 Welcome back to another episode from Classic Replay, this time we are playing Space Manbo on the MSX2. I'm not even sure about where I heard about this game. It was probably in a forum or maybe in Retro Gamer. And just hearing about it, reading about it, didn't prepare me. It's one of those things, you've got 101 things to do. I'll play that at a later date and you put it off and then you put it off more. So this is me, the first time playing this game. Not even this superlative intro set me up for what was about to happen, but what was about to come. Playing Space Manbo has been a proper head's gone moment for me. I'm still in a little bit of a shock now and I can't remember the last time I couldn't put the shooter nut down. It's that same feeling you got when you were a kid and you bought the game and you kind of like raced all the way home to play it. And I just don't get those feelings anymore, playing video games or computer games. But this has rekindled it. And I'm not an MSX version either. My cousin had Toshiba MSX a 64K version back in the day. But we struggled to get games for it so in the end we moved on. He moved on to another system. And I'm also O-Fei with Shootin' Ups. I've played all the greats, R-Type, Radius, Xenon, Xout, P47 if you like, UN Squadron and some fantastic classics on the Commodore 64. And no matter whatever stable you're from, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad, Amiga, you have to give this a go. You have to give this a try. All prejudices aside you've got to give this game a go. Even if you're not a Shootin' Ups fan you've still got to give this a go. And if anything this has spurred me on more to cover the MSX and its games in more detail. And even if you have played this you lucky devils. I'm well jelly. And for those that do know Shedloads about the MSX please let me know. Please tell me what games that I must play or the ones that are obscure that people tend to ignore. I could not afford to live a life without quality games like this in them. So then the moment awaits. This for me is that moment in Star Wars where they see the Death Star for the first time and they're like blown away. Somebody told me or I read somewhere that the MSX can't scroll. What the fuck? This is some of the best scrolling I've ever seen on an 8-bit. In fact I feel like I'm playing something on the Sega Mega Drive or the Super Nintendo. Until today I'd never laid eyes on this and the only reason I've done this video is to share it so that retro gaming Shootin' Up nuts everywhere can enjoy it as well. In fact if I'd have seen this running in the arcade in the early 90s I'd have fed it a coin or two. Flippin' heck! My own fault I'm not concentrating. It's really difficult to talk and concentrate on a Shootin' Up at the same time. I'm using keyboard as well really I should be using a controller. Makes life so much easier. I imagine people watching this the comparisons that you'll be pulling are probably similar to Gradius. Oh no! But also I think it's a bit like playing Turrican 2 where you go on the horizontal Shootin' Up stages but all that aside it kind of has carved its own unique appeal and there's lots of little power-ups that increase the rate of fire, direction of fire and shield as well. You've got to love these big massive sprites. I mean look at the size of them for goodness sake. If you shoot an enemy or a turret and it displays the letter S get that because that speeds up your ship. I haven't worked out what the O gives you yet but I think it's one of two options. I'm not concentrating. I did once upon a time in a galaxy far far away. I was really good at Shootin' Ups. Not so much anymore I'm afraid. And these people that tell you to your face look you in the eye and tell you don't worry it's like riding a bike that's complete BS. You get worse as you get older. Unless you're playing a strategy game or something like chess I think you take more time you deliberate over the next move. If you pick up a W that I think gives you a wide shot and the M gives you missiles. Let's find out. Yeah. Oh so we know what the O does now. It gives you some sort of gun turret, external gun turret. Please God let me at least finish the first goddamn level. I've noticed there's colored pickups as well and they must be attributed to that power bar at the top so when you pick those up I guess depending on the color that increases the power or is the power dropping the further we go. I'm not sure. There's one now. Let me just get it. Did you see that? I collected that red power icon and I've got an extra bar of energy. So you must have to build that energy bar up to the top. I think probably about 20 levels of energy that you can build it up to which is interesting. So that's reminiscent to R-Type Leo. Initial thoughts are this game is quite difficult. I'm struggling and I mean if I played R-Type now I'd probably already be on the third stage but naturally I mean there's a learning curve with lots of different games. R-Type would have been one of them for me. So here we go. This is the first time I've seen this boss. No idea what I've got to do. Looks like it's just hit. Avoid. Just don't get caught underneath the arm. Oops that was close. The turret got me out of the shit there. Oh god that is such a relief. The anxiety levels. The stress that I was under. But this game I mean look at it. It's a proper eye shag and listen to it as well. It's a proper ear shag. One of the most difficult shoot-em-up games I think I've ever played is probably IO on the Commodore 64. That one took me about two weeks of intensive play to finally complete it. So I think that one's my benchmark for judging a shoot-em-up on difficulty and I'd say this although not as difficult as that it's not far off. Loving the graphics and a color palette used in this stage and there's apparently eight stages so you're gonna really need the continue system if you want to see it through to the end. Just embarrassing myself now. I'm still gonna persevere with this. I'm gonna continue because each time I play it yes it's frustrating but not overly and I feel like