MSX EMULATORS
Which MSX emulators exist?
(mainly written by Marat Fayzullin [fms@cs.umd.edu] and with help of the
Emulator Page of Sean Young (which doesn't exist anymore))
- fMSX (Unix, Mac, MS-DOS, Windows, PC9800, etc.)
fMSX is a portable MSX/MSX2/MSX2+ emulator written in C language by
Marat Fayzullin. It is written in C, and its source code is freely
distributable for non-commercial purposes. Numerous ports and
extensions exist for different platforms, such as the MS DOS version
by Marcel de Kogel and Macintosh version by John Stiles. Further
development is greatly encouraged. The Windows95/WinG version is
available from the author for $35US (with a free demo). fMSX can be
obtained from http://www.komkon.org/fms/fMSX/"
fMSX-DOS has a special distribution site: fMSX-DOS Distribution Site.
Personally, I really like this emulator (as far as I use emulators!). It's
optimized to deliver maximal performance on the MS-DOS platform. For this
emulator, various 'Launchers' for Windows can be downloaded. For URL's see see my bookmarks, emulator section, but a very nice
one is fMSX QuickStart, by Arjan Steenbergen. It can be downloaded here.
- fMSX-Amiga (Amiga)
This is an Amiga version of fMSX branched from the portable version
by Hans Guijt a long time ago. It is quite different from the
mainstream version and optimized to deliver maximal perfomance on
Amiga platform.
- CJS MSX2 (MSDOS)
MSX2 emulator by CJS is able to access files in the MSDOS partitions,
emulates both MSX and MSX2, supports mouse, it is fast, and has very
extensive documentation. You may
have known its previous versions under names "PC MSX1 emulator" and
"MSX099". A real disadvantage is that the author seem to have given it up.
There have been no updates since 1995 or so. CJS MSX2 can be obtained from http://msx.bnc.nl/msx/ (now offline?).
- AmiMSX 2 (Amiga)
AmiMSX is written by Juan Antonio Gomez Galvez. Its performance is quite
impressive even on an A3000/25. Unfortunately, it is a crippleware:
the freely distributable version stops working after several minutes.
It supports PSG or SCC and requires at least OS2.0 and 680X20.
It can be obtained from: http://www.arrakis.es/~joanant/amsx.htm.
- Virtual MSX (Windows)
The Windows-only emulator by Sean Young has an emulation core written
in assembly language, and extensive GUI. Only MSX (not MSX2/MSX2+) is
currently emulated though. Needs WinG. The Virtual MSX can be found at http://www.msxnet.org/vmsx/
- MSX4PC (MS-DOS)
This is a commercial MSX emulator produced in Netherlands. It is
programmed by Adriaan van Doorn and published by MCCM. It can be obtained
from http://www.database.nl/mccm/
- BrMSX (MS-DOS)
A MS-DOS MSX emulator made by Ricardo Bittencourt. More info can be found
here: http://www.lsi.usp.br/~ricardo/brmsx.htm.
The emulator can be obtained from that page too.
- Java MSX Emulator
In very early state of development. More info on: http://www.medicina.ufmg.br/~arnon/msxemu/.
- MSKISS (MS-DOS)
By ISS'98. Also in early state of development. Can be obtained from: http://www.salleURL.edu/~is05562/msx_ing.html
- RuMSX (MS-Windows)
By Rudolf Lechleitner. The first MSX Emulator with full support for MSX2+
and MSX Turbo R, but still in development. Can be obtained from http://members.EUnet.at/lexlechz/msx.html
or http://www.bekkoame.or.jp/i/takatemp/r-emuj.htm or
http://www.ifi.uni-klu.ac.at/~alex/lex/software.html.
- PowerMSX (MS-DOS)
PowerMSX is a MSX emulator for DOS. It emulates a MSX1 with 64Kb of RAM and emulates
tapes as tape images and disk as disk images. Screen 3 is very slow and
without sprites. The emulator currently is at a very early stage of development
but already runs a lot of games. Even some Europian games that were not expected
to work run, like Venom, Profanation, Army Moves, Hundra, etc... It features
good emulated PSG sound also. Lacking noise channel. More info and download on:
http://members.xoom.com/_XOOM/MSXe/
- No$MSX (MS-DOS)
This emulator has been solely programmed for the reason to play H.E.R.O.
and Beamrider, please notice that No$msx can hardly compete with other
emulators: not much work put into the project, and not much support planned
in future. The video emulation includes only the most basic requirements,
same for interrupt emulation, actually practically everything that wasn't
required for the above two games is missing (so, no MSX2!), alltogether only
6 days were spent coding on project. More info and download on: http://www.work.de/nocash/msx.htm
- NLMSX (Windows 9x/NT, 16-BIT mode)
A new emulator developped by Frits Hilderink of the former MSX Computer Club
Enschede, The Netherlands. It is based on fMSX, by Marat Fayzullin. It's still
in early development, but it seems promising. More info and download on: http://www.hilderink.demon.nl/NLMSXReleaseNotes.html.
Other MSX emulator related info can be found on several MSX WWW pages,
especially the general ones and the ones mentioned at the Emulator-sections of
the various Link-lists (like my
bookmarks!). All latest versions can be downloaded from The MSX Emulator Page which also contains
a lot of software for the emulators, links, news and more info.
Is it possible to make a fMSX [.CAS] tape-image of a [.WAV] file
(with data from the tape)?
This is possible, and some people have made such a program, or are working on
it:
Is it legal to spread MSX ROMs and cartridge ROMs?
(written by Marat Fayzullin [fms@cs.umd.edu])
NO. Nobody seems to care though, mainly because there is no profit to be
made on these ROMs any longer. Nevertheless, be aware of the fact that by
using the system ROMs not taken out of your own MSX machine and ROMs from
cartridges you haven't bought, you are formally commencing an act of
software piracy.
I have some BAS, BIN or other files. How can I use them in my
emulator?
Most MSX emulators cannot work with normal MSX files, but need the files on a
disk-image (which is a direct copy of a diskette). If you want to use a certain
(MSX-)file with you emulated MSX, it has to be on a diskimage. Putting the file
in the same directory as your emulator will not work, unless you use the CJS
MSX2 emulator. That emulator can use files that are in the emulator's
directory. For more info how to use disk-images, check out the section on DSK files!
Why does holding down the CTRL key in fMSX have no effect?
I don't know, it works on the Unix version I use sometimes (e.g. fMSX Unix/X
2.0B/0.2). But the problem can be solved by using an adapted diskROM. It
seems the diskROM provided with Virtual MSX (see above) works fine. Also the
diskROM on the MSX Emulator Page seems
to be patched.
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