RARE Sony MSX 2+ Computer from Japan! 

The MSX has a very interesting history; if you've never seen LGR's review of another MSX, you should definitely check it out. The short version is that it was a collaboration between Microsoft and ASCII Corporation to attempt to bring a standard to PCs in Japan, since most computers in Japan weren't compatible with each other, much less with the IBM PC compatible "standard" that sort of formed by accident in North America. They reportedly took cues from the VHS standard; much like how any machine with the VHS logo could play VHS tapes, any machine with the MSX logo could run MSX software (and since Microsoft was involved, MSX-DOS was MS-DOS for the MSX). Also, the character you had to type out instead of a backslash is the Yen symbol.

Your video made me realize that MSX is a pretty complex home computer ( NOT A CONSOLE! 😅 ) if you never used one before. I was screaming at the screen the whole time, but then again, it's easy to understand why someone would struggle with a system that's quickly going towards 40 years old. Here's some random quick tips: * MSX games often use 2 fire buttons when using a joystick. For nemesis you can use the N key as the second fire. * That REN-SHA TURBO is for autofire ( it also affects the space bar, so turn it off when typing ) * SOFARUN ( on the SD cartridge ) would be the easiest way to get your games started * The nice music in the Bombaman game is called MSX-MUSIC. The little musical note logo, next to the HITBIT MSX2+ on the case, is what tells you this MSX has that music chip. * Floppy drive should be mostly compatible with regular floppy drives indeed. But look it up to be sure. MSX is great. Go get your own! Enjoy!

I find myself watching your clips on a Sunday morning while still in bed. Nice overview of this retro tech, it looks & works pretty well.

I am amazed by the fact that you have almost 10k subscribers and still answer EVERY comment in your videos. I hope your channel continues to grow, so you can get as much recognition as Adrian from the Digital Basement or the 8 bit guy, as you indeed deserve. Thank you for the all content and warm regards from Brazil.

That's a really neat computer. Like it was stated in at least one comment, the かな button should enable the uses of kana characters. From what I see, you should be able to write all 46 hiragana + the modified versions using the two keys between "P" and "Return". From early in the video you also show that there's Kanji Rom, so I assume there's some way to tell the computer to replace a hiragana selection with its Kanji counterpart. On modern devices, you would write はな(ha-na), then press "Space" so it replaces it with the 花 (flower) kanji. Also, here's a bit of trivia that you might have put together during the video: In Japanese, there's nothing that translates the "er" sound from "Bomberman" directly. Instead, they make the "ah" sound longer, which kinda simulates it. I'm curious about that Gladius cartridge as well. The music was a bit underwhelming compared to the insane soundtrack from the bomberman game, but I wonder if that was a game that got released early in this computer's lifespan. Anyway, it still hits the nostalgia button for me lol.

We never really got the MSX machines back in the UK. I always love the SONY design. They look so futuristic compared to our contemporary computers back in the day. Like EEVBlog always says "All the best stuff is made in Japan". Great video.

My first computer was an MSX and my second an MSX2 I wanted an 2+ but they was never sold in my country I think. I loved to code on MSX system

Reminds me of my first "computer", a SEGA SC-3000. Very similar to this, but came out in 1983. SEGA also named theirs a 'Personal Computer', but it was a mash up of their gaming console SG-1000 with a keyboard. BASIC and Pascal carts were available for programming. Even a Music cart for composing. Also a docking station with floppy drive and more memory/storage. There was even a colour printer too.

The FDD is just a Standard Shugart (Not IBM PC) 720k drive, IBM deviated from the standard in a few places. Some 720k drives have jumpers (or solder points) to switch to shugart standard. You need to be able to change the Drive ID to 0 or A, PC drives are all set to 1 or B and then use a twisted drive cable to select drive number (before the twist is B, after is A). You also need a straight floppy data cable without the PC twist. Some MSX machines might also require the Disk Change signal that the PCs ignore. The reason these drives are so expensive is that Amigas Atari ST, Early Macs and Misc hardware needs the same type of drives. Note that you can use a Floppy Emu in a MSX with one of the Open Firmwares Also 1) The chips you are looking for on the motherboard are not there, starting with later MSX 2 they started using a chip called a MSX Engine, basically a MSX1 SOC minus CPU and VDP (Video Display Processor). This cut the cost of the computers which was important because budget computers. 2) The cartridge slots are similar to ISA or PCI slot, lots of hardware add-ons plugin there. 3) Ren Sha Turbo is a auto fire function for use in games

My first computer in the late 80's was a Toshiba MSX HX-10, I really loved a game called River Raid. I'm in the UK, not sure how popular they were...and I still have it!

What a neat little system.

man that midi sound is amazing!

❤that's beautiful, today it's little black blocks or laboratory white towers. I wish went back to creative design❤

Surprised you hadn't heard of the MSX standard before, considering your retro computer interests. It was extremely popular in Japan and other parts of the world, such as the Middle East and South America. They were computers first, consoles second, much in the way systems like the C64 behaved. I have been on the lookout for a certain model by Yamaha which was specially geared towards music production, as it has a number of cool features, such as MIDI and FM synthesis!

that's an interesting piece of equipment, Almost like the Tandy Color computer 3

It's begging for a GOTEK floppy emulator.

