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New Platforms: Sharp MZ-700, MZ-1200 and MZ-1500

LaunchBox Games Database

Add support for additional Sharp MZ computer systems to the LaunchBox Games Database.

Currently, the database includes the Sharp MZ-2500, but several earlier systems from the MZ family are missing, including the Sharp MZ-700, MZ-1200 and MZ-1500. A growing amount of software for these systems has been preserved and made available, making the lack of database support increasingly noticeable for users cataloguing these libraries.

Before adding them individually, we should investigate the compatibility between these systems and the wider MZ family to determine whether they should be represented as separate platforms or grouped under a broader Sharp MZ platform.

Requirements

  • Investigate the MZ-700, MZ-1200 and MZ-1500 and their compatibility with other Sharp MZ systems

  • Determine whether each meets our criteria for a distinct platform

  • Consider whether closely compatible systems should instead be grouped into a single Sharp MZ platform

  • Ensure games currently missing from the database, including Sharp MZ versions of titles such as Pac-Man, can be correctly represented

  • Keep the existing Sharp MZ-2500 platform separate if it represents a distinct hardware and software ecosystem

Posted by Greenknight9000 ·
Status: Open To Community2 comments

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Comments2

  • AstroBob changed status to Open To Community
    Team•

    Sep 26

    Pinned

    Hi there!

    Thanks so much for submitting this request and for taking the time to explain your use case — that context is always super helpful.

    I’ve gone ahead and fleshed out the main idea using the info you provided, and I’m opening it up to the community for further discussion and feedback. Please let me know if this fleshed-out version doesn’t match your original intended request.

    Feel free to let me know if you have any extra thoughts, examples, or edge cases you think might be relevant!

    Cheers,
    The LaunchBox team

  • essjaygee

    •

    Oct 12

    Hi there,

    I’ve recently published an emulator for some of the Sharp MZ machines that is aimed specifically at simplifying integration with Launchbox (https://forums.launchbox-app.com/topic/94486-sharp-mz-80amz-700mz-800-emulation-for-launchbox-integration-mzraku/), as getting games running on those machines can be less-than-straightforward due to the the way that they work. An additional challenge is that they are not represented as platforms in the Launchbox Games DB.

    The MZ-1200 was the Japanese designation for the machine marketed as the MZ-80A in the west. This was an upgraded version of the earlier MZ-80K which existing in a number of variants.

    MZ-700 is an evolution of the the earlier MZ-1200/MZ-80 machines, featuring colour character-based graphics and the MZ-800 and MZ-1500 are further evolutions which introduced higher resolution bitmap graphics.

    The final MZ machine, the MZ-2500 (already in the database), was a futher evolution to increase graphics and sound capabilities.

    Although there is a significant element of backwards compatibility across the generations, each generation does have its own distinct software library. This is complicated by a large portion of the libraries being written in BASIC (particularly MZ-700) and the BASICs for each machine being different.

    Because compatibility is generally backwards-looking only, this means that you need to know which machine a given title is actually for. I believe this makes a case for the platforms being listed individually as:

    • Sharp MZ-80A/MZ-1200

    • Sharp MZ-700

    • Sharp MZ-800

    • Sharp MZ-1500

    • Sharp MZ-2500 (already existing)