MSX system question

[tonyvortex]

ive been looking around at the MSX on ebay and i was wondering if anyone knows why some carts are cassette based and others look like mega drive games?im hoping someone can tell me a little about the system.

[Ed Oscuro]

MSX standard calls for two cart slots, though a few only have one (strictly speaking they ain't MSX for this reason though).

MSXes usually (I imagine it's part of the Japanese spec sheet, actually) have a port to take cassette input. Some cheap, er, practical peoples of countries like England decided they didn't like shelling out tons of cash for games and besides you can always pass around a cassette (would they reuse their tea leaves though? This is the burning question).

It always helps to take a good luck at each auction, but as a very generalized sort of rule, cartridge = Japanese (though make no mistake there's a good number of English carts on eBay) and tape = English, especially stuff put out by local software houses (sorry, drawing a blank as to the most famous one...gosh, what was their name?) Brazil also was a hotspot of activity, and Russia as well (there was at least at one time an MSX on Mir). I can't say I remember seeing a Japanese MSX game on tape.

As for the shape/size of the carts, they're much closer to Famicom carts - in fact they (Konami's at least) are essentially exactly the same size as a Famicom cart, and I've seen at least two Konami games (Dracula and Contra) have a hole in one of the top corners for some reason (probably manufacturing? Can't imagine somebody wearing a necklace of these somehow).

So anyhow, despite my irrational poking fun and whatnot, I'm pretty sure of much of that answer. I'll admit I'm no MSX expert, though; and I do know there were many Japanese computers with tape recorders - all I've seen were pre-MSX (or contemporaries) though.

[anagrama]

would they reuse their tea leaves though? This is the burning question


Well, my ex-girlfriend's dad perfected a technique for getting the maximum number of cups out of a single teabag (usually 3 or 4 before you'd taste a difference). LOL

[Ed Oscuro]

Too bad it's not that way with coffee! Wait, I just drink water! LOL

Thanks for the chuckle. :)

[Keir]

would they reuse their tea leaves though? This is the burning question


Well, my ex-girlfriend's dad perfected a technique for getting the maximum number of cups out of a single teabag (usually 3 or 4 before you'd taste a difference). LOL
LOL My dad only gets 3 cups for every 2 bags. He saves the bag from the first 2 cups and uses them both to make a 3rd cup.