conversion from msx to colecovision, tutorials needed

[nitrofurano]

since there were efforts on converting msx-1 games to colecovision, i guess would be great if we have tutorials and documentation available, for these games being converted from more people, and help more titles being available to colecovision? what do you all think about?

 

i guess that most of the issues are about the 2kb ram limit, the i/o ports, stack, etc., and perhaps some games needs to be decompiled, analyzed, and compiled back again? (like happened on the ZX-Spectrum version of King's Valley)

 

please let us know all your feedback about this!

Edited June 6, 2014 by nitrofurano

[Pixelboy]

Eduardo Mello did most of the MSX ports on the ColecoVision, and he's not around right now. But there may be a few others around here who could help you out. Memory constraints are no problem if you use the extra RAM offered by the Super Game Module, and the same goes for sound output, since the SGM contains an MSX PSG sound chip.

 

It all comes down to fixing the joystick input routines so that the game works with Coleco controllers, and also reproducing the MSX BIOS routines that the ported game needs (which the ColecoVision's BIOS doesn't offer). Adding these routines within your game may push it beyond the 32K limit (or perhaps the MSX game already breaks the 32K limit to begin with) but you can use a MegaCart PCB to contain the ported game (unless you need to support a savegame feature of some kind, which the MegaCart does not offer).

 

With all this said, porting an MSX game is no easy feat. There may be small technical details I'm forgetting, but in essence, you should have a much easier time porting an MSX game to the ColecoVision if you use the Super Game Module.

[artrag]

the Super Game Module project seems halted about two years ago

http://opcodegames.com/

 

Isn't it on hold ?

Edited June 15, 2014 by artrag

[Pixelboy]

the Super Game Module project seems halted about two years ago

http://opcodegames.com/

 

Isn't it on hold ?

No, the project was actually completed. A first run of roughly 200 SGMs were shipped to ColecoVision-owning customers. A second run is planned for later this year.