Cheapest way to play most games?

Expert (66)

22-09-2022, 10:10

Hi,
I've got an SVI 738 that I've upgraded to MSX2 (64kb RAM and 128kb VRAM) and I've also replaced the DD with a Gotek running FlashFloppy.
I'm mostly just interested in running as many games as possible. It works pretty good so far, with most disk-games working, and cracked 16-32kB cart-games also working.
But MegaRoms, SD Snatcher and Snatcher won't work because of my low amount of RAM.

What would be the cheapest way to get these games to work on my computer?
I just found out about the Popolon Sound Cartridge - would this work on my setup? Is it plug and play, so I just have to plug it in and boot up the SD Snatcher Disk, and it just works with extra RAM and SCC-sound? Or do you need to patch the disks or something like that?

Or are there any even more cheaper carts out there, that would allow me to run MegaCarts and RAM heavy games?

By AndreV

Champion (280)

22-09-2022, 10:50

Hello, the popolon sound cart is , i think the cheapest way, then the carnivore2 from maxiol is also not expensive for what you get as a flash cart then rhe mega flash rom sd (when available that's the real trick these days what is available)

By wimpie3

Champion (438)

22-09-2022, 12:02

I agree, actually FINDING the hardware is a real challenge!

By Tisse

Expert (66)

22-09-2022, 14:10

I just made a search in some of the sales groups I'm in on facebook and found that a Carnivore cart had been sold on auction here in Sweden in May this year... for €35. I didn't think much of it then, but now that I got my SVI (got in July this year) I realize that was a real bargain!

By ducasp

Paladin (713)

22-09-2022, 15:27

Carnivore would be best bang for your buck... FM, SCC, Flash, Mapper, Card Interface all in one single cartridge. You will enjoy MSX1 and MSX2 games as they were designed and taking advantage of both FM and SCC sound.

Second best would be something packing SCC and Mapper, if not having a mapper, you still might find issues with some MSX2 games that requires Mapper, like Mega Flash Rom SD... You would miss FM sound support though...

If only cost is concerned and you can live without SCC/FM (Konami SCC games sound really bad without SCC, but some people that played hacked versions that played on mapper/mega ram without it prefer doing it without SCC, well, who am I to judge), SD Mapper that has 1MB that can be split 512KB Mapper and 512KB MegaRam is a sweet deal sometimes (at least here in Brazil, a Carnivore costs double the price of such SD Mapper, your mileage may vary).

I really think it is worth going the extra mile and acquiring a Carnivore, and there were some sellers with some available.

By Tisse

Expert (66)

23-09-2022, 08:36

Yes I agree, Carnivore seems to be the best solution for me.
But it's a bit expensive for my taste. I would like something that costs around €50.
I just found this cart: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004754219281.html for €30 - is it any good?
It seems to be a clone of this cart: https://rbsc.su/en/completed_projects/#0010_MultiMapperCartr...
I realize that I wont be able to get any SCC or FM-sounds with it, but it should be able to let me start patched disk-versions of MegaRom games, right?

By AndreV

Champion (280)

23-09-2022, 11:01

The cheapest way can get verry costly and frustrating only i've know what you'e buying and know how to use, ore program it, the Ali express device its only the pcb, but Whats on it, do you stil has to program it? Bought on Ali express nes multi cartridge dirt cheap, but dont work adapter was broken so the dirt cheap caridge got expesive cos i had to buy a good adapter, reclaiming and sending back to China and refund good Luck, Msx is kind of a niche production wize now a days in that perspective the carnivore2 and mega flash rom sd are verry cheap verry smal scale production. Cos it works its tested good support from users or developers of the device.on this forum.

The popolon is about 50-60 euro i think. And works for sd snatcher, sd snatcher needs 512kb i read some where.

https://msx.org/node/63939#comment-427315

By Tisse

Expert (66)

23-09-2022, 11:06

Yes, I know that purchases from AliExpress can get frustrating, but personally, I've always gotten a full refund if something I've ordered hasn't worked.
Still, I'm not so fond of ordering stuff from there if I can get something for roughly the same price somewhere else.

Right now I think I've found another option: building one myself! https://msxall.com/hardware/unimapper-msx-msx-universal-mapp...
This one will probably cost less than €10 if I can get my hands on a PCB...

My biggest question about the Unimpapper is which mapper I should use, since you have to pick one of these four:
- ASCII8 (32 page 8kB, max 256kB FlashROM)
- ASCII16 (32 page 16kB, max 512kB FlashROM)
- Konami4 (64 page 8kB, max 512kB FlashROM)
- Konami SCC (max 512kB FlashROM)

Am I correct to assume that most cracked MegaROM to Disk-games can be loaded with 512kb ASCII16 mapper?

By AndreV

Champion (280)

23-09-2022, 11:40

The disk versions works indeed, scc is a soundcart nemesis 2, salamander, space manbow e.c. uses that, before flashroms exist i used the salamander cartridge, turn on the msx then put in the cardridge (with the risk destroying my msx and the cartridge) load the game on disk, and play. building you're self woud be fun to do, as the different mappers i don't have that knowledge.
The different mappers are more the size of the rom smal rom 16-32 kb and the megarom 128kb or bigger but i suppose that not my knowledge

By AndreV

Champion (280)

23-09-2022, 12:27

https://msx.org/forum/msx-talk/hardware/simple-universal-map...

By ducasp

Paladin (713)

23-09-2022, 13:08

Tisse wrote:

Am I correct to assume that most cracked MegaROM to Disk-games can be loaded with 512kb ASCII16 mapper?

Can't you get a 1MB memory mapper then? Sofarun allows you to use it as an ascii 16kb mapper and it can be used for msx2 games that require memory mapper.