FM Towns Car Marty - impressions (no vids yet)

[Ed Oscuro]

I finally got a Car Marty (thanks to Japan-Games) and I've played a few games on it. One was Galaxy Force II, which sucked, but it's not a SHMUP so I won't cover that here.

The first game I played was Viewpoint. Great port by VING with sound recorded directly from the arcade game, no static, perspective is correct (I would hope so, since it's a Neo game after all). Pretty easy to control, all things considered.

I just burned Flying Shark (Hishou Zame) to disc and managed to fight through to level 25 without autofire. It didn't feel especially fun, unfortunately.

There are five different video settings for this game, none of which work very well on my TV. The best seems to be "High Res - Wide," but that one stretches off the bottom of the screen. I think even on this mode the game "compensates" for a shorter screen, and one result is that you can't let those red planes that circle around at the beginning go in front of you if you're in the middle of the screen, as they'll smack into you. This is different from the arcade game.

There is autofire, but the shot limit is very low - you can have about three shots onscreen at once. It seems best just to set it off or to the lowest level, unless you are really good with point-blanking in this game (or don't mind tapping the fire button to get the shots spaced out).

The last thing is the music. Bad, very generic MIDI instruments and barely audible static at the beginning of each track - all problems that Viewpoint didn't have.

Anyhow, I hope to get a chance to check out some other games soon, but these experiences have really highlighted the necessity of "try before you buy" on this system. I imagine that the game works best on an actual computer screen, though.

[rolins]

Why did you buy a Car Marty? That thing isn't worth $100+ that it goes for. It doesn't even have disk drive. Plus don't you need like special cable to connect it to a TV?

About Flying Shark, I say the conversion was nicely done but the gameplay is quite boring. Ving should have ported Daisenpu instead.

See if you can get Mahou Daisakusen. I'm curious if it really works on a Marty. I've tried running this game under Unz w/ Marty + 6MB ram settings, but the game refuses run that way.

I want to get a Marty myself someday so I can play Mahou Daisakusen and Tatsujin 2. Emulating these games is not enough for me.

[Ed Oscuro]

Heh, somebody or other here warned me off Mahou, but yes, I'm starting to realize it's a bit more interesting than good ol' FS. I don't know why, but on the Marty it's almost intolerable. That might be a product of my using a beat-up old (and tiny) MSX2 joypad from Panasonic, though, and the other aforementioned problems.

To answer your question, the Car Marty does need some special stuff. A bit of a breakdown in terminology:

The core unit is called the MVP-1. Neogeoman sold a couple Car Marty units back in mid-2006 in a single auction along with some other stuff and it all went for $1000 ("the guys on the Forum won't believe it!" - damn good sense of humor). The Car Marty units were probably in better shape than mine cosmetically because at least one had the box, but overall it seems that lucky bidder got only double what I did for much less. My price on the Car Marty was about $150, I think, including shipping.

NVK-1 - the box that contains a GPS antenna, black box (reciever unit), and a special control pad (probably can be used for shooters, since it seems to be literally a joypad with a special case and three or so buttons - one more than the usual, and placed in different spots). Also contains a CD-ROM and a PCMCIA card you plug into the slot on the front of the machine.

ACD-1 - the name of the Home Use kit. It contains the widest and tallest (if a little bit flat against the power strip, they sure chose the wrong dimensions to enlarge) damn brick-on-plug transformer I've ever seen for a home console, RCA/S-video cables, and some other random stuff.

The system was shipped with some original cables that I don't intend to use, and a used GPS reciever/antenna. That means the NVK-1 I got will stay unused unless I need the CD or something.

The ACD-1 is what a gamer would need, naturally.

Sorry I don't have any pictures yet. I've been waiting for Newegg to ship my damn computer so I can get my DAC-200 (yay, 50/60 FPS video capture) and my old scanner running, but so far it's been a no-show. I could take some snapshots with my camera in this dreary lighting, but that wouldn't really be the same.

[rolins]

Heh, somebody or other here warned me off Mahou, but yes, I'm starting to realize it's a bit more interesting than good ol' FS. I don't know why, but on the Marty it's almost intolerable. That might be a product of my using a beat-up old (and tiny) MSX2 joypad from Panasonic, though, and the other aforementioned problems.

I think I was the one who said to stay clear from Mahou. But after sitting down and playing it for a few hours it was more fun than Flying shark. Now if only the programmer of Unz emulator can optimize the speed on Mahou. It really is a pain to emulate this

Panasonic joypads for the MSX are the best. They look odd but there perfect for guys like me with smaller hands. If you need to use a joystick for the FM-Towns, the best one I've come across is the XE-1ST2 which is the one I use for my MSX and Genesis.

