MSX 2 ROMS

What is MSX 2 Roms?

The MSX 2 Roms (also known as the MSX2, MSXII or MSM5232) is a standardized home computer architecture.

MSX2 Roms was a widely used standard for the 'Osborne Effect' and one of the most popular 8-bit home computers in Europe and South America. The standard defines:

• ROM cartridge slot
• Joystick port
• TV output (with resolution up to 486x256 pixels)
• Composite video output (for monitor)  / RF signal modulation (for television sets, with switchable PAL or NTSC mode)
• S-Video output (compatible with Sega Master System, known as "Mega Drive" in Japan and Europe)
• Audio left & right input / mono speaker out / headphone jack.

MSX Video game consoles were more popular than Nintendo and Sega in Japan during the 1980s. One reason was that computers like MSX (and SG-1000) were marketed as video game console primary target audiences instead of personal computers. Console games only became mainstream in Japan at late 1980's with Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)'s overwhelming success both commercially and critically. At that time PC market was much smaller than today and Japanese developers focused on arcade machines or video game consoles, not personal computers which have been long popular in USA & UK markets.

What are the Best MSX 2 Roms Games?

Here are a list of games that you must try if you have an MSX2 emulator or hardware:

• Thexder - The definitive robot blaster.
• Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake (1990). The sequel to the original Metal Gear. You play as Solid Snake, sent on a mission to stop the nuclear weapons program "Metal Gear" from getting into the hands of terrorists. It was only officially released in Japan for MSX2 consoles and was not ported to any other console or pc platform.
• Policenauts (1994). A sci-fi adventure game that takes place in the near future. You are Jonathan Ingram, member of an elite police force called "Policenauts", whose goal is to travel through space and arrest criminals who have previously managed to escape Earth's jurisdiction.
• Snatcher (1990). A cyberpunk detective novel, graphic adventure game that takes place in the distant future. The protagonist is Gillian Seed, a man who suffers from amnesia. He is recruited into JUNKER, a special task force that deals with investigating 'Snatchers', which are robots capable of disguising themselves as humans and "replacing" them.
• Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops (2006). This is PSP version of Metal Gear Solid 2 Sons of Liberty , where you can recruit soldiers by "snatching" them using an accessory called "Metal Gear Mk.II". You then use those soldiers to fight the enemy and complete the missions.

Before you can play the rom game file on your emulator software or hardware, you need to convert/ compress it into an ZIP or CSO format. Or if you have extracted it already (WITHOUT converting it into a CSO or ZIP format) then the emulator should load the original rom game file without any problem.

Emulator software can behave differently when comes to compatibility with certain games. The more compatible ones include MagicEngine , BlueMSX , FCEUXD SP & XP, TAC-2 Multi Emu . Some other emulators may work well but not all of them are able to play every single MSX 2 Roms Game ever made! If you find which one works best for you please let us know so we update this article accordingly. There are only few emulators that can run 3D roms games, if your favourite emulator can't do that then why not try RIN ? It's a rom game file compression and decompression tool which is able to convert your MSX rom games into .CSO or .ZIP files.

Platforms that support MSX 2 Roms

Retroarch PS1 emulator for PlayStation Portable supports MSX2 games via ePSXe plugin.

Fpse CE is one of the best Sony PSP emulators for Android. It supports MSX 2 roms through a free add-on package. If installation process doesn't work, try installing each file separately.

MSX 2 emulators for Windows

If you want to play Metal Gear Solid 2 Sons of Liberty , Policenauts or Snatcher on your PC you will need a MSX 2 emulator for Windows.   

PCSX2 is the best MSX 2 emulator for Windows, here are the steps to install it:

• Download PCSX2 from website: [:: pcsx2 ]  (a new window will appear).
• Download configuration utility- recommended for beginners (contains all important settings):
• Download "LilyPad 0.11.0 w/additional pad plugins" Plugin pack - needed if your gamepad or joystick doesn't work out of the box with LilyPad plugin without additional configuration!
• Also download PeopsSPU2 null v1.43 rev 4 & gsdx32 0.1.16 rev 83
• If you too lazy to download all plugins, download them separately from official PCSX2 website:
• Download "LilyPad 0.11.0 w/additional pad plugins" GSDX graphics plugin used by PCSX2 for MSX 2 emulation - only needed if your game is darker than usual.
• Double click on downloaded file pcsx2_*.exe and follow the instructions. You will need to choose a directory where PCSX2 is stored, so it can be accesses by your computer.
• Finally, if you downloaded all plugins - double click on " pad1plugin13.exe ", " spu2-x-r5350.exe " and " gsdx-sse4-r5350.exe ".

MSX 2 emulator for Android

If you want to play MSX 2 roms games on your Android smartphone or tablet, you will need a MSX 2 emulator for Android . I recommend fPce , it's free and has many features — on main menu select ROM -> Import Folder (FOLDER) , then select the folder with MSX 2 Roms.  ROMs must be in .rom or .iso format.

MSX 2 emulator for Mac

If you want to play MSX 2 games on your Apple Macintosh computer, you will need a MSX 2 Emulator for Mac OS X . I recommend fPce , it's free and has many features — on main menu select File -> Open ROM (rom file) , then select the file with MSX 2 Roms.  ROMs must be in .rom or .iso format.

MSX 2 emulator for Linux

If you want to run MSX 2 games on your Linux-based operating systems, you will need an open source MSX 2 emulator for Linux . I recommend fPce , it's free and has many features — on main menu select File -> Open ROM (rom file) , then select the file with MSX 2 Roms.  ROMs must be in .rom or .iso format.

Conclusion

In this article you can find detailed information about MSX 2 roms, MSX 2 emulators for Windows 10, MSX 2 emulators for Android, MSX 2 emulators for Mac OS X and MSX 2 emulator for Linux. Also the steps to install PCSX2 are explained in details - so you will have no problems using it.