LGR - MSX 2 Computer System Review

An overview of the history, hardware, and software of the Philips VG-8235 from the perspective of a vintage computer collector. How do the pros and cons stack up, what games can you play on it, and is it worth the cost?

● Please consider supporting LGR on Patreon:

● Social links:

● Recommended LGR videos:

Music used in order of appearance:
"Lonely Nights" by Silent Partner
"One More" by Silent Partner
"Take You Home" by Silent Partner
"Night Music" by Kevin MacLeod
"Crystals" by Silent Partner

[FernieCanto]

I owned an MSX when I was a kid. They were indeed very popular in Brazil, as they were produced inside the country, and importing electronic goods back then was nearly impossible because of government blockades. I learnt programming on the MSX-BASIC, and owned loads of (pirated) games in 5 1/4" floppies. There were so many great games for that computer.
Once, when I was about 8, my father asked me to write a few little BASIC programs to generate TV test patterns, as he used to fix old TV sets. I realise much of my adult life owes to little moments like those. In fact, programming was one thing I missed a lot when I moved to PCs.

[dexterio]

I'm from Brazil, and I still remember the joy of driving with my dad on his Ford Corcel II to Mesbla department store (kind of Sears clone, check it out on Wikipedia) to buy a computer! The choice was Gradiente Expert DD Plus (also on Wikipedia) MSX1 system with a frontal disk drive on a special sale combo with a 180 columns dot matrix printer. Although the manufacturer did not sold a MSX2 version I managed to upgrade mine with a home brew kit sold by mail catalog! Good times indeed!

[Carambal]

It's me Jaap! Great review Clint, I really appreciate the time and effort you've put into this review.

Let me clarify on the switch on that cartridge. This game (King's Valley II) has a custom Konami SCC soundchip inside. With the switch you can disable the game, while the SCC soundchip remains functional. This way you can use and write software to take advantage of the chip. A relative of mine modified the cartridge for me back in the day.

[jesperwehage]

This Jaap fellow keeps his machines clean and pristine! It looks brand new! In honour of his contribution, I must expect you to keep it that way, Clint. No pressure. None at all.

[Turbiales]

The MSX2 is probably the best 8bit microcomputer of its generation. These are really coveted by retro hardware collectors. Some of the games by Konami (As the first true Metal Gear, No, the NES version does not count) are true masterpieces.

[SoujiMonaru]

What I like best about older systems is when they're clean they can look way better than almost anything these days. Something about the colours and general shape is almost sexy in a way! ^_^

[Mirality]

The MSX was my childhood -- the first computer I learned to write software on. Although in my case it was the Spectravideo SVI-728. I still have it in a box.

[virustwin]

you see, this video reminds me that you ganuinely have one of the best channels on youtube hands down. pure quality mate, thanks for these

[vinisasso]

Here in Brazil the MSX was the go-to machine for gamers, hobbysts and both casual and professional software programmers alike, and was also seen as a cheaper alternative to the expensive and half business/half-home user-oriented IBM PC. And it remains with a special place in the hearts of the gamers and programmers of that time. What a lovely machine! Here the two main MSX varieties were the Hotbit by Sharp Corporation (a japanese company) and the Expert by Gradiente (a brazilian-owned company) Very nice memories! Thanks for the video. Please continue making videos about MSX.

[Ronny]

Clint, I have to say, having been a frequent viewer over the last several years, I enjoy your content a lot. I enjoy your serious, yet not too serious demeanor and the fact that you always keep your content interesting. Keep it up! I'll certainly keep watching.

[banjoguyollie]

great video. I have a few 8235. My dad worked at philips at the time the MSX came out so we had MSXs everywhere.
I started doing MSX videos too for retrowareTV, so it's cool to see you're doing a video on it now too. great stuff.

[vwestlife]

These were the computers that Commodore's Jack Tramiel feared would take over the U.S. home computer market, the same way that the Japanese had taken over almost everything else in home electronics. As a result, he rushed a new line of computers into development (the 264 series), including the Plus/4 with MSX-like arrow keys. But after the MSX computers failed to materialize in the U.S. and the new Commodore models failed to generate any excitement at CES, that led to a boardroom shake-up and soon Tramiel was out the door.

