X68000, MSX, FM Towns questions...

[Nick Goracke]

Alright... time to "branch out" into other areas as I consolodate the rest of my collection a bit.

1. I know there is an emulator for the MSX, FM Towns... and I assume for the X68000. Can I play the *ORIGINAL* games on an emulator with any of these systems? MSX looks like "cartridges", so I'd assume no, but what about the other 2?

2. For the MSX... it looks like a keyboard with a cart slot at the top from what I've seen - is this all I need?

3. For the FM Towns... If I get the Marty console, is there a hard-and-fast rule as to what I *CAN'T* play on the system? Is it only Marty games, or will other FM Towns stuff work?

Other than that... discuss what you know/like/dislike about these systems. Seems to be pretty difficult to find decent information repositories (even Japanese sites), so I'd like to hear what other collectors/gamers have to say!

[BoOchan]

Hello

I only know really about the MSX. Most of the Stuff on the MSX Either came on Cart or Tape. Some stuff may have came on 3 or 3.5" Floppy, but that is irrelevant. I can confirm it's about 1/2 and 1/2 when it comes to games from what I know. I'm sure you can always get BINs of Tape games obviously.

[kattkatt]

1.
Can I play the *ORIGINAL* games on an emulator with any of these systems?

I only know of my FM Towns Emu and the answer is yes although some games hangs occasionally.

2. Have no idea

3.
3. For the FM Towns... If I get the Marty console, is there a hard-and-fast rule as to what I *CAN'T* play on the system? Is it only Marty games, or will other FM Towns stuff work?


Simple rule is that if the game needs more than 2MB RAM, you cannot play the games on your Marty. There is a expansion port for RAM PCMCIA cards on the Marty but they are impossible to get. I will probably have one soon though after years of hunting. Here is a typical picture of what you can play on your Marty or on your FM towns computer: http://hem.fyristorg.com/sprrr/Fm%20Towns/Fm%20towns%20MB.jpg

2MB = Marty
FM-Towns II = forget it


Other than that... discuss what you know/like/dislike about these systems. Seems to be pretty difficult to find decent information repositories (even Japanese sites), so I'd like to hear what other collectors/gamers have to say!


It's not only the Neo Geo who has perfect Arcade conversions (Yes I know that Neo are Arcade versions) the Marty has some too; Splatterhouse, Truxton II, Afterburner. Not to mention the only 256 color Zak McKracken version ever. The Fm Towns is from a time when we all struggled with floppy crap and the Japanese had CD audio and speech. Amazing.

/CC

[Ed Oscuro]

MSX games on tape? Sure, there were probably a bunch of em, just like on the old NEC PC-6001 or the other old computers of the early 80s...but most MSX games for sale tend to be either floppy (3.5) or cartridge. You can play Konami's strange (though good) ports of Akumajo Dracula and Contra (sans scrolling, due to the lack of a special chip in the Famicom), an port of Snatcher (I say a port because some people say the MSX 2 version is pretty substandard for what it should have been, and it has some bugs compared to the PC-9801 version). I don't know a lot about what's on disk for this one--Undead Line, for sure; a bunch of less known games, and possibly Record of Lodoss war (not sure if that's cart or disk). Basically, you need to find a disk drive to get a complete setup. I've never seen a consumer MSX console with a disk drive built in, so start looking for a complete set.

x68000...no way anybody but a dedicated hardware geek could get a 3.5 floppy to work on your computer. If you could do that, though, it should be simple to use it with an emulator.

FM Towns and Neo Geo weren't the only systems with perfect arcade ports, once again...there's always the x68000 for Capcom, Konami, and even a couple Sega games on there. If you ask me, Daimakaimura and Akumajo Dracula alone more than make up for the lack of a Splatterhouse game, and any of the Twinbee/Gradius (Gradius 2!) games on the x68K make me worry little that I picked a system that can't play the Fujitsu Micro's Raiden. I would like to know more about that system, and I do see you know a good deal about it...but I've gotta plug my system, anyway :)

[kattkatt]

@Ed Oscuro, did ever get that huge X68000 deal you showed pictures of a couple of months ago?

/C