WTB - Cheap MSX NTSC Games

[hardcorehubz]

Have an MSX from Japan on the way, was wondering if anybody had any cheap extra games they want to get rid of? I don't care if they're Mahjong or whatever, just want a few to play and show off at the next retro game meet up

 

Thanks,

 

- Hubz

[lazzeri]

Just a heads-up: There is absolutely no "region lock" on MSX games. You can get any japanese, european or even pirate brazilian / korean carts and plug in, they will work just fine.

 

Same goes for disk-based games, in case yours have a built-in disk drive. If so, you can always make disks using your PC and .DSK images. Also, since PC and MSX uses the same disk format you can even copy some .BIN directly to the disk and run them in your MSX.

If your MSX has a drive and enough memory you can even copy .ROM files and run them.

 

For european, cassete-based games things got a little trickier. Some spanish developers use non-standard ROM mapping and so those games just won´t work in japanese computers. But those are rare and, honestly, not worth it.

 

I do have a few duplicate carts and disks, both loose and boxed. But unfortunately shipment from Brazil to USA migh be pricey. In any case, drop me a PM if you want some pics.

 

BTW, what machine you got?

[hardcorehubz]

I got a Panasonic FS-A1WX

 

Thanks for the info, good to know there's no real region locking. I plan to get an MSX Flash Cart when i can afford it.

[lazzeri]

Hey! That´s a pretty nice machine! Congratulations! :-)

It´s a MSX2+ with built-in FM Music and a floppy disk. It does have a decent (but not extraordinary) amount of RAM (64kb).

 

With that computer alone and nothing else you can run a extremely nice selection of disk-based games. You just need a PC with a 3.5 inch drive (USB will do!) and a little software called "Diskman" that can be found here: http://www.lexlechz.at/en/software/DiskMgr.html

 

If you are using a HD disk remember to cover the "HD Hole" so it appears as a 720kb. You might have to format it in the MSX instead of the PC. And some MoBo / disks no longer support 720kb disks, you might check. There´s a lot of documentation floating around.

 

Also, www.msx.org is your friend. :-)

 

Anyway... A lot of GREAT games that you can record yourself. Aleste 2 is a great shooter, for instance. Some excellent RPGs like SD-Snatcher and YS III (some of them translated to english).

 

You might also copy .BAS and .BIN games straight to your disk and run *A LOT* of MSX1 games. There is a huge selection of japanese ROM games converted to thist format. Also, most of the european games can be found that way.

 

You, sir, already have a lot of nice things to play with. :-)

 

(for now your main limitation is that you cannot run MegaROM games at all. You´ll need a Flash cart for that indeed)