Anyone here play MSX, PC98, or X68K?

If it's not ZDoom, it goes here.
User avatar
Naniyue
Posts: 884
Joined: Fri Mar 13, 2009 8:06 pm

Anyone here play MSX, PC98, or X68K?

Post by Naniyue »

I never really got into Japanese computing back in the day, as I was obsessed with my Turbo Duo, but I'm sure into them now!

Anyone else here share similar interest?

The MSX has many neat games, ranging from Colecovision level to NES to kinda sorta TG, depending on when they came out and which level of hardware you needed. Some have been converted to English. Many of the JRPGs aren't too bad to play if you know your hiragana and katakana, as there aren't always kanji present.

Silviana is a neat one. It's like a mix between Ys and Zelda. It was orignally released for the FDS, but got an MSX version with better graphics and a cute intro. Both are available in English.
There are sooooo many I could suggest, so here's just a few:
Knightmare, Nyanpi. Cats Puzzle, Rotors, Duck Tales (not what you think!), Aleste series, Undeadline

LGR review:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDrw7mLRdjs

The PC98 has some neato shooters and RPGs, but watch out for those hentai games! There are a TON! My only real problem with the system is the surprisingly low number of colors that can be onscreen at once. The PC98 version of World of Xeen, in spite of some neat anime faces, looks like total crap when compared to the DOS original.

Setting things up, whether an actual PC98 or an emulator, can get frustrating, so read the FAQs!

Rusty, a popular Castlevania clone, has recently been translated into English:
https://46okumen.com/projects/rusty/

Suggested games: The Farland Story series (available in English), CRW Metal Jacket, ummm the Touhou games?


The Obsolete Geek review:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HDGJE80DWY

Now the Sharp X68000 . . . ohhhh yes . . . Heck, Capcom used them in making their CPS games! Again, though, watch out for the naughty stuff.

Gamesack review:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQPt69UCyIA

Suggested games: Zugya, Etoile Princess, Chourensha 68k.


Most MSX games will run on your DS! http://msxds.msxblue.com/

It's fun playing them while on lunch break without having to lug in the actual unit and monitor.
User avatar
Jaxxoon R
Posts: 772
Joined: Sun May 04, 2014 7:22 pm

Re: Anyone here play MSX, PC98, or X68K?

Post by Jaxxoon R »

The PC-98 has a Doom port, so it has to be good.
User avatar
R4L
Global Moderator
Posts: 400
Joined: Fri Mar 03, 2017 9:53 am
Preferred Pronouns: He/Him
Operating System Version (Optional): Windows 11 Pro
Graphics Processor: nVidia (Modern GZDoom)
Contact:

Re: Anyone here play MSX, PC98, or X68K?

Post by R4L »

Been playing Garudius 95 on Neko Project II emulator. Best Gradius game in my opinion.

And yeah, PC-98 has A TON of hentai. I got a huge pack of games in a torrent once and 80% of them were hentai lol. Night Slave is one that's actually a really good game as well, and Steam Hearts is really great too despite being "eroge" games.

Also, Rusty is pretty cool. Popful Mail was on there too right? Touhou games are really fun, but I definitely recommend Garudius 95 if you like shmups. Also, check out Flame Zapper Kotsujin. insanely hard, but really fun and it has great graphics. CO2 is probably the best developer for shmups on that system.
User avatar
wildweasel
Posts: 21706
Joined: Tue Jul 15, 2003 7:33 pm
Preferred Pronouns: He/Him
Operating System Version (Optional): A lot of them
Graphics Processor: Not Listed
Contact:

Re: Anyone here play MSX, PC98, or X68K?

Post by wildweasel »

One X68K game that particularly impressed me was Geograph Seal, a mech-themed 3D FPS using flat-shaded graphics, from EXACT, the people who later went on to make Jumping Flash for PlayStation. There are plenty of similarities between the two, incidentally.

Also, basically any arcade game port by Dempa is worth playing, especially of any game originally by Namco, like Motos or Bosconian (the latter of which has Yuzo Koshiro on music duty!).
User avatar
Naniyue
Posts: 884
Joined: Fri Mar 13, 2009 8:06 pm

Re: Anyone here play MSX, PC98, or X68K?

Post by Naniyue »

You're not joking about those Jumping Flash similarities! Aquales is by Exact as well.

I'd like to have a non hentai version of Nightslave. Maybe some hacker could draw a new screen and redo the text?

There is a windows version of Chourensha 68k I played years ago. Excellent shooter! Not too hard, not too easy, and VERY high energy! Even I was able to win after a few tries.

Cybercore, and old TG16 shooter, is also on the 68k.

Car Fighter on the MSX is like the old arcade game Road Fighter, but you can actually shoot a gun and throw bombs!
User avatar
Sgt. Shivers
Posts: 1743
Joined: Fri Jun 22, 2012 5:39 am

Re: Anyone here play MSX, PC98, or X68K?

Post by Sgt. Shivers »

There are a lot of really cool exclusives for all three of these systems, I should really find out how to emulate them some time. Space Manbow and Nemesis 2 on MSX, Star Luster on X68k and Super Star Soldier on PC98 are all games I want to check out.
User avatar
Naniyue
Posts: 884
Joined: Fri Mar 13, 2009 8:06 pm

Re: Anyone here play MSX, PC98, or X68K?

Post by Naniyue »

For PC98, Flame Zapper Kotsujin will give you plenty of pew pew, and so will Burning Dragon Plus. There was this other one I found very cool, but I just can't remember the name!

