Introduction

Pulsar is a megademo on 2 disks, released in December 1990 by the Syntax Error team. It is mostly a MSX-MUSIC product and it uses almost only screen 5, but a few parts have nice MSX-AUDIO samples.

If you have only MSX-AUDIO, some parts will be skipped and you will hear MSX-AUDIO samples in all accessible parts.

This megademo uses a RAM version of the runtime compiler X-BASIC, it is hidden in the disk sectors, just check address 73C00h on disk 1 and 3262BH on disk 2.

An MSX2 or higher enhanced with MSX-MUSIC and MSX-AUDIO is required. To avoid some problems, it's recommanded to boot the computer while pressing the CTRL key.

Content

Disk 1

Hardware Test

Checking of your MSX equipment with eventually two appropriate MSX-AUDIO samples.

Intro

The intro screen is also enhanced with an impressive MSX-AUDIO sample.

FM-Beat

That part is skipped when only MSX-AUDIO is present. You can enjoy here 6 original FM songs, written in MSX-MUSIC BASIC.

Tip for experts: if you know how to extract and adapt the BASIC files, then take a look at offsets 33800h to 3B53Fh on disk 1. The extracted musics can also be played on MSX1 machines.

Pulsar Scroll

A double animation with the letters 'SE' and 'PULSAR'.

Giant Syntax Error

After the minimalism of the previous part, here comes a dancing SE logo between giant letters for SYNTAX ERROR with colored animations.

Double Scroll

This double scroll in the same in horizontal and vertical modes. Enjoy also the Harry Kepzeiker animation at the end of this part!

Syntax Error Is The Best

Fido Dido is here the hero while Syntax Error team is of course the best!

Another Scroll

It's the only part that is not in screen 5. It consists of a bouncing interactive scroll in screen 6.

Disk Change 1

For the fun, it's recommended to insert disk B without pressing the spacebar. You will be surprised!

Disk 2

Cars Demo

This part is similar to the main part of the Pulsar promo, available on Dragon Disk 01, but this time there's a moving car!

Greetings

Time for the greetings! They are made in an original way!

More Greetings

More greetings under the form of news ticker! This part includes also info about an hidden feature, actually deactivated on the available disk images, this to avoid to not corrupt the precious image of Pulsar disk 2.

Heartbeat

Discover the electronic heartbeat of Syntax Error!

Giant Bug

Bugs can be found in software, here's a real giant bug, enhanced by a powerful MSX-AUDIO sample.

Note: On emulators, the 3 parts after this giant bug are impossible to launch. However, I've found a workaround, but you need to use a machine with the X-BASIC built-in or in extension:

• make a copy of the disk 2 image
• use an hexadecimal editor to find addresses 1C800h to 1CDF0h on disk 2 and keep only this part in a new file
• modify the first byte of this file by replacing value 00 with FF
• save the file as a BASIC file on a new disk image (for example SE.BAS)
• insert the disk image in drive A
• enter LOAD"SE.BAS"
• insert the unmodified disk 2 of the Pulsar demo
• enter POKE &HFD9E,0:SCREEN5:RUN

Simpson Demo

No bugs without Simpson and no Simpson without bugs! This part was really required!

Credits

The final part with the credits and a last small animation!

Disk Change 2

The same fun as for Disk Change 1! Unfortunaly, when you go back to the FM-Beat menu, the demo seems to no more work correctly...

Note: There's a mistake on this part. Original disk invites to insert disk B, while it should be disk A! You can correct that by patching the image of disk 2 at address 9B25h: replace value 42 with 41.

Hiddens parts

T&J Soft

This hidden part can be accessed from the FM-Beat menu (on disk 1) while pressing F8 when the music is not playing. T&J Soft has actually provided here 11 little songs for children, written in MSX-MUSIC BASIC. You can go back to the FM-Beat menu with the ESC key.

Tip for experts: if you know how to extract and adapt the BASIC files, then take a look at offsets 1BA00h to 1FEDFh on disk 1. The extracted musics can also be played on MSX1 machines.

Hidden Music?

On disk 2, there's also one FM song, written in MSX-MUSIC BASIC. Unfortunaly, the way to access to this music is unknown (which keys need to be pressed and when?).

Tip for experts: if you know how to extract and adapt the BASIC file, then take a look at offsets 2B000h to 2D39Fh on disk 2. The extracted music can also be played on MSX1 machines.

Credits

• Willy de Zutter (programmer, sound digitizer)
• Erik Dierks (graphic designer, music programmer)
• Theo Oubrie (T&J Soft music programmer)