Which model of MSX is the best choice?

[ScottPilgrim88]

[marurun]

:?:

I understand that your question is in the topic title, but those can change as replies go on, so please give us more post than just an emote.

As to your question, I can't speak to specific models or manufacturers, but you'll likely want to go for an MSX2 or 2+ model to make sure you can take advantage of the titles that use the upgraded hardware. The forumite who probably knows MSX best hasn't been on in a while, though.

[Nemoide]

I got myself an MSX last year, so I have some thoughts to share.
The first thing is going to be what you want to use it for (presumably games). The big divisions in MSX hardware are:
MSX (original) - very primitive in its graphical and musical capabilities but has a large and strong selection of software. If you want to collect legit copies of games, they're usually on cartridges which are a lot more reliable than 30+ year old floppy disks you'd get for later MSX.
MSX2 - a big upgrade, this will let you play MANY more games than the original MSX. If you want to play Metal Gear, you'll need an MSX2
MSX2+ - minor upgrade from the regular MSX2, not as widely supported as MSX2, but the upgrades do make it pretty nice.
MSX TurboR - only made by Panasonic, very few games have TurboR enhancements, but it's very nice. If you want to shell out big bucks for the best of the best, a TurboR is probably the way to go.

The MSX built-in character set is different depending on the region it was released. So if you want to play Japanese games, Japanese text will appear garbled on an MSX with an international character set. And of course if you want to play European games, lowercase letters will appear as garbled Japanese on a machine with a Japanese character set. I haven't really explored fan-translations so I'm not sure how compatible they tend to be on actual hardware. If you live in America and import an MSX from Europe, you'll have the added headache of dealing with different voltage and PAL-video output. And if you live in Europe and want a Japanese TurboR, you'll have the headache of different voltage and NTSC-video. And if you have an MSX that's capable of RGB-video output, I'm not sure how easy it would be to get that connected to modern display. And then there's the fact that the power supply will likely have failing capacitors that you'll want to replace ASAP. The world of vintage computers can be a headache, especially when you get into importing things from different continents.

The specific model I got was a Yamaha CX5MII/128, which was released in the US. It has a built-in MIDI-compatible FM synthesizer and I really liked the idea of having an 8-bit computer that I can use for music. Plus it has more RAM than almost any other pre-MSX2 model and two cartridge slots. Being able to play Japanese games is just a bonus! I only have on cartridge (Kitten's Adventure) but without a controller, it's very difficult to play.

What do you want from your MSX? Emulating might be the best option TBH. There's also the extremely cool-looking MSXVR - I haven't looked into it too deeply, but if you don't want to mess with ancient PCs and don't want to just emulate it in Windows, it's another very viable (though expensive) option.

Anyway, it's hard to pick a "best" without knowing your specific interest. I'm not an expert but I can try to answer whatever questions as best as I can.

[Jagosaurus]

How's the media holding up?

I know floppies are rotting like crazy. A lot of the Amiga community is basically using their equivalent of an ODE or flash cart.

This + finding a proper 15Hz monitor makes retro computing have too much of a barrier of entry for me personally.

On my list to get more into emulating them, outside of DOSBox. MSX high on my list there, along with Atari line up.

The Snatcher & Snatcher SD translation really stand out to me, even if Snatcher is missing part 3 of the story. Love the Sega CD version.

[Anapan]

A lot of options now about that 15Khz monitor. Getting your desired console might be hard, but displaying it should be easy. Especially if you want an authentic experience. I know a lot of the earlier games relied on that trick with underclocking the video signal to simulate more colors.
This is only going to work on a real CRT or you're emulating. Oh I think Mister can do that with shaders.

[Nemoide]

How's the media holding up?

I know floppies are rotting like crazy. A lot of the Amiga community is basically using their equivalent of an ODE or flash cart.

The MSX is actually in pretty good shape for that because every model has a cartridge slot. It was mostly original MSX games that were released on carts (which AFAIK are holding up fine) but you can get a flash cart and use it to load floppy disk images to play floppy games.

One other good thing about MSX is that they all have composite-video out. The quality isn't ideal for MSX2 and later games that had nicer graphics, but the compatibility can't be beat. But yeah, emulation is definitely the easier way to go unless you're seriously interested in old hardware like I am.

[Jagosaurus]

Nice on carts. I've seen several folks with floppies in YT videos and a couple Snatcher collections so assumed incorrectly.

So coach me up on the audio expansion as you reference and seen here on an audio cart:
Snatcher - The MSX Version shipped on floppy discs and an audio cartridge

Ahhh I didn't realize it was composite out. I thought it would be the JPN PC digital RGB connector we discussed here recently on your Toshiba or at minimum JPN21.

[Nemoide]

MSX2 and later generally *do* have RGB out that will look better, but you'll always have component to fall back on. The MSX standard was really designed to be a low-cost computer for the everyman, so most things like RGB or MIDI audio are going to be bonus features rather than something you have to have.
The MSX has RCA out for video and mono audio. I think that Konami Sound Cartridge would expand the system's capabilities and higher quality music would come out of the computer's normal audio output similar to how some Famicom games (LaGrange Point, Akumajou Densetsu) had an extra chip to expand its audio capabilities. Most MSX2 computers are going to have one or two cartridge slots and either a built-in floppy drive or a drive that would use a cartridge slot. If you're using a flash cart, you can tell the computer that one slot is a floppy drive and load the game and the other slot has the Sound Cartridge. I've never really tried to do anything MSX2-related and still haven't really delved deep into using my flash cart, but I think the most popular flash carts can tell the system that it's multiple carts at once. I'm not really sure if the Sound Cartridge can be emulated since a flash cart wouldn't have the audio chip and IDK if you can get a ROM for it!

I think there are also some later MSX games that can output MIDI audio using certain peripherals. Unfortunately, even though my MSX has a built-in MIDI-compatible synth, I don't think there are any games that can use/support it since it isn't standard. I suspect all the MIDI games were for MSX2 or later.

[Majors]

I'm not really sure if the Sound Cartridge can be emulated since a flash cart wouldn't have the audio chip and IDK if you can get a ROM for it!

That is what I also read, you need a real/rare Konami Sound Cartridge. Jagosaurus is starting off with one of the challenging titles to run on real hardware, Snatcher.

I recently got interested in the MSX also and have dived into it's library. I just stick to mostly cart games like Firebird, Mr. Ghost and others that have been listed on member voted "best" thread at the msx.org forum. The site is also a good reference for folks new.to MSX.

I would def recommend a flash cart such as the Megoaflashrom or Carnivore and shoot for a regular MSX2 to help with the budgets

[Jagosaurus]

I'm slowly getting up to speed. Input on below?

Looks like both Snatcher & SD Snatcher use proprietary sound expanison SCC+ carts and are the exception.

Will they run at all without this cart, producing limited sounds with onboard machine sound hardware?

Interesting tid-bit....

The Snatcher Sound Cartridge can be used with the Konami Games Collections, since most games in these collections have been improved to use the Snatcher Sound Cartridge sound chip

Then some games have built in chips to enhance sound, Konami SCC and handful of others. Reminds me of the Pokey chips in a couple 7800 games.

https://www.faq.msxnet.org/scc.html

https://www.msx.org/wiki/Category:Sound_Expansions

No general sound cart expansion similar to Sega Mark III FM sound expansion, correct?