Konami's A1 Grand Prix

Today, Gigamix Online.com features an article on A1 Grand Prix, one of the lesser known Konami MSX productions. All Konami fans who do not know this game should have a look at the pictures published on the Gigamix site.

A1 Grand Prix was written for use with the Links network. The Links network has long gone, but judging from the pictures, I guess the game can only be run with a network adapter in one of the MSX slots. Fortunately, these adapters are quite common in Japan, and can be obtained for next to nothing nowadays.

I also thought I'd share the info on the Gigamix page with you as it is quite entertaining:

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(First some talk about next year's A1 Grand Prix in Dubai-not MSX related)
These photos show the Japanese A1 Grand Prix held by The Links in 1987. This software actually was made by Konami. Every Wednesday at 9 pm, a racing round started. Winner was the person who reached the goal most quickly.

An infrastructure as we have nowadays was not available back then. Therefore, you had to download the track data, after which you played the game offline. After finishing the track, you had to connect to the host yourself and pick up the new data. This process had to be repeated again and again... How nostalgic.

Since you had to dail yourself, a telephone line using tones was advantageous over a line using pulses. Likewise, the R800 mode was preferable over the Z80 mode, as the screen processing inside the Links software becomes faster using a R800. (Note that the game speed itself does not alter in R800 mode). In the closing days of The Links, you had to have a MSX turbo R+telephone line with tones+a telephone with a redial function in order to win a race .

The game is an original based on Road Fighter. There are many resemblances between the two games: when you collide with another car you have to countersteer to recover, your fuel decreases when you crash, game over when you run out of gas. However, whenever you pass a car, you receive 200 dollars. A race consists of overtaking cars and collecting money, tuning up your car by buying optional parts, and buying gasoline in order to restore your fuel supply. You can enjoy thrilling developments which aren't limited simply to car racing: you can't enjoy BGM unless you buy a car stereo; you can't avoid the speed control unless you have a radar (you get fined when caugt speeding). It is a true Konami: no complaints about the game system, graphics or music. Even nowadays, the game is fun.
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This Sunday, A1 Grand Prix will be shown at the Southern Kanto MSX Users Meeting. You can also play the game, so I already made my plans for this Sunday 8)