MSX Games recomendation

[Arkhan]

That's too bad. I don't like how big most of the MSXs are, so I was hoping to be able to put a tiny system together.

Well, its a computer... lol.  I guess you could get a cart-only MSX2, gut it and put the board and stuff in a tiny keyboardless case if you want.


The OneChip is dumb.  Total piece of crap.


anyway yeah you hold 1 to disable the R800.  Some games keep that LED on even if the R800 isn't in use.

So, the whole LED thing isn't 100% guaranteed.  It may be off and not in use even if it says its on.


You only have to worry about disabling the R800 if you're messing with cracks or homebrew stuff, which most people do nowadays.

Carts default to Z80 mode, and R800 mode comes on if its an actual Turbo R game, or an MSXDOS2 formatted disk... so some cracked disk images need you to press 1 so you dont boot into R800 mode and f*ck everything up, lol.  (like metal gear 2)

If you start disks manually, it will start in R800 mode, since the R800 comes on by default if you get all the way to the prompt.


btw: theres nothing new in Aleste 2 on Turbo R aside from slowdown.  Youre just playing it on a higher difficulty setting.  Theres a bug that sets the difficulty higher depending what disk you use to fire the game up..

and there's nothing making Turbo R fray better other than digitized voices.  


The whole Turbo-R is the best thing ever concept isn't totally true. An MSX2 really is all you need.  Or a 2+ if you can find it, but you'll be fine without it.

[SuperDeadite]

There's 2 version of Fray.  The blue spine one and the pink spine one.  Pink spine requires the Turbo-R.
Besides the voices, it also allows you to use the fastest speed setting.  The fastest speed setting only
works on a TR.  The manual clearly states this.

[apachacha]

Well, its a computer... lol.  I guess you could get a cart-only MSX2, gut it and put the board and stuff in a tiny keyboardless case if you want.

Well he could go for a Daewoo Zemmix

http://ultimateconsoledatabase.com/golden/daewoo_zemmix.htm

Of course you'd have to get one that stil works and is a later, MSX2 compatible model.

[SuperDeadite]

You still need a keyboard though.  Metal Gear 2 for instance uses the Function keys
for the menu systems.  The one chip uses usb keyboards, but you still need one attached
for most games.  Dragon Knight 1 and 2 won't even boot unless you hold the left shift key
during startup.

[grahf]

Those Daewoos look pretty cool. I bet they're expensive though, I've never seen one.

[Arkhan]

There's 2 version of Fray.  The blue spine one and the pink spine one.  Pink spine requires the Turbo-R.
Besides the voices, it also allows you to use the fastest speed setting.  The fastest speed setting only
works on a TR.  The manual clearly states this.

I know that (I have both).  Thats pointless though, and not worth buying the Turbo R at all.  The Turbo R is really only for collectors, or people who don't know any better and buy into the whole OMG R800 MAKES ALL THE GAMES BETTER, which isn't entirely true.   All it will do if you force a disk game into R800 mode, is prevent slowdown.  There's no code in Aleste to make it add more bullets if its an R800.  Like I said, thats just a bug jacking the difficulty setting up.  You can play that uber bullet difficulty on a lowly MSX2.  I checked, just to make sure I wasn't delusional.

Cartridge games can't even use the R800, so even if you play Manbow on a Turbo R, you aren't getting anything special.  Its a placebo if you think the games playing better all the sudden.  The R800 didn't exist for coders to write for when some of these games came out, so how could they have possibly planned for R800 special modes.

How fast do you really need to play Fray?  The default speed is plenty perfect.  Its as fast as Xak. 

An MSX2+ is the ideal game machine, recommended by nearly all MSX afficionados (including myself).  If you can't find one, an MSX2 retrofitted with the new 2+ video chip, and an FM-PAC will do just as good.   So either get a Japanese 2/2+, or the Philips NMS82 45/50/80 if you're European.

The machines themselves are nice (HBF1-XV: built in MSX-MUSIC, rensha turbo and speed slider, disk drive. V9958..), and when applicable, games use the v9958's horizontal scroll register instead of the other smooth scroll method used on the 9938, which makes it look a bit nicer visually.   On the 9938, you might notice flicker on the ends of the screen as it scrolls.  You'll see tiles on the left that will then show up on the right as you're scrolling right, or vice versa.

However, if the game didn't already scroll smoothly (be it with clever V9938 use, or the V9958's happy hardware improvements), a 2+ or a Turbo R isn't going to automagically put that in for you.  Thats why Gall Force still block scrolls on a Turbo R.

Look up the actual game library for the Turbo R.  Its the Super Grafx of the MSX world.   I like Tir nan og, Seed of Dragon, and Illusion City (<3), but I'm also the type of person who will pay 600$+ to play one frigging game.

The only way you should buy a Turbo R aside from collecting purposes, is if you can locate one for a reasonable (MSX2/2+ comparable) price.

You can nab a boxed 2+ for <100$ though, so I don't see that happening.