Ehm, @2:24... the last MSX that was manufactored was actually made by Panasonic. You might want to look into it, because it called the MSX-Turbo-R

MSX, not my favorite architecture, but I still collect the Sony ones because they just look cool as hell. The HB-101 and the F1XD are my favorites.

Love the old retro technically amazing video mate

They are all computers the MSX systems, consoles are just for gaming, and no such exist. The MSX (many makers and models) and The C64 home/personal computers were the most popular in Europe, before the Amiga.

wow a Sony game console before the PlayStation. another great video.

what a cool little machine

This MSX machine is certainly not a game console. Just one of the many MSX home computers made by loads of manufactures. Speed controller is to slow down the CPU indeed. Slide it all open and your computer is slow as heck. Ren sha is an auto fire function. The second cartridge slot is for anything you'd like. It's just the same as slot 1, just that it's next in line. You could pop in a memory expansion, but you wouldn't need one if you play a cartridge game or disk game aimed at the Japanese market. Your on board 64kB is sufficient then. The screw below the powerbutton is to earth your computer. Just like the third pin on an american power plug. The diskdrive is a bit proprietary indeed, but it can be replaced. Mine don't have the original belt driven drives either. Just some adapted regular diskdrives. It's the eject button that makes the selection of fitting drives a bit narrow. You are missing the disk drive bracket... That's quite a bummer... If you want one, I know a guy in Spain that might have one spare (he could include a drive as well, but for a normal price). On the mainboard, below where the drive would be you see a small daughterboard called HIC-II. They're off the shelve boards doing video stuff... There are three SMD electrolitic capacitors on them. They're prone to leak. Change them if you want your computer to stay alive. If they do not leak now, the most certainly will within the foreseeable future. The board is very ugly, full of bodge wires. Not sure, but probably because they added functions to an existing MSX2 board design. This computer's older sister HB-F1XD has a way cleaner mainboard. The megamapper cartridge could be seen as some kind of harddisk, so you really do not need a diskdrive. The 512KB in it does add to your on board ram. It comes in handy when you work in MSX-DOS (or Nextor in your case, which is a home brew DOS which is superior) or want to run European software which normally requires more than 64KB. Have fun with the machine. It's not a game console/game computer, but it sure a heck can play some pretty games for its age. It's just that hozisontal scrolling was not in the hardware of its predecessor so most commercial software suffers from that. Homebrew normally scrolls a lot better. The above is meant to be nice tips. It might sound a but blunt, but it's just straight to the point.

Nice computer system to work on. Greetings from Steven from the Netherlands

That little japanese word above the LED means "KANA", a generic term which refer both to Hiragana and Katakana.

These old games definitely are brimming with charm

...👀 That thing looks really cool.

"But we don't have time". Thats a shame. Why not make time? Especially for a machine you're unlikely to use again and we're unlikely to even see, showing and exploring as much as you can would have been very useful. Not trying to sound angry or anything, i just think its a real shame you didn't take the chance to really dig in.

Nemesis/Gradius press F1 and type hyper or momoko then unpause, now you have all weapons!!!

its BEUTIFUL, I hope one day they make cases for Pi's (Raspery, Orange, Khadas, etc..) with the ability to insert SSD as cartridge (Ctrl placement above shift tho~)

We had them in the UK you could buy a MSX or a Speccy

It be interesting to see if the games and maybe the operating system of this computer will run on an old PC

I was wondering, does this model support stereo sound mode?

When I hear msx I automatically think of metal gear !

hi nice one :D i try found my coolection one msx2+ i have a quest separately need one one program floppy disc if the msx2+ vga upgraded 192kb vram with using vdp coomand?

Last manufactured by Sony , not the last msx manufactured

It is not considered to be a console at all.

Did you know that this Y looking symbol is the Japanese equivalent symbol to our Backslash? In computer language they share the same binary code so if you go to your windows settings and change your system language to Japanese your Backslash icon and keyboard key will use the Y symbol instead, But it still works to type in the commands the exact same way just that it looks that weird. I know this because I have to use this Japanese system language to play some games that will not run with any other language settings

BITD i had a Toshiba MSX(also a ZX Spectrum & an Amstrad C128) i had a golf game on cartridge played it to death

Why does it have an antenna? Maybe I missed a bit in the video?

かな - Kana - probably a Japanese character set selector.

It looks like an atari ST

Really such a blurry font and icons ?

かな (kana)　key is for japanese character

If you really want to tinker, try getting a PC8801 or PC9801 \ PC9821

Why on all these retro channels reviews they pretend not having already tried powering-on the machine before recording?

Just a question you keep saying it was aimed at the Japanese market. I know this sounds really stupid but most electronics that I see on channels like yourself the aimed primarily at the Japanese market literally they don’t care everything in Japanese on the equipment all the writing everything Japanese so if this was pure Japanese market, why would it be in English? Surely they must’ve made it obviously this being the case on the video for the Western market with English text on the keyboard with a reasonably standard western keyboard layout