/is pure crap. I would like to know if there were many exclusive games in Europe..
It's a shame about the slowdown on the MSX Rastan music. Quite an odd issue that.
There were some exclusive Euro releases with the best all being Dutch. Most likely because Philips also released a few MSX machines.
The Spanish also were big on the MSX but sadly most games were ZX Spectrum ports and some of those were awful ports. Sometimes with no sound and running at half the speed.
This game, Goemon... Could it be the nes hack Little Red Hood was based off? XDD
This version of Goemon is also on the FC but more basic. The awful Little Red Hood does resemble it though.
Wait a second...Hinotori reminds me of the vertical scrolling sections and boss fights of Golvellius. Any relation between the two games?
None but they are similar.
It's interesting to think what would have happened had MSX been released in the US before the NES.
Hmm, I guess it would have flopped since the C64 was riding high at that point.
Actually, Hinotori is much more based on the Konami vertical shooter for MSX 1 called Knightmare.
Here
ruclips.net/video/SJM6mxXgW50/видео.html
here a remake for PC
ruclips.net/video/66rh4e7mo-M/видео.html
It sorta look like nes graphic and sound ...
Definitely amazing video, & computer! Not as cool as the Amiga though. Fun fact: I'm making a SMW rom hack called "Insert Text Here: the game". I'll be doing the soundtrack first before I start actual work on the hack. Also, I have a playlist based off the mysterious unlicensed 3DS multicart called "Crazeplay 70 in 1". No footage nor screenshots exist for the games nor any scans of the multicart itself. I do know what games it has. Why not check it out, you may find something cool. I also have a playlist full of videos I made for the soundtrack of I.T.H the game. If you have time, you can check that out as well. The Atari 2600 200 in 1 is still on my channel though finished! Man do I have a lot of interesting stuff on my channel.
Are you brazilian? The only people I ever see making relations between MSX and Amiga are the brazilians, probably because Brazil was the only country where both systems were popular and there was one big magazine that covered both systems at the same time, which actually caused a Feud between users of both systems (Which hilariously enough, still carries on to this day)
(Though I am kinda surprised to see a lot of support coming from Spain to Amiga, and I know the MSX was popular there too :D )
Rafael Lima I'm an American, not a Brazilian. Why? Because I know about the Atari 5200, DOOM, Blaster Master 2, & even Warplock on the Atari 2600.
Quarth is interesting. I designed the inverse of this game in my head recently (just for fun). My idea is falling blocks that stack at the bottom of the screen like a Tetris game and you have to blast the blocks into shape to make them fit and clear rows (then drop any connected blocks with the secondary tractor beam attack). The only problem with the design is blocks cannot be moved to the side but I think my idea is sound. Anyone who reads this and wants to make it feel free to use my idea. :)
As regards the MSX2, I don't like it. Bill Gates makes everything boring and somehow managed to make microcomputers boring too. There's just nothing distinctive about the MSX. I prefer the Amstrad and Spectrum with their awful games that just seem to have a bit more personality to them.
The sms version of Psycho World (Psychic World) does look better to me and it is a unique platform game even if all you have to do is make yourself invincible over and over again because that ability is practically free. One of my faves on the sms.
Microsoft actually had little to nothing to do with MSX.
@@jaydy71 well I'm not sure why I was being so down on the msx 4 years ago. It's sort of dull I suppose. As much as a loose recommendation of hardware for compatibility across products can be either dull or exciting. Maybe the MSX is actually exciting. Because you can compose music on a Yamaha msx in like 1986 with an OP2FM synthesizer and composition software. Things like that.
@@iwanttocomplain well it's personal I guess. I personally have good memories about the msx because I happened to have one at the time, so of course I thought it was exciting. Lots of great games coming from Japan, lots of expansion options wrt sound etc. I even had a sound expansion that was built in that Yamaha machine to make music.
But anyway, happy holidays!
The Aleste series and Space Manbow have a 16-bit look to them and they scroll smoothly. It's kind of weird how some games scroll smoothly while other ones have choppy scrolling. I would guess that the ones that scroll smoothly are the later games. I wonder how they pulled that off? The only way I have ever played MSX games is using BlueMSX. Great emulator! Did you know that there is a Manbow 2? Not sure if it is a homebrew or an unreleased title.
