Trying to find anything out about this system is proving quite difficult. Other than ASSEMbler's page on the Marty systems, there's not much other info apart from system overview/specs. I'm assuming this counts as 'rare & obscure' Any of you guys here own one of the 'PC' systems, or a Marty? Wondering if anyone can answer a few questions, please? Firstly, what FM-T games are there? Tring to find a complete, or even half-decent list is proving impossible! I'm looking at this more as a system to play, rather than just collect for. So I'm interested in arcade/platform/shooters really. IS there a decent selection? I keep getting hits on Google for LucasArts Indiana Jones games???? I asume these will have been translated to Japanese, is it possible to change the language back to English (& Marty compatable)? I understand there is a huuuuge amount of Hentai. What sort of power can I expect from the machine? Are the graphics on par/better than say, the arcade ports of Strider/GnG for the X68k, or are we talking MD style. How much of the original 'PC' OS etc remains in the Marty? Is it simple plug n' play console style, or is there a crazy on-screen Japanese set-up that I'm gonna have to get through? I understand saving is to FDD, is it just a simple case of insert floppy, (format) and press save? I assume game wise, I just insert a disk console style, and it plays. Were games CD only, or did they come on FDD? And finally, the ASSEMbler page speaks of PCMCIA style upgrades in 2 or 4mb size. I assume that a Marty II is the best version to get, as this is a 486DX based system, and along with one of these upgrade cards will therefore play all the FM-T games? Sorry for all these questions, but I like to know what I'm getting into before I start on a crazy mission. Thanks :ramen
A lot of the western dungeon & RPG games, Lucasarts etc are in English on FM Towns, including the speach i believe, maybe the only version with this sound due to cd format. Graphics, it's a 32bit machine, but shares a lot of the X68000 library, tho doesnt have as many games suitable for westerners, expect it to be X68k to 32bit 2d grade. I dunno about compatibilty, i asume if something doesnt run on Marty, the same is for Marty 2 as the only upgrade afaik is to 486. Super Streetfighter 2 requires the PCMCIA ram upgrade to run on any Marty. Ive wanted one for sometime since Gamefan covered it, never quite had the nerve to go the distance tho was sure hell bent on finding out all i could for some time:/
The Marty is a console version of the popular Fujitsu FM Towns computer. It was a hybrid PC/games computer. Think early 90's PC, with CD-ROM (when they were just starting to come out), hardware sprites and scrolling and excellent, built-in digital and PCM sound. I own the original FM Towns computer and a Marty 2, and the main difference from Marty 1 is the faster CPU (486 vs 386), and the communications port. as Baseley09 stated, the LucasArts games are in both English and Japanese. There are a lot of early Western PC games available (the Ultimas, Wing Commanders, 4D Boxing, etc.) Ultima VI for the Marty is the best version available (since it has full speech on the CD - it was origin's first CD-Rom product. A lot of Origin/Sierra/Lucas gusy were closet FM Towns fans, since it was an incredible game machine for the time.) It also has a lot of the early Psygnosis FMV shooter experiment games, like Microcosm. It runs a proprietary OS in ROM (TownsOS?)with icons and such. It's all kanji, so I don't understand a lot of it. I can get stuff to run from the dektop by trial and error. The Japanese games include the usual assortment of shooters, rpg, dating sim and Hentai games. I should also mention most Marty games require a 3.5" floppy disc to play (save characters and games and such - the machine has a floppuy drive on the right side). Many games included a preformated save disc for that purpose.
After looking over people's previous posts. Got me a little interested in the Marty. I should of got one when I was in Japan (cheaper shipping -P). Anyways, so I did a quick look on ebay, nothing. Then Yahoo Auction's and I found three for sale. Hmm, probably the best way to learn about it is to have one and take it apart or something. http://page11.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/n20944247 going pretty cheap when I looked at it 08222005 http://page13.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/r13212873 from what I can tell it doesn't display, but the floppy drive belt has been replaced so that works. Too expensive me thinks. http://page10.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/m19120453 floppy doesn't work with this one.
Here's some games: http://dynamic.gamespy.com/~japangaming/gm_ix.php?system=fmtownsa http://dynamic.gamespy.com/~japangaming/gm_ix.php?system=fmtownsb
Cool, thanks for all the answers guys. @ irata2004 - I'm amazed there are English lang games available. Smashing. Never played any of the Indy games either. @ GaijinPunch - Thanks for that. I normally check your site for Jpn DC/Saturn/PCE/MD stuff as you know your quality games. Never thought to check there for FM-T. D'oh. @ Kotodama - thanks for those links. Out of interest WTF is that connected to the MartyII in this link you gave, a printer interface? @Baseley - You have as much fun I'm having trying to find out info. Bah. Still can't find a decent list of games though. But it seems that even if I find 15 or so cool shmups/platformers that I want, actually finding them is gonna be a mission. There's 2 guys on Ebay selling FM-T stuff, and 1 of these guys is taking the piss with prices. As for tracking down a 4mb upgrade card :no It seems that finding a unit with a working FDD is a lucky thing. Assuming that it uses standard FDD components, are they easily fixable? Anyone tried? Seems that a unit with a broken FDD is seriously gonna impact the system, if it requires disks to be present for the games. What ports are on the rear of the unit? As this is a PC, I'm guessing I'll be able to run RGB Scart? Although this is the first time GamesX has failed me for a AV port pinout Again, thanks for the answers. You've certainly got me more interested in the system.
The console outputs composite as standard. Anyone have any idea about that lewd expansion in that Marty 2 auction.............parrallel ports??