Good info on those accessories to the Car Marty. I don't know much about that stuff, although things like GPS is useless. If it has a PCMCIA you can use that for games that require a disk drive. Not all games support it, but hey, where else you going to find an external disk drive. You'll need to get a Type I SRAM memory cards if you want to use PCMCIA though.

[Ed Oscuro]

I think I was the one who said to stay clear from Mahou. But after sitting down and playing it for a few hours it was more fun than Flying shark.

Bastard ;)

Oh well - I used to spend more time with FS too. Aside from the bit I played earlier today, I haven't touched it in two months.

Panasonic joypads for the MSX are the best. They look odd but there perfect for guys like me with smaller hands. If you need to use a joystick for the FM-Towns, the best one I've come across is the XE-1ST2 which is the one I use for my MSX and Genesis.

Take after your avatar a bit? Well, this one is the FS-JS220. So darn small. The regular Marty one is flat compared to a Genesis pad, but a bit closer to that size (and thus better for me). Anyway, I'm not familiar with the XE-1ST2, I'll have to look out for it. I've seen a wide range of XE- sticks and that wasn't one of them (or if it was I've forgotten).

Good info on those accessories to the Car Marty. I don't know much about that stuff, although things like GPS is useless. If it has a PCMCIA you can use that for games that require a disk drive. Not all games support it, but hey, where else you going to find an external disk drive. You'll need to get a Type I SRAM memory cards if you want to use PCMCIA though.

I hadn't thought about the PCMCIA angle, should have though. Perhaps this means I will end up getting a PCMCIA card adapter for my PC after all...anyway, the problem with PCMCIA is that everything I've seen is dreadfully expensive. I was looking at cards to see if anything would double for a Neo Geo memory card, and everything was uncomfortably close to the $100 range. Pretty bad for obsolete tech.

I have a feeling I just might be able to find a Marty floppy drive yet, but it's not too high on the list of priorities right now. Maybe in the future.

[dave4shmups]

I think I was the one who said to stay clear from Mahou. But after sitting down and playing it for a few hours it was more fun than Flying shark.

Bastard

Oh well - I used to spend more time with FS too. Aside from the bit I played earlier today, I haven't touched it in two months.

Panasonic joypads for the MSX are the best. They look odd but there perfect for guys like me with smaller hands. If you need to use a joystick for the FM-Towns, the best one I've come across is the XE-1ST2 which is the one I use for my MSX and Genesis.

Take after your avatar a bit? Well, this one is the FS-JS220. So darn small. The regular Marty one is flat compared to a Genesis pad, but a bit closer to that size (and thus better for me). Anyway, I'm not familiar with the XE-1ST2, I'll have to look out for it. I've seen a wide range of XE- sticks and that wasn't one of them (or if it was I've forgotten).

Good info on those accessories to the Car Marty. I don't know much about that stuff, although things like GPS is useless. If it has a PCMCIA you can use that for games that require a disk drive. Not all games support it, but hey, where else you going to find an external disk drive. You'll need to get a Type I SRAM memory cards if you want to use PCMCIA though.

I hadn't thought about the PCMCIA angle, should have though. Perhaps this means I will end up getting a PCMCIA card adapter for my PC after all...anyway, the problem with PCMCIA is that everything I've seen is dreadfully expensive. I was looking at cards to see if anything would double for a Neo Geo memory card, and everything was uncomfortably close to the $100 range. Pretty bad for obsolete tech.

I have a feeling I just might be able to find a Marty floppy drive yet, but it's not too high on the list of priorities right now. Maybe in the future.

Thanks for the impressions! I wonder if Flying Shark plays any better on the FM Towns Marty? I had hoped that it was an arcade port, but I guess not.

It is on the X68000, and Yakumo said he'd be doing a Retro Core special on that computer sometime.

[Ed Oscuro]

Thanks for the impressions! I wonder if Flying Shark plays any better on the FM Towns Marty?

Probably not. The Marty is the console version of the Towns, also for use with televisions (technically speaking this puts mine in line with the others, because it is not only branded a Marty but has only S-video output - nice but not the same as VGA). My guess is that it works best on a high-resolution computer monitor (i.e. one of the regular FM Towns machines).

I had hoped that it was an arcade port, but I guess not. :(

Oh, it is, it just has a few problems.

It is on the X68000, and Yakumo said he'd be doing a Retro Core special on that computer sometime.

Yes, my legit copy of Flying Shark is on X68000.