Ok, here comes a wonderful history lesson on the MSX. MSX stood for MicroSoft eXtended. It was a computer standard that over 15 manufacturers (most notably Sony, ASCII and Phillips) participated on with almost 60 models of the machines coming out over 3 generations of hardware specs (MSX, MSX2 and MSX2+). It was largest in Japan (being the birth machine for Metal Gear... how I loved that game) and had a following in Europe (primarily France and Holland) and Brazil (really huge there due to local production... the Brazilian market is fascinating... can tell some great Sega stories from there). It was sold in the States briefly in the early 80's (knew a few people in Seattle that owned them) but was quickly abandoned, because it didn't hold up.
Hardwarewise it was a Z80 machine, standard config was 64k, making it roughly as powerful as a C64. But because of the Z80 compatibility most non-Japanese games for the system were straight ports of Spectrum games which meant a far reduced color pallette and limited gameplay (Metal Gear looked wonderful on it... for the time of course). Most software stores in Argentina didn't bother keeping Spectrum machines setup in the shops for copying purposes but just used MSX's which could copy the software (the compatibility was really that great). Microsoft abandoned the standard after the MSX2 (which had an OS virtually identical to MSDOS3.3) and ASCII continued using it for a few more years, upgrading graphics, etc. The system finally died in the late 80's. Still has a cult following in Japan though. So, hope this was an informative trip down memory lane. :-) Karl Kuras Please visit Our House, the online comic strip! http://ourhouse.trantornator.com ----- Original Message ----- From: "Pedro Quaresma" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2001 8:26 AM Subject: RE: [SWCollect] Luis Royo > > I don't think it was either. I'm not sure of the following facts, but as > far as I know: MSX is from Philips. It didn't even have many fans in > Europe, due to the rampant success of the Sinclair Spectrum. There was a > MSX 2 (there are some Ultimas for this one, I think), but it was only sold > in Japan. > > Pedro > > Pedro R. Quaresma > [EMAIL PROTECTED] / [EMAIL PROTECTED] > "So long, and thanks for all the fish" > > > > > > > > > > "Hugh Falk" > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > > 25-10-2001 13:10 > > Solicita-se resposta a > swcollect Para: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > A/C: > Ref: > cc: > Assunto: RE: [SWCollect] Luis Royo > > > > > Was it even available (sold in) the U.S. market? I didn't think it was. > > Hugh > > -----Original Message----- > From: Karl Kuras [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2001 12:24 AM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Re: [SWCollect] Luis Royo > > > Hey Pedro... just contact Jose directly ( [EMAIL PROTECTED] ) and tell him > Trantor sent you. He'll be glad to hear from a fellow fanatic of the old > days. > > I know the ads your referring too... man those were the good old days. I > remember seeing those ads in Argentina then running down to the stores to > find out which ones were available (let's just say the software industry in > Argentina wasn't 100% legit). Only problem was that most Spanish games > never made it to the C64 which was my machine at the time. Remember > spending a lot of time at a friends house, who had an MSX. That was an > underappreciated machine if there ever was one (in Europe and the US at > least). > > Karl Kuras > Visit the Our House online comic strip! > http://ourhouse.trantornator.com > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Pedro Quaresma" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Sent: Tuesday, October 23, 2001 3:29 AM > Subject: Re: [SWCollect] Luis Royo > > > > > > Karl Kuras wrote: > > > Nevertheless, it has brought back many memories of very interesting > games > > >I > > > had only seen on old Micromanias. Is your friend spanish? > > > > >Yes, the site is run from Spain. I met him back when I was running > > >Ami-Crypt on a big scale and he was surprised by the fact that I had > Navy > > >Moves and NarcoPolice listed on my site. > > > > Any chance you could ask him something on my behalf? I've started an > > "old-magazine-purchasing-spree" and Micromania is on the top of my list, > > maybe he knows where I can get old issues from? (we can take this off the > > list if you prefer) > > > > >We got to talking and we hit it > > >off, since I knew a lot about the Spanish game market. Still wish the > old > > >concept of a 875 peseta game would return. > > > > When I pickup the few old Micromanias I still have, and take a peek at > > those CentroMail ads, with those heaps of (good) games at 1500- pesetas, > it > > makes me want to scream! >:) > > > > > > Pedro R. Quaresma > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] / [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > "All your base are belong to us" > > > > > > > > > > http://www.salvador-caetano.pt > > http://www.globalshop.pt > > > > > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to > > the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' > > Archives are available at: > http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@oldskool.org/ > > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to > the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to > [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' > Archives are available at: > http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@oldskool.org/ > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to > the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to > [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' > Archives are available at: > http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@oldskool.org/ > > > > > > > Novo Avensis. Sempre um passo à frente! > http://www.toyota.pt > > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to > the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to > [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' > Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@oldskool.org/ > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@oldskool.org/
