Introduction

After 1986, Microsoft stopped supporting the MSX standard and ASCII in Japan took over further development of the standard.

The first MSX2+ computers, the Panasonic FS-A1WX, Panasonic FS-A1FX and Sony HB-F1XDJ were released in Japan on October 21 1988. The Sanyo PHC-70FD came out a little later on November 4 1988.

Due to ASCII's diminished lack of interest in the European market, no MSX2+ system was manufactured or sold outside Japan. Rumours and plans existed in the Netherlands to make a European MSX2+, but they never came to reality.

MSX2+ standard definition

Standard features Obligatory:

• CPU Zilog Z80A compatible at 3.579 MHz (8-bit)
• At least 64kB RAM with Memory Mapper.
• 32kB Main-ROM and 16kB Sub-ROM containing BIOS/MSX-BASIC version 3.0, with the instructions adding screen scrolling, three new screen modes (see below) and the display of Kanji modes
• Yamaha V9958 Video Display Processor: backward compatible with the TMS9918/TMS9928 and V9938 (for more info: V9958 MSX Video Technical Data Book). The V9938's light pen and mouse support circuitry was removed in the V9958. (It was never used except by a few machines - see here)
  • VRAM 128kB (expandable to 192kB but the standard only provides for a maximum of 128kB, this extra VRAM can not be displayed and is only accessible via the VDP commands)
• At least 70 keys (including five programmable function keys, Graph, Code/Hangul/Kana/РУС, Select, Stop and four arrow keys. Caps and Accents/Dead keys are optional), QWERTY with JIS key layout for Japanese keyboards.
• Kanji Display (Japanese computers only)
  • Kanji-ROM JIS Level 1
  • 16kB Kanji Driver ROM
  • 16kB Single Kanji Conversion or MSX-JE ROM
• General Instrument AY-3-8910 Programmable Sound Generator. 8 octaves and 3 sound channels.
• RTC compatible with RP5C01
• Soft/Hard reset
• Connectivity
  • One tape/data recorder connector. Transfer speed: 1200 or 2400 baud in MSX-BASIC (FSK format). The speed can be altered though, with some POKEing or easily in Machine Language programs.
  • At least one expansion BUS or cartridge slot. Usually it is the cartridge slot. An expansion BUS must have the standard 50 pin. The pins -/+12V and Sound IN may not connected on expansion bus. (In fact, all produced MSX2+ have only MSX cartridge slots)
  • Two General Purpose ports. The connector is a normal 9-pin D-connector, male. (Game controllers, graphic tablet, mice, paddle controllers are optional)
  • One Printer interface (The printer is optional)

Standard features Optional:

• Kanji-ROM JIS Level 2
• Floppy disk drive interface
  • 16kB Disk-ROM including the Disk-BASIC and MSX-DOS1 kernel
  • One or two 3.5 inch 1DD/2DD/2HD floppy disk drive, almost all produced MSX2+ machines have a 2DD 3.5" floppy drive built in (2HD is supported by the MX-2021 only)
• MSX-MUSIC
  • OPLL YM2413, 9-channel FM synthesizer)
  • 16kB FM-BASIC ROM
• MSX-AUDIO with up to 256kB of SampleRAM
• RS-232C
• Light pen
• MSX-Interface (J3125 chip)

With the MSX2+ machines, two other hardware features introduced on some MSX2 systems became very common but are not part of the standard:

• RGB connector.
• CVBS output, which is unusable without an NTSC-capable TV/monitor.
• Ren-Sha Turbo: built-in autofire system. The repetition speed can be adjusted with a slider and most implementations have an LED that shows the repetition rate.
• Speed controller: slider that can be moved to slow down the MSX (Sony MSX2+ only)

Another feature which previously existed, but was added to almost all MSX2+ machines, is a hardware pause button that pauses the CPU. This pause cannot be circumvented through software.

Graphic capabilities

• Additional features: hardware scroll, vertical and horizontal
• New graphic capabilities, along with their corresponding MSX-BASIC modes:

Notes

• The size of the images is the same as that of a screen 8 MSX2 image (54kB). This is because the YJK modes in the MSX2+ VDP basically store a byte per pixel (just like in screen 8). The difference is that the design of these bytes is such that four bytes create four pixels in a YJK color space, by storing specific information in individual bits. In short, this means that two global colors are defined for a group of four pixels, and each pixel has its own intensity between these two global colors. In practice this runs down to a kind of color spill, like the one in screen 1,2 and 4. Its most typical use is that of a photo screen, as it is less likely that a user will use this mode for drawing. Screen 11 compensates this a bit by supporting an extra 16 screen 5 colors, at the cost of YJK color depth.
• The VDP is in the same mode for screen 10 and 11, but BASIC handles it differently. So when programming the VDP directly, they are the same (both with RGB colors).
• Additional KANJI screen modes (Japanese text screen modes). Hi-res graphics are not possible. All these modes can use 16 out of 512 colors. These screen modes use screen 5 or 7 in text mode - see CALL KANJI.

Software

Very few software titles exists that are exclusive to the MSX2+ standard.

However, some MSX2 games use the standard's enhanced capabilities if run on an MSX2+ system, mainly hardware scrolling. An example is Konami’s Space Manbow, which masks the borders on MSX2+ so that they don’t flip visibly.

Most image viewers also benefit from the MSX2+'s graphic capabilities. Due to the greater amount of colors, GIF/BMP and JPG pictures are displayed very well. For several years there was no graphic program which used the screen 11 mode until a French group made one (Screen 11 designer).

A selection of MSX2+ software:

See the list on Generation MSX for additional software.

Links to MSX2+ software can also be found on this page: MSX2+ Software.

Note about Girl's Control

This game includes intro and ending with screen 12 pictures that can be seen on MSX2+, but not on MSX turbo R. You can fix this problem by replacing VR=2 by VR>1 in the following files:

• OPEN.BAS and END.BAS - lines 60, 140, 3010
• MOVE.BAS - line 20030

Computers

All MSX2+ computers were either originally released in Japan or have been upgraded from the MSX2 (or even MSX1) standard to MSX2+ specifications internally or with special upgrade kits (which were mainly sold in Brazil).

Real MSX2+ computers were only produced by Panasonic, Sanyo and Sony for the Japanese market:

• Sanyo WAVY PHC-35J
• Sanyo WAVY PHC-70FD
• Sanyo WAVY PHC-70FD2
• Sony HB-F1XDJ
• Sony HB-F1XV
• Panasonic FS-A1FX
• Panasonic FS-A1WSX
• Panasonic FS-A1WX

More recently, a team in Korea created the Zemmix Neo and Mini IQ-3000. There is also a DIY MSX2+ project known as the GR8Bit.