10 Amazing Fujitsu FM Towns Facts
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- čas přidán 11. 09. 2024
- In this video I take a look at 10 amazing facts and pieces of trivia surrounding the Japanese Fujitsu FM Towns computer.
Video Links:
Fujitsu FM Towns Games: • Over 100 FM Towns Game...
10 Amazing FM Towns Marty Facts: • 10 Amazing FM Towns Ma...
10 Amazing NEC PC-98 Facts: • 10 Amazing NEC PC-98 F...
10 Amazing Sharp X68000 Facts: • 10 Amazing Sharp X6800...
10 Amazing MSX Turbo R Facts: • 10 Amazing MSX Turbo R...
Fujitsu Computer History: www.fujitsu.co...
FM Towns Emulators: emulation.game...
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#fmtowns #fujitsu #retrogaming
Fujitsu make seriously well thought out machines. Writing this on my Fujitsu Lifebook. An older laptop that steams through anything I throw at it and it will for a few years more. Great video!
I'm one of the few people in North America that owns a complete FM Towns and I must say, it has a very premium feel to it. Fujitsu used their own unique "leaf spring" design for the keyboard and it feels really good to type on.
The mouse came in several variants, with a bizarre round version, a square variant, and finally the more standard form we see today, all are built really well.
All Towns monitors are multisync Sony Trinitrons I.E you're able to play Chrono Trigger on SNES one moment, and then boot into Windows 95 the next moment, it's really cool.
The one MASSIVE downside to getting into Towns hardware is that replacing a dying CD laser can be very frustrating as it's a proprietary standard and most CD drives won't work.
That's awesome, lucky you!
I remember reading about these in the 90s and wanting one so bad.
Being a Dragon 32 owner the FM7 has always held a fascination for me.
So much fresh content about old computers and consoles! I'm having a blast binge watching the channel. Cheers! 🍻
Ah, so the original computer that would become the FM Towns Marty console. What with it being a Japan-only home computer, I've never heard much about it, and what I have heard has purely been in relation to the Gen 5 console.
1:03 - I've never even heard of the Jupiter Ace before. Apparently it was a British microcomputer based on my quick search and yet I've never seen it discussed in retro gamer or similar places for such discussion.
3:47 - I must admit, the name is easier to remember than it's competitors. Also, some real nice 3D game graphics shown off with the Stunt Racer like game and the tennis game. That must have wowed folks in 1989.
8:10 - As has been well demonstrated with the games on screen. Kind of fun to hear of a time when even the home computers were incredibly diverse and distinct.
11:38 - Really neat to see a console with a floppy disk drive. It's a pretty lovely looking console and whilst the controllers are a little lacking in the amount of buttons, it's a nice smooth design.
14:19 - Lots of similarities between the FM Towns Marty and the Amiga CD32. I do find it funny that Japan, PAL and even ntsc territories each have their own first 32 bit consoles (3DO in the America case).
16:18 - A real shame honestly. I'd love if there was more options available for computers and their operating systems than Windows, Mac and Linux.
18:27 - Love the design of it's CD-tray here. It makes the computer far more iconic in look.
Each territory would have had their own 16 bit too but noone in Britain could ever get their act together to actually release anything 😢 Such a shame Sinclair plowed all their money into c5 and not development of a 16 bit system. If only theyd released a version of the Amstrad with backwards compatibility instead of the 128k. With how good the Amstrad can be with modern homebrew, an enhanced 16 bit version as Spectrum 2 could have been the cheaper option in the UK for several more years, had they used a storage medium that kept games to sub £20 vs £60 SNES games. The Sinclair Rainbow that was like an Amstrad would have held market share until the 16 bit could be released for £129. I guess the big issue would be piracy though and the fact a proprietary format would raise the price loads. Perhaps it wasn't possible to keep going beyond a successful follow-up instead of the 128k.
I cant believe there isnt a management simulation game where you are in control of Sinclair and try to keep going though. Youd have to have options of tonnes of random projects to focus on, with there being a small chance that your Sinclair electronic table knife would be a HUGE success 😂
Well there was the Sinclair QL, that was 16-bit, but not well suited for games. The Loki was the one we all wanted, that got cancelled, then became the Konix MultiSystem and got cancelled again!
@@arostwocents I believe a few companies tried to make a 16 bit British console but nothing came of it. I'm rather surprised none of the companies tried to make a handheld; I figured the floppy disk or even cassette based formats a lot of them used could have translated to a handheld format well, like what NEC did with the Turbo Express and their hu-cards.
On the plus side, with the Evercade about, we do have a modern British console on the market these days.
That is one bizarre commercial.
Let's make the most boring ad possible, that doesn't even mention our product! We'll sell millions!
