MSX Story Part 4: Gradius 2 on the PV-7! Casio-kun's Tenacity

❶Even so, I love Casio!

In the summer of 1987, Gradius 2 appeared like a savior, armed with the ultimate weapon, the SCC, and was welcomed enthusiastically by MSX users. However, Casio-kun had an anxious look on his face. After all, his beloved PV-7 had only 8KB of memory, the lowest capacity in MSX history, and even ROM cartridge games that required 16KB would not run on it.

😟Casio-kun: "Will it even run on the PV-7?"
😽Me: "Konami games all support 8KB, so it'll be fine."

When Casio-kun bought it with excitement and booted it up, he saw a shocking sight!

Anyway, please watch the video. I was rolling on the floor laughing at the game over screen, and then I got stomped by Casio-kun, Choshu Riki style😁. I've simulated it by cutting the SCC on an emulator.

For those who don't know about the MSX, the SCC is an expansion sound source developed by Konami that makes the sound of older MSX models sound incredibly rich. Gradius 2 was the first software to use it. I've also linked a video of the version running on a standard MSX, so please compare them.

The whole MSX gang who had come over to play burst into laughter.

🤣😂😹 "What is this?"
😹Me: "It's pathetic, way too pathetic lol"

It turned out the SCC sound wouldn't play.
Among the PCs circulating at the time, the Casio PV-7 had the lowest performance and was"a fake computer" or "a disgrace to the MSX world"was how it was mercilessly teased.
How could he let this grudge go unavenged! A furious Casio-kun went to the computer shop to complain, and the clerk expressionlessly showed him the description on the back of the box: "The PV-7 does not produce SCC sound."

😽Me: "Just give it up, you can still play the game."
😤Casio-kun: "I've sworn my loyalty to the SCC and Konami, how can I just back down now!"

When I went over to play the following week, what was sitting there was, as expected, Casio's dirt-cheap MSX, the MX-10.

Everyone 😱😁🙀 "Why isn't it an MSX2 Ashguine A1?"
Casio-kun 🥰 "My dad won it for me at pachinko."
Me 😹 "How much do you love Casio, anyway?"

Now, everyone, please take a look at how Casio's pride, the MX-101, was being sold off for a pittance 🤣 The list price is 19,800 yen.

Shion Papa-san similarly got F1 Spirit running on a PV-7. Unlike my fake attempt, he's running it on actual hardware.

2. The PV-7 Story: Because I'm a Have-Not

The PV-7 was an extremely unique machine among the many MSX computers released. Even if an MSX user hasn't used one, they would surely nod and say, "Ah, that one." After all, it's one of the few MSX machines with its own Wikipedia entry.
Designed with extreme cost-cutting to lower the price of the MSX, its cheapness, which shattered the "luxury feel of a personal computer" of that time, has become legendary.

As mentioned previously, the audio input on the cartridge slot terminal is cut, which is why Konami's SCC doesn't play, but as far as I know, this is a unique specification for an MSX (please correct me if I'm wrong). Naturally, the FM-PAC doesn't play either.
Another distinctive feature is that the keyboard is unusually small compared to a standard computer. Since the keyboard is the face of an all-in-one computer, it was at a significant disadvantage in this regard. The key-press sound is also quite cheap.

Naturally, there is no numeric keypad. Despite this, the fact that an octagonal joypad is included is the Casio spirit. Since it was intended for game use, they were particular about increasing the durability here compared to other keys. I wonder about the durability of the regular keys, though 😁
The problem is that the essential cursor keys are not in a cross shape, but are arranged in a single horizontal line. This is inconvenient because you can't input intuitively on the BASIC screen, and it's extremely difficult to operate in games that only support cursor key input.
Actually, Hiroyuki Nishimura, the founder of 2channel, has publicly stated that the first computer he was bought as an elementary school student was the PV-7. He complained about this keyboard in a stream.
“That’s just your opinion, isn’t it? 😝”

There were some eccentrics—oh, I mean, enthusiastic users—who would write programs on a keyboard that could barely input characters (as stated in the original Wikipedia text 💦), but the wall of 8KB of main memory stood in their way. If you just wrote programs randomly, the unforgiving "Out of memory" would strike. Even so, Casio-kun, who would type in one-screen programs from MSX-FAN, got an MX-10 and

😊 "Now I can try 16KB programs too!"

he rejoiced. However, the keyboard degraded further into an even cheaper soft rubber one, a so-called chiclet keyboard, making input even more difficult. Oh God! Why do you test Casio users so?

Even if you finish a program at the risk of your life, the trials continue. Believe it or not, the PV-7 (and actually the MX-10 too) cannot connect to a data recorder as is; it requires a separately sold cassette interface called the FA-32. Floppy disk? That's just for show. At first, I couldn't believe it, and

😺 "What, there's a CMT port right there."

I had the experience of being stunned when I connected my data recorder to the CMT terminal, which looked the same, but it didn't react.

Me 😾: "There's no point in writing a program if you can't save it."
Casio-kun 😉: "It's fine, I'll just type it in again tomorrow."
Me 🙀: "Are you serious..."

I thought Casio-kun was a crazy guy for over 30 years, but when I started Twitter in 2022, former PV-7 users told me that they all had similar experiences.

"Yeah, I did that too."
"I typed in one-screen programs from MSX-FAN so many times that I memorized them."
"Writing programs in 8KB is like a puzzle and it's actually quite fun."

These people are now active on the front lines of the IT sector or are heavyweights who have supported the MSX world for a long time. I, who couldn't even master MSX BASIC properly, changed my mind at this point and apologized to Casio-kun in my 2023 New Year's card.

🙇 "Sorry, Casio-kun! You were right."

❸ Shonen Sunday: Go for it! First-Year PC Student

Casio seemed to target elementary school students, actively placing advertisements in magazines like Shonen Jump and Shonen Magazine.

Amidst all this, there was a tie-in project with "Honoo no Tenkousei" (Blazing Transfer Student) by Kazuhiko Shimamoto, a star artist for Weekly Shonen Sunday. The content involved creating a "Blazing Transfer Student" game using Casio's game creation tool, "Game Land." The PV7 even makes an appearance on the page.

❹ The MSX/PC Story Everyone Has

I've teased and made fun of it quite a bit, but Casio's MSX was loved by many as an affordable game console. Furthermore, despite its low performance and limitations, it also served as a gateway for MSX users who wanted to pursue the joy of programming.
Even among users of the same machine, the impressions of MSX and PCs can differ greatly depending on when they were purchased, how they were used, and one's circle of friends. I started using Twitter a few years ago, and after hearing many nostalgic stories from former MSX users, I felt that sentiment even more strongly.
The fun times, the frustrating times, playing with everyone, and the eventual parting with one's beloved machine...I believe every computer-loving kid has their own story that they can never forget.
Unfortunately, I wasn't able to create anything tangible on the MSX, but I was fortunate to be blessed with many PC-user friends. I took up the pen in the hope of weaving their stories together.
I hope this might serve as a trigger for you to recall your own story...

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Cyborg MSX

Shion Papa's Secret Base HP. It is packed with wonderful photos.