[GardevoirEx]

The MSX2 has got a special place in my heart, no doubt, home to some of the games that would become my favorites, Snatcher, Castlevania, Metal Gear, etc.

[x]

You remind me the computer AX 200 YAMAHA that I had it in 1986 It was named Sakhr (means Rock), the games that i grow up with such as : Zanac, Kings Vally 1, 2, Nightmare 1, 2, Salamander, Nemesis 1, 2, 3 . I spent tons of hours playing these and they really awesome. Great post man that was the beginning of computer revolution

[rerez]

I would love to get my hands off an MSX. So many good games!

[Reinier_]

Great video! As a kid we had a MSX2 VG-8235 on school, becase there are a ton Dutch learn software made for the MSX. I played many great games on this machine.
Last time I upgraded my VG-8235 to a DD floppy drive, now I can play al those DD game like Dragon Slayer, SD Snatcher, YS2 on my machine ;)

But is true, you need some special hardware to play and enjoy all of the MSX2 games. Like a FM-PAC, SCC cardridge's.

[JCA]

Well, I need to write in this one. First, congratulations Clint for your work. One of my first contacts with computers was with the Talent MSX 2 Turbo (TCP-310 model) in Argentina, late 80's (Talent was the name of the company that made them in my Country). The first time I started to write in Basic was with that machine. If you wanted to use that computer diskettes you had to buy an extra floppy disk drive and connect it to it (5 1/4 diskettes). But my family didn't have enough money because that was too expensive in Argentina. So, I used it with an external device called "dataset" that Talent was selling it too: a cassette player to read the code through sound (who is old enough will remember the strange sound of the transmission of computer data) and MSX processor interpreted the code, translating it into programs. I started my first virtual football/soccer cups and matches just after that experience... and now, I'm running jmc TV, a YouTube channel. I wrote that story at my jmc Universe Wiki, if you want to know more about it. Or you can ask me too. I'm an old school gamer. Well... I'm glad that new generations keeps the value of this. I'm few years older than you, Clint (few years to be generous with me :P) and now I am nostalgic... congratulations! You made my day! :)

[OldManTheseDays]

When I was a kid in the 80s, a friend of mine was lucky that his dad was from Japan and worked at the NEC office in Northern California. They used to go to Japan all the time. Beyond having all the cool Japanese toys, his dad used to have all the cool computers and video games. They had an MSX- I want to say it was before anyone had an NES because I remember it being mind blowing compared to my Atari 2600. They also had a PC Engine LONG before the Turbografix-16 was released here.

[Michirin]

Oooh yes... So much yes... These computer reviews are why I subscribed to this channel and seeing a new one is sooo good!
Just a little correction, Hudson started on the NEC PC-8801 not on the MSX, that is also true for many other companies like Square, Enix, Falcom, among others... I'm not sure about Konami though but its presence on the MSX is very notorious!

The thing that I don't like about the MSX is the crappy PSG soundchip... The PC-88 that came out before the MSX and way before the MSX2 had an amazing Yamaha YM2608 soundchip with 3 FM synth channels and 3 SSG square channels, later revisions of the PC-88 had an upgraded version of the YM2608 that had 6 FM channels making a total of 9 sound channels and that chip can sound absolutely spectacular! (Yuzo Koshiro composed the soundtrack for Streets of Rage and the Etrian Odyssey games 1 through 3 on a PC-88)

Another computer that came out before the MSX2 that outperforms it in every single way but doesn't get nearly as much following is the Fujitsu FM-7, it had a similar graphical performance to the MSX but the sound is where it shines in comparison! (Still doesn't sound as good as the PC-88 though)
Emulation for the FM-7 still has no english support and finding the floppy images is very hard...

I'm very fascinated by vintage Japanese computers as you can see =w=

[MooseheadStudios]

Clint im happy to see how far your channel has grown. I recall watching you with just a few thousand subs. Anyways your the man and keep up the great content.