FM Towns Marty?

[gbaplayer]

hello,

iam curious about the FM towns marty console.

1. where can i get one from?
2. where to buy japanese games in and outside of japan?
3. which FM towns games do not run on the marty console?

i really want to check out those rpgs for the fm towns.

thanks
gbaplayer

[Skykid]

Heads up:

Finding a Marty outside of Japan is extremely difficult. One reason for this is the weight - they weigh an absolute ton, making exporting too costly.

Second: they break all the time. The floppy drive usually needs a belt replacement, but you wouldn't use that much. The main prob is the old cd tech - older than the PCE. Loads of the YHJ machines are sold as junk.

Third: it's got some great arcade ports, but not many exclusives. For instance PSX Toaplan shooting battle made some of its key shmups irrelevant. It still has the best port of Splatterhouse however, but that will cost you an arm and a leg.

Anyway, it's a nice novelty, just be aware of the pros and cons before diving in.

[gbaplayer]

maybe i should buy one directly in japan? how much does it actually weigh? how much does it cost?

and where can i buy rpgs (fm towns) for the system? are there any shops in akihabara which sell them?

[Rupert H]

I think you're mixing up the FM Towns with the FM Towns Marty. The Marty doesn't weigh much at all -- maybe just a little bit more than the PC Engine Duo.

A couple of points though:

Many of the "perfect" arcade ports from that era are far from perfect. For example the port of Muscle Bomber actually has less crowd animation than the Super Famicom version and Tatsujin-oh has its vertical display cropped so much that bullets hit you out of nowhere -- and that game honestly doesn't need to be any harder.

There are a bunch of FM Town games that don't work on the Marty too -- Mahou Daisakusen being the most desirable for shmup fans, but also many of the fighting games that need more RAM.

[gbaplayer]

i need the marty to play japanese rpgs in the first place.

[Rupert H]

I know nothing about the RPG compatibility I'm afraid. Check the Assembler forums for that kind of thing I reckon.

[Jonathan Ingram]

A thread about FM Towns and not a single mention of the excellent ports of Ultima VI and Lucas Arts adventure games?

[SuperDeadite]

The Marty is quite heavy actually, probably double the weight of a PCE-Duo at least.

But honestly if you really want to get into the Towns library, especially the Japanese RPG side, fuck the Marty.
If you are going go through the trouble of importing, get yourself a proper 486 class Towns PC. The Marty library is
extremely limited, and even then there's lots of weird stuff. Like Ultima Underworld officially supports the Marty, but it's
only playable on the lowest details settings, meaning no texture maps at all, in other words, pointless. A lot of games
won't even boot if you don't have a keyboard attached.

Plus lots of games have extra features such as MIDI support, dual floppy support, HDD installs. None of which can be done
on a Marty.

Hell, the internet still seems to think that Genocide Square is Marty compatible, which is flat out wrong. The box flat out states,
"This will not run on a Marty" in Japanese. And it certainly does not boot in my Car Marty.

In general, the Towns is a very niche machine, I have 3 units currently, Towns II Fresh, UX20, and a Car Marty. Some great stuff,
but it's expensive and not for everyone. The X68000 is a much better "gamers" machine.

But it does have a lot of the best versions of the games from that time. I'm currently playing through Illusion City, and it's the only version that runs at a good quick frame rate, which speeds up the fun a lot.

[Skykid]

I think you're mixing up the FM Towns with the FM Towns Marty. The Marty doesn't weigh much at all -- maybe just a little bit more than the PC Engine Duo.

A couple of points though:

Many of the "perfect" arcade ports from that era are far from perfect. For example the port of Muscle Bomber actually has less crowd animation than the Super Famicom version and Tatsujin-oh has its vertical display cropped so much that bullets hit you out of nowhere -- and that game honestly doesn't need to be any harder.

There are a bunch of FM Town games that don't work on the Marty too -- Mahou Daisakusen being the most desirable for shmup fans, but also many of the fighting games that need more RAM.

Rupert with the knowledge!

The Marty is super heavy though dude, must be twice the weight of a duo and more.