I'm getting better each time I do play it and I'm having fun. I'm really enjoying this. The biggest problem I've got is I can talk for England so what better outlet. Now there is a YouTube video where a chap on there completed this game with three lives. I can't imagine ever doing that ever being able to do that because of the amount of time you'd have to invest. Just before I forget one of the things that has niggled me a little bit well it's just nitpicking if anything. I really wish this game had an auto fire. My bloody fingers are killing me. A question I'd like to ask somebody out there who's a bit of a hardware expert on the MSX. How come there's no sprite flicker with everything that's going on? I mean I've played a few shoot-em-ups now on the MSX. MSX 2 included and there's a bit of sprite flicker. No I'm not giving up. I will stay to the end. I will fight to the death. I will go out on my shield like the Ante Wilder. In fact that was a fantastic fight. A proper slug fest. In the early rounds I thought it was anybody's. Get in there boy! The Gypsy King. Anyway back to the game in question. Look at that silky smooth scroll but not just that. Look at the detail, the attention to detail in the sprites and the backgrounds. I'd love to get the original of this. I mean I've been looking at the box art and the posters and all the gun flick comes with it and I still collect this dream. Space Mambo is a good time. They really need to release this on the PS4, PS5 or Xbox or anything Nintendo Switch and not just that it would open up the MSX and its back catalog to newbies and young gamers alike. I mean me personally I've got lots of retro gaming systems and I hardly know anything about the MSX and not that I care but there's anybody in the US even know what an MSX is. I mean this is such a good game that I'm amazed Konami haven't re-released this in some shape or form on another system in the UK and Europe. I actually own an MSX2 Turbo but I haven't got any games for it. The only thing it came with are some startup boot up disc and that's it really. So I'm on the hunt for MSX games and this definitely without question is first on my list. Now I'm not going to make any promises but I've been looking at the Metal Gear Solid series on the MSX and I thought to myself oh I might do that I might have a look at it so that could be a future MSX video. So don't forget to subscribe and ring that bell so you get the notifications for future releases. Come on there Mark I feel like I'm getting better I feel like I'm getting to grips with the game. Talk too soon. Come on we can do this. I don't know what we can do but I at least want to get further. I want to see more of the game more of the graphics and if I don't fit that much more in to this video I'm definitely going to go away and you put some more effort in. Okay I think I've got it now I think I think I'm starting to get the pattern. So here we go. Let's concentrate. Oh God's sake. Having a nightmare. A nightmare of a time. Come on there come on. Oh goodness I didn't realize that little thing jumped. A little ed 209. This must be painful to watch. Come on now. That's it. Take out those turrets. Gonna regret that. Build that energy up. That's what happens when you go hunting for a pickup. Come on. Don't lose the faith. Such a difficult game and it's so fast. It's not a bullet hell shooter but it might as well be. Come on. What am I doing wrong? Oh my goodness me. Come on now. It's better. It's better. How anybody can complete this game on three lives. Now I thought this way about lots of different shoot-em-ups in the past. R-Type 2 being one of them that was really difficult on the Game Boy. Eventually I did complete it but it does take huge chunks of your life away. Okay come on. Come on. This is it. I'm gonna cry. Practice makes perfect. So playing this game has just whetted my appetite for playing even more games on the MSX and earlier before I did this video. I started looking at some of the games that are out there. Yeah I started looking at some of the games that are out there that are available and the homebrew stuff as well. So I might even do an MSX the best homebrew video. So play through all the games all the new games since the decline of its commercial life and work out which ones are there. Oh I'm through. Oh my god. Oh bloody hell. Vertical scroll. Wow. I wasn't expecting that. Oh that's made. It's made my day. The little thing. The little things in life. Come on. Don't blow it now. Oh you stupid. So what's that gonna put me right back at the beginning? Let's have a look. No that's good. That is another massive plus point for this game. The fact that it doesn't throw you back at the beginning. Like so many games in the 80s did. Anybody remember Army Moves or Navy Moves or was it Navy Seals I can never remember. Come on. At least a little bit further. What a game. What an absolute immense game. And a beautiful game as well to boot. Look at it. And it does horizontal and vertical scroll really really well. And the ship. And it's my fault when a bullet or whatever hits me. But the ship is so nimble that I reckon you know once you've got this etched map out in the back of your mind. You know like looking at the back of your hand. And then you often go back and revisit. It's just it's a work of art. It's one of those things that I think once you experience it you'll never stop playing it. You'll always pick it back up. Which is why I must own it. I wonder what the prices are like on eBay. I bet you're looking at hundreds of pounds for a game like this. Unless it was really popular. I'm gonna have to call this quits now. I'm literally shaking. I'm suffering from anxiety. I'm really getting stressed. I need to walk away from this game. Take a break and have a think about it. Because yes I've progressed and I feel like I'm progressing. But right I need to give this one a score. So let me have a quick think. Definitely a 8.5 out of 10. And please don't forget if you really liked this video give it a thumbs up as in subscribe, like it and ring that bell for notifications. Until next time, bye!