Any way to find Cheap MSX Computers and Games?

[segagamer99]

Hey guys,

 

As I am a collector of SG-1000 and ColecoVision, the MSX highly intrigues me as well. As you can see, I would love to own an MSX, or really, an MSX 2. Unfortunately, eBay prices aren't just bad for MSX games, they are absolutely horrible. For example, the only copy of Aleste is $300! Is there any way I can find MSX(2) consoles and games for cheap prices? Thanks a lot, and happy gaming.

[nanochess]

Not really a secret, but you should write to Sander van Nunen at this email: info {at] supersoniqs [dot} com

 

Last time he offered me very nice prices (a lot better than eBay) and he is very serious.

 

Other worthy website is http://www.retroclasificados.com/ it's from Spain, there are a lot of MSX computers at good prices.

[+5-11under]

The Yamaha CX5M is probably more popular than other MSX machines in North America, so if searching, try that.

[Seob]

Yep, most late msx2 releases can go for real high prices, like metal gear, snatchers. Also some msx1 konami cartridge games can cost serious money. As long as i don't have the original games i use dsk files that i transfer from pc to my msx2. Since the msx2 uses standard 720Kb pc formatted disks it's not very difficult to do.

[segagamer99]

What are the best MSX and MSX 2 games I can get for cheap? Are there any English versions of SD Snatcher and Metal Gear Solid 1 and 2? I know that there was a European version of MS 1. Which MSX machines are U.S.?

[The Usotsuki]

Spectravideo SVI-728 and 738, and I think Yamaha CX5-M?

[Seob]

Guess that most european msx games have screen text in english. Maybe not france and germany, but in the netherlands it was in the late 90's early 2000 before onscreen text was localised.

[jhd]

Spectravideo SVI-728 and 738

 

Were these sold at retail, or just mail order? I remember seeing the advertisements in places like Byte magazine, but I have never actually seen one in person.

 

Yamaha CX5-M

 

I never had any reason to shop there as I am not a musician, but I expect that these were sold in the same stores that handled Yahama keyboards and related hardware.

[Arkhan]

Browse yahoo.jp in search of a cheap Sony, Sanyo, or Panasonic MSX2/2+, and use a proxy bidder like Celga to get the thing over here. I've bought a few MSXes off there over the past few years. Every one of them was ~50-60$. Plus shipping.

 

Models to look for:

 

Sony HB-F1XD, HB-F1XD mk2, XDJ, or XV. XDJ or XV are the best bet. You can also get a Sony HB-F700 or HB-F900, but they weigh alot and are massive.

 

Sanyo Wavy PHC-70FD

 

Panasonic FSA1-WX

 

Ideally, you want a Japanese one, with a floppy drive.

 

That way, you won't have to screw with voltage nonsense, its NTSC so the games are at the proper speed, and they are nicer looking in general.

 

bas-ditta.info sells cables for these computers for use with various monitors... and he sells replacement floppy drive belts for the Sony and Panasonic models. Replacing these belts is trivial.

 

You do NOT want an MSX1. It's a waste of money and time. You can't play MSX2 games. MSX2 can play MSX1, so just get that. If anyone tells you that you simply have to have an MSX Turbo-R, punch them. You don't need it. There are 5 games for it, give or take. It's not worth the high price unless you're doing development, or something strange.

 

You can find cheaper models (Wavy 23 or 35 or whatever, or plain HB-F1) without floppy drives, but that sort of sucks... however:

 

Once you've located an MSX2 or 2+ your next thing to do is to buy an SCC Megaflash cartridge for like 70$ so you can flash ANY games ever released, and play them on real hardware. You need a floppy drive on the MSX to flash the cart, as you have to boot up a floppy disk with the .ROM on it, and run the program directly on the MSX to flash it....

 

So, this goes great in conjunction with the NoWind interface which turns your cartridge port into a floppy drive that attaches to your PC via USB. With that, you can download disk images off the internet and send/run them on the MSX using the host program that runs on your PC. It's literally a matter of: Open program--->Drag and Drop game .dsk onto program--->boot up MSX--->Enjoy.

 

You can even switch disks if a game asks you to, simply by dragging and dropping the new .dsk onto the program. It rules. Best crap ever, dude.

 

 

Anyway:

 

Metal Gear 2 has an english patch, and alot of other games have patches too. Aside from that, alot of the games are playable even in Japanese, since they are action oriented.

