FM Towns Marty [Archive] - Retrogaming Roundtable

COUNT SMRIFNACK

07-01-2008, 01:18 PM

I recently got a FM Towns Marty, mainly just to play Splatterhouse, which I purchased prior to the Marty itself. I am looking for any links to info on the system. Any place that sells games (other than ebay) for it, has repair info on it, anything. Even info directly from you guys is appreciated.

I already had to fix a leaky capacitor that was messing up the audio, and had to go into it with no prior knowledge of the system. So I'm hoping there are some sites out there for this thing. Thanks.

smork

07-01-2008, 07:19 PM

I'm pretty sure there's nothing in english. I don't think any webshops would carry Marty games -- the games are stupidly hard to find, even in Japan.

Auctions are about the only place to get them.

COUNT SMRIFNACK

07-01-2008, 09:15 PM

Oh yeah, I almost forgot.....does anyone know of a source for floppy disk drive replacement belts? As is the norm, mine is busted:grrr:

vintagegamecrazy

07-01-2008, 09:50 PM

This is a great thread, I can't contribute at all but it's a nice change from the regular threads here. I would love to see more posts as I would love to become more familiar with the console.

Kevincal

07-01-2008, 10:08 PM

I was curious about this system recently. There are many good videos on Youtube showcasing some of the games on the system.

blue lander

07-02-2008, 08:35 AM

I'm still looking for a replacement belt for my Towns Marty, although it isn't really a priority since most games don't need the disk drive. Too bad you can't just transplant the drive from an FM Towns to a Towns Marty.

diskoboy

07-02-2008, 03:00 PM

In issue 4 of EGM, they had a full page spread on the FM Towns. I would've given my right arm to have those come to the US.

I would've bought it for R-Type and After Burner, alone.

When I get home from work, I'll scan and post the article.

CosmicMonkey

07-02-2008, 03:27 PM

I was looking into getting a Marty at one point, but decided against it. There really isn't much info available on the system in English, as you've no doubt found out, and games are hard to come by. And all the games you would want are available on other systems and much more easily obtainable.

There was a game list floating around on the interweb at one point, but I can't seem to find it. If you have a search over on ASSEMbler there's some interesting threads there including an FM Towns (computer) - FM Towns Marty compatibility list. However, this also depends on what version of the Marty OS you're running and if you have the RAM expansion. You'll also need a keyboard and mouse for some games. The floppy drive will definitely need fixing as you sometimes need a floppy in the drive to even boot a game, from what I could gather, and it's required for saving. Again, it would help to have a good English language resource for the machine with any info people have all in one place.

There are Marty branded keyboards and mice available. There was also a device that plugged into the rear of the Marty allowing connection of a printer (and other stuff iirc, modem?) so you could turn your Marty back into an FM Twons computer.

It would also appear that there was a huge Dojin (homebrew) scene for the machine in Japan. I'd certainly be interested in seeing what people came up with, but finding this stuff is probably going to be harder than finding 'official' games. Yahoo Japan is your best bet for finding things.

EDIT: Try here (translated) (http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ja&u=http://www.vector.co.jp/vpack/filearea/towns/&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=1&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhttp://www.vector.co.jp/vpack/filearea/towns/index.html%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dsafari%26rls%3Den-us) for some software. There's also an FM Towns game list (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_FM_Towns_games) over on Wikipedia, but I don't know how many of these are Marty compatible.

COUNT SMRIFNACK

07-02-2008, 08:12 PM

diskoboy

07-02-2008, 09:05 PM

http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w232/diskoboy1974/egm4fmtwns.jpg

Here ya go! Since it was MS-DOS backwards compatible, I wonder if Windows 3.1 would've ran on this? LOL

IMO, this system had mucho-potential.

blue lander

07-03-2008, 10:32 AM

The Towns isn't a "Completely compatible" PC clone like the article implies, it's different enough that you can't just pop a DOS game in it and expect it to run. I do think they made a version of Windows for the Towns, though.

Bojay1997

07-04-2008, 11:49 AM

Diskoboy...I look forward to seeing your scans:cheers:

CosmicMonkey....Good info. I wondered what the port in the rear is for. You can tell teh outer shell is made to be broken out for the port inside, I just didn't know what it was for. As for games being available for other systems, this is the closest to the arcade Splatterhouse as you can get on a home console:lovin:

For anyone else interested in info I have found these sites so far.....

games list= http://www.galstown.ne.jp/9/ongaku/jumpjump/fmt.htm

disassembly= http://nfggames.com/forum2/index.php?topic=2130

pics and general info= http://assembler.roarvgm.com/fmtowns/fmtowns.html

Keep it coming guys\\^_^/

The FM Towns Marty is a great system and despite the fact that it only has a few exclusives, the majority of ports are pretty amazing and in my opinion compare very favorably to the X68000 versions which are generally considered to be the best arcade ports around for that generation. I have seen drive belts pop up on Yahoo.JP auctions from time to time and you can bid there using a service like Rinkya or others for really not a crazy amount of commission. Yahoo.JP is also one of the few places you can get lots of games. The best titles are usually pretty highly in demand, so you're probably looking at $75-$100 for some games and as much as $200 or so for the rarest ones. You can find lots of 5-6 games for $75-$100 sometimes, complete and mint. There are some Ebay sellers that have stuff available as well, but they are usually 2-3 times what you would pay just buying through a Yahoo.JP auction. Good luck!

courtesi96

07-04-2008, 02:20 PM

If my memory serves me one of Wizardry games has an English option

DreamTR

07-05-2008, 02:19 PM

Yeah, a lot of the games have English options, but there are compatibility issues with some of the Towns games to Marty games due to need for increased RAM capacity, and the rarer titles are higher than $200 these days on Yahoo when they show up. The Lucasarts games in particular can get pretty high (Indy games) in particular.

AS far as someone fixing the belts, contact Dream Stars Japan on eBay, he can get them fixed and even sells formatted floppies for saving games on your Marty.