MSX
Titles in this collection: 1,912
Tested mainly with CocoaMSX 1.61, but see the notes above
File count (uncompressed): 1,960
File size (uncompressed): 331.6 MB
Format: .rom, .dsk, and .cas
The MSX was Microsoft Japan's offering to the home computer market of the '80s, providing affordable, entry-level hardware and software that would shape a new standard of compatibility in the Japanese industry.
It was also built from the ground up as a gaming-first machine, with a few components under the hood that matched those inside Sega's SG-1000 and the Colecovision, with the ability to support titles on all available media at the time: Cassettes, diskettes, and cartridges. The MSX was designed in a way that newer models would be backwards compatible with all versions before it, which helped older titles sell and stick around, even several years later.
A good chunk of famous game series launched on the MSX first! For some prime examples, "Zanac," "Bomberman," "Mugen Senshi Valis," "Gradius," and "Parodius" all appeared here before anywhere else.
The gameplay and graphics on this original system were basic and fairly limited, but after a few years, there came the massively upgraded MSX2 and its improved 2+ and Turbo R revisions.
Special items included:
Unreleased prototypes, games not in English (but only if they were easy enough to play without being fluent in another language), English-patched translations, plus these extras:
"MSX-Fan Fandom Library" 1-8, "Game Master," "Game Master II," "Games Designer," and "Pingball Maker."
Items removed:
Non-working dumps, duplicates, prototypes of games that eventually saw a release, homebrew titles past the 10 year mark after discontinuation (2003), hacks, and titles not in English that require proficiency in another language to play - Those can be found in my "MSX Language Pack."
Release notes:
This is an update to my previous MSX set, which I did about a year ago. It was a bit messy, contained a few duplicates, and a few new translations have been added since then. I've hand-tested these new additions, added 7 more titles overall, upgraded a few others to newer revisions, and organized the files much, much cleaner than last time.
The folders in this collection organize the games alphabetically, but I also separated this set into three chunks - One for each media type: ROMs, diskettes, and cassettes. For your mental health, I recommend that you keep them separate as well, as they do not all load exactly the same way.
Please note (about emulation): Due to there being so, so, so many models of MSX computers with different upgrades, various levels of software coding quality, and three different types of media that these games originally came on, there is currently no perfect "one stop shop" emulator to get all of these games up and running. However, I have found that the CocoaMSX emulator in a mode that simulates the Philips MSX2 VG-8235-20 system to be the most compatible of everything I tried, most especially for cassettes. If you can't get a game to load on the VG-8235-20, try simulating the Toshiba HX-10E MSX or the Goldstar FC-200 MSX systems instead. Also note that some games have multiple disks or cassettes, and some cassettes have a "side B." Just load the first one, and if it ever needs the next one in the series, it will ask you to insert it. It should automatically load after that.
Please note (about cassettes): ROMs and diskettes are easy and will usually auto load when inserted, depending on your settings. When loading a cassette into your emulator, there are a few more steps to get it running. First of all, you want to make sure that the cassette is "rewound" (preferably on insertion, that's another setting). After that, you'll need to type in a command to load the game. The problem is, there are three main commands you may need to try... To help, I've listed them here in the order they are likely to work. If one of them fails, remember to "rewind" the tape again before trying the next command, or it will continue to fail no matter what:
RUN"CAS:" (This works with about 70% of the cassettes)
CLOAD (This works with about 20% of the cassettes - After it finds the game, then type RUN or hit F5 on your keyboard)
BLOAD"CAS:",R (This works for the remaining 10% of the cassettes)