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FM Towns emulators

747 bytes added, 00:48, 27 August 2021
Emulators
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'''FM Towns''' system is a Japanese variant of PC, built by Fujitsu from February 1989 to the summer of 1997. It started as a proprietary PC variant intended for multimedia applications and PC games, but later became more compatible with regular PCs. In 1993, the FM Towns Marty was released, a game console compatible with existing FM Towns games.
The "'''FM" part Towns''' was a Japanese line of personal computers designed and manufactured by Fujitsu between February 1989 and the name means "summer of 1997. Fujitsu Micro" like their earlier products, while the "Towns" part is derived from the code name designed it under the system was assigned while in development, "codename '''Townes". This refers to '''<ref group=N>After Charles Townes, one of the winners winner of the 1964 Nobel Prize in Physics; it was common for Fujitsu to use Nobel Prize winners as product codenames during development.</ref> as their own proprietary variant of [[Intel CPUs|the IBM PC platform]], intended for multimedia applications and video games, following a custom but it gradually became interoperable with regular PCs over time. The "FM" part of Fujitsu at the time to code name PC is short for "Fujitsu Micro," which was in line with their earlier products after Nobel Prize winners. The e in "Townes" was dropped when to help users avoid confusion over a possible mispronunciation of Townes as "tow-nes". The FM Town's sprite handling was well in excess of even 16-bit consoles of the system went into production time, which allowed game developers to port early 90s arcade titles much more accurately to make the FM Towns than on other systems. Combined with big box packaging, and the ports were eventually highly sought after by collectors later on. With CD-ROM support from the start, it clearer that also had a lot of ports of existing PC games, with differing amounts of content expansions to take advantage of the term FM Towns' own hardware. Several American DOS games had unique and arguably superior FM Towns ports, especially a few early 2D point-and-click adventures from LucasArts. Some notable examples include ''<abbr title="Which was given CD music, the ability to be pronounced like use the word FM Towns' 256-color mode, and uncut dialogue.">LOOM</abbr>'', ''<abbr title="Which was reprogrammed under 32-bit protected mode and would actually run at a consistent speed.">Wing Commander'', and ''<abbr title="townsWhich had Ultima VII-style keywords and a low-budget English dialogue track that didn't exist in the original release." rather than >Ultima VI</abbr>''. The FM Towns version of LucasArts' ''Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders'' is the only version of the potential game with 256 colors<ref name="YC News"tow>{{cite web|url=https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23269460 |title=“Tsugaru” – FM Towns Emulator Project (in.coocan.jp) |publisher=Y Combinator |accessdate=2020-07-nes"04|date=2020 May 23}}</ref>. In 1993 Fujitsu released the [[wikipedia:FM Towns Marty|FM Towns Marty]], a game console which was compatible with existing FM Towns games.
==Emulators==
! scope="col"|Operating System(s)
! scope="col"|Latest Version
! scope="col"|Open-Source
! scope="col"|<abbr title="FM Towns">FMT</abbr>
! scope="col"|<abbr title="FM Towns Marty">Marty</abbr>
! scope="col"|<abbr title="Free/Libre and Open-Source Software">FLOSS</abbr>
! scope="col"|Active
! scope="col"|[[Recommended Emulators|Recommended]]
|-
! colspan="8"|PC / x86
|-
|UNZ
|align=left|{{Icon|Windows}}
|[http://townsemu.world.coocan.jp/download.html V0.5 L30]
|{{✓}}
|{{✓}}
|{{✗}}
|{{✗}}
|{{✓}}
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|Tsugaru
|align=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux|macOS}}
|[https://github.com/captainys/TOWNSEMU/releases git]
|{{✓}}
|{{✗}}
|{{✓}}
|{{✓}}
|{{~}}
|-
|Xe
|[http://web.archive.org/web/20140212232811/http://www.xe-emulator.com/index.php?m=download 2.16.2]
|{{✗}}
|{{✓}}
|{{✗}}
|{{✓}}
|{{✗}}
|{{~}}
|align=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux|macOS|FreeBSD}}
|[http://www.mamedev.org/release.html {{MAMEVer}}]
|{{✓}}
|{{~}}
|{{~}}
|{{✓}}
|{{✗}}
|-
|Tsugaru
|align=left|{{Icon|Windows|macOS}}
|[https://github.com/captainys/TOWNSEMU/releases 2020/05/06]
|{{✓}}
|{{✓}}
|{{✗}}
|{{✓}}
|{{✗}}
|FM Towns/Bochs
|align=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux}}
|[http://web.archive.org/web/20070119144846/http://fmbochs.emuvibes.com/ 1.2.1]|{{✓}}
|{{~}}
|{{✗}}
|{{✓}}
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|}
 
[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Consoles]]
[[Category:Fourth-generation video game consoles]]
===Comparisons===
;UNZ
:The only FM Towns/Marty emulator with very high compatibility, last updated in 2010. Despite the website and documentation being in Japanese, the emulator is available in English. It cannot run ISOs directly: images must be either burnt , instead choosing to a CD and read game data from an optical drive that's attached to the disc or host system (thankfully, ISOs can easily be mounted to a as virtual driveoptical drives on most modern OSes, even Windows 10). Floppy disk images, however, can be loaded directlyinto the emulator itself. The emulator requires a number of ROM files, which can be found [http://emuz0n3.tripod.com/townsbios.zip here]. The only noteworthy thing UNZ isn’t yet capable to run is Windows 95. ;Tsugaru:A new FM Towns emulation project, started in January 2020. Within a year of development, over 95% of software achieved [http://ysflight.in.coocan.jp/FM/towns/Tsugaru/e.html compatibility] - check release logs under Revisions far down the main GitHub page. 80386 CPU type is fine; but (WIP) 80486 emulation needs a strong late 2010's PC CPU. Various audio chips/generators still WIP. Early release builds started popping up in [https://github.com/captainys/TOWNSEMU/releases late August 2020].