 

While you're browsing yahoo.jp, you can also keep your eyes peeled for MSX cartridges. I always find them for like, 1 or 2$. Pretty fun MSX1 and 2 cartridge stuff! I think I recently just got Exerion for 80 cents + shipping, and some Ninja related games for 1-3$ each.

 

Shipping and proxy bidding kinda blows, and makes the games more like 8 or 9$, but its still not bad.

 

 

 

If you have any other questions I missed, keep em coming. I'm big into MSX collecting and developing. MSX = awesome.

[Tempest]

I need to look into that flash cartridge. I have an MSX 2+ (Sony HB-F1XDJ I think) but I only have a few cartridges for it since they're kind of pricey to import. Maybe I should just sell it .

[Arkhan]

The flash cart is excellent. It's got an SCC in it too, so Konami games have awesome music.

 

 

http://soft.mundivia.es/mpazos/flashrom/index2.html

 

Looks like the non-mega one is the only one left. You can make your own, if you're into soldering and hating your life. All you need is a 1mb flash rom, wires, a switch, and an SCC game cartridge to sacrifice to the MSX gods.

[segagamer99]

How do I get a yahoo.jp account? I thought that they only traded with Japanese people. Besides, google translate stinks.

[Arkhan]

How do I get a yahoo.jp account? I thought that they only traded with Japanese people. Besides, google translate stinks.

 

www.celga.com or something. Use them to do the bidding for you.

[ApolloBoy]

www.celga.com or something. Use them to do the bidding for you.

I use Shopping Mall Japan which has fairly decent fees, better than Celga in most cases. You do have to be careful with what you buy though, I bought 2200 yen worth of MSX stuff a while back and it ballooned to nearly $80 after all the fees and shipping expenses. Far better than eBay in any case, the prices for everything MSX-related there suck ass.

Edited October 30, 2012 by ApolloBoy

[Arkhan]

Celga's customer service is unparalleled though. I prefer them always because of that.

 

and the reason MSX prices on ebay suck is because of a European reseller that imports and than 2x/3xs the price of everything.

[ApolloBoy]

and the reason MSX prices on ebay suck is because of a European reseller that imports and than 2x/3xs the price of everything.

Yeah, those resellers can bite it for all I care, but for some reason I see Japanese sellers on eBay doing the same thing. Inspiration I guess?

[Arkhan]

I think the Japanese just don't realize it and are gauging it based off the crap they see.

 

that, or the japanese resellers aren't really japanese, but say they are.

[lucifershalo]

the cheapest for me

is MSX forums

from Europe probably

to auction in Japan

I use a french guy as the middle man

more flexible than an online shop

[Arkhan]

The MSX Forums (MSX.org) are home to some of the European resellers... lol

 

Though, you are in Europe, so shipping doesn't cost as much I'd guess.

 

 

Last time I bought an MSX from an MSX.org forum member, it was packed with newspaper for its overseas trip, and it arrived in pieces.

[ApolloBoy]

The MSX Forums (MSX.org) are home to some of the European resellers... lol

Tell me about it, the entire marketplace there is completely dominated by the resellers. If it weren't for them I'd probably have a lot more MSX games instead of the literal handful I have now.

[nanochess]

I can say that after exploring carefully various sites the only way to get cheap MSX and games is to enter almost daily to the forums, the offers came up unexpectedly and the fastest one gets them.

 

I got my MSX2+ Sony HB-F1XDJ from retroclasificados.com at a price of 200 euros. I can say that is a very nice machine, anyway I had to resolder a couple of cables of the RAM expansion someone did and recently I replaced two leaked capacitors that were muting the FM audio.

 

Also I got a MSX1 for only USD$50 as an unexpected offer that I took immediately and included a Mopiranger cartridge with box.

 

I had tried almost three times to get a loose Gradius cartridge before finally being able to order a Gradius, Gradius II and Vampire Killer CIB and that was because the other buyer didn't paid in time, it cost me 200 euros but I'm pretty happy with the three games and more after seeing the current eBay prices.

 

But as everybody is saying, with these high prices is hard to think about ordering more cartridges, mostly because there are a lot of not so good games. The only way is to keep an eye in various sites. The hard thing is to have the time.

[UberArcade]

I would recommend the Yamaha MSX as well. It was a North American machine, it looks cool, they show up on eBay often. It won't play MSX2 games, but other than that I like it.

[lucifershalo]

there are other forums than msx.org

and homebrews on msx are a lot cheaper than on colecovision