BIG MSX find!! MSX rarity??

[chaoticjelly]

Hey guys, well, my eyes nearly popped out of my head when I spied this little lot at the flea market! I also got an MSX with the games, it's a Panasonic CF2700, it came with a Mitsubishi joystick.

The games, and whether they have boxes or not are as follows (all ROM carts):

Candoo Ninja (Panasonic) (C)
Antarctic Adventure (Konami) (C)
Konami Hyper-Rally (Konami) (C)
Pairs (Panasonic) (CB)
Sasa (Panasonic) (CIB)
Turboat (Panasonic) (CIB)
Tele Bunnie (Panasonic) (CIB)
Crazy Bullet (Panasonic) (CIB)
Golf (Panasonic) (CB)
Tawara (Panasonic) (CIB)
Squish 'Em (Panasonic) (CIB)
Breakout (Panasonic) (CIB)
Highway Star (Panasonic) (CIB)
Marine Battle (Panasonic) (CIB)
Sky Jaguar (Konami) (CIB)
Super Cobra (Konami) (CIB)
Time Pilot (Konami) (CIB)

See the pic below!

To top it all off, the female selling the stuff was pretty hot, I've had gaming gear off her before, and I got the price down from £12 to £9 !!

Does anyone have any idea of values..? RARITY??

[sniperCCJVQ]

I'm looking for MSX2 Vampire Killer rarity too !

[maxlords]

Nice find, but I don't think any of those are particularly rare. Just guesstimating though. I could be wrong. I'm no MSXpert

[rbudrick]

MSX2 rarity? I didn't know they made a 2 version....wtf?

As for rarity, I think (could be wrong) it was uncommon. However, due to high demand it does command a good amount in price. People tend to hang on to em to, giving the appearance of greater rarity....just my observation.

-Rob

[sniperCCJVQ]

MSX2 rarity? I didn't know they made a 2 version....wtf?

from http://www.vgmuseum.com/mrp/rev-vkill.htm

"So before there was Castlevania on the Nintendo Entertainment System, a humble little title named Vampire Killer had debuted on the MSX2 Home Computer; it's this bizarre yet highly intriguing creation that is the origin of the Castlevania series. But because the MSX2 was never marketed outside of Japan, Vampire Killer became a victim of and a part of its legacy."

Basically, Vampire Killer (aka Castlevania) debuted on the MSX2. I have it (loose) and still wondering what the rarity and value it could have.

Now for the MSX2 :

http://xperiment.rainemu.com/msx2.htm

MSX2/2+/Turbo-R
The MSX2 was released in 1985, and this was, and still is, a great computer system. Basically it was a super-charged MSX1, here are some of the specs... The main RAM was at least 64KB, altho a Sony model got it up to 256KB, which was internally expandable to 4MB with the Memory Mapper system. The Video Display Processor was a Yamaha V9938, with 128KB video RAM in most machines, and most MSX2 machines had at least one disk drive, 360KB or 720KB 3.5".

The MSX2+ was released in 1988 in Japan and Holland(and probably in some other European countries), due to Microsoft leaving the project. This was really when the MSX machines started losing steam. This made a few upgrades from the MSX2, but not really enough to go into great detail here.

After the MSX scene was slowly fading away, ASCII's last-ditch effort was the MSX Turbo-R. It never caught on though, all the top game designers were leaving MSX for Nintendo, and Panasonic was the only company that ever produced any Turbo-R machines. Which is too bad, the video display processor was just a step below the 3DO's (awful system, but it did had great graphics for the time). In fact, the chip that the 3DO used was originally meant for a MSX3 which unfortunately, we never saw. Though some companies now are making carts you can buy for your MSX that contains a chip like the one used in the 3DO. Very few games were released for Turbo-R, but some of them are classics, such as Microcabin's sci-fi RPG "Illusion City."

[opcode]

The MSX2+ was released in 1988 in Japan and Holland(and probably in some other European countries),

Incorrect. Just Japan.

due to Microsoft leaving the project. This was really when the MSX machines started losing steam.

Hahaha.... Microsoft was never involved with the MSX beside supplying the OS. The name Microsoft just got involved with the MSX standard due to ASCII being the MS representative in Japan back then. Just a marketing ploy.

Which is too bad, the video display processor was just a step below the 3DO's (awful system, but it did had great graphics for the time).

The video used with the MSX TurboR was the same used with the MSX2+, the V9958.

In fact, the chip that the 3DO used was originally meant for a MSX3 which unfortunately, we never saw. Though some companies now are making carts you can buy for your MSX that contains a chip like the one used in the 3DO.

Now it looks like a MSX fanboy created all this lore...
All of this make no sense. Back in 1990 Yamaha and ASCII announced the V9978, the video chip for the MSX3. It was a very capable video IC, featuring two different set of video modes. In bitmap modes it was capable of up to 768x240 resolution (up to 768x480 in interlace mode), up to 32K colors, superimposing, hardware scrolling, and even a hardware "cursor" for windows like OSes. However the most impressive feature with these modes was the use of high-speed hardware bit block data mover. The MSX2 video IC was also equiped with a hardware bit mover but the new one was going to be 20 times faster!
In pattern mode, it was capable of SNES class features. Multi layers, 16K patterns!, several palettes, 128 sprites, max 16 sprites per scanline. So basicly a SNES but with no mode7. However something went wrong and the project was canned. We ended getting the MSX TurboR instead, a supercharged MSX2+. Some people say ASCII wasn't able to delivery the new VDP in time for the 1990 release, so they ended going with just the new CPU (named R800). However the V9978 specs and pinout were featured in some databooks from that time. Later Yamaha and ASCII removed the legacy compatibility features in the V9978 and released it as the V9990. Well, I don't know who started this story about the 3DO using the V9990 but is b****t for sure. Maybe someone got the idea just cause Panasonic was the last MSX maker and they stopped producing MSXes to start producing their 3DO, back in 1993. But I can't see any relation between the ASCII video IC and 3DO.

Eduardo

[chaoticjelly]

HOLY HIJINX BATMAN! IT'S A THREAD HIJACK !!!

[opcode]

Sorry...

Your Konami games are common or uncommon, not worth more than a few bucks. Now, all those Panasonic games are fairly rare, some very rare. They were originaly released by ASCII itself in Japan and are some of the very first games available for the MSX.
But I have no idea how much they are worth. Usually MSX collectors don't try to have a complete set of all released games, they just collect a small subset of game companies, like Konami and Hudson. Beside, most of those games are pretty bad, so...

Eduardo

[gamergary]

If you don't want it I'll buy it.

[chaoticjelly]

Thank you for that info Opcode!

Well, I didn't pay much for them, and I don't collect MSX so I may just put them on ebay soon

Thank you so much for the info. Yeah they are pretty dire, I played them all the other night!!! some of them had dodgy collision detection!