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Post by ommadawnyawn2 on Jun 23, 2016 8:47:36 GMT -5
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Post by wyrdwad on Jun 26, 2016 15:03:32 GMT -5
The same guy who did Life On Mars also created a bunch of other MSX2 games in the mid-'90s that are even more impressive-looking, featuring full anime cutscenes that are among the best-looking on the system. One is a Double Dragon-inspired beat-em-up called "Nuts," then there's an anime demo (not a game, just basically a 10-minute anime) called "System Saver," but probably the most visually impressive of the bunch is a hentai platformer inspired by Rusty called "No Name." I recorded the opening anime from my MSX2+ a couple months ago, and while it is NSFW due to language and suggestive themes, it's not sexually explicit -- the sexually explicit stuff comes later in the game.  www.youtube.com/watch?v=HA4iPTX0968 (Thumbnail removed for possibly being a little too risque.) It's supposed to run even smoother on an MSX turboR, but you're specifically asking about MSX2, so this is probably the best example I can think of -- this is exactly what the game looks like on an MSX2 (technically a 2+, but the game doesn't utilize any of the + features, so it should be identical to this when played on a regular old 2 as well). There are a few other '90s indie games from Europe that really pushed the MSX2 to its limits. One is a platformer called "Frantic" that's actually really fun. Here's the opening cinematic, again recorded from my MSX2+: And here's the first stage being played on a PAL machine (so it's 5/6 the speed it would be if played on a Japanese machine, but is otherwise identical): In the realm of non-homebrew, there is one very notable game missing from the list you linked that I think is an absolute must-play for any MSX owner: Psycho World! Not only is it one of the best platformers on the system, it's also gorgeous to look at, has great music, and is kind of a technical marvel since it features 4-directional smooth scrolling even on a regular ol' MSX2: Another game that I think should be included is Undeadline, which is gorgeous and insanely fun, but also has absolutely TERRIBLE slowdown and flicker when played on anything shy of a turboR system. Fortunately, it only slows down when there are a lot of enemies on the screen, so if you're really good at the game, you can minimize it. Note that this video is played by someone using an MSX2 machine without OPLL audio, so the music and sound effects are in PSG format, which doesn't sound anywhere near as good as what I'm used to. I can probably think of a bunch more, but those are the big ones that come to mind right away. That list you linked is a pretty thorough account of just about everything else I might've listed, with a few titles on it (Fire Hawk! Hi no Tori! Vampire Killer!) being among the first I'd recommend to people. -Tom |
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Post by wyrdwad on Jun 26, 2016 15:32:05 GMT -5
Actually, sorry to double post, but I think there's another game I should probably mention here, if only because of its fantastic use of color (which is easily the best I've seen on the entirety of the MSX): War of the Dead. I went into great detail about the game on the XSEED forums, as it's the game I'm currently playing and I just wanted to rave about it to people: www.xseedgames.com/forum/index.php?threads/what-are-you-currently-playing.26443/page-430#post-923675The sequel, War of the Dead 2, has better graphics in a lot of ways (and its opening cinematic in particular is really nice-looking!), but I still think the side-view battle scenes in WotD1 look nicer overall. Plus, WotD2 is lacking the day/night cycle of the first game, which means all the cool coloring that made me decide WotD1 was worth mentioning here is nowhere to be found. And without the neat palette shifts, the game isn't quite as visually impressive IMHO. -Tom |
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Post by ommadawnyawn2 on Jun 26, 2016 17:20:44 GMT -5
Thanks, Nuts looked kinda cool (though I don't have other MSX BEU's to compare it to) and Frantic is a nice find, I could see myself playing through that one. I don't mean MSX2 specifically, just MSX2 and beyond I suppose. I don't really know much about the system at all. Undeadline and Psychic World I knew about, but they certainly belong in the same group as the ones in the /v/ list.
Life on Mars was what prompted this thread since it shows so many colors, has very good tile variation and above average animation too it seems, but maybe it's not running on a "stock" MSX2 then?
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Post by X-pert74 on Jun 26, 2016 21:04:23 GMT -5
Oh my gosh Psycho World looks amazing. I really wanna play it so bad! Particularly the MSX2 version, since the Master System and Game Gear ports apparently are heavily abridged and lack a good amount of the MSX2 version's content.
