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FM Towns; the hardware, the games, the arcade ports

hoagtech said:
C'mon now. FM Towns looks appealing but is not comparable to the Sharp X68000 library.

4 Gradius games, Castlevania, Cho-Shen Ra, and a long list of shmups and fighters to boot..

Let’s be real
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100% agree!

But when it comes to Gradius games on x68000 there are much more;

Gradius
Gradius 2
Nemesis 90
Nemesis 93 Kai
Nemesis 94 Kai
The new Gradius 3 Port (insane!)
plus the rest of the family (Salamander/Parodius/Twinbee)
plus one sprite change game of Gradius but I forgot the name :unsure:

Also there is no R-Type on FM Towns and Mahou is unplayable on Marty.
More Ram will not help neither does HDD installation.
There is one known RGB mod for Martys, a german guy did win one @Amiga Joker if irc.
It came fully modded, i postet pictures in the FB group years ago.
Problem is, he does not sell or show it again. He even did blew the PSU by plugging in directly.

When it comes to the Towns experience, there is no reason to go for Marty.
Even the worst computer is better.

http://japan-retro.de/martyfaq.html
German guide from 2011 says the same ^__^
 
eh do you think anyone actually plays the games? I though everyone just tinkered with the hardware and mods :D

Do you have any more info on the RGB mod?
 
No more infos, sorry. Did share everything i had in the FM Towns group (years ago).

PS: The shmup list is missing Ku2 and D-Return btw.
PSS @video; There is a 6 button fighting pad and the capcom adapter for Street Fighter!
 
chaoschao said:
Sorry if this is wrong place to ask, but would anyone know why a Marty 2 would refuse to power on? Got it for a steal on YAJ and it arrived from ZenMarket just the other day. It was listed as junk so I took a gamble. Plugged everything in, hit the power switch and... there's almost no signs of life, but the power LED blinks for a very brief moment and goes away. Almost like it wants to power on but can't quite find the willpower. I'm guessing bad caps as these consoles seem to be about as infamous for them as the PCE Duo. I'm a first-time Marty owner so please excuse my ignorance. Thanks in advance :)
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Here’s a video showing someone servicing the power section watch the whole video because he screws up at some point

View: https://youtu.be/z_mxt8_KWJM
 
SB_Electronics said:
No RGB mod yet. The FM towns Marty processes digital YC into analog YC. I don’t know if anyone has looked at whether the VDP outputs digital RGB. It might be easier to ask Fixel if he’s considering a Marty digital AV mod.
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If the digital YC exists somewhere you'll be able to do something similar to the RGB/hdmi mods for GameCube, which uses digital YCbCr behind the scenes (IIRC). Depends really on the digital precision of the YC data.

Edit: Apparently this is the video DAC: https://wiki.console5.com/wiki/MB40968V , so there will be some data loss from the palette defined in RGB 888, but it may be better than converting the analog composite video back into RGB.
The only alternative would be to try something like the NES/Famicom RGB mod, capture the palette writes and try to write something that works as a palette index when converted into Y. Though there is very little english language information about FM Towns II/Marty aside from emulator sourcecode.

Edit2: Just found that you can't even look at Yahoo Auctions from the EU (without a proxy) any more.
 
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Fluffy said:
If the digital YC exists somewhere you'll be able to do something similar to the RGB/hdmi mods for GameCube, which uses digital YCbCr behind the scenes (IIRC). Depends really on the digital precision of the YC data.

Edit: Apparently this is the video DAC: https://wiki.console5.com/wiki/MB40968V , so there will be some data loss from the palette defined in RGB 888, but it may be better than converting the analog composite video back into RGB.
The only alternative would be to try something like the NES/Famicom RGB mod, capture the palette writes and try to write something that works as a palette index when converted into Y. Though there is very little english language information about FM Towns II/Marty aside from emulator sourcecode.

Edit2: Just found that you can't even look at Yahoo Auctions from the EU (without a proxy) any more.
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Possibly. Though it’s already combined the RGB into digital chroma so it may be not much different than converting cvbs back to RGB. Your 2nd suggestion would be a better approach.

Oh no. No more yahoo.jp 😭 I use Buyee which I think still gets to yahoo.jp and will allow you to proxy purchase (as long as the listing allows postage outside of Japan 😏)
 
FM towns UX aio console is the one you want. Sony pvm auto switching tri sync with rgb fm towns pc built into one cute, vectrex sized unit.

1688189733673.png
 
She is but she's not mine, I just grabbed a picture of one online although mine is the same as in that picture. I do have the Midi card and expansion too so it's fully decked. I have no use for the mouse controller and keyboard as I used to use it for the X68k as a monitor lol. So those bits aren't shown.
20160701_231602.jpg

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The tube in the FM towns UX is pretty awesome.
 
Nice all-in-one and native tri-sync support is awesome but I think I'd prefer at least a 14" CRT size-wise
 
I have to admit playing on these all in one consoles with the tiny screens (vectrex, fm towns ux etc) does take me back to my childhood days where you didnt have the privilege of anything larger than 14 inches portable set. Playing one in the living room carpet with your legs crossed does makes you feel like 7 years old again. Ofc depends on how old you are and how rich your parents were. I was pretty deprived 😅
 
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I have a cib xvi with matching cib sharp monitor. Recapped and good to go. Wont be cheap though. Got a loose x6800 hd too.. if your on a budget. Also have a fm towns tower spare as well.
 
Fluffy said:
If the digital YC exists somewhere you'll be able to do something similar to the RGB/hdmi mods for GameCube, which uses digital YCbCr behind the scenes (IIRC). Depends really on the digital precision of the YC data.

Edit: Apparently this is the video DAC: https://wiki.console5.com/wiki/MB40968V , so there will be some data loss from the palette defined in RGB 888, but it may be better than converting the analog composite video back into RGB.
The only alternative would be to try something like the NES/Famicom RGB mod, capture the palette writes and try to write something that works as a palette index when converted into Y. Though there is very little english language information about FM Towns II/Marty aside from emulator sourcecode.

Edit2: Just found that you can't even look at Yahoo Auctions from the EU (without a proxy) any more.
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There are two 8bit digital channels. Y' and UV' going into the 2ch 8bit DAC for S-Video. Those channels would be optimal for sampling for an HDMI mod. Alternatively, I have also discovered there is digital YPbPr on the test pads near the VDP ASIC (near svideo dac). horizontal and vertical is also broken out. Interesting thing about Marty is the horizontal, vertical and pclk remains the same even when adjusting different video modes in my testing for the VING arcade titles.

So in theory you could shove it all into an HDMI transmitter and if the horz, vert and pclk don't change (I don't think they do?), you have a 480p HDMI mod.
 
Is it possible to rgb mod a fm towns marty? What does the ux and tower have that the marty doesnt? Maybe an adaption of the nesrgb mod as nes didnt have rgb either?
 
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