poll:MSX weakness

Enlighted (4155)

12-07-2019, 21:30

MSX was a decent and quite successful system in the era of 8 bit wars.
However, i think could be a lot successfull. The reasons ( not marketing ones ) where for me those, listed by generations:

MSX:
Lack of hw scrolling on VDP, Too much limited sprite system (scan line limit essentially)
MSX2:
OK, we enhanced gFX at very good level, but:
- Even to weak sprite system
- No Sound Improvement ????? only PSG?
- No CPU speed upgrade

MSX2+:
Pratically should never have existed.
Only a hw scroll improvement. sound should have been already upgraded on MSX2

TurboR:
Only a CPU Speed upgrade? 8 bit always?

What are, In your opinion what are the most big mistakes on msx generations that acted as a brake in its diffusion?

By hamlet

Scribe (4106)

12-07-2019, 22:11

All my friends had Commodores.

By valrond

Expert (71)

12-07-2019, 22:14

Poor worldwide market. Outside of Japan, a few countries in Europe like Netherlands, Spain, and Brazil, there weren't widespread. That lead to:
Poor support outside of Japan. With the success of the home consoles, Japanes companies left the MSX both in hardware and software.
Later models became nearly as expensive as an Amiga 500, while the Amiga was a much more computer.

By wolf_

Ambassador_ (10134)

12-07-2019, 22:45

Despite all the different expansions you could get (RAM, sound chips, faster CPU etc.), the actual standard was quite minimal. In the end, because everyone wanted an audience to please, people more or less stuck to the bare standards.
Diskdrive access halted the system, so loading stuff while playing music was out.
50/60 Hz issues for music speed. (assuming 50 ot 60 Hz is used as clock, instead of line interrupts)
inconsistent PSG loudness on various MSX models.
The VDP has always been a bottleneck, also omitting some essentials that were a piece of cake on other systems from that era.

By turbor

Hero (528)

12-07-2019, 22:52

PingPong wrote:

MSX was a decent and quite successful system in the era of 8 bit wars.
MSX2+:
Pratically should never have existed.
Only a hw scroll improvement. sound should have been already upgraded on MSX2

Well the MSX-Music is the cheaper variant of the MSX-audio and was being standardized as option to the standard while the MSX2 standard was being rolled out. It was so optional that it only was made available as an extra cartridge.
At least the MSX2+ standard forced the MSX-Music to be incorporated in the machine .

By wolf_

Ambassador_ (10134)

12-07-2019, 22:54

turbor wrote:

At least the MSX2+ standard forced the MSX-Music to be incorporated in the machine .

Unless this info is wrong, the MSX MUSIC wasn't part of the bare MSX2+ standard.

By sd_snatcher

Prophet (3675)

12-07-2019, 23:59

The main weakness seems to be:

Loser syndrome, when recurrently the weak points are moaned over and over, instead of reinforcing and trying to take advantage of the strong points like programmers of other platforms do.

By Grauw

Ascended (10818)

13-07-2019, 00:07

sd_snatcher wrote:

The main weakness seems to be:

Loser syndrome, when recurrently the weak points are moaned over and over, instead of reinforcing and trying to take advantage of the strong points like programmers of other platforms do.

LOL, yeah.

By Manuel

Ascended (19676)

13-07-2019, 00:36

wolf_ wrote:

turbor wrote:

At least the MSX2+ standard forced the MSX-Music to be incorporated in the machine .

Unless this info is wrong, the MSX MUSIC wasn't part of the bare MSX2+ standard.

Correct indeed! A common mistake. MSX-MUSIC is an optional standard on MSX2+. However, originally, MSX-AUDIO was meant to be standardized on MSX2. AFAIK due to the high price this wasn't pursued.

By PingPong

Enlighted (4155)

13-07-2019, 10:48

I do not agree. It is not a loser syndrome. I think pratically all msx owners are happy of MSX.
The poll aim to achieve a rational analisys of the system weak points or errors done by its creators.
Nothing to complain about. No sadness. Only a rationale analisys.

So I ask to the original question: what are weakly points in any generations.
For example, most msx2 have a FDD and this is great. But msx didn't standardize this device. It is a good thing or an error?

By Timmy

Master (200)

13-07-2019, 10:53

sd_snatcher wrote:

The main weakness seems to be:

Loser syndrome, when recurrently the weak points are moaned over and over, instead of reinforcing and trying to take advantage of the strong points like programmers of other platforms do.

And in addition:

[*] Unrealisticly high expectation syndrome, when people do release a game, it has to be the best ever look and feel, and anything that is lesser than that are moaned over and over, instead of just on focusing on the gameplay or the fun like players of other platforms do.