[SuperDeadite]

Oh and Mahou Daisakusen sucks on Towns. Really, if you must play it on a "console" get the X68000 version. On a 16mhz XVI it's way more fun then the Towns version even on my Overdrive equipped Towns Fresh (AMD 586x133mhz). The Towns port is garbage.

[Rupert H]

Bizarro. I've had one for years and I don't remember it being exceptionally heavy at all, but fair enough.

[CIT]

gbaplayer, you should get in touch with Uroko Sakanabito, he's the "leading FMT expert" in Germany, and can answer all your questions. This is his site: http://www.japan-retro.de

In general: Only get a Marty if you are interested as a console collector. If you want to really enjoy the games, get a Marty PC or (in case of the arcade Ports) get the original PCBs or better versions (for Playstation, etc) where available.

[Ed Oscuro]

I have a Towns II and a Car Marty but little experience with it yet. There are some interesting games here - some only interesting for their CD soundtracks though (Galaxy Force II probably is one of these, with its low resolution). The only game I really have hopes for is Genocide Square, as a later port and revision of the X68000 originals.

[BIL]

I have a Towns II and a Car Marty but little experience with it yet. There are some interesting games here - some only interesting for their CD soundtracks though (Galaxy Force II probably is one of these, with its low resolution).

A bit OT, but it's worth noting M2's arcade-perfect Galaxy Force II disc for PS2 includes the FM Towns arranged soundtrack as one of its BGM choices. Blows my mind, that does. HOOAH *bow chicka bow bow* YEOWWW

I was considering a Marty for Hishouzame, but the port is completely boned by its screen formatting. Rather than Toaplan's excellent MD Fire Shark / Slap Fight decision to make the top screen edge the playfield's limit, it simply leaves the top part of the playfield active and unseen. So you're constantly exchanging fire with enemies you can't see, usually with one of you dying before ever meeting. Image Fight and Kyuukyoku Tiger are similarly affected and best played on PS1 in their respective Arcade Gears and Toaplan Shooting Battle compilations.

[gbaplayer]

@cit: thanks i will check that out.

by the way, has anybody experiences with pc98 and fm towns emulations? how do they work?

[Ed Oscuro]

PC98 emulation looks good enough to play Rusty at least; there's a playthrough of the game on YouTube.

I hear people have had some success with FMT emulation as well.

[gbaplayer]

@cit: do you know how i could contact the admin of japan-retro?

where can i buy a FM towns marty system and where do i get the FM towns games in japan?
do the japanese rpgs and adventures for the FM towns system work on the marty console?

especially these games i would like to buy and play on marty console:

Branmarker
Branmarker 2
Dangel
Dragon Half
Dragon Knight 4
GunBlaze
Irium
Kigen: Kagayaki no Hasha
Metal Eye
Metal Eye 2
Rance I
Rance II: Hangyaku no Shōjotachi
Rance III
Rance IV
Tenshin Ranma
Vain Dream
Vain Dream II
Words Worth
DE・JA 2
Jan Jaka Jan
Shangrlia
Shangrlia 2

how do i safe files for these rpgs on marty? and is it just plug it in and play on a marty console?

[SuperDeadite]

Some of those games will work, some won't. Like the older Rance games which need 2 floppy drives. On a Marty you typically save on floppy disk. There is no complete compatibility list. As for getting Towns games? Yahoo Auctions is just about it really.

[CIT]

@cit: do you know how i could contact the admin of japan-retro?

You can just PM him.

[gbaplayer]

Some of those games will work, some won't. Like the older Rance games which need 2 floppy drives. On a Marty you typically save on floppy disk. There is no complete compatibility list. As for getting Towns games? Yahoo Auctions is just about it really.

do you know which games will work?

@cit: thanks.

[toolboc]

Hell, the internet still seems to think that Genocide Square is Marty compatible, which is flat out wrong. The box flat out states,
"This will not run on a Marty" in Japanese. And it certainly does not boot in my Car Marty.

Genesis Square works perfectly fine on my FM Towns Marty. Both games in the compilation (Genocide 1 & 2) boot and play just fine.