Deadly Gaming LV the system could only handle vertical scrolling. Horizontal scrolling was implemented in some games by using hacks.
Manbow 2 is homebrew and not even close of being as good as Space Manbow.
Space Manbow on this video is running on an MSX2+ (emulated I guess). On MSX 2 you can see the tiles "dissapearing" on the side of the screen. On TVs this would happen on the overscan area so its not to bad, but on Monitors it's a really weird effect.
Hydefos is another MSX 2 game that has horizontal smooth scrolling. Sonyc has multi-directional smooth scrolling on an MSX 2. It could be achieved, it just wasn't easy to do it :)
That's good to know. Thanks for sharing that information. :)
That's good to know. Thanks! :)
No, this video is running everything on that Panasonic FS-A1 you see me holding. I do not use emulation at all when doing a special on a system. Only really hardware. The video was RGB via a Framemeister to the capture card.
As much as I enjoyed the NES release of Metal Gear at the time of its release, it is a bit butchered. The stealth seems broken at times, so it’s more like Zelda with guns. Snakes Revenge is even worse, but had great music.
To be honest I've never played the NES games but have read many different articles saying g they're pretty awful compared to the MSX originals.
missing a timestamp list, i’m struggling to find games like Xevious Fardraut and Undeadine in this video
The Retro Core videos don't come with time stamps I'm afraid. These videos take weeks to put together so I tend not yo bother with time stamps. Xevious Fardraut and Undeadine are not featured in this video. It's impossible to feature all games I'm afraid. There's going to be a few missing from everyone's personal best list sadly.
Funny that people thinks the first XBOX was Microsoft's first gaming console...
Technically we could also include the Dreamcast du to the inclusion of Windows CE. There was also the crappy Microsoft TV. More of a media PC that was though.
It was. MSX was not made by Microsoft, it just includes Microsoft Basic (as do most 8bit machines of the era).
In some sense Zanac-Ex 2 even better than Aleste 2
I never have MSX2, and my question probably look silly, but I ask anyway, what happen with MSX1 ? Are there actually no MSX1 ? Or MSX1 is office version of MSX2 ? Sorry for my silly question, because I never have or see it despite I play it in my emulator.
Ah, yes there is an MSX 1 which is just called the MSX. An MSX 2 is fully compatable with te MSX 1 so all games from the first MSX will run on the MSX2. MSX2 games will not run on the MSX1 however.
Playing 80's home computers with a pad instead of a joystick is blasphemy.
Not in Japan :) they were cleaver enough to understand more than on button was needed for gaming. Apart from the very early machines they all came with pads over here. Of course there were also joysticks.
Quickshot I that came with my MSX, had separate "A" and "B" buttons. But I don't remember what was the case with my second joystick (Quickshot II Turbo), it had 2 buttons, but it's possible they both just had the "A" function. Now I probably would rewire a TAC-2 to support "A" and "B" button.
25:55 it’s quite unfair showing Space Manbow and not mentioning their side arcade versions, Thunder Cross 1 and 2
I had no idea Space Manbow was related to Thunder Cross.
The majority of these games look worse than some of the top nes games but then metal gear and Aleste showcase what the msx could do.
I live in Luxembourg, Europe and a friend had an MSX in the 80s and was the first computer I'd ever seen and played on. However, over here it was called "Hit Bit" and distributed by Sony.
You've sown some nice games, but how could you skip such gems as "Goonies", "Knightmare", and "Maze of Galious"? Shame! SHAAAAME!!!!!!
Hit bit was one of the many models :)
The Goonies, Knightmare and Maze of Galious are MSX 1 games, here he was focusing on MSX 2 games.
But yeah, all amazing games, even though I have issues with Maze of Galious :)
Sorry man, I was mostly looking at MSX2 games.
All Sony made MSX computers use "Hit Bit" branding, all over the world. It's just a name Sony added to their MSX machines, following the MSX standard. Nothing more, nothing less.
Knife? Metal gear?
Umm. No