Ha I didn't notice that huge thing sticking out of the back of that Marty. Anyways, I have no clue what that could be. Also apparently the seller doesn't know what it is either. Just says "it's an expansion unit, but as for details I don't know". Another auction http://page11.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/n22741626 It's still shrinkwrapped, so the true condition of the console is unknown. About the Floppy drive. From what I've seen of the previous auctions, I would say that the problem with the floppy drive is that the rubber belt breaks easily. Well that is the problem with one of them, and that was replaced with the other one. I'd think that replacing a floppy drive belt would be easy, but I've never done it so I'm not sure. I'd guess if you can't buy the part, you could just salvage it from any old floppy drive. Software wise, it seems harder to find Marty software. FM towns software on the other hand is pretty easy to find on Yahoo, but the price range is kind of whacky me thinks. Record of the Lodoss Wars goes for 50 bucks. This is the only Marty software auction I've found so far. http://page4.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/d51668275 140 bucks, for 10 games. Doesn't seem like much of a deal.
Yip, the rubber belt problem occurs frequently. Happened to a friend of mine but he was actually able to find a nearly identical one at a computer shop and now it works. Actually Marty compatible software is not that hard to find. The thing is, it's not separate software from the FM Towns stuff, but just certain FM Towns software that has a little logo on it "Marty compatible". Since most sellers on yahoo probably don't or didn't own a Marty but just a Towns computer they will probably not mention Marty in the auction, so it won't pop up if you use Marty as a keyword. You should search for all FM Towns software and if you don't know beforehand whether it's Marty compatible, try to discerne from the photo or ask the seller if necessary.
StarWolf: There's a Japanese list somewhere on the net. I thought someone mentioned it in my forums once, but a quick search came up w/ nothing. I'll try to have a look later. I think you'll be hardprsesed for an English list though. I've you downloaded the UNZ emulator yet?
http://search.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/search?sb=desc&desc=FM+towns&auccat=0&acc=jp&f=0x12&alocale=0jp&mode=1 This usually gives 60-80 auctions. In the short time I have been looking not many great games seems to appear though. and this one gives a few more http://list3.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/2084039765-category-leaf.html?f=&alocale=0jp&mode=1
Hardware-wise the Marty and the FM Towns are identical. Some FM Towns games don't work on the Marty because they expect more RAM, or need keyboard input (as I found with Graduation Day - boots fine on both, but cannot go beyond introduction on the Marty because it required the keyboard.) The Japanese gaming computers of the late 80's/early 90's were leaps and bounds ahead of their Western counterparts (the Atari St and the Amiga). The graphics and sound capabilities of the machines left the poor ataris and Amigas in the dust. However, they were never marketed beyond Japan. American programmers were closet fans of these machines because their companies developed for them, and sold the games over there (the Origin and Sierra guys in particular were big fans. Some old Origin pics show FM Towns machines in the programmers labs. ) If you think the Marty is cool, you should check the Sharp x68000. That was a great games machine, with terrific shooters, and it looked cool to boot (Jet-Black Dual-Tower case)
Yeah, from what little info there is on the X68k, it too looks like a quality bit of kit. The reason I'm interested in Marty though is the whole console aspect. Having to fiddle with a proper computer, all with a completely foreign OS just to play games is a bit too far for me to go. According to NFGman, there's 20 different X68k models and the games are on 5 1/4" floppys. Far too 'hardcore' for me; I just wanna pop in a CD and play Irata2004 - How much difference do you notice when playing games on the Marty2? Does the 486DX make a vast improvement over the 386? Sorry if this is a daft question, but surely a Marty1 can handle 2D platformers/shmups properly? And the Indy games must be ok on a 386? Surely the 4mb IC card will help out a Marty1 a great deal? GaijinPunch - If you could find any sort of list I'd be very impressed. Thanks I checked over the Tokyo RGB Hospice website using the magic of Google translation. There's lots of cables to use consoles with FM-T RGB monitors and 21pin RGB cables for every other machine but no Marty though. So unless the Marty has a 15pin Japanese computer socket on it, no RGB Scart then Found this though.
Starwolf, there's no apparent difference between the 386 Fm Towns and the 486SX Marty 2 in the games I own. I guess that as the computer got upgraded so did the console. Ultima VI looks and sounds awesome on the system - the music, in particular, is cool as are the voiceovers (though I think the PC with a Roland MT-32 card still had better music - then again, back then the PC was much more expensive, and with a $600 add-in MIDI card the price was even higher. Japanese consumers had great sound and graphics built in from the get go.
There's not really that much difference performance-wise with a 386DX and a 486SX anyway - the SX was like the Celeron of the day, but even crapper in comparison as unlike the 486DXs it didn't have a built-in maths co-processor. So the only significant difference would be the clock speed - AFAIK the 386DX used in the FM Towns was 16MHz, and the slowest 486s are 25MHz, though it could have been underclocked or something, and as far as I remember from messing with the "Turbo" button on my old 386 PC, changing between 16 and 25MHz made fuck-all difference most of the time anyway.
Seems this expansion pack could be a way to turn the Marty back in to a FM-T by offering a Monitor connection and Printer port? Pretty crazy, but wasn't there an expansion thingy for the Amiga CD32 to turn that back into an A1200? It's a shame that software list is no longer available. Thanks for looking though GaijinPunch :smt023 If there's not gonna be any noticable difference in performance I'd prefer a Marty1. Looks cooler and they seem to be the easier to get hold of. I'm wondering what amount of cool Dojin software must be out there. I'm always impressed with Dojin shmups. Surely there must have been some quality FM-T games?