;Xe
:An old multi-system emulator for Linux (x86 and PowerPC) with decent FM Towns Marty support. Windows port requires [https://sourceforge.net/projects/gladewin32/files/gtk%2B-win32-runtime/ GTK+ Runtime]. It requires a very odd BIOS file to work, obtained by concatenating the two MAME-ready ROMs into a single file named ‘marty.rom’, then placed into a subfolder titled ‘bios’. On Windows, this can be achieved using the command <code>copy /B mrom.m36 + mrom.m37 marty.rom</code>.
;[[MAME]]:Preliminary driver. It’s not a skeleton anymore, but it’s far from being up to snuff. ;Tsugaru:A new FM Towns emulation project, started in January 2020. See this [httphttps://ysflightwiki.inmamedev.coocanorg/index.jpphp/FM/towns/Tsugaru/e.html CompatibilityDriver:FMTowns official guide] is preliminary, but some games like Afterburner II boot and run. Currently available as source only, but the author is interested in offering binaries in the future. Early release builds started popping up in (Source: [https://githubwiki.mamedev.comorg/captainysindex.php/TOWNSEMU/releases/tag/v20200628 late June 2020System-Specific_Setup_and_Information System-Specific Setup and Information]under MAMEDev Wiki) on installing TownsOS on MAME.
;FM Towns/Bochs
:A patch of [[Bochs]] that makes it somewhat compatible with FM Towns, deemed to be the first working emulator for the system. Just like regular Bochs, its configuration file needs a lot of tweaking to work (rough documentation [https://illusioncity.net/Towns/bochs%20config.txt here]). It has been long abandoned, compatibility is very spotty and emulation is remarkably slow, so don’t hold your breath.
==OverviewEmulation issues=====Game Versions===The computer's sprite handling was well in excess of that offered by the 16A true and proper open-bit consoles of source FM Towns emulator has been severely lacking all the time, allowing some very accurate ports of early nineties Japanese arcade gamesway up to 2020. Combined with the big box packagingThough, this led to many of these ports becoming expensive collectors items.Being one of the earlier instances of a fully integrated CD-ROM computer with x86 underpinningsby late 2010's, it also saw a lot of PC ports, some of which were enhanced in interesting ways, few modern emulators such as a fully voiced version of ''Ultima VI''MAME and Tsugaru strove toward this goal.
A fun fact about the FM Towns was that several American gamesSometimes around May 2018, originally for DOS (PC)Jon Campbell, had unique and arguably superior FM Towns ports, especially a few early 2D point and click adventures from LucasArts.Notable examples include ''LOOM'' (CD music, 256 colors, uncut dialogue), ''Wing Commander'' (fully reprogrammed as a 32the lead author of [[DOSBox#DOSBox-bit protected mode game that actually runs at a consistent speed) and ''Ultima VI'' (with Ultima VIIX|DOSBox-style keywords and a highly questionable voice track). The FM Towns verson of LucasArts' ''Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders'' is the only one with 256 colors.<ref name="YC News">{{cite web|url=X]] has [https://news.ycombinatorgithub.com/ |title=“Tsugaru” – joncampbell123/dosbox-x/issues/729#issuecomment-391049978 stubbed] the emulator such that other aspiring coders can build an FM -Towns Emulator Project (incore into their own fork.coocanThere have been discussions, but so far, nobody has taken up on that offer yet.jp) |publisher=Y Combinator |accessdate=2020-07-04|date=2020 May 23}}</ref>
==IssuesNotes==A true and proper open-source FM-Towns emulator has been severely lacking all the way up to 2020. Though, a few modern emulators such as MAME and Tsugaru strive towards this goal.<references group=N />
Sometimes around May 2018, Jon Campbell, the lead author of [[DOSBox#DOSBox-X|DOSBox-X]] has [https://github.com/joncampbell123/dosbox-x/issues/729#issuecomment-391049978 stubbed] the emulator such that other aspiring coders can build an FM-Towns core into their own fork. There have been discussions, but so far, nobody has taken up on that offer yet.==References=={{Reflist}}
==External Linkslinks==
* [https://illusioncity.net/fujitsu-fm-towns-emulators-lists/ Old emulators + lists guide at illusioncity.net]
==References==[[Category:Computers]]{{Reflist}}[[Category:Consoles]][[Category:Home consoles]][[Category:Fourth-generation video game consoles]]
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