Collector’s Corner
Tony Cruise shows off his impressive collection
If you’re a fan of the MSX, Tony Cruise’s mouth-watering collection will have you drooling with jealousy
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We’ve heard all sorts of interesting collecting stories since starting this series, but Tony Cruise’s is one of our favourites, as it all stems from a kind gesture. “A bit over 15 years ago, my childhood mate dropped around to say goodbye before moving to a different state in Australia,” he tells us. “He left me a box containing the Atari 2600 and games we both used to play together as kids.” His interest suitably invigorated, Tony dug out his old gaming systems that were packed up in storage and began searching local markets, before discovering four loose MSX cartridges on ebay.
Before we talk to Tony more about his collection, it’s worth noting that he was a developer for both the Spectravideo and MSX back in the day, so he’s always looking for his old games. “Unfortunately, back in the day when I moved onto other things, I shipped all of my original ‘master tapes’ off to a company in western Australia,” he explains. “Also, I have not been able to read my original Spectravideo floppy discs, although I have not given up hope. I do have more of my titles for the MSX machines, though. I did have some of my tapes in storage, and have since found a lot of tapes from a seller, and very recently a box from the estate of another friend. My other local friends know I am after them, and have dropped around several lots over the last few years.”
Tony’s main interest is the MSX, and he has an impressive number of games for it. “As much as I loved the original Spectravideo machines
I was disappointed with the lack of software titles that were released,” he says. “When the MSX standard was announced based on the original Spectravideo design, but supported by dozens of publishers this time [including] Konami and Sony, I upgraded to a SVI‑728 on launch and immediately set about converting the titles I had written so far.” That led to a love for the various MSX models that remains to this day.
It would appear that Tony isn’t the only collector to have a soft spot for the MSX, as the range appears to be a lot more collectible than it was when Tony started. “Prices of MSX titles have increased a lot over the years, but there are still bargains to be had in the European and UK market for Konami and Sony titles,” Tony points out. “Both producers wrote games that take advantage of the systems’ capabilities and their titles were released on cartridge. So games like Nemesis, Yie Ar Kung‑fu, Knightmare, Goonies, Lode Runner and Choplifter are highly recommended.”