Konami mixed things up a bit on their MSX ports. You won't recognize Contra, and Vampire Killer plays kind of like Castlevania 1 and 2 combined.

A fun demo for the MSX, all on one 720k disk:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3Y3ILD12gg

Honestly, Popful Mail is best on Sega CD.
User avatar
R4L
Global Moderator
Posts: 400
Joined: Fri Mar 03, 2017 9:53 am
Preferred Pronouns: He/Him
Operating System Version (Optional): Windows 11 Pro
Graphics Processor: nVidia (Modern GZDoom)
Contact:

Re: Anyone here play MSX, PC98, or X68K?

Post by R4L »

Sgt. Shivers wrote:There are a lot of really cool exclusives for all three of these systems, I should really find out how to emulate them some time. Space Manbow and Nemesis 2 on MSX, Star Luster on X68k and Super Star Soldier on PC98 are all games I want to check out.
I'd recommend looking for a guide on setting up PC98 emulation. Neko Project II is probably the best emu, but even then, I had to use a guide to set it up and get it working properly.
User avatar
Kinsie
Posts: 7399
Joined: Fri Oct 22, 2004 9:22 am
Graphics Processor: nVidia with Vulkan support
Location: MAP33
Contact:

Re: Anyone here play MSX, PC98, or X68K?

Post by Kinsie »

Sgt. Shivers wrote:There are a lot of really cool exclusives for all three of these systems, I should really find out how to emulate them some time. Space Manbow and Nemesis 2 on MSX, Star Luster on X68k and Super Star Soldier on PC98 are all games I want to check out.
blueMSX is almost a decade old but it's still really good.
For X68k I've been using XM6 Pro-68k, although I'm told that's been superceded by XM6 Type-G.
I haven't tried PC-98 in a while, but I recall using T98-Next English. There are newer and better emulators now, though, like Neko Project II's np2fmgen fork.
User avatar
Naniyue
Posts: 884
Joined: Fri Mar 13, 2009 8:06 pm

Re: Anyone here play MSX, PC98, or X68K?

Post by Naniyue »

MSX emulation is the easiest to get into. Blue MSX runs 95% of the games without changing
any settings. For the real machine, definitely an MSX2+, but do the research on things such as build
quality. Many ROM cart games can be found on disk, so that may be the cheaper route as
far as collecting the games themselves.

Examples:
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R ... cat=162075

Second place goes to the Sharp. I personally use XM6, XM6 Pro, and WinX68kHighSpeed, all
depending upon which game I'm playing.

Example:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/1831265255 ... rmvSB=true

Yeah, the PC98 is where you're really going to run into trouble. I use both anex86 and
Neko Project, again depending on what I'm playing. I've also made stock hard drive images
to make disk to hard drive work easier.

Good reference for collecting:
https://www.reddit.com/r/pc98/wiki/guid ... by98digger


Just about completely off topic, can anyone tell me why the ZX Spectrum was so popular? I swear I own Atari 2600 games that are more aesthetically pleasing! I'd rather play the MSX or C64 versions whenever possible!
User avatar
Kinsie
Posts: 7399
Joined: Fri Oct 22, 2004 9:22 am
Graphics Processor: nVidia with Vulkan support
Location: MAP33
Contact:

Re: Anyone here play MSX, PC98, or X68K?

Post by Kinsie »

Naniyue wrote:Just about completely off topic, can anyone tell me why the ZX Spectrum was so popular? I swear I own Atari 2600 games that are more aesthetically pleasing! I'd rather play the MSX or C64 versions whenever possible!
It was roughly half the price of the C64, and the games were very cheap (and very easy to copy and trade in the schoolyard if you had a twin-cassette player and an astray moral compass...). In addition, it's lack of hardware support for, well, much of anything, presented what certain young programmers perceived as an interesting "blank slate" challenge where they had to do pretty much everything in software. Combine this with the time and place which it occupied (1980s England, to say nothing of the clones released later in Soviet countries) and you can see how it achieved its fame and fanbase.
User avatar
Naniyue
Posts: 884
Joined: Fri Mar 13, 2009 8:06 pm

Re: Anyone here play MSX, PC98, or X68K?

Post by Naniyue »

That makes great sense! Why haven't they worded it like that online when I tried looking it up?
User avatar
Naniyue
Posts: 884
Joined: Fri Mar 13, 2009 8:06 pm

Re: Anyone here play MSX, PC98, or X68K?

Post by Naniyue »

Lastbreakers! That's the one I couldn't remember for the PC 98. Neat intro. Several pilots to choose from. All ships can change to mecha at any time. PLAY IT!!!!

Also try Usagi na Panic. It's a cutesy action platformer. I end up using JoytoKey to set my controller up, though.
User avatar
Naniyue
Posts: 884
Joined: Fri Mar 13, 2009 8:06 pm

Re: Anyone here play MSX, PC98, or X68K?

Post by Naniyue »

I guess we couldn't mention the Spectrum in a DooM forum without this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3v7cFGneuaw

But then there's . . . THIS!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNjBX_TvNDQ
User avatar
Hellser
Global Moderator
Posts: 2705
Joined: Sun Jun 25, 2006 4:43 pm
Preferred Pronouns: He/Him
Operating System Version (Optional): Windows 11
Graphics Processor: ATI/AMD with Vulkan/Metal Support
Location: Citadel Station

Re: Anyone here play MSX, PC98, or X68K?

Post by Hellser »

IMO, anything that does not use the Doom source code directly should not carry the "Doom" logo (See: ZX Spectrum). Such games often tend to be mazerunners with Doom-like assets.
Post Reply

Return to “Off-Topic”