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Post by wyrdwad on Jun 26, 2016 22:43:08 GMT -5
Omma: You can totally run Life On Mars on a stock MSX2. The only difference gameplay-wise is that the loading time between areas is much longer. Also, music-wise, the game won't QUITE sound that good on ordinary MSX hardware, since the music in that video is being played through OPL4, a.k.a. "Moonsound," which is -- as I understand it -- a fan-made update to the standard OPLL and OPL2 formats heard in a lot of MSX2 games (particularly disk-based ones). In order to play OPL4 music on your MSX, I think you need either a special sound cartridge in the other slot, or an update to your hardware? I'm not really sure. But if you don't have a Moonsound upgrade of some sort, then the game will play OPLL music instead if supported (which it is by default in a lot of MSX2s and virtually all MSX2+s). And if OPLL isn't supported, then it'll play standard PSG music instead. The sound effects, too, are played through another specialized sound format called SCC, which was created by Konami and also requires a separate sound cartridge to hear. If you don't have an SCC-enabled sound cartridge in the other slot when playing Life On Mars, all the sound effects will use standard PSG. I played and beat Life On Mars, and I happen to have the SCC+ sound cartridge that came with SD Snatcher, so I was able to put that in my second cartridge slot and get the extended sound effects, which definitely sound WAY better than the PSG sound effects. The music, though, was standard OPLL for me -- which sounds very good, but not quite as "rich" as the Moonsound music in that video. And X-pert: Yeah, Psycho World is an absolutely wonderful game, and the MSX version is *way* better than either the Master System or Game Gear ports, featuring both more stages, and bigger stages across the board (with multiple paths to the end in most of them). The music also sounds SO MUCH BETTER on MSX -- even if you don't have OPLL support, the PSG versions of the Psycho World tracks all sound really cool too. Which reminds me: that list you linked, Omma, is a pretty comprehensive "who's who" of quality MSX2 titles, but I'm *shocked* that whoever wrote it thinks Thexder has better music than Fire Hawk! Thexder's one song is pretty cool, sure, but Fire Hawk has 9 unique stage themes, each with its own unique boss theme, plus a unique final boss theme, an intro theme, and an ending theme -- and they're all FANTASTIC. Easily one of the best soundtracks on the MSX, featuring one of my personal favorite tracks from any MSX game to date: I mean, how can you beat that?! That's SO GOOD!! (That game in general is just aces all around, though. I could go on, and have gone on, for hours about how outstanding a game Fire Hawk is. That's my #1 pick for best game in the entire MSX library, and it's honestly one of the most impressive games of the entire 8-bit era IMHO. Really, really quality stuff all around! Definitely an unsung Game Arts gem.) -Tom |
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Post by kingmike on Jun 27, 2016 13:25:55 GMT -5
It's Undeadline one of the games that got a Japanese Mega Drive port? I don't know if it's good, but I think it's a rather expensive game these days, at the least.
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Post by wyrdwad on Jun 27, 2016 13:36:26 GMT -5
It's Undeadline one of the games that got a Japanese Mega Drive port? I don't know if it's good, but I think it's a rather expensive game these days, at the least. It did, but the Mega Drive game seems considerably different. The level designs are totally changed, the way power-ups work has been altered significantly, and it looks like your life bar only consists of three dots as opposed to being a full-on BAR in the MSX version -- which seems like it would make the game way too hard IMHO, as even with a full life bar and set to the easiest difficulty, the game is EXTREMELY challenging. There's also an X68000 version of Undeadline, which seems much closer to the MSX version -- the level designs look like they're the same, but with two added levels, and much better graphics across the board. The music, though, seems to be better in the MSX version than in the X68000 one, at least to my ears. -Tom |
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Post by elektrolurch on Jun 27, 2016 14:00:23 GMT -5
Wow, the frantic music sounds very amiga-mod-like to me. Amazing!
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Post by ommadawnyawn2 on Jun 27, 2016 16:33:25 GMT -5
Xak II looks pretty nice.
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Post by wyrdwad on Jun 27, 2016 17:34:55 GMT -5
Oh yeah, I totally should've mentioned the Xak games! Even Xak 1 looks pretty good, but Xak 2, Xak: The Tower of Gazzel, and Fray in Magical Adventure all look really, really pretty. Microcabin as a company kind of sucked at smooth-scrolling anything, but they were masters of detailed visuals, and they were easily the best at composing complex OPLL music -- nobody else's MSX music sounds as good as Microcabin's:
-Tom
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Post by retr0gamer on Jun 27, 2016 17:41:39 GMT -5
No mention of Space Manbow? It's my favourite MSX2 game and one of Konami's best shooters. It can get a bit choppy at times but it looks and sounds incredible.
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Post by wyrdwad on Jun 27, 2016 18:19:10 GMT -5
No mention of Space Manbow? It's my favourite MSX2 game and one of Konami's best shooters. It can get a bit choppy at times but it looks and sounds incredible. That's in the link on the first post, along with the other classics like Metal Gear 1 and 2, Vampire Killer, etc. -Tom |
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Post by 8 Bit Dreams on Jun 30, 2016 10:52:26 GMT -5
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