Loving these vids fella! One small suggestion would be to stick on screen labels on the games shown? A lot if games are recognisable but for the more obscure hardware especially, it might be handy. Keep up the great work!
This isn't a games video so that would be confusing, but ALL the games in this video are in my actual FM Towns gameplay video, which is linked in the description for that precise reason!
I just wish it came to Brazil... Fujitsu, at that time, we only knew as a photography manufacturer of films, etc. And as Fuji only. That would be quite an expensive import! Anyway, that computer was a real marvel and Fujitsu deserves special attention as a pioneering manufacturer of technology.
Awesome video, but couldn't help notice the Dell UNIX SVR4 prompt. Love it, as I have that running but not in Bochs
Thanks for all of the info for this interesting system. It never seems to get a lot of attention, with the lions share always going to the Sharp 68k.
Your intro music is like a dremel on my eardrum, but I've subbed anyway 😆
Thanks for the video, I've always wondered about this system.
I love how I got a comment telling me how pumped my intro music gets them and then I see this one right after!
@@TheLairdsLair Haha! Pay no mind to my party pooping, prioritise the previous person's pumpin' 😁
I’m surprised how good this system that I’d ever heard of before is! It seems to be the best of the JDM micros of that era.
Thanks for covering this one! I've been looking forward to it. 😁
BTW, can you check the sound levels on the vintage ad clips? The first one was _really_ quiet, where as the last about blew the headphones off my head--still have a headache from that one... The rest had volume levels in a middle range and were perfectly fine. I'm assuming whatever editor you use has some way to check the sound levels for the clips and adjust them accordingly.
Ah, that's my fault sorry, basically the first version of the video got copyright striked for the music in the adverts and I had to make changes to stop that happening and should have checked the sound levels again after.
@@TheLairdsLair Yeah, it certainly sucks to get a strike over some random claim, whether it's even valid or not. Oh well, sh*t happens mate.
Have a nice weekend.
Ive recently taken to preferring Fujitsu machines when getting ex lease products for my customers. Their machines are extremely user repairable, and their laptops are one of the few I’ve seen in recent years with user replaceable batteries still included.
That’s a great video, thanks for making it!
Many thanks. Would be great to see how the best games ran on the Pentium version rather than the 386. Cheers
Good stuff, the towns hasn't been covered enough IMO vs other oddball 80s japan computers.
Gamefan magazine was nuts for covering FM Towns and having vendors sell it in the back of the magazine in North America. Nuts in a good way, but nuts. Had a kid in Iowa dreaming of playing an FM Towns Marty...just absurd, but I'm glad it happened.
Yeah, I used some scans of their articles in the video. Even though it was an American magazine I found a shop that used to sell import copies and often picked it up, even though it was super expensive, but it was the best of the American mags for me so worth it.
@@TheLairdsLair Gamefan was such a crazy thing and almost "unprofessional" but in the best way for a game nerd, especially if they liked Japanese games. I really regret getting rid of my copies. It was also the only reason I knew about Amiga games in the US at that time.
When I saw the EMU FARM came up I was expecting some odd fact they also owned a farm of giant birds from Australia....
It could have been quite the competitor but Fujitsu never really knew how to really market across the globe.
yea since it could run dos maybe it had a chance it was like a more advanced version of what Tandy did .the pc really needed better graphics and audio in this period most companies in the west only cared about the business market. but many people ended up gaming on the pc anyway because it was handy to have a pc for both gaming and work. and it was just everywhere compared to the other platforms
The Jupiter Ace lost! But it ran Forth😢
And to think such PCs were relegated to nothing but "hentai" RPGs, dating sims & majong games.
U should put video and photo credits up so people can view other sources for more context
I link all relevant links in the description, 98% of the photos I use are taken from Google Images.
I noticed you're using FRAPS to capture the footages. Try OBS, it's much better.
Nope, I use OBS, but the gameplay footage in the background here is Hyperspin clips so wasn't captured by me.
U say windowa 3.2 but it shows 3.1 is there another version i missed
Nope, I say Windows 3 too.
First!!! I absolutely hate the name FM Towns Marty. The Sharp X68000 is a very sweet name. Hey, at least it makes sense and isn't just a jibber jabber of nonsense like Microsoft's machines. Don't even get me started on their naming "conventions."
FM towns is an amazing name x68000 is just computer gobbledygook
I agree. Marty??? Why???
I have the Tony tutor !!
@@Daniel-jk7pe
Most engineers aren't actually very creative, there's a big difference between a technician and an artist, so they just slap some letters and numbers of there, and call it a day.
The automotive industry is just as guilty.
yea the creators didn't know English clearly and it makes me think of a radio station. and who is Marty ? i now know who towns is at least but quite a random person .